Want to encourage you today with a song that I have had on repeat for the last few days! Our God is victorious, and while these are challenging times for sure, none of it is beyond him. God is good!

Reading, Reading, Reading!

Raz Kids is an online reading program that we are going to use every week. The books will be familiar to some of you because it is the same program I use in the class for Home Reading, we are just switching it up to the online version 🙂

When you log on you will see that I have already assigned 3 books to your child. I want your child to choose just ONE (this just allows for some choice) for the week. Practice that book each day (reading it, NOT listening to it), as if it was your home reading. There are comprehension questions that go with it. I don’t want those questions to be answered until you have read the book 5 times. The Reading Comprehension questions will be one of the jobs on your bingo chart each week.

In a couple weeks, I will assign an assessment reading activity as opposed to practice books. At this time I will be checking to see if they are ready to level up, or need more practice at the level I have them at. I recognize that some of you may be ready to read at a higher level right away here, please be patient with me as I figure out how to get you all placed at the level where you should be, and as I am trying to keep track of a lot of new information and new ways to assess. Thanks 🙂

Kids A-Z Login Instructions

Step 1: Go to www.kidsa-z.com

Step 2: Enter or choose the teacher’s username, trast0

Step 3: Your child finds his or her username on the class chart

Step 4: Your child enters his or her password

Passwords are being emailed to you – passwords just require clicking on the picture that they are assigned.

This is the only way RAZ Kids will be required to be used. It does have a Reading Room available as well. When you log on, you can go into the Reading Room and read or listen to books for any of the other silent reading blocks if you so choose, it is not the expectation that you will.

Any questions, let me know!

I just emailed you all a link to a Google Doc where you can sign up for a time slot to meet with me each week. If you do not have a google account and can only view the document, email me with the time slot you would like and I will write your name in, otherwise, you can just edit it yourself. Thanks!

Good evening parents!

Connection Call:

It was so good to connect with almost all of you, be able to hear how you are doing and just generally check-in.

Take it slow!

First off, I want to remind you, this is a learning curve for all of us, and I don’t expect huge things out of you and your children right off the bat here. We are going to take it one day at a time, and we are going to navigate this together. I will be sending out information on expectations for academics, you are not expected to just know what to do without any guidance. I am here to instruct, and help and support however I can along the way. Right now, it is just hanging tight while I get things organized and ready to send out to you 🙂

FreshGrade and Blog:

Second, there is a lot of information, a lot to take in … please make sure that you are checking in here regularly. I would appreciate you checking my blog as well as checking FreshGrade every day, at least for the beginning here. It was lovely to see some pictures of your smiling children, those of you that did my first job on FreshGrade. If you have not yet done this, please do so ASAP. It allows me to see that you are all set up and that everything is working. If you are having trouble with this, let me know. My blog and FreshGrade are going to be the primary ways of communication between us, so these are so important to be checking them regularly, but also participating and uploading pictures as I’m requesting. In order for me to stay on top of things, participating is necessary 🙂

After you have completed the first job on FreshGrade, I would like your child to do a second. And that job is to set up a space where they will be doing their school work, and take a picture of your child sitting there showing me where they will work. This space should be a space that is relatively clean and free of distractions. This will be helpful in allowing them to stay focused and concentrate on their work. Please take a picture and upload it onto FreshGrade for me to see! I have uploaded a little video on FreshGrade of me and my workspace to help them out 🙂

Drive-Thru Pick-up Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the Drive-thru pick-up of your child’s belongings, as I’m sure you are all aware. I have packed up the classroom … which I have to say was not an enjoyable task as it just made me sad that we were not going to be in the classroom. All of your child’s things have been put in that bag … everything in their lockers, all their workbooks, and everything from their desks. I am hoping you will have everything you need. That being said, they will need their journals, the extra notebook that I provided, and their pencil boxes. Their journal they will use for their journal assignments. The blank notebook can be used for all the other writing activities that they are asked to do. Please have them start at the beginning and work through the book page by page, not flipping around, otherwise they may have a hard time staying organized.

