Honesty - "We always tell the truth in our thoughts, words, and actions." Thank you Wyatt for demonstrating this Character Trait last week in your actions! He brought a ziplock baggy to school and said, "Miss Gill I think this belongs to one of my peers, it's not mine, so can you ask the class whose it might be. Thanks." Wonderful Wyatt, you filled OUR BUCKET! Keep being the honest, caring, and thoughtful boy you are!!! Dear Families, I hope you've had a wonderful weekend with your child and found ways to enjoy the fresh air all bundled up cozily. This weekend, I enjoyed celebrating a neighbour's birthday and spending quality time with my friends over yummy sushi :) I love spending wintery evenings with loved ones filling our hearts and minds with JOY & LAUGHTER! SPIRIT ASSEMBLY: Last Friday, we had our school Spirit Assembly! All staff and students participated with enthusiasm and school pride. The energy in our gymnasium radiated positive energy and JOY! We truly are gifted with such amazing students, staff, and families! Thank you for demonstrating school spirit everyone, Mrs. Bell and our schoool's leadership team is working hard at ensuring our assemblies continue to be a positive, uplifting experience!!! MATH: Last week, your child made a "Success Criteria" for their Number Sense & Numeration assessment (we always collaboratively create one prior to a test). Our math "Success Criterias" are made up of "I can" statements with examples that coincide with Learning Goals which assist students to demonstrate their knowledge of learned material. I encourage my students to use their criteria so they can achieve their personal best. Our next Learning Goal for math will be focussing on Measurement. I will be sending home a math note this week, stay tuned and I would appreciate you and your child going over the expectations of this strand of mathematics. Thank you in advance for your continued support in your child's learning! DRAMA: I am very pleased with how we have started this new area of learning! Here it is, before beginning their assigned plays, the class collaboratively developed a Drama Learning Goal with an accompanying Success Criteria. The students will now use their Criteria to strive to achieve our drama goal. I am so proud of my students goal setting! Please ask your child about this process. He/she is now in a drama group and is using class time to rehearse and prepare for his/her performance. I am encouraging the students to bring their plays home to practice their lines with you. Please remind them of the importance of remaining in character, using expression/body language/gestures and projecting their voice so it is heard. I am really looking forward to seeing your child's performance! Keep working hard boys and girls during our in-class rehearsals! WEBSITE OF THE WEEK: Play with numbers and give your brain a workout! http://www.mathplayground.com/ Namaste, Miss Gill PS: I apologize once again for the lack of spacing and pictures (I have pictures!!!) However, everytime I attempt to download them, a JavaError comes up :( I truly do not know why the format for Blogger is acting up. I hope this does not deter you from visiting. I will continue to write and appreciate your support, thank you!

