Greetings!
If you’re a former student or parent, or just a visitor from somewhere out there on the Internet, “Mr. Mepham’s Blog” is taking a well deserved nap. Perhaps the daily homework posts and Weekly Digests will return, but for now I am turning my focus to other programs for communication.
Feel free to leave a comment, or send me an email if you want to reach out and say hi.
Dear Parents,
Well, here we are…the end of a most unusual school year! I hope the students are excited for their teacher for next year. Change is good and your child is in good hands with Prieur, Sims or Dobson. For the grade fives, I know they’ll have a lot of fun in grade six. I worked alongside Mrs. Dobson for three years and she’s a great educator with a heart of gold. Mr. Sims’ cool and calm demeanor allows him to build great relationships with his students right away and he has a great sense of humour. As for the grade fours, you’ll have a great time with Mr. Prieur as his approach to learning is similar to mine. While I would love to keep the grade fours on for another year, they were exposed to a number of things that would’ve been repetitive had they stayed with me. Besides, there’s only so much Mepham one person can take! 😁 However, Mr. Prieur and I have discussed swapping our classes for science and social studies depending on how next year shapes up. So it’s possible your child might be stuck with me for at least one subject anyway.
Report cards will arrive at your door soon. Consider re-reading last week’s Digest on how my report cards were completed. I trust there will be no surprises. Between the assessments section of the Reminder Binder, the posts in Class Dojo, and the weekly Dojo reports, I’ll assume you’ve been given enough information about your child’s performance. Keeping parents in the loop has always been a mainstay of mine. Just know that so much more goes into the formulation of a grade than tests and quizzes. You only see a portion of the assessment process and there are many other facets to consider. Focus mainly on the first page of the report card. Grades are just that. Learning skills are the tools we use repeatedly and those, in my opinion, weigh more than any A+ or D-.
Please avoid the “summer slump” that many students fall into over July and August. I feel the school closure will have a compound effect so it’s more important now than ever. Have your child read a book; write often; think about science and test theories; look at anything and consider the math that goes into it; and a personal favourite – look back on the past and know where you came from. There’s plenty of opportunities to continue learning without a classroom, notebook or teacher. Personally, I plan to improve my French language skills for an eventual return to France. Even an old guy like me can keep learning!
I wish you all the best for the summer, whether recent events keep you close to home, or if you choose to venture somewhere far away. Until next time…
Dear Parents,
Here it is, your second-last Digest of the year. This whole year has been so surreal that I can’t even comprehend that fact. Between my time off for surgery, the work action days and the pandemic, the year has taken shape in the oddest of ways. Next week’s Digest will simply be a farewell and good wishes for the summer break. This Digest, however, carries some very important information.
Your child’s report card will be distinctly different this time around as it’s the first one you’ll receive since the Progress Report in the fall. Short story made long here…early on, we were advised by the Ministry that report cards would be inclusive of terms one and two. Being the early bird I am, I got to work on a better portion my reports before a decision was made to have them reflect only term two. However, we were advised that if we had already started, as in my case, we needn’t go back to change them. So, suffice it to say that your child’s report card in 4/5M is a mishmash of term one and two, which is a good thing in my opinion as it’s more thorough and partially makes up for what you didn’t see in term one. Some of the grades you’ll see reflect work we did in November, while others are based on more current data from February or March. If you have another child at EPS, their report might look lighter in content because the teacher only focused on the second term, which was approximately six weeks. It will also explain why there may be so many “I”s on the report. My report, on the other hand, will look as complete as it would any other term or year.
The Ministry also indicated early on that report cards would only reflect work done up to March 13th; so, none of the distance learning following March Break. This was later modified so teachers could use professional judgment with the home learning assessment if it was to the student’s benefit. For those students who were committed to the distance learning from mid-March to the end of June, the work they did definitely played a role in formulating their report card. From the reading responses, to the math problems to the science projects – it all mattered! More importantly, it kept skills sharp and developed greater responsibility. I’m very proud of the 8-9 students who followed through on every assignment.
