Was it just me or did last week go by too quickly? Regardless, now we are in the thick of things when the learning happens fast and furiously and we begin counting down the days until grade one. I start those casual chats early because some of the children need time to wrap their brains around the thought that they will not be in our classroom, with our friends and under my care soon(ish). They need time to begin to loosen the ties we have woven so tightly throughout the past months and begin to think about what grade one, a new classroom, new friends, new teacher and expectations and routines might be like. Some of the children are already excited and looking forward to it and some of them are understandably nervous and anxious. So if your child is beginning to talk about the end of kindergarten and beginning of grade one it is because we have begun to have those gentle discussions in class. Reassure them that everything will be great and I will continue to do the same (because it will be!).

• ​ Mrs. Farber and I are looking for donations of odds and ends of flagging tape in different colours for next Wednesday if you have any laying around. Thank you.
• As usual, library books are due back for exchange by next Tuesday.
• ​​April's Family Project (kite & tail) came home and is due Friday April 5.
• Report cards came home with your child. Please sign and return the envelope for our last reporting period of the year.
• PAC is sponsoring a pizza day in April. The orders were due to the office by today with pizza on Friday April 5.
• Monday April 1 is an NI Day so Team Awesome will stay  home while I go to school.
• The PAC Easter Purdy chocolate orders are due to the office by Wednesday April 3. No late orders will be accepted.
• We have a presentation with the Sierra Club on Thursday April 4 and will spend part of the morning outside.
• Friday April 6 is very busy with Day of Sucwentwec activities, a possible assembly, family projects due, and a PAC pizza lunch.
• Don't forget to use the Scholastic $6 book coupon your child received in their Xmas card from me before the end of June!
• Mrs. Leonard is looking for donations of white buttons for a project she is working on. If you have some you would like to donate, leave them with me or put them in the jar on the office counter.
• March sight words are: because, fun, have, jump, make, why. If a word comes up repeatedly in our studies we will sometimes add it to our words for the month. Please feel free to practice them at home.​
• BEST monthly newsletter can be found here.

Go forth and Be Awesome!

As the children entered our classroom last Wednesday morning they slowly noticed a wee bit of untidiness- books and blocks spilled, papers on the floor, pencils left about and things turned upside down. And as we had read a book about a cheeky leprechaun the day before, Team Awesome was already aware that it was the time of year a little trickster might visit. It wasn't long before someone mentioned catching our tiny visitor and you know Team Awesome- they wanted a piece of that action pronto! Which led to a flurry of activity later that morning during our time with Mrs. Farber's Fiends as the children first planned then built their own traps to catch the little man. If you picked up your child at the end of the day you might have seen the traps placed willy- nilly around the class, looking mostly like pieces of recycling that hadn't been picked up but boy did a lot of thought and effort go into them. If we didn't catch the leprechaun that evening we would have to revisit and revise our traps as many of them didn't actually have doors that closed. So while a few traps had some bait in the form of shiny things to lure the fairy creature inside, there was nothing to keep the leprechaun in the trap after he stole the bait and had a nap. And that's what scientists do- revisit and revise ideas if they don't work the first time! 
There were squeals of delight and excitement the next morning as the children checked their leprechaun traps and discovered multi-coloured glitter around their traps and our classroom. But alas, no leprechauns. As we looked around we discovered the smartypants had left some notes and little green footprints everywhere. And of course, another very big mess, which the children worked together to tidy. We resolved to catch him that night. To that end, we shared how our traps were supposed to work, why we thought they didn't, and how we could improve them and that afternoon some of us spent some time upgrading our designs while others had had enough of the sneaky little guy and played with centres. A few of us made totally new traps. Bigger and better traps. And a few of us tried to be sneakier when setting them up- we put them in places the unsuspecting leprechaun was sure to go based on where he went the previous night or we tried to camouflage them. Our fingers were crossed that we would be luckier that evening than we were the night before. 
Well, that sneaky little leprechaun foiled us again despite our cleverly hidden(?) traps. And not only that, but he also felt the need to leave a potato in our traps and green and gold clovers all over our room, gold handprints everywhere, and have a bubble bath in our sink. If I didn't know better I would say our resident compact green guy invited his friends and they had a big party and forgot to clean up afterwards. We were excited to find he left us a nifty poem stating that he won't be returning (Boo!) and part of his pot of gold (Yay!). Team Awesome was glad he came to visit us but sad to learn he wouldn't be sticking around. We talked about setting up our traps at home in the hopes that we might catch a leprechaun there. If you did happen to catch one, don't forget they disappear in the blink of an eye- and please don't give him directions to our classroom. One leprechaun party a year is quite enough.

