Goodbye September!

Hello Families!

How are we already here?! September has come and gone in a BLINK and here we are with a month of school behind us.

This week has been packed! Daily we've been reading, discussing, listening, contemplating and acting for truth and reconciliation. We participated in the run for reconciliation with a small time each day dedicated to running 1 km. The students were so eager and impacted by what we learned that many chose to use their recesses to continue to run. One day alone we ran over a marathon together - SO SPECIAL! By the end of the week we ran over 110 km's together. Way to go Gr. 3's!

On one particular day the Kindergarten's came out and were doing a reconciliation walk and we had the chance to spend some time intentionally playing and connecting with them. We have lots of sibling pairs this year with the Kinders so it was a very sweet time (see below). We talked about how doing "small acts with great love" is really the big stuff that changes the world. There will be many more "small acts with great love" we are hatching up for the future.

We also had an awesome time in our neighborhood at outdoor school. We discovered "the nature bowl" and spent time noticing and playing on the land there. The stories for outdoor learning we read were also linked to truth and reconciliation this week. Overall, it was a great trip, we are still working on reinforcing expectations and norms. This group however has taken things so seriously and sincerely wants to grow and participate!

We set up our "living system" this week. A very exciting time in Grade 3. Ask your child all about what we started and how we did it! I will add some photos of that below too :).

Mixed into all this is word work, reading, read alouds, data work in math, mapping, and a culmination of truth and reconciliation week - the faceless doll project. Our Blackfoot dolls will be sent in to the vigil that is being held in the city on October 4th.

It's full days and full weeks but we try to lean into peace as a guiding principle. The world is too overstimulated and fast paced … it's been great to savor and slow down and run fast and feel the wind and laugh and learn together.

Reminders for next week:

Tuesday is Learning Commons, please help us remember our library books!

Wednesday is Outdoor School, please dress for the weather and pack an extra calorie filled lunch!

Noteworthy for the following week:

*No school next Monday (the 9th) - Thanksgiving!

*A reminder went home for picture day this week. Our class will have photos on October 10th!