Merry Christmas

 Wishing all my Sturgeonite Families a very Merry Christmas! I will see you all virtually January 4th! Students, watch your emails for Google Meet times, and Hapara for your work.

No Homework

 There will be no weekly homework during these last few days before Christmas.

Spirit Week

 This week is a spirit week at the school. Here is the schedule:

Monday-Christmas Socks

Tuesday- Dress like an Elf

Wednesday- Red, white and green 

Thursday- Christmas Hat

Friday- PJ Day

Google Meets

 There will be Google Meets today (Thursday) at 9:30 and 1:30 for students who have questions about the math and language that is posted in Hapara. We will also be reading part of Santa's Prickly Punctuation Problem at 9:30 this morning and then students can try the editing work on their own after that.

Miss.Sturgeon Away Sick

 There will be no Google Meets on Monday Dec. 7th, as Miss.Sturgeon is away, sick. There will be a Meet on Tuesday to review Monday's work, at 9:30am. The daily work is posted in Hapara, as usual.

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Google Meet

 There will be a morning and an afternoon Google Meet at 9:30 and 1:30. Check your email for the invite. Mornings will be to offer help for the math tasks, afternoon will be for the language tasks. Bring your work if you completed it and you can edit or get ready to work on it during the Meet.

Google Meet-- Advent Liturgy

    Tomorrow morning's Google Meet will be our class Advent Liturgy for lighting our first candle. There will be reflection questions to chat about with the class. It will begin at 9:40. Check your email for the sign in, it will be sent out around 9:20am. Miss.Sturgeon will also be live with "OFFICE HOURS" and at her computer to answer Math or Language questions from 9:15 until we begin. You can email her and get a fast response.

   In the afternoon, Miss.Sturgeon will be in a Meet with students who can join at 1:30 (she will be on starting at 1:15 for "OFFICE HOURS"), to review the first Language reading task and we will correct the answers together and discuss the story. She will also answer any science or math questions if students are stuck!

Miss.Sturgeon

Google Meet---A check in

 

Our Check-in short Google Meet will be tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1:30. We will be just making sure everyone can find their work, understand the tasks, and we will peek at who might have questions or difficulties. We will also look at the reading together, called Funny Faces.

Check your email for the link to get in near 1:15!

DIGITAL ETIQUETTE:

1. Enter with your mic muted.

2. Be dressed in school clothes (no jammies!)

3. Be in a location with good quiet and lighting.

 4. Don't interrupt those who are speaking. 

  Please review the Online Google Meet Etiquette video below:

Google Meets

Our class Google Meets will begin with a brief check-in on Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday there will be synchronous learning: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Synchronous learning will continue Friday and next week with a morning and an afternoon teaching session. The rest of the day is for students to try the Hapara work, Mathletics tasks and Prodigy questions.

Please watch your email for the exact Meet times, to be announced soon.

Email Miss.Sturgeon anytime. 

Please note, she is teaching Grade 3 from 10:45 until 12:00 everyday, and eats lunch from 12:00 until 12:30 and will not be available at those times.

Miss.Sturgeon

Quarantine Classwork- Sturgeonites

Dear Parents,

While students are working from home, work tasks will be posted in Hapara Workspace. Please check there daily for tasks in Math, Language and some Science.

Our class will gather for some Google Meets, please watch for emails and postings here and the Google Calendar for times. I understand it may not be a time that may work for you, just simply try your best, that's all that can be done with this short-notice event.

I encourage all students to try to do their work daily and submit following the instructions on Hapara Workspace for each task. The regular class homework on this blog will be included/folded into the Hapara Workspace daily tasks, so no need to check the homework tab here for the next two weeks. I will not be assigning separate homework in addition to the daily home learning.

Please note---I am still at the school working full regular hours and covering regular recess duties, lunch duties and some classes that are without teachers. If I do not email back with an answer right away, it is because I am not at my computer and may be doing another job or coverage within the school.

