Oh dear,
I have been lacking on the communication front as of late it appears. I apologize for that. So much has happened and continues to happen in the classroom and out of it, that I have failed to document everything for you. This past week we had a great time visiting the University of Ottawa Makermobile makerspace. Students participated in two unique workshops involving programming & coding as well as design and 3D printing. Students were well engaged and respectful while we were on campus. We also had the huge opportunity to host Ms. Katie from Queen's University's concurrent education program for three weeks. Ms. Katie taught several lessons over the time she spent with us, focusing on a unit on Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. We are thankful to Ms. Katie for choosing to spend time with us and know she'll be an amazing teacher after she graduates. Coming up this week: It's another short week this week, but is also jam packed with learning and activities. Friday we will be participating in our Scientists in the School workshop on "Movement". We are still looking for parent volunteers to help facilitate the learning centres. If you are available on Friday from 8:50am -1:30pm, please let me know ASAP. In math we will be continuing to work on balancing and understanding the meaning of the equal sign in algebra. We will also be applying our understanding of fractions to the concept of time. We will also be integrating money and coin amounts to our work around the clock. Reminders: 1. Library Day: every Friday morning. Please return all books each Friday. 2. Popcorn Day: every Friday (in case of PD Day, Thursday). $1.50 per bag 3. Jump To Math family math night: May 27th 6-8 pm 4. PD Day: June 7th 5. Bike Rodeo: June 11-13; more details to follow 6. Book Fair: June 10-14 Have a great week! Stephanie :)
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WOW, we're already half way through April...where does the time go?!
We are in the middle of a set of short learning weeks with a PD day last week and this week for the Easter Break. That just means we're learning from the minute we get into class until the minute the busses pull away from the curb. Math Update: We continue to refine our skills of creating and interpreting bar graphs. Students are working on using a ruler and appropriate text or displays of their data so that it is clear to the reader the information they are trying to communicate. This week we are diving into the wonderful world of fractions!!! Fractions is one of my favourite expectations to teach (who am I kidding, I love teaching all of the math expectations!). Students will be working with the terminology of: whole, half, quarter, third etc. We will not be working with numerical notation. Language Update: We took off today on a journey that will take us back to "long, long ago, in a far away place" and "once upon a time, there once was a...". Fairy tales will be the focus for the next couple of weeks, but we will be exploring them with a twist! We will be mixing the traditional story telling genre with a comic strip/book style of writing. Other Updates & Reminders: 1. Field Trip Forms- If you have not yet signed and returned the University of Ottawa Makerspace field trip permission form and fees, please do so before May 1st. 2. Book Fair- The Scholastic Book Fair is set up in the library this week. We visited this afternoon to make a short wish list of 1-2 books that would be of interest for each student. Participating in the book fair is totally optional. Students will have an opportunity to visit the Book Fair again on Wednesday morning to purchase an item off their wish list, if they have the appropriate funds. All money raised from the book fair is reinvested into the school library for a variety of books and materials. 3. Outdoor Wear- Now that spring is here, the school yard is a mix of a lake and mud patch. Students are reminded to come dressed for the weather including appropriate footwear (rubber boots), jacket, and splash pants. Having an extra pair of pants and socks in their backpack is always a good idea in case those pesky puddles jump up and get them! ;) 4. Education Week- Save the Dates!!! Education week is a week long provincial celebration of student and teacher achievement and showcase. We will be having two events that parents are invited to attend. Wednesday, May 8th we will be hosting a student art show and community multi-cultural pot luck supper. Friday, May 10th the whole school will be engaged in playing a variety of math games between 12-2 pm. More information will be shared closer to the dates, but circle these ones for now! Have a fantastic week, and if you are travelling over this long weekend, safe travels! Stephanie :) While today was April Fool's, we haven't been joking about all the fun and games (and a whole lot of learning) we've been up to lately. Since coming back from the March Break we've been chasing a cheeky little chap of a leprechaun through a variety of activities. Before leaving tonight, students set up their leprechaun traps to see if we can finally catch him or her for good. We'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!
