Summer

Our last post, Division 3, June 22nd to 25th

Dearest Div 3 kids and families, 

This is our final post in what has been a roller-coaster of a school year thanks to Covid 19.

Here are some photos from the Grade 5 Community Leaving Event to go down in history:

https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/community/photos-drive-by-graduation-parade-held-in-sooke-for-elementary-students/

PHOTOS: Drive-by graduation parade held in Sooke for elementary students – Sooke News Mirror www.sookenewsmirror.com Students, staff and families lined the streets and cheered as passing cars honked in celebration

Final Dates for this last week:

June 24th - The last day that Google Classroom is open(but we know learning can happen everywhere and always). Summary reports will be mailed to your home

June 25th - The last on site school day. Summary reports will be distributed at this date or mailed to your home, if you are unable to attend. 

Returning Learning Resources:

School Library Books - you can drop off library book at the front doors Monday to Friday until 4 pm.  Please return your books by June 19th or sooner to make our librarian and your teacher really happy.

School Chromebooks - please return chromebooks and other tech., if you haven't already

Supply Lists for 2020-2021

Lists for all SD 62 schools can be found on this link:

https://www.sd62.bc.ca/parents-students/school-supplies

School Supplies | Sooke School District www.sd62.bc.ca 2019/20 supply lists Please note: Secondary schools do not provide lists as each class is different. Please make sure your child brings a notebook or binder as well as a pen/pencil on the first day of school. If your school does not have a link or is not listed below, it means that school does not have a school supplies list. Your child will learn what they need to bring to school during the first week.

Continuing Learning this last Week and Beyond:

On Site We are learning outdoors for our in-class days this week: June 23 and 25th. Please wear appropriate foot and outerwear for the conditions. Bring your sunglasses, hats, and sunscreen!!!

Google Classroom The last day that our online classroom is open is June 24th. If you are unable to continue online because you had to return a chromebook, we recommend that you read, keep a journal, and practice basic addition and multiplication facts using cards or dice for 15 minutes (each card or dice is a term in an equation). We also recommend that you take advantage of the Sooke Library's Take-OUT service. Go to this link for details: https://virl.bc.ca/takeout/ These activities are good for always. The brain loves to be challenged.

Takeout Service at VIRL - Vancouver Island Regional Library virl.bc.ca Takeout Service Status Updates We know you’ve missed your books, DVDs, magazines, and all the other great stuff you love …

It has been our privilege to teach your kids. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Here's to a great last week and a super summer (AND AN END TO THE PANDEMIC!)

Your Grade 4 and 5 teachers, Ms Bridal and Ms Powers

This week in Division 3, June 15th to 19th

Dates to Note in June:

June 19th - Grade 5 Send Off at 1pm in the centre of Sooke.  Ms Powers and Ms Bridal will be standing close to the bus stop by TD Bank, but not close to each other.  Ms Bridal will be wearing a very fashionable mask out of respect for the public. 

June 24th - The last day of supported distance learning, but we know learning can happen everywhere and always. Summary reports will be mailed to your home

June 25th - The last on site school day. This is the last day for school supply pick up; they will be donated after this date. Summary reports will be distributed at this date or mailed to your home, if you are unable to attend. 

Maintaining Community in June:

We will have our last class Google Meets on Wednesdays at 1 pm on June 17th. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  We can discuss our send off ideas and say, "see you later" because it is never good bye for good. 

The Sooke Grade 5 Send Off  is June 19th at 1 pm. 

Returning Learning Resources:

Library Books - you can drop off library book at the front doors Monday to Friday until 4 pm.  Please return your books by June 19th or sooner to make our librarian and your teacher really happy.

Chromebooks - please return chromebooks and other tech. by June 19th. These can be dropped off at school or with Ms Bridal at the Grade 5 send off; she will have a box in the boot of her car. 


Continuing Learning this Week:

On Site We are learning outdoors and, unfortunately, there is rain in forecast for our in-class days this week: June 16, 18. Please wear appropriate foot and outerwear for the conditions.

Google Classroom The last day of on-line learning is June 24th. If you are unable to continue online because you had to return a chromebook, we will be providing guidelines for tech-less activities to continue to support learning. Our last email to you will be on June 21st. 

Your Grade 4 and 5 teachers for always, missing you,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Division 3, June 8th to 12th

Dates to Note in June:

June 19th - Grade 5 Send Off at 1pm in the centre of Sooke. Decorate your family car, drive by and make some noise for this unique set of Grade 5's! See Ms Vally's school message for specifics.
June 25th - The last day to collect school supplies from Poirier. They will be donated after this date. See Ms Vally's school message for specifics.

