June 15, 2015- Faith Is A Seed- Pray and Believe and It Will Keep Growing!
Welcome to the third week of June! We continue on our Faith journey this week by reflecting on the Parable of the Mustard seed and how we can grow in our Faith. We will also spend some time in conversation about what it means to belong to a community and how we can contribute to the many communities we belong to.
Our Literacy focus this week will be on vocabulary building activities through reading a variety of texts where we will keep a list of new vocabulary and use our dictionary skills to find the meanings of and synonyms for the new words we discover in these texts. Students will also be engaged in some Literacy stations which include- free writing, media activities and word work. In Math we will continue to work on activities that involve multiplication and division. This week in Science, students will engage in some exploration stations that involve topics such as magnetism and static forces. Students were enthusiastic skippers during our Jump Rope For Heart stations on Thursday. A fun time was had by all. Thank you to all of you who sent in pledges. All envelopes need to be returned to school, even if pledges were not collected. Thank you! Friday is our field trip to Upper Canada Village. I look forward to seeing those of you who volunteered your precious time there. Our year end mass is this Thursday, June 18th at 10:45 AM. All are welcome to join in this celebration, as our school year comes to a close. Have a faith filled week! June 8th, 2015- Jump Rope For Heart Pledge Envelopes Due This Thursday, June 11th.
Welcome to the second week of June! This past Sunday was Corpus Christi Sunday, which is a celebration of the gifts of the body and blood of Christ. This week students will hear this story and will also hear and sing our new school board spiritual theme song.
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April 20th- It's Earth Week- We Care For God's Creations!
Welcome to Earth Week! This week in Religion our focus will be on reflecting on the importance of caring for all of God's creations through read alouds, videos, songs,art work and reflections. Each day we will wear a colour that represents the gifts/resources of the Earth created for us by our loving God. See chart from last week's blog for the colour to wear each day. Students will also hear and discuss the Gospel reading from this Sunday.
In Literacy, we will begin to explore some texts about perspective and will discuss the terms fact and fiction. This will lead us into our next writing focus which is persuasive writing.
This week our Math focus will be on exploring linear measurement through tasks where students will measure lengths of objects using different units of measure and will discover how to find the perimeter and area of shapes and objects. Students will also learn about the relationships between different units of measure (e.g. 100 centimeters=1 meter, 1000 meters=1 kilometer). We will link our knowledge of money to our linear measurement investigations as well.
In Science we will continue to explore structures and how forces can act upon them as we finish viewing, recording and wondering about the structures and forces lessons created for us by our grade five Science learning partners from St. Anne's Catholic School in Kanata.
In Drama/Literacy this week, students will create some short skits that will illustrate how we can care for God's creations. In Dance students will learn a short song/dance linked to Earth Week as well. Below is the song/dance they will learn. They will see how they can use simple dance movements to interpret the words to a song.
As this Friday is a PD day, we have a short, but busy and engaging week of learning ahead of us. Thank you for all that you do to support your child as they continue to grow and learn as grade three students! Have a wonderful week of celebrating God's Creations!
In Literacy, we will begin to explore some texts about perspective and will discuss the terms fact and fiction. This will lead us into our next writing focus which is persuasive writing.
This week our Math focus will be on exploring linear measurement through tasks where students will measure lengths of objects using different units of measure and will discover how to find the perimeter and area of shapes and objects. Students will also learn about the relationships between different units of measure (e.g. 100 centimeters=1 meter, 1000 meters=1 kilometer). We will link our knowledge of money to our linear measurement investigations as well.
In Science we will continue to explore structures and how forces can act upon them as we finish viewing, recording and wondering about the structures and forces lessons created for us by our grade five Science learning partners from St. Anne's Catholic School in Kanata.
In Drama/Literacy this week, students will create some short skits that will illustrate how we can care for God's creations. In Dance students will learn a short song/dance linked to Earth Week as well. Below is the song/dance they will learn. They will see how they can use simple dance movements to interpret the words to a song.
As this Friday is a PD day, we have a short, but busy and engaging week of learning ahead of us. Thank you for all that you do to support your child as they continue to grow and learn as grade three students! Have a wonderful week of celebrating God's Creations!
April 13th- "Blessed Are They Who Have Not Seen and Have Believed."
Welcome to the second week of Easter! This week, we will gather as a St.Cecilia faith community to celebrate our Easter Mass on Wednesday, April 15th at 9:30 AM in our gymnasium. All parents are welcome to join us for this special mass.
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel story from Sunday- John 20:19-31. Above is a short little video that captures Jesus' message this Gospel.
Literacy
We are finishing our unit on narratives. The students are continuing to 'bump-up' their responses to comprehension questions by adding more specific proof from the text and perhaps their own ideas. We are certainly noticing improvements! They are working hard.
Our next unit, on persuasive texts, will focus on further examination of non-fiction text features and the difference between facts and opinions.
Mathematics
The students are continuing to examine time relationships. Looking at calendars at home would be beneficial. Asking questions such as:
We will focus more this week on money.Things such as:
Our next unit will be measurement. We will examine how to measure to the nearest cm, the relationship between km, m and cm, along with area and perimeter.
Arts
The student are learning about how to use their body and face to depict emotions. We will focus this week on tableaus and 'wax museum' to display various sports and texts.
EQAO
The dates for EQAO are:
Tuesday, May 26th, Wednesday May 27th, Thursday May 28th & Friday May 29th (First Block each day) AND Monday, June 1rst, and Tuesday June 2nd (First Block)
Please refrain from making appointments during the above times. It is important that your child come to school on time as we will begin right when they get in. As mentioned earlier in the year, your child has been exposed to the EQAO assessment through daily tasks.
For more information about EQAO including samples and scoring guides, please visit EQAO.com.
Just a reminder that all unsold calendars, stubs and money are to be returned by Friday of this week.
Please remember to check out the school's April newsletter. Below is information about our upcoming Earth Week!
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel story from Sunday- John 20:19-31. Above is a short little video that captures Jesus' message this Gospel.
Literacy
We are finishing our unit on narratives. The students are continuing to 'bump-up' their responses to comprehension questions by adding more specific proof from the text and perhaps their own ideas. We are certainly noticing improvements! They are working hard.
Our next unit, on persuasive texts, will focus on further examination of non-fiction text features and the difference between facts and opinions.
Mathematics
The students are continuing to examine time relationships. Looking at calendars at home would be beneficial. Asking questions such as:
- What date will it be 3 months from today?
- What was the date 4 weeks and 3 days ago?
- What will the date be in 3 weeks and 2 days?
- See Helpful Resources Section for a calendar to use.
We will focus more this week on money.Things such as:
- Show me $3.45 using the least number of coins. Now, show it to be another way.
- Ben has $5.46 in his wallet. He wants to buy a book that costs $9, how much more money does he need?
Our next unit will be measurement. We will examine how to measure to the nearest cm, the relationship between km, m and cm, along with area and perimeter.
Arts
The student are learning about how to use their body and face to depict emotions. We will focus this week on tableaus and 'wax museum' to display various sports and texts.
EQAO
The dates for EQAO are:
Tuesday, May 26th, Wednesday May 27th, Thursday May 28th & Friday May 29th (First Block each day) AND Monday, June 1rst, and Tuesday June 2nd (First Block)
Please refrain from making appointments during the above times. It is important that your child come to school on time as we will begin right when they get in. As mentioned earlier in the year, your child has been exposed to the EQAO assessment through daily tasks.
For more information about EQAO including samples and scoring guides, please visit EQAO.com.
Just a reminder that all unsold calendars, stubs and money are to be returned by Friday of this week.
Please remember to check out the school's April newsletter. Below is information about our upcoming Earth Week!
April 7th- Happy Easter! Alleluia He Is Risen!- Check Important Dates
It is my hope that everyone enjoyed a blessed and holy Easter with family and friends! Now that our Lenten journey has ended we will journey through the Easter season for fifty days.
Last week in Religion and Literacy, students wrote the Holy Week story through the eyes of Jesus in a personal narrative. The narratives they have written are detailed and full of emotion- their writer's voice. They are truly beautiful to read. This week, students will hear Sunday's Gospel- the Easter narrative and will write it through the eyes of Jesus. They will also work on some Easter art work to celebrate Jesus' victory over death on the cross.
Another continued Literacy focus will be on reading texts and responding to questions about the text using details from the text and their own ideas to support the answers they give. This week they will read a text that was from a previous EQAO test called- Where's Miss Mitra? During literacy stations this week, students will have an opportunity to do some reader's theater and the acting out of some familiar texts (e.g. The Easter Story).
Our Math focus will be on calendar time relationships- days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years. During Math warm ups students will be counting money amounts and telling time to the minute.
The students are very excited about having grade five Science learning partners from St. Anne Catholic school. Last week we viewed several of their lessons and presentations about structures and forces acting upon structures and we recorded what we learned and wonderings we still have using the Padlets that the grade five students created for us. This week we will view more presentations and will hopefully get some responses to our wonderings from our learning partners.
As you have read we have a busy short week ahead of us. Have a great week!
Below is the story of The Resurrection- A story worth watching, telling and celebrating over and over! Enjoy!
Last week in Religion and Literacy, students wrote the Holy Week story through the eyes of Jesus in a personal narrative. The narratives they have written are detailed and full of emotion- their writer's voice. They are truly beautiful to read. This week, students will hear Sunday's Gospel- the Easter narrative and will write it through the eyes of Jesus. They will also work on some Easter art work to celebrate Jesus' victory over death on the cross.
Another continued Literacy focus will be on reading texts and responding to questions about the text using details from the text and their own ideas to support the answers they give. This week they will read a text that was from a previous EQAO test called- Where's Miss Mitra? During literacy stations this week, students will have an opportunity to do some reader's theater and the acting out of some familiar texts (e.g. The Easter Story).
Our Math focus will be on calendar time relationships- days to weeks, weeks to months, months to years. During Math warm ups students will be counting money amounts and telling time to the minute.
The students are very excited about having grade five Science learning partners from St. Anne Catholic school. Last week we viewed several of their lessons and presentations about structures and forces acting upon structures and we recorded what we learned and wonderings we still have using the Padlets that the grade five students created for us. This week we will view more presentations and will hopefully get some responses to our wonderings from our learning partners.
As you have read we have a busy short week ahead of us. Have a great week!
Below is the story of The Resurrection- A story worth watching, telling and celebrating over and over! Enjoy!
March 30th- We Journey Through Holy Week!
Today marks the beginning of Holy Week- Palm Sunday. The above video is one account of the events that took place so long ago on Palm Sunday. This week, students will hear the Gospel from Palm Sunday and will hear the rest of the Holy Week Story as well. As a link to our narrative writing in Literacy, students will re-write the Holy Week story through the eyes of Jesus as personal narrative. Students will also continue to add to their Gardens of Love- looking for others who are working hard to be the best they can be. Students eagerly added to their Gardens of Love last week. Many students used technology to create their Gardens of Love and others chose to create it right in their Religion notebooks. It has been inspiring to watch students looking for other students working to be the best children of God they can be!
