Dear R7A Families –

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. The grade 5-8 Remembrance Day ceremony will be held at 11:45 am in the large gym. Parents and families are welcome. Our class is performing a recitation of the poem, “First They Came”. They will do this with meaning, respect and emotion, I know. I am inserting a link to a youtube video in which Leonard Cohen recites John McCrae’s famous poem, “In Flanders Fields”.

Later in the week, on Thursday at 1:15, the Late Harvest committee headed by Tesha, will be hosting an R7A potluck to celebrate autumn, harvest and our Canadian indigenous traditions. I will be sending out an e-mail tomorrow indicating what the committee requires in terms of food. It is an expectation that most of the class bring something for the potluck.

On Thursday and Friday, we are holding parent-teacher interviews in the large gym. I will be there from 4:30 – 7:00 on Thursday afternoon/evening, and from 8:30 – 11:00 on Friday morning. All Intermediate teachers will be in the gym. The interviews are designed to be brief. If you have a more serious issue or concern to talk about, may I suggest you contact the subject teacher(s). I have already met with many of you, and would be happy to see you again, preferably with the R7A student as the interview is about them. Please review the progress report and comment and sign the return sheet with the envelope.

There will be no school on Friday.

Photo retake day is on Wednesday. The student must bring in their original photo envelope. I wonder if Albert Einstein ever did photo retakes?!

All this week, Ms Shiau and I will be meeting and conferencing with R7A students about their reading and writing strengths and areas for improvement. Please, please, please, ensure your child has the time and develops the habit of reading every day. Reading daily strengthens language skills and fluency. It also expands our general knowledge and helps us become stronger thinkers. This is an incredible time for students in grade 7 – their brains are in a second, accelerated state of growth and need to be fed and encouraged. The Scholastic Book Reading Fair will be held in the library for VM students during interview times and on Thursday during school time. I will make sure the students get to the book fair.

On Friday, November 22nd, our whole class and the grade 7s from R7/8 will be going to the Canadian Museum of History to learn about Canadian indigenous culture and contributions and walk through the incredible History Hall. It will be a day-long field trip. We will be travelling by school bus, and we will be touring with a class of second-year education students from a University of Ottawa History class. Going on the field trip will be dependent on behaviour at school. We need to trust that our students will be on task and will be able to enjoy this opportunity. I would like to thank Mme Deschenes for finding funding for the school bus, and Ms Davies for contributing ISST money toward admission fees. Because of their generousity, the field trip fee will be only $5.00 per child. Volunteers pay no admission. Students will bring their lunches and we will try to get outside to see the Ottawa River and the back of Parliament Hill. Field trip forms will go home tomorrow.

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Enjoy your week. I hope to see many of you later this week. Here are some photos from a weekend hike in the Gatineau Hills concluding with a stop at the beautiful Mackenzie King estate.

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Ms Swail