It was great to have so many students back in class this week – we almost had a full house, which was great!  Students have been working hard this week and we have been focusing on division, persuasive writing, government, and the digestive system (to name a few).  This week marks the end of term one and we have a lot of great things in store for the next half of the year.

A Few Things Coming Up…

School Fundraiser for Classroom in Guatemala

As a school, Highroad has linked with Compelling Love Ministries in Guatemala since 2014.  We have built classrooms in 4 villages.  If a village can provide a classroom then the government will provide a teacher in Guatemala.  The classrooms we have built have changed the futures of these villages and their kids. As the leaders of Compelling Love, Rocky and Karren Chupa work closely with a pastor in the village and this also brings an opportunity for spiritual impact.

For so many reasons it seemed clear that we couldn’t launch a mission trip this year.  We are praying that opportunity might be possible in 2023.  As a school we feel led to focus on something “outside of our community” and we are planning on building a schoolroom in Guatemala.  Looking beyond ourselves will help us to know that God is at work, that we are blessed and that we can still be a blessing.  This year’s village, Cerrania Los Mayas, has 45 families and 70 students whose present “school” is pictured on the right.

We are having 2 pay-to-wear (minimum $2) casual days- Feb. 14^th  and Apr. 13^th for the whole school.  On both days there will be a hot lunch fundraiser with all profits going to the building fund.  Please note, too, that larger donations can go through City Life Church and receive a tax receipt.  The cost for a classroom to transform a village is about $7000.

Hot Lunch Fundraiser:  On February 14th there will be a hot lunch fundraiser for Guatemala.  You can order hot dogs and fries through the Munch A Lunch website.  Please go to the fundraising tab.  Orders need to be in by February 7th.

Upcoming Dates: 

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend!  We had a great week at school this week and the students worked hard to “Solve the Mystery’ and earn their sweet treat!  Hot chocolate and wagon wheels were enjoyed by all!  Don’t worry if you were away on Friday, your treat is awaiting you when you return to school!  =)

Here are a few things coming up…

We have survived our first week back to school!  We are so proud of the students and how they have jumped right back in after having an extended Christmas break.  Here is a snapshot of what we will be working on this month:

Math: This next week we will be finishing up our multi digit multiplication unit and begin working on division.  We are also working on memorizing our multiplication Math facts.

Writing:  This week students were introduced to Persuasive writing through the Great Chocolate Bar Challenge.  Students got into groups and created a commercial that would persuade the class that their chocolate bar was THE BEST.  The commercials were SO CUTE!  Congratulations to team O Henry for winning a chocolate bar each!

Science:  We took a couple of days to look at the book The Six Cedars, a Coast Salish book that introduces students to various core competencies through different animals. We have been learning that these core competencies are life skills that we develop over our entire lives (we say it’s womb to tomb). This will be something that we focus on throughout the year and bring into our daily classroom activities.  We will begin our Science unit on the digestive system next week and learn the function and main organs associated with that system.

Bible:  During the next few months in Bible we will be working through the book The Case for Christ for Kids.. This book is written by Lee Strobel and it investigates some BIG questions, such as the existence, miracles, ministry and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is an engaging read and my hope is that this will be a time of deep learning for us all!

Reading: We are over halfway through our novel study, The Barren Grounds. Some of the major themes we are covering include responsibility, teachings from various sources, and community. Our language focus continues to be figurative language and our literacy skill is visualization. The class is starting to understand some words in Swampy Cree and they are learning about various traditions and cultural practices.

Social Studies: The class is putting together a persuasive paragraph on why voting matters. Using their learning from the last term they will share what the most important reasons to vote are to them. We will be looking at Canada’s natural resources next.

A few other items…

Genius Hour – we will continue working on this beginning next Friday.

Pajama Day – next Wednesday students can wear pajamas to school!

Pro D Day date change – The date has changed to Monday, January 31st.

January Dates:

January 19th – PJ day

January 21st – Knight’s Day

January 28th – Knight’s Day

January 31st – Pro D Day

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello!  It feels like FOREVER since we’ve seen the class!  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break – we both did!  We are eager to see your kiddos  and we look forward to getting back into the swing of things.

A few things to note for this week:

SO MUCH SNOW:  Our school yard has a HUGE amount of snow – on both the field and the playground. PLEASE send along snow gear – boots, mittens & toques, and snow pants if your child wants to play in the snow.   We will be heading outside this week and proper gear is needed.  =)

Masks:  Please ensure that your child is coming to school with a mask this week (unless they have an exemption).  Thank you!

Gym Strip:  We have gym tomorrow and Tuesday but will not be changing into our gym strips for the month of January.  You are welcome to bring them and your child will store them in their locker – or you can wait for a few weeks.

Thank you!