Beyond The Desk

We are at the end of our experiment involving tomatoes and space. Now, I know you are probably wondering what the two have in common. The Canadian Space Agency is involving schools in a very real experiment to test whether or not it is possible for plants to grow food in space – in zero gravity environments. This is the only way we are going to get astronauts to places like Mars as there is not enough space to carry the amount of food needed to reach there and back without being able to grow our own food.

As part of the experiment, we grew two types of seeds; seeds that have actually been in space – and thus have been exposed to zero gravity – and ordinary seeds. However, we did not know which ones were which as the Agency does not the results to be biased.

Over the past few weeks, we have been watching our plants grow, or not! Students drew and wrote about their tomatoes. To be successful, the tomato plant needed to produce at least 2 leaves. Most of the plants did but there were a couple that did not!

Today was our last observation and conclusion to the experiment. Students took both the x and y tomato plants back to their seats in cups and drew their final observations, as well as recording in words what they saw, felt and smelled. They also wrote some conclusions to questions about the experiment. Finally, it was time to submit the results and see which tomatoes were the seeds that had gone to space. And the space tomatoes were…….

THE Y SEEDS!!!!!

This was very unexpected to the students! Most of them chose the x seeds as being the ones to have been exposed to zero gravity. We all had a lot of fun with growing the seeds. The students were fascinated by the process. Every morning they would gather around the plant trays and see how their plants were doing.

Students also got to take their tomatoes home today so you may be seeing some cups with plants in them. You’re welcome! 🙂 The plants will need to be transferred to a slightly larger container and have some more soil added to them. They can live on a windowsill or other sunny spot until they can be planted outside. You may be able to keep them planted inside but will likely need a larger pot and some way to stabilize the stem as it gets taller. I look forward to hearing whether any tomatoes actually come from the vines!

It’s finally here!!!! It’s May the fourth today! May the fourth be with you!

Just a reminder that even though May the fourth is today, students can still dress up as their favourite Star Wars character or superhero tomorrow. Students not wishing to dress up can wear their normal uniforms.

It’s May the Fourth and you know what that means! It’s Star Wars day! (Get it? May the Fourth be with you?).

In honour of the day and the cool factor, I have put a bunch of my favorite Star Wars videos on the blog today! Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

What If Dr. Seuss Wrote Star Wars!

Here is a fun Star Wars video I found made entirely out of paper!

Finally, here is a great lego stop motion of one of my favorite scenes from The Empire Strikes Back along with a bunch of great Star Wars videos!

 

A quick and exciting reminder that tomorrow we will be celebrating Star Wars Day – May the Fourth!

Students are invited to join in the fun by dressing up as their favourite character from the world of Star Wars — whether that’s a brave Jedi, a daring pilot, a wise droid, or even a mysterious Sith. If Star Wars isn’t quite your child’s thing, they are also very welcome to come dressed as a superhero of their choice.

A few quick guidelines to help the day run smoothly:

• No toy weapons, please. (Lightsabers can stay at home for this one!)
• Costumes should be comfortable and appropriate for a full day of learning and play.
• Students who prefer not to dress up are absolutely welcome to wear their regular school uniforms as usual.

We’re looking forward to a day filled with imagination, creativity, and just a little bit of galactic fun in the classroom.

Thank you for your support—and may the Fourth be with you!

Track Meet on Thursday:  The weather looks amazing for our track meet on Thursday!  Please have your child at school for 6:50am as we need to leave promptly at 7:00.  If traffic is AMAZING, we hope to be back at the school around 4:00.  Here are a few reminders…

Students should have the following items to take with them:

• Sunscreen 
• Hat 
• Water bottle  
• Lunch and snacks (there is a concession with a range of food and drinks – please be advised they take CASH ONLY) 
• gym clothes for competing in – please ensure your child is wearing their Highroad PE shirt. 
• Rain equipment and warmer clothing in case it is cool 
• Proper footwear 
• Something to do on the bus. Just a reminder that no electronics are allowed on the bus. 

This should be a fun event and we are looking forward to the students having a day full of fun and exercise!

I hope you’ve all had a great week!

I’m happy to be back after my time in Victoria working with the Ministry of Education on developing and refining math questions for the FSA assessments. It was a really valuable professional development experience and a neat opportunity to be part of conversations that shape learning across the province. That said… I definitely missed the class and am really looking forward to seeing the students again tomorrow! We’ll likely have a few things to wrap up as we settle back in.