On Holy Thursday, we will gather in our Gymnasium to journey through and reflect on the Stations of the Cross. All are welcome to join us as a school and faith community.
As mentioned above, our Literacy focus this week continues to be on narrative writing. Students will re-write the Holy Week story in a personal narrative through the eyes of Jesus.
This week in Math we will continue to explore relationships in time and relationships with money- 4 quarters is equal to one dollar.
In Science,students will have the opportunity to view some work and lessons about Structures and Forces created by a grade five class from St.Anne's Catholic school in Kanata. Eventually we will create a Padlet of questions/wonderings we have for our grade five Science partners/leaders about structures and forces and then will have a Google Hang out with them for us to have a learning conversation about how forces affect how structures were and are built in different communities.
In Physical Education we will continue to work to develop our basketball skills through some four on four mini games.
We are excited for our trip to the Cabane A Sucre this Wednesday, April 1st. Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather on that day. Merci Madame Sultan and Madame Nicoletti for organizing this exciting learning adventure for us!
Below is a special prayer for Holy Week- The Jelly Bean Prayer (Author Unknown)! God bless each and every one of you during this holy season of Easter!
On Holy Thursday, we will gather in our Gymnasium to journey through and reflect on the Stations of the Cross. All are welcome to join us as a school and faith community.
As mentioned above, our Literacy focus this week continues to be on narrative writing. Students will re-write the Holy Week story in a personal narrative through the eyes of Jesus.
This week in Math we will continue to explore relationships in time and relationships with money- 4 quarters is equal to one dollar.
In Science,students will have the opportunity to view some work and lessons about Structures and Forces created by a grade five class from St.Anne's Catholic school in Kanata. Eventually we will create a Padlet of questions/wonderings we have for our grade five Science partners/leaders about structures and forces and then will have a Google Hang out with them for us to have a learning conversation about how forces affect how structures were and are built in different communities.
In Physical Education we will continue to work to develop our basketball skills through some four on four mini games.
We are excited for our trip to the Cabane A Sucre this Wednesday, April 1st. Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather on that day. Merci Madame Sultan and Madame Nicoletti for organizing this exciting learning adventure for us!
Below is a special prayer for Holy Week- The Jelly Bean Prayer (Author Unknown)! God bless each and every one of you during this holy season of Easter!
March 23rd- Welcome Back! It's the Fifth Week of Week of Lent!
*Library Books Due
*Skating- Tuesday, March 24th- Volunteers Needed Please.
Welcome back! I hope that all students enjoyed a restful March Break! Spring has sprung and we have many things to accomplish on our spring to do list! I am excited about the learning journey ahead of us.
We have now entered into the fifth Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of our Holy Week journey. This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel of John where they will hear Jesus' message about continuing to make ourselves new and better people through our words and actions. Students will create a Garden of Love where they will add flowers to their gardens when they do acts that make themselves "new" or when they see others doing acts that Jesus would do. By Easter, it is my hope that each students' Garden of Love will be full of beautiful flowers representing our journey to become "new" just like Jesus wants us to.
We are half way to buying a second goat! Hopefully we can collect some more change! Thank you for your continued support with our Lenten project!
In Literacy, students will be working on writing a narrative. The narrative topics they will choose from are from past EQAO writing tasks. Now that students have heard and read a variety of narrative texts and are familiar with what narrative texts must include, they are ready to begin to be author's of their own narratives. Please see our Narrative Success Criteria chart under the Helpful Resources section.
Before the break, students enjoyed a dramatic presentation by the Rag and Bone theater company. As part of our literacy stations, students have been acting out some of the narratives we have read (e.g. Pirate Lee). Some students even used technology for their drama presentations. Throughout the next few weeks, students will have the opportunity to perform some Reader's Theater with their peers and will learn how simply changing the tone of their voices can make drama presentations entertaining for the audience. We may even look into making puppets to add to our Reader's Theater presentations.
Our Math focus this week will be on time and time relationships- minutes and hours, days to weeks, weeks to months and months to years. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups to prepare a mini lesson about each time relationship and then be experts and teach small groups of their peers what they have learned. Next, students will explore time relationships through problem solving tasks with partners and independently.
In Science, students will finish up their Plants- Show What You Know and we will begin to read texts about structures and forces acting on structures to get us ready for our our inquiry on how structures are affected by natural forces.
We have many up and coming basketball stars in grade three! During our physical education time in the gymnasium, students have been actively participating in basketball drills. This week we will work on putting those skills into action by playing some four on four basketball. Students have been looking forward to having the opportunity to shoot some hoops.
As you can see we have a busy week ahead. Thank you for all you do to support your child's learning at home.
We have now entered into the fifth Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of our Holy Week journey. This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel of John where they will hear Jesus' message about continuing to make ourselves new and better people through our words and actions. Students will create a Garden of Love where they will add flowers to their gardens when they do acts that make themselves "new" or when they see others doing acts that Jesus would do. By Easter, it is my hope that each students' Garden of Love will be full of beautiful flowers representing our journey to become "new" just like Jesus wants us to.
We are half way to buying a second goat! Hopefully we can collect some more change! Thank you for your continued support with our Lenten project!
In Literacy, students will be working on writing a narrative. The narrative topics they will choose from are from past EQAO writing tasks. Now that students have heard and read a variety of narrative texts and are familiar with what narrative texts must include, they are ready to begin to be author's of their own narratives. Please see our Narrative Success Criteria chart under the Helpful Resources section.
Before the break, students enjoyed a dramatic presentation by the Rag and Bone theater company. As part of our literacy stations, students have been acting out some of the narratives we have read (e.g. Pirate Lee). Some students even used technology for their drama presentations. Throughout the next few weeks, students will have the opportunity to perform some Reader's Theater with their peers and will learn how simply changing the tone of their voices can make drama presentations entertaining for the audience. We may even look into making puppets to add to our Reader's Theater presentations.
Our Math focus this week will be on time and time relationships- minutes and hours, days to weeks, weeks to months and months to years. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups to prepare a mini lesson about each time relationship and then be experts and teach small groups of their peers what they have learned. Next, students will explore time relationships through problem solving tasks with partners and independently.
In Science, students will finish up their Plants- Show What You Know and we will begin to read texts about structures and forces acting on structures to get us ready for our our inquiry on how structures are affected by natural forces.
We have many up and coming basketball stars in grade three! During our physical education time in the gymnasium, students have been actively participating in basketball drills. This week we will work on putting those skills into action by playing some four on four basketball. Students have been looking forward to having the opportunity to shoot some hoops.
As you can see we have a busy week ahead. Thank you for all you do to support your child's learning at home.
March 9th- Welcome to the Third Week of Our Lenten Journey!
Late last week we were excited to find out that we collected fifty dollars in change in our "We Make Change" box. This was enough to buy our first goat for a family in Kenya! We were so overjoyed! Amazing Lenten Alms giving! We placed our goat on the "We Make Change" wall in the hallway. Now we will work towards collecting another fifty dollars in change to buy another goat. Our school's goal for this Lenten initiative is to buy fifty goats. We are off to a great start! Thank you for encouraging your child to do some extra chores to earn some spare change in which they can choose to donate to our school's "We Make Change" Lenten initiative.
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel from this past Sunday and will learn about God's dream for us to forgive ourselves and one another through the story of the Prodigal Son. Students will also have the opportunity to research a Catholic Saint that they would like to learn more about.
In Literacy last week, we began to build our success criteria for writing a narrative text. This week students will read more narratives and will have the opportunity to be the author of their own narrative using our success criteria. Students will also have the opportunity to read and respond to another text by answering questions about the text that require them to give details from the text and their own ideas to support their answers.
Last week in Math, students explored various 3D shapes and their attributes (vertices, edges, faces, is it a pyramid?, is it a prism? what is its name?). This week we will work to describe and compare 3D shapes based on their attributes. See anchor chart under Helpful Resources section.
Our scientists are just about done their mini project about the parts of a flower. This week students will share out the information they gathered during a Science knowledge building circle. Lastly, students will complete a show what you know task about all of the parts of a plant and flower and their function.
That is how our week looks! I wish all students a restful and safe March Break!
Our School Mascot-
St. Cecilia Stingers!
March Is Here! Week 2 of Our Lenten Journey!
Welcome to the first week of March and the second week of Lent. It is also Spirit week at St.Cecilia! Check out important dates for the line up of Spirit Week activities.
The grade three classes will be leading the Gospel Value Assembly for Faith tomorrow at 1:15 in our gymnasium. All are welcome to attend.
This week in Religion students will hear the Gospel from Sunday where Jesus shows His glory. Last week we read about another one of God's Children- Daniel of Haiti and prayed for him and the people of Haiti. Students also learned a new way to pray- Praying in Colour. We used a beautiful resource called "Praying in Colour" to walk us through this prayerful experience.
In Literacy this week, we will take a closer look at the parts of a narrative by reading more narrative texts together. We will then work to create our success criteria for what writers need to include in a narrative piece of writing.
On our Math journey we will be exploring 3D shapes.
In Science we will complete our research on the parts of a flower.
This is a very brief glance of how our first week of March looks in 3A!
God bless you as you continue on your Lenten journey! Here is a song your children will hear this week as we change our hearts to get closer to Jesus!
The grade three classes will be leading the Gospel Value Assembly for Faith tomorrow at 1:15 in our gymnasium. All are welcome to attend.
This week in Religion students will hear the Gospel from Sunday where Jesus shows His glory. Last week we read about another one of God's Children- Daniel of Haiti and prayed for him and the people of Haiti. Students also learned a new way to pray- Praying in Colour. We used a beautiful resource called "Praying in Colour" to walk us through this prayerful experience.
In Literacy this week, we will take a closer look at the parts of a narrative by reading more narrative texts together. We will then work to create our success criteria for what writers need to include in a narrative piece of writing.
On our Math journey we will be exploring 3D shapes.
In Science we will complete our research on the parts of a flower.
This is a very brief glance of how our first week of March looks in 3A!
God bless you as you continue on your Lenten journey! Here is a song your children will hear this week as we change our hearts to get closer to Jesus!
Check out the -Our Faith in Action, Celebrating Our Learning and Helpful Resources sections for updates! Symmetry video is under Helpful Resources!
Last Week of February!
We're On Our Lenten Journey!
Here is a short Video about what Ash Wednesday and Lent are all about. Enjoy!
Last week in Religion we reflected on what we would fast from during Lent and what we would feast on during Lent (e.g. Fast from complaining, feast on being grateful). We also talked about how Lent presents us with an opportunity to spend more time in prayer- time talking with Jesus or quiet time with Jesus in our heart rooms. We continue to pray for other children around the world and within our community and students certainly acted out their faith during Kindness Week last week, as they worked hard to shower those around them with random and simple acts of kindness. Thank you to all students who spread kindness around St.Cecilia. Although kindness week is over, it's never really over at St. Cecilia since we are always wanting to do Jesus' work. We will continue to work to restore others through our acts of kindness throughout our Lenten journey.
