Week #21: Feb. 5th - 9th
Dear Families,
As a class family, we continue to work hard and have such meaningful experiences with one another. It's truly a joy to be with your child at school to teach, learn and grow with each and every day!
 |
| Smiles all around :-) Blessed am I to be with these kids! |
We have continued our discussions about the importance of Black History and the children are really intrigued and interested in this subject matter. They all have shown a great deal of empathy as I've shared about some of the challenges that many Black people have faced.
 |
Thinking about the feelings of others is so natural for many in this group of children and it makes me oh so proud to be surrounded by them each and every day!
 |
| "I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin, background, or religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to LOVE, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela |
Oh my goodness, I love Mr. Mandela's thoughts and words. How very true! We must join hands to form togetherness. Let us all LISTEN, ACT, and UNITE as a HUMAN RACE. Show care, compassion, and cooperation :)
Your child is the future planet protector and I have every confidence he or she can and will become a change maker to help our world become even brighter, better, and more beautiful.
LANGUAGE & SOCIAL STUDIES:
Over the past while as you know, our focus in language and social studies continues to be on listening, reading and writing about Black History in Canada.
In class, I have been sharing stories, videos, and activities to help my students gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the significant contributions that Black Canadian and Black American men and women made 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 such an important subject matter to teach kids because it gives them perspective about the past and how it's helped shape our current lives.
I've also shared with my class that we must extend our gratitude to the amazing civil rights activists not solely during the month of February, but throughout the year!
HARLOW:
Speaking of gratitude, this week Harlow took it upon herself to celebrate and honour her classmate and friend Margot on her birthday (Feb. 6th).
I did not know about this until Harlow came up to me at lunch and said, "Ms. Gill can you please sign a message for Margot, I want to give her a special card from our class family. She's been so welcoming to my sister and I, she deserves to be recognized."
I immediately smiled and got a pen to write my personal message. This act of kindness speaks volumes to the character driven students I have in this class!
Thank you for taking opportunities to fill a peer and/or friend's bucket!
MARGOT:
Speaking of which, the generosity and thoughtfulness continues to shine and thrive amongst our class! As shared above, it was Margot's birthday earlier this week and this evening she had her party with friends. YAY! I'm sure they had a blast together :)
In lieu of getting gifts, Margot is encouraging everyone to make a donation to the Georgian Triangle Humane Society to help the animals there in need. #livingisgiving
Upon hearing about this, it made my heart soar with joy! Margot and I had a moment together and I shared just how proud and not at all surprised by her actions because she is a 'giver' and acts on opportunities to help others.
She shared with me that she was inspired by Cara in grade 3 when she had her party goers donate to a foundation to support wild gorillas.
This makes me so happy because the children are not only being inspired by the adults in their life, but also their peers! After all, we are all 'teachers' and get help guide others to make positive contributions and to think beyond themselves.
HARRIET TUBMAN:
I have every confidence your child came home this week and shared some of his or her knowledge and understanding of this extraordinary activist :)
If not, that's a-ok, now's a great opportunity to discuss about Harriet's impact with your child.
Harriet Tubman is well known for risking her life as a “conductor” in the Underground Railroad, which led escaped enslaved people to freedom in the North. How amazing!!
She led nineteen different escapes from the south and helped around 300 of the enslaved to escape. Harriet was so successful in helping others to freedom, not one enslaved person was caught.
'Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we're free at last!'
Did you know that the Underground Railroad wasn’t a railroad at all? It was a secret system of railroad terms that were used in helping fugitives escape slavery.
Conductors (abolitionists) would send or receive parcels, dry goods or packages (Black men or women) to arrange destinations (safe houses). Various means of escape were used, by foot or in wagons with false bottoms or physical disguises.
Freedom seekers crossing the border into Canada found refuge in various settlements throughout our province. Many settlements were stop-off places or terminals on the Underground Railroad leading to established communities such as Amhertsburg, Puce, Sandwich, Dresden, Chatham, North Buxton, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, St. Catherines and Ancaster.
Did you know that Owen Sound and Collingwood were the two most northern terminals???
Explore this more by visiting https://www.sheffieldparkblackhistory.com
If you are able to during Black History Month, I encourage you to visit the Sheffield Park Black History & Cultural Museum in Clarksburg, Ontario.
This venue is a wonderful tribute to all the Black Settlers who came to Simcoe & Grey County to find freedom.