I would like to start off by saying, I am having some technical difficulties with my blog, hence my late post. As you can see the layout is not like my others and I am uncertain why the spacing isn't there and pictures are not inserted. My apologizes and I hope to resolve this issue for next week! Thank you for reading despite this glitch. It means a lot to me. “Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place!” (Thank you Mrs. Roth for this thought-provoking and meaningful quote!) Dear Families, Our first full week back to school after the Winter Break was truly productive and purposeful! We certainly are back in the swing of things with our learning. There were many moments throughout our days that I happily saw your child quietly working at their desk practicing their ‘speech.’ I am just so proud of their efforts for putting in their Level 4 personal best! I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to all the families who assisted their child in preparing for their first speech experience, it certainly paid off. When you child was not presenting, he/she was responsible for providing ‘feedback’ to his/her peers to help their achievement. The students are becoming very aware of acknowledging ‘stars’ (things done well) and goal-setting ‘arrows’ (next steps to improve upon). We will be wrapping up our speeches this week, and I will provide my ‘feedback’ the following week. Stay tuned … Hat Day: Last Wednesday our school had a SPIRIT DAY! It is always lovely to see members of our school family come together and celebrate being a community. There were many creative, unique and fun hats displayed! Our class had a lovely variety, just to name a few – cowboy, fedora, cat in the hat, colourful toques etc … Thank you parents for encouraging and support SCHOOL SPIRIT! Spirit Assembly: It will be taking place on Friday at 2:45pm, just a friendly reminder that all parents are welcome to our ‘Spirit Assemblies,’ it is intended to bring everyone together to celebrate and build upon our school-wide spirit! Our first assembly was successful as we were all filled with lots of enthusiasm and energy! Mrs. Bell and I are working with our ‘Leadership Team’ (Gr. 7-8’s) on Tuesday to finalize our plan for Friday’s assembly. Please remind your child to wear his/her house colour. I’m team YELLOW  Go YELLOW Go! See you in the gym! Prime & Composite Numbers: As part of your child’s ‘Math Bell Work’ last week, you will notice (when you and your child sit down to go over their marked bell work Monday evening) there were questions based on ‘Prime & Composite’ numbers. I did a mini-lesson on this topic, and it was amazing to see some faces light up when they ‘got it!’ Certainly more practice and exposure is required, however, I was very pleased by my students attentiveness and willingness to learn this challenging concept (they seem to always be up for one, terrific). Please ask you child ‘What the difference is between Prime & Composite Numbers?’ In addition, please have them also give you examples of each. HINT: remember to do the’ factor tree’ boys and girls! A special thank you goes out to Dancing Daniel for making a connection to help his peers easily remember the difference between these two numbers. He said, “Hey Guys, think of a ‘Christmas Tree.’ The star at the top is a number. Then you draw Christmas ornaments (balls) to come up with the factors of that star number! Prime Trees will only have two ornaments (1 and itself), and Composite Trees have more than two ornaments, often four or six.” What a brilliant connection and analogy, Daniel! I am so impressed, and truthfully this really helped me too to effectively teach the difference between these two types of numbers! YAY! Keep smiling and believing in yourself and your mathematical abilities! Website of the Week: In class we have used the following website  www.ixl.com/math/grade-4 Students have enjoyed using this multiple-choice based mathematics program. It helps build upon their growing skills. I have encouraged the students to select the areas that we are currently focusing on. For example at this time, it is addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. “The purpose of human life is to serve…and to show compassion and the will to help others.” Namaste, Miss Gill

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it …”

Dear Families,

Wowie!  We certainly have been experiencing quite the weather and climate change, haven’t we?!  Last Sunday, I was sooo excited to finally get back to school and see your child’s bright eyes and smiles only to get up to a snow day on Monday.  Mrs. Czerny (LTO Gr. 4/5 teacher at our school) and I car pool together and we set off in the morning to get to school, but unfortunately, we got stuck in my subdivision as the ploughs hadn’t come by yet.  We didn’t make it in :(  Then on Tuesday, I get up again and receive a phone call from a colleague saying the schools are closed.  I was in disbelief!  Another day of rest and relaxation, but let me tell you I was anxious to get back!  I was relieved when Wednesday rolled in and we had a school day, yay!  I'm delighted to be back and write you all this update to keep you posted on all our exciting learning and adventures in our classroom! 

“Empathy” Recipients:

Empathetic Alexandra, Jakob, and William

Congratulations to Jakob, William and Alexandra for being recognized for displaying Empathy – “We think about the feelings of others” in your thoughts, words, and actions.  You all have worked diligently hard to demonstrate this trait and I am so very proud of your efforts!  Continue to be your best selves in all that you do. 

This month’s character trait is HONESTY – “We will always tell the truth.”  I have encouraged my students to always tell me the truth if they're experiencing a difficulty. Being dishonest only makes a problem / concern escalate and get bigger.  I look forward to reinforcing honesty is the best policy throughout this month through books, media presentations, and student action!  I am delighted to say, our class is filled with trustworthy students, how blessed we all are :)

Speeches:

For the next two weeks, your child will have the opportunity to share his/her speech in class.  I am really looking forward to hearing them all. Thank you to all the families who have guided, mentored and helped your child with this assignment! 

May Black:

Last Thursday, I invited my former student May Black to come into our learning community to help inspire the students with their speeches.  Last year, May wrote and delivered her speech on “Being Tall,” it was sensational.  She was selected by her peers to move on to the gym!  Many students in this year’s class remembered May’s speech, she definitely left a remarkable impression J  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you May for taking the time, energy, love and passion to help your younger peers.  Your dedication, commitment, and hard work are deeply valued and cherished.  You set a positive example, and I know many of my students look up to you and enjoyed having you in our class.  Thank you from our hearts to yours!  I respect and think of you often, it was an honour to be your Grade 5 teacher. 

Here are a few pictures from May’s visit:

Magnificant May ready to share :)

Check out May's homemade prop for her speech :)



Listening Attentively to May's speech



From OUR HEARTS to yours - Thank you May!!!