Creating a Schedule:

And finally, a schedule! As we move into online learning, it will be very important for both of us to set up a schedule. The students rely heavily on the routines that are established in the classroom, and I think that having a routine will be very helpful in the success of school at home. There is no right way to create a schedule, and it will look different for each family as the needs are all so different. I would suggest having a set time when they get up, and that they get dressed and ready for the day as if they were actually going to school. And I would also suggest having set times in the day to do academics, so that they become familiar with work times being work times, and it is not a question or a battle each day to do it. Schedule in lots of down time and outside activity. So please, take some time and create a schedule. It will help keep you on track and focused, and it will help the students to feel more empowered to complete their work and to do their best. Feel free to let them know that I have required certain times to be work periods, if you think it will help set that routine 😉

An example of a schedule:

7:00 – Time to get up

7:00-8:00 – Get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast … get ready for the day

8:00-8:30 – Chores or one job from mom/dad (make their bed, tidy playroom, etc)

8:30-9:30 – do one school job (see Learning at Home Choice Board for the week)

9:30-10:30 – free play time – outside, in the playroom, whatever they want

10:30-11:00 – snack time

11:00-12:00 – do one school job (see Learning at Home Choice Board for the week)

12:00-1:00 – Lunch time – help prep or clean up from lunch as well

1:00-2:00 – do one school job (see Learning at Home Choice Board for the week)

2:00-3:00 – free play time

And then end the day with your regular evening routine. Try to keep routine bedtime, treating school at home as though they are going to school the next day and need to be up and ready to go as they regularly would.

Thanks! 

Again, I want you all to know that we are in this together, and while I am still figuring this out as we go, I am here to support you in any way possible! Let me know if there is something. I expect there to be some bumps along the way … but we will just work through each day as it comes. I so appreciate your support, your encouragement, and your willingness to partner with me to keep your child learning and growing in this difficult season! Feel free to be in touch as you need to, thanks!

Good afternoon Parents,

I am going to be sending each of you an email that has an access code. It is for FreshGrade. Currently, I post pictures and you can see them and comment on them, but I’d like to get it set up so that you can also send me pictures and videos.

I’m hoping that I can explain this to you well, but if you have further questions, feel free to email me your questions.

Look up FreshGrade online. Log In under FRESHGRADE CLASSIC. It will provide you with three options …Parent, Teacher, and Student. Typically you have logged in under parent. I have changed the settings on my end, and you are now able to login as student. When you log in as student, it allows you to upload pictures and videos for me to see. You will be required to enter the access code that I am going to email each of you individually. Please enter that code.

Then, I would like each of you to upload a picture of yourself – it can be a picture showing me how you feel about going back to school in this new way, or doing something really fun today … anything you want, you just have to upload a picture 🙂

Thanks!

 

Hey Everyone!

Well Spring Break has come to an end, and I hope that you were able to enjoy the break even with everything going on right now. It has been a very quiet and low key break for me, and I am eager to get back to teaching. That being said, it is also going to be a giant learning curve, for both you and your children, as well as for myself.  I pray that you feel at peace as we learn to navigate this new temporary ‘normal’.

I know there are lots of questions, concerns and thoughts about how everything is going to move ahead, and our Admin team has been working so hard to get things into place as we start back up again. With that being said, we are going to take things slow, one day at a time, and figure it out together. Online learning is new for all of us, but I am here and I am going to do my best to make this as easy as possible. I will do my best to support you and to serve you in these unchartered waters.

I am praying for you all, and loving your children from within the confines of my home. There will be a lot of information and things in the weeks ahead. My goal is not to overwhelm you, but to journey with you through this. I am going to be calling and checking in with each of you this week personally. I look forward to connecting with you all soon!

Please be checking your blogs and emails regularly as I will be checking in 🙂

 

This letter is from the school:

Dear Parents and students,

Welcome back. Usually, at this time, we would be welcoming you back into our classroom with sunny smiles, laughter and fun tales of holiday exploits filling the air. However, these are not usual times. Recent events have created lots of uncertainty and unknowns in our world.

One thing we do know is that God is great and powerful. He is someone who is always faithful. Even during this time, where plans seem uncertain and ever changing, we know He has a plan for us.

We have drawn a lot on our faith in God these past few days as we have begun to plan for what your child’s education will look like in the coming days and weeks ahead. Hopefully, this post will begin to provide you with some information on some of the things we are working on, providing you with some comfort and clarity. 

