Tag Archives: kindness

And Just Like That…It’s June!

Hello Everyone & Happy Saturday!

Last week seemed to go by impossibly quick! Sadly, I think that is going to be the norm for the remainder of the school year 🙁

Here is what happened lsat week at school and what will be happening this week!

Book Clubs: The end is near! We have a work period on Monday, a rehearsal for our presentations on Wednesday and then our final presentations on Friday! We will be making some final decisions about how to proceed with our Drama sessions and then let the kids know what to expect!

Math Groups: We are working on fractions and how we use fractions in our everyday lives! We are counting by 1/2s, 1/3s, 1/4s and 1/10s and also doing compatible fractions. For example: If I ate 1/2 of a pie, what fraction did I not eat? (In other words what fraction do you need to get to one whole). Or 4/10 of the kids in the class were away today, what fraction of the kids were at school? The progression of compatible numbers continues! First we needed to learn compatible numbers (number pairs) to 10, then 20, then 50, then 100 and now fractions!

Mathantics Fractions are Parts

IF you are still challenged by recalling or determining compatible numbers to the whole numbers I listed above…please practice! It is so helpful with addition and subtraction in mental math if you know those number pairs.

1+9=10        9+1=10

2+8=10       8+2=10

3+7=10      7+3=10

4+6=10     6+4=10

5+5=10

*Use those facts to help you with 20! 50! 100!

If you know that 2+8=10, then 12+8=20 and 22+28=50 and 32+68=100

Use the number pairs for 10 to get you to the next group of 10 (22+8=30 and then think about what you need to get from 30 to 50 which is 20 so 22+28=50).

Practice for a few minutes each day!

“Let’s do compatible numbers to 50” “I have X, you have?” and your child will determine the fact that is missing. Example: If you have “34” and you are looking for the missing added to 50. On paper this would look like 34+?=50.

We are still asking that families practice skip counting at home if your child isn’t able to skip count fluently. If they are having to stop and think by counting on, then they need more practice. Students should be able to fluently count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s. 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s may still be developing.

Once your child is able to count then they are ready for multiplication fact practice. If you have flashcards then pull those out and practice for a few minutes each day. You can split them into piles of “mastered” and “still working on” or see how many they can get in a given time and compare each day, etc. Turn it into a game!

You can do the same things with division facts. We’ve made the connection that division facts are the commutative property for multiplication facts! If you know 3×4=12 you also know that 4×3=12, 12/3=4 and 12/4=3 🙂

Uptown Funk Multiplication Song

Multiplication Rap (x2 or x3)

3 Times Table Song

4 Times Table Song

5 Times Table Song

6 Times Table Song

7 Times Table Song

8 Times Table Song

Read Aloud: We finished Wishtree! It was a lovely story about friendship and belonging. I hope the kids have talked about the story at home. It got a “slow clap” from the kids when I finished reading, so I think that means they liked it! We will be starting our final read aloud book for the year…The Wild Robot Escapes! If you already own the book  you are welcome to bring it in and follow along as I read!

Compost Presentation! Ms Mary came to school on Friday to teach us about composting and soil. She was very enthusiastic and passionate about the subject. Compost is something that I’ve been thinking about lately and she definitely provided us with great information.

I am hoping that next year we take on composting at school!

Plants: Our plants are growing! We will let them grow for another week at school and then think about sending them home! Some of the plants will need to leave their Ziploc bag home and be planted in a container that will give them more room to grow! I love it when the kids come racing in to the window to see if their plant has grown overnight! We worked with a partner and compared two plants using a Venn Diagram. This way we could see how the plants were similar and different. Our “classroom pets” are growing too! Well…some of them! We are learning about which of the growing environments we created are best suited for pumpkin seeds 🙂

We will wrap up our Observation Station with 122 & 126 this week. We’ve observed and documented the same spot outside since there was still snow on the ground! It will be super neat to pull all our pictures and notes together to see how our nature spots have changed with the change of season.

Volunteer Tea: Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers for making helping out in so many ways. It means a lot to have connections between home and school 🙂

*Due to the performers at the Volunteer Tea we will have to change Genius Hour to this week. I’ll do some planning and let the kids know on Monday when a good time will be. I’m thinking about Thursday as of now.

Family Life/Health: We have met twice and will have two more lessons this upcoming week and two more after that.

*Book order is due on June 11so we have enough time to get those final orders in!

