March 3, 2021

 Hello Families, 

Thanks so much to all who have booked conferences for next week! Just another reminder that these conferences are "student-led" meaning your child will be taught the skills to lead the conference and share their work with you, thus, your child must also be available to attend your conference time. I will simply be there as a support and to guide conversation when needed!

We have been working hard getting ready for conferences, including starting work on Canada's diverse communities through the lens of the provinces Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Nunavut. We are working on math based artwork around these various communities that we can share with you during conferences. This is even and odd artwork that will be similar (but more advanced) than the work that was completed during home learning in January. In teaching, we call similar tasks with increased expectations parallel tasks, and they allow for greater student success when expectations are already familiar! :)

Students' became super curious about "real-life" monsters after a student presentation on Scotland and the Loch Ness Monster. We have started learning about fiction and non-fiction text and creating our own detailed descriptions of monsters that are fiction, yet convincing enough to be considered non-fiction. It's a great opportunity to practice engaging writing and adding adjectives to work. This work was inspired by a book we read, and we have since been exploring various types of fiction and non-fiction text. We are hoping to be able to trick you into being scared of these monsters by the time conferences roll around! Here are some pictures of some of out steps thus far:

We have also started a mindfulness residency at LBS and our class has begun our virtual participation in Arts Commons, Open Minds! The work with Arts Commons will take us to the end of the year, supported by experts who will build our capacity in visual and performing arts and journalling activities! We had our first session last Thursday for an hour and it was SO fun!

The warm weather has everyone happy to be out and enjoying the sunshine! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy!

Take care, 

Ms. Brown