Miss Gill's 2017/2018 Nifty Nighthawks!!

Dear Families,

Happy Spring! It was fabulous seeing my students this week; I had missed them tremendously! I hope you enjoyed your March Break with them. 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 :-) As you'll see and read below, it was a busy and productive week of learning for us all!

After School, Hands-On Science Club:

On Monday, we had the pleasure of having a scientist from Elephant Thoughts come to our school to share his passion and knowledge about science! Bailey was lucky enough to get chosen to help out in one experiment (see pics below). He loved it!! This program is an excellent hands-on learning opportunity for students. Registration forms were sent home in the agenda earlier in the week. If your child is interested in participating, don’t delay, return the form to school by Wed. Mar. 28th The start date is Thurs. Apr. 12^th and the end date is Thurs. May 10^th. I have every confidence that all participants will have fun with this interactive program!

Math:

Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about identifying and sorting 2-D shapes and 3-D figures by their geometric properties such as faces, edges, vertices. We have also been learning to identify the types of angles (acute, obtuse, right, and straight) found in 2-D and 3-D shapes. Ask your child about the activity we did in class to help them with this learning! HINT: we used pipecleaners!

On Wed., we took time to create 3-D solids from nets to further enhance our understanding. It was FUN and very engaging! Be sure to check out the link below to review this week's lesson on Nets!

https://www.geogebra.org/m/pCv2EvwD

Language:

February and March have been busy months for writing speeches and friendly letters. To make letter writing a more meaningful process, we are participating in the Great Canadian Mail Race. This activity has been around for many years and is a great way to teach letter writing and expose students to other areas and students in Canada.

Our school was chosen at random and we received a letter from a grade 3 student named Olivia who attends an elementary school in Toronto. Zach N.W. responded to her letter and guess what!? He received one back from her this week! Turns out, she even knows Rachael in our class because she used to ski with her at Craigleith! Isn’t this neat!? Who doesn’t love to receive a hand-written letter in the mail? Seems like a rarity in today’s digital world!

This week, we edited, revised, and got our letters ready to be mailed! Your child chose a specific school in Canada to mail their letter to. Everyone had so much fun learning how to properly find a school address, write it correctly onto an envelope, licking the envelope shut, and even putting a stamp from the office so we could mail it! Now we wait to see which student in my class receives a letter back J The first one to do so, WINS THE RACE (a friendly competition).

Coding:

Did your child come home on Thurs. evening enthusiastic and beaming from their lesson on coding!? In media literacy, Mrs. Johnson is teaching the kids all about programming and coding. The students were given an opportunity to code using the following link. Check it out and have your son or daughter show you what they completed and learned!!
https://hourofcode.com/ca/learn

World Water Day:

Did you know, every year on March 22^nd it is world water day?! We took some time to learn about the importance of conserving water, where water sources come from, and how fortunate we are here in Canada to have an abundance of clean drinking water which unfortunately isn’t the case in many developing countries. Ask your child about the BRAINPOP video I shared! I always encourage my students to choose water first to remain hydrated and energized! Thank you to those families who send in fresh water to school every day for your child to GULP UP!

Art Expo:

Art Expo is coming soon! Mark down this date into your calendars everyone! Wednesday, April 25th is Art Expo Day. Classes can then visit at their own leisure during Periods 5 and 6. Parents will be invited to come at this time too if they like. The expo will remain open after school until 6:00 p.m. for parents to come. The Band will perform in the Library at 4:00 and the Choir at 4:30. In addition, our School Council has arranged to have the poultry pick-up happening in the change room at the same time - how convenient! Thank you!

Character Education Assembly:

Next Thurs. Mar. 29^th, we will be celebrating March’s Character Trait of the Month– Integrity! Families are invited to attend this as well. It will take place during periods 5/6 1:40 – 3:00 p.m. Students are encouraged to “ROCK THEIR SOCKS” (wear their most funky, colourful, and creative socks they have) as a way to honour those who have downs syndrome. Thank you to Mrs. Shaw’s and Mrs. McTaggart’s class for organizing this event for us. See you there!

Alex:

Students have continued to take their learning from school and then applying it on their own at home! I love it! Alex made a creative structure at home to share with his peers. Students loved learning about the procedure on how to make a ‘Spiderman Web Shooter.’

In science, we have been learning about Structures and this week I did a mini-lesson on: What is a structure? What makes a structure strong? What makes it stable? Please refer to the chart in the picture below to help reinforce this concept with your child. Ask them to find environmental and man-made structures around them.

Grace & Sydney & Abby:

Thank you Grace, Sydney, and Abby for making my birthday extra special! I love the painted vase, beautiful cake card, homemade bread (yum), and the bracelet you ALL made me! After exchanging these gifts with me, to my surprise Abby stood up and said, “Miss Gill, WE have one more thing to say!” The whole class stood up and began singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY! This brought happy tears to my eyes! In the end, we did a group hug and I know this will be a memory I’ll keep with me for a lifetime. Thank you boys and girls for making my day sooo special – I HONOUR YOU!!

Also below, I have posted a picture of me from the past (grade 3 and grade 4 when I attended Connaught Public School as a little girl) and a recent photo (celebrating my birthday with my friends). Everyone thought it was neat to see the before and after pictures of their teacher!