Week #18: Jan. 15th - 19th

Dear Families,

The colder temperature and snow's decided to stay so I imagine many of you will spend some time outdoors participating in winter activity that your family is fond of such as skiing/snowboarding, hiking, tobogganing, building structures in the snow, playing hockey, etc.  

Whatever you decide to do, seize and savour each moment with your loved ones :-) 

If you'll be out on the roads, please be safe as it's been blustery.

JANUARY KINDNESS CALENDAR:

With the new year upon us, every day's a GREAT DAY to begin building a new routine which means including intentional moments of kindness, laughter and delight.  It also means taking a moment to enjoy and recognize when those things are happening.  

Kindness starts with one.  One smile.  One compliment.  One cup of coffee.  One conversation.  

Let’s lift the "fog" and make kindness the norm!!

#MakeKindnessTheNorm

As always, I encourage your child to select as many acts of kindness from the calendar this month and try them out :-)  

I bet they'll feel just as good (if not more) as the person(s) receiving that kind act :)  

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY:

Did you know on Monday, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day?  It is a day for everyone to honour the life and legacy of this remarkable civil rights activist who helped thousands stand up for the equal rights and treatment of all people.  It was his mission to end segregation and he did with the help of the beloved Rosa Parks.

Take a minute to check out the video below, we watched it in class to give us an introductory lesson on Dr. King's remarkable impact.  It is child friendly and provides important information about this extraordinary civil rights activist.  

After watching the video in class, we took the time to think about and reflect upon the following:

"Write about a dream that you have for making our country a better place."  

I shared Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech from the read aloud Lucy's holding. 
The paintings in it are tremendous!!

We brainstormed many meaningful ideas and the kids produced some of their best writing!  Check them out as they worked hard in class to complete this, so heart warming to say the least :)

I was so moved by their thoughts and words, and have every confidence they will put these into their actions!!  Check out some of the examples below :)

These completed sheets have come home in the agenda so please take time over the weekend to admire these.  Many are so proud of their messages.  Some children have been provided examples to finish up their pieces so please encourage them to do so.

Below I have posted Martin Luther's King Jr.'s most famous speech and it brought tears to my eyes.  Please give it a listen.  

As an educator, I look up to Dr. King and will always do my best to pursue my dream which is to help children grow not just as students, but more importantly - as people (the best version of themselves even when no one is watching).  

BLACK HISTORY PRESENTATION

Exciting news everyone, get out your calendars!  Our class family will lead a very special Black History Presentation for our families in the library (like Stone Soup) on February 28th at 12:00 - 1:15PM.  Yes, that's right!

It will be an opportunity for us to show, share, and celebrate the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion!

My 2019 Grade 3 Class' Black History Assembly

As the month of February approaches (Black History Month), the students and I will be working hard in class to help prepare for this oh so meaningful event!  

Please stay tuned for more details coming your way!!  Our presentation will be an experience you won't want to miss and one that we'll all fondly remember :)  

As always, it is important to me to explicitly teach, model, and emphasize equity, diversity, and inclusion in my daily teaching, not solely in February for Black History Month.  

SPEECHES:

Did your child come home and share about our Google Meet with Mrs. Shaw's daughter Sydney?  If so, I am sure they happily shared how wonderful it was!  

We even got to interact with Sydney which the kids loved!

Mae

Harlow

Mielle

James

Below, I will post the various photos I took of Sydney's tips & tricks to effective speech writing and presenting.  You will also see how engaged and respectful the class was as an audience member, so proud!

I have every confidence with Sydney's example, feedback from parents, peers, and myself - students will rise to their potential and I can't wait to watch, listen to, and admire the speeches to come!!  Thank you for working so diligently hard at home and at school every one!

Remember to practice over the weekend and use Sydney's tips & tricks as well as the success criteria for oral presentations provided. 

THE BUDDY BENCH:

Buddy Benches were invented in Germany in 2014 to combat loneliness and bullying in schools. Sometimes called a friendship bench, these benches are provided on school playgrounds as a way for students to signal to others that they are feeling lonely and isolated and need a friend to play with or someone to talk to.

I shared the story called The Buddy Bench in class, please ask your child what it was about and what the author's message was.  

Thank you Mrs. Johnson for buying this book for our library

Here at Nottawa, we have two Buddy Benches for the children to access. One is outside on the playground and the other is in the Rotunda.  I've met with kids on the latter bench before and it's been a useful tool to sit, think, and reflect with a child about their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

We encourage children who may not want to use their voice and if they're feeling lonely or want a friend to connect with to use the Buddy Bench.  Everyone needs someone to lean on from time to time and we're here to help :)

MATH:

This week, we spent some time working through a 'patterning' & 'money problem' (see image below) using the 4-Block Method (graphic organizer). 

