*** IMPORTANT ***

 * PLEASE READ *

RE: Retrieval of Personal Belongings From School

Dear Parents/Guardians, 

We recognize that students have left personal belongings at school and are providing an opportunity for families to gather them from desks, lockers/coat racks during the week of June 8th - 12th, 2020.

We are fortunate to have been permitted access to the school and need to conform to guidelines shared by Public Health.

Access to the school is voluntary.  Families who indicate they would like to pick up personal items will be provided a scheduled time slot from the office to facilitate this process.  If your child has medication at the school, you will be contacted by the office.

The schedule will stagger arrivals to follow physical distancing guidelines and accommodate families in order to gather all their childrens’ belongings in one visit in a safe manner. 

If you wish to come with your child(ren) to gather their personal belongings, please e-mail back to your child’s homeroom teacher indicating your intent.  Please note that students may not come on their own.  Families that do not make prior arrangements to come into the school will not be permitted to enter the school.

Please inform the school of your intentions by Monday, June 1st @  4pm.

Families who do not inform the school of their intentions will not be permitted in the school.

You will be notified of your date and time next week and will be sent further entrance guidelines.

Please note that we are unable to donate items that are not collected.  These items will be disposed of by school staff.

Sincerely,

Robb McLean

Robb McLean

Principal, Parnall Public School

507 Geneva St., St. Catharines, ON, L2N 2H7

Phone: 905-934-3348

Fax: 905-934-3349

Personal Cell #: 905-984-0187

Blog Post Activities, 

May 27-June 3

Belonging and Contributing

* I hope that you are continuing to be a big helper around the house. As a reminder, here are just a few things that you can be doing to contribute toward making your home a happy place to live.

- Make your bed every morning.

- Put away your toys after you have finished playing with them?

- Help fold the laundry. Sort socks. Put your clothes away in your bedroom.

- Help put dishes in the dishwasher after a meal OR help wash or dry dishes if your parents feel comfortable allowing this.

- Take a cleaning cloth and wipe down all of the doorknobs in your home. This is good for helping STOP the spread of germs. How many doorknobs do you have in your home? Count them.

Self-Regulation and Well-Being

* Enjoy actor Chris Pine as he reads Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale.

https://youtu.be/lgZRMptA0Lk

Clark is a shark with zing, bang, and boom. Clark zooms into school, crashes through the classroom, and is rowdy at recess. Clark loves life -- but when his enthusiasm is too much for his friends, Clark’s teacher, Mrs. Inkydink, helps him figure out a way to ‘tone it down.’ Clark the Shark celebrates boisterous enthusiasm -- and knowing when it is time to use his indoor voice.  

After hearing the story, discuss the following questions with your child…

1) What was your feeling about Clark at the beginning of the story?  Was he being a good friend?

2) Why do Clark’s friends stop playing with him?

3) How do the illustrations in the story show that Clark is playing too rough?

4) How is the new kid, Sid the Squid, like Clark?

Clark has trouble in three areas of the school: the classroom, at lunch and on the playground at recess.  What are some rules that you know which might help Clark?

What did you learn from this story, Clark the Shark?

Demonstrates Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours

* Boys and girls, this week, we are going to focus on a measurement -- 2 metres. Why, you ask? You may have already noticed that people are being asked to stay 2 metres apart from each other when away from home in order to NOT spread germs that could be harmful to yourself and/or make other people sick. BUT...what does 2 metres look like? How far from another person would 2 metres be if you were standing still? Have a discussion with an adult about this important measurement. 

Children will need an ‘anchor’ to help them visualize what a 2 metre distance would be. The length of a queen-sized bed OR the height of a standard door in your home would be about 2 metres. Walk around your house and show them examples of these two anchors. Use a tape measure or metre stick to plot out 2 metres on the floor. Using painters tape, help your child mark out a 2 metre space on the floor in your home. You could also use sidewalk chalk to draw this on your driveway or walkway outside. After representing this distance with tape or chalk, find a non-standard unit of measure (e.g., Q-tips, popsicle sticks, spaghetti noodles, etc…) to base an estimate upon. An estimate is a very good guess referring to how many or how long, tall, etc... For example, how many popsicle sticks do you think it will take to reach across this 2 metre tape line? Write down your estimate. Then, use the non-standard unit to actually measure the length. How close to your estimate was the actual measurement? 

