Dear Families,

Despite it being a shortened school week, we had yet another productive learning time! Additionally, we have some exciting upcoming events as well such as an artist visit, community cleanup, and the grade 3's final swim!  Check them out below fresh off of their swimming lesson from Wednesday!

Shared Writing:
Over the past several weeks, I have been teaching and modeling how to write a procedure.  See previous post about procedural writing.  This week, I had students work in partners to write a procedure about the gym fitness workstations we've been doing.  Most have a really good idea about this as they've performed the movements and now I am seeing if they can implement these into a writing piece.  Their goal after this job will then be to write a procedure on their own for assessment of their learning.  Stay tuned!

Guided Math:
One of the most important workstations in balanced math is the guided workstation as it is an opportunity for students to work in a small group with their teacher to build upon their skills and then utilizing these learned strategies and applying them into their independent work. This week, I gave the green and orange groups a math problem and they worked on wipe boards to justify their answers using the 4-Block Method.  I was very impressed with their outcomes!  Here are a few pics of students in problem solving action!  If your child is in the green or orange group, ask them how they approached solving this question.

Math Note:
I sent home a new note about our upcoming focus in mathematics.  I hope you're able to sit down with your child to go over these as they're helpful in learning new ways to support your child in math.

Grade 4:  Your child will be learning about fractions and decimal numbers to tenths and how to use them to describe wholes/parts, and to describe and create sets and areas.

Grade 3:  Your child will be working with fractions.  Students will use fractions to describe parts of a group, parts of a whole, and parts of a measure.  They will represent and explain fractions using drawings.  They will also model and describe mixed numbers.

Art Expo:
Thank you to Mrs. O who has been working so hard to organize this wonderful event for us.  We appreciate your efforts in supporting the Arts in our school.  Please record the Art Expo in your calendars for Wed. May 3rd 2:15 pm to 6:30 pm.  Beautiful artwork from K-8 will be displayed for your viewing enjoyment.  It's an event you won't want to miss!

Yoga Night:
Did you get an opportunity to go to the family yoga night Thursday evening?  I heard it went well and everyone had great exposure to this mindful practice.  The hope is it'll serve as a tool to help maintain positive mental and physical well-being.  

Nottawa Softball Team:
Thank you Jack and family for promoting Nottawa's softball team and encouraging others to as well. If you are interested in signing your child up for baseball this summer, please contact the number provided in the poster (pic) below.  Thank you!

Artist Visit:
On Tuesday, we will have the pleasure of having Sean Dawson return for a visit to our classroom to do some art with the children.  I have such respect for him as he provides thorough and informative lessons that cover curriculum expectations.  Wait until you see what we'll produce!!

Please ensure your child brings in a white t-shirt for Tuesday's visit as we will be using these for silk screening and celebrating Canada's 150th!

Growth Mindset:

"Be AWESOME!  Be YOU!" -Marissa

Namaste,

Miss Gill