And just like that January is a blur in the books and it's full steam ahead and into February. Reflecting back on the month we had, we hit the ground running after the break and the momentum never seemed to stop. Our week's were jam packed with events, activities, guest speakers, assemblies, and lots of collaborative opportunities to reinforce and expand everyone's learning of concepts! For myself I was able to attend a few extra days of professional development outside the division and attended the Ever Active School's Shaping the Future 2017 conference. The conference brought together teachers, administrators, school trustees, and health and wellness professionals from around Canada and the United States. Many of the sessions I attended provided me with new ideas and strategies on how to better tie physical literacy and student leadership development into not only our classroom instruction, but also the entire West Haven school community as well. Watch some fun ideas popping up around the school during the next few weeks!Curriculum wise this last week...
In Math we continued to build accuracy and fluency with multi-digit multiplication. It is great to see that many students have gained fluency to the point of mastery, which has allowed me the luxury of "sending these folks on" to more challenging assignments designed to expand their zones of proximal development - i.e. keep them thinking, learning and challenged versus feeling like their bored. With those folks still building that level of fluency we have begun working in a smaller focus group which provides more focused guidance and reinforcement.
We will be having a short sub-unit quiz on multi-digit multiplication on February 7th, after which our focus in Math will shift to the inverse function of multiplication -> division. By the end of February the hope is to have the full unit test covering both multiplication and division concepts.
In Language Arts we continued working with our novel study, Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, and using the text as a way of studying expressive language, parts of language, character development, and of course reading fluency and comprehension. It has been fun watching the kids work through the adventures with James, and seeing them actively drawing information from the story and then applying it to their assignments successfully.
In Science we are nearing the end of our Simple Machines unit and wrapped up another machine last week, levers. With the unit I will be sending home a study guide next week to allow student so better prepare for the final unit exam. The study guide will basically provide the information they need to know.
With the unit test it was originally scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st but in consideration of the fact I was away last week, and next week we miss another instructional day with the January 31st PD day, I will be shifting the Simple Machines unit exam to Friday, February 3rd to allow for further material review and at-home studying.
In Health this last week we continued our study of the MindUp curriculum and discussed ways that we can regulate our emotions and maintain our focus and attention in class. We also revisited our earlier discussions on friendships skills and what it means to be a friend to someone. We discussed how friends are people who build others up and strengthen them through their comments and actions, whether they are with that person or not.
In School News...our school's Winter Carnival Day is fast approaching and will be held on Wednesday, February 8th at the school. During our Winter Carnival day students will have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of Canadian winter outdoor and indoor activities promoting physical activity, team building, cooperation and leadership skills, including some traditional games from our French Canadian and Inuit cultures.In designing the day's events we would, if at all possible, appreciate some donations to make our planned activities a success. If you are able, please send to school with your child any of the following materials. Listed below are some of the items we are in need of.
- Large Appliance boxes (stove, refrigerator)
- 4 L empty milk jugs and lids *** rinsed with soapy water
- Empty tissue boxes
- Shoe boxes
- **We also need strong and sturdy sleds we could borrow for dog sled races
Our Class Events Calendar
Tuesday, January 31 - PD Day: No School
Wednesday, February 1 - Wacky Hair Theme Day
Wednesday, February 1 - Early Dismissal @ 2:30
Friday, February 3 - Science Unit Exam: Simple Machines
Tuesday, February 7 - Math Unit Quiz: Multi-digit Multiplication
Wednesday, February 8 - Winter Carnival Day
Wednesday, February 8 - WHPS Ski Club trip @ Rabbit Hill Snow Resort
Thursday, February 9 - Teacher Conference: No School
Friday, February 10 - Teacher Conference: No School
Monday, February 20 - Family Day: No School
Friday, February 24 - WHPS Ski Club trip @ Rabbit Hill Snow Resort
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