On Friday we took time to go inside our heart room and reflect on our gifts and talents and how God made each of us so unique. After our prayer/meditation, students had the opportunity to write their own prayers to God. I will post some of these beautifully written prayers under the Celebrating our Learning section of the blog at some point this week. Students truly enjoy these times of prayer, reflection and meditation and also love to be the authors of their very own prayers.
This week, we will hear the words of the Gospel from this past Sunday. Students will retell the story in their own words.
In Literacy, students will continue to read and respond to questions about texts. We've talked a lot about including relevant details from the text,as well as their own ideas to support their answers. This week students will continue to use the feedback given to them from their peers and teachers to "bump up" their responses to questions.
This week in Math we will finish up with describing and comparing 2D shapes and will begin to explore 3D shapes.
Last week in Science students were placed into groups of three to decide on a part of the flower to research. Once again students had to put their collaboration skills into action. Before getting into their groups students were asked to think about which collaboration skills they feel they are using very well and which ones they will continue to work on. Once they got into their research groups, it was wonderful to hear students buzzing about collaboration skills such as learning about the strengths of other group members and deciding their roles based on strengths. Each group were able to communicate the decisions they had to make and how they made those decisions collaboratively. It's easy to see the progress students have made as collaborative learners since our baseline collaboration task.
That is how our week looks at a glance. I will end with the Lego Movie song "Everything Is Awesome." I saw and heard it for the first time last night while watching a brief segment of the Oscars. I felt it had a catchy connection to our work on collaboration. This particular Youtube video was created by a six year old boy. Pretty cool! Enjoy!
On Friday we took time to go inside our heart room and reflect on our gifts and talents and how God made each of us so unique. After our prayer/meditation, students had the opportunity to write their own prayers to God. I will post some of these beautifully written prayers under the Celebrating our Learning section of the blog at some point this week. Students truly enjoy these times of prayer, reflection and meditation and also love to be the authors of their very own prayers.
This week, we will hear the words of the Gospel from this past Sunday. Students will retell the story in their own words.
In Literacy, students will continue to read and respond to questions about texts. We've talked a lot about including relevant details from the text,as well as their own ideas to support their answers. This week students will continue to use the feedback given to them from their peers and teachers to "bump up" their responses to questions.
This week in Math we will finish up with describing and comparing 2D shapes and will begin to explore 3D shapes.
Last week in Science students were placed into groups of three to decide on a part of the flower to research. Once again students had to put their collaboration skills into action. Before getting into their groups students were asked to think about which collaboration skills they feel they are using very well and which ones they will continue to work on. Once they got into their research groups, it was wonderful to hear students buzzing about collaboration skills such as learning about the strengths of other group members and deciding their roles based on strengths. Each group were able to communicate the decisions they had to make and how they made those decisions collaboratively. It's easy to see the progress students have made as collaborative learners since our baseline collaboration task.
That is how our week looks at a glance. I will end with the Lego Movie song "Everything Is Awesome." I saw and heard it for the first time last night while watching a brief segment of the Oscars. I felt it had a catchy connection to our work on collaboration. This particular Youtube video was created by a six year old boy. Pretty cool! Enjoy!
Happy Family Day! So Glad We're A Classroom Family!
Happy Family Day! Hoping you all enjoyed this day together as a family. Friday also marked the beginning of Kindness Week. I'm looking forward to another week of learning within our 3A classroom family, as well as a week of spreading kindness throughout the community of St.Cecilia.
Thank you to everyone for your amazing contributions to our second annual St. Cecilia cake walk. Many students won yummy treats and were excited to be able to vote on our St. Cecilia school mascot name. Your generous support of these worthwhile fundraisers are always appreciated very much!
Here is what we will be up to this short week in February.
Last week in Religion,students heard the story of Daniel from Haiti. This week we will pray for him and his family during our daily prayers. Students also participated in an "In My Heartroom" prayerful meditation about their eyes. Students reflected on how our sight is such a beautiful gift from God. Afterwards they wrote thoughtful prayers of their own, thanking God for the gift of their eyes.I will post some of these beautifully written prayers under the Celebrating our Learning section.
This week in Religion students will here the Gospel from this Sunday where Jesus embraces and heals a leper. A true act of kindness and compassion. This is the perfect Gospel to mark the beginning of Kindness Week. As the season of Lent quickly approaches, with Ash Wednesday just around the corner (this coming Wednesday) we will reflect on the meaning of Lent and will gather as a school community for an Ash Wednesday liturgy of the word on Wednesday morning in our school gymnasium at 9:45 AM. All are welcome to attend this sombre gathering that marks the beginning of the forty days of Lent.
Last week in Literacy, we continued to work on our responses to questions about a variety of texts.Students had the opportunity to "bump-up" their responses based on the feedback given to them. This week, we will continue to respond to questions about the texts we read and will also look at a tool called the "Go Chart" to help us to look at how Narrative texts are written (Beginning, Middle, Ending- Settings, Characters, Problem, Events, Solution), as well as to help us dig deeper into the meaning within these texts.
In Math students have been working on describing 2D shapes using VAS to help them include as much information about the shape as they can. V- #of vertices, A- angels- bigger or smaller than 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees, how many?, S- how many sides? are any equal? are any parallel? This week we will focus on comparing 2D shapes and will hopefully move into exploring 3D shapes.
In Science,students will finally have the opportunity to explore and research the different parts of the flower and their function, as well as to share out the information they gather in a format of their choice.
Congratulations to all students for working so diligently and creatively on completing their inquiry about how the foods they eat get to their tables. Students used a variety of technology tools to demonstrate their learning and to create a public service announcement promoting greener ways to bring foods to our tables. I am so impressed by their innovative ideas and imaginative thinking!
Wishing everyone a week full of kindness!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
Mark Twain
Thank you to everyone for your amazing contributions to our second annual St. Cecilia cake walk. Many students won yummy treats and were excited to be able to vote on our St. Cecilia school mascot name. Your generous support of these worthwhile fundraisers are always appreciated very much!
Here is what we will be up to this short week in February.
Last week in Religion,students heard the story of Daniel from Haiti. This week we will pray for him and his family during our daily prayers. Students also participated in an "In My Heartroom" prayerful meditation about their eyes. Students reflected on how our sight is such a beautiful gift from God. Afterwards they wrote thoughtful prayers of their own, thanking God for the gift of their eyes.I will post some of these beautifully written prayers under the Celebrating our Learning section.
This week in Religion students will here the Gospel from this Sunday where Jesus embraces and heals a leper. A true act of kindness and compassion. This is the perfect Gospel to mark the beginning of Kindness Week. As the season of Lent quickly approaches, with Ash Wednesday just around the corner (this coming Wednesday) we will reflect on the meaning of Lent and will gather as a school community for an Ash Wednesday liturgy of the word on Wednesday morning in our school gymnasium at 9:45 AM. All are welcome to attend this sombre gathering that marks the beginning of the forty days of Lent.
Last week in Literacy, we continued to work on our responses to questions about a variety of texts.Students had the opportunity to "bump-up" their responses based on the feedback given to them. This week, we will continue to respond to questions about the texts we read and will also look at a tool called the "Go Chart" to help us to look at how Narrative texts are written (Beginning, Middle, Ending- Settings, Characters, Problem, Events, Solution), as well as to help us dig deeper into the meaning within these texts.
In Math students have been working on describing 2D shapes using VAS to help them include as much information about the shape as they can. V- #of vertices, A- angels- bigger or smaller than 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees, how many?, S- how many sides? are any equal? are any parallel? This week we will focus on comparing 2D shapes and will hopefully move into exploring 3D shapes.
In Science,students will finally have the opportunity to explore and research the different parts of the flower and their function, as well as to share out the information they gather in a format of their choice.
Congratulations to all students for working so diligently and creatively on completing their inquiry about how the foods they eat get to their tables. Students used a variety of technology tools to demonstrate their learning and to create a public service announcement promoting greener ways to bring foods to our tables. I am so impressed by their innovative ideas and imaginative thinking!
Wishing everyone a week full of kindness!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
Mark Twain
February 9th- A Busy Week Ahead!
Our first week of February was a productive one, as we worked very hard towards meeting our many learning goals. We ended our week off with an amazing trip to the new recreation center for a class skate. A great time was had by all and students sure showed "GRIT" in the way that they persevered with their skating by getting up when they fell and never giving up no matter how many times they fell! I'm so proud of all students. Thank you to all parent volunteers who took time out of their busy schedules to help students with putting on their skates and helping them skate too! Your time and kindness is very much appreciated! We look forward to our next skating date on Friday, February 20th.
Here is a quick look at what the second week of February looks like in Grade three.
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel reading where Jesus visits his Apostle Peter's house. When he arrives Peter's mother-in-law is ill. Jesus quickly heals her. To repay Him for His kindness, she prepares a meal for Jesus. This story links very well to our new Gospel Value of Love. As a class we have been talking about ways we can show our love for others, even our brothers and sisters who are thousands of miles away. Last week, students heard about a little girl named Yena from Ghana through a story from the book about children from all parts of the world. Students heard about Yena and we prayed for her and the people of Ghana. We all agreed that one way to live out the Gospel Value of Love is to pray for others. Throughout the month of February we will continue to pray for other children from different parts of world, as well as local children too. This way we will truly be acting out the Gospel Value of Love.
Students will also hear the story where Jesus feeds 5000 people with a loaf of bread and couple of fish. Students will reflect on the message of this text and will hopefully see that with God in our lives, nothing is impossible.
Last week in Math, students began to explore and describe 2D shapes. This week they will continue to describe 2D shapes using words like equal sides, parallel sides, vertices and right angles. Students will also begin to compare 2D shapes based on attributes using graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams and charts.
In Literacy, students worked hard on their responses to questions about a text called "At the Sugar Bush." This week students will share out their answers and as a class we will look at ways they can "bump-up" their answers. Students will have the opportunity to read and respond to more questions about both fiction and non-fiction texts this week and will continue to think about if the questions have answers that can be found right in the text, or if the answer is in their heads (using their schema) or in the text and in their schema. During guided reading last week, students received their asking questions folders and practiced using the Q matrix to ask thoughtful questions about the texts they are reading. This week during independent reading time, students will use their asking questions folders to record the questions they have before, during and after reading and will identify if these questions were answered in the text, in their head or both. See Helpful Resources section for more information about the types of questions students will respond to.
Our Science collaborative inquiry about how foods get to our tables is coming to a close. Last week students worked collaboratively with their groups to record their findings about how the foods from their food journals get to their tables and the positive and negative effects this process has on the environment and the plants within it. Students also worked collaboratively with their partners to write a pubic service announcement about "Greener" ways to get foods to our tables. Many students decided to use technology tools such as Green Screen, Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets and 30 Hands to record and deliver their PSAs. I am so impressed with the level of thought and creativity that students have put into this task. All students were fully engaged in researching foods from their food journals and recording their findings. Students' next step is to reflect upon the collaboration skills they used during these tasks. Students will also place themselves on our collaboration continuum based on the collaboration criteria we created as a class. This way, students will be able set goals for themselves as collaborative learners.
