There is so much that is NEW to this start for us. I am new to grade 4. We have ten new students to our school. Two new guinea pigs came to live with us. Tree Families is a new initiative we're trying at Churchill. It's all shiny, bright, clean, and brand new. A fresh start. Love it.
Since I'm playing catch up, you're going to get a Coles Notes version of our first week and a half.
First of all, we are The Awesome Geniuses. We are brave and we are going to persevere because we matter. We are going to fail, a lot. After all, to fail is to make a First Attempt In Learning. Pobody's nerfect! Our personal hero is Kid President. Everything he says makes sense to us, especially when he talks about corn dogs.
We've been taking some time to get to know each other. It is important that our team is strong as a whole, not just in small parts. We need to know each other's names and help make everyone feel comfortable here.
This year, we will start most Wednesdays with our Tree Families. Our Tree Family is made up of students from kindergarten to grade 6 and includes at least one teacher but maybe also an EA, Office Administrator, French teacher, Principal, Vice Principal, or Custodian. We're going to read stories together, discuss issues, take workshops, and enjoy school sharings together. It's going to be a great chance to really make connections with all sorts of different friends. So exciting! Ask us what Tree Family we're in.
Here are some pictures of us doing the Marshmallow Challenge. From this, we learned that we should be brave to try things, it is important to make each other feel heard rather than jockey to be boss, and that when Tiiu says not to eat the marshmallow, she means business.
Here we are playing a game to learn each other's names.
Our first Mystery Skype! This is a game where we Skype another classroom and ask each other yes and no questions while trying to guess where we're each from. This class was from Raleigh, North Carolina. They were able to guess that we lived in Ottawa first. It's tough living in the nation's capital.
Our school is lucky to have Kate as a resident photographer. She also happens to be the mom of our very own Jamie. She came in to show us her new cameras and some of their funky options. We were also learning about symmetry.
While these may look like a bunch of shoes, they were in fact a powerful symbol for books and how to choose ones that are a right fit for us.
These are our Book Boxes full of right fit books and sticky notes to mark passages. Our Book Boxes should always be full of a variety of books to choose from that have been thoughtfully chosen.
Charlie and Lola. They are cute. They are pretty cuddly. They are hoping to come and live with you on a weekend of your choice!
On most mornings, we are going to use a Google form to reflect on how we're feeling. This is how we were feeling on Monday morning. Take note, the larger the word, the more times that word was written by students. I guess we're still adjusting to the early start schedule!
Questions to ask:
Can Charlie and Lola come and stay with us one weekend?
Who is Chuck Close and why did he have to persevere?
What Tree Family do you belong to?
Who are Mean Jean and Katie Sue?
What books are in your Book Box?
Do you have an assigned seat? Who have you sat beside during meal times?
What are you doing at recess?
Important Upcoming Dates:
Class Meeting: Tuesday, September 16th, 7:00. Please take note of the new time. This is not an event for students. We will likely bore them to tears, plus, since you will all attend, seating will be limited.
School BBQ: Thursday, September 18th, 5-7.
No comments:
Post a Comment