MRS. NAISMITH:
To link to our lessons about the Underground Railroad and it's connection to Canada, we invited our secretary Mrs. Naismith to join our class to teach us about how enslaved people used a Quilt to guide them to freedom.
Mrs. Naismith is an avid quilter and she is also very interested in Black History so she connected her two passions together to make a version of a Coded Quilt Map on her own (photo above).
Like coding in computer programming, the quilt maps were designed to provide directions for the enslaved people to read and decipher where to go and what to do. They did not know how to read or write (they were forbidden from an education) so they relied on 'coding symbols.'
Mrs. Naismith discussed the meaning behind each quilt block and its significance. Click the photo below to enlarge.
At the conclusion of our lesson, I had the children select a block (from the quilt) and they coloured it using Earth inspired tones. Ask your child what the name of his or her section of the quilt was and its meaning :)
MARCIA HUBBS:
Today, we had a very special Google Meet with the one, the only Marcia aka Queen M!
She is a prominent Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Activist in our community You can find her beautiful face on the side of Fathom (store on First St.) signifying and honouring her contributions to bring love & light to Black History (and beyond).
Marcia shared with the children her mother's story of facing racism in Canada after she immigrated from Jamaica in the 1950's. The students listened with care and compassion :)
 |
| Thank you Harlow for notetaking during Marcia's sharing her Mother's story. To me, this demonstrates your empathy to the highest degree! |
I have posted Marcia's CBC interview (a dream come true for her) so you may listen to it to learn more about her Mom's journey to fight for equality!
Exciting news! For the second year in a row, Queen M will join our Black History Cafe to vulnerably share her mother's story in person with us all!!
Additionally, she will also share and sing a song she wrote and recorded with her band in tribute for her Mom called The Colour of Her Skin. It will be performed acapella so the children will be the choir singing alongside Queen M, it's going to be AMAZING!
BLACK HISTORY CAFE:
New date alert! To accommodate some upcoming events happening and availability at our school, the new date and time for our Café will be Thursday February 22nd at 9:30 - 11:00AM. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility for this change.
On the day of our presentation, your child is asked to wear a black top and black bottoms. I will provide a colourful bandana to complete the 'outfit.' Thank you.
SCIENCE:
Thank you to all the students for working so hard for the duration of our in depth unit for Habitats & Communities. I am so proud of everyone for putting forth their personal best and coming away with new knowledge and understanding for this unit.
A special shoutout to all the kids who prepared study sheets and did notetaking during my lessons to help set them up for success! This is a skill set that I hope you'll continue to embrace throughout your education and beyond :)
ELLE:
This week, Elle came to school to show and share about a special time for all our Asian brothers and sisters, The Lunar New Year.
She went out for dinner with her family and the generous owner at the Asian restaurant gave her a calendar for us to post in our classroom!!
We have talked extensively in class about the importance of honouring and acknowledging different cultures and their traditions so the kids were excited to learn about this!!
Below is a helpful video that we watched in class which explains how our Asian people celebrate their New Year. Give it a listen to gain a greater understanding of this special event from Annie & Moby :)
KIERAN:
One of the 5 Ways for Well-Being that we've learned throughout the school year is to GIVE. I dearly value and appreciate my students and their families generosity and efforts to help others. It does not go unnoticed and I am very grateful!
Below, you will see Kieran lovingly placing more to our tabs for kids initiative. Thank you for thinking about the feelings of others Weatherall family!
CHARACTER RECOGNITION ASSEMBLY:
Our next character recognition assembly will take place on Friday February 23rd at 9:40AM.
The Kindergarten classes will be leading this one and we look forward to acknowledging and celebrating ALL the children who will be recognized for displaying character attributes in their thoughts, words, and actions ... even when no one is watching!
I will be sure to honour our class' recipients, stay tuned every one!
MAE:
Speaking of displaying character, our very own Mae represented our class family by participating in The Collingwood Legion speech competition last Sunday. I was thrilled to be able to cheer her on!
What stood out to me the most was Mae's demeanour - demonstrating many of the 23 SCDSB Character Attributes most notably courage, optimism, sharing, love, and bravery.
To say that I am proud of her achievement is an understatement, it brings tears to my eyes even writing this post because I felt like any parent would - tearfully overjoyed knowing the child's EFFORTS SUCCEEDED because SHE worked so hard and did have that little bit of F.E.A.R. going into the competition.
