Dear Families,

As we head into the holiday break, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support and partnership this Term. It has been a joy watching your children grow and learn every day.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, laughter, and rest. Please stay safe and healthy during your travels and celebrations. I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready to learn in the New Year!

Some students have asked for extra Knowledgehook practice in the GC Stream practice, so I did go in and post some activities, please let your eager children know. These are completely optional and will not be marked.

Also, OCDSB no longer supports Edublogs.org – this platform that I have used to communicate with parents and families since September. While this is frustrating and an inconvenience, I do have to follow protocol and it will have parents checking the Google Classroom more often and being in the know of direct student work. A good practice to embed for the Junior Grades (Gr.4,5,6). I can still post student photos there, videos and day-to-day important information.
This Blog will be shut down Effective Jan. 5th, 2026.
My apologies for the inconvenience. It is saddening, but my communication will come as often.

Best wishes always,
-Ms. Lewis

Good evening parents,

We just got confirmation that we are now the first act to perform tomorrow. Please leave plenty of time to find parking. Parents will be seated just after at 12pm and the show will begin promptly at 12:15.

All of our students are wearing their pyjamas with the exception of N wearing the Robot Costume and JG dressed up in cowboy attire.

We are SO excited to show you what we have been working on!

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• All acts are on the stage.
• Show will be livestreamed/recorded for in-school viewing only.
• Only parents will be in the gym to watch the show.

Happy Terrific Tuesday! Two quick updates to share:

1. For our Winter Holiday Concert on Dec. 16th students are asked to wear their pajamas – the more “kid like” they look the better! Large printed graphics, animals, food, game controllers, plaid, patterns etc.
2. Here is our presentation schedule for the Biography project presentations next week:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Monday Dec. 15th – Simon.   Wednesday Dec. 17th -Julia, Sami, Nancy, Issac, Mason, Ivan & Koda Thursday Dec. 18th -Chloe, Kinsley, TT, Coco, Lily, Lucas, Pinhua, Heidi  Friday Dec. 19th -Belle, Atharva, Travis, Adam, Oliver. Jasper reading a story on Friday.

Good snowy Sunday morning!

The students did a brilliant job on Friday showcasing their festive dances and Hour of Code projects!

Students were asked to complete what work they didn’t get done on the major Biography project at home this weekend. Some students still have no resources so a quick trip to the library might be needed. I have folded the demo poster page in half here to illustrate what should be done in class by tomorrow. We will work away at the other components all week.

Working with Words Spelling will resume this week, but we will take a break next week due to Biography Presentations, the Concert and our own in class celebrations. Biography Presentations will December 17,18 and 19th. Friday the 19th is also a WEJ Spirit Day – Pajama Day!

We are pleased to launch a fundraising initiative to support our local community by collecting new hats, mittens, and scarves. All donated items will be given to the Salvation Army and Chrysalis House.

This initiative will run from December 1 to December 17. Donations will be delivered at the end of the day on December 17.

Thank you in advance for your support. Your participation will help bring warmth and comfort to members of our community this winter.

I want to thank all the parents that signed up and came out for a Parent Teacher interview on Thursday night and Friday, it was so lovely to meet and connect with everyone!

This December is going to be an extremely busy one, here are some major ongoings:

Looking for donations:

We are pleased to launch a fundraising initiative to support our local community by collecting new hats, mittens, and scarves. All donated items will be given to the Salvation Army and Chrysalis House.

This initiative will run from December 1 to December 17. Donations will be delivered at the end of the day on December 17.

To help with collection, we kindly ask that each teacher select two students to bring down their class donations on Wednesday mornings—December 3, 10, and 17. Clearly labeled collection boxes will be available at the front entrance near the office.

Thank you in advance for your support. Your participation will help bring warmth and comfort to members of our community this winter.

Winter Holiday Concert:

Our class will be performing with Ms. Ashley’s class The Marvelous Toy. This concert will take place on December 16th, time yet to be determined, but likely after 10am. We will be in touch with appropriate apparel.

