It was so great seeing students vote today! How exciting! I cannot share results until after the official election polls is closed. We will be speaking about it in class on Wednesday morning.

I feel like I have been ignoring the blog recently. I apologize for the 'radio silence' but I will make sure to post lots of updates soon.

I hope everyone got to cool off after yesterday's earthquake drill. It was definitely hot out, but I figure that's better than rain! Thank you to all the parents who participated in the drill. It is so important for the VSB to figure out how things will work in the event of an emergency. All staff are engaged in different roles - first aid, search and rescue, reunification, supervising children - so it may seem like it is slower than it should be. If you have any questions about the process, I'd be glad to explain.

Just a reminder that tomorrow we are having our usual earthquake drill for may. This year we are doing the reunification process and need your help with it. Mme Nixon sent home an email with information. Thanks for your help with this! 

Also, I came across this article about homework. It resonated with me, and I really liked the suggestion at the end. Take a look if you have a chance. You can read it here https://www.facebook.com/readingpowergear/posts/1235878589871595

https://www.bcndp.ca/platform

https://www.bcliberals.com/platform/

http://www.bcgreens.ca/platform

You can also do a quiz here https://votecompass.cbc.ca/bc/

I apologize, I completely forgot to post this on Friday. There was a mystery something smelly in the classroom, so we did a little lesson on body changes and how it's OK if your shoes smell, but sometimes we have to wash them. That's why some students might have come home with their inside shoes to wash. When I came in this morning, The smell was gone… It may have been a pair of shoes or maybe just an old sandwich that someone found when we cleaned out our backpacks and cubbies. Thanks for your help with this!

On May 9th, we will be participating in a student vote. We will hold mock voting for the provincial election. We will be speaking about the election in class, and will be looking at the platforms of all the parties in the Provincial election. Please take advantage of this to speak to your children about the importance of voting, and why you vote for the candidate you do. My job is to be neutral in class, so we will be looking at pros and cons of each platform.

I will also need one parent to be a scrutineer for our election. I would need your help between 11-11:30 on Tuesday May 9th. Please let me know if you can help!

I hope everyone recovered after yesterday's walk a thon. They all walked so well to raise money for our school! I took so many cute pictures but forgot to take some without faces for the blog. Pledge sheets came home today, so if students want to still get pledges, they're able to! 

Today we had the chance to make paper in class. We will using it for our earth day project next week!

 
 
 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is walk a thon day. We are team red! Feel free to come join us. We start walking at 2

I've noticed that this week has been a bit rough for some of the kids in the class. I know it's so hard with the changing daylight schedule, and the rain (aren't we all tired of the rain!!), but try to make sure students still get a full night's sleep. Many students are coming to school saying they're so tired, and it makes for a difficult day for them. Today especially, there were lots of behaviours that I don't normally see from this class! We had a good chat about what our body and minds do when we are tired, and how we react (crying when something small happens that wouldn't normally bother us, having a hard time following instructions, finding it more difficult to concentrate in school, being easily annoyed). We spoke about how to make good choices when we feel that way, such as choosing quiet time during centres, or listening to our body and maybe changing work positions. 

It's totally normal to have tired students as we near the end of the year, but I want to make sure they are still learning at school. That's why we spoke lots about strategies that will help them be their best! 

On another note, I recently acquired a bag full of tennis balls that I plan on putting on the bottom of the chairs in the class. If you have some extra time this weekend, come by to the portable and I can give you some tennis balls to cut with an exact knife. Your help would be greatly appreciated! 

Math update

Thank you for your patience as I get back into the habit of posting on the blog. I always find it takes some time to get back to posting after breaks.

We started a new unit in math last week - money! I love this unit because it is so practical for students. Last week we practiced counting money and learned different techniques. This week we started counting change, which can be a very difficult concept for some kids.

This is an easy piece of math to practice at home. If you have a spare change jar at home, dump it out and have the children count it by piling it to piles of $1. You can also see how many different ways to make $1. There are endless possibilities with making change as well.