Tuesday, September 27

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning we had a fantastic discussion about orange shirt day and residential schools. The students listened intently and shared so many thoughtful contributions. We talked about how the 'orange shirt' is really just a symbol to represent all of the many things indigenous children lost, like their language, traditions, songs, and connections with family. The students showed a respect and empathy throughout our conversation. 

Then, we did some writing. The class chose between two prompts: 

1. What does the orange shirt represent?

2. How is Grandpa Nat's story similar to Phyllis Webstad's story?

Both are quite a bit deeper than what we often do with writing prompts and it was great to see the students rise to the challenge.

We visited the library and Mrs. Brady talked to the kids about what to expect from our Book Exchange / Library time this year. There are some interesting changes in the works! The kids are clearly very excited about getting to check out books, starting tomorrow!

At the end of the day, we read Wish Tree, and I gave out some homework about family traditions and history. One of the big themes in Wish Tree is diversity,  so we will be adding leaves to our tree that showcase the diverse backgrounds of families in our classroom. We talked about how at some point in history, everyone's families moved to Canada from somewhere else in the world - it may have been a grandparent, or even a great great grandparent. Having different family traditions is another way our classroom is diverse. 

If you wouldn't mind talking with your child and then sending the homework back by Thursday, September 29, that would be awesome.

Have a nice night!

Zac