Watch this short Youtube video to reinforce this concept. Take a few minutes to review and talk about this from time to time. 

https://youtu.be/k8vuUJ7hVLY

Problem Solving and Innovation

* Coding using ScratchJr:  This is a FREE downloadable app that will allow your child an opportunity to have lots of fun as s/he explores the world of CODING. Here is some more information about ScratchJr…

What is ScratchJr?

ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves -- then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life.

ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of young people (ages 8 and up) around the world. In creating ScratchJr, we redesigned the interface and programming language to make them developmentally appropriate for younger children, carefully designing features to match young children's cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development.

Why Did We Create ScratchJr? Coding (or computer programming) is a new type of literacy. Just as writing helps you organize your thinking and express your ideas, the same is true for coding. In the past, coding was seen as too difficult for most people. But we think coding should be for everyone, just like writing.

As young children code with ScratchJr, they learn how to create and express themselves with the computer, not just to interact with it. In the process, children learn to solve problems and design projects, and they develop sequencing skills that are foundational for later academic success. They also use math and language in a meaningful and motivating context, supporting the development of early-childhood numeracy and literacy. With ScratchJr, children aren't just learning to code, they are coding to learn.

ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets. For more information about ScratchJr, see scratchjr.org.

K-1 Knocks It Out of the Park 

While Learning From Home

HH-D took on Mrs. G's challenge to use a 'collection' of like items to create a structure. What shapes do you see?

GI solved the Cat Problem.

GI wrote a book about the Life Cycle of a Frog.

GI reminds us of something which we get because of the Sun.

WM proudly displays his bridge that he built with a little help from Dad.

WM works on learning sight words.

WM has some fun learning about the life cycle of a frog. How many tadpoles do you see?

PM uses Duplo to build a bridge.

Meet the two newest members of the M household, Barnaby and Winston.

So cute!

Blog Post Activities

May 20-27

Belonging and Contributing

Children need to develop a sense of identity and a positive self-image of themselves. In order to do that, engage your child in a conversation about the things s/he feels that s/he does really well. Focus on the MANY positive things that your child can do independently. After having that conversation, encourage your daughter/son to celebrate those qualities by creating an ‘Appreciation Cloud.’ Take a photograph of your child or print one off from a computer and glue the picture into the center of a big piece of plain paper. Have your child title the paper, ‘Things (child’s name) Does Well.’ Draw three large cloud shapes on the paper. Have your child draw a picture of him/herself in each cloud doing one of the things you talked about in your conversation. You may also want to encourage your child to write a word or two, or perhaps a simple sentence describing each picture. Hang your child’s ‘Appreciation Cloud’ picture somewhere in the home where others can see and admire it. Some examples of pictures might be...I read well. I care for my little brother well. I skate well. 

Helping others around the home is a wonderful way to contribute and help around your household. Try to do something each day to help out mom or dad without being asked. Here are a few suggestions: Feed the family pet. Put your dirty clothes in the laundry hamper. Put away your folded laundry in your drawers and closet. Put away your outdoor toys when you have finished playing with them in the late afternoon. Help load or unload the dishwasher. Help a parent with an outdoor chore. You will be surprised how much your parents appreciate your help.

Self-Regulation and Well-Being

Helping develop self-regulation is one of the most important skills that can be taught and nurtured in a child. Watch the following short video BEFORE you invite your child to join you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_O1brYwdSY

The video will help you understand a bit more about self-regulation, why it is important and how you can help nurture better self-regulatory behaviour in your son/daughter. You may want to talk to your child about self-regulation and why it is such an important skill to practice. At the 2:35 minute mark in the video, there are five games which are listed and described for you to play with your child. Some of these games require more than one person, so invite siblings, cousins or neighbours to join in and play along with your child when we can begin safely socializing with others again. Have fun.

