Dear Families,

Welcome back!  It was fabulous seeing my students this week, I had missed them tremendously.  I hope you enjoyed your March Break with your child and savoured your precious moments.  I heard so many neat experiences!  Now we're back to our regular routines and regimes, I bet as a parent you're delighted by this too :-)

Math:

On Monday, I handed back 'Time' assessments.  I'm impressed with the students progress in this area of mathematics!  Most are able to confidently tell time to the hour and half hour, and some even have extended their learning by telling time to the minute (not a Grade 1 expectation, but I exposed this to them).  I am encouraging families to continue to incidentally ask their child to tell time to further reinforce this learned concept.  Thank you.

This week, I introduced the concept of money.  

The expectation is the following:  

Students will:  

-identify the name and value of all our Canadian Coins

-add and subtract money amounts to 10 cents using coin manipulatives and drawings
-representing money amounts more than one way E.g., show 30 cents using coins

Families are encouraged to get their child involved when there is small 'change' involved when out on shopping excursions, so they get real world exposure to dealing with money in an authentic manner.

Here are a few pictures from Monday's introductory lesson on Money.  Students worked in pairs to sort and classify Canadian Coins and then they shared their sorting rule with their peers in what is called a "Gallery Walk."    

Kaden & Ashlee

Brody & Emma

Jacob & Karrington

Kurtis & Cassius

A Gallery Walk to share our mathematical thinking!

Miika knows all about Canadian coins

Gallery Walk at Kaden and Ashlee's desks

Brody & Emma diligently sharing their sorting rule

On Thursday, I introduced a math game called "Collecting Dimes."  Students learned to exchange coins depending on the specific money amount.  For example, when they had 5 pennies, they exchanged these for 1 nickel and when they got 2 nickels they exchanged these for 1 dime.  The object of the game was to collect 10 dimes on the game board.  The students are learning quickly that money has value and we can add and trade it in.  They enjoyed this game thoroughly!  It is my intention to continue introducing math games for them to ensure they're learning in a genuine, engaging, and meaningful way!

New Student:

As of Tuesday, we have a NEW STUDENT in our class family!!  Welcome Kyran who joins us from Wasaga Beach's Birchview Dunes Elementary.  I am proud to announce that each and every student has warmly welcomed him to our school community.  Kyran is a wonderful addition to our class and I look forward to having him as my student and a dear peer to your child.

Welcome Kyran!  We HONOUR You :)

Language:

On Wednesday, as part of welcoming our Kyran I read a book called The Name Jar, it is about a young girl who moves from Korea to America and goes to a new school.  Her name is Unhei.  Unfortunately, Unhei experiences great difficulty fitting in because of her unique name.  I don't want to give the story away to you, so please ask your child what the rest of the story is about (checking for understanding - comprehension) and ask them to share with you what they think the author's message was (what is the author trying to teach us?)  It was a powerful reading!!  At the end, I shared my first name (Pareen) and also taught the boys and girls how to say 'hello' in my language (Punjabi) - 'Sat Sri Akal.'  They were very intrigued by this, so I will share some more words with them :)  You see, Punjabi was my first language and I learned English when I went to school.  I struggled up until Grade 2, thankfully I was in an ESL (English As a Second Language) program which helped tremendously.  Alexander asked me if I knew how to write in Punjabi, unfortunately I do not, but I may ask my Mother (Shivraj) to write the alphabet to show the class!  Miika's family is Finnish, and I've asked him to share a few words, so he may come to school next week with some written down with his family.  I love different languages - Accepting and understanding differences!!

Accepting and Embracing Differences

Fake Injury Spirit Day:
Thank you to ALL the students who participated in Thursday's Spirit Day!  You're contributing points for your Spirit Team (house colours)!!  Parents and students worked hard to make their injuries look extremely realistic, and MOST REALLY DID!!  Impressive.  Here are a few pictures of our patients :)

Karrington & Kaden

Layla & Ava

Alexander & Nolan

Emma, Karina, Carissa

Cassius

Note of Gratitude:

I would like to take this brief opportunity to extend my warmest thank you to Ava, Ashlee, and Karrington for their loving acknowledgement of my birthday this past week (March 22nd).  I am deeply touched by your kind, sweet, thoughtful gesture girls.  I will cherish your thought, always!!  You are true gifts in my life!!

Cherished Gifts!

Thank you Ashlee for the heart-shaped rock!

Thank you Karrington!

Thank you Ava for the sweet letter!

A card from Ava :)

Quote:

“The benefits of reading, writing, and math does not outweigh the need for children to learn to work and play together.”  -- John Wilson

Namaste,
Miss Gill

Dear Families,

Thank you to ALL the students who dressed in GREEN to honour St. Patrick's Day!

As we enter into our March Break, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe, enjoyable, and rejuvenating break with your loved ones!  Some of my students have mentioned that they've going away (e.g., a cruise, Florida), that's terrific!!  In the past, I've been to Florida with a dear friend, however, this year that isn't the case, but I am planning on seizing all the wonderful and fun winter activities that Collingwood has to offer such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, skating, and maybe even downhill skiing at Blue Mountain.  I am very much looking forward to hearing and reading (your child will be writing about a special event upon his/her return to school) all about their BREAK and the special things they did with YOU!  Although, we won't be at school, I wanted to also wish you a HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!  A few students dressed in GREEN today to celebrate this occasion :) 

PINK SHIRT DAY PREVAILS:
Since Bullying Prevention is extremely near and dear to my heart, I have decided to promote and encourage my class to wear PINK every Wed. as a means to help us continue thinking about, learning, and growing to help put an end to this issue.  Anti-Bullying must be encouraged everyday.  Through this endeavour, I believe we CAN and WILL make a strong message for our class and school family to have NO PUT DOWNS in our school community!!  Parents who wish to have their child participate in wearing PINK on Wednesdays, please do so :) I will also have pink bandanas available to those students who do not have pink clothing to ensure everybody is included.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation and caring in this endeavour!

