News from our Elementary Vice Principal, Louise Dunn
The Power of Play.
As I meander through some of my favorite sites and blogs sometimes a little gem catches my eye. I happened upon a blog this past week on the importance of play in the development and life of young humans. While some might consider this self-evident the importance of play in the high powered world in which we live can at times get glossed over.
Research has repeatedly shown that unstructured play helps young brains with creativity as they use sticks and other objects found in their vicinity to visualize and role play. Play also helps build empathy and social interaction plus a myriad of other traits. Perhaps you might consider your student's life outside of school do they have time to play away from technology in unstructured settings? So as you reflect on this please read the blog at the following link and watch the Ted Talk on the below link. Play matters.
As I meander through some of my favorite sites and blogs sometimes a little gem catches my eye. I happened upon a blog this past week on the importance of play in the development and life of young humans. While some might consider this self-evident the importance of play in the high powered world in which we live can at times get glossed over.
Research has repeatedly shown that unstructured play helps young brains with creativity as they use sticks and other objects found in their vicinity to visualize and role play. Play also helps build empathy and social interaction plus a myriad of other traits. Perhaps you might consider your student's life outside of school do they have time to play away from technology in unstructured settings? So as you reflect on this please read the blog at the following link and watch the Ted Talk on the below link. Play matters.
http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2016/07/19/the-power-of-play-7-benefits-of-play-time/
http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=293000
Have a lovely weekend,
Louise Dunn
http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=293000
Have a lovely weekend,
Louise Dunn
Greetings from Grade one! We have been busy bees and cannot wait to share some of our stories with you.We have recently finished our second unit, ‘Who we are’ and boy did we have fun! In this unit, our central idea was , ‘Making informed choices enables us to have a balanced lifestyle’. We focused on healthy eating, mindfulness, hygiene and exercise. We celebrated this unit with a health fair where our four expert groups taught the parents about all they had learned. It was a great day!
Grade one also travelled to ‘My first gym’ where we got to try out some of the exercises we had spoken about in class. The day consisted of karate, Zumba dancing, zip lining, climbing on monkey bars and much, much more! We sure slept soundly that night!
In reading and writing we have been building good habits and have just published our first small moment book! We cannot wait to share them with grade two this week!
In our next unit we will be researching our family history and celebrating where we have come from. We are very excited to learn about our ancestors.
Grade one also travelled to ‘My first gym’ where we got to try out some of the exercises we had spoken about in class. The day consisted of karate, Zumba dancing, zip lining, climbing on monkey bars and much, much more! We sure slept soundly that night!
In reading and writing we have been building good habits and have just published our first small moment book! We cannot wait to share them with grade two this week!
In our next unit we will be researching our family history and celebrating where we have come from. We are very excited to learn about our ancestors.
Grade 3 Arts Festival
This last Wednesday was the first Elementary Arts Festival of the 2016-2017 school year. The Grade 3 students made their unit’s central idea come alive as they demonstrated how “The arts engage an audience an invite a response”. Students shared their musical talents as they sang and played instruments. They presented various monologues that were thoughtful and expressive. They provoked the audience with some of their visual art work. Each Grade 3 student and their dedicated teachers Diana Diclaudio (Visual Arts), Erik Smith (Drama) and Deveor Rainey (Music) should be extremely proud of, and recognized for, their creativity, commitment and passion.
Please view some photos of the event here. And view this wonderful movie “Who am I?"
This last Wednesday was the first Elementary Arts Festival of the 2016-2017 school year. The Grade 3 students made their unit’s central idea come alive as they demonstrated how “The arts engage an audience an invite a response”. Students shared their musical talents as they sang and played instruments. They presented various monologues that were thoughtful and expressive. They provoked the audience with some of their visual art work. Each Grade 3 student and their dedicated teachers Diana Diclaudio (Visual Arts), Erik Smith (Drama) and Deveor Rainey (Music) should be extremely proud of, and recognized for, their creativity, commitment and passion.
Please view some photos of the event here. And view this wonderful movie “Who am I?"
Update on Scaffolding in Front of the School
We are delighted to report that the cladding tile replacement project is completed on one side of our school and the scaffolding will soon be removed from above the main entrance.
The goal of the company is to have all of the repairs completed prior to our return to school in January.
The KG entrance is the next phase to be restored. The KG entrance will be closed as of December 1st so that the company can finish the reconstruction.
The KG "Kiss and Ride" at the front of the school will be moved to the main entrance until the repairs are complete. We have arranged for extra staff to help us get our Kindergarten and Grade 1 students down to their area. Some of our Grade 5 students will be helping by creating “Walking school Buses” that will take groups of KG / Grade 1 students to their hallways.
As always, we appreciate our parents who have helped us make the KG “Kiss and Ride” such a positive start to the day. Please contact Ms Sally Potts if you have any concerns or questions.
We ask that G1-G12 families continue to use the back area for pick-up and drop-off, giving our KG families the needed space in the front of the school.
We are delighted to report that the cladding tile replacement project is completed on one side of our school and the scaffolding will soon be removed from above the main entrance.
The goal of the company is to have all of the repairs completed prior to our return to school in January.
The KG entrance is the next phase to be restored. The KG entrance will be closed as of December 1st so that the company can finish the reconstruction.
The KG "Kiss and Ride" at the front of the school will be moved to the main entrance until the repairs are complete. We have arranged for extra staff to help us get our Kindergarten and Grade 1 students down to their area. Some of our Grade 5 students will be helping by creating “Walking school Buses” that will take groups of KG / Grade 1 students to their hallways.
As always, we appreciate our parents who have helped us make the KG “Kiss and Ride” such a positive start to the day. Please contact Ms Sally Potts if you have any concerns or questions.
We ask that G1-G12 families continue to use the back area for pick-up and drop-off, giving our KG families the needed space in the front of the school.