Dear New Families in Division 2,
Today your child brought home a letter from the teachers. If possible, we would appreciate it if you could bring in your classroom supplies on the list below by Friday, September 15th.
If you have any questions, please be in touch. Here is our welcome letter:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dear grade 6/7 students and parents of division
2,
We have been busy planning for an amazing year
and we are both very excited to work together with your children. In order to
let you know a little bit more about how the classroom will work, please read
this document and keep it handy for the entire school year.
Our
Philosophy
We are community- focused and want our classroom
to be a great place for all students. As such, we will spend the month of
September building a positive classroom environment through games, activities,
and collaboration.
Our class motto is “Be brave, be kind.”
“Be brave” means take risks in your learning,
embrace mistakes and what they can teach you, stand up for yourself and others.
“Be kind” means accepting differences of
opinion, showing respect for yourself, your peers, and your teachers, and encouraging
others when they are trying new things.
General Curricular
Goals and Areas of Focus
Ms. Holms and Ms. House work together on most
subject areas. They also talk regularly about the progress students are making
and chaperone field trips together.
Generally, only Ms. Holms will be teaching
Science and only Ms. House will be teaching Social Studies. Neither will be
teaching PE this year; the prep teacher will be doing that.
All other subjects are integrated on all days,
thus taught by both teachers. For information about what will be specifically
covered in first term in each subject area, please attend our goal setting
conferences at the end of September.
Genius Hour and the Core Competencies: This project Compliments
the Core Competencies, an overarching theme that is part of BC’s redesigned
curriculum. Once a week, students will work on their own passion project. This
will begin with an inquiry question and end with an oral “TED Talk” on their
experiences. Students will learn to think creatively and critically, to manage
their own time and expectations, and to learn reflect on their mistakes.
Math and Growth Mindset
Research shows that there
is great value in middle school children learning about brain research in order
to better understand how flexible and capable we are in growing our abilities,
particularly in math. This year, we will be using youcubed.org, a math website
out of Stanford University, to build our students’ math confidence and
awareness of their abilities based on brain research. We will also continue to
use JUMP Math as our foundation and CEMC Problems of the Week, a program from
the University of Waterloo, for our weekly group problem solving challenges. We
feel that this three-pronged approach will allow all our learners to gain
confidence and be challenged.
Youcubed.org has great parent resources for
those who are interested in learning more about current math trends in middle
school.
Assessment
and Reporting: Fresh Grade, A Digital Portfolio and Assessment Platform
Fresh Grade
is a digital portfolio application that allows students to digitally upload
written, drawn, recorded, and filmed assignments. Students will learn to
comment constructively on each other’s work and teachers will assign, evaluate,
and provide individual feedback. This allows us to minimize the waste of paper
and the loss of assignments. Parents and students have access to the child’s
portfolio. Parents, we encourage you to view progress regularly by loading the
parent app on your phone.
School Supplies:
The school provides very basic materials for all
students including writing implements, most art supplies, calculators, and
paper.
We are
requesting that you provide the following items for your child:
o
a water bottle
o
a binder (1.5" width)
o
8 dividers
o
a pencil case
o
a student Gmail address*:
(for in-class work on the IPad, classroom blog accessibility, and the sharing
work with group members)
o
a USB stick for project
work
o
a box of Kleenex
o
1 fineliner pen and 1
sharpie for art
o
headphones for IPad use
o
optional: basic geometry
kit (protractor and compass)
o
a Compass card for BC
Transit: we will be travelling on public transit for most field trips.
Available at Shoppers or Safeway for purchase.
*If
you are not comfortable with your child creating an email account, please speak
with us.
Our Policy on the Use of Personal Devices:
While we welcome the use of
personal devices for many of our projects, we expect students to keep their
devices turned off and in their school bags during school hours unless the
teacher asks for students to use them. Devices are not to be kept in students’
desks nor used for personal correspondence with family or friends during class
time. It is your child’s responsibility to take care of their own device.
We respect that
families make their own decisions about technology and that you may or may not
want your child to have their own device. Our class has access to 15 Ipads and
many computers for project work so it is not necessary that your child come to
school with a device.
Student
email addresses for in-class work:
This year, we are also asking all students to
create a Gmail account. This allows them to store their work online and there
is much less chance for lost assignments. Additionally, many of the apps we use
require an email for signup. We will keep these email addresses confidential
and suggest that you choose a user name that does not identify your child by
name if you are worried about online security.
Field Trips:
Whenever possible, we like to explore beyond the
classroom. In addition to our on-site opportunities with Earth Bites (thank
you PAC) where we are in our school garden to learn about local foods and
sustainability, here are some of the major field trips we are hoping to do this
year.
The Vancouver Art Gallery: In order to learn about Canadian artists and to participate in
art workshops where we learn specific techniques for landscape and portraiture.
The Vancouver Writers Festival: To learn about the writer’s craft and to participate in
discussions with YA authors.
The Museum of Vancouver: We will uncover the science of archaeology by investigating
artifacts from ancient cultures, participating in a simulated field dig, and
examining a real mummy in order to learn about the process of mummification.
The Richmond Olympic Oval: From Ancient Greece to present day, the Olympics are a global
event. We are hoping to travel to the Oval to learn about the history of the
Games, try the simulators for various winter sports, and enjoy time being
active together.
Mixed
Nuts Dance Performance:
With our buddy classes, we will attend a dance performance of Arts Umbrella's version
of the Nutcracker, "Mixed Nuts".
Evans Lake Camp: Students will be heading to Evans Lake Camp with Mr. Turner’s
class at the end of May 2018. This
connects nicely to Environmental Sciences, and Health and Physical Education.
The Amazing Race: In the spring of 2018, combining communication, creative
thinking and problem solving skills, students will embark in teams on a daylong
amazing race across the city that will put them to the physical, academic, and
collaborative test (parent volunteers, we’ll need you for this one!). This is
our most anticipated day of the year!
Agendas, The Class Blog, and Housekeeping:
All students will be receiving an agenda book.
In order to continue to develop their organizational skills, students are still responsible for writing
their assignments and other information in their agendas and for keeping track
of field trip forms.
Our class blog is: https: https://div2cavell.blogspot.ca. Please sign up to receive
emails when we update the blog. We post assignments, deadlines, field trip
information, and other important class information on here regularly.
All students will be responsible for keeping our
class clean and organized. Desk areas and the cloakroom are tidied daily by all
students and the chalkboards and common supplies are cleaned weekly in groups.
This is all of our classroom, and we want it to be a pleasant, organized place
in which to learn.
Email
Communication with your teachers:
The best way to reach one
or both of us is by email (addresses at the beginning of this letter). We will
respond when possible during the work day but will not be checking emails after
5 pm or during weekends. If you have concerns about your child’s learning, we
prefer a meeting or a phone call. For any urgent matters, please call the
school directly.
Homework Policy:
We hope that you share our thinking that
students should generally use after school and weekends to engage in other
types of learning such as sports, arts, hobbies or family time. We encourage
families to set aside time to read and review depending on your child’s needs. Homework
is assigned to our students if they are not able to complete work previously
taught in class. However, larger projects will require research and additional
time at home.
We sincerely hope
that your child will have an engaging and enjoyable year!