We are jumping right back into a full and exciting schedule:

Grandparents Day – Tomorrow!
Our Annual Grandparents Day is already here! After the chapel performances, grandparents/special VIP guests are warmly invited to join us in the classroom from about 2:00–2:45 PM. It’s always such a special time for students, and we’re really looking forward to it.

Track Meet Reminder
Our Track Meet is coming up on Thursday. A reminder notice went home last week with details and a list of what to bring. If you didn’t happen to see it, please let me know and I’ll make sure you get the information.

Curling… Inside!
Students will soon get a chance to try curling right in our gym! A local group will be visiting on the 5th and 12th to teach the basics. This is always a highlight and a lot of fun.

Space Tomatoes 🍅🚀
Thank you for your patience with the slightly late dismissal last week. We began our Space Tomatoes experiment, and it ended up taking a bit longer than planned—but we needed to finish it properly so the results are fair.

This is a really exciting project organized by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Students are planting tomato seeds that have actually been to space and experienced zero gravity, alongside regular seeds. Over time, we’ll observe and compare how they grow to see if space travel made a difference.

Even better… we don’t know which seeds are which! That information is only revealed after we submit our results. The students are very excited about this, and there’s even a chance they may get to bring a space tomato plant home later on.

A Few More Dates to Note

• May 4 – Star Wars Day / Superhero Day
  Quite possibly my favourite day of the year! It’s the one day my wife lets me go out in public in my Jedi outfit—so I will absolutely be taking advantage of that. Students are welcome to join in and dress up if they’d like!
• May 13 – PTWC $5 Library Fundraiser
  More details will be coming soon, but please mark your calendars.

Thanks so much for your continued support. I’m really looking forward to being back in the classroom with the students tomorrow!

Dear Parents,

Wasn’t it fun to see the progress of the Artemis to the moon and back? We all had lots of fun in class tracking the progress, especially knowing that all the student’s names were also aboard the Artemis as it flew through space.

While we are done our Space unit, I do have an exciting project upcoming with students growing tomato plants using seeds that were in space. This is always a fun project and I am looking forward to starting it in the coming weeks.

We are also well into our Poetry unit and it has been fun to see students experiencing the joy of poetry and realizing that creating poetry is more than just using lots of rhyming words! Students are also wrapping up our probability unit and are looking forward to starting our next unit on multiplication of multi-digit numbers. All our hard work on our math facts will help us with our new unit.

As we move further into the spring season, there are several exciting events and a few important reminders coming up in our classroom and school community. Please take a moment to read through the updates below:

🍪 Grade 6 Bake Sale – Tomorrow!
Our Grade 6 students are hosting a bake sale tomorrow to help support their Grade 6 Grad event. Items will be available for purchase at $2 each. If your child would like to participate, please consider sending a small amount of money with them. It’s always a fun treat and a great way to support our older students!

📚 PIRLS Assessment – Wednesday
Students recently brought home a notice regarding the upcoming PIRLS assessment. We will be completing this assessment on Wednesday.
A parent survey form will also be sent home—your input is greatly appreciated, as it provides valuable context for the assessment results. Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete and return it.

🏃 Track & Field – Permission Forms Needed
We are very excited about our upcoming Track and Field event in Surrey! It’s always a highlight of the year, filled with energy, teamwork, and a wide variety of fun activities for all students.
Attendance is expected for all students. If you have not yet returned your child’s permission form, please do so as soon as possible so we can finalize our planning.

🎨 Art Gala – Tuesday, April 21 at 5:30 PM
Our annual Art Gala is just around the corner! This special evening will take place on Tuesday, April 21 at 5:30 PM.
This year is particularly exciting as all elementary grades will be participating, showcasing their creativity and hard work. It’s always a beautiful event, and we would love to see you there celebrating our students’ artistic talents.

👵👴 Grandparents Day – April 27
We look forward to welcoming special guests on Grandparents Day, April 27. Invitations have been sent home for grandparents or other family members to attend the festivities and spend time visiting our classroom afterward. It’s always a meaningful and memorable day for everyone involved.

⏰ A Quick Note About Attendance & Punctuality
I also wanted to take a moment to highlight the importance of regular attendance and arriving at school on time. Each day in the classroom is carefully planned, with instruction, discussion, and guided practice built into every lesson.

When students are absent or arrive late, they often miss key teaching moments that are difficult to fully recreate at home. While we do our best to support students in catching up, many assignments are connected to in-class learning, collaboration, and teacher guidance—meaning they cannot simply be sent home and completed independently.

