Canadian Hero

Terry Fox’s dream was to run across Canada, to raise money for cancer research. His goal was to run over 8,000 km from the east coast of Canada to the west coast of Canada. He named his run, The Marathon of Hope and started it on April 12, 1980. He ran for 143 days and was then forced to stop because the cancer returned. Now every year, more than 8,000 schools across Canada hold a Terry Fox Run to help Terry’s dream for a world without cancer come true.
Today, we the staff and students of St. William, honoured the memory of Terry Fox.

 
 

As a school we raised over $700 for the Terry Fox Foundation. 

Centres...take 1

So begins our first 2G centre work. 
During work stations, I'd like the students to engage in curriculum rich tasks. This week we had 5 centres.

#1 Patterning with Bingo Dabbers. Students chose letter pattern cards and used the dabbers to replicate the pattern.

# 2 Making pattern bracelets with a large variety of beads.

# 3 Sorting buttons using Sorting Circles and verbalizing their sorting rule.

# 4 Exploring with i-pads. Students had free choice to play an educational game.

#5 Word Study. Students used a variety of letters to spell out this week's word list.

Curriculum Connection
*represent a pattern in a variety of ways,
*create a repeating pattern by combining two attributes,
*demonstrate the ability to organize objects into categories by sorting and classifying objects using two attributes simultaneously,
*spell high-frequency words and unfamiliar words correctly

Fully Alive

Dear Families,

We have begun the first theme of Fully Alive, our family life program. The partnership of home, church and school is so important, this message is to let you know what we talk about in class and to offer some ideas for your involvement.
Thank you to all of you who have sent in a baby picture. The children love looking at their friends' pictures. If you have not sent one in yet, please do so if you can.

About Theme One

The first theme of Fully Alive, called “Created and Loved by God” is like the foundation of a house. Everything else depends on it. In this theme, we explore the Christian belief that we are all created in God’s image, and that God loves each one of us. We are a very special creation. We respect and value ourselves and others.

In Theme One we will

*discover some of the ways in which each of us is a unique person whom God created and loves.

*explore the children’s growth and development in the past and look ahead to the coming year.

*learn more about feelings and the choices we have in how we express them.

Working together at school and at home

Take this opportunity to talk to your child about his or her special qualities and gifts, and also those of other members of your family. In class we will be talking about how important it is to share our gifts with others.

Your child will be bringing home an information sheet about growing and developing, and will need some help from you. In class, we will learn that we all grow and develop in our own way. Please send in a baby picture that we can put up on our wall (with your child’s name printed on the back). They will be returned to you at the end of the year.

Learning how to manage and express feelings is a big part of growing up and is something we will be talking about in class. Sometimes when children are overwhelmed by feelings of anger or frustration, the best time to talk to them about these feelings is after they have calmed down. It helps to let them know that everyone has these feelings, and has to learn to manage them. You might also discuss alternatives to shouting or hitting such as compromising or making a decision to leave a frustrating situation and find something else to do.

Milk and Frozen Yogurt sales have begun. All cash sales will be during lunch. $1 for milk and $2 for frozen yogurt.

Sorting & Patterning

There is no time to waste...We have almost completed our first math unit! Sorting and Patterning. Please take a moment to go onto the math tab at the top of the posts and click on the first unit link. The expectations for this unit are explained there.

 

We did a lot of hands-on sorting, as a whole class, group, partner and individually.

We discussed ATTRIBUTES and pattern CORE. Go ahead and ask your child what those words mean!

Anchor charts we made together!

 

We made patterns with 2 or more changing attributes.

We are now PATTERN PROs!

You Are Special

We began our religion class with a favourite book of mine. In You Are Special, Max Lucado tells the story of Punchinello, the wooden Wemmick who believes that he isn't good enough because of what others say about him. It explains how others can easily deflate your confidence through words and in this story, stickers (circle means disappointment and star means well liked).
You Are Special is a touching story that reminds us that we are precious to God just the way we are. God loves us even though we make mistakes and have flaws! That's how He made us. It is through spending daily time with Him that we begin to see ourselves through His eyes. Here is the video we enjoyed.

Welcome to 2G

This is such an exciting year for your child as he/she will grow, change and learn so much. We are going to have a fabulous year together!

Here are some details about 2G:

Agenda and Mailbag-Your child may purchase an agenda for $5. Please send in cash or check as soon as you can. This is an excellent communication tool for parents and teachers. Please initial the agenda nightly. I will check the agenda every morning and will respond to any questions, then stamp it if it has your initials. The mailbag is to be used to carry the agenda and homework together so items will not be lost or torn in the backpack.

Healthy Morning Snacks- Your child is given a 15 minute morning snack time (approx 10:15)where healthy snacks (yogurt, fruits, veggies, cereal bars) are encouraged.  Desserts and sweets are recommended after lunch (11:54) or afternoon snack which is 10 minutes before last recess.

Leader of the Day- The children will take turns (ABC order) being the helper of the day. This is very popular with the students as they sit beside the teacher, are the first in line and help with any jobs throughout the day. If the student misses their leader day, no worries, they will swap days with the following person.

Scholastic Book Club- You will receive a monthly flyer to purchase books. There are usually good buys and the students love receiving their order. Please make checks payable to SCHOLASTIC ltd. If you are buying items for a surprise or gift, please just write a note and I will be discreet.

Homework-It is recommended that your child read for 20 minutes a night. Your child will soon be bringing home leveled readers to practice. Homework will consist of work that was not completed in class or if your child needs to practice a challenging concept.

Gym- Our gym days are Tues and Thurs. If weather permits, we will go outside for gym. Please ensure students are wearing appropriate footwear on those two days in case we will be in the field or on the track. Eg. running shoes

I look forward to working with you and being partners in your child’s education. Please feel free to contact me with any concerns and questions.