Classroom Notes - December 2015

• No Spelling homework this week – The last week of school before Christmas is always very busy, so there will be no new Spelling work this week. New work will continue in January.
• Student agendas – As previously mentioned, please be diligent with checking student agendas daily. I will check for parent signatures/initials each day. All parents should be aware of due dates for both English and French and that work is completed with some assistance. A positive, supportive approach at home will reinforce a love of learning. Thank you for your hard work!
• Student supplies - It seems that many students are running out of classroom supplies (e.g. pencil crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, etc.). Please ask your child if they are in need of new items to replenish their desk supplies. We have a limited amount of items available for classroom use and these items need to last the entire year. Thank you for your assistance with this matter.
• Raz-Kids and reading at home – It is recommended that students read for 15-20 minutes each night either online, or with books at home. Students who read regularly increase their ability to reach grade 3 reading expectations and they will greatly improve reading fluency.
• St. Gregory's website – You will find a link to our class Twitter page. Check it out!
• If you prefer a paper copy of our monthly newsletter, please write me a note. 

Always Learning in Gr. 3

In Math, we have been having some amazing number talks using mental math. Students are explaining their strategies for solving addition and subtraction equations and learning to use new strategies by listening to their peers. Additionally, we have been focusing on number sense by working on rounding numbers to the nearest ten. We have been busy representing money amounts to $10 by using a variety of activities and games. Students have created their own food menus and they are pretending to purchase items in order to add and subtract money amounts to $10. Please remember that Math homework is due Wednesday, December 16.

In Language, we have discussed the characteristics of personal narratives during several different read alouds. As a class, we have been working on retelling the story, identifying the main idea, making predictions and making text-to-self connections. We are continuing to work on using strategies to improve our written responses to short answer reading comprehension questions.

In Science, we have completed our unit on Growth and Changes in Plants. We will start working on our new unit called “Soils in the Environment” this week.

As we entered the season of Advent, our class has been having weekly prayers, Gospel readings and songs. Our Advent Mass will be Tuesday, December 15 at 10:45. All parents are welcome!

We will be having our Christmas concert on Thursday, December 17^th at 9:30 a.m. Seeing that we currently have no snow, I thought it would be appropriate for our class to sing “Let It Snow.” If possible, please dress your child in a white shirt for this day. Students have been practising the song in class and they are very excited to perform. See you there!

On behalf of all staff, I wish you a safe and memorable Christmas holiday. I look forward to seeing everyone again in the new year.

Thank you for your continued support!

Mr. Blais 

Classroom Notes...

Just a few reminders for parents and students.

• Science quiz on plants will be Thursday, December 03
• Any donated items for Food Hamper and/or Christmas Sale can be brought to school this week. Thank you for your generosity!
• New Spelling homework is due this Friday
• Final pasta lunch fundraiser Thursday, December 03
• Gingerbread Night is Friday, December 04

With the change in the weather, students should always be dressed appropriately. Please ensure that your child comes to school with warm clothing and that all items are labelled with first and last names. It is always a good idea to keep extra hats, mittens and socks in the backpack just in case we experience wet weather. 

A detailed classroom newsletter will be posted next week.

Our students started learning about money yesterday. Here is a picture of our learning goals so far. Today, we played a fun spinner game called "Race to $1.00." Visit our Twitter page to see a few pictures from today...

Today we created a Pic Collage to display the different parts of plants that humans use for food. We had some student tech. experts teach others how to use the app.

Classroom Notes - November 2015

• Online Booking for interviews – It is important that I meet briefly with all parents during this time of the year. If you cannot make arrangements for November 17^th, please inform me and list a few alternate days/times and we can arrange something different. Please use the booking information that was sent home with your child's progress report to schedule online.
• Raz-Kids and reading at home – It is recommended that students read for 15-20 minutes each night either online, or with books at home. Students who read regularly increase their ability to reach grade 3 reading expectations and they will greatly improve reading fluency.
• Homework – All student work at home will reinforce learning at school. It is recommended that parents are aware of due dates and that work is completed with some assistance. A positive, supportive approach at home will reinforce a love of learning. Thank you for your hard work!
• St. Gregory's website – You will find a link to our class Twitter page. Check it out!

Always Learning in Gr. 3

In Math, we have started working on a unit in Data Management. Students are learning to develop survey questions and to use data from tally charts to create a variety of graphs and tables. Students have been focusing on creating pictographs and bar graphs. We will continue learning how to properly label the horizontal and vertical axes on a graph, as well as creating an appropriate title. In grade 3, the ability to read, describe and draw conclusions from data in a graph is an important learning goal. As noted in the agenda, please sign and return your child's patterning test as soon as possible if you have not done so. Thanks!

In Language, we have been learning about the characteristics of narratives, such as main idea, plot, characters, setting etc. Also, students are completing a Language assessment by reading a narrative and answering a variety of comprehension questions. We will look deeper into student answers by comparing their work to levelled writing samples. As a class, we are beginning to learn strategies in order to improve our answers. In Writing, many students have started to write their revised/final copy of their story: My Haunted House For Sale. Students created a scary first-person narrative by including an effective problem, descriptive adjectives, a variety of sentences and a solution.

In Science, we are continuing our unit on Growth and Changes in Plants. Our bean plants have grown quite quickly and students are very engaged documenting their observations in their Seed Journals. We have discussed plant adaptations and we will begin to learn about human uses for plants, as well as how plants get and use energy to grow. A note will go home shortly explaining a research project that students will complete at home. On Tuesday, November 10, we are having a workshop from Scientist in Schools called “Plants Do Amazing Things.”

• Remembrance Day Service, November 11^th
• Parent Interviews November 17th
• PD Day: November 20, no school
• Scholastic orders due this week
• Thank you for donating so generously to our United Way campaign. Hat Day Friday, November, 13^th $1.00
• Scholastic orders can be paid online by credit card!

Thank you for your continued support!

Mr. Blais