Week #20: Jan. 30th - Feb. 3rd

Dear Families,

Oh my, what a blustery windy wintery day!  I hope you all remained safe where ever you were throughout your Friday.  I was thinking about you :)  

In class, we were nestled cozily in the warmth of our portable and we gave gratitude for the heat that we had as we admired the trees swaying in the wintery wind :)

Thank you to all staff and students who participated in 'Dress Like Mr. Morin' CAMO DAY!!  It was great to see so many camouflaged ;) 

SPEECHES:

On Monday, our school held the Annual Speech Competition in the gym.  Students from grades 4-8 delivered their speeches to our staff, students, honourary judges, and some parents who were able to attend.  

This was an excellent opportunity for the grade 3's to attend to see, experience, and help them prepare for next year's friendly speech competition as they enter the junior division in the fall :-)

I am so proud of all students who prepared and delivered their speeches in their classes.  It takes a lot of courage and poise to stand up in front of a group of people and share a speech.  

Everyone should be so proud of their efforts!  Always reach for the stars and try your best in everything you do!  

So proud of Ayden's older sister Kaylee for presenting her speech on Polar Bears

Way to go Ainsley (the twins older sister) presenting your speech on Camping

Despite my many opportunities to public speak, I still get the jitters and have to compose myself before I have to speak in front of large audiences such as in our assemblies.  

I was definitely thinking of all the speakers who had to patiently wait for their turn to speak.  Delivering a speech is a memorable experience and helps build upon ones growing confidence in public speaking.

LANGUAGE & SOCIAL STUDIES:

Our focus in language for the past while has been on reading and writing about Black History.  In class, I have shared stories, videos, and activities to help my students gain an understanding and appreciation for all the American/Canadian men and women who made significant contributions in helping bring about positive change such as EQUAL AND FAIR TREATMENT no matter your race, religion, gender, orientation, size, or ability.  

I believe it is an important subject matter to teach our students because it gives them perspective about the past and how it helped shape our current lives.  I've shared with my class that we must extend our gratitude not solely during the month of February, but throughout the year!

Ask your child to share with you why Black History is celebrated in the month of February :) They should be able to tell you by watching the video posted below!

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION - Building an inclusive community:

AMAZING NEWS BELOW!!  "The Town of Collingwood is committed to building an inclusive, equitable and accessible community where everyone feels valued, respected and a sense of belonging. 

Our diversity strengthens who we are as a community. The town is honoured to work in collaboration with the Unity Collective with the purpose of building an inclusive Collingwood, together." 

"The Unity Collective welcomes and celebrates our diversity, through unified and collective collaboration and action.  The Town recognizes the importance of ongoing learning (and unlearning) to help build awareness and understanding of our diversity in cultural identity, race, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, religion, age and other diverse backgrounds that shape our life experiences."

"In collaboration with the Sheffield Park Black History & Cultural Museum and the Collingwood Museum the Town is launching a Black History Storyboard initiative. Storyboards share the rich history of local Black community leaders and changemakers, documenting and illuminating the journey, accomplishments, and challenges of Black settlers to Collingwood." 

The goal of the project is to shine a light on our past and to raise awareness of these important stories, preserving and sharing knowledge that has been gathered over time.

 

Storyboards will be in place throughout the month of February, located along the trail at Harbourview Park as well as indoors at the Collingwood Museum and Collingwood Public Library. 

Virtual access to the Storyboard Project is also possible by visiting https://www.collingwood.ca/inclusion. From the website it is possible to read and listen to each story.

RUBY BRIDGES:

In class, we played a BLOOKET to test the knowledge and understanding of this civil rights activist.  Please ask your child some questions about this extraordinary woman who helped change unjust laws to equality.  

BLACK HISTORY ASSEMBLY:

It is with great pride and joy that I once again share with you all that my students and I will be leading the second Black History Assembly at Nottawa!  As many know, this is a subject matter that is very near and dear to my heart.

It has been a dream of mine to spread these teachings beyond my classroom walls and make this an annual event at our school!!  "If you can dream it, YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT!!"  And, here WE ARE :)

The kids are really excited about this and so am I!!  We will be rehearsing and performing lots in class to prepare for this special performance!  