Tuesday, April 2nd: World Autism Awareness Day- We are all going to show our support and inclusion of everyone with Autism by wearing BLUE on Tuesday. For more information on World Autism Awareness Day visit, https://www.autismspeaks.org/world-autism-awareness-day Language Update: As mentioned we have been working around the leprechaun and reading up on the traditions of St. Patrick's Day. Through all this we have been looking at topics such as synonyms and antonyms, sequencing the order of traps it evaded, answering comprehension questions while using part of the question in our responses and then of course making a list of materials needed to build a trap. We also continue to work on sight words and word family words through a variety of games as well as working through our individualized word and spelling program, Words Their Way. Math Update: As fast as the leprechaun moves, we have been moving between a variety of topics in math. We continue to refine our number sense and flexibility in numbers through our daily number talks. Focusing on using a strategy to solve these mental math questions on a daily basis is essential to building a foundation for understanding the relationship between numbers and operations. We have also been working through a number of activities and problems around the ideas of data management, interpreting the data collected and 2 and 3 dimensional shapes. We are moving on to add units of measurement as we wrap up the big ideas around data management. Other Reminders 1. Library visits are now on a weekly basis, EVERY Friday. Please ensure that your child brings their book each Friday so they can exchange it for a new one. 2. School spirit wear goes on sale next Monday (April 8th). All sales are done online through https://vimyridgeps.peeluniforms.store/ . Deadline to order is April 22. All orders submitted and paid for online will be delivered the week of May 13th 3. Outdoor clothing- please remind your child that while the calendar says it's suppose to be spring, it is still actually very much like winter out in the school yard. Proper outdoor clothing is essential, including boots, jacket, splash pants, hat etc. As well, a spare change of socks and pants would be handy to have in their backpack for those (frequent) times that they "walked by" the puddle and it jumped up and splashed them. ;) 4. Save the date items: - Education week: May 6-10, more details will be shared closer to the time - School Council Spring Fling: May 12, plant sale, craft table (make and take), games, silent auction etc; 8am-2pm - Pedestrian Safety: week of April 8-11 - PD Day: April 12 - Mary Poppins Musical presentation: April 17th in the evening - Book Fair: April 17th in school library As always, if there is anything I can do, please do not hesitate to let me know! We have a number of fundraising and community oriented initiatives happening at Vimy right now. Below are some more of the details.
I hope that you will join me in participating in one or all of these events. Good evening Families,
Welcome to a whirlwind week as we race towards March Break next week! We have so much going on, I may need to cancel the break just so that I can fit everything in...ok, I don't need to get it all done that badly! I explained to the students this morning that if they worked extra hard and got everything done that we have planned, that I would give them next week off...and the parents have approved the week off. They were totally into working hard to have the week off next week! Spirit Week Monday: Pattern Day Tuesday: Beach Day Wednesday: Silly Hair Day Thursday: Throwback Thursday Friday: Pyjama Day Winter Fun Day On Friday, primary students in grades 1-3 will be put into different groups with a least one classmate to engage with our broader primary community in a variety of winter themed outdoor physical activities (weather permitting). The students will be outside for a period of 2 hours from 12:00 - 2:00 pm. Please ensure that they come to school dressed in all of their winter snow gear. This includes: winter coat & snow pants, tuque, neck warmer, winter boots and THICK winter gloves. We also recommend that you send in an extra pair in case they get wet. The students will also have an opportunity to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate (no nuts or marshmellows). If you DO NOT want your child to have hot chocolate, please send me an email by end of day Wednesday. Mardi Gras As a continued learning within the social studies and science curriculums, we will be spending the morning learning about Mardi Gras and the celebration that is unique to the state of Louisiana. As a part of this we will be making our own masks as well as making and eating pancakes. We have been studying the states of matter, in particular solids and liquids. Making and eating pancakes is a perfect connection to taking solids, mixing with liquids that would then transform back into solids. If you wish for your child to not have any pancakes and syrup, please be sure to send me an email no later than Tuesday morning at 9 am. Language Update: We are continuing to explore a variety of reading comprehension strategies through our daily read alouds. This past week and into this week we will be looking at text-to-text connections, and visualization. It is just as important to understand the texts that we are reading as it is to read the words. Math Update: Geometry has been a focus for the last couple of weeks. We have been working on defining shapes by their geometric properties. Thank you to the students and families who completed the 3D shape hunt last week as a part of the weekly homework. Tasks such as that solidifies and applies the knowledge learnt in class in real, everyday examples. This week we are continuing with our mental math strategies as well as focusing on showing our knowledge through our work. We will be balancing geometry and patterning for the remainder of this week. Other Updates & Reminders: 1. Winter Fun Day- Friday all grade 1-3 classes will be mixed up and placed into teams to participate in our annual outdoor winter fun day. Student leaders from grades 7&8 will help lead a variety of physical activities between 12-2 pm. Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately. 2. Library Days- As of this week, we will be visiting the library on a weekly basis, on Friday. Please be sure to send back your child's library book, if they do not already have it at school. 3. Cinnabon Fundraiser- School Council is once again doing a fundraiser, this time it is Cinnabon cinnamon buns. Information and order forms were sent home today in your child's communication book. All orders are due no later than March 22nd. Below is what each item would look like. 4. STEM Materials- We are continuing to collect a variety of materials that we can use for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) tasks in the classroom. Items such as empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, egg cartons, empty large yogurt or sour cream containers, glass baby food jars, empty baby wipe containers. 5. Student Activity Fee- Again, I am asking that if you have not yet sent in your child's activity fee of $20 or contacted the school office to make alternate arrangements, please send the funds in by the end of this week. I would love to book an end of year field trip and possibly another small outing, however without the funds to cover the transportation and entry fees, unfortunately we will not be able to participate. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about anything mentioned above or activities happening at school, please do not hesitate to contact me. Safe and happy March Break memories! Stephanie :) Happy Family Day!
I hope that you have been able to send some great quality time celebrating Family Day today and took advantage of having Friday off for a PD Day. The weather was perfect all weekend and for the Findlay Creek Community Winterfest today. I look forward to hearing how everyone spent their extra long weekend. This week we are jumping right back in with two feet into the mounds of learning. One thing is for sure, no student should ever be bored at school with the variety of activities I have on the schedule each week! Language Update We are continuing our writing bootcamp focusing on writing quality sentences over the quantity. Last week we modelled and wrote together sentences and stretched them out by adding important details around the 5 W's. A quality sentence should include each of the 5 W's around one single and complete idea. Connecting the main idea throughout several sentences is what forms a succinct and complete paragraph. Grade 2 students are expected to be able to write a number of complete sentences centred around one main idea to form a simple paragraph. We are continuing to work on our weekly individualized spelling words through the Words Their Way program. This program is completed solely at school and moves at the pace of each student, therefore targeting each individual need or gap. Math Update We continue to practice our mental math strategies for two-digit addition and subtraction. While a number of students have some math facts memorized and are rote, this does not help them understand the quantity of each number and how the numbers relate to each other to efficiently solve questions. Ask your child about the number talk strategies that we practice each and every day of the week! Outside of the continuous work around number sense, we are inquiring and discovering about 2 and 3D shapes. Naming a variety of shapes and identifying their attributes (sides, vertices, shapes that make up the shape etc.) is a key focus at this grade. Other Reminders & Updates: 1. Report Cards- Report cards were sent home last week in the student communication folder. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to communicate with me. There is no formal time set aside for interviews, however if you would like to request a meeting, please sign and return the slip on the report card and I will do my best to reply with my availability. 2. RAZ Kids- A gentile reminder that each student has an individual and unique account for the online and app RAZ Kids. This was purchased by the School Council for each student to have access at home to appropriately levelled books. It is recommended that students be reading 20 minutes each day at home to continue to acquire reading skills. If you need your child's account log in information again, please let me know. 3. Library Book/Classroom Reading Book- Each student is permitted to borrow one book from the school library every second Friday. Please ensure that your child brings their book back so that they can get a new selection on the week that we visit. As well, each student should have at least one age and reading level appropriate book at school to read on a daily basis. 4. Student Activity Fee- If you have not yet sent in the $20 Student Activity fee for this year's activities, please do so as soon as possible. We would like to book and confirm field trips and activities, however will not be able to if we do not have the funds to pay for such events. Happy Monday!!! Stephanie :) Good evening!
