Tuesday, November 12

Welcome back! 

I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend! 

We certainly wasted no time in getting back to our studies. Firstly, we began our day with Ignite, as is the norm. However, those of us in the Winter group with Ms. Disher had a baby visit for our Roots of Empathy program first thing in the morning. That's never a bad way to start the day, now is it. We followed up our morning activities with Phys. Ed. and Health where we learned about ways to control our emotions when we get really upset. Ask your child to share some of the ideas we brainstormed with you!
We then had a read-a-loud. Over the last week, we've been reading Nick Bland's Bear books. Each book tells a fun little story about a bear written in traditional rhyming schemes. As we read these books together, we've been picking out the rhyming pairs we hear and collecting them. We'll use these rhymes to study spelling patters in various word families. What fun!
After a movement break out in the slushy snow, we had a period of writing. It was then time for lunch.
In our Math class, we began work on the new "Shapes" unit. We worked on refreshing our memory with some 2D shapes recognition and learned about the various attributes for each of these shapes. We then had the first lockdown practice of the year. Finally, in our Inquiry studies, we began work on our "Heart Maps". These are "maps" that plot out all of our passions and interests. This work will be part of a larger project that we are working towards.

Friday, November 6

A happy Friday to you all! 

Today was an exciting day! We began our day with Ignite, as usual. After that, we rehearsed our assembly. Always a good idea to practice before the big show! After practicing, we went outside and had so much fun because, oh my goodness, it was such a beautiful day! We returned inside and got ready for the big performance. The seats filled and the lights dimmed, and we had ourselves an amazing peace assembly. This year, the Peace Pod had the honour of doing the Remembrance Day ceremony and we did a wonderful job.

Remember, no school on Monday! 

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Today we had a great day and feel ready for our Remembrance Day Assembly.  We have asked students to please try to wear red, black and/or white if they have clothes those colours.  

During our morning, students spent time reading "Wishtree" with Mrs. Kinsman and created some beautiful drawings while listening to reading.  We then played fun games in gym.

Mr. Kai taught us how to G-U-M it when we are working on writing to help us become more independent writers.  G-U-M stands for G-guess the spelling-stretch it out, U-underline the word and M-Move on-get your thoughts out.

In the afternoon we had our Math groups and practiced our Assembly in the Gym using the risers and microphones.  We look forward to seeing you tomorrow at 10:45am. 

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Today we tried something new during our Literacy time.  We have been exploring the important individuals within our school community.  We generated many questions that we could ask in order to learn more about them.  Today a few students interviewed one of our wonderful student teachers Ms. Rau.  We used her answers to create a Journal page about her.  We worked on building interesting sentences while using capital letters and periods.

We also worked on Building words with the letters M-U-N-K-I-P-P.  We built a variety of words and some students quickly solved the magic word.

After lunch we enjoyed Fireside Mindfulness to warm us up from a cold play outside.

In Math, all students worked on building and representing numbers in a variety of ways.

We ended our day with some amazing Assembly preparations.  All students in Peace Pod have worked so hard practicing their important parts and performing in a respectful manner.  It is coming together so nicely and we hope to get into the gym tomorrow for our final touches.

Reminders:
-Please ensure your child's belongings are labeled.  When the weather is cold, many things come to school and we have many items being left behind at the end of the day.
- Remembrance Day Assembly 10:45 am Friday, November 8

Stay warm and see you tomorrow!

Wednesday November 6, 2019

Reminder: We have book truck coming tomorrow so please bring your books to exchange from home.

Today we had Roots of Empathy: they talked about loosing teeth and read a story about it, they shared stories about the first time they lost  a tooth.

Today in gym we had a student teacher who works with Mr. Der. lead the lesson.  They worked on team work tasks.  Several tasks used hula hoops.

Our student teachers read all the season groups a story about Remembrance Day.  Ask your child about the story they listened to.

Math:
Today Ms. Disher's group reviewed the names for the place value base ten blocks (unit, rod, flat).  We played a quick matching game where students had to match a number with a picture of base ten blocks.
Mr. Kai's group practiced finding numbers on the number line.
Mrs. Bates' group reviewed basic vocabulary for place value for numbers to 100 and beyond.

Writing: Today students worked on finishing their Halloween writing, Friendship Journals and brainstormed ideas for interview questions to ask our school community members.

Ask your child about the gym tasks they did today (hint: see above and the picture below)

Have a safe and warm night!
The Peace Pod

Tuesday November 5, 2019

Good morning everyone!  Just a quick note to check the Monday Connect newsletter for information on our upcoming Peace Assembly and the Peace Poles that have been installed.  Yesterday's blog message included information regarding our assembly this Friday.  Just to clarify, yes parents/families are welcome/encouraged to attend.  We hope to see you there!

Have a fantastic day!
The Peace Pod

Monday November 4, 2019

I hope you had a fantastic weekend and Halloween (if you celebrate).  We hope you all were able to access your child's Power School to see their comments for the math goal.  Today you should be able to view the next goal which is around Language Arts-writing.  If you are unable to access Power School, please let us know so we can help you.

Our assembly has been confirmed for this Friday, November 8th.  We will be starting right at 10:45.  It should run about 30 to 45 minutes.  If your child has a uniform from Sparks, Brownies, Cubs, Scouts, etc., they are welcome to wear their uniform that day.  As well, kids in the assembly, if they can wear black/white clothing would be appreciated (if possible).

Today in Math groups we started to work on place value and the concept of place value.  This is part of the number sense program of studies.  We started with a game called The Place Value Path.  Ask your child about this game.  If you go to the website www.abcya.com, there are lots of games and resources on place value that you can use at home with your child (it works best on a laptop over an Ipad).

Please check the blog from last week for the information you need on the Home Reading folder that went home last Wednesday.

From the Peace Pod
Have a great night!