Hi Everyone!

I’ve heard that April showers bring May flowers, but this April snow just has to go!! Anyone else think we’d have more signs of Spring by now? I had this nice picture in my mind that I’d go away for Spring Break and come back to puddles instead of snow hills. Oh well…it’ll happen when it happens I guess.

I enjoyed hearing about everyone’s breaks. Whether you went away or relaxed I’m sure it felt great to take a bit of a break. Now that we are back it seems impossible to think that there are less than 3 months before summer break begins. We have so much to learn and discover until then and we aren’t wasting any time!!

Here is a recap of last week!

-We started a new book called The Wild Robot (by Peter Brown)

We have mixed reviews about the book so far (we are about 100 pages in). Some kids are really enjoying it, some are waiting to get “hooked”, some have expressed that it isn’t their favourite. I’m so glad that kids are comfortable enough to share their true feelings. I am not offended nor do I take it personally if kids don’t love the books I choose to read to them. I’d love for every kid to fall in love with every book I read and recommend, BUT it just isn’t realistic. I do put a lot of thought into what I choose to read and the kids totally understand why I chose this one. Have them share what’s happening so far!!

-The grade 4 Book Club is in full swing. If you are having difficulty finding a copy of

please let me know and I’ll see what I can to do help. I think I’ve had a chance to reach out to all the kids from 123, but I know students from other classes were having some trouble finding a copy. We have 21 kids on our book club list! This is more than expected…so there is a bit of a book shortage in the city! Reminder: we meet once, on April 30, at lunch, to meet/eat and discuss the book!!

-Book Clubs with 122 and 126: This is part of the Ask Me question for this week (posted on Seesaw). We have 73 students split into 12 groups that are led by 6 adults! The students seem to be excited about doing these book clubs and let me tell you…I am too! We meet for an hour on Days 1 and 3, then can use a half hour on Day 5s as a work/‘ketchup’ time. Ask your child about the book they are reading, who is in their group and who their book club leader is, etc. We will meet until the end of May and this will replace our WTW sessions. Therefore there won’t be spelling words coming home on a regular basis anymore. We will be doing spelling in other formats for the rest of the year.

-Multiplication Fun: We’ve been having some fun with multiplication this week. Some of the work we’ve been doing includes crack the code puzzles, games and creating our own “colour by number” sheets (multiplication version). It’s a fun way to learn basic facts and students can work on facts at different paces and challenge themselves as they are ready. 2 digit multiplication will be next for those students who are ready. (Below is an example of the type of puzzle we’ve been doing, but is different from the actual puzzles we’ve been solving. It is one that I found online  from https://www.math-salamanders.com/).

-Earth Day Inquiry: I shop a clothing line called 10 Tree (Disclaimer: this is by no means an endorsement for 10 Tree) and was sent an email about an Earth Day initiative. The email was a really neat idea that I wanted to share with the kids. Turns out they liked it too. I’d like to share it with you as well because it serves as the inspiration for our next inquiry project. We are in the planning stage but hope to have our newest (interactive) bulletin board up and running soon!! We plan on using the following ideas (AND 8 more of our own) to inspire our school community to make a pledge and make a change for 30 days! We have been talking a lot about changes we’d like to see and how we also need businesses to make initiatives to help people to become more aware. #BeTheChangeYouWishToSeeInTheWorld

Ten Tree Pledge

-The Twitter!: I had many things to share via Twitter with the kids. We had a great time scrolling through my “likes” and seeing what happened around the Twitter world while we were on Spring Break!

-Book order was sent in on Friday and should arrive next week

What’s Coming Up Next!

-I am away on Monday morning for PD (but will still be in the building). We have a substitute who is new to the school and I expect to hear lovely things from her upon my return. Please show her a warm Montrose welcome 🙂 #BAM

-Swimming lessons for Grade 4s start on Wednesday. The kids are divided into two groups. Half of our class is going with 122 in the first session and the other half is going with 123 in the second session. The first group will eat lunch a per usual and the second group will eat lunch when they return. Please send your child to school with everything they will need for the pool. As for the grade 3s…we will think of something fun to do 😉

-We will try again with Genius Hour this week (also on Wednesday). Last week we had some challenges with remembering how to be active listeners and how to demonstrate expected behaviours. I look forward to seeing a positive change this week 😊

-Book Clubs will happen on Tuesday and Thursday morning (9:30-10:30)

-In the next few months we have a LOT of birthdays coming up. I’d just like to remind families of allergies that we have in the class and in the school. Please be mindful of kids with allergies as you decide if you’d like to bring in a treat to celebrate a birthday. We want all students to be able to take part in all class activities and student safety is our top priority. Bringing a birthday treat is not mandatory and many students do not bring in anything at all, so please do not feel like you have to send something in. We’ve also been talking a lot about products that have extra (wasteful) packaging and therefore we are encouraging families to consider this before providing a snack. We are challenging families to send in snacks that contribute as little waste as possible (which also relates to snacks with the most Heath benefits…fruit, vegetables, etc.). Thanks for your cooperation!

-Whiteout!!! Let’s support our Winnipeg Jets and wear white during the playoffs! Whether you are a hockey fan or not, you might feel yourself getting into the spirit that the community the Jets brings to our city. #GoJetsGo

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Until next time,

Danielle