During our Physical Education block on Tuesday, students will be engaged in a curling workshop called "Rocks and Rings." Many students participated in it last year here at St. Cecilia. I'm sure your child will tell you all about it after school on Tuesday.
Friday, February 13th, we will go to the Cake walk. Thank you to all who have purchased tickets for this school wide fundraising initiative. Students are so, so excited about it. At the cake walk students will also get to vote for our school mascot based on the finalist samples they saw at our recognition assembly last week. The choices are ...St. Cecilia Stingers, St. Cecilia Cardinals or the St. Cecilia Wolves. Exciting times at St. Cecilia for sure! Along with the festivities of the cake walk, students are also welcome to bring in Valentine cards to share with their peers. Please make sure that each child in the class is included when your child is writing out their Valentines. Students will decorate bags to collect their valentines in. Fun times in grade three!
That is how our week looks. "Spread love wherever you go"- great advice from an amazing woman- Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Here is a quick look at what the second week of February looks like in Grade three.
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel reading where Jesus visits his Apostle Peter's house. When he arrives Peter's mother-in-law is ill. Jesus quickly heals her. To repay Him for His kindness, she prepares a meal for Jesus. This story links very well to our new Gospel Value of Love. As a class we have been talking about ways we can show our love for others, even our brothers and sisters who are thousands of miles away. Last week, students heard about a little girl named Yena from Ghana through a story from the book about children from all parts of the world. Students heard about Yena and we prayed for her and the people of Ghana. We all agreed that one way to live out the Gospel Value of Love is to pray for others. Throughout the month of February we will continue to pray for other children from different parts of world, as well as local children too. This way we will truly be acting out the Gospel Value of Love.
Students will also hear the story where Jesus feeds 5000 people with a loaf of bread and couple of fish. Students will reflect on the message of this text and will hopefully see that with God in our lives, nothing is impossible.
Last week in Math, students began to explore and describe 2D shapes. This week they will continue to describe 2D shapes using words like equal sides, parallel sides, vertices and right angles. Students will also begin to compare 2D shapes based on attributes using graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams and charts.
In Literacy, students worked hard on their responses to questions about a text called "At the Sugar Bush." This week students will share out their answers and as a class we will look at ways they can "bump-up" their answers. Students will have the opportunity to read and respond to more questions about both fiction and non-fiction texts this week and will continue to think about if the questions have answers that can be found right in the text, or if the answer is in their heads (using their schema) or in the text and in their schema. During guided reading last week, students received their asking questions folders and practiced using the Q matrix to ask thoughtful questions about the texts they are reading. This week during independent reading time, students will use their asking questions folders to record the questions they have before, during and after reading and will identify if these questions were answered in the text, in their head or both. See Helpful Resources section for more information about the types of questions students will respond to.
Our Science collaborative inquiry about how foods get to our tables is coming to a close. Last week students worked collaboratively with their groups to record their findings about how the foods from their food journals get to their tables and the positive and negative effects this process has on the environment and the plants within it. Students also worked collaboratively with their partners to write a pubic service announcement about "Greener" ways to get foods to our tables. Many students decided to use technology tools such as Green Screen, Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets and 30 Hands to record and deliver their PSAs. I am so impressed with the level of thought and creativity that students have put into this task. All students were fully engaged in researching foods from their food journals and recording their findings. Students' next step is to reflect upon the collaboration skills they used during these tasks. Students will also place themselves on our collaboration continuum based on the collaboration criteria we created as a class. This way, students will be able set goals for themselves as collaborative learners.
During our Physical Education block on Tuesday, students will be engaged in a curling workshop called "Rocks and Rings." Many students participated in it last year here at St. Cecilia. I'm sure your child will tell you all about it after school on Tuesday.
Friday, February 13th, we will go to the Cake walk. Thank you to all who have purchased tickets for this school wide fundraising initiative. Students are so, so excited about it. At the cake walk students will also get to vote for our school mascot based on the finalist samples they saw at our recognition assembly last week. The choices are ...St. Cecilia Stingers, St. Cecilia Cardinals or the St. Cecilia Wolves. Exciting times at St. Cecilia for sure! Along with the festivities of the cake walk, students are also welcome to bring in Valentine cards to share with their peers. Please make sure that each child in the class is included when your child is writing out their Valentines. Students will decorate bags to collect their valentines in. Fun times in grade three!
That is how our week looks. "Spread love wherever you go"- great advice from an amazing woman- Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Welcome to February!
Welcome to February everyone! We have another busy week of learning and exploring ahead of us. We will end our week in a very special way by going for our first class skate on the morning of Friday February 6th. Here is a quick look at our week.
This week in Religion, students will hear Sunday's Gospel where Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum and he heals a man with an unclean spirit. Students will reflect upon how Jesus wants us to follow the rules He lives by as well. Last week students finished up their badges of courage where they wrote about what they would do to help make God's Dream come true. They came up with some inspirational ways to help God. Their badges are ready to be posted all around our prayer table.
Last week in Literacy, students worked on brainstorming ION words during word work station and worked on writing about the main idea of texts as a reading activity. During our Read Aloud "Three Cups of Tea" we worked on using our Q Matrix to help us develop thoughtful THICK questions about the text before we read it, during the reading and after. Asking questions will continue to be our focus during guided and independent reading times this week. I will post a link to a very short video explaining the difference between thin and thick questions. http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/questioning.html
Also see the Helpful Resources section of our website to see the Q Matrix. Your child may wish to use it during reading time at home.
Last week as a class we read an EQAO sample text and worked on creating awesome answers for a couple of the short answer questions using details from the text and our own ideas. This week, students will read texts and respond to questions where they will have to use details from the text and their own ideas. During writing station students will be invited to once again write a text type of their choice in their Writer's Workshop books, paying close attention to the feedback given to them about their most recent piece of writing. This week our word wall words focus on words ending in 'ly' and prefixes. Students will have the opportunity to engage in some inquiry opportunities through the "Try This" activities on the back of our Guided Reading text cards during literacy stations as well.
Our focus in Math last week was on discovering what Mode is along with exploring strategies for finding the mode of a set of data. Students were given some partner tasks and independent tasks to work on and most students fully understand that mode is the number that shows up the most in a set of data. This week we will begin our investigation of 2D shapes.
In Science we continue to research how foods from our food journals get to our tables and how that impacts our environment. This week students will record their findings and will write about whether they feel the foods from their food journals have a positive or negative effect on the environment. Of course they are working on this in their triads and will be putting their collaboration skills to good use. Once the activity is complete they will reflect on how well they felt they collaborated. Later on in the week students will choose a part of the flower they are interested in inquiring about and will begin their research and knowledge building on that part. Once again they will share out the information they find with their peers.
Thank you to all of you who have sent in your ticket money for the cake walk. There is still plenty of time to send it in as the cake walk is on Friday, February 13th.
I'm looking forward to seeing some of you at our class skate this Friday.
Have a fabulous first week of February!
This week in Religion, students will hear Sunday's Gospel where Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum and he heals a man with an unclean spirit. Students will reflect upon how Jesus wants us to follow the rules He lives by as well. Last week students finished up their badges of courage where they wrote about what they would do to help make God's Dream come true. They came up with some inspirational ways to help God. Their badges are ready to be posted all around our prayer table.
Last week in Literacy, students worked on brainstorming ION words during word work station and worked on writing about the main idea of texts as a reading activity. During our Read Aloud "Three Cups of Tea" we worked on using our Q Matrix to help us develop thoughtful THICK questions about the text before we read it, during the reading and after. Asking questions will continue to be our focus during guided and independent reading times this week. I will post a link to a very short video explaining the difference between thin and thick questions. http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/questioning.html
Also see the Helpful Resources section of our website to see the Q Matrix. Your child may wish to use it during reading time at home.
Last week as a class we read an EQAO sample text and worked on creating awesome answers for a couple of the short answer questions using details from the text and our own ideas. This week, students will read texts and respond to questions where they will have to use details from the text and their own ideas. During writing station students will be invited to once again write a text type of their choice in their Writer's Workshop books, paying close attention to the feedback given to them about their most recent piece of writing. This week our word wall words focus on words ending in 'ly' and prefixes. Students will have the opportunity to engage in some inquiry opportunities through the "Try This" activities on the back of our Guided Reading text cards during literacy stations as well.
Our focus in Math last week was on discovering what Mode is along with exploring strategies for finding the mode of a set of data. Students were given some partner tasks and independent tasks to work on and most students fully understand that mode is the number that shows up the most in a set of data. This week we will begin our investigation of 2D shapes.
In Science we continue to research how foods from our food journals get to our tables and how that impacts our environment. This week students will record their findings and will write about whether they feel the foods from their food journals have a positive or negative effect on the environment. Of course they are working on this in their triads and will be putting their collaboration skills to good use. Once the activity is complete they will reflect on how well they felt they collaborated. Later on in the week students will choose a part of the flower they are interested in inquiring about and will begin their research and knowledge building on that part. Once again they will share out the information they find with their peers.
Thank you to all of you who have sent in your ticket money for the cake walk. There is still plenty of time to send it in as the cake walk is on Friday, February 13th.
I'm looking forward to seeing some of you at our class skate this Friday.
Have a fabulous first week of February!
Our Week- An Invitation From Jesus!
Welcome to another wonderful week of learning in grade three!
This week in Religion students will hear the Gospel reading from Sunday and will learn about Jesus' invitation for us to get to know him better! We will also read about how we can make God's dream come true and students will write about what they will do to help make God's dream come true on a badge of honour.
In Literacy we will finish up with procedural writing and will continue to read some non-fiction texts about plants. Students will start thinking about how asking questions before, during and after reading helps us to gain a deeper understanding of what we read and they will begin to record the questions that they have before, during and after reading. With this students will come to learn that the answers to some of their questions are right in the text, some are in their own head and in the text and some questions are questions they may need to get the answers for by doing some research or by using his/her schema. This week we will start to look at how to respond to questions about a text in a complete sentence using proof from the text and their own ideas when necessary.
This week in Math we will continue to explore bar graphs and pictographs and will dig deeper into writing detailed conclusions about the graphs we create and look at.
Last week in Science we had an enlightening conversation about how humans can help and hurt our earth and the plants on the earth. Students explored cause and effect relationships during this conversation (e.g when we compost we create less garbage and then have less landfills). This led to a discussion linked to our inquiry about how foods get to our tables. Now students are ready to do some more research about how the foods that they eat affect the earth.
