Dear Best Class Families,

LAST WEEK:

Last week we did the best job at the Remembrance Assembly. The students were really prepared and it was our best performance. We were respectful and loved the choir singing "Highway of Heroes". Our entries for the Legion Poster Contest were picked up as well as our postcards for peace and Remembering Rocks that we donated. We have had additions to our Remembering Wall in class and I will make sure they are added to the Strath Slideshow for next year. If you have a picture of someone in your family who serves or has served please consider adding the picture to the Strath slideshow for next year. This is important for allowing students to make a more personal connection and feel reverence.

Last week we worked hard on learning regrouping and writing our good copy thank you letter to the secretaries. We presented the Custodians with their booklet of thank you letters and they were so grateful.

We spend a lot of time learning about leadership and Kindness as we help to make our school a nicer place. On World Kindness Day we made sticky notes and put them all over the school. A few of my favourites were "you belong here", "JSPS is better because you are here", "You matter"!! We started our "Forces" unit in Science and we learned about Nouns.

THIS WEEK:

This week Ms. McBride will be joining our Learning Team. She is a first year student at Trent Teachers College. We welcome her and we are excited to have her joining us until Christmas.

REPORT CARDS:

Report Cards go home Wednesday.

INTERVIEW SIGN UP-If you are interested in an interview please see the link to sign up. I am a strong communicator and regularly text / email. You all know you can reach me anytime and if there is a time you would prefer you can message me and I will do my best to accommodate you. No stress. It is completely up to you if you think you'd like to speak in person/email or phone call. Otherwise I have contacted families by email that I needed to speak to.

FOREST FRIDAY!

Let me know if you would like to come to the forest on FRIDAY! Yay!

RED FOLDERS

Red Folders are due on Friday. They go home Monday. I also hold homework club to help students.

Thank you for all you do!

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Talk about bullying, that bullying is when someone does something on purpose to make you feel bad or hurts you and it’s hard to stop. Bullying can be hitting or pushing, teasing or calling names, taking things without permission, saying things about people behind their back, not letting them play, or sending mean notes, emails or text-messages. Bullying makes people feel sad, mad, scared, unliked, alone, like they don’t want to come to school anymore.

How can I safely help other kids?

Bullying is never okay, and if you see someone being bullied, you can make a big difference by taking action! Here are some things you can do to help:

• Speak up! Let the bully know that what they're doing is not okay. You can say something like, "Stop being mean!" or "That's not cool, leave them alone." Speaking up takes a lot of courage, but it's important to show the bully that their behaviour is not acceptable.
• Be a friend! Being bullied can be really tough, so it's important to let the person being bullied know that you're there for them. You can say something like, "I'm sorry that happened. Do you want to talk about it?" Or, you can invite them to hang out with you or include them in your activities. This will help them feel less alone and more supported.
• Get help! If the bullying is serious or you don't feel comfortable intervening, it's important to tell a teacher, parent, another trusted adult, or to contact BullyingCanada if those don’t feel like options. We can help put a stop to the bullying and make sure everyone is safe.
• Be a role model! One of the best ways to prevent bullying is to be a kind, respectful, and empathetic person. You can show others how to treat people with respect by being a good role model. Try to welcome others to join your activities and groups, and be a friend to those who might need it.

Remember, standing up to bullies is not always easy, but it's the right thing to do. If you ever need help or support, don't be afraid to reach out to a trusted adult or BullyingCanada. And if you're ever the one being bullied, remember that it's not your fault and there are people who can help you.

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Nov 18th-22th

Day 2, Monday Nov 18th -Kinder Reading Buddies & Minecraft Monday & Trent Candidates start.

Day 3, Tuesday Nov 19th -Science Buddies-Forces & Picture Retakes Day

Day 4, Wednesday Nov 20th - Progress Report Cards Go Home & Education Support Professionals Day

Day 5, Thursday Nov 21st - Crestwood SS Band Performance & East Side Mario's

Day 1, Friday Nov 22nd - Forest Friday & Subway

Scholastic Reading Code:

You can always look at the online flyers. To order please enter our class code RC141610

James Strath School

Kenojuak Ashevak is internationally renowned for her tremendous accomplishments and contributions to Inuit art. Her simple compositions, bold lines and strong colours define the classic drawing Cape Dorset style. Kenojuak focuses on the process and aesthetics of drawing more than on the specifics of Inuit life and her memories. Her work is characterized by a central element – often an animal, bird, fish or human – positioned on the paper without the context of landscape or narrative devices. The most well-known example of this is The Enchanted Owl, 1960, a captivating image of an owl with radiating plumage. Considered one of her masterpieces, this work exemplifies Kenojuak's vivid imagination and intense vision.

We are learning: to explore the components that make up contemporary Indigenous art. Also to help to enhance the students’ understanding of artistic choices in creating a landscape image.

Curriculum Connections:

Identify ways that First Nations, Metis, and Inuit artists express cultural identity in contemporary work.

Investigate how personal, cultural, or regional identity may be reflected in arts expressions.

Explore works of art that express ideas about the importance of place.

Regrouping for Parents 101!

Years ago we learned the word "borrowing". We used the "algorithm" and we still teach this but also other strategies that might help students really know what is going on. Students now build number understanding so they can check their work with deeper understanding and the why? and the how?

Subtraction with Borrowing (also known as Regrouping or Decomposition)

When you do a subtraction with borrowing with the standard algorithm, you are using a series of steps and short cuts to compute an answer from right to left. Now, this method works. No doubt! However, you must have a strong understanding of place value and what you are actually doing or else you are just following steps. This makes it hard to figure out common mistakes, such as why you have trouble subtracting from a number with a lot of zeros.

Science Buddies: We do fun and exciting STEM activities in our Science Buddies time. We will continue to do exciting science but also this week we will begin to work on building Kindness by writing Kindness letters to Seniors. Over the next few weeks we will wrap our letters in a comfy pair of socks which we will donate. If you wish to donate a new pair of socks let me know. Yay!

Here I will post upcoming Days of Significance and a brief description.

When we know better we do better!

Bullying Awareness and Prevention week is recognized in Ontario from November 17th - 22nd this year. Join students, staff and families in learning about bullying and how we can work together to promote safe, caring schools and create positive learning environments where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Learn more at the following website: https://www.ontario.ca/page/bullying-we-can-all-help-stop-it

November 20th : International Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 23rd : Holodomor Memorial Day

November 24th-Today Sikhs commemorate the Martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur. This day is remembered for protecting human rights for freedom of any person to practice their own religion.

Last week we conducted a scavenger hunt for number sense, we demonstrated how we understand Remembrance Day in Minecraft, adopted our trees in the forest. We spent time with our trees and discussed forces all around us and even how forces effect trees, the forest and us. We finished our posters and we looked at how to understand numbers so we can regroup.