This week will we also do more learning about provinces (hint-there will be a connection to our upcoming Drama activities!), do an art project about provincial flowers, get back to our outdoor education (I regrettably let the weather dictate a few days of not going outside) and create a giant kindness calendar for the whole school! This is part of your Ask Me question for the weekend: Through Seesaw send me an idea of what we can add to our calendar to inspire our school community to show kindness to themselves, others and the earth. This idea came from the calendar below that we found in the copy room at school. Now we want to make a kid/family friendly one instead!

Have a nice weekend 🙂

Until next time,

Danielle

May Long Weekend!!

Good Morning Everyone!

Let’s make this short and sweet so we can all enjoy this beautiful Saturday!!!

As you know, our Outdoor Classroom day has been postponed until Tuesday, May 22. We all agreed that it would be much more enjoyable to be outdoors when the weather cooperated AND we really did need that rain!

Here is the ‘plan’ for Tuesday (Note: plans are subject to change 😉 )

9:00-9:30:Planting with 126

*IF you have not brought in your seeds and Ziploc bag please do so on Tuesday or  you will not have much of a choice of what you plant. I have soil (and some extra seeds and bags if needed)

9:30-10:00: Math with 122. We have a list of things to find and measure!

10:00-10:30: Observation station with 122 & 126

10:30-10:45: Recess

10:45-12:00: Community clean up/walk and choice time with 122 & 126

1:00-1:15: Mediation with 122 & 126

1:15-1:45: French with 122 & 126

1:45-2:15: Music

2:15-2:30: Recess

2:30-3:00: Learning Buddies with 124

3:00-3:30: Choir with 122&126

Please be dressed for the weather, bring a water bottle and if you are able… try to bike or walk to school today!!

I’m really looking forward to this exciting day of outdoor learning 🙂

Also this week…

-We will continue with our plant/soil/environmental inquiry research

I found a Tweet about waste reduction/recycling/compost that put a smile on my face! I can only hope we follow suit!

-We will continue to read Wishtree. This week we had to take a bit of a break from reading when I lost my voice! We will make up for it next week for sure!

-We will continue our focus of editing, printing, handwriting and typing! We are really working on these skills that we use regularly in our lives!

-Book clubs are coming to an end! It is our second last week! Some groups are creating movie trailers to promote their book, some are ready to start the ‘maker’ project, some are finishing their books and some have a few more chapters to read. Once we are ready, we will do a group share and be ready to start some Drama!!

-We will do Genius Hour on Thursday! Please be ready to create/make/present 🙂

*This weekend’s Ask Me question is to comment about something you have done outside this weekend! Leave me an oral or written comment through Seesaw!! BONUS-post something you did that was kind!

*Let’s keep Conscious Kindness going! This includes being kind to yourself! We found these great ideas to try when you are feeling stress in your life. We know these things work, but sometimes we just need a little reminder 🙂

https://twitter.com/TopDogTeaching/status/996519724044480512

Have a great weekend. See you Tuesday!!

Until next time,

Danielle

#GoJetsGo (hopefully not for the last time)

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, close friends and anyone who fills a motherly role in your life. I am so lucky to have some of these people around me since my own mom lives in another province. The ladies at work take care of me by giving advice, bringing me homemade treats and even helping take out pesky stains in my clothes. It takes a village to raise a child…even one who is grown up already! We honour, respect and love you…not only today, but EVERYDAY! I hope you all enjoy your homemade gift and can see the thought and care your child has put into making it for you. Enjoy your day! I’m also lucky to be a puppy mama to my fur baby who is so loyal that she lays beside me as I type this blog post!

 

We have a very busy week ahead of us and I hope everyone takes the time to read this and make sure you are “in the know”!

Let’s get started:)

-Monday: I am away in the morning and Ms V will be in. In the afternoon it is our “Rooftop Photo”. An email was sent home asking students to wear Jets clothing or white or blue. We encourage everyone to join in on the theme! It is also game day, so I’ll be wearing a jersey! If you are enjoying wearing Jets gear/white/blue on game days please continue to do so!

-Tuesday: It’s Bike Rodeo day. A pink note was sent home last week giving you details about a bike safety presentation from MPI (see below)

On Tuesday the Destination Imagination (DI) group is presenting their challenge project to the school! We will be going with 122 to see their incredible display of the 4Cs first thing in the morning (9:10). This is also a last effort for fundraising. Students are asked to bring in a donation if possible. Thanks!

-Wednesday: It’s Conscious Kindness Day! On this day the United Way is asking people to pay it forward through random acts of kindness to show how compassion for each other in an effort to make healthy communities.

What will you do today?

