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