Demonstrates Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours

By now, you may have received information about our NEW VIRTUAL CLASSROOM which has been posted on the REMIND app. There are lots of exciting and fun activities to engage in, videos to watch and games to play. There is even a song to learn and sing along with Raffi. 

- Before you listen to The Grouchy Ladybug, by Eric Carle, make an analog clock using a paper plate, two clock hands cut out of heavy paper, one short hand and one longer hand and a brass brad. You will want a parent or older sibling to help you with this. As you listen to the story, arrange the hands on your clock to match those in the story. After you have heard the story a few times, discuss your answers to the following questions with an adult.

-What was the problem in the story?  

-What happened to the Grouchy Ladybug at 6:00 (six o’clock)?

-What happened to the Grouchy Ladybug at 10:00 (ten o’clock)?

-What happened to the Grouchy Ladybug at 5:00 (five o’clock)?

-How did the story end?

-By the end of the story, do you think that the Grouchy Ladybug learned anything? If so, what?

- You may have noticed that there are several science related activities in our VIRTUAL CLASSROOM. You may want to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly or a frog. If so, create a short book about each stage of your particular animal’s life cycle. Here is an example. Frog Life Cycle:  egg, tadpole, froglet, frog

Make a booklet with 5 pages stapled together. Cover Page:  Write the TITLE Life Cycle of a Frog. Page 1:  egg (draw a picture and label with the word. Page 2: tadpole (draw a picture and label with the word). Page 3: froglet (draw a picture and label with the word). Page 4: frog (draw a picture and label with the word). Share your book with a family member.

Problem Solving and Innovation

Problem:  Molly had a butterfly observation net with lots of butterfly chrysalis hanging in it. Two butterfly chrysalis opened on Monday, two opened on Tuesday, and two opened on Wednesday. If this same pattern of daily ‘opening’ continues, how many chrysalis will have opened by Saturday? Show how you know. 

Problem:  Jace watched a fireworks display in his backyard on Victoria Day weekend. His grandfather set off fireworks in this colour pattern… red, green, blue, red, green, blue…

If Jace’s grandfather continues setting off fireworks in this same pattern, what colour will the 10th (tenth) firework be? Show how you know. 

- Make a fireworks display picture. 

You will need:  black construction paper OR white paper, black tempera paint and a paintbrush, white craft glue, glitter in various colours, a cardboard box for catching excess glitter

Begin with a black piece of construction paper OR you may want to paint a piece of paper black using tempera paint. If you have used black paint, allow it time to dry thoroughly. Using white glue, make shapes of fireworks exploding all over the paper. If you are unsure about what the firework shapes look like, enjoy this delightful Disney fireworks video BEFORE you begin…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bN5b11H4_s

Sprinkle glitter of different colours on each of the glue ‘explosions’ on your paper. You will want to do this outside or place your picture in a cardboard box before sprinkling glitter all over it. Be careful to apply the glitter to the paper. Carefully shake off the excess glitter, making sure that the extra glitter stays in the box. Allow the glue time to dry. Display your fireworks display picture somewhere in your home where others will see and admire your work.

More Amazing Learning 

From Home

LP looks for words that she recognizes in one of her favourite stories.

BB made an ant farm.

BB created his own driving range.

'FORE!'

MD is playing a fun game of UNO with a parent.

MD goes on a bike ride and notices that the house numbers are growing by 2. 

Inspired my Mrs. G.'s challenge to make a musical instrument, L & LS both create amazing guitars at home.

So L & LS, how many ways did you come up with to arrange 6 spots on your ladybugs?

MM created a picture of one of her favourite bedroom decorations.

GI decided to try her hand at a 'Power Word' Spelling Test.