Did you find your City of Kamloops Activity Guide in last week's newspaper? The Activity Guide is published three times per year and offers a wide range of programs, including swimming lessons; exercise and dance classes; cooking, language, and arts courses; outdoor activities; and more. There are courses and programs for people of all ages and abilities. In case you missed it you can use the online link here.

• I am away most of next week and won't get to editing and posting photos or videos until next weekend.
• As usual, library books are due back for exchange by next Tuesday.
• ​​There are no Family Projects for March due to the holiday but April's (kite & tail) came home this week and is due Friday April 5.
• The grade 6s are hosting a fundraiser by selling garden seeds. An order form went home last week. Send it in and they will get your order together ASAP.
• ​We said a sad good-bye to Ms. Dowler today and wish her the best in her future teaching career.
• Spring Break runs from Saturday, March 16 though Sunday, March 24. We will see you all back here on Monday, March 25. Enjoy!​
• Report cards came home with your child today. Please sign and return the envelope for our last reporting period of the year.
• PAC is sponsoring a pizza day in April. The orders are due to the office by Friday March 29 with pizza on Friday April 5.
• Monday April 1 is an NI Day so Team Awesome will stay  home.
• We have a presentation with the Sierra Club on Thursday April 4.
• Friday April 6 is very busy with Day of Sucwentwec, an assembly, family projects due, PAC pizza lunch and a Fresh Air Friday.
• Mrs. Leonard is looking for donations of white buttons for a project she is working on. If you have some you would like to donate, leave them with me.
• March sight words are: because, fun, have, jump, make, why. If a word comes up repeatedly in our studies we will sometimes add it to our words for the month. Please feel free to practice them at home.​
• BEST monthly newsletter can be found here.

Go forth and Enjoy Spring Break!

I usually have two videos from our trips to the Big Little Science Centre but because our demo lab was about light and colour, most of it was in the dark so this trip there is only one video.

​Did you ever think to head to TED for parenting advice and inspiration? Go! It’s a treasure chest of insightful gems from some of the world’s best storytellers. To prove it to you, we’ve rounded up 7 TED Talks about parenting that are incredibly inspiring.

To wrap up Kindness Week (although we never stop being kind),  here is a list of ideas to help you continue the learning from our classroom at home. #100 is particularly easy and contagious! Click on the 4 arrows in the right hand corner of the document above to view the full screen version.

• As usual, library books are due back for exchange by next Tuesday.
• ​​There are no Family Projects for March due to the holiday but April's will come next week.
• The grade 6s are hosting a fundraiser by selling garden seeds. An order form went home this week. Send it in and they will get your order together ASAP.
• Sunday, March 10 we will jump the clocks ahead an hour to Daylight Savings time.
• Order forms for Bannock came home this week and are due the beginning of next week. Bannock will be delivered to your child if ordered on Friday, March 15.
• Friday, March 15 expect a formal report card in your child's backpack. Sign the report card envelope and send it back to me please for our last reporting period in June.
• We have tentatively scheduled a Fresh Air Friday afternoon at the river on Friday March 15 and it is the last school day before Spring Break.
• Lunch orders for April are due to the office by Friday March 15.
• ​We will be saying a sad good-bye to Ms. Dowler on Friday, March 15 and wish her the best in her future teaching career.
• Spring Break runs from Saturday, March 16 though Sunday, March 24. We will see you all back here on Monday, March 25.
• PAC is sponsoring a pizza day in April. The orders are due to the office by Friday March 29 with pizza on Friday April 5.
• Mrs. Leonard is looking for donations of white buttons for a project she is working on. If you have some you would like to donate, leave them with me.
• Mrs. Villeneuve's class will be once again recycling batteries through the Calltorecycle program. If you have batteries at home that you would like to send in I will make sure they get them or you can drop them at the office.
• March sight words are: because, fun, have, jump, make, why. If a word comes up repeatedly in our studies we will sometimes add it to our words for the month. Please feel free to practice them at home.​
• BEST monthly newsletter can be found here.

Go forth and Count Down to Spring Break!