X Fusion @ Boxwood

We are thrilled to welcome the X MOVEMENT team to our school! Today, our students began participating in the X Fusion experience. X Movement integrates the powerful Connected Movement Approach to Energize our school! X Fusion aims to develop student’s self regulation skills in order for them to discover their own self realization. To achieve this, students partake in sessions designed to increase and decrease their energy levels and model methods/tools/tactics which allow them to regulate by themselves. During the 3 Fusion sessions, we use movements inspired by Yoga as well as high intensity body flows. Both genres of movement focus on similar beliefs of self awareness, intrinsic benefits and discipline over the mind and body.

The Prime Minister's Apology

Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau apologized to Jewish Refugees for turning away the MS St. Louis (the boat one of the characters from the book Refugee was on) in 1939. We took all the intermediates to hear the apology live. It was pretty incredible, almost 80 intermediate students silent listening to the wrongs of Canada's past and our current Prime Minister trying to make amends and call youth to action to make Canada better for future people seeking refuge in our country.

Math Learning in Ms. Royce's Class

I recently visited Ms. Royce's class and observed the students engaged in a collaborative open ended question. In pairs, students were asked to, "Construct three similar rectangles, using grid paper or a geoboard, and compare the perimeter and area of the rectangles. Explain and justify your thinking. This is what we call a meaningful problem. This allows students to talk about math and for the teacher to see their thinking. It also provides students a chance to see different ways to solve a problem. Through this problem, Ms. Royce was able to teach the concept of similarity and the relationship of the area and perimeter of rectangular similar figures.

Learning in Ms. Sen's Gr. 1/2 Class

During one of my recent walks, I visited Ms. Sen's class. The artifacts on the wall demonstrated the learning that is taking place in the class. The first picture shows journal writing that the students completed with a picture to help them communicate their ideas.

Journal Writing Samples

In reading, students are learning to make connections to texts that they read. The class has a learning goal and success criteria to show them what they need to do to be successful with this task. They have also discussed how making connections helps them to better understand what they are reading.

Making Connections

In math, they are learning about numbers using ten frames. A ten frame is a simple graphic tool that allows people to “see” numbers. Understanding that numbers are composed of tens and ones is an important foundational concept, setting the stage for work with larger numbers. A strong sense of "ten" is a prerequisite for place-value understanding and mental calculations. This You Tube Video introduces the ten frame and explains how this tool is useful for students just beginning to learn about numbers:

Ten Frame

Physical Activity at Boxwood

Along with supporting your children's academic achievement, another important task that we have as educators is promoting a healthy lifestyle. It is important for students to develop healthy habits such as eating properly and engaging in physical activity daily. This is important to their physical health and mental well being throughout their lives. We do this through our physical education classes and a variety of whole school activities. Ms. Smith has been working hard to increase the physical activity of our students. This includes organizing "Walking Wednesdays". This is when all of our students walk around our school for 20 minutes. Recently, our 5K Club began in which our students, on a voluntary basis, jog and walk during a recess. The goal is to run 5 kilometres. We also provide different activities in our gym classes. Now many classes are learning to play badminton and some of our primary classes had the opportunity to play curling. We encourage our students to keep fit and active by engaging in physical activity on a frequent basis.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On Wednesday, March 22nd, Boxwood recognized the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This event was planned and hosted by our student council. This day commemorates the lives that have been lost to fight for democracy and equal human rights in South Africa during the Apartheid regime (a regime which embraced racial discrimination). The focus for our presentation was to educate our students about what racism and shadeism are and to emphasize the message that all shades are beautiful. We had students present a powerful spoken word poem, students provided information to the school, and we had a public speaker, Sean Mauricette, discuss the impact of racism. Diversity, equity, and equality are important concepts at Boxwood!

Math Night at Boxwood

On Thursday, March 31st, we had our second community math night. The focus of this evening was to immerse our parents in solving problems. It was simply fantastic. We had many parents of students from different divisions participate. We provided a problem for parents to solve. Then we had teachers demonstrate how they use responses to these problems to teach students mathematical concepts. Great learning!