typing.com

All students have now been set up with a typing.com account to practise their typing skills. This is not a mandatory task, however, typing is such a widely used life skill that regular practice is highly recommended.

The site allows students to progress through courses and tracks progress.

This is a great opportunity for students to set goals for themselves and demonstrate initiative.

Adventure Works

Exciting times!!! Monday and Tuesday all grade 7 students will be taking part in community building and leadership activities (including high ropes) at Adventure Works in the Dundas Valley. Permission forms went home last week. Thank you to all of those who have already returned the forms and payment.

http://www.adventureworks.org/

If for whatever reason, a student cannot participate as part of a field trip, please contact homeroom teachers, one of the Special Education Resource Teachers, or school administrators because there will be a way we can make it happen as we want all students to benefit from the experience.

School Cash Online: All Halton schools are moving towards being cashless. If you have not set up a cashless account, please do so at your earliest convenience. If you have already registered, thank you!

Orange Shirt Day Honoured at Pineland

Orange Shirt Day, officially recognized on September 30, was honoured today at Pineland. Students and staff wore orange to recognize the hardships and heartaches caused by residential schools.

Below is the link for the Orange Shirt Day website for further information.

http://www.orangeshirtday.org/

Terry Fox Run / Walk

Looks like our rain date for the Terry Fox event at Pineland should be perfect. Tomorrow's forecast is sunny and not too hot.

Please remember appropriate clothing, footwear, water, sunscreen, etc. for spending the entire afternoon outside.

I always seem to run with the spirit of Terry within me, but even more so at Pineland where the event is such an integral and meaningful aspect of Pineland tradition.

Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers for making the event run so smoothly!

See you on the course!

A very proud start to the year!

As I have often shared (because it would be impossible for me to hide), and anyone who has ever met me can attest to... I am a very emotional individual. So as I have been saying since the first day of school... I am so intrigued and impressed by the individuals I am privileged to teach this year at Pineland.

Both grade 7 classes have been built so well to balance all aspects of a learning community. The classes are riddled with individuals with vast arrays of interests, abilities, and personalities. It has been so much fun re-establishing relationships with students I have taught or coached in the past as well as building new bonds with those who I have chatted with in passing or simply held the door for over the last few years.

My primary goal of establishing a safe and risk-taking, inclusive, and motivated environment is already taken shape.

In Math, I challenged the classes with an extremely broad problem, requiring tremendous collaboration to work through many complex steps to come up with a solution. NO PROBLEM!!! Even groups that encountered difficulties took a step back from their work to realize their errors without getting down on themselves or giving up. Each group proudly presented to their peers and everyone applauded and took note of the strategies of others.

In Language, the first writing task was inspired by Neil Pasricha's "Book of Awesome". Pineland was fortunate to have him as a guest speaker two years ago, and I have also shared his TED Talk with students, "The 3 A's of Awesome" as it is also very motivational. Students are coming up with their own 'awesome' ideas and using the writing process to hone a personal voice when writing. (Many have completely nailed the feel for the writing... Now I'm just hoping that they will have the resolve to properly work through the revision aspect to polish their work).

I've crossed the line... and it's exciting!

Welcome to the start of a very exciting year! Yes, I am once again part of the French Immersion team (teaching English, Math, and Health) having been teaching the Core English students at Pineland for the last two years.

I am very excited to have the opportunity to now teach students who I have taught, coached, or seen in some capacity over the last few years, and also thrilled to get to meet some students completely new to me. So far, it has been an extremely positive start to the year. All classes and students have demonstrated amazing commitment to their learning, willingness to take risks, and respect for myself and one another.

I believe wholeheartedly that regular and honest communication between teachers and students and teachers and parents is essential for supporting the learning of students, academically and socially. Please don't ever hesitate to contact me with any concerns, questions, insights, etc.

This website has been revamped to meet the needs of my students this year, including a variety of resources on the right of the page. If there is any additional information that you may require, just let me know and I will endeavor to add it to the best of my ability. Many other teachers on the Intermediate team are using Google Classroom as a platform for communication. I have also delved into that world, but am new to it, so please be patient. Over the first month or so, I will try to maintain both my website and Google Classroom, trying to determine what works best for everyone.

