Welcome to the 2020 - 2021 school year! This year will be one to remember. Starting the year out, in a global pandemic we recognize that there were some worries and a sense of nervousness with the return to school. However, once again our students, staff, families, and community members have shown great strength and resilience in helping to ensure this is one of our best and most memorable years! No doubt, things are a bit different. If you were an observer from afar, you would see children playing at staggered times, additional supervision, and field studies and assemblies running differently. Often, change has its benefits and we will be focusing on all the silver lining that await us this year!
At our core these are the beliefs and values we hold. These beliefs and values will guide us in all the decisions we make here as a team (students, staff, families, community members) to ensure that all our Bulldogs are thriving members of our community.
In the photos above students are settling into the new school year, getting curious about literacy and numeracy at their level, and finding their passion for drawing. What great examples of students being at the center of their learning, and we always love to see new friendships and connections developing across our entire student body.
In the photos below, we have students in their learning groups working collaboratively through play. In these unique times, our teachers have had to be creative in the way they carry out the fun activities students participate in. Pool noodles work excellent in tag games and we couldn't be happier that each of our classes has a buddy class to learn alongside with.
On Friday, September 25, we recognized the tremendous contributions that Terry Fox and the Terry Fox Foundation have provided all Canadians with over the past 40 years. Their dedication to cancer research continue to inspire us each year. Miss Bell, Miss Dixon, and Mrs. Nystrom held an amazing assembly via zoom, and every student ran through our community to honour Terry Fox's legacy. Thank you to all of our families for your support and contributions, and to our PAC for ensuring our safety on our staggered run!
Below are students in our grade 4/5 community sharing their deep thinking questions and connections to the images posted around their classroom. These images all related to Terry Fox. This lesson showed elements related to our beliefs about the importance of authentic and relevant tasks and that emotions are integral to learning.
Meet our Kindergarten Scientist below! These students were curious about rain and clouds after having three rainy days in a row. Today they learned what happens when our clouds get "too full of water droplets." This was a timely lesson that demonstrated learning with a purpose.
Implementation Day
Today as a staff we reflected upon the importance of story using the inquiry question: How might we build community by valuing each person’s story? We had the opportunity to reflect upon our own stories, share them with our colleagues, learn more deeply about our students' stories, and look at the story that we are cultivating each day for our Ellison school community. We also had the great privilege to learn from one of our Indigenous Sylix Elders, as she shared her story and teachings with the staff. This was a day built for the adult learners in our building to experience the power of emotions being Integral to learning.
Here are the "one word" reflections from the morning: appreciation, unexpected, resilience, vulnerability, connection, courage, grateful, empathy, meaningful, belonging, togetherness, love, honour, humble, family, compassion, grateful, support, caring, understanding, refreshing, community, and powerful.
To kick off the day, we had a little task to get everyone moving. The teachers had to work collaboratively together to uncover the story of 4 famous Canadians. If you didn't know, we have a very competitive group of educators!
Ellison Remembers
Our staff and students did a wonderful job honouring all those who have served and are currently serving, on Tuesday, November 10th. Many families were able to join us via zoom. If you were unable to join us, you can view our ceremony below. Special thank you to Miss Bell and Mrs. K. Ito for all their work on the videos.
Outdoor Learning in Kindergarten
Mrs. Aujla's and Ms. White's Kindergarten class has been exploring the great outdoors, and taking their learning outside! In the photos below students are exploring our beautiful school ground and practicing some important literacy skills. I had the privilege of talking with some of the students and here is what they shared about taking learning outdoors:
"I like learning outdoors. It feels like we are playing the whole time, but we are really learning!"
"When we are doing our learning outside we get to explore."
"We learned about pine cones yesterday. They open and close. When they are in water they close to protect their seeds."
Setting Writing Goals
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I had the pleasure of visiting one of our grade 2 classes today during their literacy stations. To the right is a picture of of one of our students conferencing with their teacher about their writing goals. The papers on the table show some of the planning that was done after a "Make Writing" session and a previous piece of writing. Here are some insights into their conversation: Teacher: "Let's look at your last writing. What goal did you set for yourself?" Student: "Periods. Lots and lots of periods." Teacher: "Okay, let's look at your new writing." Classroom teacher reads the writing Teacher: "I have a question for you? How do you feel about your writing goal you set?" Student: "I feel good about it. I met my goal." Teacher: "Do you think you are ready to move onto a new goal?" Student: "Yes" Teacher: "Okay, let's set a new goal!" |