Farewell for now...

Dear Families;

It is with a very heavy heart, I am writing to you today. As a result of the unfortunate job situation currently occurring, due to the ongoing dispute between the government and the BCTF, the end of the year will not play out the way I had hoped for. Up until about a month ago, I intended to invite my wonderful students of Div. 4 to celebrate the end of the year with me at my home on the Saanich Peninsula. We were all looking forward to a BBQ at my house, many days of last week activities, outside fun and games, a year-end slideshow that I created for my kids, Beach Day, Fun Day, and much more learning! Instead, it looks like these next two weeks will be interrupted by job action and political conflict. I can only hope that this huge sacrifice of students, families and teachers will lead to a resolution.  In the meantime, I am preparing for the “worst case scenario”, which assumes tomorrow (Friday, June 13) to be the last day of school before the summer break. I am trying to figure out how to say good-bye to the students, completing their portfolios, marking their latest math quiz, celebrating their amazing learning over the last ten months and stay positive … all in one day! It will be a difficult one!

I will be sending all the students’ supplies as well as all of the art work, dialogue journals and porfolios home on Friday.  In the (hopeful) event that school is back in session before the end of June, there is no need to return these to school, as I have classroom supplies that the students may use. Hopefully, your child has returned all of his/her library books to the school. If you still find items that belong to the school, please contact Ms. Byrne at the school at 250-478-8368 throughout the next two weeks.

I have a copy of the slideshow I made on DVD for each child and hope to be able to give it to the children during the last week of school, if (or when) the political conflict is resolved. If not, I will show the slideshow to the students in the first week of school in the fall and will have the DVDs available.

Thanks for your wonderful support and understanding in this difficult time.

So long for now,

Katrin van der Leeden

 

 

 

Final stretch...

As the weather is getting better and the days longer, it certainly feels like we are on the final stretch before the summer. Can you believe that we only have four more weeks of classes left??! Division 4 however is taking advantage of the momentum and there is no time to slow down. One of the big highlights these past few weeks was definitely our Social Studies Project: The Aboriginal Culture posters and presentations. WOW!! I am so impressed with the quality of our students' work, especially the presentations, which have been fantastic, considering that most of our Grade 4 students have never done any public speaking prior to it. It was great to see the students make an effort to retain the information, answer questions from the audience, use cue cards and demonstrate some very impressive public speaking skills. Way to go, Division 4! A great skill to develop!

 Here are also some pictures from this month's Jump Rope For Heart event:

A very busy classroom...

These past weeks have been extremely busy for Division 4 and we have definitely made LEARNING our main focus. Chase commented the other day that I keep "pushing everyone to their limits" - I am so happy to know that my efforts are noted and that many of our students are embracing the challenge and have made incredible progress throughout the last few months! I sometimes have to pinch myself and remind myself that these are "just Grade 4 students", because I think that they have come such a long way this year and the difference between where the students are now compared to where they were in September is amazing! I know, I know I don't tell them often enough, but I feel that too many kudos make their heads too big (...my grandmother used to say that!).
The greatest progress is definitely noted in Math! Almost all of our boys and girls are now proficient in their multiplication times tables ... thanks to the ongoing, wonderful support from families, peers and support staff at our school!! We are now working on multiplication of two-digit numbers by one-digit numbers, which is a bit more challenging, but it is great to see so many students eager to accept the challenge! I really do feel that these students have now an excellent foundation in Math, and they can feel confident and well-prepared for Grade 5.
In Social Studies we have started our big project and our students are researching various topics related to Aboriginal culture. Some of them are working with a partner, others choose to work on their own. It is great to see everyone so passionate about their topic and working hard to create a comprehensive and visually appealing poster board. Here are some of the students in the library doing research:

 

Earlier in April we went to the Metchosin firehall to learn about fire safety as well as personal safety. The RCMP as well as the fire departments had set up various stations where we were able to gather some valuable information. Jacob and Thalia even got to try out the fire extinguisher and demonstrated safe operation of this very important device that should be available in every home:

Friendship continues to be an important topic in Division 4 and almost every day, we find time to discuss what it means to be a kind person and a good friend. We noticed that kindness is not always easy, especially when we get hurt by others or when we are scared. We also discovered that nobody wants to be left out and that everyone wants to belong! Here are some other characteristics of friendship (and of what friendship is NOT), collected by the students:

Last, but not least, we have been getting ready for Mother's Day this week. Of course, I do not want to give it all away here, but let me just say this much: All of you moms and grandmothers out there deserve a big cheer and you have a little something to look forward to! Happy Mother's Day weekend to all of you!



