Month: March 2020

We have made it through the final week before Spring Break! We reviewed some tricky words from the previous weeks and practiced writing through using writing prompts and also making our own sentences. We have been wanting to encourage the students with preset examples so they have some inspiration for when they create their own writing pieces. Writing is something we continue to work on to build the students’ skills and independence.

We tried a new multisensory station – listening to words on the Sight Words app on the iPad and trying to spell them out. We are trying to build a stronger bridge between auditory skills and writing, so the students understand that (most of the time), we can utilize what we hear as a way to figure out is what we write down and that there is a connection.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We have been practicing hockey with Div. 2 and it has been really fun to see the kids practice with each other and develop their accuracy and coordination. They are learning how to use the hockey stick safely and appropriately while passing the puck to a partner.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We took some time to do some fine art skills for our Spring Art. They twisted small pieces of tissue paper around the end of a pencil and pressed them onto a piece of cardstock with a dab of white glue. They loved it! It was very interesting to see how the kids liked to place their tissue paper to create certain images and shapes.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We worked on place values this week, using tens sticks and ones cubes. We discussed how 10 ones make up a ten stick, and how to count by tens and ones. It was tricky, but I think we are slowly getting it! The hands-on manipulatives were useful for visualization and understanding the concept better.

• 

• 

• 

• 

There has been a lot of chatter about good hygiene, and we are making sure the kids are washing their hands thoroughly before and after eating, playing outside, and going to the washroom. We are encouraging them to wash the backs of their hands, the palms, between the fingers, and under their finger nails. I made up some simple songs to the tune of happy birthday that they can sing while washing their hands. It helps remind them to wash for the whole duration of the song (sing it twice!), and also what we should do to have proper hygiene! Try them out! 🙂

Important Information:

• Spring Break! – March 16 to March 27 (and weekends). SCHOOL RESUMES ON MONDAY MARCH 30TH.
• Please take some time each day to work on the homework activities with your child. The daily review will be a great help to assist in retaining their knowledge and skills.
• VSB Health Update also included here, please take some time to read through it (it will also be attached on the email).

Have a great spring break! Stay healthy, happy, and hydrated!

Take care, and take it easy!

Claire 🙂

It has been a busy week with a different theme for each day relating to Dr. Seuss! The kids had a blast with the variety of activities we did relating to the fun books!

We started off the week reading The Foot Book, and then the students measured their own feet using different units of measurement! It was a great way to start Seuss Week and mixed literacy with numeracy for the students. We learned about how we have to use the same size of something to measure, and not mix assorted sizes as we then don’t have the consistent unit and makes it confusing to determine the true length/size of something.

We read the iconic Cat in the Hat on Tuesday and practiced rhyming with word families. This was a helpful way for the students to learn more about rhymes in a fun and memorable way. Understand rhymes will really help their reading skills and also improve their ability to write when they see connections between different words. They used an alphabet strip to “scroll” through to try to make new words and then identify some silly words also.

Wednesday was an early dismissal day so we had a fun graphing goldfish activity after lunch to wrap up the day. We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish for this activity. We talked about basic graphing rules such as starting from the bottom of the graph and checking your numbers to make sure you counted correctly and recorded the information in the correct column. I think the best part was when they got to eat them at the end! Especially the “chocolate brownie” ones! 🙂

On Thursday, we got to attend a “Zero Heroes” presentation by Sarah and Ian, where they talked to us about how to take care of Earth. They talked about thinking about our actions, such as where we throw away our garbage and compost, about buying too many things without really appreciating them and quickly discarding them. That adds to the landfill and really hurts Earth. The kids had a great time watching the show and I hope the continue to remember ways to help keep Earth clean and healthy!

We are mostly done with our Seuss-inspired art, which also draws from our family portraits! We painted a background with stripes like the Cat in the Hat. Then chose our favourite character from the books and traced it to cut out and put on the striped background. They turned out fantastic – bright and unique! 🙂

We ended the week with a special breakfast on Friday! We read Green Eggs & Ham, then the students had to predict if they would want to eat it and would they like it! The chose what they would like to try (if at all). We made a graph and also did a writing activity where we described the food and drew a picture of this experience. It was very exciting and I am glad they all tried something! 🙂

Our Star of the Week also did her Show & Tell and it was lovely to see her share something about herself. She found a special gem and put it in a little jar to keep it safe! She was so excited, as we can see in this cute photo, to share with us! 🙂

We ended the day with Fun Friday with some puzzles, Jenga, Lego, and there was even some backgammon happening!

Next week is our final week at school before spring break begins on Monday, March 16th! (earlier if you count the weekend!)

Have a great weekend, enjoy the surprise sunshine!

Take care and take it easy!

Claire 🙂