This weekend I looked at students' DreamBox accounts. It appears that many students are not using this valuable resource generously paid for by our school board as a learning tool at home. Please ensure that your child puts this excellent Math tool to use at least twice a week to piggy back onto the Math learning we are doing in class. Thank you for continuing to support your child's learning at home.
This week in Religion students will hear the Gospel reading from Sunday and will learn about Jesus' invitation for us to get to know him better! We will also read about how we can make God's dream come true and students will write about what they will do to help make God's dream come true on a badge of honour.
In Literacy we will finish up with procedural writing and will continue to read some non-fiction texts about plants. Students will start thinking about how asking questions before, during and after reading helps us to gain a deeper understanding of what we read and they will begin to record the questions that they have before, during and after reading. With this students will come to learn that the answers to some of their questions are right in the text, some are in their own head and in the text and some questions are questions they may need to get the answers for by doing some research or by using his/her schema. This week we will start to look at how to respond to questions about a text in a complete sentence using proof from the text and their own ideas when necessary.
This week in Math we will continue to explore bar graphs and pictographs and will dig deeper into writing detailed conclusions about the graphs we create and look at.
Last week in Science we had an enlightening conversation about how humans can help and hurt our earth and the plants on the earth. Students explored cause and effect relationships during this conversation (e.g when we compost we create less garbage and then have less landfills). This led to a discussion linked to our inquiry about how foods get to our tables. Now students are ready to do some more research about how the foods that they eat affect the earth.
This weekend I looked at students' DreamBox accounts. It appears that many students are not using this valuable resource generously paid for by our school board as a learning tool at home. Please ensure that your child puts this excellent Math tool to use at least twice a week to piggy back onto the Math learning we are doing in class. Thank you for continuing to support your child's learning at home.
Jesus Gets Baptized! We're Back To Ordinary Time!
This Sunday marked the Baptism of Jesus and the official end to the Christmas season.
This week students will hear the story of the baptism of Jesus and will also reflect upon the many God given talents they have been given during our Fully Alive lessons.
In Literacy our word work focus will continue to be on contractions and our reading focus will be on procedural texts and non-fiction texts about plants which is where we are headed in Science. In writing, students will use the procedural writing success criteria we created as a class last week to write a procedural text with a partner and to write a procedural text on their own.
This week in Math we will create and interpret graphs linked to our food journals and other topics. Last week students were enthusiastic about the graphing challenge they were given- to gather information (data) about something linked to the Christmas holidays.
On Friday students worked collaboratively in a group to choose one or two foods from their food journals that they are interested in finding about- how that food arrived on their table or in their lunch kit. This is the introduction to one of our Science and Health inquiry questions- How do our actions and the foods we eat daily affect our environment in positive and negative ways. After this collaborative task, students were asked to reflect on how well they collaborated in their groups, using the success criteria we co-created after watching video footage of students collaborating in Math. Each group completed a reflection sheet.
Although this is a short week, we have many learning goals to meet. I'm looking forward to another week of learning with your children.
This week students will hear the story of the baptism of Jesus and will also reflect upon the many God given talents they have been given during our Fully Alive lessons.
In Literacy our word work focus will continue to be on contractions and our reading focus will be on procedural texts and non-fiction texts about plants which is where we are headed in Science. In writing, students will use the procedural writing success criteria we created as a class last week to write a procedural text with a partner and to write a procedural text on their own.
This week in Math we will create and interpret graphs linked to our food journals and other topics. Last week students were enthusiastic about the graphing challenge they were given- to gather information (data) about something linked to the Christmas holidays.
On Friday students worked collaboratively in a group to choose one or two foods from their food journals that they are interested in finding about- how that food arrived on their table or in their lunch kit. This is the introduction to one of our Science and Health inquiry questions- How do our actions and the foods we eat daily affect our environment in positive and negative ways. After this collaborative task, students were asked to reflect on how well they collaborated in their groups, using the success criteria we co-created after watching video footage of students collaborating in Math. Each group completed a reflection sheet.
Although this is a short week, we have many learning goals to meet. I'm looking forward to another week of learning with your children.
Happy New Year/
It's Epiphany!
Happy New Year to each and everyone of you. I do hope that you were able to enjoy a blessed and holy Christmas with family and friends.
Now that we have entered into 2015, we journey into a new year and have many learning goals to accomplish. Here is a glimpse of what our first week of learning in 2015 will look like.
In Religion, students will hear and reflect upon the story of the Epiphany. They will also think about gifts that they might offer to Jesus in this new year.
In Literacy, we will continue to explore procedural texts and will build success criteria for writing procedural texts. We will also work on sequencing the events from various texts we read within the large group, guided setting and during independent reading time. As a group we will look at a few writing samples during writer's workshop to help students avoid run on sentences in their writing.
In Math students will be working on interpreting graphs and we will take our food journals from our homework back in late November/early December to create some graphs as well.
In Science we will begin inquiring about plants through reading a variety of texts about plants and recording some of our thoughts, knowledge and wonderings.
This is just a short look at the learning we will doing next week. I'm looking forward to seeing my amazing grade three students back in action ready to wonder, grow and learn in 2015!
Now that we have entered into 2015, we journey into a new year and have many learning goals to accomplish. Here is a glimpse of what our first week of learning in 2015 will look like.
In Religion, students will hear and reflect upon the story of the Epiphany. They will also think about gifts that they might offer to Jesus in this new year.
In Literacy, we will continue to explore procedural texts and will build success criteria for writing procedural texts. We will also work on sequencing the events from various texts we read within the large group, guided setting and during independent reading time. As a group we will look at a few writing samples during writer's workshop to help students avoid run on sentences in their writing.
In Math students will be working on interpreting graphs and we will take our food journals from our homework back in late November/early December to create some graphs as well.
In Science we will begin inquiring about plants through reading a variety of texts about plants and recording some of our thoughts, knowledge and wonderings.
This is just a short look at the learning we will doing next week. I'm looking forward to seeing my amazing grade three students back in action ready to wonder, grow and learn in 2015!
Advent Week Three- Our Hearts Wait Joyfully!
Today marks the third Sunday in Advent. This week, students will hear and reflect upon the Gospel from this Sunday and we will gather as a grade three community for a short liturgy of the word. The third Sunday in Advent was formerly known as Gaudette Sunday- Gaudette meaning Joy. Our hearts are filled with Joy as we await the birth of our Savior Baby Jesus. Last week students listened to and reflected on the part of the nativity story where the Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary. They made a beautiful angel keepsake to remind them that Mary said Yes to God and was willing to do whatever He asked of her. We are called to be like Mary as well and do what God asks of us-loving our neighbours, caring for those in need, shining our light for others. In the next part of the nativity story, students will hear about Joseph and will write about him in their Religion notebooks. To celebrate the beauty of the nativity story, students will be making a special craft this week as well. We are growing in our faith each and every day!
Last week in Literacy, students finished their descriptive writing about their foodimal. Next they used clay to create their foodimal and used a new App that I learned about at my learning connections group on Wednesday called "Thirty Hands" to photograph record them describing their foodimal. All were engaged and loved learning about this new App that can be used to create presentations and show their knowledge and thinking. This week in Literacy, students will be engaged in "How To" types of writing and will work through some word work stations that review homonyms, compound words and contractions.
Currently in Math we are exploring Temperature. We are learning about some important benchmark temperatures and how to read the temperature on a thermometer. I will post our Anchor Chart under the Helpful Resources section of the website. We are also using our number sense skills and graphing skills as we explore temperature.
Our Soil presentations are now complete. Students did a splendid job building the knowledge of their peers and many presentations were interactive and got all of the students engaged. So amazing to see. Our next step is to review all of our new knowledge through a knowledge building circle and to allow students to independently "show what they know" through some independent tasks. After the holidays we will begin our inquiries about Plants.
This week we will listen to some Christmas music to help us review what we've learned about beat, rhythm, pitch and tempo. This will be a joyful way to review these concepts!
Thank you so very much for the many donations to various school initiatives that you have all made. Your support has been tremendous and it is an excellent example of how you show your faith by your actions, as well as how you are all so eager to help restore all those in need. So thank you, thank you, thank you! You shine!
I wish you and your family a very blessed and Merry Christmas. Here is one of my favourite little Christmas prayers. God Bless!
A Gift for Jesus
Jesus,
I want
To give you
Something very
Special for your
Birthday, for you are
The Saviour, the Light of the
World, the King of all Nations.
I want to give you wonderful
Gifts like the Wise Men gave: gold
Frankincense and myrrh. But I have
Nothing special to give you. And so, I
Will give you what I do have: I will smile
At you today by smiling at a lonely classmate
I will talk to you today by visiting my elderly
Neighbour. I will listen to you today by paying
Attention in class. I will love you today by doing all
My chores. I offer you these simple gifts, dear Jesus,
And I offer them with a heart filled with love for you.
Happy
Happy
Birthday!
Last week in Literacy, students finished their descriptive writing about their foodimal. Next they used clay to create their foodimal and used a new App that I learned about at my learning connections group on Wednesday called "Thirty Hands" to photograph record them describing their foodimal. All were engaged and loved learning about this new App that can be used to create presentations and show their knowledge and thinking. This week in Literacy, students will be engaged in "How To" types of writing and will work through some word work stations that review homonyms, compound words and contractions.
Currently in Math we are exploring Temperature. We are learning about some important benchmark temperatures and how to read the temperature on a thermometer. I will post our Anchor Chart under the Helpful Resources section of the website. We are also using our number sense skills and graphing skills as we explore temperature.
Our Soil presentations are now complete. Students did a splendid job building the knowledge of their peers and many presentations were interactive and got all of the students engaged. So amazing to see. Our next step is to review all of our new knowledge through a knowledge building circle and to allow students to independently "show what they know" through some independent tasks. After the holidays we will begin our inquiries about Plants.
This week we will listen to some Christmas music to help us review what we've learned about beat, rhythm, pitch and tempo. This will be a joyful way to review these concepts!
Thank you so very much for the many donations to various school initiatives that you have all made. Your support has been tremendous and it is an excellent example of how you show your faith by your actions, as well as how you are all so eager to help restore all those in need. So thank you, thank you, thank you! You shine!
I wish you and your family a very blessed and Merry Christmas. Here is one of my favourite little Christmas prayers. God Bless!
A Gift for Jesus
Jesus,
I want
To give you
Something very
Special for your
Birthday, for you are
The Saviour, the Light of the
World, the King of all Nations.
I want to give you wonderful
Gifts like the Wise Men gave: gold
Frankincense and myrrh. But I have
Nothing special to give you. And so, I
Will give you what I do have: I will smile
At you today by smiling at a lonely classmate
I will talk to you today by visiting my elderly
Neighbour. I will listen to you today by paying
Attention in class. I will love you today by doing all
My chores. I offer you these simple gifts, dear Jesus,
And I offer them with a heart filled with love for you.
Happy
Happy
Birthday!
Advent Week Two- Change Your Heart! Share Advent Light!