Travel?:

We have many families leaving early for trips. If you know in advance that you are leaving early please let me know so that I can have assessments done for them ahead of time.

Biography Projects:

As discussed over the past few days, please ensure you child has chosen who they are committing to do their BIOGRAPHY project on by tomorrow.

Dances:

Students will perform their Festive Holiday dances this Friday in class with some confident groups performing for Mr. Jacksons class during our gym period. Students have come up with attire ideas of what they will wear please chat with them about this.

Holiday Cards for Seniors:

Since we are all experts now on Friendly Letter writing, the students have been creating generic, but thoughtful Holiday cards for seniors at the Carp Commons Senior Living Home and some children at CHEO who may not get home for Christmas. If you have any old Christmas Cards at home not getting and love, we would be happy to take them off your hands and brighten someone’s holiday season!

This month alone, we will have participated in 4 separate assemblies. The majority of students are showing excellent practices of whole body listening, sitting still and managing their urges to blurt out. Assemblies are wonderful practice for real-world opportunities like watching a performance at the NAC, going to a sporting event and even how to behave in a public library.

We will enjoy our last presentation for November next Tuesday:

When: Morning of Tuesday, November 25, 2025

With support from one of our bus companies, we are conducting an essential School Bus Evacuation Drill next week. This important safety practice will teach students how to safely exit the bus using both the front and rear doors. Bus drivers will explain the procedures, and the drill will take place on assigned parked school buses for approximately 10 minutes.

Our sun safety presentation was extremely informative and fun. We thank Nina and Jude, med students from the University of Ottawa for their very professional and engaging presentation. Today students are bringing home UV Protectant Lip Gloss. It is in their Friday Folio and is sealed -brand new of course.

Today, we enjoy an effective WITS assembly and learned about the WEJ WITS RECESS RANGERS team. We did the WITS pledge, watched a video about inclusion at recess and heard from the Ranger why they chose to take on this leadership role within the school. Rangers are on the yard in 8 different zones at both recesses. The help support the WITS mission.

In Reading, we have been looking at the literary genre of the biography.  This week, students are having the opportunity to hear different biographies read to them (e.g. Terry Fox) as well as self-select their own biographies to read during independent reading time. The students will each choose one biography to focus on. Later week they will start working on a biography poster project on their person of choice. Students are first filling in a planning sheet as they read their chosen biography and record important facts and events in their person’s life. After their planning sheet is complete, they may start on the good copy of their biography poster. The students are also expected to plan out what sort of articles of clothing their person would have worn during their era. Ultimately, students will come to school with a costume, dress like their chosen person of interest, and orally present the information on their poster to the rest of the class! Parents are encouraged to help out with their child’s costume. You do not need to go out and buy costumes. Instead, try to make due with what you have at home. The Dollar Store or Value Village may be an option for those who want to go over the top with accessories or props. The more creative the better! Do a google image search at home with your child to help get a visual of their person. We are not sending home the actual biography books, as we do share them with Mr. Jackson’s class. Students do not have to memorize their presentation, but the more confident and comfortable they are with the content, the better it will come across orally. We will continue to work on the posters this week and next week in class. They will be sent home mid-week next week so that the students can start practicing their presentation. Presentations will take place the week of December 15th to the 18th.

Click below to see the Biography Poster Rubric, a blank copy of the poster, and two finished good copies of the poster from last year… to give you an idea of what is expected of your child. Again, work on the poster will be completed in class.

Howdy friends, come join the fun,

Western Day for everyone!

Cowboys, cowgirls, short and tall, 

We’ve got spirit… one and all!

Plaid and denim, what a sight, 

Western Day will feel just right!

Boots on feet, hat on head,

Western fun is up ahead!

This Friday, let’s shout hooray,

As it’ll be Western Spirit Day!

Click below to view the Spirit Squad Flyer!

_Western Day Flyer

Thanks so much to all of our parent community who had the children dressed absolutely beautifully. We are SO proud of them all.