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Whats happening in

Gill-Ville Jr. Area Comp . January 2013

http://teachers.wrdsb.ca/GILLK

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Mark your Calendars

Character Education:

Skating News:

Pita Pit Lunches Wednesday, Jan. 9th & 23rd R.M.i. Lunches Wednesday, Jan. 16th & Jan. 30th Character Ed. Assembly Thursday, Jan. 17th Pizza Date Switch Thursday, Jan. 17th PD Day No School Friday, Jan. 18th Winterhawks Game Saturday, Jan. 26th Little Chefs Cooking Lesson Monday, Jan. 28h Report Cards Come Home Monday, Feb. 11th

During the month of December, our focus was on the BALANCE key. We talked about balanced diets and lifestyles. This month, we have selected Shelby as our student-ofthe-month winner! During the month of February, we will focus on the Commitment key. With the start of a new year we will have opportunities to set some new goals, develop action plans, and stick with it when it becomes difficult to accomplish goals. Well learn that its important to be reliable, stick to our word, and finish what weve started.

In February we will have two opportunities to go skating. Look for more information coming home soon regarding these days. Students will need their own skates in order to participate. Let us know in advance (ASAP) and we can try to assist in finding a pair to borrow. Students without skates can stay at school and participate in alternative activities or share the photographer job at the arena.

Holiday Projects:
We hope you enjoyed the creative ornaments your child made and painted for you at the Creations Studio as well the homemade treats! We also hope you had a chance to cuddle under a blanket, with a hot chocolate, to watch our digital dance video. We created our video using the stop-motion animation program FRAMES4. We used over 1000 pictures to make the video! It was lots of fun to create.

Homework:

We will return to our regular homework routine this month. With the exception of the week of January 14th when homework is due on Thursday, Friday will remain our regular due date. Please continue to read the weekly checklist page for special homework instructions and contact us for homework help when needed.

Ancient Civilizations Research Project:

The students worked very hard to complete their research project on an Ancient Civilization. Each student completed a brochure using the computer software program Pages. The brochures have been saved as PDF files and embedded into blog posts. Check out the amazing work the students put into these projects and leave us a comment! We would love your feedback!

Recording Data for Healthy Lunches:

We are continuing to record our lunch information on a bar graph each day. Some students have noticed a big improvement in their graph data since we began recording. Thank you for helping your child come to school with nutritious food to fuel their brains for learning.

Calendar Skills:
We are currently working on calendar and time skills. Students can practice naming the days of the week and months of the year in order. Challenge them to name the day or month before or after one that you select! Upon returning to school, we were learning about New Years Eve traditions around the world. Students received a world map passport to stamp after completing various activities. We had fun participating in a variety of events that had us writing, preparing and eating special foods, making lots of noise, and recording oral sharing. We used the livescribe pen to record our learning on our passport. The saved files are being added to a blog post we are writing about New Years traditions and celebrations. You can see our PDF pencasts and read our posts by visiting our blog: http://kidblog.org/gill-villeans

Hygiene Kits:
Starting this month, students are beginning to learn about and develop a greater awareness for personal hygiene. Each student has received a special kit that we keep at school that contains toothpaste, a toothbrush, dental floss, a comb, and deodorant. If a student forgets to complete their daily hygiene jobs at home, they can perform those jobs at school in the morning when they arrive.