Today students heard the Gospel from this Sunday where John the Baptist tells the people to change their hearts for Jesus. We talked about the many ways we are all working to change our hearts this Advent and we are certainly shining our Advent lights brightly! Thank you so much for the many hamper items you have sent in. This Wednesday, December 10th students will be able to wear their Christmas spirit wear (antlers, santa hats etc...) for a donation of $2 to $5 to support our hamper families. A fun way to raise money for a worthwhile cause.
Tomorrow we will gather as a school to celebrate an Advent Mass together at 1:15 in our gymnasium. All are welcome to attend. As well,students will hear the story of when the Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary with an important message. Students will write about this in their Religion notebooks and will bring home a keepsake to remind them of this important portion of the Nativity story.
In literacy this week, students will complete their Foodimal descriptive writing piece and create their clay creation of their Foodimal inspired by author and clay illustrator Barbara Reid. Our word work focus will be on rules for adding suffixes to words,as well as compound words once again. In Media students are writing a script for a "media message" about Digital Citizenship. Next they will choose an app in which they can use to communicate their message.
Today in Math students completed a final task in the area of patterning. Tomorrow we will begin to buzz about temperature and will soon be applying our addition and subtraction skills to some temperature inquiries.
Students have done an excellent job with their Soil presentations and have worked hard to build the knowledge of their peers. Next we will review this knowledge through a knowledge building circle and record it in our Inquiring Minds notebooks. Students will then have the opportunity to share everything they have learned about soil in a "Show What You Know" activity.
Our week is off to a great start! I'm looking forward to all of the learning we will do together this week!
Advent Is Here! Stay Awake! Be Ready!
On Thursday and Friday of last week, students reflected on some of the symbols of Baptism and learned that our baptisms are our official welcoming into God's family- the church. Some students brought in some symbols of their own baptisms. I am looking forward to sharing mine with them tomorrow. Students also learned a blessing song. If they haven't shared the blessing with you yet be sure to have them show it to you and have you do it with them. I promise it will be worth your while. The words are as follows- "May God be in your mind. May God be in your heart. May God be always looking over your shoulder." Andrew Chinn song.
It is hard to believe that the holy season of Advent arrived today. Above is short video to enjoy with your child. Tomorrow we will build our Advent Prayer Table as a classroom family and will hear Isaiah's Advent message. We will also gather in the learning commons for a short Advent Liturgy of the Word to mark the beginning of Advent.Each week we will gather as a grade three community to light a new candle on the Advent wreath, hear the word of God and sing some songs of praise. Students will also receive a symbol from the readings to place in their Religion notebooks. There they will write a short summary of the events leading up to Jesus' birth. These symbols will also be placed on our classroom Advent/Christmas tree.
As a school community we will once again be creating hampers for two of our sister schools- St. Bernards and St. Elizabeth. Your child will bring home a note about this tomorrow. We will also work to "Light Up Our School" through acts of kindness. Each time a student witnesses an act of kindness, they can colour in a light bulb and write out the act of kindness they saw. Each kindness bulb will then be placed on a string that will hopefully go all around the school! This is just a quick description of how we will journey through Advent and prepare our hearts for Jesus' birth.
In Literacy this wee, students write a descriptive text about the foodible they created that was inspired by the movie "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." So far, students have sketched their creations.This week we will also spend some time revisiting where we need periods in sentences in order to avoid writing run on sentences in our writing pieces.
On our Math journey, we will work on creating and extending number patterns based on pattern rules. Next we will explore temperature in the strand of measurement.
On Friday, we had our first soil presentation. The students who presented did such a fabulous job that we were able to build our "Presentation Success Criteria" using their presentation as an example. It's certain they built the knowledge of their peers through their interactive and informative presentation.
In Physical Education we will continue to build our volleyball skills and in health, students will work on their Safety pamphlets, posters or comics. As part of health and Religion, students will reflect on what they learned through the lessons from "Samaritans on a Digital Road."
That is how the first week of December looks in 3A! I wish you a HOPE filled first week of Advent!
It is hard to believe that the holy season of Advent arrived today. Above is short video to enjoy with your child. Tomorrow we will build our Advent Prayer Table as a classroom family and will hear Isaiah's Advent message. We will also gather in the learning commons for a short Advent Liturgy of the Word to mark the beginning of Advent.Each week we will gather as a grade three community to light a new candle on the Advent wreath, hear the word of God and sing some songs of praise. Students will also receive a symbol from the readings to place in their Religion notebooks. There they will write a short summary of the events leading up to Jesus' birth. These symbols will also be placed on our classroom Advent/Christmas tree.
As a school community we will once again be creating hampers for two of our sister schools- St. Bernards and St. Elizabeth. Your child will bring home a note about this tomorrow. We will also work to "Light Up Our School" through acts of kindness. Each time a student witnesses an act of kindness, they can colour in a light bulb and write out the act of kindness they saw. Each kindness bulb will then be placed on a string that will hopefully go all around the school! This is just a quick description of how we will journey through Advent and prepare our hearts for Jesus' birth.
In Literacy this wee, students write a descriptive text about the foodible they created that was inspired by the movie "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." So far, students have sketched their creations.This week we will also spend some time revisiting where we need periods in sentences in order to avoid writing run on sentences in our writing pieces.
On our Math journey, we will work on creating and extending number patterns based on pattern rules. Next we will explore temperature in the strand of measurement.
On Friday, we had our first soil presentation. The students who presented did such a fabulous job that we were able to build our "Presentation Success Criteria" using their presentation as an example. It's certain they built the knowledge of their peers through their interactive and informative presentation.
In Physical Education we will continue to build our volleyball skills and in health, students will work on their Safety pamphlets, posters or comics. As part of health and Religion, students will reflect on what they learned through the lessons from "Samaritans on a Digital Road."
That is how the first week of December looks in 3A! I wish you a HOPE filled first week of Advent!
St. Cecilia Feast Day and The Feast of Christ the King
Saturday November 22nd was the Feast Day of our school's saint- St. Cecilia. Yesterday we had a beautiful liturgy of the word to celebrate our very special saint. Students saw and heard about symbols that represent St. Cecilia and heard some stories about her life. They joyfully sang our St. Cecilia song which was written and composed by our very own talented Mrs. Ng. Sunday was the Feast of Christ the King. Students heard Matthew's gospel yesterday and Jesus' important message- "whatsoever you do the the least of my brothers or sisters, you do it to me." We are learning that Jesus wants us to serve others just as He served so many people during His time here on earth. This Gospel is also connected very well to our school board theme "Restore One Another in a Spirit of Gentleness." On that note, we have put all of our "kindness jewels" into our jar, which means we have been working very hard to serve and restore one another with our words and actions. Students voted and decided that to celebrate all of the kindness in our classroom family we would have a pyjama day this Friday,November 28th. Next week marks the first week of Advent! Here is song/video we shared with students yesterday about serving one another. Enjoy!
This week students will also share out how they can be positive digital citizens and how they can leave behind a positive digital footprint when they are on-line
In literacy this week, we will be continuing to work on descriptive texts as well as writing catchy opening sentences/leads for our descriptive texts. Yesterday during shared writing we wrote some catchy opening sentences together. See the Helpful Resources section of the blog to read our opening sentences Later this week, students will see the movie "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." This is to inspire their final descriptive writing activity, where they will create a character of their choice and will describe it. Students will be creating their characters using clay/plasticine which is also linked to some of our visual arts expectations.
Yesterday in Math, we began looking at and describing patterns on the one hundreds chart, as well as discussing pattern rules. We will continue to explore patterns and pattern rules throughout this week and part of next week.
Students are just about ready to share out their Soil research and build the knowledge of their peers about the inquiries they did "deep learning" about.
In Physical Education we have just started lead up to volleyball skills and in health, students have got their safety posters, comics, pamphlets well underway.
This Friday, students will be able to purchase a "fun" moustache to wear in support of "Movember." Any donations towards this worthwhile cause are appreciated.
That is how our week looks! It's hard to believe that December is right around the corner. God bless you as we journey toward the Advent season- a season of hope and light!
In literacy this week, we will be continuing to work on descriptive texts as well as writing catchy opening sentences/leads for our descriptive texts. Yesterday during shared writing we wrote some catchy opening sentences together. See the Helpful Resources section of the blog to read our opening sentences Later this week, students will see the movie "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." This is to inspire their final descriptive writing activity, where they will create a character of their choice and will describe it. Students will be creating their characters using clay/plasticine which is also linked to some of our visual arts expectations.
Yesterday in Math, we began looking at and describing patterns on the one hundreds chart, as well as discussing pattern rules. We will continue to explore patterns and pattern rules throughout this week and part of next week.
Students are just about ready to share out their Soil research and build the knowledge of their peers about the inquiries they did "deep learning" about.
In Physical Education we have just started lead up to volleyball skills and in health, students have got their safety posters, comics, pamphlets well underway.
This Friday, students will be able to purchase a "fun" moustache to wear in support of "Movember." Any donations towards this worthwhile cause are appreciated.
That is how our week looks! It's hard to believe that December is right around the corner. God bless you as we journey toward the Advent season- a season of hope and light!
It's Bully Awareness Week
This week in Religion we will finish up our discussions about being a positive digital citizen and engage in reading and reflecting upon texts related to Bully Awareness. Students will also learn about using their WITS to help them to deal with conflicts with peers. As a school we will gather for a WITS assembly on Wednesday,November 19th. As we near the end of Ordinary time, students will hear the gospel reading from this past Sunday about God wanting them to use thier talents and they will do some research about our school's saint- St. Cecilia. St. Cecilia's feast day is on November 22nd and we will celebrate as a school on November 24th through a liturgy of the word.
This week in Literacy, students will work on an independent descriptive writing task and will continue with word work activities related to compound words, homonyms and contractions. Students will also have the opportunity to read a variety of text types and identify the purposes of these different text types.
In Math, we will finish up subtraction using a variety of strategies will begin to move into patterning by looking at and describing patterns on the one hundreds chart. This will likely lead us into early next week.
In Science we will begin to develop our success criteria for our Soil Presentations and students will rehearse this week in order to be ready to share out the knowledge they have gathered, in order to build the knowledge of their peers next week.
Last week in music we explored the beat and rhythm of the song Welcome to Music and we choreographed some actions to go with this song as well. We also discussed how you can change the pitch of songs and this week we will talk about tempo.
In Physical Education we will begin lead up to volleyball skills and in health we absolutely have to begin our Safety Pamphlets!!!
Please check out the Important Dates section of the website.
It's a short but busy week full of engaging learning tasks.
Have a wonderful week!
This week in Literacy, students will work on an independent descriptive writing task and will continue with word work activities related to compound words, homonyms and contractions. Students will also have the opportunity to read a variety of text types and identify the purposes of these different text types.
In Math, we will finish up subtraction using a variety of strategies will begin to move into patterning by looking at and describing patterns on the one hundreds chart. This will likely lead us into early next week.
