Dear Families,
The first week of November has come and gone already!?  It's no surprise as we were really excited for our upcoming field trip!  Thank you to all families for consenting and paying on School Cash Online.  It is a new process for some, and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this new(ish) system.

Student-Led Conferences:
The week of Nov. 18th - 22nd, your child will be leading his or her student-led conference to share all their wonderful strengths (what they do well) and next steps (areas to improve).  We're getting excited for this experience!

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If you haven't already done so, please follow the link below to sign up for your child(ren) for Student-Led Conference:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cuuwNvqjue145buPIKSP5OBWrdU_1w4rll3zapTEYsc/edit#gid=1206119413

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Learning Skills & Work Habits:
As shared in last week's post, students had the opportunity to work on their self-assessments and created their very own progress reports!  They used the criteria they built with their group members last week and the ones I've posted at the back of our classroom to help guide them through this process. 


As promised, parents will have a closer look at these come the Student-Led Conferences in the third week of November!


Math:
Speaking of work habits, I appreciate all the students and their supportive parents who took the time to complete the practice math questions to prepare for the time assessment.  This assessment really gave me a good understanding as to where students are at and where further work needs to be done.

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The thinking & application portion of this assessment (e.g., the elapsed time questions) really got the students to think and apply their skills.  Justifying their answers using number sentences and thorough explanations as to how they arrived at their answer is an area we will continue to work hard on and your help is appreciated too.  I tried my best to put examples in their tests to show you what I'm looking for which I hope will be helpful.  Assessments should be back later next week.

Math Task:
Click on the photos below to enlarge them and ask your child some of the questions listed.  Over the last 2 days, we've had opportunities to work through these so they should be familiar with their answers.



Dr. Seuss Exhibition:
WOW!  I'm sure your child came up on Tuesday evening and raved about this experience!  Everyone was buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm.  This field trip was everything and MORE than we ever imagined!  I'll let the photos posted below do all the talking ;)  This venue was spectacularly engaging for EVERYONE!! 

























Bus Ride:
Considering this was a long commute, students were calm, quiet, and very respectful on the bus ride.  When we arrived back to school, we were commended for our behaviour by our bus driver.  I was so touched by this!  Thank you to families who provided purposeful activities to complete to pass the time effectively!  Check us out!!
 




I appreciate families who spoke with their child about displaying their best behaviour - it made such a difference :) Nighthawks ROCK!

Parent Volunteers:
Thank you to all our compassionate and caring parent volunteers - Mrs. Hutchinson, Mrs. McCoppen, Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Murray, and Mrs. Olsen for taking the time out of your schedules to accompany us on our trip.  I really appreciate the care and efforts you put in to ensure each of your group members was safe and had a once in a lifetime experience! 

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Thank you for also sharing the many amazing photos I've posted above of my students having an absolute blast!!  We'll cherish these memories forever!


Connor:
Thank you to our caring and compassionate Connor for thinking about the feelings of your peers!  He took the thought, energy, and his own money to buy each of his peers a Dr. Seuss bookmark.  Connor wanted everyone to have a keepsake / souvenir.  What an act of kindness!  Your kindness is valued!



Health:
Below I have shared our learning focus from health this week!

Expectation:  To demonstrate an understanding of how the origins of food (e.g., where the food is grown, how it is made) affect its nutritional value and environmental impact.

Lesson Goal:  Students will explain why processed foods are not healthy.  Students will identify why turning a whole food into a processed food makes it less healthy.

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After my mini-lesson, students worked in pairs to answer the following questions:

  • Why are processed foods less healthy if they contain whole foods?   
  • Potential Answer: whole foods can be healthier to eat.  Processed foods have more sugar, salt, trans fats, and other things added to improve the flavour or colour or to help preserve them).

  • What impact does the processing of food have on the environment?
  • Potential Answers:  air and water pollution is made by the factories that process the food.  Air pollution is also created when the products are shipped by transports or other means.  There is a lot of excess packaging with processed foods that may end up in the landfill.




Before clicking the link below, please ask your child what the new Canada food guide looks like now! 
https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

Remembrance Day Assembly:
We will be having our Remembrance Day Assembly on Monday morning.  Thank you to Mr. Morin for organizing this for us.  All families are welcome to attend!! 

This year, we will be beginning this assembly at 10:30 a.m. to ensure we can have our moment of silence on the 11th day, of the 11th month, at the 11th hour.

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Students are encouraged to dress in white and red to help honour our country and our veterans past and present.  I will provide sticker poppies for everyone to wear as well.


Nottawa School Choir:
A message from Mrs. O and Ms. Stewart.  There is a very special event approaching quickly and students who are involved in our school choir are excited to share their music! 

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When: Sat. Nov. 16th at 10:00 a.m.
Where:  Nottawa United Church

Students have some fun songs to share and even some holiday tunes too!  If you plan to attend with your child and are able to, please bring a plate of goodies for everyone to enjoy at the conclusion of the performance.

Snow Ball Throwing:
With the colder and snowy weather upon us, please take a moment to speak with your child about the importance of our school policy of no snowball throwing.  If we work together, we can minimize and hopefully eliminate this issue from occurring on our school yard. 

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Snow is to be left on the ground unless it is used to build a structure (e.g., snow fort, snowman, etc). We are also encouraging that children do not break a structure that's already been built on the yard. Often times, this leads to sadness and frustration and we want to ensure everyone gets to enjoy and admire each other's creations!

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Students who refrain from abiding by our school policy regarding this will be given a warning with a conference with his or her teacher. If this issue persists, a 'think sheet' will be administered to make a plan to ensure the safety of your child and his or her peers.

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Thank you for taking the time to speak with your child and helping in keeping our students safe! 

A Message from Mr. Dance (Associate Director / Superintendent of Human Resource Services) Regarding Bus Cancellation Information:

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In the interest of all families, recognizing the decision making situation in the SCDSB, here are answers to the many questions about how the decision is arrived at to cancel bussing transportation for students.

  • Very early in the morning, just after 5:30 am, there is a collaborative process in place between the bus companies and the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC)
  • Communications are sent out with the decision based on as much information as possible about the potential impact on our schools throughout the county, of the weather systems that had come through and might continue through the day. 
  • The criteria for the cancellation of buses is outlined at: https://main.simcoecountyschoolbus.ca/
Mindfulness:
This episode explains in a student friendly way that we are and can separate from our feelings of anxiety, frustration, anger, and worry.  These feelings may come to us, yet we have the ability to let go by patiently observing without getting swept up by them. 

There's a really clever way of remembering this!  Our mind is like a pond full of fish.  The fish are our feelings.  If we remember to Be the Pond, we'll let those feelings just swim by so we can let go of our worries.  Be the Pond!


Growth Mindset:
"You can be anything you want to be, just set your mind to it!  BELIEVE!" - Joella

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Namaste,
Ms. Gill

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