Birthday Break!

As I am sure many of you have already been told, I am taking a short break from class due to the birth of my son Oscar.  Jenny, Arlo, Otis and I welcomed Oscar to the family last Thursday morning, at 9:30am.  At 8lbs 13oz (why they don't do it in metric I don't understand ...but this is 4 kilos) he was a good size (smaller than Otis by a pound!) but the delivery went smoothly at home.  I was able to catch the little guy, so I held him first, but of course it has been all about Mamma since then.  He is getting more and more animated by each day - moving his head around, starting to focus on objects, and grabbing at things.  The boys went to school that morning, and came home hopping with excitement to meet their new brother.  Arlo insisted that we pick up cupcakes, as it was Oscar's birthday, so we did celebrate, and are still celebrating in a way.  
I plan to be back in the classroom on Wednesday, but have been very confident that the students were in great hands with Sue (a former Churchill parent) and Eric (on of our regular guest teachers) filling in for me while I was away.  Just FYI, there is a sharing Wednesday morning, at approx 8:20, in the gym.  Our class is presenting a couple of songs with the students from room 310, and both the Uke and Guitar clubs will be performing a song to go with our month's theme of Integrity and standing up for what you believe in.  Feel free to join us if you have the time.
In addition I would like to thank those of you who are making a concerted effort to get your children onto IXL math each week.  There has been a definite upswing in the number of students accessing the program lately.  Great job to Oceanna, Jake C, and Hunter for putting in some time this past week, and big respect to Gabby, who put in an hour and a half at different times last week.  This is the kind of practice that has been shown to make real differences in math competence and confidence.  Please try to encourage your child to access this resource we have provided at least once a week at home.  Again, with it on your browser, or the app on your IOS device, it can be quickly accessed for a ten minute session a few times a week if there is a time during the day that can work for you.
Happy regards from new-fatherland
Ray