It was a jam-packed day today for the students, as we not only had our final gym session before the holiday break, but also played music bingo, finished off the Holiday stories, stockings, jars and some students even managed to make toss cushions. I knew they would like sewing, but some enjoyed hand-stitching so much, they opted to make crafts rather than watching the holiday classic "Elf" this afternoon. NOTE: Tomorrow is our final day before the holiday break, and the custodians have asked that student bring all their personal possessions home (not school supplies), so if you can make sure they have a bag to pack items home in, that would be great. Also, most of the students have brought in their secret Santa gifts, but if for some reason, your child has not, can you please make sure it is wrapped and labelled by tomorrow morning, for our afternoon gift exchange. It was an awesome day of Crafting in Division 7! (Even squeezed in some brain-busting Math and French refreshers first thing this morning.)
REMINDER: With only two days left until our Christmas Party and PJ Day, please make sure that you have your Secret Santa gift ready to go. *All Secret Santa gifts should be under $10 and need to be wrapped or in a gift bag with the recipient's name on it.* Tuesday was Tunesday at JKE! Both the grade 6s and the grade 5s had a steady dose of music today, whether it was taking part in the rehearsal or band concert, or simply sitting in class working on their Holiday crafts while we listened to holiday music. It was a festive and fun-filled day in Division 7.
REMINDER: The Winter Concert is tonight and the students taking part are expected to be at the school by earlier than 6:30pm, but no later than 6:45pm. All Grade 5s should report to Mr. Chan's room, while the Grade 6s need to go to Mrs. Devries' room. NOTE: We have about 1/4 of the Secret Santa gifts handed in. Please remember that all gifts need to be wrapped and handed in by Thursday. WARNING: Today's Daily Recap will feature the least interesting photo that I will likely post all year. (See below)
Our day began with a quick overview of our day, then a trip to the gym to take in the Primary Holiday Concert. After recess the students returned to apply their first coat of interior latex paint to their art jars. (My apologies for any student that arrives home with paint covered clothing today...I warned them multiple times that the paint would stain their clothing and that they needed to be extra careful!) We headed outside to burn up some pent up energy for about 20 minutes before the noon hour bell. In the afternoon, we continued to work away on our jars, as well as doing the good copies of the Lil' Buddy Holiday Storybooks. REMINDER: Tomorrow is the Band and Holiday Concert. Grade 6s please remember your instruments. The evening concert starts at 7pm, and students are expected to arrive between 630 - 645pm, and to report to Mr. Chan's class, as I will not be at the school tomorrow night. Every student opted to take part in our Secret Santa Gift Exchange this Friday, so please keep the gift under $10, and bring it wrapped or in a gift bag with the recipients name, NOT the giver's name. Secret Santa gifts are due by no later than Thursday. NOTE: Friday is our class Christmas Party, as well as PJ Day at JKE. Students should dress accordingly for the weather and be prepared to go outside for recess. ...and the Quidditch Champions for 2019 are...RAVENCLAW!!! We put the wraps on our Quidditch tournament this morning, and for the third consecutive year, Ravenclaw finished as the champs. It was a lot of fun and plenty of good competition and sportsmanship as well! We will be moving on to Basketball in the New Year, but it was a great cap to the first term for our students.
When we returned to class we got cracking on our Holiday Banner, and it was completely student driven and directed. I helped oversee the process, but a number of students took the lead to help facilitate the project. Both Kayte and Trevor really stepped up to make it happen...GREAT JOB! After lunch, the class divided into two groups. One to work on the good copy of their Lil Buddy Holiday stories, and the other to try their hand at sewing. Tomorrow, we will continue to learn to hand-sew and work on our Holiday Stories. HOMEWORK: Please make sure you have a completed story to bring to class tomorrow, as we we will be spending the middle of our day on the good copy. REMINDER: Tomorrow is hot lunch! I'm saddened to know that we had our last Sportsplex skating lesson this morning, but I was really happy to see how many students attended, and how many parents laced up their skates to join us on the ice! Thank you to all the parent-volunteer drivers who helped make the program possible for our students. Every year, I am amazed how much each of them improve over the 6 weeks! (See all the great pictures and happy faces at the bottom of the post.)
