What a fun (and quite chaotic) afternoon!  We made muffins today to donate to the Cyrus Center.  Thank you to the parents that joined us, Mrs. Gao & Mrs. Mackie, and Mrs. Goosen – and she doesn’t even have a child in our class 😉

Hi everyone,

Next Wednesday is Service Day at Highroad.  This is a time when we intentionally serve our community!  This year the grade 5/6 class will be baking muffins for the Cyrus Center.

Every student will be assigned one or two small items to bring on Wednesday.  Feel free to bring them in early, if you want.  I am also looking for 2-3 parents to help with the mixing on Wednesday afternoon.  Having 3 different recipes being mixed up at once may become a little, or a lot, overwhelming for me on my own.  😉  If you are able to help, please send me an e-mail at mderksen@highroadacademy.com.  We would love your assistance from about 1-3pm.

Below is the list of ingredients that each student has volunteered to bring.

Alison:  100 muffin tin liners

Sophia, Della, Lukas:  regular size muffin pans

Elijah:  8 eggs

Annika:  4 cups sugar

Halle:  2 cups oil

Brooke: 3 cups unsweetened applesauce

Lydia, Austyn: 5 cups flour each

Roan:  6 teaspoons baking powder

Jacob:  6 teaspoons baking soda

Kaetlyn: 3 teaspoons salt

Annie, Ivan:  3-4 ripe bananas each

Matthew:  1 cup brown sugar

Carys:  3 cups chocolate chips

Jenna:  2 cups sour cream

Brock:  1 cup butter/margarine

Thanks so much for all your help!

On Thursday, April 30, the grade 5/6 and 6 classes will be hiking up to Lindeman Lake in the Chilliwack River Valley.  We will be leaving by bus from Highroad at about 9:30am with our picnic lunches and returning at about 2:00.

We would love to have parents join us for this fun day enjoying God’s creation and giving our hearts a workout.  Parents will need to carpool to the trailhead, as we will not have enough room on the bus.  Permission slips will be going home some time next week.  We just wanted to give you a little extra heads-up.  Looking forward to a great day together!

Talent Show:

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting an Intermediate Talent Show during out Annual Art Gala this year.  The event will be held in the evening of Thursday, May 21.

If students are interested in demonstrating their talent, AUDITIONS will be held on two different days: APRIL 16 & APRIL 24, from 3:15 – 4pm.  Students may leave as soon as they have tried out.

If students are auditioning with a piano, instrument, or dance number, they should attend on April 16.

If they are singing, doing a sport demo, or an other talent, they should attend on April 24.

ALL AUDITIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE GARAGE.

Please be sure to have rehearsed well in advance and bring all music, instruments, etc that you may need.

If students are unable to attend one of the two audition times, please contact Miss Warden and she will find a time that works for both of you.

Literature Circles:

This week we began our final novel study of the year.  The students have been placed into groups and are reading ONE of the following four novels:  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis, Holes by Louis Sachar, Silverwing by Kenneth Opel, or Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.

Each week students will complete their reading AT HOME or during Silent Reading time in school.  In class, they will complete three mini-assignments each week:  a ‘Thinking Page’, a post-it reflection of their favorite passage, and their favorite 1-3 vocab words from the passage.  They will be given in class time to do these assignments, but there may be times that they have some of it for homework.  After completing their assignments, they will meet with their group members to discuss the plot, characters, connections, and favorite parts of the novel.

Even after our first day of Lit Circles, the students are VERY excited about the books and are avidly reading them during their available time.  I think I may have to try and hold a few of them back from getting too far ahead. 😉  It’s so much fun to see them so excited about literature and about sharing their ideas and reflections with their peers and myself.

If you have any questions or concerns during the novel study, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Thank you for your support!

Mrs. Derksen

I took a few pictures of the students working during Genius Hour today.  Love watching all their creative minds at work!

And a few students presented their projects to us:

Way to go Grade 5 & 6 students!!

Next Thursday we will be having a math quiz on measurement.  The grade 5’s & 6’s need to MEMORIZE the following information for it.

1 km = 1000 m

1 m = 100 cm

1 cm = 10 mm

1 t = 1000 kg

1 kg = 1000 g

1 L = 1000 mL

The grade 6’s (only) also need to know how to convert units.  They need to remember how many times to move the decimal over AND in what direction they should move it.

km to m:  3 places to the right       m to km:  3 places to the left

m to cm:  2 places to the right        cm to m:  2 places to the left

cm to mm: 1 place to the right        mm to cm: 1 place to the left

t to kg: 3 places to the right             kg to t:  3 places to the left

kg to g: 3 places to the right            g to kg: 3 places to the left

L to mL: 3 places to the right         mL to L:  3 places to the left

Mrs. Goosen will complete a final review with them on Tuesday.

ENJOY YOUR EXTRA LONG WEEKEND!

Next week, the elementary classes are trying out a new lunch schedule.  Right now, the students eat lunch at 12:15 and then go outside to play from 12:30-12:50.  Next week from Monday to Thursday, students will go outside to play FIRST and then come in to eat their lunches. (Play time will remain at 20 minutes.) Several health studies have been done around the world to see if this scenario is healthier for the students than our current, more traditional scenario.  The main reasons for trying it are to see if students will stop rushing through their eating time AND that they will be running around on an empty stomach, instead of on a full stomach.  After the week is over, we will be acquiring feedback from the parents, students, and staff to assess the pros and cons.  If students order pizza or sushi/stir-fry, they can still continue to do so, we will adjust the schedule to allow for this.  Thank you for your support as we try new things and work on making the school day even better for our students.

JUST A REMINDER:  Next FRIDAY, Feb. 6th  is a PRO-D DAY for Highroad Academy.  The following Monday is BC Family Day.  Enjoy the extra long weekend!

Just a reminder that the online registration for the Intermediates’ ski trip closes on Tuesday, January 20th. If you have not yet registered online, please do so this weekend! You will not be able to register at the payment lines on Weds. The online registration is on Mrs. Couse’s blog at the top right-hand corner.

Please bring the lunch order form and the signed waiver forms (on all three sides) to the classroom teacher. Just one form is required per family, but all parents and children attending must legibly sign it. (I need to be able to read it. Thank you!)

The payment phase of ski registration is this Wednesday and Thursday, January 21st  & 22nd. It will be in the school lobby from 3:10-3:50 pm. Payment will be made at the registration tables (not at the office). Payment may be made by cash, cheque (made out to Highroad Academy), debit, or student reserve accounts.

Parents who are going along need to have filled in a criminal records check and those who are driving another family must also bring your drivers license and $2 million liability insurance to the school office so they can make a copy of it.  Please do so by Tuesday.

If you have questions, please ask Mrs. Couse after school on Tuesday, or send her an email.

Thank you,

Mrs. Barb Couse

Ski Trip Coordinator

Here are a few dates in the next week for you to remember:

Monday, Jan. 19:  Pro-d Day. NO SCHOOL for students.

Tuesday, Jan. 20: Please sure you have registered ONLINE before Tuesday at the following link:  Ski Trip Registration

Tuesday, Jan 20:  MATH MAYHEM:  Come to the gym WITH your kids (gr 1-6)  to play some cool math games and think creatively.  6:30-8pm

Grade 6 Prayer Group has been changed to WEDNESDAY mornings at 8:30am.

SKI PAYMENT due on Wednesday, Jan 21 & Thursday, Jan 22 from 3:15-4pm in the school foyer.

To all the students and parents of our class:

We thank you for spoiling us with all the love and presents over the last week.  We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful, relaxing holiday with your friends & family.  See you in the New Year!

Mrs. Goosen and Mrs. Derksen