The first daily tasks will try to be launched by tomorrow (Monday) afternoon.

Thanks,

Miss.Sturgeon

Parents: New Ontario Schools Dashboard launched

For interested parents, an Ontario wide Covid-in-schools map was launched. It displays current cases of covid with students and staff, as well as the cumulative totals per school, if you are interested in checking such data.

http://covid19schooldashboard.com/

PJ Day

 This Friday is PJ Day for our school! 

(Please make sure for Covid safety, that you don't wear these PJs to bed later that night and carry germs into your bed!)

Parent Portal

 Dear Parents,

If you are unable to access your child's progress report, please go to this link and fill in the grey box for Report a Problem. Thanks!  

https://www.ocsb.ca/parentportal/

Progress Reports Letter

 Hello! I posted a link to a shared letter for all to read. Some have interview times in them, some do not. If you would like an interview, please email Miss.Sturgeon. The letter should look similar to this when it opens in your email. Some may vary slightly, depending on if I booked an interview with you or not.

Thanks!

Miss.Sturgeon

Progress Reports

 Progress Reports will be accessible to parents on Tuesday November 10th. Please watch your emails for information!

Miss.Sturgeon

We won!

 Our class was extremely proud to win the Halloween Door competition. We received an Eye for Detail Award trophy that will be passed on next year.

Well done class!!

Thank you for all your ideas that we merged into one final design. 

Take a peek at a few photos from our physical distance Halloween "party". Students watched themselves partying onscreen via Jibjab...since they couldn't in reality!

 Miss.Sturgeon's HAPPY HALLOWEEN VIDEO:

Click to view Miss.Sturgeon and Mrs. Varanda!

https://www.jibjab.com/view/make/quarantineoween-starring-you-clip/d278182e-ca0e-41e3-b8e5-a5084dd6e5e7

Our Door!

    We have entered our classroom door into the Halloween Door Decorate competition. Thanks you Sturgeonites for your art talent! All our science/art paid off! The door was assembled tonight by Miss.Sturgeon and looks AMAZING! Everyone's hand art is up and everyone did their bones properly in the correct places. Our phalanges and metacarpals look great...and spooky!

Plus we added some your Negative Space Halloween Spray paint art projects! Wow! The rest are inside our class.

Check it out!

HALLOWEEK! Spirit Week!

Halloween is next week, so we are having a Spirit Halloweek!

  

Here are the themes for spirit week:

Monday-School colours day (red, white, black)

Tuesday-Crazy hair day

Wednesday- Orange and black day

Thursday- Hat day

Friday- Wear your Halloween costume day!  **NEW!

Halloween and Covid

OPH has vetted these recommendations and supports these:

• Simple costume, no accessories, no costume mask (but regular mask)

• No makeup (interferes with regular mask)

• No change of clothes at school, come in your costume!

• No distribution or exchange of treats

• No parade to see other classes

• Continue to respect the distancing / cohort instructions

Math Test Study Helper

 This study sheet below will help you know what content is on our test. It is mostly an overview of basic underlying concepts dealt with in number sense so far. The more complex problems, number talks, regrouping with physical base ten blocks etc. are evaluated ongoing as classwork. This is a check up!

Math Test

Math Test will cover:

place value digit values (ones, tens, hundreds...etc)

expanded form of a number

written form of a number

rounding to nearest 10, 100, 1000

greater than and less than

compare and order

draw base ten

adding

regrouping

decomposing numbers into different parts ex: 256 is ________ tens and ______ones

different ways to pay for an item (ex: $12, 985 for a car. What ways can you pay? Make different combinations)

Math Test

 Since Miss.Sturgeon was away, she is moving the math test to Monday. Concepts to be covered will be posted here Wednesday evening. You can practice at home by studying the concepts and definitions. The test will be what is on the study guide, so there are no surprises!

Homework posted Tuesday

 Miss.Sturgeon is still feeling sick and should be back Wednesday. There will be homework posted Tuesday (not tonight) and it will be review practice for our unit math test on Friday.

