Thank you!

Dear Parents,

Thank you for all of your time and support this past week! It was a busy week full of lots of fun filled activities: from a Drumming Workshop to 100 Day to Hoops for Heart to art with our buddy class to Valentine's Day to a Recognition Assembly. It wouldn't have been possible without your support! 

Please enjoy taking a look at our week through the pictures below!

Thank you! 

Jeeniece

Counting our collections of 100!

Time to eat our Gorp Snacks!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Congratulations to the students who were recognized this month 

for their math skills or for displaying self control!

100 Day Gorp Snack Activity

Dear Parents,

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun!

Re: Gorp Snack Activity - The students will count small amounts of each of the snacks of their choice until they get to 100 and then will sit down to enjoy eating their "Gorp Snacks".

As we are aware of nut allergies and specific dietary requirements, we have tried to stay away from nut related items and offer a variety on the snacks list for 100 Day. However, your child's health and safety is of utmost importance to us. Therefore, if you feel that your child will not be able to participate in the "Gorp Snack Activity", there is an alternative option: your child may bring in their own similar mix of 100 snacks forming their own "Gorp Snack" in a ziplock bag or container to enjoy during this activity.

If due to allergies or specific dietary requirements, you choose to have your child bring in their own "Gorp Snack", you do not need to send in 100 of the highlighted food item on your pink form. Please do send me a note or email by Tuesday, February 11th to let me know that your child will be bringing in their own "Gorp Snack" and the name of the food item that was highlighted on your form, so that I can ensure we have enough available for the other students. Thank you very much!

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Jeeniece

Coming up next week

Dear Parents,

Next week will be full of fun activities for the students as we will be celebrating One Hundred Day and Valentine's Day. There is some information below about our plans and about notices/forms.

Near the end of the post, you will find pictures of our workshop on "Introduction to Shakespeare" as part of Bard on the Beach's Classroom workshops. The workshop was led by professional actor Mike Stack and the students had lots of fun!

Thank you for your support!

Jeeniece

Hoops for Heart Forms

Please submit the forms on Tuesday, February 11th! We will be doing the Hoops for Heart events on Wednesday, February 12th. However, as it is the same day as 100 Day, it will be very busy, so we want to make sure all of the forms are submitted on time for the kids to receive prizes without any issues.

One Hundred Day

We will be celebrating One Hundred Day on Wednesday, February 12th. The students will need to bring in some items to allow for us to celebrate 100 days at school. The following information has gone home today.

One Hundred Day

Please bring in all three items:

1. We are celebrating our 100th day of school on Wed. Feb 12th. Students need to bring in a  collection of 100 'somethings' in a ziplock baggy.
2. We would like to collect 100 cans of food to donate to the food bank. So please have your child bring in a can of food.
3. We will be making a gorp snack so students need to bring in 100 of the highlighted food item in a separate ziplock bag/container. 

*Your child should have a pink form (with the same details) that has their food item highlighted in blue.

Valentine's Day

We will be doing Valentine's Day related activities on Friday, February 14th. If your child would like to give a card to the students in the class, they must bring one for each child. I have posted the updated class list below:

Inghean

Will

Nadia

Kiran

Rachael

Jai

Eric

Tasha

Veer

Poppi

Linda

Jacob

Gursher

Mischa

Mathew

Roya

James

Keston

Olivia

Makella

Caitlyn

London

Lucien

Teyah

Shakespeare Workshop Pictures

January Update

Dear Parents,

I have enjoyed getting to know you and the students this past month! I am enjoying working with such a lovely group of children and their supportive families. Thank you for your kindness and support!

I've posted some updates as we start a new month.

Loutet Farm 
Thank you for returning the signed permission forms for photos for Loutet Farm! There are a few that we still need to come in; hopefully, we will have all of the forms by Wednesday, so we can submit them to Loutet Farm on Thursday, February 6th.

Reading
All of the students have improved in their reading ability since September with the continued reading practice both at home and school.  In addition to the various reading opportunities that they have while at school, we hope that you will continue to spend 15 minutes reading (Guided Reading and Home Reading) with your child. I appreciate you recording them on their "My 15 Minutes of Homework" Sheet. Thank you for your time and commitment to reading!

To help some of our readers who are still working on fluency, I have started a levelled Silent Reading program. It will still allow the students to be able to choose their own book to read, but will also include reading a story/book that is at their level. I hope that this will help boost their self esteem and will also provide another opportunity to practice their reading skills.

Spelling
The students have been doing very well on their "tests" on Fridays. They are learning to recognize words on the Word Wall and spell them correctly in our writing exercises…which is great news! Thank you for continuing to practice the new spelling words with your child on a weekly basis!

Math 
Although we will be officially ending our unit on "Addition and Subtraction", both of these topics will continue to be covered in class. Most of the students have enjoyed learning this topic and would benefit from continued review at home. The next unit we will be starting is "Measurement".

Socials --> Science
We have finished most of our Socials unit on "Family, Neighbourhood and Community" and will be starting our Science unit on "Air, Water and Soil".

*African Dance Workshop
We participated in a African Dance workshop today where the kids learned to sing and dance to an African song. Enjoy viewing the pictures and videos!

Recognition Assembly - January

Congratulations to our recognized students today for their excellent musical ability and expression of empathy! 

P.S. Thank you for submitting your photos for our family tree project later this week and speaking to your child about a family tradition/celebration!

Family Videos

Dear Parents,

We had a lot of time with the iPads on Thursday. It was a busy day! We spent the morning making videos about subtraction (using dinosaurs and farm animals to create a subtraction story) which we then presented to the class. Thanks to our parent volunteer Lisa for all of her help at the "Recording Station"!

In the afternoon, we made family pictures using Doodle Buddy on the iPad Minis and then recorded ourselves introducing our families. Please take a look at our videos at the following link: http://www.showme.com/div12

*The first name initial and last name initial has been used to identify each student's video. Enjoy!

Family Celebrations/Traditions & Family Photo

Dear Parents,

The students will be discussing family celebrations/traditions (such as celebrating Hanukkah or a yearly summer trip to Mexico) for Themed Sharing next week. We will be discussing how families can be similar and different. I understand that the class brought in a family photo/drawing and a celebration/tradition related item for Themed Sharing in December; however, as we near the end of our unit on Family and Community, we will be doing a few culminating activities for which your support would be greatly appreciated.

Part 1

Please discuss a family celebration/tradition with your child and write down the main idea on the letter sent home. The students will be drawing a picture about their family celebration/tradition on a puzzle piece and sharing it during their Themed Sharing times during the week of January 27th to January 31st. At the end of the week, we will have a completed "Let's Celebrate Diverse Families" puzzle for the class.

Part 2

If you could please send your child with a family picture, that you are okay with having the faces cut out to make a family tree, that would be fantastic. You can provide a photocopy of a family picture or your child can draw it. Please label on the back/bottom of the picture the various members of the family (ie. child's name, mom, dad, brother, sister, etc.).

Please hand in both parts (Celebration/Tradition main idea & Family Photo)

 by Monday, January 27th. Thank you for your time and support!

Sincerely,

Jeeniece Chand