Where has time gone?! If we aren't freezing our tails off, we are digging ourselves out from under the mounds of snow that just keep coming. Who invited winter anyway?! We have been trying to keep our regular routine as much as possible between the deep freeze temperatures and the bus cancellations, but it is proving to be tough to get it all in in a continuous manner. Since the holiday break we have returned our focus to teaching routines and expectations while moving along with the curriculum expectations. Unfortunately today, as a consequence of repetitive, and damaging behaviours, the classroom library has been closed. Students had access to hundreds of books that were appropriate to their age and reading level from my personal book purchases, however due to continuous damage beyond repair and disrespectful behaviours the books are no longer available for students to borrow. Please ensure to send your child's library book back tomorrow so that they have something to read in class. I hope as students mature and understand the importance of reading we will be able to reopen the classroom library to continue our reading journey together. Language Update: We are revisiting a number of reading comprehension strategies before, during and after reading. The strategies include retell, beginning/middle/end, text-to-self connections, and visualization. All of these strategies help us understand what we have read or been listening to because reading is not just about being able to say the words, but to understand what is being said within the context. We have also returned to the basics of writing with a writing bootcamp. We have been working on taking a big topic and narrowing it down to something smaller or more specific. For example, Snow is a big idea or topic, but Sledding with my Family is a much more specific topic that helps us focus our ideas around. Math Update: We have been dabbling here there any everywhere each day between addition & subtraction, place value, placing numbers on a number line, graphing & data management. I have been emphasizing the importance of using strategies to learn our math facts vs memorizing facts that have no meaning to us. By using strategies, students become more flexible with the numbers that they are presented with. Other Reminders: 1. Snow day policy: When bus transportation is cancelled by the Student Transportation Authority, schools are usually still open for students to attend. If you drop your child off in the morning please note that supervision is not available until 9:00 am and finishes at 3:45 pm. Please plan accordingly to pick up your child by 3:45 pm if they come to school on a snow day. 2. Makerspace/STEM items: We have started visiting the makerspace to work through some STEM challenges. These challenges have students use different materials to build, construct and code within small groups. We are often on the look our for materials such as apple sauce screw on/off tops, bottle caps (off water bottles, milk cartons, pop bottles etc.), toilet paper & paper towel rolls, egg cartons, large yogurt, sour cream, margarine, cream cheese, baby wipe containers with lids (plastic ones) and newspapers. If you can collect any of these items and send them to school it would be greatly appreciated. 3. Popcorn & library day this Friday... $1.50/bag and please return the library book in order to be able to choose a new one. 4. RAZ Kids: I hope that everyone is taking advantage of the RAZ kids reading program that School Council very graciously purchased for each student in grades K-6. If you are having difficulty accessing the books or need your child's login information again, please do not hesitate to reach out. I am able to follow each student's progress online and as I learn more about the capabilities I will demonstrate them to students in class. 5. Report Cards: We are in the thick of report card writing season (again)! Report cards will be sent home with students on Thursday, February 14th. I will be in contact with parents via email over the next week and a bit about concerns I have going into Term 2. I welcome your feedback and goals for your child at any point. 6. Student Teacher: We are lucky enough to have a student teacher/teacher candidate starting in our class this week. Ms. Marklew is studying at the State University of New York (SUNY) Potsdam and will be working in our classroom every Friday. I will be working with and mentoring Ms. Marklew though her teachers candidacy over the next 8 weeks. Stay warm...drive safe if you are going out tomorrow. Stephanie :) School Council Lunch Program.
