Wednesday, September 23

 Hi parents,

Today was a pretty good day all around for our class, but there seemed to be more disagreements between students than usual. I think as students become more comfortable in the classroom, they start to push boundaries a bit more, and that's where the trouble starts. Today I spent a lot of time reinforcing the concept: "Treat others how you would like to be treated", and that seemed to help with most of the minor disputes.

We watched the same Terry Fox video that we watched on Monday this morning. It is really cool to see how much the students respect and admire Terry. Even though they'd already seen the video, they were completely captivated by it. 

Tomorrow is our Terry Fox run! Our class will be running around the field for about 30 minutes tomorrow at 8:30am. Please help your child choose appropriate footwear for running around a wet field! Some combination of rain boots and running shoes would be ideal, if such a thing exists...

For our nature walk this morning, we talked about the importance of tree bark. There is a tree at the edge of our school field that has split down the middle, and you can see all of its layers - it's really cool! I think the kids were surprised to learn that trees had layers.

We had a class discussion about heroes, both super and ordinary. The students drew pictures of a person they considered to be a hero.

In the afternoon, we had some Quiet Reading time, went to gym, and then talked about the letter 'u' using the Animated Literacy program. The character for the letter 'u' is named 'Uncle Upton'. He is an umpire who hangs upside down in a tree. I don't know why there is a tree in the middle of a baseball diamond.

Because Friday is a non-instructional day, tomorrow is our Spelling Quiz! Although we've only had time to practice twice in class, I think the students will have a better time with this one than last week's. Last minute practice at home can go a long way too!

Friday, September 25: Virtual Open House

Normally, we would have our regular Open House around this time of year, but unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we're forced to do it virtually instead. I am in the process of creating a video that will capture the essence of our classroom. I know it probably won't do it justice, but I hope you'll enjoy watching it with your child anyway! 

The Open House was a great opportunity for parents and teachers to meet in person, and for kids to show their parents around the school and classroom. I'm very disappointed that I won't have the chance to meet with any of you face to face this time. I would've even been okay with 'mask face to mask face' but I guess that is not an option either...

If you'd like to arrange a time for a phone call please let me know! I'd also be happy to talk via email if you have any questions, concerns, or would just like to say hi.

Sorry for the extra long blog post. I think they'll get shorter as the year goes on. 

Have a nice night,

Zac