April 11-14

Hello everyone! 

Mother Nature is starting to look like she can't tell that it is Spring!

A Little note about last week:

As I am sure you have heard from your child, the students might not have had a very "fun" Friday. Unfortunately with all the wonky weeks we have had the students have been out of routine which in return has had some affect on their behaviour of late. Listening and following instructions have been two of the big self regulation tasks the students have been having problems with. On Friday, we lost the privilege of creating our class store to wrap up our money unit as well as workstations. We had a LONG serious talk about self-regulation which is one of our learning skills that will be evaluated on our final report card. The students came up with a class list of self-regulation choices they need to work on and also wrote up mini "contracts". They wrote down 2 tasks they are going to work on for the rest of the year. Hopefully we will be back on track this week and we don't have to miss out on fun learning tasks!!!

The month of April is a month to really focus on learning about the environment. Friday, April 22nd is Earth Day! April 18th-22nd is Earth Week and we have all kinds of activities planned for that week! See the chart below. Take some time to talk about ways you and your family can help the environment at home.

Here are the new word wall words for this week:

1. if

2. best

3. favourite

4. friend

5. quit

In Language, students will become poets as they learn to write poems. With poetry comes a lot of creativity in using language. The children will enjoy this form of writing! All of their poems will be shared with you during Education Week. More information to come! Stay tuned!

In Math, we finished up our unit on money. This week we will explore symmetry and then learn about linear measurement using non-standard items. Children will learn to estimate then measure the length of a variety of objects and distances using items such as paper clips, blocks, markers, hands, feet, etc.

In Science, we will finish up our discussion about objects and materials. Then students will do their first construction challenge where they have to build a chair for a stuffed bear. The chair has to be off the ground and has to be able to hold the weight of the bear for at least 10 seconds! Students will have tape, small paper plates and newspaper. That’s it! I can’t wait to see how the collaborate to complete this task!

Waste-Free Wednesdays

Waste-Free Wednesdays are going pretty good. We consistently have about 8 waste-free lunches out of 20. I know we can BUMP THIS UP. It would be super if we could increase the number of waste-free lunches each Wednesday. This initiative helps our children understand the importance of pitching in to help reduce waste in our environment. We talk about where items get put into each day (e.g. paper towel, straws, yogurt containers, plastic wrap, food scraps etc.) I monitor the garbage container daily to ensure our children know where their items go. They are incredible at doing this! I am so proud of our class for their efforts!

Growth Mindset

We have had discussions about growth mindset and what that looks like and sounds like and feels like. Students know that if they have a growth mindset they don’t give up when things are challenging. They learn to persevere at tasks. Students know that everyone for example, reads at different levels and that they might not be at grade level YET  but that will happen with hard work and practise! You can youtube a Sesame Street video called “The Power of Yet”. It is a great way to see what growth mindset is all about.

Important Dates:

Wednesday, April 13th - Library Exchange/Nanny Sue craft 3rd block

Friday, April 15th - PD DAY - NO SCHOOL

April 18th-22nd - Earth Week Activities all week

Friday, April 22nd - Earth Day

RECYCLE YOUR BATTERIES!

Don’t forget that you can bring in your old batteries to St. Cecilia for recycling. We get paid for the amount of weight we collect. That is good for the environment and good for our school!

If you have any questions or concerns, please write me a note in your child’s agenda.

Have a fabulous week!

Tiffany Lawless