After recess break, the class took some time to continue to code as part of Computer Sciences Education Week. Mrs. Gore and I pulled aside most of our Grade sixes for some reading assessments. In the back half of our day we settled our Secret Santa plans for next Friday. Each child is asked to purchase a gift that costs no more than $10, and to bring it wrapped with the recipient's name on it sometime over the next week. I would like to have all the gifts ready to go by next Thursday, December the 19th. (All the students were given their Secret Santa, as well as some suggested gift ideas to help with shopping.) Speaking of our Class Holiday Party next Friday, thank you to all the parents who have offered to bring food, drinks and snacks. Mrs. Lietzmann sent an email on Monday, if you didn't have a chance to reply. NOTE: Due in part to a lack of time, we are NOT going to be making & baking Dough Ornaments tomorrow, but will instead continue to work on our Little Buddy Holiday Stories, and begin with our sewing / crafting lesson. HOMEWORK: Please finish the rough copy of the Little Buddy Holiday Story (see instructions below) and review your Holiday Inspired Spelling List for Friday's quiz. My apologies for having missed out on the school day today. I always tell the students to stay home if they are ill, and didn't want to go against my own advice, so I was at home, drinking lots of tea, camped out close to the fireplace for most of the day. That said, I know the students were in excellent hands with Ms. Asimakis and I planned, what I hope, was a fun-filled day of learning for them.
REMINDER: Tomorrow is our final Sportsplex Skating Lesson, and we will be meeting in the class as usual at 8:40am. Parents are welcome to join the students on the ice tomorrow, so be sure to pack your helmets, gloves and skates! NOTE: I am still looking for two parent-volunteers for Thursday to help us with our Dough Ornaments. If all goes to plan, I am hoping all the kneading, rolling, cutting and baking should be done by noon at the latest. If you are able to help, please contact me at: [email protected] Division 7 students along with 3 other classes from James Kennedy were lucky enough today to take part in a Coding session hosted by Code Mobile and Amazon at the Amazon Headquarters in Downtown Vancouver. The students were treated to demos and stories from Amazon Engineers as well as a 2 part lesson about Learning Machines, hosted by our very own Mrs. Pimentel, who was today's guest presenter! The students learned more about what job opportunities may be available to them through coding, and even had a chance to put some of their newfound skills to work in the workshop portion of the day. Coding wasn't the only thing on the menu today, as each of the students were treated to FREE PIZZA for lunch! (Yah, they were pretty excited!) All in all it was a great day of learning!
NOTE: I have posted this week's Spelling list on the English page. Unlike last week, we will be doing a spelling quiz on Friday. ATTENTION: I am looking for a couple parent volunteers to come help with baking our dough ornaments this Thursday. I have booked off the school ovens, and I suspect we should be able to have them all baked by lunchtime. If you are able to lend a hand, we would all be very appreciative. Please contact me at: [email protected] if you can help out. What a way to start our day! Before I get into how our day went, a massive thank you to all of our parent-drivers for helping get all of our students to and from our Field Trip today safely and on time!
Once attendance was done, and the driving groups were set, it was off to Left as part of Computer Science Education Week! At Left the students were welcomed into their bright and spacious office area by the Lefties, who then split our students into two groups and gave them a tour as well as some lessons in industrial design and coding. Even the parents got a private tour (and a coffee) for their troubles. All in all it was a great day of learning and experience! Back at school we had time to continue our coding, snuck outside for some DPA and even managed a bit of Math review before the dismissal bell. REMINDER: Monday is our Field Trip to the Amazon Headquarters in Downtown Vancouver. Please be on time, and be sure to pack a snack and a brown bag lunch! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! |