I really look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones at next week's Open House!

Sincerely,

Mr. (Dave) Moskal

EQAO

It is that time of year for the Gr. 6s. This year, the EQAO testing for the Gr. 6s will be spread over 6 days, beginning this Wednesday, May 24 and will continue through next Wednesday, May 31, inclusive.

Another difference will be that the testing will only take place during the morning block of school. In order to give all students ample time to complete the test booklets and out of respect for all of those writing, please be on time for school each day.

I believe the students' feelings of nervousness have all but vanished and that they are eager to see what the testing actually looks and feels like. We have prepared throughout the year to set them up for success and comfort over the coming days.

Gr. 6 field trip reminder

Friendly reminder that the Gr. 6s will be on a field trip to the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts tomorrow. Please try to have a big breakfast as lunch won't be until almost noon. Also, remember to pack a lunch fit for a trip.

It should be a great day!

Mental Health Awareness Week at Pineland

Over the last week Pineland has recognized Mental Health Awareness Week through a variety of student and staff learning activities. Attention was paid to mindfulness and the different ways individuals can connect with themselves and their feelings, both emotional and physical. The importance of staying physically fit and eating healthy was also addressed in relation to maintaining mental health. We spent time outdoors (on the one dry day!) and also shared ideas around Growth Mindset and positive thinking, as well as other things that we suggest for each person's Mental Health Tool Box -- like: breathing techniques, calming activities/space, rest, etc.

This week was also linked back to the extremely rich discussions we had around our Bell Let's Talk sharing. Once again, the class took all activities and sharing quite seriously and were very open to learning new and different ways to maintain their own mental health.

As always, I was very proud to learn and share alongside class 5/6-1.

Self-Regulation Self-Reflection

As you are hopefully all aware by now, we have turned our attention this term to the Learning Skill of Self-Regulation. Like we did earlier in the year, there is a class target to track progress. Recognizing that each individual has their own goals and areas for improvement, students created personalized Self-Regulation trackers.

They were provided a format of deciding on a goal and then thinking of an action that would help them to achieve their goal. Four goals and actions were created for each student. At the end of each day, students honestly assess whether or not they successfully carried out their target actions.

I also assess the class as a whole and indicate how successful they were in terms of Self-Regulation and mark it on the class tracker. This can serve as an overall reminder of proper student behaviours that make successful students.

At the end of the week, the student trackers are totaled and used to practise Math skills related to fractions, decimals, and per cents. We can monitor our progress from week to week and track trends by graphing the data.

Please take time each weekend to review the student trackers and discuss what goals might look like for the following week. Initialing the tracker helps us all work on accountability. Thanks for your support!

Book report!!!

Please see the assignments page for more information. Any additional questions can be handled through email, so don't hesitate to ask for any clarifications.

The initial response to the assignment has been very positive. Since we have been using a variety of reading strategies throughout the year to analyze the novel "Dunk", the students are very familiar with the type of responses that are expected during the conferencing stage.

Parents can assist at home by asking questions about the novel that will elicit depth and explanation. (See example questions on the Homework page.)

Wizard of Oz... Get your tickets!

Before the break, a letter and ticket order form was sent home regarding this year's Pineland production of The Wizard of Oz. There are multiple shows (three I believe), but as history dictates, tickets go fast! If you are interested in seeing the show, please get your tickets in by the date indicated on the form.

(It wouldn't hurt... hint hint... to get the orders in tomorrow.)

Hope everyone had a great March Break!

Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts

Dear families,

Both grades will be attending a field trip at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts. They will explore a curriculum topic from Social Studies through an arts lens. They will be provided expert instruction in Drama, Dance, Music and Visual Arts, putting on a full production and completing their own work of art.

The 5s will be experiencing this opportunity first. Their trip is scheduled for the Thursday following the March Break. A permission form was sent home today. Please complete and return it ASAP or the Monday following the break at the latest.

The 6s are booked a little later. Stay tuned for more information and forms.

Any questions, please ask.

Carnaval at Pineland

This morning marked the opening ceremonies for Carnval at Pineland. Students have been learning about
Carnaval and Quebec-French culture, including songs, dances, and many other activities. This morning Bonhomme made an appearance at the assembly and crafts were put out for display.