You won't want to miss out on this opportunity to see your child shine!  Mark it down in your calendars now :-)

What: Black History Assembly

Who: Ms. Gill's Class featuring guest appearances by Nottawa's Rock Band and Marcia Alderson

When: Tues. Feb. 28th 2023

Time: 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

NATIONAL SWEATER DAY:

This week, we spent some quality time talking about 'Climate Change.'  

Everyone’s talking about climate change, but what is our climate? And, why is it changing? Our climate has been changing much faster and there are many ways you and I can make a difference.

Many students told me that they've already shared some of our discussions with you at home and you were very intrigued as we learned about a very important crisis CLIMATE CHANGE.  As a result of this, we've learned that our Earth needs us to make wiser choices now more than ever.  I will dive deeper into this topic below. 

My favourite sweater that I own :)

Thank you boys and girls for not only showing school spirit, but more importantly, demonstrating your commitment to being an activist for protecting and preserving the planet!

CLIMATE CHANGE:

Who is Greta Thunberg? What is climate change? Please ask your child about this prior to reading on. We did a thorough discussion about this and I believe you'll be quite impressed with their new found knowledge and understanding :)

The video below is called "Greta and the Giants." This story is inspired by Greta Thunberg a 19 year old environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change.

We listened to this book aloud in class and have posted an online version for you below so you too can listen and learn about the dire need to help our planet.

"The story you've just heard has a happy ending. But in the real world, Greta is still fighting the "giants." They might not be as easy to see as they are in this book, but they are there. Some of the giants don't want to change their ways. That's why Greta needs OUR HELP."

"There is a natural solution to the climate breakdown: Protecting forests. Climate activist Greta Thunberg and writer and climate activist George Monbiot explain." Please watch this inspiring video below and discuss its importance as a family :)

Greta's care and concern for climate change is powerful. She is here to unite humanity to make a difference before it's too late. "Climate change means the world is getting hotter and hotter and this is causing a lot of damage."

Scientists all agree that this rising temperature is down to human activity. When we burn coal, oil, and gas (called "fossil fuels"), something called carbon dioxide is released into the air and this makes the world warm up. The polar ice is melting and sea levels are rising. Forests are being chopped down and animals are left homeless :(

"Did you know the Earth is already 1 degree Celsius hotter than it used to be? This has caused worse wildfires, storms, droughts, and floods, and more than 1 million people living near the coast have been forced to leave their homes."

"If we carry on as we are, things will only get worse. Climate change is the biggest crisis humans have ever faced."

"Greta knew all of this and she couldn't understand why no one was doing anything about it. So, when she was 15, she went on strike from school, sitting outside the Swedish government building and holding a sign that said, "Strike for climate!"

"Over time, people stopped to join her and now, her protest has encouraged children and adults from all over the world to stand up for climate change too. Greta has spoken to politicians from many different countries, and in 2019 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Let us all be like Greta and take immediate action before it's too late!

"NO ONE IS TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!" - Greta Thunberg

Here are some things YOU CAN do to help Greta:

• learn everything you can about climate change.  Tell your friends and family all about what we have learned in class

• ask your parents or guardians to take you on a climate protest so you can stand up to "giants."  Write a letter to or visit your elected officials to ask them to stop climate change

• walk, run, cycle, or take the bus or train instead of getting in the car or taking a plane.  This means LESS FOSSIL FUELS are burned

• try to get your family to eat less meat.  Ask your parents or guardian to buy food made nearby instead of from a far-away country

• look after the things you have.  Mend them when they are broken instead of buying new things.  Share them with your friends when you've finished with them

"You might think that it won't make a difference, but if we all work together, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!"

MEDIA LITERACY - CLIMATE CHANGE INSPIRED ACTIVITY:

To help reinforce our learning about climate change, students created images alongside slogans to help create awareness about the importance of helping our planet and reducing greenhouse gases/emissions.  

Check out their creations which will be hung up in the hallways inside our school!!

TEAM TREES:

Thank you to Ellis for sharing your passion for supporting the Team Trees organization which give us hope that people are taking action to help our forests.

If you click the link below, it will indicate the many pounds of garage that are taken away and the amount of trees that are being planted right now.

In class, we enjoyed refreshing the pages every now and then to see that the numbers were soaring in the millions!!!

