It has been a busy week in div 1. Lots of grad projects, and finishing up projects for report cards. We also are working on an interior design project - rearranging our classroom. We measured all the furniture, and thank to my husband, we have a to-scale drawing of everything to play around with. Today, we converted my desk (that was really just a paper accumulator) to a standing desk for the students. Feel free to try this strategy at home standing up to do work is always a great thing! 

On a much more serious note, we had to have a conversation today about swearing on the playground. Language like swearing is completely inappropriate for school, and I have made the expectations clear to students. We have known consequences, and we spoke about WHY we don't use that language at school. I told them that if they have any questions about appropriateness of words, they're more than welcome to ask me. We also spoke about how those words have meaning, and aren't just sounds. It would be great if you could have similar conversations at home about this issue. Thanks for your collaboration on this issue! 

This week, we have been working on our stories, as well as islands. The last few weeks we have been working on stories. We are at the point of finishing our rough drafts. The criteria are at least 8 pages with at least 4 sentences on each. Everyone brought their stories home this weekend to dog through them, and bring their best work to school on Monday. 

We also have been learning about landforms in science. We invented our own islands and made them this week! Here are a few pictures of the islands: 

We have also been working on measurement. We measured all the furniture in the class room, as well as the dimensions, and we will be doing new room plans of the classroom!

I apologize again for the blog silence. The app I used was not updated, and was not working. I've found another app that works well so I'll be posting more often! 

In science, we have been learning about landforms. To extend this, we made our own islands with landforms on them yesterday. We will be painting them, writing stories about them, and doing informational writing about them. This was a lot of fun to see their creativity come alive.

Sports day colours came home today! They are written in agendas. I look forward to seeing anyone who can come on Friday to support the students! 

 

 

 

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!