  

Library & Gym:

This is just a reminder that we have Library on Day 3’s and Gym on Day 3/4.  Please ensure that library books are returned on time, if your child requires extra time, please let me know and we can extend their books.  Also, if students would like to bring gym attire (shorts and a t-shirt) to school, I encourage this as we do rigorous physical activities and wearing the proper footwear/clothing is beneficial.  The students are thoroughly enjoying our Cooperative Games Unit, all participate with full enthusiasm, effort, and care.  It is a pleasure teaching gym to my students as sports / coaching are another passion of mine!  Keep fit!  Have FUN!

Website of the Week:

In Social Studies, we have been focusing on Canada’s Regions, Provinces & Territories.  The students are working towards learning the parts of Canada, and our Great Lakes.  I taught them a quick and easy way to remember the Great Lakes. 

Think of “HOMES” the acronym J

H – Huron

O – Ontario

M – Michigan

E – Erie

S – Superior

I learned this from my Grade 4 teacher Mrs. Boucher at Connaught Public School :) She is such a compassionate, loving, and amazing educator.  She continues to inspire me everyday in my teaching and life.  

Also, please check out these sites below about mapping – Enjoy!

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids-world-atlas/games.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/World_Continents.html

http://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/ocean-facts-for-kids.html

“Do little things with great love.”  Mother Teresa

Namaste,

Miss Gill

  

“If you can dream it, you can become it.”

Dear Families,

It is with a warm and open heart that I wish you and your family a Happy New Year!  I hope you had an enjoyable holiday with all your family and friends.  The highlight for me was spending Christmas Eve with family, we always have such a wonderful time when we’re together sitting around the living room talking and laughing.  We all lead such busy lives, but the holidays are a time to stop, listen and think about your loved ones.  I am very blessed to have such caring, loving, and amazing friends, family and students.  Speaking of which, I have missed seeing your child’s enthusiastic, warm, and beautiful smile over the holidays and I am delighted we’ll all be reunited and get back into our daily routine of fun and learning!  I have a feeling that families are looking forward to and welcoming the start of school too J 

Thank you families for your teacher gifts!  I really appreciate you taking the time, energy and love for thinking of me.  I have cherished each and value them all very much.  The greatest gift I have received this year is having your child in my class!  It has been a tremendous year thus far, and I look forward to creating many more beautiful memories in 2014!

Character Recognition Assembly:

Congratulations to the students in our school who are being recognized for demonstrating December’s character trait of Empathy.  There is an assembly Jan. 6^th at 9:15am to celebrate these students.  I will be certain to take a picture of our class’ recipients and post on my next blog update J Our classroom is filled with character on a daily basis and this brings me such joy and happiness!

Artist Visit:

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thank you to all parents who supported our artist visit, it was a remarkable experience!  We had the pleasure of having Mr. Sean Dawson visit our classroom on the last day before the winter break.  It was clear to all of us, Sean’s passion, dedication, and love for art radiated from the moment he stepped into our room until the final stroke of his paint brush.  He had the students explore various watercolour techniques and produce a landscape painting that illustrated foreground, middle ground and background, creating the illusion of depth.  It was truly amazing to see all my students thoroughly engaged, having fun, and producing some brilliant paintings! 

Here are some pictures of our time with Sean J

Sean Dawson sharing his passion for art

William's table group poised, focused, engaged!

Eagen's group creating their level four personal best!

Here are some individual pictures of our artists with their watercolour winter landscape ... 



Eagen

  

Alexandra

  

Alexander

Mikaila



Jakob

  

Anjoli



Josie

 

Jax



Paige



Izzy



Bradley



Carrie-ann

 

Owen

 

Eryn

 

Steven

 

Grace

  

Julia

 

Ryan

 

Wyatt

 

Trista

 

Daniel

I am so proud of our little artists and their paintings.  Students will be writing “Artist Statements” and they will be bringing home their pieces (February) for you all to enjoy and cherish.  For further information, please visit Sean’s website to see his passion for art and his creations:

www.swd-art.com   

Website of the Week:

For Students

Practice multiplication with an interactive times table.  Check your progress with online quizzes, and then review what you've learned with fun, online games.

http://www.multiplication.com/

Quote:

“The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.”  Thich Nhat Hanh

Namaste,

Miss Gill