Good evening!

Fridays are always a fun day in our classroom. We always start off with a classroom meeting. Today was actually our first official classroom meeting of 2014! We discussed two big issues today. The first issue we discussed was hats. While we agreed that no one in our classroom was offended by wearing a hat, we discovered and discussed that there are lots of other individuals in our school that don’t necessary like to see hats on in school. We discussed the importance of appearing respectful and polite, and making sure that everyone in our school feels respected and comfortable. So, we have agreed to the following:

  • We CAN wear our hats in our classroom, as long as they are not distracting or inappropriate.
  • We CANNOT wear our hats during “Oh Canada”. We will take our hat off and be respectful at this time.
  • We CANNOT wear our hats out in the hallways or in other classrooms. We do not want to appear disrespectful to any other teacher or students at Timberlea School. We take pride in how our classroom represents itself, and we want to be positive and respectful to everyone at our school.
  • We SHOULD bring a hat to school and be prepared for the weather on cold days.
  • IF I am uncomfortable taking off my hat (eg. messy hair, etc.) during the day, then I SHOULD choose to not wear a hat in school at all.

We also discussed gossiping. We have had some incidents over the last few days between the various Grade 5 classes. Often these issues were only heightened by students “gossiping” about them during breaks, recess, etc. We’ve asked all students to ask themselves the following question before they choose to share a piece of information: “Is this something that NEEDS to be shared? Will sharing this be HELPFUL to my fellow student(s)?” If the answer to either of these is no, then students should probably choose to keep the information to themselves and to not continue to discuss it. However, we did acknowledge that there might be times where they answered yes to one of these questions. Sometimes we hear things at school that frighten, worry, or upset us. We shouldn’t hesitate to talk to someone when this is the case. This lead us to discuss the difference between tattling and telling. Telling is when you are relaying information that NEEDS to be relayed. This might be for somone’s safety, if we know someone is being bullied, if we know someone is having a bad day, etc. To help us solve these tougher issues we discussed people that students can tell things to. They could try:

  • a teacher
  • a parent
  • the guidance counsellor
  • a secretary
  • the principal, vice principal, etc.
  • aunts, uncles, grandmothers, family friends, etc.

We even decided that it would be okay for you to confide in a friend to ask them to come with you to find someone to talk to. This was a serious conversation to have so early in the morning, but it was wonderful how respectful students were. It really encourages me, being able to see how truly caring our students are for one another. Great work everyone!

Today we also spoke about poetry. All next week we are going to be sharing some of our favourite poems, as well as writing some poetry. This will help to inspire us for our Words in Motion poetry contest. Today I started us off by sharing one of my favourite poems with the students. I shared Sarah Kaye’s If I should have a daughter… (see link below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgz2AhHaQg

This lead to a discussion on the different types of poetry. I shared with the students how much I enjoy and am inspired by spoken word poetry. We talked about how important the rhythm and expression of the speaker is, and how interesting these poems are because they are meant to be heard! This reminded us that we hear poems all the time. Songs, raps, etc. they are all poems! Students are going to be looking for a favourite poem this weekend so that they are able to share some poems next week. We’ll be starting on Monday, so get them ready.

In Art today we worked on completing our Norval Morrisseau inspired pieces (see pictures below). We have begun a new project. We are going to be creating some landscapes. Today students were asked to find an image in a magazine to inspire them. Next they sketch the image onto white paper using simple shapes. They do not have to add details to their sketch – not yet! Now we are in the process of covering our paper in small pieces of construction paper, similar to a mosaic. We’ll be adding the details back into our images with paints and pastels at a later date.

Agenda:

Read 20 minutes

Spelling: Word Practice

L.A. – Find a favourite poem to share (Monday)

Health – FRIENDS pgs. 64, 66

Ski Day – February 6th

WiM Poetry – January 29th

Book Orders – January 29th

Toque Orders – Wednesday

Our Art display has changed to share some of our images.
Our Art display has changed to share some of our images.
Students were focusing on using ovoid shapes to create these skeletal, nature images.
Students were focusing on using ovoid shapes to create these skeletal, nature images.