Even before COVID-19, we’ve been living in a world where social media plays a large role in the way we communicate – for our children too! With lockdowns, school closures, and the need to physically distance, many of us have increased the amount of time we spend online, as a family and as individuals. With this has also come concerns around the amount of screen time for our children, and how to best support them as they navigate an increasingly online world. Jesse Mille of Mediated Reality, is a national social media awareness expert, and he will be holding a parent information evening on Monday, March 1st at 7:30 pm to address parental fears and minimize stress around screen time, discuss perceptions around technology addiction, and answer all your questions. 

This is a workshop that shouldn’t be missed! Mr. Miller will also be speaking to our students (4-8) during the day on March 1st, so the evening is encouraged for parents only. 

Please register here for this incredible event, or click the link in the flyer below. 

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February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), In Grade 5, we spend lots of time throughout the whole year talking about acceptance and inclusion, not just now. However, a reminder is always a good thing.

While we will be spending time doing activities throughout the month in school, one additional innitiative is the Youth Leadership Award Challenge. Students are encouraged to work on their own, with siblings or with friends to come up with an idea for how to create inclusive programs, spaces, or virtual spaces in our community for people of all abilities. We have begun brainstoming in class, but all students are encouraged to participate in this important event. Please see the poster below for all the details.

Even COVID can’t stop our love for reading and the Scholastic Book Fair! The only thing it will stop is us having the fair in person…and perhaps a few less cat posters and ice cream erasers purchases 😜

This year, our Scholastic Book Fair will be held completely virtually. To access the sale, please click here. You will find hundreds of books to choose from, and we are always happy to help make recommendations for your child.

Enjoy!

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Every year since we have launched student blogfolios at OJCS, I look forward to the Student Blogging Challenge. It is such a great way for students to become familiar with their blogs and see the power of connecting with students all over the world (as I blogged here).

Due to COVID-19 creating unpredictable classroom environments for so many, the Blogging Challenge has been put on hold for this year. But that hasn’t stopped us from continue to add new posts to our blogs, showcasing the various things we’ve been working on in class. Some students have even gone above and beyond to blog about their personal interests on their own.

One important aspect of blogging is recognizing that the things you say and share have a global audience. Commenting helps us feel heard and appreciated and adds value to our work. It also helps to hold us accountable for the things we’re posting online, and increases motivation to post something we have edited and are proud to share with the world.

This week, we began to discuss what makes a quality comment. We’d love to share this with you so that you can begin checking in regularly on our student blogfolios and leaving your own quality comments!

To find all our student blogfolios, scroll down on our sidebar until you see them all listed.

We’d also like to remind you of our commenting rules:

• Address the author by their blogging name (that means use their alias if they are using one, even if you know their real name)
• Be polite
• Be appropriate
• Agree or disagree with the blog and tell the author why
• Add an opinion or thought that could help the blogger improve
• Give details and ask questions
• If you are a parent of the blogger, please comment with your first name only to help continue keeping our students’ identity safe.

Feel free to share these blogs with your family and friends. It is so exciting every time someone gets some love and attention on their blog 🙂

We made it through week 1…and it’s been great!

Whether students were learning from home or in school, and teachers were teaching in the classroom, Israel or asynchronously, we have been getting to know each other, building community, learning new routines, and slowly but surely getting into the swing of “going forward at OJCS.”

As you may be aware already, this class blog will serve as our main mode of communication to you and to our students. We will share exciting things happening within the classroom, samples of student work, homework, and general thoughts for discussion. With that, let’s do a quick tour to make sure you are familiar with how best to use this space.

First, in order to ensure you never miss an update, you can subscribe to receive email updates whenever something new is posted. To do this, scroll down on the main page just under the yellow Pages menu, where you will see a section to subscribe by email.

Simply type in your email address, click subscribe, and you will then receive a confirmation email. That’s it! Now you will always know when something new is posted.

If you have any questions or comments about any of our posts, please feel free to comment directly within the blog, if you feel it’s appropriate. We would love to make our blog come alive with discussion and commentary!

Should you want to navigate through the blog on your own, the main page will always show the most recent posts at the top. Alternatively, you can navigate through the blog using the categories. These are found just below the subscribe button, and you can click on any category to filter which posts you see.

With the reality of the world and the new COVID-19 policies the school has put in place (read them all in the Parent Handbook, page 19-20), it is likely that students will be spending extended periods of time at home, but may be well enough to continue their learning. Whenever students are learning from home, they are expected to follow along with our Distance Learning schedule. There will be times when they will be live with their teachers and classmates through Google Meet, and other times when they may have tasks to complete independently. If and when this scenario arises for you, the distance schedules can all be found under the Grade 5 Distance Learning Schedule menu link.

We are looking forward to what is sure to be a year like no other…and we can’t wait to go through it in collaboration with all of you!