Hoppy Easter ;)

Dear Families,

Thinking of you all and wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving long weekend with your loved ones!  Although I know this year's celebration may look a little different as we are encouraged to follow the current World Health Organization's guidelines, I trust you will all be surrounded with love and make the most of your family's traditions.  

In class, I look forward to hearing about your family's 'Thankful Stone' sharing experience.  Students were extremely excited to bring home their 'Thankful Bags' and share the contents that are placed inside with you!  

I know many of you will adore your child’s Thankful Letter!  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as your child enjoyed writing it this week!  They worked extremely hard on it and I know you'll appreciate this.  

As I conferenced with students to offer feedback, I was so touched by their thoughts, words, and actions in their heartfelt message to you!  

Before we left for the long weekend, we did a Thankful Stone sharing as a class family about all the things we're grateful for in our life.  You as parents were a constant in the hearts and minds of your child(ren).  

Thank you for providing your child with such compassion, caring, and nurturing them with your whole heart and soul.  We LOVE YOU!

Taylor:

Thank you Taylor and family for gifting me with your delicious homemade APPLE CIDER!  I am so grateful for this and can't wait to share it with my loved ones.  I know it'll be mouth watering goooood!

Gratitude:

We have been doing some meaningful thinking, learning and reflecting about the word and importance of GRATITUDE.  Ask your child what this term means :)  We have also learned different ways to say thank you in different languages.  Your child will be excited to share some of these with you too.

"Meegwich" (Algonquin), "Teniki" (Cree), "Danke" (German), "Merci" (French), "Gomasameda" (Korean), Dziekuie (Polish), "Grazie" (Italian)

Throughout the school year, there will be a regular emphasis on expressing an 'ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE" in our thoughts, words, and actions!

Inside your child's thankful bag, you will find a pink note about the science behind gratitude and how it empowers our brain!  Take a moment to go over this with your child :) 

Below, I have posted a read aloud that I shared in class about giving thanks (gratitude) from an Indigenous perspective.  Students learned all about appreciating and valuing nature and all that Mother Earth provides for us.   

There is science research behind gratitude and how it helps our brains.  The research tells us that gratitude is awesome for our health and well-being!  Gratitude actually changes our brains.  Practicing gratitude increases neuron density and leads to higher emotional intelligence so we actually get smarter.  Gratitude is like a secret sauce for happiness :)

Being in a state of gratitude feels GOOD and it increases:

• optimism
• caring, cooperation and friendship
• motivation to work hard at school
• happiness
• calm and ready to learn!

LOOK AT ALL THOSE CHARACTER TRAITS!!

Mindful Nature Walk:

Today during period 3 and 4, we went for a mindful nature walk and looked for things we're grateful for.  As we were walking by the outside of Byng school, I stopped and turned to the boys and girls and shared with them how fortunate we are to be HERE while Nottawa gets repaired from the smoke damage.  They all agreed and asked if we could take a picture outside to show our appreciation :)  

We sat and reflected upon the building and honoured it!  Check us out as we say thanks to this remarkable building that is helping us in our time of need!  

Science with Mrs. Johnson:

Has your child shared with you what he or she is learning in science class with Mrs. Johnson?  Now's a great opportunity to ask :)  Students are learning about PLANTS!  

Thank you Kaylee for connecting your science learning at home and bringing in a book called "Plant a Seed & See What Grows."  Mrs. Johnson and I really appreciate it and I know your peers enjoyed learning from this read aloud too!

We certainly are excited to see our seeds grow (see picture below) that we've planted in zip lock baggies and wet paper towel!  Stay tuned parents :-)

Math:

This week, we continued working with numbers 0 - 1,000s and representing them in a variety of ways.  I have sent home a math review sheet that I would like students to practice these skills to help prepare them for their assessment next week (Friday).  Thank you for your support in this endeavour.

Letter to Families from Mr. Perry:

By now, you should have received a message from  Mr. Perry about our projected timeline for our return to Nottawa.  If you didn't get to reading the update, I will post it below for you so you're in the know :)

Due to the amount of smoke damage sustained as a result of the fire at the school, the work required to repair and restore affected areas is more extensive than first believed and will take more time to complete.  We have been informed that the anticipated completion date has been revised to LATE NOVEMEBER, subject to the nature of work still required.

As a result of this development, we will remain in our temporary accommodations at Byng Public School in Stayner.  We will monitor the progress and provide updates as they become available.

Growth Mindset:

Thank you Ryan for wearing and sharing this POSITIVE MINDSET MESSAGE FOR US!!  It is absolutely true!!  I appreciate and value YOU just the WAY YOU ARE!!!

Thank you Kaylee for sharing this amazing growth mindset read aloud with us!!  I can't wait to share it with our class family after the Thanksgiving long weekend.  We had absences today and I didn't want anyone to miss out on the key learnings from it.  Keep shining and smiling, kiddo!  

Mindfulness:
What are you grateful for and why?  Instead of counting "sheep" before going to bed, TRY to count all your "blessings" you have in your life!  Give it a try :)  

You'll be amazed at how many things you're blessed with!  It is my belief that reflecting upon things we're grateful for will help you sleep deeper and more restfully.

Meegwich,

Miss Gill