Maintaining Community in June:

We will have Google Meets on Wednesdays at 1 pm in June to maintain our Div 3 connections. 
To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  

The Sooke Grade 5 Send Off  is June 19th at 1 pm. Ms Vally emailed the specifics and we will be emailing another copy to your email account.

Continuing Learning this Week:

On Site Please dress for the weather as we will be outside every day and rain is in the forecast. Our in-class days are: June 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25.

Google Classroom For those of you who worked on assignments in google classroom, we reviewed them on Friday and sent you feedback. Some students submitted work without a file attachment. If you need technical support, please email us. We are not marking assignments, but appreciating your work and giving you a few pointers or things to think about. Again, do what you can when you can.

Your Grade 4 and 5 teachers for always, missing you,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Div 3, June 1st to 5th

Maintaining Community in June:

We will have Google Meets on Wednesdays at 1 pm in June to maintain our Div 3 connections. 

To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  

Grade 5 Transitions:

View this video to get a feel for Journey:

Hold the date: June 19th at around 1 pm, we will be doing a unique Grade 5 transition event. It, like everything these days, is optional, but if you would like to participate, mark your calendar.

Continuing Learning this Week:

On Site  Students who have registered their attendance will be learning at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in June. Please dress for the weather as we will be walking in the community every day and a lot of the learning will be taken outdoors. Please review the health protocols that the district and Ms Vally emailed to you. 

Google Classroom We will continue to post three options per day: a number talk, a short story with an activity, along with a design challenge, outdoor ed. or cross curricular activity to do. We will review submissions on Friday to give students feedback and direction. Please email us if you encounter technical difficulties; we will be checking sd62learns.org emails to ensure that students are on track during the week.

Or Self Design and Mix and Match to build a program that fits you. Please feel welcome to use the resources on this link or to ask us for support.

Your teachers, missing you,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Division 3, May 25th to May 29th

Looking Forward

Action needed -- Survey for families: If you haven't already, please indicate if your child will be participating in on site, part-time schooling starting in June.  Here is the link: 
https://www.sd62.bc.ca/survey-return-in-class-instructions

Please stay tuned for two detailed emails from the superintendent of Sooke schools this week; he will be sharing details about the partial reopening on June 1st.

GRADE 5 Closure Ceremonies - We have a Sooke-wide idea for our Grade 5's moving on up to Middle School. As we work out the logistics and the details, we will share them widely. We are hoping to mark this occasion in a Sooke-history making way.

Journey Tours - Journey will not be organizing school tours until August for students and families who want to inspect their facilities. Please contact Journey directly to inquire.

Maintaining Community this Week

We will have a Google Meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 1 pm. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  


Continuing Learning this Week

Lo-Tech/No-Tech You can find this week's suggestions on this link or attached to the email version of this post.

Google Classroom We will have a course check in on Wednesday at 1pm. To join the meeting, click on the video meeting link on the site. We will be talking about how we are going to blend on line learning with on site delivery. We'd like to keep our class connected with each other moving forward.

Self Design For the next 30 days, you may want to explore a new resource: Brain Pop. Brain Pop is offering free family access for the next 30 days. Brain Pop is an American resource, so make sure to protect your privacy, if you sign up. The platform is an interactive, multi-modal, cross-curricular resource that appeals to kids: https://www.brainpop.com/

Or Mix & Match to build a program that fits you.

Your teachers, missing you,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Division 3, May 19th to 22nd

Looking Forward

Action needed -- Survey for families: Please indicate if your child will be participating in on site, part-time schooling starting in June.  Here is the link: 
https://www.sd62.bc.ca/survey-return-in-class-instructions

Action needed -- Grade 4 Students: please email us the names of three friends to help us to organize classrooms for next year. We will make sure that you have at least one strong connection in that new class.

Supplies Pick Up Times:

Tuesday, May 19^th:

8:30-10:00- Family names A-C

10:30-12:00- Family names D-J

12:30-2:00- Family names K-O

Wednesday, May 20^th

8:30-10:00- Family names P-S

10:30-12:00- Family names T-Z

Why are we picking up supplies, if schools are re-opening? We are reducing clutter and touch points for students at the school to maintain a clean environment. Individual desks or cubbies to store items won't be a feature in physically distanced classes; we won't require students to change shoes and we will have students use their backpacks as personal storage. 

