Everything you need to know… and more!
We have enjoyed getting to know your children over the past two weeks. Our plans for the year are coming together and we are excited about all the things we will learn and experience together.
As we settle into our classroom routines, there are a number of things we would like to share with you. So settle in, this is going to be long. We promise we will never send another notice as long as this one! We value open communication want to keep parents in the loop as much as possible with what we are doing in the classroom.
Agendas
Students have all received an agenda. One skill we will work on this year is the responsibility of taking agendas home every night and bringing them back the next day. The habit of remembering to bring things to and from school will become increasingly important as students enter the intermediate grades. Parents, please sign student agendas each night to indicate that they made it home.
Homework
We strongly believe in the power of play and the importance of letting children be children. Further, research does not indicate significant benefits of homework at the elementary level. We believe that when students give us all of their day, they deserve to have all of their night. Therefore, we will not be giving any regular homework assignments this year.
Eat dinner as a family, ask how their day was, and discuss the Word of the Day (more on that below). Enjoy your child’s extracurricular activities without worrying about homework, and know that your child is working hard at school each day and has earned their evening playtime!
We do highly encourage students to be reading a book of choice for 20-30 minutes every evening, either independently or as a family. This is an important life-long habit to instill in children from a young age.
A couple of times throughout the year students will be working on larger projects that may require some additional time at home to complete. The timing of the projects will be communicated with parents in advance so you can plan your family time accordingly.
Please note: If a student exhibits off-task behaviours during the school day and fails to complete an assignment, the assignment may be sent home for completion.
Word of the Day
Word of the day is a fun vocabulary building activity that exposes students to new big words and serves many purposes within our literacy program. A major goal of Word of the Day is to instill in students a love of words. It is fun to know and use big words.
Another purpose is to facilitate literary conversations in families. Each night, students are encouraged to share the Word of the Day with their families. Parents are also encouraged to try to use the new words in family conversations. The Word of the Day and a description of its meaning will be found in their agenda each night.
Students are not expected to know how to spell the Word of the Day. Nor are they expected to actually remember the words from week to week. Of course, it would be great if they did, but that’s not the main goal of this activity.
Students are also encouraged to tune into interesting words in their own reading and interactions. Students can complete a “Word of the Day Suggestion Form” to recommend words to be used for Word of the Day. So, have fun as a family coming up with some big words to suggest!
Click here to read more about Word of the Day.
Brain Breaks
By now, your child has probably informed you excitedly that we get to play outside “like, all the time!” While this is not completely true, there is a sliver of truth there. We believe that students are more focused in the classroom when given opportunities for frequent, unstructured, physical breaks. We call these “Brain Breaks” and we try to take one after about an hour of focused work time. Generally they consist of running a lap around the school and then five minutes or so of free time on the playground. As the weather changes, we will continue to head outside for Brain Breaks as well as for recess and lunch. Please dress your children for the weather.
Click here to read an article about How Finland keeps kids focused through free play.
Our Classroom Environment
If you have visited our classroom, you have probably noticed that it does not really look like a “traditional” classroom. We have endeavoured to create a calm and inviting classroom environment. One of the ways we have done that is through providing students with a variety of seating options. Very few students thrive while sitting at a desk for hours on end. In our class we now have a few high desks for students can stand at and low tables where students can sit on the ground or kneel to complete their work. Our classroom is also fortunate to have a number of ‘wiggly stools’ and ‘spiky cushions’ to provide students with the ability to move while sitting in a traditional desk. Along with these desk options, we have a number of “Sit Spots” around the room where students can use a pillow, camp chair, foam mat, or bean bag chair. Our goal with Flexible Seating and Brain Breaks is to help students recognize and know what to do when they have excess energy during class time and help them determine what workspace would be most beneficial to them given their current needs.
Click here to read an article about the benefits of Flexible Seating
And another one from the perspective of a principal.
Our Class Schedule
Our days tend to have a predictable routine. We generally have Literacy Workshop to start the day and Math Workshop between Recess and Lunch. After lunch we have another shorter block of Literacy Workshop followed by other curricular areas.
Please note the following schedule:
Library: Monday
Music: Tuesday
Technology & Robotics: Every Other Wednesday
PE: Thursday & Friday
Communication
Our primary means of sharing information with parents will be through our classroom website. If you have not already done so, please visit our website and sign up to have classroom updates emailed directly to you. Our website is div5.legassie.ca
The best way to communicate directly with either of us is through email. Both of our email addresses can be found on the “Your Teachers” page of our website and at the bottom of this letter. This is more reliable than notes written in agendas as students do not always inform us of the note’s existence and we do not always get around to checking agendas first thing in the morning.