Welcome Back

I want to start by sharing how excited I am to be back in the classroom with all of my 7/8s! This year may look a little different than others, but I know it will still be a great year for all of us. 

We have made it through the first two weeks and are starting to get into a bit of a routine. There a lot of changes to the flow of the day, and a lot of new routines and expectations for students. I think I have sprayed sanitizer a few thousand times already, and asked students to space out just as many times. It certainly is not an ideal situation for Grade 7 and 8s, but they are adjusting and we are making the best of it. 

These weekly updates are new for me, so if there is anything you want, please let me know. My plan is to include some highlights from the classroom, upcoming material or events and general reminders. 

Last Week
In the first couple weeks the focus is on building relationships and setting the tone for the school year. We have discussed and completed some classroom activities on Global Citizenship and the importance of "failing fast." We have also completed a variety of reading and writing tasks that helped me understand the needs of each student in Language. In math class we have focused on learning through problem solving, and getting comfortable with making mistakes. We are well on our way to an excellent math community that learns together. In geography we began the year with a general focus on the 5 themes of geography and will be finishing personal "5 Clue Challenges" this week. Students chose a location and create 5 clues about the location based on the themes of geography. This assignment is due on Wednesday and many students are well on their way to completing it. 

Next week
In the coming week we will continue our focus on Global Citizenship and what it means to us. We will also begin learning about how our brain works and the process of learning new material. In language the focus will continue on writing good paragraphs and we will begin a focus on reading strategies. In math class we are going to start our first spiral, which will lead up to a quiz on Thursday. This first spiral has a spatial sense focus and will centre on classifying and describing shapes based on their geometric properties.  

Other 
Please complete and return: health forms, media consent forms and immunization forms.

Make sure to follow along @themr_tee 

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