Dear Families,
As we enter into our March Break, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe, enjoyable, and rejuvenating break with your loved ones!  I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my dear family and friends creating lasting memories (like the one below :)!  From our hearts to yours, sending you BIG LOVE and HUGS! 

I realize due to the recent developments with school closures (March 23rd - April 3rd) around COVID-19 things seem very unsettling, but please be assured that I will continue to work hard on my end to ensure that I keep some of my regular programming running.

As you will see this evening in your child's agenda bag, I made copies for 2 weeks worth of regular homework duo-tangs - Word Study, Extra Math Practice, Reading Comprehension, Brain Breakfast Math Warm Up Questions, Word Test notebook (give your son or daughter a spelling test for the week #25/26 words) as well as some language activities about 4 civil rights activists. 

Students are also encouraged to continue working on their biographies and some are even keen about  creating their own autobiography using google slides that they can then share when they're back.

Please ensure all materials that were sent home are brought back to school on Mon. Apr. 6th.   

With everything that is going on right now, I don't want to overwhelm anyone, but I also wanted to do my part to provide work as some families reached out to me seeking this (which I value).  As always, I appreciate your continued support in your child's academics!

Update Regarding COVID-19 & SCDSB:
A message from Mr. John Dance (Associate Director / Superintendent of HR).

Good afternoon,

Yesterday, the Premier’s Office announced that all publicly funded schools in Ontario will be closed from March 14 to April 5, 2020, in response to COVID-19. As a result of this order, all SCDSB schools will be closed for that time period. As more information becomes available it will be shared on www.scdsb.on.ca/covid-19

There are a number of impacts in the SCDSB as a result of this order including:

• child care centres in schools will be closed for all locations effective Monday, March 16, 2020, for three weeks;
• community use of schools/permits are cancelled as of Saturday, March 14, 2020;
• March Break camps in schools are cancelled;
• international field trips during the month of April will be cancelled;
• athletic/artistic competitions are postponed, including Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships;

We truly value the work of all SCDSB employees, students, and families and trust that everyone will make informed decisions in the current situation. The safety of students and staff is our number one priority. We will continue to ensure that our communication with you is timely and current.

Thank you for your understanding throughout this time.

Mr. Dance

Civil Rights Activists Activities:
You may wish to have your child view the videos below to assist him or her in completing the language tasks that were sent home!

Ruby Bridges:

Activity:

Rosa Parks:

Activity:

Jackie Robinson:

Activity:

Harriet Tubman:

Activity:

Brain Breakfast Consolidation:
Thank you to the many students who are consistently using teacher and peer feedback to add to their math warm-up activities that we complete every morning from 9:10 - 9:30 A.M.  My heart truly swells with joy when I see my students diligently recording what we've just learned!!!  LOOK AT ALL THAT extension below!!

Students who regularly do this demonstrate that they're consolidating what they know and have learned!!  Keep it UP!

Math:
Earlier this week, we completed a diagnostic assessment for fractions and have been discussing fractional names such as halves, thirds, quarters/fourths, eighths, and tenths.

We also learned about equivalent fractions.  Check out the video below :)  I shared that fractions are all around us! Try to find items or events that use fractions (e.g., baking, a measuring cup, reading time on a clock, etc). 

For a minds on activity, I  also showed the following slide.  Have a look and discuss!  Ask: What do you notice?  What do you wonder?  Which one doesn't belong?

Biographies:  
This whole week, during periods 3-4, students have been working hard on their google slides presentation about a chosen civil rights activist.  I have been extremely pleased with their efforts!  Their progress is coming along nicely :-) 

I have been giving feedback to help students enhance their learning goals, captions for videos/photos, and ensuring that they have a glossary, table of contents, and appropriate headings for every slide deck.

I encourage you to have your child share what he or she has worked on so far!  We will continue these biographies when we're back to school. 

Social Studies:
Earlier today, we learned about our second physical region in Canada called the Interior Plains.  This region is found in parts of the Yukon and North West Territories, as well as British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 

In the Interior Plains, you will find mainly flat land or plains.  There are no tall mountains to be found here.  There are some rolling hills, valleys and also some rivers and lakes.  You will even find some forests and low mountains! 

