Orange Shirt Day: The entire school walked over to HEL,HILEȼ Park where we listened to a drumming song by Mr. Norris. That afternoon we enjoyed some time with our little buddies where we helped them colour/read a booklet about Orange Shirt Day.
Art: We have been hard at work on our art for this year's Art Cards. Stay tuned next month for information on how to order items with your child's beautiful art on them.
Fire Hall Field Trip: We are excited to go to the Fire Hall on Wednesday. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate footwear as we will be walking up to the hall rain or shine. There are also a few stations that will take place outside - so a jacket or sweater may also be needed. It's a wonderful field trip and we look forward to learning all about fire safety, which will include a few hands-on stations.
Gum: At the beginning of the year the students were told that they were allowed to chew gum as long as they continued to respect our learning environment - meaning I did not want to find gum wrappers around the room or gum stuck to things. Unfortunately this week I have found both (gross!). The students know that gum is no longer allowed in our room until trust is built up again - they'll need to show me they are able to "take care of this place" (one of our classroom rules) before I allow gum back in. That being said, students are continuing to bring gum to school and chew it/leave garbage in the room. Please remind your child to not bring gum to school. Thank you for your support with this - I am not interested in scraping chewed gum off the floor.
Spelling: Spelling groups will start on Tuesday. Students will bring home a coloured spelling list. Our first spelling test will take place Tuesday, October 14 (typically, tests will be on Mondays but next Monday is a holiday). We will be working with these new words this week, but they are also welcome to practice them at home if you have time:)
Staff enjoyed an all-day conference up at Claremont on Monday this week. Our shortened week together was still full of learning and fun! This week we enjoyed the Terry Fox run on Thursday as well as our second SENCOTEN class.
Math: We have continued to work on Place Value. We are working on larger numbers which often causes students to mis-name the different place values. Grade 5s are working up to the millions place and grade 4s are working up to hundred thousands.
Social Studies: Students worked hard this week on a map of eastern Canada. We looked at the route that Terry Fox ran from Newfoundland to Ontario. Students located, labelled, and coloured the provinces and cities where Terry Fox ran his Marathon of Hope.
Orange Shirt Day: Orange Shirt Day will be recognized at school on Monday, September 29. We will be walking over to the park across the street at 1:00 (note the time change as originally we were supposed to go at 10:40) where Lance Norris will perform a drumming song for us. We look forward to renewing our commitment to truth and reconciliation.
Computers: This week we visited the computer lab. Students were able to log in with new passwords. Each student currently has a Mathletics account - we are hoping this will be renewed in November, but are waiting on funding. Once I hear it has been approved for funding, I'll send home a username and password with each student so, if they wish, they can continue doing math facts at home.
After speaking with a grade 6 teacher from Bayside, it was noted to us that many of the grade 6 students felt unprepared for the amount of typing and computer work that was required from some classes in middle school. My goal this year is to have students feeling confident in using Google Drive and Google Classroom, as well as having knowledge around formatting documents properly.
Spelling: Our spelling program will begin on Tuesday, October 7th. Look for a spelling list in your child's bag that day!
It was a busy week in Division 12 again. We have had fun getting to know each other and settling into our routines. I enjoyed meeting many of you this week at our Open House! Were you unable to make it, but still want to pop in? My class is an open door! Contact me and we can set up a time for you to visit. Parent-Teacher Interviews will take place during the first week of November and I look forward to seeing you again at that time.
Library: Library Book Exchange began this week. Our book exchange day is Tuesdays. Students are able to take out 2 books. Please remind your child to bring their library books back to school on Tuesday.
Little Buddies: This afternoon we got to meet our little buddies. We did a "get to know you" activity together. Our next meeting with them will be on Monday, September 29 where we will talk about Orange Shirt Day.
Social Studies: Thank you for sending me a picture of your child doing something out in nature on our local lands. Our Land Acknowledgements are looking wonderful.
Terry Fox Run: The Terry Fox Run will take place on Thursday, September 25. This week we did some reading about Terry Fox and on Tuesday we will look at and label a map of Canada noting the route he took on his run.
Clubs: A soccer meeting was held today for grade 4 and 5 students. If your child was unable to make the meeting, please have them check in with Mrs. Shaw. Lunch monitoring will begin on Tuesday. We had many students in division 12 interested in taking on this responsibility! Grade 5 leadership (run by myself and Mrs. Blackie) also held a meeting today. Leadership kids will meet again on Wednesday to get brainstorming on what they want the year to look like!
Looking forward to next week!
We had an exciting first full week together! We have spent a lot of time getting to know each other and reviewing classroom routines and expectations. The students have enjoyed a few "Team Challenges" as well. These are designed to help them get to know new students as they work together towards completing a "challenge".
Math: Students are working on completing a "Me by the Numbers" activity which you will see up on our bulletin board at our Open House next Wednesday. I also introduced the class to how I review our basic multiplication facts weekly. Next week will begin with a quick math assessment so that I am able to best deliver the math curriculum this year. Our first unit will be Place Value.
Social Studies: I begin every year with students writing their own Land/Territorial Acknowledgement. Land Acknowledgements are a regular part of our lives as we work towards reconciliation with the Indigenous people whose land we live on. This week we brainstormed what we love about our local lands - from the animals we see, to the food the land provides us, to simply the beauty of the peninsula.
Gym: We have gym on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Sometimes we will "buddy gym" with Mrs. Shaw's grade 4/5 class where we play a large group game. This week we enjoyed playing Skittles, Fireball, and Sacrifice. Another part of the Physical and Health Education Curriculum is learning about Healthy Living. Mrs. V will be working with the students on Wednesdays as they learn about making healthy choices in their lives (healthy foods, healthy activities, and healthy relationships etc).
Language Arts: This week we read the picture book "One Word for Kids" and students chose their "Word of the Year". It will be a word that they will (hopefully) live by and focus on. There were many fabulous words chosen including "DETERMINED", "JOY", "POSITIVE" and "EXPLORE". Ask your child what their Word of the Year is!
Spelling: You will see spelling listed on our class schedule. Our class spelling program will begin in October. This gives me time to assess the students and create working groups. Stay tuned for more information on spelling.
Buddies: Our Little Buddy class will be Mrs. Barnes/Mrs. Gill's grade 1 class. We look forward to meeting our Little Buddies on Friday, September19. Fun Fact: did you know Mrs. Gill is Mrs. Sargent's cousin?
We have also been working on creating art to help decorate our classroom! We look forward to showing you our classroom on Wednesday!