TEAM TREES

If you wish, you may JOIN THE MOVEMENT!

KIERAN:

Thank you to Kieran for sharing your passion for keeping track of the number of trees being planted with this wonderful organization (#teamtrees).  He did this quietly on a wipe board all on his own at his desk and it made me smile :-)  

We've now hung up the wipe board behind his desk to keep track.  Throughout this week, we diligently kept track of the numbers and I have a sense this will recur for the remainder of the year, amazing!! Check out the number we've reached thus far!!

ARIE:

We are on a roll with helping protect and preserve our planet!  Thank you to Arie and family for providing our class family with biodegradable spoons for us to use instead of plastic spoons.  

This brought such joy to my heart as Arie selflessly did this for us and it can and will make a difference for our landfills.  Thank you, THANK YOU :-)

LIBBY:

Thank you Libby for taking the time to make this "folding Earth surprise" to help honour National Sweater Day!  I appreciate you thinking about ways to help our planet.  I feel your love for our Earth!

ELEPHANT THOUGHTS:

On Tuesday afternoon, we had the pleasure of having Alex from Elephant Thoughts visit our learning community to teach us all about CODING.

Below I will give you a little background information about this meaningful organization and why we had them come to our school.  

"Elephant Thoughts, in partnership with the generous sponsors at the Government of Canada through Can Code are offering a wonderful tech-based educational program that aims to equip Canadian youth aged 5-12 to learn the skills they need to be prepared for further studies, including advanced digital skills and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses, leading to the jobs of the future. 

Canada’s success in the digital economy depends on leveraging our diverse talent and providing opportunity for all to participate – investing in digital skills development will help to achieve this." 

The students were so excited and engaged with Alex that they didn't even notice that they are learning!

What is coding?  In the simplest of forms, coding is giving a group of instructions.  Coding is a way of laying out instructions for a computer in a language that the computer can understand.  

Just like how people communicate to one another using a common language, coders have learned how to communicate information and specific directions to a computer to make things happen.  

Please ask your child about some of the unique learning and coding activities that they participated in!  Enjoy the various photos below of the kids in coding action ;)

Thank you to Mrs. Mortimer and school council for helping fund this special program for our students of Nottawa to seize and savour!  We loooooved it :-)

FIX THE FACTORY APP:

Fix the Factory is a puzzle game full of unexpected obstacles that are guaranteed to challenge your logic thinking, your spatial intelligence and your robot commanding skills.  The students enjoyed playing this logic and reasoning app!

Check them out :-)

If you wish, download the app today!!  See the photo below to see what it looks like.

DOBOT:

Check out Ayden, Mae, and Alex programming this amazing robot called a 'Dobot' to write their names!!  The end result was all our names written on a chart paper by a ROBOT, hoooooow neat!

MATH:

Next week, your child will have an assessment on adding and subtracting money amounts up to $10.00.  It will take place on Wed. Feb. 8th.

Please encourage your child to complete the review questions provided to help them prepare.  It will be useful and increase their confidence in this area of mathematics.  Thank you :)

To help solidify our skills, we worked hard in class with our group members to practice our adding and subtracting.  Check us out :-)

Click the image below to enlarge it and ask your child how he or she solved the following question.

MAE:

My heart's soaring with joy as I type this acknowledgement.  Thank you Mae for taking the time, thought, and energy to create this painting for me.  

The adjectives you've used to describe me are something that I will never lose sight of.  Mae, I promise to continue being positive, patient, and determined to help your peers and you to feel safe physically and emotionally, secure in your identity, and a deep sense of belonging for who you are as individuals.

I count myself as the blessed one to be surrounded with such caring and compassionate students (and teachers) each and every day!!  I will cherish your painting always :-)

MINDFULNESS:

Each day, the 'helper of the day' leads meditation and I just had to share these two authentic images of our Ivy and Benner mindfully meditating.  

You see, they both lead with such composure and grace that their peers also genuinely benefit from their calm and focus :)

Thank you for being YOU!!!

GROWTH MINDSET:

Thank you Jonas for sharing Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous words.  This is oh so true!  

If we could all lead with love, then there would be no hate, and the world could be a better place indeed :)

From my heart to yours ... MEEGWICH,

Ms. Gill