Miss.Sturgeon away Monday

 Miss.Sturgeon is feeling very ill and will be away on Monday and is sad to miss the Terry Fox walk. Homework and Hapara work will be posted when she feels well enough. (Don't worry...she is not contagious, she is having a strong reaction to her flu shot.)

Times Table Focus

 We are trying to have all student memorize their times tables. Here is a link to a gaming site for practice:

https://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games

Try them nightly! Make flashcards to quiz yourself at home!

Thanksgiving Long Weekend

 Thanksgiving...what a great time to count your blessings. With the pandemic, it is even more important to try our best to focus on what positive, good things we have in our lives. Good is hiding everywhere and silver linings are abundant, we just need to train our brains to find them. Our class did a full day of GRATITUDE. We brainstormed and thought about things that make us happy and grateful...from tiny items such as cute cat paws, to big ideas like fairness and love.

Our class is doing a 30 day Gratitude Challenge beginning today. We will be finding the positive things we are grateful for that happened each day and reflecting on them before we leave school each day.

Try it at home before bed! It helps children sleep well to end the day with gratitude instead of complaints!

Miss.Sturgeon has posted some videos to get you started in the previous post. She is also posting her favourite song Baba Yetu (below). It is the Lord's Prayer sung in Swahili . It also happens to show Miss.Sturgeon's top gratefulness items: The beauty of nature and beauty of music!

Fun fact for any gamers out there: This song was composed and written for the video game Civilizations and is the first piece of music for a video game to be nominated and win a Grammy Award.

Gratitude and Being Thankful

 

Terry Fox Cancer Fundraiser Walk/Run

Our school is proud to offer a slightly Covid-altered Terry Fox Walk for Cancer! Once again we are fundraising for Cancer Research and Covid will not stop us----or Terry's Dream! Please support us, if not in finances, then in spirit, prayers and participation for those whose families are affected by cancer.

October 15th will be our date for being outdoors, with October 16th as our rain date.

Students At Home

 For students at home, waiting for Covid tests, or waiting for Virtual Academy placements etc. please make sure you are keeping up with our class by following what we are doing in your HAPARA workspace folder. All tasks and lesson goals are posted there weekly.

Away Sick

 Miss.Sturgeon woke up feeling a bit sick (stomach), and is following proper protocol to not go into work this morning. This students will have supply teachers today. Students will be working on their computers to complete tasks Miss.Sturgeon will assign from home.

Miss.Sturgeon

A Message from OPH

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

Now that we have begun school it is imperative that you follow the following before your child begins school;

Self-check screening tool for students in school

Symptomatic Procedures
As outlined by Ottawa Public Health, If your child has even one of the following symptoms, they cannot be sent to school:

• Fever/chills

• Cough

• Difficulty breathing/ shortness of breath

• Sore throat/difficulty swallowing

• Runny nose (not related to allergies)

• Loss of taste or smell

• Unexplained headache, tiredness and muscle aches

• Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain

• Link to Ministry of Health symptom guide

Ottawa Public Health mandates that If your child develops these symptoms during the school day you will be called to pick up your unwell child and his/her siblings that are at the school.  While here, your child will be placed in an isolation station monitored by the principal or vice-principal and will be asked to put on a mask.  In order to return to school, the following must occur:

• If your family does not pursue COVID testing your child with symptoms and their siblings must self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days and be without symptoms for 24 hours before returning.  Or, you can seek a medical note from a healthcare provider that indicates an alternative diagnosis.  With this medical note your child can return to school 24 hours after symptoms have resolved.  

• If you seek COVID testing for your child and the results are positive OPH will provide guidance to your family and the school outlining next steps.  

• If the results are negative, the individual with symptoms needs to isolate until without symptoms for 24 hours.  Siblings may return if without symptoms.

Link to Ottawa Public Health symptomatic flow chart

Please see this letter OPH - Child presented with symptoms at school from Ottawa Public Health which will be sent home to a parent whose child exhibits symptoms.