Spring Is Finally Here

As you can see, spring has made its way into our classroom, and this is not only becoming apparent through the warmer days and the beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere, but we have also noticed a bit of an increase in silly behaviour in the classroom as well as on the playground. Unfortunately, it is a little bit to early to think about the end of the year and get into holiday mode! We still have THREE months to go and many great learning opportunities are coming our way. School work and mature ROCKS behaviour continue to be our priorities in Division 4!
Last week we start our Kids In The Know Program by talking about emotions and strategies that help us to stay safe. Everyone seems to enjoy this interactive program and I am impressed with our students' contributions and the high caliber of critical thinking. WOW!

In Writing we have started to write into our Writer's Notebooks. This is so much fun and many of the students seem to really enjoy the (almost) daily writing exercises. We are still trying to build ideas and continue to focus on spelling and punctuation.
In Math, we are continuing with our unit on Data Management and we are learning to read and draw pictographs and bargraphs. Please note that there will be a math quiz on Tuesday, April 15. I have postponed it from an earlier date at the end of next week. This gives everyone an extra weekend to study and we can wrap up this unit before Easter.

Speaking of Easter: Today we talked about Ukrainian Easter eggs and we drew and painted some very colourful Ukrainian eggs. We are not quite done, but here is a little taste. As usual, everyone impressed me with their artistic talent and wonderful creativity.
We will be putting these eggs on display on our bulletin board outside of our classroom. If you get the chance, come on by and check it out! By the way, did you know that you can click on these photos and they will enlarge??! Neat, isn't it?

Finally, I would like to remind families that there is a field trip scheduled for next Tuesday, April 8. Together with Ms. Johnston's class and Mr. Dranchuk's class, as well as other students from the district, we will be attending the annual Fire Expo at the Metchosin Fire Hall to learn about fire safety and personal safety. This event is organized by the local Fire Rescue and RCMP to promote safe and responsible behaviour and decision making. Permission forms have gone home and need to be returned ASAP. Busses will pick us up at 9:10 am and we will be back at the school by noon. Please make sure that your child wears adequate shoes and brings a snack for the road!

Happy Spring Break!

I hope you all enjoy Spring Break as much as I do, spending time with loved ones, enjoying time together outside or perhaps heading for an adventure abroad! I am busy starting my veggie gardens and playing with seeds and soil, one of my favourite past times. But I wanted to take a minute and post a little update of last week's events in our classroom:
We concluded the second term with a wonderful Open House on Thursday, March 6. It was lovely to see all of our boys and girls working on the display boards and proudly showcasing their learning over the past months.

This was a fantastic way to celebrate progress and prepare for the report cards, which were distributed on Thursday last week. We hope that families had a chance to discuss successes as well as set some attainable goals for Term 3!
We wrapped up our unit in Math with a quiz on Calendar Time and Telling Time on an analog clock. Most of our class did very well, and we are now getting ready for a new unit after spring break on data analysis.
In Science/Art we built some great Igluvigaks out of different materials. The students enjoyed this project as it gave them a chance to be creative and engage in some great hands-on learning. We also took the opportunity to review some important skills and reminders when working in a group. We discovered that it is sometimes easier to work on your own or with just one other person and that working in a team can be quite challenging! There will be plenty of opportunity to practice this important skill in Term 3 as we will engage in some fun group projects! Stay tuned!
Here are some pictures of our Igluvigaks..... Ask you child why I did not refer to the snow houses as "igloos"!

 

 

 

I think it might be time to head back into my garden! Enjoy your Spring Break! Take care and I will see you again on March 24 :)

The Inuit Alphabet

Just a quick update to let you all know what we have been up to. During these past couple of weeks we have worked very hard and put our focus back on the academic subjects. The majority of students did very well on last week's math quiz on fractions and decimals! It is so great to hear that many of our boys and girls have commented that they like Math now and think it is fun. This makes me smile, considering that we spend the majority of the day, almost the entire morning on Math. I am so very proud that almost the entire class is now proficient in the recall of the multiplication basic facts. What a great success story!