-Greet people with a good morning or a kind gesture?

-Do something extra (chore, classroom clean up, community clean up, etc.)

-Make someone a card, write a letter, draw a picture?

-Talk or play with someone new or someone you haven’t connected with for awhile?

There are countless ways to be kind. Kindness is free, so everyone can do it! Need some inspiration? Check out this amazing Superhero!

-Thursday: This is our second round of “We Belong Vertical Groups”. On this day the kids from our group (123,124,125 and Nursery) will rotate to another activity and we (the teachers) will do our dance activity with a different group of students.

-Friday: We are becoming an OUTDOOR CLASSROOM today! The students wrote me a letter trying to persuade me to do the all day outdoor class event/plant day combination and they won! Well actually we all win! We did a full day outside last year to celebrate the 30 day challenge and it was great. I am excited to be doing this year’s full day outside with Room 122 and 126!!

Here are some of the planned activities (based on the ideas from the letters)

-Math (we have a scavenger hunt type activity planned)

-Planting (two different stations)

  1. Pumpkins: Each student will take a pumpkin seed home after we plant them at school!
  2. You will plant a seed of your choice! We have talked about this in class and here is what you need to know: Instead of us all planting the same type of seed and watching them grow at school we want the students to each choose something that they are interested in! We will go through the Scientific Method as the seeds grow and learn more about many types of plants instead of just one. *This means that each student will need to bring in the following items BEFORE Friday: a ‘seed’ of their choice. This can be from a package, from a fruit or vegetable (could be part of the vegetable if you want) or from a flower. Please do some research before choosing your seed so you will know if it needs direct sunlight, less sunlight, little water, lots of water, how long it is expected to take to grow, etc. Write down some of these important details (including the name of your plant in your home reading folder) so we can transfer that to our tracking sheets. You will also need to bring in a small Ziploc bag to plant your seed in. We prefer that the bag has been previously used and washed out (but that is not required). We will provide the soil (unless there is something very specific you need!). Students who do not bring in a seed will be given seeds at school, they will just not have as much choice as I will only have a few different types for them to choose from.

-Read to Self/Read to Someone

-Phys Ed (just need to confirm that with Mr Strachan)

-Meditation

-French (just need to confirm that with Madame)

-Community Clean Up (walk through the neighbourhood to pick up trash/recycling). I notice so many straws when I go for my lunchtime walk with Helen….AHHHHH

-Observation Station with your team from 122 and 126

-and…FREE EXPLORATION TIME

How is that for a Friday?! If the forecast looks undesirable we will let families know if our outdoor classroom day will be postponed via Seesaw.

***If you want to spend the day with us please do so! Just let me know, we’d love to have you!!!

 

I think that covers it! I’m looking forward to a really great week!

P.S. Happy Birthday Manitoba!

Until next time,

Danielle

#GoJetsG

 

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I love that it isn’t even 7:00 and the sun is shining and it is currently 4 degrees (on its way to a high of 18 degrees!!). Maybe we are in the clear and Spring is finally here!!

Thank you so much for all your support throughout our 30 for 30 challenge and Environmental Inquiry! I have spoken to so many parents, received emails, comments on the blog and Instagram about how families are enjoying the fact that we are dong this at school AND are sharing what is happening at home for the 30 for 30! You are awesome #BAM!!!!

Being outside with my class is always something I’ve wanted to do more of. In the past I didn’t feel fully supported to take my class out regularly. I am so glad that being outdoors is something that the school and parent communities believe in. Thank you to one of our parents (a Public Health Nurse) for sharing some resources with me…which I will now share with you!

Winnipeg In Motion

Bring Back Play

Active for Life

The information below (from the Winnipeg in Motion website) really stuck with me. It’s isn’t new information, but I felt like the reminder was valuable for myself and therefore I decided to share it too:) It affirms the reasons why the 30 for 30 challenge is so important.

Benefits of being a Healthy School in motion

Physical activity has many benefits and it affects all aspects of a child’s growth and development. Regular physical activity is an important part of every child’s daily life. Schools that promote physical activity not only benefit the health and wellbeing
of their students, but also encourage and benefit their staff and community. It is important to educate, encourage, and motivate children to participate in regular physical activity. The benefits of physical activity stay with children as they become adults and the positive behavioural traits of active children may also transfer to adulthood. For children, being regularly active:

  • enhances academic performance. Basic classroom skills including arithmetic, reading, memorization, and categorization improve with sufficient physical activity.
  • is beneficial psychologically, regardless of weight. It is associated positively with self-esteem and self-concept, and associated negatively with anxiety and depression.
  • improves skeletal health, which in turn reduces their risk of developing osteoporosis in the future. Daily weight-bearing activities, of even brief duration during adolescence, are critical for enhancing bone development that affects skeletal health throughout life.
  • has a positive impact on behaviour and healthy lifestyles. Among young people, high levels of fitness are associated with healthier eating habits.

