NOOOOO... The Holiday is Over!
It is Friday January 8, 2016 and you would never know that students are coming off of a two week vacation! For the most part, students fell right back into routines. This tells me that the work that we are all doing together is working!
On Monday as students were welcomed back to the classroom, we talked about setting goals in order to make our dreams come true. We begin with a dream, then make small goals that will help us to make our dreams come true, kind of like planning backwards. In class, our dream is to be EVEN better students! Yes, even me, the teacher! In order to do that, one of the goals we are working on is to "take advantage of the time we get here at Sagonaska". Students don't want to be sitting in the classroom with eyes glazed over thinking about the skate park when their classmates are learning about the world's resources (we are learning how resources allow people to survive and thrive). So as a class we discussed the importance of being active participants in our own education by taking the reigns! Students are stepping up to the plate and "walking the walk"!
We changed our morning routine a little bit. Instead of having morning announcements over the P.A. system, we have a brief circle lead by a different class each week. This gives us all a chance to greet each other first thing in the morning and set the tone for the day ahead. Ask your child if they like it so far.
Now that we are really grasping the whole idea of decoding, I have asked that each student bring something to read from home. Some students chose novels, magazines, graphic novels, picture books... anything really. We are going to start to read these books instead of the run of the mill "piano books" we have been reading as of late.
Students should also be deep into their audio books. Prior to the break we talked about characters and character traits. Students have a full blown character sketch due on Thursday January 28, 2016. Please ask your student how they are doing with this activity.
As you may or may not know, all of the students at Sagonaska use "Google Apps for Education". Google has created a series of free apps and put an educational spin on them. They are much like Microsoft's Office, but presented on a web based platform. Just before the break, most teachers (including myself) got certified as Google Educators after writing a 3 hour exam. Although the exam was long, the staff (Mr. Smit included) thought it was important to do this. We want to "practice what we preach"! If you haven't already, please ask your child to go through their Google Apps with you. As advocators for your child, it is important that you know what they use to learn too!
All in all we have had a fantastic week, and I can't wait for next week!
