**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
~from the ES BBE
February
29- PSA Quiz Night
March
3- Faculty Conversation
4- ES PSA Breakfast and Conversation (8:45 MPR)
6- EC Big Sing
6- Dance Showcase (2:45 MPR)
6- ES ASA Session 2 Ends (All students head home after school)
~from What on Earth? CBC News
This week:
- Zero-waste grocery shopping is tricky but not impossible
- Worldwide carbon emissions have leveled off
- Climate change could make more of Canada farmable — but is that a good thing?
~from the ES Principal
We will be holding virtual session for Toddle at the Instructional Lead Conversation next Tuesday. All faculty are invited to attend. If you plan to attend, please confirm with Krista no later than Monday, 11:00 am. If you are unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared in next week's Mindset.
~From the ES SLT
Thank you for taking the time to review our students' learning reflections on Tuesday afternoon. The selected exemplars for each Learning Identity and Level have been linked to the Learning Journey Continuum for your reference.
~from Vlad and Paul (Yearbook Creators)
Please share your final 10 class photos with us before Friday, April 3. Please make sure that all your students are represented within the photos you have provided (the first and second set 10 photos). Please do not hesitate to ask for help.
What are you learning about? What is your team learning about? How are your students growing as a result? Each week one of our teams will share their story or learning with the rest of us. Learning experience may be about a book you/your team read, a TedTalk, a conference attended, an online course, PIC progress, or reflections on a recent learning experience students engaged in. As part of our Culture of Learning, it is important we share our stories of growth and learning with one another. Reflections can take any form you choose (i.e., video, written, image, Sketchnote, etc). Talk to your team lead to find out more and learn when your team will be sharing their story of learning with others.
Reflections from Grade 5
During our first social studies unit of the year, Belief, Economic, andPolitical Systems, 5th-grade students are learning about how belief systems, economic systems, and political systems influence people’s lives. At the beginning of the unit, students focus on monotheistic, polytheistic, and non-theistic belief systems. Students learn about the 3 major religions of the world Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Students will participate in various activities designed to the similarities and differences of each religion. Next, students learn about four economic systems, including traditional, command, market, and mixed systems. Finally, students are introduced to the three main forms of government: democracy, monarchy, and dictatorship. By attending classes with Ms. Piroska, students also learn about Hungary during the time of communism and dictatorship.
~from the Innovation Team (Nate, Paul, and Vlad)
Virtual Learning
With the emergence of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in SE Asia, many schools in very high risk regions (currently China, as identified by the WHO), and some in high risk regions have made the switch to a fully online learning environment. While Europe is nowhere near the rate of infection seen in SE Asia, we want to be prepared should the situation develop in a similar direction.
Take a moment to view the Virtual Learning Agreements here. Please note that in the case of school cancellation due to COVID-19, Virtual Learning kicks off immediately, as opposed to unforeseen school closures such as snow days that sees Virtual Learning kicking off on day 2. The videos you made last year are for unexpected closures. If we close because of COVID-19 and implement online learning, you will need to create fresh videos connected to current units in the classroom. Please remember all videos must be created by the grade level homeroom teachers.
As always, Paul, Vlad, and I are available to sit with you to go over the technical process and procedures involved. Please don't hesitate to schedule a time with one of us.
Krista will share more information with the Instructional Leads at their conversation next Tuesday.
~from the ES Librarian
I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing break and a good week back with your students. I’ve had a lot of fun with the grade 3 children this week. Two power standards for this grade level include fostering a sense of who we are as readers and accessing resources independently in the library. The first semester focused on our reading lives and this semester the students have been exploring the use of the library catalog on their iPads to learn how we find the books we choose to read.
I use a City, Street, House Number analogy with the students. The City is the ES Library, the Street is the type of book (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, biography, etc) and the House Number is the exact “address” of the book in the library, i.e., the call number. The students learn about how the call number of a book tells us not only which street the book lives on but also the house number - the exact place it lives in the library.
This week, the students mapped out the library to show the locations of the various “streets”. They worked in pairs and explored the library to understand how the library is organized and how this helps them be agents of their own reading! We will continue to use the maps to focus on the different streets and the call numbers associated with them. Here are a few examples of how they see the library.