What a fantastic start to the year we’ve had! As we come together as a new community of learners, we have been focusing on building strong relationships, setting up solid classroom routines, and creating an environment where every student can thrive. Establishing these expectations early ensures that we can all reach our full learning potential in a supportive and respectful space.

A key part of our learning has been exploring the complexity of emotions. We have been developing an understanding that all emotions are valid—it’s what we do with them that matters. Through discussion, reflection, and creative expression, students have been building emotional awareness and strategies for self-regulation. To deepen this exploration, students have been developing fictional characters that represent different emotions and crafting engaging narratives where these characters take centre stage. This has been a wonderful way to integrate social-emotional learning with creative writing!

In mathematics, we have been reviewing our number system, working with numbers up to 100,000. Students have been reading, making, and representing numbers in different ways to strengthen their understanding of place value and build confidence in working with large numbers. It has been inspiring to see the curiosity, creativity, and collaboration emerging in our classroom already. We look forward to a year of exciting learning and growth!

Katherine & Esther

Joyful Jess by Pip
Anxious Harriet by Luke
Disgusted Emma by Sapphire