'Tis the Season

Aidan is best dressed for Wacky Winter Wear Friday!

Do you remember the week before Christmas break when you were a kid?  I honestly cannot as maybe all my school memories were deleted in order to make room for the uploading of my teaching experiences.  

Which, are probably better.  AND are definitely more festive and creative and hot chocolatey!

I began the week trying to maintain some semblance of routine.  For the most part, it was successful.  

Monday was the last day for our music teacher, Mr Cuckovic, whose first official day of retirement is Dec 19. Or, since that is the weekend, do you say that Monday would be the first day?  Or, since it is the Christmas holidays, would Monday, Jan 4 be the first official day?  Nonetheless, he will be missed at St Bernard.

We moved into the staff room on Wednesday during Math.  Thinking it might make a pretty great classroom since there's a stove, fridge, bathroom and padded chairs.

This week concluded the Mad Minute challenge of 50 multiplication facts in 90 seconds.  Lucky for me that Justin was the only lunch winner or I would have become pocket poor!  The class has improved their memory and times over the last four weeks with many now completing the challenge in under five minutes and getting all facts correct.  I did propose a "Last Chance" quiz on the first day back to see who still remembers their facts after two weeks of no school.  

Using Christmas Carols, we reviewed concepts like fractions, ratios (that was new!) and place value.  We studied the math in "Deck the Halls", "O Christmas Tree" and,  as a shout out to Sebastian, our exchange student from Columbia who's returned home, we also looked at "Feliz Navidad".  Some questions included: What is the ratio of Spanish words to English?  How do you write that as a fraction?  I found this idea on Teacher pay Teachers and thought "Why didn't I think of that?" as I watched the complete engagement and enjoyment of the students.

Chef Madame teaches the kids to bake "pain court" (shortbread) in French!

If you follow us on Twitter, you may have seen the Gr 6 class becoming bakers.  There was a feeling and smell of Christmas down in our end of the school this week.  The shortbread weren't your ordinary butter cookie but had the scent of mint and vanilla.  Definitely an improved aroma in our room!  I'm hoping to post a video on our YouTube channel before the New Year!

Coming together for cookies and juice with the Gr 6 class from St Jules

After a Christmas breakfast of sausage, waffles, party potatoes, eggs and juice, the 5/6P and 6B classes were probably ready for a nap....the chefs definitely were!  With minutes to spare, we headed to the gym for another Christmas treat!
The gym was packed to capacity on Friday morning as the staff and students of both St Bernard and St Jules were treated to the Wacky Winter Wonder Show.  This was the first time that the students had a chance to come together since the twinning of our schools.  Special thanks to the "bosses" for this Christmas treat!

As I mentioned in my last post (I think), school is such a great place to be for Christmas!  Wishing everyone as joyful a time at home with their real families.

Merry Christmas!
~Miss Brooks