Consistent attendance and punctuality truly make a significant difference in your child’s confidence, understanding, and overall success at school.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It’s shaping up to be a busy and exciting few weeks ahead!

I wanted to share a couple of important reminders and one very exciting opportunity connected to our recent learning.

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Interim Report Receipt Reminder

Today, your child should have brought home an Interim Report Receipt form. This form has been requested by the Ministry of Education to confirm that families have received and reviewed their child’s interim report.

We kindly ask that you:

• Complete and sign the receipt form
• Return it to to Mr. H by Friday, April 10th

Your prompt attention to this helps us ensure that our records are accurate and up to date. Thank you for taking the time to support this process.

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A Special Connection to Space: Artemis II

As part of our recent Space Unit, many students participated in a special opportunity through NASA—submitting their names to be included on the upcoming Artemis II mission.

Their name has been added to a memory storage device that will travel aboard the spacecraft. This means that your child’s name may soon be traveling into space, which is a pretty amazing connection to our classroom learning.

The Artemis II launch is currently scheduled for tomorrow, and while launch times can change, it is expected to take place in the afternoon (approximately around 3:00 PM Pacific Time)—unfortunately, this will be after the school day.

If you would like to watch the launch as a family, it will be streamed live online through:

• NASA’s official website
• NASA’s YouTube channel

Or simply searching “NASA Artemis II live stream” should bring you directly to the broadcast.

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It is always exciting when our learning connects to real-world events, and this is a memorable one for our students. Whether or not you are able to watch live, it’s a wonderful moment to celebrate their curiosity and connection to space exploration.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope your family had a restful and refreshing time together. As we return to school, it truly feels like we are “hitting the ground running” as we head toward the final stretch of the school year. The next few months tend to move quickly, and we have so many meaningful and exciting learning experiences still ahead!

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What We’re Learning

We are beginning several new units across our subjects:

• Writing (Poetry Unit):
  Students will be reading, exploring, and writing poetry. This is always one of my favourite units in Language Arts, as it allows students to be creative, expressive, and playful with words. I’m looking forward to seeing their unique voices shine through their poems.
• Science (Energy):
  As we wrap up our Space Unit, we will be transitioning into a new unit on Energy. Students will explore different forms of energy and how they are used in our everyday lives.
• Bible (The Easter Story):
  In Bible, we will be focusing on the Easter story—an important and meaningful part of our learning as we reflect on its message and significance.

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New Math Practice Tool: XtraMath

Students have started using a new program called XtraMath. This online tool is designed to help students build speed and accuracy with their multiplication facts—an essential skill as we prepare for our upcoming multiplication unit.

Students were very encouraged by their first experience today. I shared both a warning and an encouragement with them:

• The Warning: It may feel slow or tricky at first, especially as they get used to finding numbers on the keyboard.
• The Encouragement: With daily practice, they will quickly improve and become faster and more confident.

This will be a short daily routine that will make a big difference over time.

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Upcoming Events

Bake Sale Fundraiser – April 14
Our Grade 6 students will be hosting a bake sale on Tuesday, April 14 to support their graduation event. Treats will be available for $2 each. It’s a wonderful way for students to enjoy something sweet while supporting an important milestone for our Grade 6s.

K–6 Art Gala – April 21 (5:30–7:00 PM)
We are excited to invite you to our upcoming K–6 Art Gala! Our school spaces—including the lobby, church lobby, and hallways—will be transformed into a beautiful gallery showcasing student artwork.

This is always a special evening where creativity is celebrated, and students take pride in sharing their work. We would love for you to join us and encourage our young artists.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It is shaping up to be a busy, joyful, and meaningful season of learning.

Tomorrow is our much-anticipated field trip for the Grade 4 and Grade 4/5 classes, and we are very much looking forward to a fun and meaningful day together! We will be visiting the Fraser River Discovery Centre and the Vancouver Circus for a day filled with learning, exploration, and activity.

We will be leaving the school promptly at 8:15 a.m. and expect to return at approximately 3:15 p.m., depending on traffic. Students should arrive no later than 8:00 a.m. Please help your child arrive at school on time so that we can get everyone organized and head out as scheduled.

As you prepare for tomorrow, please make sure your child comes with:

• comfortable clothing suitable for physical activity

• their Knight Shirt

• a water bottle

• a well-packed lunch

Students are also welcome to bring a book or another quiet activity for the bus ride. Please remember that electronics should stay at home.

Thank you for your help in getting your child ready for the day. We are excited to share this experience together and are looking forward to a wonderful field trip!