Week #12: Nov. 21 - 25th

Dear Families,

Can you believe that we’re soon into the month of December, like next week?!  It's supposed to be a glorious Sat., bright sunny skies and warmer temps, enjoy it while it lasts!  

Throughout our many weathered days, I appreciate you (parents) providing the appropriate attire for your child so he or she is prepared for any weather that may come our way (rain, snow, etc).  After all, we do live in Collingwood/Nottawa ;) 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend as a family and I look forward to reuniting with ALL MY STUDENTS on Tuesday after I'm done coaching the intermediate girls basketball team at CCI :-)  Gooooo Nighthawks!

How adorable is this!?  The friendships formed in our class are heart soaring! 
The kids truly adore each other :)

COURAGE ASSEMBLY:

Congratulations to Lily and Logan for being our class' recipients for this month's character trait.  

Thank you for displaying courage in your thoughts, words, and actions.  You've worked hard at doing the right thing even when it's difficult.  Your classmates and I are so proud of YOU!

Way to go you two!  Keep up the positive efforts :-)

UKULELE CLUB MEMBERS:

At the courage assembly, we also had the pleasure of listening to our school's ukulele club that is run by Mr. Morin.  The children performed their songs very well and it was great to have Ayden, Brynn, Kaia, and Mielle represent our class family up at the front. 

 You're all so musical and your dedication to learning the ukulele is inspiring to us all!  Keep strumming :-)

CHRISTMAS TREE FUNDRAISER:

All students have brought home two red coupons today in case you would like to share with family, friends or neighbours that may celebrate Christmas and be interested in purchasing a fresh tree this holiday season.

This coupon is for Jingle Bells U-Cut Christmas Tree Lot.  This business has partnered with our school council to offer the school $10 from each tree sold with the coupon to go back to the school as a donation towards our Outdoor Learning Expansion Project. 

This year, we will be installing Phase 3, a Sensory/Stem Outdoor Play Space for all students to access.  

Thank you to our school council for all that you do to support the children and staff at Nottawa.  Your efforts and energy are appreciated :-)

BUS CANCELLATIONS:

In the event that busses are cancelled due to inclement weather, please have your child access Google Classroom and work through the suggested ASYNCHRONOUS activities that I've posted.   

Thank you for supporting your child in his or her learning at home even on a snow day!

PRIMARY HOLIDAY CONCERT:

Guess what!?  The primary students from K-3 will be soon hosting a Holiday Concert at our school displaying  a variety of songs and dances for your viewing pleasure!

Please mark this date into your calendar --> Wed. Dec. 14th dress rehearsal at 11:40AM and our evening concert will be at 6:00PM.  All families are welcome to attend the morning and/or evening shows.  It'll be a magical time indeed!

EMPATHY ASSEMBLY:

Another memorable event coming up, our class will be leading the Empathy Assembly on Thurs. Dec. 22^nd at 9:30AM.  

Similar to Stone Soup, we will feature songs, drumming, but also the grade 7/8 instrumental choir, and an engaging slideshow of all our students here at Nottawa.  

You won't want to miss this special occasion which honours our empathetic staff & students.  Mark the date into your calendars now 🙂

In the coming days, your child will bring home his or her speaking parts to practice.  Thank you in advance for supporting your child's public speaking endeavours :-)  It's their time to shine, Shine, SHINE!

ART:

Earlier this week, most children in the class participated in a 1 day guided art lesson held by Shandelle (see below) a Magic of Children in the Arts teacher.  She is a very passionate, kind, and soulful person.

Shandelle led a very engaging and exciting lesson which all the kids participated in actively and happily :)  Here she is leading a mini-lesson in water colouring.  

During periods 2 and 3, we completed a water colour painting inspired by an Indigenous printmaker, painter, illustrator and activist named Daphne Odjig.  We learned about her history and techniques.  

Below, you will find a quote that I found to be very moving and speaks volumes to Ms. Odjig's works of art.

Your child's water colour painting will be displayed at our local library for your viewing pleasure at Canada's largest children's art show in the spring.  A letter about this was sent home with your child earlier in the week :)

Now, please check out the children in art action!!  Shandelle noted that the class atmosphere was a magical space for art magic to happen!!  She definitely tuned into our peace & lovin' vibe :-)  

MATH:

This week, we began our learning about patterning.  The goal is for your child to identify, describe, extend, and create repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns.  

For repeating patterns, the focus is on naming the attributes (e.g., colour, size, shape, position, number) of patterns and how those attributes change.

The focus for growing or shrinking patterns is to state the pattern rule: the start number and the amount that is added or subtracted each term.  

Over the next 2 weeks, students will practice these skills in their "Math Practice Homework."  Thank you so much for your support in this unit.

GRAMMAR RULE #5:

This week, we learned all about plural and singular nouns.  Below, I have posted a video which provides examples for this rule.

Please take an opportunity to go over the grammar sheets that came home today and see if your child can share the difference between SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS.  

Ask:  When do you add an s, es, or ies to a noun to make it plural?  

I shared with the students that I feel English is one of the most challenging languages to effectively learn and apply because there are so MANY RULES and EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES.  

I have felt this first hand growing up because my first language was Punjabi and I didn't speak English fluently until I was in grade 2, and even then, I struggled for years to read and write properly.  Thankfully, I was placed in an ESL class to help build my grammatical skills :)

Now being a teacher, I truly value explicitly teaching grammar because it's the foundation to WRITING and builds confident and competent writers.  

Additionally, when we learn the RULES TO GRAMMAR, we understand the English language on a deeper level so that we can apply it to every day life (e.g., resumes, cover letters, letter of reference, presentations, etc.,).

MINDFULNESS:

Your extraordinary brain has many regions which control different functions. We've been regularly learning and discussing this since the first day of school.

Like any great team, the BRAIN REGIONS work best when they WORK TOGETHER.

Let's take a tour to meet these regions and learn more about how they operate!

Getting to know and love your brain is important because it helps set a positive and peaceful tone to your individual thinking, learning, and playing each and everyday!

GROWTH MINDSET:

Meegwich,

Ms. Gill