"The POWER for CHANGE" - Bully Prevention

Mrs. Roth:
As many of you may already be aware, Mrs. Roth came in to supply teach for me last Wednesday because I was coaching our intermediate boys' basketball team in Collingwood.  Although Black History falls in the month of February, Mrs. Roth seized this opportunity to prepare a day of purposeful, engaging, and informative teachings about Black History - the inequalities that many men, women, and children faced in our past.  I am delighted to share just how much the boys and girls retained from this day of magical learning.  Mrs. Roth has an innate ability to connect deeply with children and she utilizes this asset to help guide, mentor, teach, and support student learning in topics that are near and dear to her heart to help instill positive change - building safe, strong, and respectful communities in which ALL INDIVIDUALS feel ... understood, accepted, and loved.  Embrace differences.  It is unfortunate this wasn't the case for people of colour in the past, but we have come a LONG WAY, and are moving in a direction that illuminates HOPE.
To help consolidate our learning, Mrs. Roth introduced a powerful song called "Rosa Sat."  The lyrics and message of this song are powerful!  Each student created a Visualization (mental imagery) to express their thinking about what the song writer's message was.  I have taken photographs of your child's work (see below), please take a moment to find and see theirs and ask them about it and what their thinking was :)  Thank you Mrs. Roth for your heartfelt teachings, we will carry our NEW learning everywhere we GO!  "Powerful thoughts in TINY packages!"  You are an inspiration in our hearts and minds!!

Karrington

Conrad

Miika

Brody

Layla

Ava

Jacob

Alexander

Carissa

Emma

Nolan

Ashlee

Daniel

Kurtis

Karina

Cassius

 Quote:
"Have BIG dreams, you will GROW into them!"

Namaste,

Miss Gill 

Dear Families,

The end of our first week of March, already!?  The sunshine has been peaking out moreso and I hear by Sunday, we'll even have warmer temperatures!  Wihoo!  I am going to utilize this by being outside either snowshoeing, hiking, skating, or cross-country skiing in the woods :)  I feel so blessed to be able to do these adventurous winter activities in my BACK YARD (Collingwood).  I am wishing you all a safe and enjoyable weekend with your loved ones, too.  

Recognizing Inclusiveness & Learning Skills Recipients:

On Monday morning, our school held an assembly to honour and celebrate the character trait of Inclusiveness and the Learning Skills portion of the report card.  Congratulations to Jacob and Ava for being recognized for displaying Inclusiveness– “We include others in our play, we never turn anyone away.  You both have worked diligently hard to demonstrate this trait and I am so very proud of your efforts!  

To all the recipients from my class who received a learning skills certificate you should also be very proud of yourselves because to received a "G" (good) and "E" (excellent) in the following areas:  collaboration, initiative, self-regulation, responsibility, organization, and independent work.  Thank you for demonstrating these skills in your thoughts, words, and ACTIONS in our daily learning :)  You have been model students for your peers!!

Congratulations Jacob & Ava!!

Learning Skills Recipients!!  Excellent work boys and girls!!

Math Learning Goal:

We are learning to tell and write time to the hour and half hour using analog clocks.  To make this even more fun and engaging, I had each student make his/her own clock.  I have taken a few pictures below for you to see your child.  They ENJOY playing and learning with them.  Several math periods have been spent with students working in small groups playing "'What time is it Mr. Wolf?"  They LOVE IT! 

At home, I am encouraging families to please incidentally ask your child what the time is.  Your child should be able to tell times with o'clock and half past.  I have even exposed the children to telling time to the minute (which isn't an expectation until Grade 2-3) to challenge those who require it.  Students have loved learning this area of mathematics because it becomes 'real life' to them and this is exciting!!

Brody & Emma

Ava & Nolan

#1 Daniel & Carissa

Kurtis

Jacob & Karrington

Alexander, Layla & Karina

Kaden & Ashlee

In their agendas from Thursday evening, you will have noticed a home activity website that they wrote down. Please visit it over the weekend if you're able, and play some 'Time' games.  The website is:  www.ixl.com   Please note, you will only be able to answer 20 questions and then it 'times you out' because you have to pay.  Don't worry about this.  What I do is, then log out and play again the next day.  I believe 20 questions will suffice for your child per/day :-)  This website reinforces all areas of math that we have and will focus on this school year!  It is one of my faves :-)

Spirit Day - Blast to the Past
Thank you to ALL the staff and students who participated in today's Spirit Day!  It was lovely to go back in time and see all the wonderful get-ups from the past AND when I was growing up in the 80's/90's, too.  Here are a few pictures that we were able to capture ... get ready for some wholesome belly laughing :-)

Thank you boys and girls for participating!  Looking fabulous!!

Mr. Leal, Mr. McCann, Ms. Wismayer, me, Ms. Hartley, Mr. Daniels

Great work gentlemen!

Mr. Leal & Mr. Daniels from the 70's

The kinder teachers and I in the 80's!

   Quote:

“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he gives up.” 

Namaste,

Miss Gill