What if I can't pick up my child's (children's) supplies? If you are home-bound and need a drop off, we are happy to do that for our students. If you are otherwise committed, we can arrange an alternate pick up or we can drop it off at your doorstep. We are flexible and want to be helpful.

Maintaining Community this Week

We will have a Google Meets on Thursday at 1 pm. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  The meeting won't be available until the teachers hosting it have joined.

On Tuesday, Ms Bridal and Ms Powers are assisting with supplies pick up, so our regularly scheduled Meets is cancelled. Sorry.

Continuing Learning this Week

Lo-Tech/No-Tech You can find this week's suggestions on this link or attached to the email version of this post.

Google Classroom We are now posting a daily short-story and reflection activity for reading and writing. Math Number Talks will be focused on patterning, a pre-algebra skill. It is our hope to post one other curricular activity per day to provide our students with an hour of daily schooling. Some days, the family won't be able to get to this; that is okay. Do what you can.

Self Design In addition to our resources, we encourage you to explore the Ministry's open learning resource: https://www.openschool.bc.ca/keeplearning/

Or Mix & Match to make it work for you and your family. Please share photos and videos of you working from home with us.



Your teachers,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Division 3, May 11th to May 15th

Maintaining Community this Week

We will be having an optional meet up at 1 pm on Tuesday and Thursday this week. To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/kmb-wijp-qff  The meeting won't be available until the teachers hosting it have joined.

This week we are assembling another slideshow of our home learning. These pictures will also feature in our Grade 5 Year End Slideshow. Yes, we are getting creative around how to acknowledge your passage from elementary to middle school. If you have a novel idea, share it with us.

Continuing Learning this Week

Low Tech/No Tech: You can find this week's suggestions on this link or attached to the email version of this post.

Google Classroom: 
We will have a GC question and answer session at 1 pm. During this session, students can ask about "classwork" or make requests around lessons/activities.
We are designing materials that have curricular connections, but that could also be done with siblings. We do review what students submit, but we are appreciating their efforts and not grading them.

Self Design:  Thank you for sharing what you are doing with us and for reaching out when you want clarification around Grade level curriculum expectations. We are excited to hear how many of you are using Sal Khan's "Khan Academy"; this site is free and teaches the concepts behind the algorithms that we grew up learning by rote (https://www.khanacademy.org/math). Ms. Bridal's daughters have been using Khan to support math and science instruction at UVic., so it really is a long ranging resource.

Or Mix and Match to create a hybrid program that works with your family and routines.

There is a lot of speculation around a "dry run" in June of optional, on-site lesson delivery. We don't have details about when that could be or how that could look yet. As soon as we know those details, we will share them widely.

Until then, here we are, in our virtual world, missing our kids, your kids, and hoping this comes to an end soon. Let's make the best of it.

Your teachers,
Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week May 4th to 8th

Maintaining Community this Week

We are having a Poirier Parade-on-by this Wednesday at 12:30. 100% chance of showers out of Ms Bridal's eyes. She'd better keep her distance with those tears flying everywhere!

We will be having a meet up at 1 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. We are going to announce a theme for the Thursday meet up on Tuesday.

We don't have the ability to safely do a Pizza Party yet, but we can have some fun in the interim. Ms Powers and Ms Bridal are going to march on up to Journey with pizza for you next year, if that is what it takes. We can wait, COVID is no match for how much we care about you.

Continuing Learning this Week

Low Tech/No Tech: You can find this week's suggestions on this link and a copy of the word document has been emailed out. Thanks for sharing your work with us; we love to connect with your learning.

Google Classroom: We are creating new material weekly and your feedback directs what we put out. Would you like some real time lessons, for example? We recognize and really value how different all of us are at home, so we are aiming to make our lessons flexible and accessible.

We will continue to post new activities at 8 am. We will be available from 9 to 2 for support. Between 2 and 4, we will review your submitted work to appreciate it and connect with you about what you are doing. We love getting pictures of what you are creating and learning.

Self Design:  Send photos of what you are doing so that we can include them in our year end video. Are you learning in nature or at a parent's worksite, for example? We know some of you are and we would love a shot of you in the field or on the job!

Be safe above all. Focus on wellness. We are here to support in any way that we can.

Your teachers,
Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week, April 27th to May 1st

Information for Grade 5's Transitioning to Journey 2020-2021

JMS' Band is recruiting new members; here is some encouragement:

Maintaining Community this Week

This week, there will be a Google Meet up on Tuesday at 11 am and Thursday 1 pm to connect with each other. These meet ups are optional; if you can't make it, join us another time.