The report card will be mailed to families at the end of next week. Included with the report will be a Life Is Good sticker for your child. A small token of our time together and a reminder that optimism can take you anywhere. Hopefully your child finds a place to put it where he/she is reminded every day of the power of good vibes. I will also be including a Class Dojo report that highlights your child’s performance from the first day of school to the March Break. I hope when you look at it you can see the learning skills on the front page of the report card reflected in the Dojo report. Sadly it may be the end of Class Dojo for me and my classes as it does not fall under the Board’s “approved” software criteria. I will be fighting to keep it but the battle doesn’t appear to be in my favour.
Class lists for next year have already been created and we take a lot into consideration when determining who goes where. On Thursday of next week, students will find out their teacher for next year via Edsby. It will be in the form of a letter or video message, or some other creative means determined by the teacher. The message will be sent from me but it will be on behalf of the next year teacher. Know that wherever your child lands, he/she is in good hands with next year’s teacher. We’re very fortunate to have such dedicated staff at EPS.
Before closing, I wanted to put this reminder out there for those whose children have earned a Half and/or Full Mathalon in Knowledgehook.
Parent invitations were sent to your email inbox several weeks ago. If you haven’t acted yet, this might be the time to do so.
It was great to see some faces on Teams for yesterday’s Kahoot! We’ll see you again on Monday at 1pm for another round of fun and trivia. Until then…
Dear Parents,
With the year now winding down, I will continue to ease up on the workload. Monday will see the last of our read aloud assignments handed in. After that, there will be 1-2 tasks per day that will hopefully keep your child engaged as the year closes out.
On Monday, I will be introducing a math project that asks the students to look at where math exists in any given situation. It’s called the Math Is Everywhere project. A tutorial video has been made and it’s a fun way to consolidate the math we’ve done all year long. Ideally, it works best on large paper or poster paper. When I do this in the class, we use large chart paper. Just heads up in the event your child wants the space to really explore his/her topic. Regular paper will work too though the space will be limited.
I trust your child found all his/her belongings after the two pick up days. If you missed your window, I’m told there will be alternative dates next week. Updates will be sent via email, Edsby and Twitter.
Enjoy the cooler weekend!
Dear Parents,
It was really odd being in the classroom on Wednesday. It felt like that “set up” time in August before the start of the school year because the building was largely empty; yet seeing everything still in the same place it was from March 13th reminded me that we’re still in the midst of a school year. Odd indeed. It also reminded me of all the time we’ve lost together, which was saddening. I don’t think any of us were prepared for the turn of events from March onward, but we should remind ourselves that we’re safe and healthy – and that is what’s most important here.
I apologize to those who may have lost their locks. In some cases they could not be opened, and in other cases there was some confusion over whose locker was whose and they were cut off. I trust those on the Friday schedule were able to secure their child(ren)’s belongings today. The schedule continues next week; see the post below for dates and times.
Just a few weeks left to go! We’ll wrap up the “Island” trilogy this week with the bedroom and mapping assignments. In math, we’ll cap fractions as well and then engage in an end-of-year task that looks at one of my favourite phrases: math is everywhere!
That’s all for now! Enjoy the weekend!
DATES:
PROCEDURE:
We will be utilizing the KISS & RIDE lane for collection and drop off of materials. Please come ONLY during your scheduled time as indicated above to alleviate some congestion during this process. Please send a family member if necessary to adhere to scheduled date/time above.
Families will be able to collect ALL their children’s belongings from multiple grades during one trip to the school.
SAFETY PROTOCOL:
Thank you to Essex PS teachers and staff for organizing and assisting with the collection and drop off of items! Be safe. Be kind.
Dear Parents,
It’s hard to believe we’ve been out of school longer than the length of a summer break! And there’s still a month of distance learning to go! I plan on easing up on the throttle as we move into June. I’m sure many are growing tired of the monotony of learning at home; there are only so many things we can do from a distance. While I don’t miss the early wake up each day, I do miss the interactions with students, the funny moments we’ve shared, and flexibility to change things on the fly to keep everything fresh and engaging. I’m hopeful that your child will continue to keep those skills sharp as the year starts to wind down.
As the note below indicates, I’ll be heading into the school to clean out lockers and desks next week. Thank you to those who have sent me lock combinations. Once firm details are in place for pick up of belongings, I’ll pass the information along. As of right now, it looks like things will be organized in the gym, by class, for pick up for the week after next. More details to follow.