Tomorrow is the big event where all students will participate in all kinds of outdoor Carnaval activities. Since we will be outside for a large portion of the day, please ensure proper clothing is sent to school - winter attire, including waterproof boots, snow pants, hats, mitts - as well as back up clothes, mitts, socks, etc. as the field will likely still be quite wet.

Regardless of the weather, a lot of planning and effort has gone into this event for students and should be a lot of fun for all!

Report Cards

Reports were sent home on Monday. Hopefully everything on them made sense. I was not at school on Monday and usually allow students time to look over their report and ask me any questions. Don't hesitate to contact me should you have anything about the reports you'd like to discuss.

Additionally, when you've had a chance to look the report over, please complete the tear-off portion on the last page and return it along with the envelope so it can be re-used in June.

Thanks!

Area & Perimeter

The class has been working on developing understanding of how to measure area and perimeter, what each measure refers to. We have been working with irregular figures and breaking them down into known shapes (rectangles) in order to add up the whole area. Determining missing dimensions through measuring and the concept of part part whole (e.g., 6 + ? = 14, or 14 - 6 = ?).

Our class has been fortunate enough to host other teachers and Mr. Pritchard and work through measurement problems with them supporting the lesson in order to enhance our teaching practice to support student learning. The class participated admirably and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Please discuss the concepts of area and perimeter at home. Talk about times when these measurements have been used at home (e.g., home renovations). Please share any insights, breakthroughs, or questions with me.

Bell "Let's Talk"

Last Wednesday, January 25th, marked the official day to recognize the Bell "Let's Talk" campaign. There have been countless commercials and ads on TV, billboards, on social media, etc., but to ensure that the message was being heard by our students, Pineland staff brought the conversation about mental illness in our classrooms. Messages were delivered in a sensitive manner, keeping grade level in strong consideration.

Bell Let's Talk website - click

As community circles are used regularly in my classroom, all of the students seemed very comfortable viewing a couple of videos about mental illness and how to support those touched by it. The key messaging was simple to understand and easy to apply. All of my discussion centred around the following messaging:

5 Siple ways to end stigma in the classroom...

• language
• educate yourself
• be kind
• listen and ask
• talk about it

Most students engaged in the conversation and many shared personal anecdotes, despite being reminded frequently that it was definitely not an expectation and using names was strongly discouraged to respect individual's privacy.

I know from speaking with a number of students and parents that the conversations continued at home. If they have, please continue to keep open dialogue happening, and if nothing has been mentioned yet, perhaps opening up an opportunity to discuss the topics would be beneficial.

Please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the school if you would like to ask any questions about the information provided and/or for more information or resources.

Below are the three videos shown in class.

Best wishes,

Mr. (Dave) Moskal

Mental Illness Education for Kids

Bell Let's Talk 2017: Clara Hughes - Understanding is Key

Bell Le'ts Talk 2017: Howie Mandel - Talk to Someone

Science topics - Keep a look out!

A new calendar year brings new topics for Science for both Grades 5 and 6. The topics for the two grades align slightly and will allow us to crossover some of our learning.

The Grade 5s will explore Structures and Forces Acting on Structures. This will include structures that

students see and/or use daily, like chairs and decks, as well as much larger and very interesting structures like bridges and sky scrapers. There are some pretty fun online labs to work through as well as structure-building activities and challenges.

The Grade 6s will conduct a number of experiments to help them build a greater understanding of Flight. For this unit, we will also require some materials from home in order to conduct experiments, so please look for requests for items. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

For all students, pay attention to the world around you and bring back to school and share observations relating to our topics of study in Science. If you see something cool or interesting on TV or online, let us know so we can all have a chance to view and discuss. Great resources to support our Science learning can also be added to the website for all to use.

Welcome back! Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great break... No snow wasn't much fun, but at least there was time off with family and friends.

We got right back to work today...

Rather than just talking about our holidays, students were tasked with preparing a Holiday Story. They will be given Writing marks and marks for their presentation skills. A few students presented today, but most will present tomorrow. Please support your students at home by allowing them to practise for you and offer critiques.

Thanks for the support!