If your children need to isolate for 14 days, they can access learning materials through their Hapara Workspace. Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Homework

 Our Sturgeon class homework for grade 4 and 5 will being Tuesday (tomorrow)! It is already posted, but I have not explained to the students how to complete it and I usually hand out notebooks for students who want it. You can peek at it if you wish. it is on the tabs above!

Miss.Sturgeon

First Day!

  We had a great day! Our First Day went well. Miss.Sturgeon is proud of how all students respected face mask wearing and physical distance rules. Students used their hand sanitizers often and washed hands properly at the sink. A happy shout out to all parents because this reflects well on you and our community---your children were wonderfully prepared to keep us safe. Thank you!

    It will be an adjustment for students to stay in their seats for so long and do traditional tasks---- with no access to flexible seating, group tasks, hallway work groups, assemblies, indoor gym, desk aerobics (aka DPA) sharing of computers etc. I hope the students are not going to be bored! I will certainly try my best to keep things colourized while maintaining safety.

   Homework will begin next week and you will be informed via email and this blog as to how to proceed with it.

   Take care!

    Miss.Sturgeon

More Info----Our Zones---First Day of School

This is showing the zones to meet students on the first day, as well as the hopes for the Kiss and Drop at the Arena parking lot.

Zone 1-2-3 corresponds with Grade 1-2-3 on Tuesday and 4-5-6 (4 being near the Arena side) for Wednesday.

Our Covid Classroom

Ch-ch-ch-changes! There are many changes within classrooms and the school for Covid safety. Our classroom has our 24 desks as singles, all facing forward. The teacher has a separate zone that students are not allowed to travel into. Students have a one-at-a-time help desk that the teacher will work at through plexiglass. All students must wear a mask at all times in the classroom.

    There are directional arrows in the hallway to indicate where to travel.

    Bathrooms have a limit of 2 students. While waiting to use the bathroom, students must line up at the sticker dot 2 meters from the next student. Students must sign out with the teacher the time they go to the washroom and return for contact tracing purposes.

    The gym is closed. There is no indoor gym class.





Here is a sneak peek of our room:

Welcome Back!

Welcome to our class blog! This Grade 4/5 website will be the hub for news and activities. Instead of using the agenda which could transmit germs more readily, parents and students should be checking here weekly for information about our classroom.

I hope you have received the School Messenger email about our First Day of school and how it will be organized.

Please make sure your child has a mask, possibly a lanyard to hang it while they eat snack, and basic supplies if possible. We are not to be sharing items such as pencils, erasers, scissors etc.

Miss.Sturgeon

Short Film by a student

As promised in our final Google Meet, Miss.Sturgeon wanted to know the student's feelings towards online learning. Here is the short film, made by a Grade 9 student in Toronto, about her feelings about online learning. Miss.Sturgeon loved the film, it was also very well created, with good camera angles and music. This girl made it all herself!

Check it out! Do you agree with her?

Relax and have a good summer. Or enjoy a great burger without worrying about homework, like Miss.Sturgeon's cat:

End of the Year Grade 5 Challenge!

Miss.Sturgeon participated in the ALS Burpee Challenge yesterday and this morning. She was out at 3:00am this morning near Parliament Hill, in support of making available a new medicine in Canada for this disease. She is encouraging your support as your final task before school is out! She would be tickled pink if you participated, even if it is on social media only and not financial.

What to do:
Do burpees for 1 minute.
Film yourself and friends doing them. Speed up the video if you can and post to a social media site like Facebook or Twitter if you are allowed to (Parent permission is mandatory!)
Challenge 3 other friends to do the same.
Use these hashtags to show the support: 
 #ALSburpeechallenge
#WalktoEndALS
#ALS
#DeaneGorsline


THANK YOU SO MUCH! In this case, sharing really is caring.





See Miss.Sturgeon's burpees:

Yes, the clock read 3:00am!