Dear Families,

Yesterday, we had a school spirit day - sports jersey day!  All staff and students participated with enthusiasm and school pride. The energy in our gymnasium radiated positively and with JOY!  We truly are gifted with such amazing students, staff, and families!  Thank you for demonstrating school spirit everyone, I loved seeing all the different jersey's staff and students were sporting! Check out our class below :)

Can you believe that we’re entering our last week of January next week, wowza!  Time sure flies when you’re having a blast!  Your child truly brings me such joy and happiness daily!  We all continue to think, learn, and grow with each other – an uplifting feeling! 

Speeches:

On Wednesday, our school held the Annual Speeches Competition in the gym.  Students from Gr. 4-8 delivered their speeches to our staff, students, and honourary judges.  I am so proud of Tate and Brock for representing our class; they both did an outstanding job!  You both should be so proud of your achievement as it takes a lot of courage and poise to stand up in front of a large group of people and share a speech.  

Despite my many opportunities to public speak, I still get the jitters and have to compose myself before I have to speak in front of large audiences such as in our assemblies.  I was thinking of you both as you patiently waited for your turn to speak and was sending all my positive energy your way and you did it!!!  I believe this will be a memorable experience for you both and help build upon your growing confidence in public speaking.  Well done!

I am also so proud of our other speakers who delivered their speeches to their peers in our cozy portable.  You too should be proud of your efforts!  Always reach for the stars, and try your best in everything you do!

Character Recognition Assembly:

Yesterday, we honoured and celebrated January’s Character Trait of Honesty as a school family.  Congratulations to Isla and Brock for being recognized for displaying this trait.  Please continue being your truthful selves in and out of the classroom, your actions are making a difference in our school.  I know that your peers admire this quality about you!

February's character trait is INCLUSIVENESS – “We invite everyone to play, we never turn anyone away.”  We are fortunate to be in a school culture that is sensitive to the needs of others – staff and students work together to ensure that we foster a community that is safe, strong, and free.  This being said, as your child’s teacher, I will continue to explicitly model, guide, reinforce, and support inclusion so all my students feel a sense of belonging.

Help Needed:

With the January thaw that we've been experiencing, the surrounding area by our portable is extremely muddy.  We are requesting that students please remain out of these mucky areas for two reasons. First, all this mud comes into the portable upon entry and creates hazardous conditions for walking as it is wet and muddy.  In addition, I would like to help our custodians out by keeping our floors as muddy free as possible. They have asked me to encourage students to try to stay out of the mud to keep our portables clean and sanitary.  Secondly, entering the mud causes students to have wet feet and this sensation is not pleasant.  As a result, some students then request a call home when parents can't always come to school to provide new boots and dry socks.  Providing extra socks would also be beneficial.

If you could please speak with your child about this and help support our school endeavour, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much :)

Math:
This week, I introduced the concept of telling time.  The Grade 3 expectation is to tell time to 5 minutes and to represent time in 2 ways. For example, 4:05 can be said as 5 minutes after 4 or 55 minutes before 5.  The Grade 4 expectation is to tell time to the minute and to understand elapsed time (the passage of time).

Supporting your child at home in telling time in real-life situations would be beneficial.  For example, asking about special times in your day such as dinner time, bedtime, when gymnastics or hockey is, etc .. "What time do we eat dinner?"  If it is 6:35pm, and we eat at 7:00pm, how many minutes until dinner?"  The more exposure to and practice with reading time and thinking about the passage of time will help build this skill.  I have provided course work on Mathletics for students to further practice this skill, please have them visit their account over the weekends. They love it!

Visit from Mia:
On Tues. we had an unexpected but welcomed visit from Mia!!  There was a knock on the door around 3pm during our DPA time, and I was delighted to see my former student.  I asked her to come in quietly and join us for our exercising.  She did, and slowly but surely, students noticed she was back in our class and their faces lit up with sheer delight!  Their expressions were priceless!  I overheard Wesley ask his peer, "Huh, Mia's here?"  It was cute!  We all got together to have a picture taken to capture this beautiful moment.  Even though Mia isn't physically part of our class anymore, she will always be part of our hearts and class family :)

Lovely seeing you again, Mia!

Jack:
Thank you for the wonderful gift when you visited Jamaica with your family.  I am touched that you thought of me while you were away and purchased these sweet magnets.  They'll serve well in our class representing the helper of the day!  Your kindness is cherished, Jack.  Thanks again :)

Growth Mindset:

“Kindness is like snow; it beautifies everything it covers.”

Namaste,

Miss Gill