Next Friday is technically a PA Day so I won’t be assigning any work that day. FYI. 
Dear Parents,
Next week, I will be going into the school to clean out desks and lockers. Parents and students are not allowed into the building at this time. I will bag and tag your child’s belongings and set them aside for a later pick up date (June 8-12, details to follow). In the meantime, if your child has a lock on his/her locker (I did ask them to remove them on the Friday before March Break), please message/email me the locker combination ASAP so I can get in. Otherwise, the lock will have to be cut off. It would help too if you included your child’s locker number, if he/she remembers it. I placed magnetic name tags on lockers in September but I know some have gone missing since. Once I have more details on the pick up dates, I will forward them along.
Message me if you have any questions.
Dear Parents,
By now I’m sure you know that we will not be returning to school in June. Contrary to what some media sources’ headlines suggested, the school year is not cancelled. We will continue our distance learning through to the end of June. It just means that we won’t be back in the classroom together, unfortunately. Please continue to check in on Class Dojo daily and submit your work as requested. Remember, you’re keeping your skills sharp through this period of home learning.
Eventually students and families will be given access to the school to collect belongings from lockers and desks. As soon as I have more detailed information, I will pass it along to you; though you can expect announcements to come from the school too via Edsby, email, the school’s website and Twitter.
I have reluctantly decided to press the “stop” button on social studies. It pains me because I’ve spent a lifetime studying the past and I truly miss passing that information on to my students. History is a story and, if told well, can excite the brain. No video, or cursory reading will come close to what I would have done in the classroom had we been together. Fortunately for the grade fours, they got a taste of ancient civilizations with our Rome unit. If your child found this topic interesting, encourage him/her to read more and explore the fascinating events of the past. For the grade fives, COVID-19 interrupted what would have been a unit on Canada’s First Nations, followed by the Age of Exploration. Some of this will be touched upon in grade seven history so not all is lost. However, there is some great early Canadian history being missed. If you feel the need to fill that gap, I recommend the CBC video series “Canada: A People’s History”, which is available on YouTube. Episode 1 covers most of what we would have done in class, while Episode 2 takes it a little further; it is available on Daily Motion. For those students who took the initiative back in March to do research on the project that won’t happen now, I applaud you for taking the time to educate yourself on these cultures. If you wish to put that information together in some form, like we did with science, I will happily accept it for extra credit but don’t feel obligated. If you learned something new in your research, then the major goal has been accomplished.
You may have noticed a new name attached to Class Dojo: Mr. Mansy. He is an Educational Support Worker who is assisting some students with their home learning. I gave him access to Class Dojo so he could see the work being assigned on Class Story. FYI.
Enjoy the weekend!
Dear Parents,
Still no word on the fate of the school year, though I’ve heard that things will be “ramping up” next week. I would be surprised if we returned to school in June but that’s just speculation on my part.
I have requested that Class Dojo implement a messaging system for students (twice now) so that students can have direct contact with their teachers. They tell me they’re working on it and it’s in their plans. In the meantime, if your child needs to reach me, he/she can message me on Edsby or send me an email. That is the most direct way for him/her to get in touch. You, parents, can continue to contact me through Dojo Messenger.
Speaking of Edsby, as I noted earlier in the week, I have created a discussion place called “4/5M Chatterbox” where students can answer the questions posted there. It’s just for fun but if gives me the chance to interact with the students somewhat. Thank you to those who’ve already checked in.
To those who received the hard copy of the magazine, enjoy reading. It would have been nice to share the experience as a whole group but that doesn’t seem likely. Very shortly, I will be sending out a link where you can download a digital copy as well. All I ask is that you not share the download link liberally. Feel free to give extended family members access but for the privacy of all the students who contributed, avoid letting it get beyond your closest circle of family. To address all the games and puzzles included with the magazine, I will be posting questions on Chatterbox for students to answer. Today’s questions involve the location of the loonie & toonie, and the Baby Bonus page. Future questions will address other activities within the pages so check back daily and try to be the first one to answer!
A reminder that Monday is a holiday so home learning will resume on Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend!
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