I think that sometimes going outside at school can be associated with Physical Education class or free time or as a reward. I think that building this outdoor time into our day is so much more!

Last week we took a walk around the schoolyard checking on the garbage situation. We realized that there are only garbage bins at the far park and NO recycling bins. Therefore there was ‘stuff’ in the garbage bin that should have been recycled. This led to a conversation about what we can do about that. How can we express that either a) We need recycling bins at the park (and if it is like this at our park, how many other parks need recycling bins too) or b) Encourage people to take their recycling home or to the nearest bin to recycle instead of just throwing it in the garbage…because it is easier to just toss it. This was a great conversation that came from a 15 minute walk. For the other 15 minutes we played a game that Cathy Woods had taught us earlier in the year. The weather wasn’t super kind to us last week, but it didn’t stop us! We chose activities that kept us moving and kept us warm! The slogan was #coldairdontcare lol. On Tuesday we all played Hide and Go Seek Tag. Not one student complained about the choice of game (we talked about the fact that not everyone would have their top choice each day but if we give it a chance they will have fun). This allowed us to practice our 4C skills along with being totally active for 30 minutes. We had to collaborate on creating ‘rules’, communicate the ‘rules’ so everyone was on the same page, think critically about how many people would be ‘it’, what to do when the Nursery class came out, how we would know when the game was over, etc. and then be creative with our ‘hiding spots’ and with strategy. SO…this game was so much more than kids just running around. On Wednesday we did some math at the playground. Some students played a math game (multiplication battleship) and others continued to work on their number puzzles. It was chilly, but it didn’t stop us! For the last 10 minutes we ran around to warm up. Just getting some fresh air and a change of scenery is good for our brains. We could have easily stayed inside for this activity, but we are trying to think of things that we can do outside instead. We brought what we needed (clipboards, writing tools, etc.) so we didn’t need to be inside! On Thursday we went to the far park and searched for things in nature to become makers with! We could only use what was already on the ground (no breaking branches, etc.) and had to work with a partner or group, then just make! ‘Making’ practices so many skills! The class had a blast and created some pretty cool nature art :). Finally on Friday we saw the SUN! We played outside with Room 126. There were 2 options: 1) Play a game called Follow The Leader or 2) Use chalk to create (games, drawings, math questions, etc.). A third option came up when the kids realized that the sun was allowing for some perfect conditions for shadows! It is nice to come out with another class because we build new friendships, rekindle old friendships, learn to practice the 4Cs with other people which can be a very useful skill. I am so happy with how this first week went 🙂

  

Upcoming Plans:

*Play with our buddies outside (we can read outside just as easily as we can inside!). This is happening on Monday. We are also planning on doing some planting. I have a parent volunteer (thank goodness!) to come and help. The kids want to have a planter outside of our window. We had thought about making one out of pallets, but if anyone would like to help us out with that let me know! If you’d like to join us on any of the days we will be outdoors, please don’t hesitate to schedule a time and maybe an activity with us!

*Please remember that we need kids to wear their “Musical” outfits on Monday (dress rehearsal!) and Wednesday (performance day!) *Below is the email that was sent home on Thursday about costumes.

REMINDER: Costume requirements for Dress Rehearsal day(Monday, May 1st) AND Concert Day (Wednesday, May 3rd)

Dear Parents and Guardians of Grade 3/4 Students,

 The Spring Musical is coming soon to Montrose School! We have an exciting show for you…. “The Emperor’s New Clothes!” Students in grade 3/4 will be a part of the chorus and will need to wear the following for the dress rehearsal on Monday May 1st and for the performance day, Wednesday May 3rd (three shows):

 – white sleeved shirt (long or short sleeve)

– dark pants

 Please note: Students will be wearing a light weight tunic over top of their clothes. 

 Thank you so much for your cooperation. We are looking forward to seeing you at the performances.

Regards,The Costume Committee

*Ask Me…

This week’s Ask Me.. task was for your child to play Multiplication Battleship (this can be changed to Addition Battleship if you need to). Each student was sent home with 2 ‘boards for playing’ (which were double sided so you can play more than once!) and an instruction sheet. Let me know how it went!