At the conclusion of my mini-lesson, students shaded in a map to become more familiar with its location.    

Dance:
Thank you to Mr.  Bridson's grade 5 boys (Bailey & Jackson) who joined us on Thurs. during period 4 to teach us a choreographed dance to the song called "Git up"  by Blanco Brown.  It certainly is catchy and helps get everyone into the spirit of dance!

 

Once the grade 3's learned the steps, they then taught the grade 4's (who were in French at the time) and it was a grooooovin' TIME! 

I've posted the video to the song below.  Partner up with your son or daughter this weekend and give it a TRY!  I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with this! 

Media Literacy:
Help needed!  Mrs. Johnson requests a cereal box for a media project that the students will be working on when we return the week of April 6th.  Many thanks for your cooperation and support in this endeavour.

Thank you Max for bringing yours in already!

Revised Swim Dates:

Thank you to Mrs. Beattie for rescheduling our YMCA swim dates!  Please record the new dates in your home calendar!  They are ... Monday April 27^th, Monday May 4^th and Monday May 11^th

Please note, all parents have been emailed this, but I just wanted to ensure I reminded you on here too :-)

We will be sending home a new paper permission form when we return to school to have parents/guardians sign these forms with the new dates on them.  Many thanks for your cooperation in this matter.  

Revised Food Dates:

Pizza & Nuggets – we will be moving the orders from the last 2 weeks of March into the first 2 weeks of April!

Orders on SchoolCash online have been revised. Any parent who purchased pizza and nuggets for the first 2 weeks of April will be refunded. You have all received emails from Mrs Beattie.

Elmira Chicken – the due has been extended until April 14^th

Bowls for Beds:
A message from the Home Horizon team!

Hello there,

The following press release will be given to the public at large after key people like you are advised.  Rest assured that we definitely plan to go ahead with the Bowls for Beds event and we will advise on the new date as soon as possible.  

We first need to secure a new date and the venue, which we are working on now.  

As COVID-19 has become an evolving and uncertain public health issue affecting people globally and close to home, we want to reassure you, our valued sponsors and donors, that your health, safety and well-being are of the utmost importance. 

Thank you for your continued support of Home Horizon!

HOME HORIZON IS POSTPONING BOWLS FOR BEDS 2020

“We know that this decision will have a significant impact in the community at large as well as the organizers and volunteers who have put so much time and effort preparing,” said Garth Martin, Chair of the Board of Directors of Home Horizon Barbara Weider House. “However, the health and safety of our staff, volunteers and community must come first and for this reason, we have jointly made this difficult decision to delay this event.”

Again, we continue to monitor this situation closely and will provide ongoing updates as needed. We also encourage people to stay up-to-date through Canada’s Public Health website.

For more information, please contact Deb Piggott:

debajpiggott@gmail.com

705-445-5478

Families who have purchased their child's bowl, stay tuned for the new date and location for the revised Bowls for Beds event!

Lou:

Thank you Lou for enthusiastically sharing such an important message on your t-shirt! It's so very true and now if we can all embrace and act on this daily, the world will continue to be a bright place to live, work, and play in!

Liam:

Thank you so much to Liam and his family for baking such sweet and delicious muffins for us all to enjoy in honour of his upcoming birthday which falls during the break!! We appreciate the time and efforts this baking took in your busy household! Keep smiling and shining :-)

Mindfulness:

If you've ever wanted to learn how to meditate, but didn't know where to start, this is the video for you! Simply download the Headspace app, and follow these step-by-step instructions.

Headspace offers everything you need to begin a regular meditation practice. It's good for you too - in fact, it's been shown that just 30 days of Headspace resulted in a 32% decrease in stress! Who doesn't want to help alleviate stress!? We ALL do!! Give meditation a TRY :)

In class, we regularly meditate twice daily for 1 minute after recesses to help calm our minds and bodies from playing outside.  Each day, our helper leads it.  Check out Thomas below )

Growth Mindset:

"Words are STRONGER THAN fists!" - Emma

Namaste,

Ms. Gill