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.

Dear Parents,
It is with great pleasure and excitement that we are writing to inform you that your child will be
receiving a presentation on skin cancer prevention from our community service organization,
UV&Me, this Friday at 10:30 am. This aligns directly with our Personal Safety Unit in Health from the Ontario Curriculum.

UV&Me is a non-profit organization where medical students deliver dermatologist-approved
sun-safety presentations to elementary and secondary school students. Founded in June 2023 at
the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine by current fourth-year medical student Aliyah
King and board-certified dermatologist Dr. Reetesh Bose, UV&Me has rapidly expanded
nationwide to include 12 chapters across Canada. To date, approximately 99 medical students
and 13 physicians have educated >3,000 students across Canada through bilingual virtual and
in-person presentations.

Through an interactive and animated discussion, we will teach your child about both the sun’s
benefits (e.g., vitamin D production) and harmful effects (e.g., sunburns, signs of aging, skin
cancer), and sun-safe practices (wearing a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen; how to choose and apply
sunscreen effectively, etc.).

Through these presentations, we work towards our mission of offering Canadian youth
evidence-based information to empower them to make informed decisions regarding their health
under the sun.

I had a few parents and students ask this evening how to place a Scholastic order for French and English books, here is a repost of that important class code information.

Scholastic Book Club offers a variety of books that are appropriate for your child’s reading level and interests. There are often many books on the topics of the units we study in science and social studies and other subjects. Books are great gifts for children and for other members in the family.

When ordering, please order ONLINE ONLY using class code : RC199370  

You can expect delivery of your order in approximately 1 week from the order due date.

From last month’s order we received 3 new books for our classroom!! The kids were SO excited! We are really hoping to have enough points this time around get a class copy of the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid that was just released last week!

Is picture retake day – please send me an email if you would like your child to have their photo retaken and also this Thursday …