*Our “All The Water In The World” art is nearly complete. It is currently on the bulletin board, which I did so we could see how it looks and then each student is deciding whether their work is ‘finished’ and if not, we are adding to it. Here are a few pics I took quickly before they went up!

They are very striking…and are even more powerful as a group piece.

*This week we also talked about being difference makers. I love the quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world” by Gandhi. First we talked a bit about what a quote is and how to find meaning in a quote. Then I asked the kids to use this quote (or another if they were more drawn to something else, or even create their own quote) and represent it in a way that was meaningful to them. Here is a glimpse of what they came up with!

My next idea is to talk about this one…

This makes an impact on me each time I see it:)

The Manitoba Teacher’s Society is doing wellness week and our staff is doing a  little kindness campaign amongst ourselves…I say this is a perfect opportunity to share with the class what we as a staff are doing too. Kindness is for everyone…not just kids 😉

*Enjoy your week! I hope to see you at the Musical on Wednesday. There will be a magnificent performance as always. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers who made this production possible. Your hard work and dedication to the students is inspiring and very appreciated.

Until next time,

Danielle

It’s Cool To Be Kind!

Upon review of our “Kindness” vs “Unkindness” challenge we have discovered…

25 kind messages and 8 unkind messages! Good job 123!

Next steps:

-Consider what the unkind examples were and how we can change those types of behaviours into kindness examples

-Inspire more people to write a note about something they experienced

-Remind ourselves that we are tracking kindness that we experience NOT the kindness she show to others (not focussing on the “I” messages like “I helped clean up”. It helps us to take notice of others. Let someone write _____ was kind when s/he cleaned up my table spot)

-Keep the acts of kindness genuine…we aren’t telling people to notice something so we can write it on a ticket

-Continue to write acts of unkindness…don’t ignore them to make us feel like we have fewer acts of unkindness just because they aren’t being written down and put in the box

-Save all the notes and see what they look like for a predetermined amount of time (which has not been decided yet)

-Spread kindness like confetti!

We’d love to hear your Random Act of Kindness stories from home…let us know by commenting on this post!

x

#BAM

Weekend Thoughts…

Over the past two weeks we have been talking about BAM (Being Awesome Montrosians)…well the title is new, but I’m thinking that it makes a pretty fun hashtag! #BAM (love it!). The foundation of Being Awesome Montrosians has three main pillars: Kindness, Generosity and Belonging. Over the next few weeks as a school we will continue to have discussions about what makes us awesome. As a class we have decided to track kindness. When we feel that something kind has happened to us we write it on a green slip and put it in the kind box and when something has happened that we feel is unkind we write in on a red slip and put it in the unkind box. At the beginning of the next week (this week it will be Tuesday) we will compare the two boxes to see if more kind or unkind things have happened at school throughout the week. Of course…our hopes is that the kind will heavily outweigh the unkind! We also can talk about what kind and unkind things have happened. Can we continue to make choices that others see as kind? Can we make changes to the unkind choices we’ve made and turn them into kind moments? Seeing and hearing what some people view as unkind will make us more aware of people’s kindness needs!

What I’ve noticed so far is…

We talked about how greeting people is a simple way to show kindness that can really help people have a great day! Before we talked about this I had a handful of students say good morning and have a nice evening or weekend to me on a regular basis. After a few days I’d say that number is up to about 3/4 of the class! I was away at training for a few days. Upon my return I was greeted by EVERYONE who walked in the door. It put an instant smile on my face!

My hopes…

I hope that we participate in random acts of kindness that range from greetings, to compliments, to helping without being asked, to helping anyone who needs it (not just our closest friends). Just wanting to be kind because we want to, not because we think someone is watching or to be able to say we filled up our kindness bucket is my main goal for the students in Room 123!

When we show kindness, we also show generosity and feel like we belong…all of that combined is pretty AWESOME!

I shared a story with the class about the feeling of belonging. When I taught at Montrose before I fell in love with the school and the community. It was sad for me when I had to leave (which is the life of a teacher on a term contract). I went to new schools and loved to teach there too, but I always knew that I wanted to come back to Montrose School one day because I felt like I belonged there. We are so lucky to have such a strong community of support. It is nice to remind ourselves of that so we never forget just how AWESOME we are 🙂

Image result for kindness                            Image result for kindness                         Image result for kindness

I can’t wait to share some kindness stories on Tuesday BECAUSE it’s cool to be kind!

#BAM

Danielle