Not only did Mae FACE EVERYTHING AND RISE in her character, she also received 1st place and was the youngest speech competitor for the junior division (grades 4-6). She is off to the next level of speech competition in March :)
Way to go Mae, you are a CHANGE MAKER!
SOFT START MONDAYS:
As a school family, we are initiating a school wide 'SOFT START MONDAYS' beginning on Monday February 12th at 9:20 - 9:40am.
Now you may be wondering, what is this & why are we doing it?
Soft Start Mondays are an opportunity for us to nourish and energize our mental health & well-being especially after the weekend when things may be a little more unstructured than a school setting.
It's a chance to kick start the week on a light & bright one :)
We want to provide all our students the chance to utilize the 5 Steps to Well-Being as discussed in the video below. My students are VERY FAMILIAR with this as we refer to it almost daily in our health lessons.
Please listen to the video and discuss as a family. I have provided some 'Coles Notes' below to assist in this discussion.
EXPECTATIONS FOR SOFT START MONDAYS:
Please remind your child of the importance of being attentive, accountable, and active throughout the entire 20 minutes provided.
I assure you, it will help to boost their mental & physical well being for our school day!
1. Connect: connect with those around you - a teacher, peer, or friend and look to spend meaningful time to listen to and talk with them
2. Be Active: look for ways to move your body - you may walk, jog, or run to start your week off to get those endorphins going to energize your mind & body
3. Take Notice: be present in the here and now. Pay attention to the surroundings around you. Notice the sights, sounds, smells, and feel the energy.
4. Keep Learning: as you walk and talk, please take time to think about new skills & information you'd like to understand. Learning can help boost your confidence & self-esteem :)
5. Give: small acts of kindness to other people whether it's your time, patience, words, or a simple smile. The smallest act can help change someone's day to a lighter & brighter one and you will be left feeling the positive vibes too!
WELLNESS WALK:
Speaking of taking care of our mental & physical well-being, this week we went for our wellness walk. It was a glorious experience as the sun shined down on us and we relished in its beauty! It allowed us the time to connect, be active, take notice, keep learning, and give :)
Check us out below!
I continue to be in awe of our "backyard," isn't it magical?! We will continue to do our best to seize and savour our lovely loop :)
PRACTICE YOUR MATH FACTS:
Our focus in math is on multiplication and division. As a youngster, my grandfather used to drill multiplication facts into my brother and I during our summer holidays.
Truthfully, I didn't "love" it at the time, but I soon realized the value in it as it sure came in handy as I entered the older grades when I needed to readily know my 'math facts.'
Of course math is much more than 'memorizing facts,' children need to understand what the equations that they're presented with mean. I do explicitly teach this in class and we're getting the grasp of it.
At home, I do encourage that you please have your child practice their multiplication facts 0x - 12x so these become more 'automatic or known by heart' just like if I asked, 'What's 1+1, 2+2, 5+5.'
Becoming more comfortable and confident in this area of math will surely come in handy as the kids move forward in their educational journeys.
Have your child try out some of these (click below) friendly math games over the weekend. It will help develop and boost his or her math facts for multiplication and division!
Practice Makes PROGRESS!
MINDFULNESS - A LESSON ON DISCRIMINATION:
I really appreciate students and parents actively discussing and taking part in Black History Month at home too.
Here is a great example of it. My former student Evelyn's Mom shared with me the video below.
In it, Jane Elliott a third grade teacher first gave this lesson on April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It’s called the “Blue Eyes - Brown Eyes” exercise, and it teaches a powerful lesson on discrimination.
From this video, we have learned that our words come with severe consequences, both good and bad. But, we can use OUR words to empower and reconcile with our Black & Indigenous communities today.
We must remember the importance of instilling inclusivity and respect for all people no matter their race, culture, or religious background; only then, can EQUALITY REIGN, REIGN, REIGN!
GROWTH MINDSET:
"You'll never get bored if you try new things. There's really no limit to what you can do." - Lucy
We all have great potential, it starts with believing ourselves and the boundless skills/energy we can share with the world!
If we can learn from activists past and present, it is that we must STAND UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN and it supports all humankind.
This reminds me of the great Mae Jemison, the first African American to travel into space. Her famous words were -->
From my heart to yours - Meegwich,
Ms. P. Gill
Comments
Post a Comment