Good Morning!

How can it be possible that I’m sitting down to write the final blog post of the year?! It feels like yesterday that I was writing the year’s first post!! Well…regardless if I am ready for this or not, the end of the year is here! Thank you for being so supportive throughout the year and being partners in your child’s learning journey. It’s been a great experience whether we met three years ago when I retuned to Montrose, met two years ago when your child entered room 123 or met this year. I feel honoured to be part of every student’s learning experience. Farewell to the families moving on and see you soon to the families who will return in the fall.

Have a safe, relaxing and rejuvenating summer!

Things to Know!!!

-Monday:

-Our amazing artwork is complete, displayed and ready for a gallery walk! On Monday morning we will be revealing the 290 piece of art that have been put on display in the library along with the main attraction…our collective piece!

-The art will be left on display for the afternoon as well because this is the time when parents will be invited to come see what we’ve done (I honestly can’t wait to see/hear/feel people’s reactions). Mr. Stefaniuk’s retirement assembly is scheduled for 2:30 in the gym and afterward parents are invited to join us for some cake in the library and also have a chance to say farewell to Mr. Stefaniuk himself. We in Room 123 would like to thank Mr. Stefaniuk for his encouragement and support for as long as any of us have been Montrosians. He has always believed in our potential and holds high expectations for us all. Once a Montrosian…always a Montrosian 🙂

-We will be doing our final “ketchup” items for our growth portfolios. Anyone who is finished will continue to work on sharing what they’ve learned about their country, helping with tidy up jobs and working on a “promotional video” for our new grade 3s about what to expect in 123!

Tuesday:

-We are planning on going to the splash pad with 122 & 126 in the morning. The only thing holding us back is the weather forecast. If it’s raining we will try again either on Wednesday or Thursday morning. Please send your child to school with a swim suit (or something they can get wet in), a towel and anything you think they will need for the splash pad. If your child does not want to use the splash pad they are able to use the play structure (or both) and if your child would rather read or sketch they can do that instead.

-In the afternoon we will perform our final 4 Robert Munsch plays

Wednesday:

-In the morning we will see what needs to be done and when we are all caught up we will enjoy each other’s company while we still can 😉

-Grade 6 Farewell is at 1:30

Thursday:

-The morning is open

-In the afternoon we have “Meet your new teacher/classmates” for the students at from 1:00-1:30 (ish) and our annual awards ceremony at 2:20

Friday:

-We will be doing a whole school Canada Parade around 10:45 and dismissal is at 11:30

That’s the end of the year for you!!

*This is the idea I mentioned earlier about Summer Writing! I thought it might be a fun way to get students writing over the summer months! I’ll be sending home a note with more details!

SUMMER WRITING BINGO!

Make a list of things you want to do this summer!	Write a poem!	Write out your favourite recipe(s)!	Create a word problem for someone else to solve!	Make a list of some “exciting” “chocolate” or “million dollar” words!  For example: fancy, juicy
Set a goal for the summer!	Write a book recommendation!	Write yourself a reminder for something that you often forget to do!	Make a list of groceries you would buy if you got to do all the shopping!	Make a list of ideas that you have (maybe these could turn into a Genius Hour project for net year!)
Write in your journal for 5 days in a row!	Write a letter to someone and mail it!	Write a movie recommendation!	Write a review about a meal you’ve eaten!	Make a list of 10 words you want to learn to spell!
Write a description of a new type of cereal you would like to invent!	Make a list of questions you have! (about any topics)	Write a description of your house or pet or someone in your family!	Play a word game (like hangman or create a word search, etc.) with someone! You could play it in your journal!	Ask someone in your family to write you a note and then write back to them!
Practice your best printing of all the uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers from 1-20!	Create a comic!	Draw a detailed picture and add labels for descriptions!	Make an invitation for someone (to do anything you want) Example: Invite your dog to watch a movie!	Write out a schedule for what you consider to be a perfect day!

How many of these writing activities can you do this summer? Can you get a line, an X, 4 corners or even a blackout?!

*I’ll also be sending home details about our optional Summer Book Club. Just as a quick reference: July: Shout Out for the Fitzgerald Trouts (book 3)…Grade 4s read the first 2 with me last year. We will read all 3 next year! August: The Problim Children: Carnival Catastrophe (book 2, released on June 25). If you plan on joining us in reading either or both of these books please subscribe to the blog to get email notifications for new posts. If I am able to use Seesaw over the summer I might switch to that, be I cannot remember when access to this current class gets canceled for me.

Okay…I think that is all for now 🙂

Take care!!!

Until next time,

Good Morning and…

To all the Dads out there who do so much for their kids… we thank you! Have a great day!!!

