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

STAND UP for Bullying Prevention!

Stand UP make some NOISE!  We are building, promoting, and celebrating our HAPPY, STRONG HEARTS!

Dear Families,

First off, I know I've posted my blog entry for this week a day earlier, it is just that I was so excited to share our powerful learning from Wednesday that I couldn't wait until tomorrow evening :-)

As you may already know, Wednesday Feb. 25^th was dedicated to promoting and acknowledging Bullying Prevention!  This is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and as your child's teacher, I am reinforcing the importance of creating, building upon, and maintaining happy hearts in and out of our classroom.  Our Community of Learners Agreements help guide us every day - Attentive Listening, Mutual Respect, NO PUT DOWNS, Right to Participate, Right to Pass.  We regularly refer to this agreements as a reminder for us all to treat our peers, friends, and family with kindness, dignity, and respect.  I feel this will help in creating a happy, safe, and caring world.  I believe in all my students and their abilities to reach out to do their part in making a positive difference for our today and tomorrows ... together we can help put an END TO BULLYING!!!

WE HONOUR YOU, Mrs. Roth!!  Thank you for our pink bandanas! We will always show LOVE in our thoughts, words, and actions!

Activity:  Happy to Scarred Hearts:

In our class, we did an activity to create an Awareness to how deeply affected one can be when they are put down and bullied.  First, I drew a large heart on a piece of paper.  Next, I had them observe the 'Heart.'  Then, I crumpled the paper and threw it across the room.  Finally, a student opened up the heart to see what it looked like.  Following this observation, we had a powerful discussion of how once you hurt someone's heart (feelings) you create "crumples or scars that remain with that person that are difficult to heal and bring back to its original happy state."  We also discussed the term "Bystander" and what it means.  A bystander(s) is a person or group of people who see bullying happening yet don't do anything to help.  In other words, they witness the bullying and walk away which ultimately continues and promotes this unkind cycle of hatred.  

We are BUCKET FILLERS, not dippers :)

As a class we signed "The Pledge to End Bullying" to help do our part!  My class is part of a beautiful, loving community of learners and it is our hope we will continue to be so and encourage other students in our school the importance of no put downs!

We took The Pledge to End Bullying as a class family

In addition, I had the students create their own paper heart and write down a message using the following sentence starter:  “I will end bullying by …”

Below I have written each student’s Bullying Statement.  They truly are “powerful thoughts in tiny packages!”  Thank you Mrs. Roth for this meaningful lesson and for providing our students with PINK bandanas so we could wear them to our Pink Day Assembly to represent Anti-Bullying for the entire school day.

Anti-Bullying Statements:

“I will end bullying by NOT calling anybody names.” –Layla

“I will end bullying by being a happy bucket filler.” –Ava

“I will end bullying by not putting people down.” –Alexander

“I will end bullying by being nice to people.” –Nolan

“I will end bullying by being a bucket filler.” –Kurtis

“I will end bullying by caring and wearing pink clothes.” –Carissa

“I will end bullying by standing up to bullies and using my words.” –Conrad

“I will end bullying by showing the character traits.” –Karrington

“I will end bullying.” –Daniel

“I will end bullying by sticking up for people who are bullied.” –Kaden

“I will end bullying by showing caring!” –Brody

“I will end bullying by helping others who are hurt.” –Jacob

“I will end bullying by stopping bullies and by using my words.” –Conrad

“I will end bullying by caring.” –Miika

*absent: Cassius, Ashlee
 

Please enjoy a few pictures from our lessons for Bullying Awareness!  Each student participated with an open heart and mind ... thank you!!!

Nolan, WALT is proud of you, too!  Thank you for opening your heart to all of US.

Carissa proud of her achievement and ready to shine her light upon her school family!

Emma, thank you for setting a positive example with your message.  Your peers look up to your words and actions!

Kurtis' happy heart!

Ava is calm, cool, and confident in her statement to END BULLYING NOW!

Karina & Miika - thinking lovingly about their message to help make a difference!

Alexander & Layla - taking pride in their Anti-Bullying Statements

Kurtis, thank you for this heart-warming message to Mrs. Roth and me!!

A Heart-Warming Bucket Filling Moment:
The day after our Pink Day Celebration (Thursday), I was deeply moved by Alexander's thoughtful ways.  As you know, YOU (families) and I have been consistently reinforcing our school's character traits to help instill these values in our learners' thoughts, words, and actions.  Well, I am PROUD to share that our efforts are graciously paying off!  You see, Alexander noticed that his peer and friend Emma wasn't feeling well after a fitness break.  He empathetically came up to me and said the following: "Miss Gill, I know now is not an appropriate time because we are doing math, but after, I want to make Emma a Get Well Soon card because I see that she's feeling sick and I want to help her feel better.  So would that be alright?"  Upon hearing his words, I immediately said, "Yes, of course!  You're being a bucket-filler."  Alexander has demonstrated not only EMPATHY - thinking about the feelings of his friend, but also ALL the other traits we've focused upon thus far this school year such as Caring, Courage, Honesty, and Inclusiveness.  Alexander, THANK YOU for being a kind, caring, compassionate friend - you have modelled extraordinary character all on your own.  You are the "Change we wish to see in OUR world!!"  Thank you for BEING YOU!      

Alexander filling Emma's (invisible) bucket because she wasn't feeling well in class

Alexander's loving words to help cheer up his "best friend."

Front cover

Character Recognition Assembly:
On Monday at 9:15a.m., we will be having a school-wide Character Recognition assembly celebrating February's trait which is Inclusiveness - "We always include others in our play, we never send people away."  I have selected two students who this award, but could have easily picked numerous others as the children in my classroom have been working hard at being inclusive, most have schema (background knowledge) for not being included, so everyone is doing their personal best to ensure others feel welcome!  Well done, boys and girls!!

Quote:

"Your thoughts become your words.  Your words become your actions.  Your actions become your destiny."

With All My Heart & Namaste,
Miss Gill