In Science we will begin to develop our success criteria for our Soil Presentations and students will rehearse this week in order to be ready to share out the knowledge they have gathered, in order to build the knowledge of their peers next week.
Last week in music we explored the beat and rhythm of the song Welcome to Music and we choreographed some actions to go with this song as well. We also discussed how you can change the pitch of songs and this week we will talk about tempo.
In Physical Education we will begin lead up to volleyball skills and in health we absolutely have to begin our Safety Pamphlets!!!
Please check out the Important Dates section of the website.
It's a short but busy week full of engaging learning tasks.
Have a wonderful week!
We Remember With Grateful Hearts!
Towards the end of last week, our focus in Religion and Visual Arts was on Remembrance Day and the meaning behind it. We had many thoughtful discussions and heard some moving read alouds about stories of some of those treasured people who went to war so that we might have peace. Using an art technique called "pointillism" invented by an artist named George Seurat, students created beautiful Remembrance Day scenes that we have now turned into a "Quilt of Remembrance." Today students wrote thank you letters to either a soldier or a veteran in their Religion notebooks. Tomorrow we will transfer these letters onto post cards to send to soldiers and veterans.
We will gather as a school community to remember at 10:45 in the gymnasium. All are welcome to attend this ceremony. We really are remembering with grateful hearts! God Bless all those who keep us safe! God bless their families too!
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel from this past Sunday where Jesus cleans out His Father's temple. Students will also do some research about our school's saint- St. Cecilia, as her feast day is fast approaching on November 22nd. We will gather as a school to have a liturgy of the word to celebrate this special feast day. Also in Religion this week, students will be engaged in lessons and discussions about Digital Citizenship- how to leave a positive digital footprint behind. This is also part of Media Literacy and will carry over into our literacy learning as well.
In Literacy last week, as a group we shared in the writing of a descriptive text about Jesus using the success criteria we created as a class. I will post it to the helpful resource section of this website this week. On Friday students began writing a descriptive text about a person they know well with a partner, once again using our success criteria to guide them. Our next step will be to go on gallery walk and assess and give feedback to our peers about their work. Then students will be ready to write a descriptive text independently. Our word work focus continues to be on homonyms, contractions and compound words. This week one of our reading stations will be to read a variety of texts and identify the type of text it is (recount, descriptive, narrative, procedural, persuasive, explanatory).
In Math we will be explore a variety of subtraction strategies through partner and independent inquiries. So far we have explored counting back on a number line, counting forward from the smaller number to see how many jumps it takes to get to the larger number on a number line and the standard algorithm.
In Science students will be putting the final touches on their Soil presentations and will prepare to "share out" the information they have gathered in order to build the soil knowledge of their peers.
In Health, we are hoping to get started on our Safety pamphlets.
That is how our week looks at a glance. Thank you for all you do to support your child and me as we wonder and learn in grade three together!
Please check out the important dates section for upcoming events at St. Cecilia.
We will gather as a school community to remember at 10:45 in the gymnasium. All are welcome to attend this ceremony. We really are remembering with grateful hearts! God Bless all those who keep us safe! God bless their families too!
This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel from this past Sunday where Jesus cleans out His Father's temple. Students will also do some research about our school's saint- St. Cecilia, as her feast day is fast approaching on November 22nd. We will gather as a school to have a liturgy of the word to celebrate this special feast day. Also in Religion this week, students will be engaged in lessons and discussions about Digital Citizenship- how to leave a positive digital footprint behind. This is also part of Media Literacy and will carry over into our literacy learning as well.
In Literacy last week, as a group we shared in the writing of a descriptive text about Jesus using the success criteria we created as a class. I will post it to the helpful resource section of this website this week. On Friday students began writing a descriptive text about a person they know well with a partner, once again using our success criteria to guide them. Our next step will be to go on gallery walk and assess and give feedback to our peers about their work. Then students will be ready to write a descriptive text independently. Our word work focus continues to be on homonyms, contractions and compound words. This week one of our reading stations will be to read a variety of texts and identify the type of text it is (recount, descriptive, narrative, procedural, persuasive, explanatory).
In Math we will be explore a variety of subtraction strategies through partner and independent inquiries. So far we have explored counting back on a number line, counting forward from the smaller number to see how many jumps it takes to get to the larger number on a number line and the standard algorithm.
In Science students will be putting the final touches on their Soil presentations and will prepare to "share out" the information they have gathered in order to build the soil knowledge of their peers.
In Health, we are hoping to get started on our Safety pamphlets.
That is how our week looks at a glance. Thank you for all you do to support your child and me as we wonder and learn in grade three together!
Please check out the important dates section for upcoming events at St. Cecilia.
Our Week- November 3rd
Celebrating All Souls Day
It's hard to believe that November is here! We had a wonderful week of learning last week. Hopefully some of you were able to get a glimpse of all of the learning we were engaged in throughout the week by following us on Twitter. Here is a quick look at what we will be up to his week.
Last week in Religion students heard the story of St.Vincent de Paul and how much he did for the poor and those in need within his community. His message was that we can always be doing more. Students were inspired to hear about a twelve year old little girl named Molly ( a family member) who we have been praying for. She passed away a few weeks ago from brain cancer. Her friends are now trying to get 1000 unicorns for a mural for her celebration of life. Our grade three students have been eagerly working to help out with this community project (See the Our Faith In Action section of the website) just like Jesus or St. Vincent de Paul would have done. This week students will hear the Gospel from Matthew linked to All Souls Day. They will hear about God's promise to us of eternal life once our earthly journey has ended.
Last week in literacy we continued to work on visualizing with our five senses and looking at a variety of descriptive texts through shared and guided reading and examining the features that they have. By looking at these texts we were able to begin to develop a success criteria for writing a descriptive text. This week we will use this success criteria to work on some partner writing of descriptive texts (describing Halloween costumes they saw at our Dance a Thon or their own Halloween costumes). During independent reading times, students will be asked to be on the look out for compound words (highway) and descriptive words (adjectives). Our word work stations will continue to focus homonyms.
This week in Math we will shift our focus in Number Sense to subtraction and students will use what they know about adding numbers to help them to develop strategies to subtract numbers.
Students were so engaged in their work with their Soil inquiry presentations last week. They are now at the stage where they are working on creating presentations to share their knowledge with their peers and build the knowledge of other students. Mrs. Green came to watch students in action as they used a variety of technology tools to share out the knowledge they have built through research, knowledge building circles and learning conversations with peers. It was so very inspiring to see all students so engaged in their learning!
In Visual Arts last week, students created some "spooktacular" line art. The next art technique we will explore and work with is pointillism. We will be using this technique to create some art work to commemorate Remembrance Day.
A little over a week ago, we listened to a classical music piece and drew pictures we could visualize as we listened. We had discussions about how music can create different moods.
In Physical Education students have been enjoying playing a passing and catching game called "Guard the Pin." Students quickly identified strategies for good positional play and being cooperative team players while playing. We are now going to participate in cooperative target games. In Health we are gathering information about "safety" topics that are important to students in grade three. Students will be creating a short pamphlet highlighting a safety topic of their choice.
That is how our next week or two looks like for us in grade three. Lots of engaging learning to be done. It is my pleasure to be on this learning journey with your children. They teach me valuable lessons each and every day!
Please see the Important Dates and Events section about booking interviews for November 5th.
Last week in Religion students heard the story of St.Vincent de Paul and how much he did for the poor and those in need within his community. His message was that we can always be doing more. Students were inspired to hear about a twelve year old little girl named Molly ( a family member) who we have been praying for. She passed away a few weeks ago from brain cancer. Her friends are now trying to get 1000 unicorns for a mural for her celebration of life. Our grade three students have been eagerly working to help out with this community project (See the Our Faith In Action section of the website) just like Jesus or St. Vincent de Paul would have done. This week students will hear the Gospel from Matthew linked to All Souls Day. They will hear about God's promise to us of eternal life once our earthly journey has ended.
Last week in literacy we continued to work on visualizing with our five senses and looking at a variety of descriptive texts through shared and guided reading and examining the features that they have. By looking at these texts we were able to begin to develop a success criteria for writing a descriptive text. This week we will use this success criteria to work on some partner writing of descriptive texts (describing Halloween costumes they saw at our Dance a Thon or their own Halloween costumes). During independent reading times, students will be asked to be on the look out for compound words (highway) and descriptive words (adjectives). Our word work stations will continue to focus homonyms.
This week in Math we will shift our focus in Number Sense to subtraction and students will use what they know about adding numbers to help them to develop strategies to subtract numbers.
Students were so engaged in their work with their Soil inquiry presentations last week. They are now at the stage where they are working on creating presentations to share their knowledge with their peers and build the knowledge of other students. Mrs. Green came to watch students in action as they used a variety of technology tools to share out the knowledge they have built through research, knowledge building circles and learning conversations with peers. It was so very inspiring to see all students so engaged in their learning!
In Visual Arts last week, students created some "spooktacular" line art. The next art technique we will explore and work with is pointillism. We will be using this technique to create some art work to commemorate Remembrance Day.
A little over a week ago, we listened to a classical music piece and drew pictures we could visualize as we listened. We had discussions about how music can create different moods.
In Physical Education students have been enjoying playing a passing and catching game called "Guard the Pin." Students quickly identified strategies for good positional play and being cooperative team players while playing. We are now going to participate in cooperative target games. In Health we are gathering information about "safety" topics that are important to students in grade three. Students will be creating a short pamphlet highlighting a safety topic of their choice.
That is how our next week or two looks like for us in grade three. Lots of engaging learning to be done. It is my pleasure to be on this learning journey with your children. They teach me valuable lessons each and every day!
Please see the Important Dates and Events section about booking interviews for November 5th.
Parable of the Pumpkin Patch- We learned how we are like pumpkins. Listen to this beautiful story linked to Gospel quotes with your child. Enjoy!
It's Not Too Late For Us To Scare Hunger!! See Helpful Resources for Costume Rules for Friday.
Today some grade six students came to visit our classroom to count the amount of items we have collected for the "We Scare Hunger" food drive challenge. We had 50. Mrs. Brownrigg's class had 113. Can we catch up? Drum roll please.............................YES! We can still catch up. Students and teachers can bring in canned goods until next Tuesday. Let's show our faith and do our part! Together we can and do make a difference in our community! Thank you for all that you have contributed thus far. We're doing an amazing job!!
Our Week
Yesterday students heard the Gospel reading from this past Sunday. It was about coins being collected by the government from the people for their taxes. The people asked Jesus a very important question- "Who is more important the government or God?" Jesus replied, "both." He told the people to "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God." Students learned that we need to follow rules and laws as long as they don't go against the laws of God. After hearing this story and discussing it, students wrote about ways they can "Give to God." Many inspiring responses were written by students. Tomorrow students will scan QR codes to gather information about the Parts of the Mass. We briefly reflected on things they saw at our Thanksgiving Mass to get them prepared for the research they will be doing about the specific names of the parts of the mass.