 

Also..Happy Marathon Morning to many of you! I can’t wait to hear about your experience running. Next year I will try to be a more mindful about selecting my personal days so I can be there too. I hope you had a great run (since this post won’t reach you until after you’re done 😉 )

.

Here is a quick overview of this week’s adventures!

-Monday: We are painting (part of the special surprise to come next week!). Please wear appropriate clothing for painting 🙂

-Tuesday: We are headed to Gimli! If you are planning on coming, but haven’t let me know if you are taking the bus or driving please do so ASAP so I can add you to the list. I hope the forecast remains as it is right now!!

Please dress for the weather, pack a nut free and kiwi free lunch and snack(s), bring LOTS of water, have a hat, sunscreen and bug spray (as you require), a blanket or towel to sit on if you like and anything else you think is important to bring. We will have different station options throughout the day, however this is NOT a swimming trip. Have any last minute questions? Let me know!

-Wednesday/Thursday: Throughout these days we will be performing our Robert Munsch plays. There is no specific order and we will only be able to perform when all three classes have common times available. We are asking all students to be prepared with any costumes, scripts and props so they are ready to perform with short notice. At our final rehearsal some of the things we talked about were: staying in character, using a loud voice to project to the audience, where to be when your character is not in the scene and using actions and gestures to portray emotions. The performances will be awesome!

-Friday: We will be celebrating Summer Solstice Day at school! This will be similar to how Field Day or Jelly Bean Day has been run in the past. The forecast is improving for Friday, so let’s cross our fingers and hope we can spend a wonderful day outdoors.

Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors! I’ve watched more basketball in these past few weeks than ever before in my life!!

 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Until next time,

Danielle

Hello!!

We’re down to the final three…weeks of school that is! The end of the school year always brings mixed emotions. We all look forward to a break, yet room 123 will never look the same as it does right now. It’s important for us to slow down and enjoy each other’s company while we still can 🙂

Things To Know!!

-We have the winners of Friluftsliv BINGO!!!

126 won the visit to the splash pad with us!

124 won their choice of a scavenger hunt or obstacle course designed by us!

132 won cookies that will be baked by us!

All classes joined in on the fun, however 126 and both kindergarten classes were the ones who filled their cards and got a “blackout”. After doing the random draw we realized that we wanted all classes to receive a participation prize! We will do a little something special for all the kids involved which fortunately is the ENTIRE school!!

*This means that we will be headed to the splash pad with our 126 friends one day soon. Stayed tuned to Seesaw for a date. If you want to join us please let me know!

We did a teacher version of a challenge as well! For the 30 days we asked teachers to drink their hot beverages in a reusable cup. Ms Solomon won that prize (also by random draw!). Thanks Montrosians for taking steps for making our planet a better place for us to live and learn on!! #BAM

-Our “Forests in a Jar” have inspired our buddies in 124 to follow suit. We will pass on our knowledge to them on Monday! I love that we do much more than simply read with our buddies. We call each other learning buddies because we take the time to teach them things we know how to do. Kids teaching kids is a very powerful way to learn!

-Thanks for helping your children with spelling their unknown “high frequency” words at home. Once we know how to spell these words they be one part of our “No Excuse” word lists. Spelling common words properly should come just as natural as using an uppercase “I” as we write! Writing should be something students do outside of school just as they do with home reading! I have an idea about a summer journal…details to come soon!

-Okay…now for some exciting news for my grade 4 friends!!! AND one day it’ll also be exciting for the grade 3s, but for now they won’t really know what I’m talking about!

Esta Spalding has FINALLY released the 3rd book about the Fitzgerald Trouts!!! One of our friends from last year had it at the park when I was doing Friluftsliv with the 5/6s!!

Does anyone want to read it?! I’ve ordered myself a copy but would be willing to offer a mini book club if the grade 4s want me to! Grade 3s…please do not read it! We will read the first two in the series and this one as well (as long as it’s good!!) next school year. The grade 4s have already read the first two AND we wrote to Esta Spalding and she gave us a sneak peek of this 3rd book!! It was pretty amazing!!

-We will still read The Problim Children Two this summer for those of you who are interested BUT it’ll be more of an August club since the book doesn’t come out until June 25 and we will need to give people some time to get a copy! I’ve already preordered my copy!!

