Week #9: Oct. 31st - Nov. 4th

Dear Families,

I hope your child and you had a wonderful Halloween celebration on Monday!  The weather held off from raining so that was a bonus and better for parents as you accompanied your child(ren).

Many shared their enthusiasm with all the fun (and candy collected) they had with their family and friends!  We took this enthusiasm straight into our learning and the children transitioned well considering there may have been some sugar highs ;)

We've had yet another productive week here in our class!  Below, you will see just how purposeful it was :) 

Thank you for taking the time each week to read and support your child's learning.  Your active involvement is appreciated :)

I hope that you continue to feel like this BLOG serves as an effective communication tool between school and home.  Its purpose is to reinforce all that we're learning and what we're doing in class so you can help guide your child at home too!  It's making a significant difference :)

ASYNCHRONOUS & SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING:

Thank you to all the students who diligently worked on all the assigned tasks I outlined in Google Classroom today.  It is appreciated beyond measure!  

By doing this, the children are developing vital learning skills and work habits (e.g., responsibility, independent work, collaboration, initiative, organization, and self-regulation) which will serve them well throughout their academic career at Nottawa :)

#WeSUPPORTALLoureducationalworkers
#wearingpurpleforCUPE
#BEaWEnotME

On Mon. Nov. 7th at 9:30 AM, albeit virtually, I look forward to reconnecting with your child on Google Meet to start our synchronous learning.  

Please have your child situated comfortably in a desk and chair in a quiet space (preferably alone away from distractions) ready with a pencil, eraser, highlighter and his or her 'brain breakfast' aka daily math. 

We will begin our day as we always do with this piece of school work.  I am striving to create as much normalcy and regular routine for your child through this time to help ease any worries about the school work.  

NATIONAL GRATITUDE MONTH:

Did you know NATIONAL GRATITUDE MONTH is celebrated every year on November 1st?  Yes, it's true!!  National Gratitude Month encourages us to embrace the power of gratitude.  

In our class, we have a daily emphasis on this trait so we know it's not just something we do for the month of November, but each and every day of our precious lives :)

As we've learned, gratitude is more than simply saying "thank you."  Gratitude's amazing powers have the ability to shift us from focusing on the negative to appreciating what is positive in our lives.  Practicing daily gratitude gives us a deeper connection to ourselves, the world around us, and to our Creator.

Everything in our lives has the ability to improve when we are grateful.  Research has shown that gratitude can enhance our moods, decrease stress, and drastically improve our overall level of health and well-being.  

If everyone practiced daily gratitude, we could change ourselves and the planet for the better!  Everyone would be much happier :)  Love would grow and hate would decrease.  The world would know true peace.

What are WE waiting for?  Give gratitude a try!  You'll be happier you did :-) 

HALLOWEEN DANCE:

Thank you to all the students and parents who generously sent in donations for the Wildlife Sanctuary.  We took time to place our monies into Nottawa's Wishing Well with pride :)

Libby, Benner, and Mae signing their names for their contributions to Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

After donating, we entered a very 'spooktacular' gym which was filled with many blow-ups and Halloween decor, it looked fantastic!  

We then enjoyed dancing and spending time together as a primary division.  We haven't been able to have a Halloween dance in two years so everyone was excited to participate!

Thank you to the primary teachers who came in early Monday morning to help set up.  Your time and energy was appreciated by our students :)   

JONAS:

Thank you Jonas and family for gifting tiny white pumpkins for our class family.  This was very thoughtful and appreciated by your peers!  

IVY:

Another act of kindness to celebrate!  Ivy sweetly approached me Monday morning and asked, "Ms. Gill, may I please hand out these Halloween poems to my friends?  I made a special one for everyone."  I immediately said, "Yes of course, Ivy!  What a kind thing to do."

Thank you Ivy for creating personalized Halloween inspired poems for each of your classmates.  It made them beam with smiles!

CHARACTER TRAIT:

November's character trait of the month is courage.  What is courage?  It's about doing the right thing even when it's difficult!  

• We use courage to find the strength to try things outside our range of comfort.
• We also dig deep and use courage when doing the right thing can be difficult!
• What could you use a little courage for and how will you use courage to try new things?

In class, we have discussed that our former/current/future Canadian Armed Forces Members, Veterans, and the Indigenous People who went to residential schools are some of the MOST COURAGEOUS individuals on this land.  

Despite facing MANY EXCRUCIATING challenges, this group of people faced their fears and did the right thing to stand up for Canada and what they believed in!!  

May we all aspire to stand up strongly, loudly (but, gently), and proudly for what we believe in to serve and protect our country, family, friends, and community.  

