Sept. 4-8

We've had a wonderful start to the school year, and the students were troopers in the heat! We've spent the week getting to know each other, and participating in meaningful activities. We established our class agreements, which are:
1) Attentive Listening
2) Mutual Respect
3) Appreciation/ no Put- downs
4) The Right to Participate and Pass
5) Safety First
Please ask your child to explain these agreements to you!

In math we began with Jo Boler's week of Inspirational Math. Students have learned important lessons, like, there is no such thing as a "math brain" and that everyone can learn math. To learn more about Jo Boler, go to this link: https://www.youcubed.org/week-inspirational-math/. We also played multiplication bingo to refresh our memories on times tables.

In language, students wrote letters to their future selves. I will give these back in June so that students can read them. We also held a "funeral" for all our "I cant's" and agreed to change our language to "I'm learning to..." We began a language and visual art project. Students wrote an "I Am" poem, using positive adjectives to describe themselves. They put this poem on watercolour paper, and will used mixed media to bring it to life as an art piece.

We also spent a lot of time talking about the importance of attentive listening, and how we can work effectively with others. We created class success criteria for working together, as well as class norms.

Finally, we started a meditation program on the website calm.com. We are doing a program called "& days of calm," which teaches how to meditate. The students are finding it challenging, but relaxing. I'm hoping that they will continue to use it as a tool this year and in the future! Here is link to that site if you'd like check it out: https://www.calm.com/program/qK3IeqhiJP/7-days-of-calm.

Important Upcoming Dates:
Thursday, Sept. 20: Curriculum Night
Friday, Sept. 21: Terry Fox run

Homework:
1) Read for 20- 30 minutes daily at home.
2) Bring in the book that you are currently reading on Monday. Also bring a favourite book if you have one to share with the class.
3) Practise the 2 times tables and work on memorizing them.