-Congrats to the runners who represented Montrose at this year’s Fit Run at Assiniboine Park. You all did awesome!!! We are very proud of you 🙂

-Our Gimli field trip is just around the corner!! I think we have 8 parents coming! Maybe our families are just as excited as we are about Friluftsliv in the sand! I’m just making up a list of who is driving and who is taking the bus with us, so once you know your plan let me know! I’m also asking if anyone has a special talent or hobby that they’d like to share with us during the field trip. We can offer these options for the kids throughout the day. Ideas so far are: using a compass, mindfulness and painting rocks. If you have something you’d like to offer, let me know! That way I can get any materials that you may require. If you don’t…no worries. We will hook you up with a group or give you a supervision role once we are there 🙂

-We will be building LEGO cars soon and having “races” using forces that attract and repel to “drive” them. I’ve ordered new sets of wheels and axels, but some kids are asking to bring their own in from home. My initial response was no because pieces from home could get lost or mixed up. However, I’ve decided to leave this up to families to make the final decision. If you can label your pieces or have enough that if you make a donation to the class you will be okay,  then it is fine with me to bring pieces in from home. We will be designing the cars at school this week so please don’t make them ahead of time at home!

I think that’s it for now! Have a great evening!!

Until next time,

Danielle

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Families!

It may be my personal days and I’m at the lake, but I can’t help but do a bit of blogging! However I am sitting on the deck with my Mom, throwing the ball for the dog, taking in the sound of the waves as they crash onto the beach and wondering when Layton and Haddie will make their way back here…so my blogging set up is pretty sweet!

If we thought May was busy then June is going to be extremely busy! We are in the final stretch of finishing up projects, assessing what we’ve learned and for some of the students, getting ready to say farewell. I’m looking forward to these next four weeks and enjoying the last time we will have with this version of Room 123!!!

Our Week at a Glance:

-Family life/safety has begun. We are asking that the grade 4 students do not share what they are learning about with their grade 3 buddies and that the grade 3s do not ask questions to their grade 4 buddies about what they are learning. It is best to leave the conversation and questions to  families and teachers during the sessions.

-The 3/4 students are already enjoying the Robert Munsch Reader’s Theatre experience! We will perform during the last two weeks of school, rest assured there is lots of time to practice and get props/costumes. IF students are bringing a script home (optional) they are asked to bring it back to school daily.

-We are doing a lot of review in Math and revisiting some of the concepts we have learned throughout the year to make sure we still understand how to do them. Division is going well and once again, the students who can recall their basic math facts for multiplication are finding that division is much easier than they thought it would be! Practicing basic facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division regularly really helps students’ confidence in math as well as their ability to extend their knowledge and work through more challenging problems.

-We have a very special art project happening at school…one we’d like to keep you in suspense about! Once we get closer to the “reveal” we will let you know 😉

-Our country study has hit a pause….we are hoping to get back to the lab next week and finish up some research so we can share what we’ve learned about countries around the world!

-Our outdoor days were amazing! On Monday the weather couldn’t have been better! A slight breeze, lots of sun and no bugs! Thanks to Murray and Ms V for doing Yoga and Music outside for us too! On Tuesday it was MUCH hotter out! Our “Forest in a Jar” protects with Tamara turned out great! We are so lucky to have had her come in and share her passion for plants with us! I’m hoping that by now the jars have made it home (we used them as inspiration for Friluftsliv writing first!). If not, please remind your child to take theirs home on Monday. I hope you love them as much as we do! I’m going to do my best to care for our class jar…with a little help from the kids and Ginny to keep it alive!

Things to Note:

-Having a hat at school is good practice for these hot days. We try to keep out of the sun, but a hat really helps to keep cool

-We advise the kids to drink lots of water to stay hydrated. If your child doesn’t have a water bottle at school, you might want to consider sending one in so they can refill it as needed (a reminder about taking it home to wash is a good idea too!)

-We have a field trip to Gimli coming up on June 18. I think I have two parents interested in coming with us (which I will confirm). We will send a reminder note home about what to bring etc. closer to the date

-As I was reading through the June newsletter last night I noticed it said Grade 3/4 were going to Assiniboine Park on June 19…that is a typo. We just have the Gimli trip planned

-Our 30 Day Friluftsliv BINGO challenge is coming to an end on June 5! Our class is providing the prizes for the winners so we will need to bake some cookies, set up an obstacle course or scavenger hunt AND head over to the spray park (at a date to be chosen once we know the winner has been chosen). I am so proud of our Friluftsliv Ambassadors in 123 🙂

-If anyone has a “favourite place” video to share with the class please send them in!!!

-I will be sending home a list of words that each student has spelled incorrectly from the Fry wordlists (1st, 2nd and 3rd Hundred). Some of these words may have been learned since those initial assessments, so they may no longer require practice. After each test I have sent words incorrect words, so families were able to practice after the test. I will reassess the students whenever we can find the time (as each student will need to be assessed individually)

I think that’s it for today. The kids are here and ready to play!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Until next time,

Danielle