After UNDERSTANDING the problem, I encouraged students to work with a partner that they never have collaborated with before.  It's important to step outside our comfort zones and work with someone new because we never know what we can learn and how we can grooow :)

This worked out well and most groups were accountable (staying on topic) and effectively solved this problem.  Together everybody achieves MORE!  

Students are encouraged to use teacher and peer models/feedback (see picture) to help bump up their solutions and to grasp a deeper understanding when solving multi-step word problems.  Please ask your child how he or she solved this problem.  

A similar math problem will be presented next week and your child will be expected to solve it independently for evaluation.

Way to go Harlow & Margot sharing your mathematical thinking!

Example #1

Example #2

SCIENCE:

Students continue to buzz positively about their diorama projects!  More groups (Benton, Malcolm, Finn & James, Kegan, William, Wyatt) are meeting this evening and over the weekend to work on this assignment, I love everyone's dedication :)  

As the popular saying goes - WORK HARD, PLAY HARD!

Class time has been provided and you can check us out in science action below as we prepare our Google Slides and organizing pieces to the diorama.

Diorama & Google Slides Due Date:  Thursday Feb. 1st  

James, Kegan, William, & Wyatt

Elle & Danika

Mae colouring a cat tail for her Wetlands

Margot, Mielle,& Ayden

Finn, Malcolm, & Benton

Molly, Harlow, Libby, Kaelynn

August, Kieran, Michael, & Kaleb

Cara & Lucy

Sophie & Grace researching their hearts out

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOPS:

Here's a program that deeply resonated with me and I think is magically magnificent for our youngsters! It brought me such excitement :-)

I came across it last weekend and I believe it will be impactful as it aligns with the key teachings within our classroom such a building resilience, having a growth mindset, learning from failure, mindfulness, fostering gratitude, and goal setting (stars - recognizing our strengths & arrows - improving upon our needs).

Wowie, what a great reinforcement and opportunity to learn all these empowering strategies!!

If you would like your child to participate and/or know of anyone who may have children who would benefit from and enjoy this, please sign up & pass this along!

MALCOLM & FINN:

Here are two very proud Collingwood Lightning Hockey Stars! Last weekend, Malcolm and Finn participated in a tournament in Peterborough. Their team came out on top and both boys contributed their athleticism to help their teammates to victory.

What makes me even prouder is the manner in which Malcolm and Finn (and their teammates) conduct themselves on and off the ice.

Thank you for displaying sportsmanship at the rink and being dedicated to your education completing all assignments prior to your tourney. I am honoured to be your teacher :)

Best of luck with the rest of your season. I'm sure I'll catch another game or two at Eddie Bush!

JONAS:

Earlier this week, Jonas shared with us an activity that he completed after his dinner. He said to his Mom, "Can you email this photo to Ms. Gill, I know she'll like it." OH MY, YES I DO :-) Check it out, it's all about thinking about ways to make the world a better place :-)

Jonas happily shared his ideas for the class and it helped inspire us in our writing this week!

The impactful quote and rap (video) inspired by Mahatma Gandhi (see below) reminds me of our Jonas and how he is living his life. He is the CHANGE we wish to see in our world!

For many of us in the class, Jonas is a H.E.R.O. - Honest, Empathetic, Respectful, and Optimistic!

Thank you Jonas for reminding us that it is up to us and our youngsters to make a difference not just for our generation, but for 7 Generations to come. After all, we owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to those before us who helped shape and pave the way so we can now live in peace, harmony and democracy.

ELLE:

Elle came to school on Wednesday morning and said, "Ms. Gill, I have some extra cue cards for anyone that may need it for their speech."

These cue cards will come in handy as we continue to prepare our speeches

Here is another great example of Empathy in Action - 'Thinking about the feelings of others,' a trait that is so valuable! Thank you Elle for being so thoughtful, generous, and kind! Your peers and I appreciate it!!

MINDFULNESS:

Please check out the image below.  Ask your child, "What do you notice?  What does it mean to be MIND FULL vs. Mindful?"

Mind FULL is future focused whereas being mindful is 'now' (present moment) focused. 

Mind FULL adds two items to your to-do list for each one you check off.  Mindfulness let's you enjoy one moment, task or event at a time.  

Which will you choose?

GROWTH MINDSET:

Thank you Anna for sharing this week's mindset message!

"When they go low, we go HIGH." - Michelle Obama

I admire Michelle Obama and her advocacy for education for all and standing up for what is right. Don't stoop to the level of hatred, rise in love and peace will be found :)

In this 0:54 video from Time, Michelle Obama, she shares her famous words.

Respectfully,

Ms. Gill