To reduce the number of emails that we send you, we won't email out a code. Instead, go to https://meet.google.com/. Click: Join a meeting. Then use the nickname: bridalpowers to join.

Also, students can join the meet up through the link and following directions that will be posted to the "Stream" in Google Classroom.

Continuing Learning this Week

Low Tech/No Tech Option
You can find a copy of this week's learning suggestions on this page. A copy of the word document has also been emailed out in the weekly email.

Google Classroom Option
Thank you for your feedback, it is helping us to tailor our program to your wants and needs. Students are not expected to do any more than an hour a day of "school work" and it is also understood that some days even an hour might not work. Do what you can.

Google Classroom Question and Answer Session Wednesdays at 1pm: Use the nickname: bridalpowers to join our 1 p.m .question and answer about all things Google Classroom. This is an optional offering and we expect to be peppered with "how do I..." and "is it okay if" questions. Of course, students can also fire us an email.

Math: Google Classroom does have some shortcomings. To cut down on on some of the visual clutter in "Classwork", we will be posting a Math - Number Talks every morning and deleting the activity at 4 pm each school day. The activities will target developing numeracy skills (an understanding of numbers and how to work with them). This means that there will always be a different Math activity there, but the work won't "pile up" and overwhelm kids.

Novel Studies: For students following along chapter by chapter, there is a new novel study starting this week. Students are encouraged to finish listening to or reading "A Wrinkle in Time", but if they want to switch because the book isn't to their taste, do!

Music: Don't forget to try Mme. Art's music activities in her classroom. They are fun.

Self-Design Option
We continue to add to and refine the Self-Design Resources. For example, this week we added to the Wonder Hour and Inquiry pages. Wonder hour guides students through the inquiry process to pursue topics of interest to them. Inquiry skills are a fundamental part of both the Social Studies and Science Curriculum. Not to mention, when kids are learning about things that truly interest them, they are truly engaged in learning.

or Mix & Match all three options to make it work for your family.

Ob la di Ob la da life goes on... a family in quarantine sings.

Your teachers, at a distance,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week, April 20th to 24th

Div 3 Families, this is your weekly group check in.

Continuing Learning this week:
No Tech/Low Tech Option:
You can find a copy of this week's learning suggestions on this page. A copy of the word document has also been emailed out.

Google Classroom:
We post new lessons every school day at 8 am. We are checking in and on line from 9 to 2 and we provide feedback on submitted assignments from 2 to 4 each school day.
Please note: we are not grading assignments, we are appreciating student work and connecting with their learning through praise and conversation. We value connection and health above academic rigor during this crisis.

Self-Design Option:
We continue to add to the self-design resources. For example, a financial literacy unit has been added under Math. Money math is a great family activity that can span across grade levels for our larger families and it addresses a number of key math skills (eg. number sense, operations, algebraic thinking, decimal fractions etc.).

Or Mix and Match to suit your family. We are here to support your choices and we love seeing what you are doing!

Maintaining Community this week:
We will be holding two, optional learning community google meets: Tuesday at 11 am and Thursday at 1 pm. The purpose of these meetings is to connect on a social level. Again, we don't want families to stress if they do not want/cannot make these meetings; health and well-being is paramount.

Here is a family learning in isolation and using music to lift their mood and ours:

Your virtual teachers really missing you,

Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

This week in Division 3, April 14th to 17th (Stay Home Editions)

We hope that you had a restful holiday with your family doing what you love, but close to home.

Continuing learning this week:
No Tech/Low Tech Option: Please find this week's suggested learning plan attached to the weekly email. This plan can also be found on the "Self-Design Resources" link to the right of this blog.

Google Classroom Option: New lessons will be posted at 8 am each morning and can be found under "Classwork". We will be working together to check in with students from 9 until 2 using the "Stream" across the week. Also, we will review and return submitted work between 2 and 4 each day. Our goal is to offer constructive feedback and guidance. Please note, that we do not want to pressure families to extend themselves beyond what is possible within the scope of their day; do what you can, when you can.

Self Design Option: Please feel free to browse our self design resources. These resources target learners in Grades 4/5 and follow the BC Ministry of Education's curriculum.

Or mix and match all of these options to make it work for you!

Maintaining Community this week:
We will be meeting through Google Meets on Wednesday, April 15th at 1pm. You will be sent an email link to "join" this meeting. You don't have to be enrolled in Google classroom or have a google acct to be a part of this meet up.


Your virtual teachers really missing you,
Ms Powers and Ms Bridal

Happy Easter!