Week #17: Jan. 8th - 12th

Dear Families,

It is with an open mind and heart that I wish you all an official Happy New Year as I haven't been able to see many of you in person yet.  

It was an absolute highlight seeing your child's bright, enthusiastic, and warm smile on Monday!  I am delighted to be reunited to continue our journey of learning and growing :) 

I do hope you continue to access my classroom blog weekly as I will continue to provide detailed evidence of what your child is doing at school each week so that you too can help reinforce learned concepts at home. 

Check out the students below as they diligently transitioned smoothly back to school this week after the winter break, how amazing, I'm so proud!!

As you can see, the kids thrive off of our routine, structure, and high academic based
learning environment :)

Together we HAVE and WILL CONTINUE to make a DIFFERENCE in your child's social, emotional, behavioural, and academic progress!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend!  

SPIRIT DAY:

Thank you to all the staff and students who dressed up in their hats/toques and scarves.  It was wonderful to see all the unique colours, patterns, and logos :)  

Joining in on spirit days provides the opportunity for us all to connect as a school family and show how much spirit (happiness) we truly have!  Way to go Nighthawks :-)

MOVING EDGEucation:

What is it?  Moving EDGEucation is an organization that is passionate about implementing social, emotional, and mental well-being strategies for educators to help students soar, grow, and thrive especially in today's modern digital era.  

Integrating well-being MOVEMENTS throughout the school day is essential in fostering healthy minds and bodies so children and teachers are regulated (calm, focused, ready to learn) to do and be the best version of themselves!  

Today, my students participated in this one day event at our school.  It was a learning and growing experience for not only the students, but more importantly for us educators!   We all danced our hearts out and showed our creativity, spirit, and spunk to strike a pose!

We are all UNIQUE, BRIGHT, BEAUTIFUL, just the way we are:)

Watch this inspiring video below to learn more :-)  

CHARACTER TRAIT:

This month’s character trait is HONESTY – “We will always tell the truth.”  

I have encouraged my students to always tell me the truth even if it's difficult!  It's important for us to be accountable in our thoughts, words, and actions.  By being dishonest, it only makes a problem / situation escalate and get bigger.  

As we say in class regularly, "Every problem has a solution."  And, we truly believe this!  We can always work together to resolve any challenges and/or difficulty your child may experience, we got this!!

Below, I have posted two videos which outline the importance of honesty and how a young 10 year old boy chose to do the right thing.  Give it a listen and enjoy its message, we sure did in class!! 

In this episode of Ellen, we investigate the value of being truthful, 10 year old Nasim found a wallet, and what he did next proved that there is still plenty of good in the world. AMAZING!!!

SPEECHES:

This week during our language block, I have provided students with work periods for their speech.  I made an effort to meet with individuals to provide my feedback to help bump up their work and look forward to meeting with more kids next week!

I am very pleased with the students who put forth effort during their winter break to work on their speech.  It's made a significant difference - your initiative, responsibility and dedication to your academics must be commended!

MATH:

This week, we began our patterning unit.  A math note was sent home in the agenda at the beginning of the week so I am hopeful you had an opportunity to review the expectations.  

To begin a unit, I always provide a Diagnostic Assessment to identify what the students KNOW and what they DON'T KNOW YET!  

After reviewing these, I am then able to provide more meaningful lessons to help meet students varying needs.

Below, I have posted an example of the assessment for you to discuss with your child :)

Midweek, I posed the following patterning question for students (see below) and they worked in pairs to answer it on a wipe board.  

Please ask your child to answer these questions

As always, the children were encouraged to use G.R.O.U.P.S. to be an effective team member.  I am proud of their efforts!  Check them out below as they worked diligently with their group.

KNOWLEDGEHOOK:

This term, we will be utilizing Knowledgehook for our weekly math practice homework.  

I will assign Missions on Tuesdays and your child is responsible to complete the math questions by Fridays.

Most students know how to access Knowledgehook, but I've also provided the link below and our class code.  It is also available on Google Classroom.