Yesterday in Literacy we began talking about visualizing with our five senses when reading. Students listened to a poem and sketched their visualizations as they listened. It was amazing to see how their images changed as they received new information. Today we heard the story Miss Rumphius and recorded what we could see, smell, hear, taste and feel. I've included the story below. It's got a wonderful message. Perhaps you and your child can listen to it and share with each other what you visualize with your five sense. For the remainder of the week, students will be engaged in a variety of Literacy stations involving homonyms, visualizing, free writing and partner reading.
Today in Math we looked at some of the Math problems we worked on last week and shared out some strategies for solving these questions (we discovered there were many different ways) and ways to make our steps and thinking clear and visible for the reader- "Inking our Thinking." We began to look at strategies for adding two digit numbers together and will continue this throughout the week through partner tasks and Math stations. Tomorrow I will post some of our success criteria lists and anchor charts to the "Helpful Resources" section of the this website. (Sorry- Photos are coming...) It's on my to do list!
Yesterday students got into their Soil Inquiry groups and began gathering information about their Soil Topic/Wondering. It was so exciting to see students using technology and books to research. All students were engaged in their work. It was quite a sight to see 37 students all on task and engaged in their learning. See the Celebrating our Learning section for pictures of our research bins. I'm so impressed!
Today in Health we brainstormed personal safety topics that would be important for children aged 7 and 8 to know about. We came up with quite a list and next students will get to choose which safety topic they would like to research and share with the rest of the class.
As you have read there are many engaging opportunities for learning going on in our classroom. Thank you for all that you do to support your child as they continue to wonder and grow in grade three!
You can now follow me and 3A on Twitter- Here is how: just type in @mary_mccuen...That's it! Hoping you will follow us on Twitter!
Our Week
Yesterday students heard the Gospel reading from this past Sunday. It was about coins being collected by the government from the people for their taxes. The people asked Jesus a very important question- "Who is more important the government or God?" Jesus replied, "both." He told the people to "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God." Students learned that we need to follow rules and laws as long as they don't go against the laws of God. After hearing this story and discussing it, students wrote about ways they can "Give to God." Many inspiring responses were written by students. Tomorrow students will scan QR codes to gather information about the Parts of the Mass. We briefly reflected on things they saw at our Thanksgiving Mass to get them prepared for the research they will be doing about the specific names of the parts of the mass.
Yesterday in Literacy we began talking about visualizing with our five senses when reading. Students listened to a poem and sketched their visualizations as they listened. It was amazing to see how their images changed as they received new information. Today we heard the story Miss Rumphius and recorded what we could see, smell, hear, taste and feel. I've included the story below. It's got a wonderful message. Perhaps you and your child can listen to it and share with each other what you visualize with your five sense. For the remainder of the week, students will be engaged in a variety of Literacy stations involving homonyms, visualizing, free writing and partner reading.
Today in Math we looked at some of the Math problems we worked on last week and shared out some strategies for solving these questions (we discovered there were many different ways) and ways to make our steps and thinking clear and visible for the reader- "Inking our Thinking." We began to look at strategies for adding two digit numbers together and will continue this throughout the week through partner tasks and Math stations. Tomorrow I will post some of our success criteria lists and anchor charts to the "Helpful Resources" section of the this website. (Sorry- Photos are coming...) It's on my to do list!
Yesterday students got into their Soil Inquiry groups and began gathering information about their Soil Topic/Wondering. It was so exciting to see students using technology and books to research. All students were engaged in their work. It was quite a sight to see 37 students all on task and engaged in their learning. See the Celebrating our Learning section for pictures of our research bins. I'm so impressed!
Today in Health we brainstormed personal safety topics that would be important for children aged 7 and 8 to know about. We came up with quite a list and next students will get to choose which safety topic they would like to research and share with the rest of the class.
As you have read there are many engaging opportunities for learning going on in our classroom. Thank you for all that you do to support your child as they continue to wonder and grow in grade three!
You can now follow me and 3A on Twitter- Here is how: just type in @mary_mccuen...That's it! Hoping you will follow us on Twitter!
Happy Thanksgiving! October 13th, 2014- REMINDER- Thanksgiving Mass- Wednesday, October 15th at 10:45 AM in our gymnasium.
It is my hope that everyone is enjoying a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend full of gratitude for the many blessing we have. Here is a brief look at another short but busy week of learning in 3A.
In Religion, students will hear the Gospel according to Matthew from this past Sunday in which Jesus uses a story about a banquet to teach about just how much He wants us to accept God's invitation to live our lives as described in the many good news stories in the Bible. Each day He is inviting us to follow Him and live our lives like Jesus did. Students will also brainstorm the different rituals that occur during Holy Mass. They will then record their ideas onto a Parts of the Mass sheet to keep in their Religion notebooks.
In Literacy, students will use feedback given to them on the recounts that they wrote last week to write their final recount writing sample about their Thanksgiving Weekend. This week during our read alouds, shared readings, guided reading times and independent reading times, students will work on using their five senses to describe what they are visualizing as they read. Our word work activities will be centered around all of the homonyms we have had on our word wall lists to date.
This week in Math, we will begin to explore adding two digit numbers with other two digits numbers and the many different ways we can do that.
As our Soil inquiry continues, each student along with a learning partner will have the opportunity to choose the soil "Big Idea" that they would like to research and eventually share out with the rest of the class this week. We are hoping to have time for students to be able to begin their research this week.
I'm looking forward to a wonderful week of learning! Have a fabulous fall week!
September 10th- We're Working Hard!
We're continuing to grow and learn in Grade 3!
We have been very busy in 3A! We are working on making meaningful connections to the texts that we read (see Helpful Resources Page) and we have been learning some fancy shading and portrait techniques from our on-site artist... Mrs. Brownrigg. She is a very talented artist!
Some of the faith conversations we have had as a grade three community have been about the many gifts and talents that God has given all of us and how important it is to share those gifts, as well as about how we all belong to God's special family and that he calls us all by name. Today students reflected on and shared ideas with peers about what it means to "Be God's Hands," So many inspiring ideas were shared!
In Math we have been engaged in some Mental Math activities using the interactive dice on our smart board and our white boards or clipboards and markers. With this activity, students are sharing their mental math strategies with their peers...Learning from their peers. Be sure to ask your child about some of the other fun Math activities going on in our classroom such as The Answer Is... and How Many Ways? These are great activities to try with your child at home during homework time.
Speaking of homework, our weekly homework will begin on Monday, September 15th. All instructions and routines will be sent home with your child's homework duotang.
So that is what we've been up to for the past couple of days. Keeping busy and learning from each other every day! Looking forward to seeing all of you on Thursday, September 18th at 6:30 in the gymnasium.
Thank you for all of your support thus far!
Some of the faith conversations we have had as a grade three community have been about the many gifts and talents that God has given all of us and how important it is to share those gifts, as well as about how we all belong to God's special family and that he calls us all by name. Today students reflected on and shared ideas with peers about what it means to "Be God's Hands," So many inspiring ideas were shared!
In Math we have been engaged in some Mental Math activities using the interactive dice on our smart board and our white boards or clipboards and markers. With this activity, students are sharing their mental math strategies with their peers...Learning from their peers. Be sure to ask your child about some of the other fun Math activities going on in our classroom such as The Answer Is... and How Many Ways? These are great activities to try with your child at home during homework time.
Speaking of homework, our weekly homework will begin on Monday, September 15th. All instructions and routines will be sent home with your child's homework duotang.
So that is what we've been up to for the past couple of days. Keeping busy and learning from each other every day! Looking forward to seeing all of you on Thursday, September 18th at 6:30 in the gymnasium.
Thank you for all of your support thus far!
It has been a wonderful two days of getting to know your children! We are well on our way to a wonderful journey of learning together. Yesterday we gathered with Mrs. Brownrigg's friends to sing our Gathering Song and shared some important things about ourselves. Today we created our prayer table and prayer space together and are pleased with the final product. It will of course evolve and change throughout the school year and as we move through the seasons of the church. Tomorrow I will post a photo of our prayer table. Thank you 3A students for your creative and thoughtful ideas!
This week we are devoting a lot of time to developing "Must-Have" charts for our many daily routines (e.g. Snack, Recess, Lunch, Turn and Talk, Physical Education). We develop these lists using student input about what these different routines should look like, sound like and feel like. For example during snack- I see people eating quietly, I see people being polite, I hear chewing, I am relaxed. We are paying close attention to what the students have to say. Their voices need to be heard and their ideas need to be recorded!
Looking forward to the rest of the week with your amazing children!
Mrs. McCuen
This week we are devoting a lot of time to developing "Must-Have" charts for our many daily routines (e.g. Snack, Recess, Lunch, Turn and Talk, Physical Education). We develop these lists using student input about what these different routines should look like, sound like and feel like. For example during snack- I see people eating quietly, I see people being polite, I hear chewing, I am relaxed. We are paying close attention to what the students have to say. Their voices need to be heard and their ideas need to be recorded!
Looking forward to the rest of the week with your amazing children!
Mrs. McCuen
Today's News! September 4th 2014
Today we talked about some strategies for active thinking and listening and we came up with some good prompts to use when we are having learning conversations. See the Helpful Resources section of our website.
Also, I have posted a picture of our beautiful prayer table under the Our Faith In Action section of the website.
During third block today all of the grade three students gathered to sing a special grade three song. I will post an audio recording of this under the Celebrating our Learning Section. All of their voices filled our room with a beautiful sound! Their voices are a gift from God!
Please read and return the verification form and Anti-Spam form that went home today. These are important documents to for the school to have.
Lastly, we have read a couple of very special books together over the past few days. We have talked about the importance of "thinking" when you are reading, as well what the author's purpose for writing a book could be. Today we had a conversation about how author's share important messages in the books that they write. To help students remember what the author's purpose is we used the word PIE to help us- P-to persuade, I-to inform, E-to entertain. See Helpful Resources section to see our anchor chart about "Reading Is Thinking."
If you get a chance, ask your child about these special books "Albert's Old Shoes" and "The Giving Tree." See what they have to say about author's purposes and author's messages.
Also, I have posted a picture of our beautiful prayer table under the Our Faith In Action section of the website.
During third block today all of the grade three students gathered to sing a special grade three song. I will post an audio recording of this under the Celebrating our Learning Section. All of their voices filled our room with a beautiful sound! Their voices are a gift from God!
Please read and return the verification form and Anti-Spam form that went home today. These are important documents to for the school to have.
Lastly, we have read a couple of very special books together over the past few days. We have talked about the importance of "thinking" when you are reading, as well what the author's purpose for writing a book could be. Today we had a conversation about how author's share important messages in the books that they write. To help students remember what the author's purpose is we used the word PIE to help us- P-to persuade, I-to inform, E-to entertain. See Helpful Resources section to see our anchor chart about "Reading Is Thinking."
If you get a chance, ask your child about these special books "Albert's Old Shoes" and "The Giving Tree." See what they have to say about author's purposes and author's messages.