#Canadianproud

#BeCourageous

ORAL PRESENTATIONS:

In class, we have been working hard at learning how to be an effective public speaker.  I have provided mini-lessons to help enhance my students' understanding of speaking in public.  

As many may know and feel, talking in front of a large crowd can be daunting.  However, we can choose the meaning of F.E.A.R. 

Face Everything And RUN 

OR

Face Everything And RISE

It's up to us to choose the final R word (run or rise).  We've talked about this in class so your child is familiar with this.  Please ask them about how to face our FEARS and how we can overcome it.

I am so proud to share that EVERY student rose to the challenge of presenting in front of their peers and me.  It was a true JOY for me to see how your child has progressed in their public speaking.  AMAZING!

Congratulations to all for diligently preparing for their autobiography presentation this week.  It was a true joy watching everyone display their personal best in presenting in front of the whole class.

Below are some images of the children who picked one of their most proud slides to pose in front of :)

GRAMMAR RULE #2:

This week's grammar rule focused on the '4 Types of Sentences.'  By learning about these, our skills will improve because we will begin to use a variety of sentence types in our writing.

I shared the following video in class so your child is familiar with this.  You will soon learn all about statements, questions, commands, and exclamations, and the proper punctuation (end mark) for each sentence! Give it a listen :)

Your child has brought home his or her grammar sheets so please have them teach you what they have learned :)

MATH:

As shared in last week's post, our focus in math is all about geometry: 2D shapes & 3D figures.  We are  learning to describe their geometric properties - faces, edges, vertices, and angle types!  It's a great unit that gets students to build and design using different math manipulatives.

This week, I provided snap cubes and challenged the students to create various multi-link cube designs (see models above), but the kicker was they were only allowed to view the image for 10 seconds and given 15 seconds to build it with their 'elbow partner.'  They LOVED THIS activity as the energy and competitiveness was high!!  

Here they are in their math groups building and creating as a T.E.A.M.!  After our building, we had some great discussions describing the geometric properties of various polygons. 

Congratulations to these TEAMS who successfully created structure #6 in 25 seconds!!

REMEMBRANCE DAY:

On Nov. 11th, we will be honouring Remembrance Day.  

After two years of not being able to host in person assemblies, the time has come that we will have staff, students, and families who are all welcome to attend our assembly for Remembrance Day. 

HOWEVER, now that we have had to suddenly pivot back to distance learning, this may be postponed, please stay tuned for more information for this assembly.

Our class was scheduled to do a special performance singing and using 'sign language' with Mr. Morin for the school.  The kids have been working hard in music classes the past while and I'm excited to see them perform at some point.  

If we are at school by the end of the week, please have your child dress up in red, white, black on Fri. Nov. 11th for this special occasion.  Sticker poppies will be provided for each student.  

REMEMBRANCE DAY POSTER CONTEST:

Thank you to Mrs. Johnson for organizing the Legion Contest for our students who wish to participate in this friendly event.  

Paper has been provided for your child to begin this art project.  They are to make a coloured or black and white Remembrance Day poster to be entered into the friendly poster contest for the Legion.  

Students are welcome to use the examples shared on Google Classroom for inspiration to help get them started! Below are 2 examples.

If you and your child wish to participate in this contest, please note that all completed black & white or coloured posters with a signed permission form (ask your child to ask me for a form next week) are due to Mrs. Johnson by Mon. Nov. 14th.

MINDFULNESS:

In anticipation of Treaties Week approaching (Nov. 6th - 12th), please watch some Ontario students who talk about why treaties matter.  

It is an informative and important message from the hearts and minds of school aged children :)

Please note, I will be explicitly teaching your child more about this important topic when we're back in class.  This is just to get their brains thinking about this cause :)

LIBBY:

The past while, Libby has been sweetly asking her Mom to send me a photo of the wall hanging they have in their home (see photo below).  

She said, "Mom, I think Ms. Gill would really like the words on this art piece.  Please share it with her."

Awww, you know me so well, Libby!  Thank you for thinking of me and asking your Mom to share this inspirational wall hanging.  I absolutely LOVE IT!  

We must all strive to be the very BEST VERSION OF OURSELVES especially when "no one is watching!"  

Boys and girls, always be WHO YOU ARE by living with GRATITUDE, trying NEW THINGS, being PRESENT, NEVER GIVING UP, and living with INTENT.  

Thank you Libby and Mom for the beautiful reminder :)  I honour you both whole-heartedly!!

GROWTH MINDSET:

"Instead of - I just can't do this.  Try thinking - I can TRAIN MY BRAIN!"

From my heart to yours ... MEEGWICH

Ms. Gill