“If you can DREAM IT, you can ACHIEVE IT!”  -- Walt Disney

Dear Families,

YAY!  Another beautiful weekend full of sunshine, how blessed we all are!  On Friday evening, I went to the city to visit my dear friends in Vaughn for dinner and a catch up.  Next, I attended a 1^st birthday party (so adorable) on Saturday morning, and then later that afternoon, I went downtown Toronto to see a TFC soccer game (YAHOO)!  I was so happy because Toronto ended up winning 1-0 vs. San Jose.  I love when we beat the States.  Although I’m competitive by nature in sport, please don’t worry; I encourage my students to always be sportsman-like when competing in sports.  Perhaps some of you are aware, if not, soccer is my favourite sport J  I know that many of my students share my enthusiasm for soccer.  It is great way to get in physical exercise.  Speaking of which, the WORLD CUP begins this Thursday in Rio, Brazil!!!  Ohhhh, I can’t wait to watch the matches J  Finally, I came home Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a yummy BBQ with my neighbour and attended a 91^st (I know!) birthday party in the evening.  It was definitely a fun-filled, BUSY weekend!  Hope yours was eventful too!  Also, I would like to acknowledge the new, dazzling hair-cuts in our class today: Wyatt (gel-ed up), Julia (shortened adorable cut), and Alexander (spiky mohawk)!  You all look wonderful in your ‘new do’s!” 

Character Assembly:

This morning we celebrated last month’s Character Trait Respect.  Congratulations to the following recipients –  Izzy & Eryn!  Thank you girls for always striving to demonstrate respectful behaviour towards your peers, teachers, and family.  We’ve learned in order to get respect we have to give it.  The Golden Rule:  “Treat people the way you want to be treated.”   

Primary Play Day:

On Wednesday (11:30am-3:00pm), students in K-4 will participate in Primary Play Day!  Many have schema for this, so when I share this news with my students tomorrow, I know they’ll be EXCITED!!  It is an opportunity for all to enjoy numerous FUN-FILLED games with their peers J  The Grades 5-8 students will be leading groups around to the various stations, as well as organizing, and conducting the events.  I adore seeing the junior and intermediates partake in this Day, as it’s an opportunity to be a mentor and inspire younger students.  They did an amazing job during our Olympic Day in February and I have every confidence the same will be done this week!  Unfortunately, I will not be in attendance as I will be taking students to SCI (Stayner) for the Area Track & Field Meet.

Track & Field:

As mentioned above, on Wednesday morning, I will be taking various students from Grades 4-8 to Stayner Collegiate to compete in the Area Track & Field meet.  I did this last year, and I can assure you, it’s so fantastic to see students from all over the area come together to compete!  I would like to wish the following students from our class the best of luck as they represent our Grade 4 team: Wyatt, Alexander, Grace, and Eryn!  Good luck you four, I know you’ll do well!  All that matters is putting in your personal best and to have FUN!!!  We are so proud of your accomplishments J         

Inquiry Presentations:

The highly anticipated presentation is finally upon us!  Students have been working so hard to meet this deadline.  This week (Thurs.) and into next week (Wed-Thurs.), students will present their final product for their Ancient Civilization Project to their peers and teacher.  Many students have created plastacine models, PowerPoint’s, dressing up, and poster boards to share.  Ms. Hartley and I are very excited to see their pieces.

Dance Routines:

Last week, Daniel shared a ‘Tap’ dance routine to his peers and I can say with such delight, he helped inspire MANY from this experience for our Dance learning coming up!  I wish I could share the video of him performing, it truly is spectacular!  Daniel has a passion for dance and it shines through his toes to his soul.  Well done!!!

Now that every music group has presented their song with their homemade instruments (which they performed beautifully), students are working in their same groups to come up with a dance routine to their selected song choice.  Today as a whole class, students established a Learning Goal and accompanying Success Criteria for Dance.  Thank you to Grace for recording your peers thinking / ideas on paper! 

Here it is:

Dance Learning Goal:  We will make a dance routine to accompany our group's song choice.

Success Criteria:

1.       We can work cooperatively in our group and stay on task.

2.       We can memorize the dance steps to our routine.

3.       We can perform our dance with enthusiasm.

4.       We can come up with creative dance moves for our song.

5.       We can practice in a safe manner.

6.       We can give feedback to other groups (stars and next steps) to help their achievement.

PLEASE NOTE:  ********* The expectation is that students use the established Success Criteria to help them effectively achieve the Learning Goal J 

“THINK before you speak: Is it true?  Is it helpful?  Is it inspiring?  Is it nice?  Is it kind?”

Namaste,

Miss Gill