In Social Studies we started our unit on the Inuit to explore some characteristics of the unique life style of these Aboriginal people of Canada. Our students created some amazing watercolour pictures for our Inuit Alphabet book. Here is a taste of it:


A as in ARCTIC CIRCLE

C as in CARIBOU

 

L as in LEMMING

P as in POLAR BEAR

 Wow, I do have a lot of creative talent in my class. These pictures are just stunning and you can see them with the poetry we wrote at our Open House Celebration this Thursday, starting at 11:30-12:30 pm. We will also showcase some of our learning in Math, Writing, Reading, Social Studies, Art, and share some of our favourite field trips and the unique routines and things we do every day in our classroom.

We hope to welcome many families to this exciting event on Thursday. Report cards will be going home just before spring break, on March 14th. 

Love Was In The Air!

Of course, last week was all about LOVE as we celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday! We talked a lot about kindness, friendship, and ... REGRET! Our students really enjoyed reading the book Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. We also worked on adding detail and depth to our writing pieces as we wrote "love letters" to random people in the class. Once again, all of the students impressed me with their ability to open their hearts and write with intention! The results are quite touching and can be seen on our bulletin board outside of our classroom, but here are a few fantastic examples:

 

In Art we created some gorgeous collages, inspired by an idea from Ms. Henson, who kindly helped us with this project! Look at these amazing Chinese city lines...

 

Please note, that there is a math quiz scheduled for Thursday, February 20, which will assess the students' understanding of the relationship between fractions and decimals (tenth and hundredth only)!

Also, just a reminder that this coming Friday, February 21 is a ProD Day and schools will be closed!

 

I would like to close with a great poem written by Fraser during Literacy Week:

 

RAIN

 

Drip Drop

On the window

Drip Drop

On the roof

When the rain stops

And the kids come out to play

They hop and skip and jump in the puddles all day

And when they get cold

Because the rain has come again

Drizzling and Drazzling

Quenching the thirst of the grass and plants

Softening the ground for the ants

RAIN.

 

 ~ by Fraser



 

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Last week was so filled with activities, that I am a little late with my blog update and am just now trying to catch up. One of the highlights of last week was definitely our fun outing with our little buddies from Ms. Walker's class to Chinatown. We had the privilege to visit the Victoria Chinese Public School and participate in three workshops, which introduced this rich culture to our boys and girls. Our students took part in a writing class, they performed a lion dance and we watched an interesting movie, which taught us about the history of the school over the past 100 years. I was very proud of our students, who all behaved very well and were excellent ambassadors of Ruth King Elementary.
When we returned to school, we had a special luncheon and our boys and girls had a taste of Chow Mein, a traditional Chinese noodle dish.

Everyone had a great time and we would like to thank especially Jen, Amanda's mom; as well as Laura, Nic's mom, for accompanying us on this field trip. It is always wonderful to have parents come along and share these experiences with us!
After all this fun, we have gone BACK TO WORK at Ruth King and are starting a new unit on Aboriginal Peoples and INUIT in Social Studies as well as a unit on Decimals and their relationship to Fractions in Math. Please watch out for homeowork in Math, approximately 3 - 4 times per week! It's always great to have parents co-sign the agendas; this helps us to stay on the same page (literally!).
Keep up the great work at home! I can tell that TOGETHER we are making some good progress:)

 

Everything is a Story!

As part of our Literacy Week at Ruth King Elementary, we were lucky to attend two great presentations. The first one was by Troy Wilson, a local author of Perfect Man. Mr. Wilson explained to us how important it is to have perseverance as a writer, as most experience many rejections before they get to publish their first book. Our boys and girls also demonstrated a lot of interest in learning about the process of writing and illustrating and how these two are connected!

On Thursday then, we were blown away by Anne Glover, a storyteller extraordinaire. She captivated her audience with her beautiful stories, her authentic voice and... her string tricks! All of the students were so inspired at the end of the presentation and they all wanted strings and tell their own stories! After all... everyone is a storyteller! Strings can be ordered here.
Check out this little video that captures some of the magic:

What a great week it was!
We did also create some wonderful watercolour art and shared our favourite books with the class.

Next week should be equally fun as we are getting ready to visit the Chinese School in Chinatown in Downtown Victoria on Wednesday! All of the permission forms have been come back (Thank you!) and everyone is excited about a fun day of learning about a different culture and of course, spending time with our little buddies from Ms. Walker's class!