We want you to know that:

1. School will continue – Teachers are hard at work preparing materials and activities to students to work on at home. Recognizing that there are many things vying for your attention on the homefront, we are trying hard to not overwhelm you. However, we do not want to just send home busy work but rather activities that are still strongly connected with the BC curriculum. 
2. Establishing a routine is important – One of the best things for your child is establishing a routine that you can follow as much as possible. Therefore, a suggested daily schedule will be sent home to help with building those all important routines into your day. Children like knowing what is going to happen each day and what the expectations are.   
3. Connections with your child are important to us – We are thinking and praying for our students. We miss their smiles, their unique personalities and their energy. We have built relationships with your child during this year and want those relationships to continue even at this time. We want your child to know that we are still here thinking of them and knowing that they are still important to us. Throughout the week, we will be contacting you and your child – on a scheduled basis – using a variety of methods (phone, email, and video conferencing).
4. Technology can be a powerful tool for remote learning but may be difficult – Bringing a number of technology tools to work in delivering content, activities and materials to your child can make for a different kind of dynamic learning experience. However, we recognize that families have differing abilities in accessing technology at home. Over the next few days, you will be contacted and asked to complete a short survey which will help us to determine the needs and capabilities of families in accessing technology. At the Intermediate level, there are plans to send our Chromebooks home with each student so that they have equal access to a tool commonly used at school. 
5. Students may need items from school – Elementary students use a wide variety of tools to complete work. In order to facilitate learning at home, some of these items will need to be returned to you. The Office and Admin are developing plans to provide families time to collect supplies from classrooms. This will allow you to have access to some common materials including pencil crayons, markers, scissors, rulers, paper, some duotangs, etc. Cognizant of the virulent nature of the Covid-19 virus, we are working on a way for parents to pick these materials up while maintaining the social distancing guidelines put out by Public Health. A schedule will be released by the office of pick-up times for your child.
6. Primary content and activities will be distributed through your child’s classroom blog. Intermediate students will continue to use Google Classroom to get their materials, activities and content.
7. There are many things we don’t know yet – We are working hard to answer as many questions as possible as quickly as possible and will strive to keep you updated as soon as we know more information.

We want to thank you for your patience during this time. God proclaims, 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with you, even in the face of these challenges.  

Well we made it! Spring Break, and some time for rest, is here. I think we are all in need of this time. I pray you all have a safe, restful, and enjoyable break from routine.

A couple of notes as you head into the break:

• Grow a Garden, a program put on by Chilliwack Schools Garden Program, is starting up. Applications if you would like to participate are due by April 2nd, 2020. You can find information and application forms at:

chilliwackschoolsgardenprogram.com

• keep reading over the break 🙂
• Easter Joy poem – we will be performing at our Easter Assembly, so please have your child practice this over the break

Easter Joy

Jesus came to earth, to show us how to live, how to put others first, how to love and how to give.

Then he set about his work, that God sent him to do; he took our punishment on himself; he made us clean and new.

He could have saved himself, calling angels from above, but he chose to pay our price for sin; he paid it out of love.

Our Lord died on Good Friday, but the cross did not destroy. His resurrection on Easter morn, that fills our hearts with joy.

Now we know our earthly death, like his, is just a rest. We’ll be forever with him, in heaven, where life is best.

So we live our lives for Jesus, think of him in all we do. Thank you Savior; Thank you Lord. Help us love like you!

 

 

 

Today we had a Pep Rally for the Senior Boys team going to the semi-finals. They played a tough game, and came out on top! They beat Fernie 79-68 and will play in the final tomorrow at 1:30pm, in the arena court. They will be playing Unity. Keep cheering them on!

 

Well, we are almost there! Just one more week until Spring Break. This week has been a good one. We had an assembly on Safe and Unsafe Substances, started learning about 2D and 3D shapes, and started an author study for Laura Numeroff. This week we really enjoyed reading ‘If You Give a Pig a Party’ and doing different language arts activities to go with it. We also enjoyed the last minute Knight Day and Red Day thrown in at the end of the week. It’s fun to be able to support our High School Senior Boys’ team in this way. Today, as a school, all the students from K-12 gathered together in the gym for a Pep Rally – we surrounded the team, prayed for them and cheered for them as loud as we could. Needless to say, it was very loud in the gym, but they hype was so fun! On Tuesday, we also had a surprise earthquake drill. I always appreciate how quickly and quietly the students stop what they are doing and turn to me for instructions. They did a great job 🙂

Dates to Remember:

Friday, March 13th

• Green Day
• Last day before Spring Break

Monday, March 30th – School Resumes

Spelling:

No spelling list this week.

Bible Memory:

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Reminders and Other Information:

• remember to bring in Home Reading and Friday Letters
• Little Hoopsters and Little Diggers information has gone home with your child – if they are interested make sure you get them signed up at the office 🙂

Our sr. boys basketball team is going into a big week to fight for #1 position in the province.

We want to make sure to celebrate this the best we can!

On THURSDAY this week, we will have a K-12 Knight Day.

On FRIDAY this week, we will have a RED day where students are encouraged to wear the limited edition RED provincial Knights t-shirt (available to purchase at the school store on Wednesday – limited numbers) – or their own red shirt or items.