To access Missions (math questions) click the link below and then enter our CLASS CODE: 772 032
https://app.knowledgehook.com/app/student/join

HARLOW & HAZEL:

As shared in my previous blog update, this week we welcomed Harlow and Hazel (see photo below) into our classroom community.  As you can see from their bright shining smiles, they've transitioned seamlessly and it's like they've been with us the whole year :-)

You're both so sweet and I am honoured to be your 4th grade teacher!

On her first day, Harlow shared with me, "Ms. Gill, I can tell that I'm really going to love it here because everyone's SO NICE!"  

This instantly filled my heart with joy; I'm so proud of each student for being so warm and welcoming to the girls.  As Maya Angelou famously shared, "People may forget what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel."

Thank you boys and girls for being such caring, compassionate and kind role models!  This truly is a teacher's greatest gift to receive from students!!

Below I have posted an image of the twins chalkboard that they write special messages on.  I LOVE IT!  If you look closely, they even included what we've been learning in class - Growth vs. Fixed Mindset.  

Thank you for embracing and reinforcing this teaching at home and providing this wonderful photograph!  I'm sure it'll help inspire the others in the class :)

Thank you Hazel for gifting me these calming stickers. 
Breathing deeply is truly a wonderful tool to help bring us into the present moment :)

SCIENCE PROJECT:

Students are buzzing with excitement about their Habitats & Communities Diorama Assignment! 

Check out the science groups below who are eagerly and enthusiastically collaborating together, I love it :)

I have now posted all the details, criteria, and examples on Google Classroom.  Below, I have shared some images for you to see as well :)

Your child is working in a group and has been provided with class time, but they are also asked to work with their group members outside of school as well.  One particular group (Margot, Mielle, Jonas, and Ayden) even met up this evening to work on their research, how amazing!

Students have strategically chosen partners which will help them accomplish this :)  

SCIENCE GROUPS – Diorama Assignment

Arctic	Wetlands	Rainforest	Ocean	Forest	Tundra	Desert
Ayden	Mae	Grace	Finn	Kegan	Hazel/Harlow	August
Jonas	Lucy	Elle	Benton	Wyatt	Kaelynn	Michael
Margot	Anna	Danika	Malcolm	William	Molly	Kaleb
Mielle	Cara	Sophie		James	Libby	Kieran

Here are some examples of completed dioramas to help get students started!  Good luck!

 

MARGOT, AYDEN & HARLOW:

Thank you Margot, Ayden, and Harlow for providing more tabs for kids this week!!  I appreciate your time, consideration, and contributions all school year!!

I'm also really thrilled with Harlow and family as they just arrived to Nottawa this week and after reading some previous posts, they were inspired and lovingly made their donation to our water jug.  How thoughtful - thank you, thank you!!

MINDFULNESS:

In class, we regularly utilize positive affirmations.  How you may ask?  Well for example, before students enter the portable at the beginning of the day, I have encouraged them to take the time to offer the helper of the day (who's holding the door open for us) a 4 (or more) Finger Affirmation :)  

They respectfully look at the helper and may say something like: 

• "You are very trustworthy!"
• "You are a H.E.R.O.  Honest, Empathetic, Resilient, Optimistic."
• "You're a CARING friend!"

Please ask your child about this practice ;)  It truly helps fill our hearts and minds to start our day on a positive and uplifting one.

Hazel and Harlow's family have been using positive affirmations in their daily life, check out the photo below!

In their agenda, I've been noticing there is a new affirmation each day and this week we read them aloud together as a class family.  The rest of the kids enjoyed this too!!

We've learned that "Our THOUGHTS become our WORDS, our words become our ACTIONS, and our actions become our DESTINY!"  So it is important to always maintain positivity!

Thank you for sharing your affirmation cards with us girls, we look forward to seeing what new ones you'll have in your agendas next week :-)

GROWTH MINDSET:

Thank you Grace for this week's mindset message!  You're absolutely right, there is NO COST to kindness, let's sprinkle it everywhere like confetti!!

"Kindness doesn't have a price tag on it so let's all show it!"  - Grace

With love, grace, and gratitude,

Ms. Gill