The second session of our lunch program will run from Jan 8 to March 28, 2019 You can submit your orders at https://munchalunch.com. Pizza Day will remain on Tuesdays during 1st nutrition break. Booster Juice will remain on Wednesdays during 2nd nutrition break. On Thursdays we will be offering Subway during 1st nutrition break instead of Pita Pit. The Lunch Lady will continue to be offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during 1st nutrition break All pricing and further details are available on the Munch A Lunch website. The order and payment deadline is January 2, 2019 If you have any questions, please feel free to email Jen at [email protected] Good morning families,
I am sure that you have heard by now, but we have been jet setting all around the world the last two weeks learning about the holiday celebrations and traditions around the world. To date, we have been to Mexico, France, India, Israel and Sweden. We will be leaving Sweden today and heading to Germany next. Students are learning about traditional decorations, foods and celebrations. We have at least another 5 stops in our travels that will land us back in Canada just in time for the holiday break. Yesterday, I sent home information about Raz-Kids e-book learning site and app. School Council has purchased licences for all Kindergarten to grade 6 classes in order to support student literacy skills. Through this program, students will have access to books at their current reading level and will be able to continue through the levels as they acquire new reading skills. Teachers and parents are able to track their progress. This program is new to a lot of staff, therefore we are not fluent in all of the features, but we will be learning as we move along. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask...I may not know the answer but I'm certainly willing to work through the program to try and help. We appreciate and are thankful the financial support from School Council to support our students. Recently we have been going through an unprecedented amount of supplies, especially glue and markers. As well, we have had a large number of student sized scissors go missing. If you find any supplies that may belong to the classroom that have mistakenly been taken home, please just send them back. A few other reminders as we head into the last stretch before the holidays: 1. Outdoor clothes: Please send appropriate clothing for your child to play outside. Snow pants, boots, hats and mitts are strongly encouraged. We are unable to provide new pants/socks/mitts etc. to students who get wet because they have not dressed appropriately. 2. Extended Travel: If you plan on travelling over the holidays and are leaving before or coming back after the official school break (December 22-January 6), you must notify the school office in writing. 3. Holiday Concert: Grade 1-8 will be presenting their holiday concert on Thursday, December 20th at 12 noon in the school gym. If you plan on attending, please ensure that you sign in at the office and receive a visitor sticker. Our class will be singing a song in French with the French teacher. 4. Popcorn Day: Reminder that every Friday is popcorn day. Students can purchase a bag of their favourite flavour of popcorn for $1.50 and have it during afternoon snack. All funds raised have covered the costs for in school programs such as Scientists in the schools. Have a great week! Parents,
A paper copy of this letter was sent home with your child with their personal login and password information. **Only parts of the letter appear below for sensitivity/password information purposes. If you need the information resent, please do not hesitate to contact me. Dear Parent or Guardian: Your child has access to award-winning digital resources through Kids A-Z, Learning A-Z's website created for students. After your child logs in, each website your child's teacher has subscribed to is shown. Your child can work on assignments or select other resources for reading and writing practice. Access resources on mobile devices by downloading the Kids A-Z app from the app store. Data rates may apply. Kids A-Z Login Instructions Step 1: Go to www.kidsa-z.com Step 2: Enter or choose the teacher's username, sranger Step 3: Your child finds his or her username on the class chart Step 4: Your child enters his or her password How to Register for and Receive Progress Reports If you would like to receive activity and progress reports for your child and send him or her messages, you can register for parent access from your child's teacher. Once the teacher approves access, you can view reports and send your child messages by clicking on the parent link at the top of the screen at www.kidsa-z.com. Here are the two options for requesting access: 1. After your child logs in, click on the green parent button at the top right of the screen and enter your email address. 2. Send your email address(es) to your child's teacher at [email protected] |
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February 2020
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