Classroom Notes - December 2016
The Snow is Here! - Just a quick reminder that you can always place extra socks, mitts, toques etc. in your child's backpack since all students go out for recess on most days (except when it is too cold). Children love playing in the snow and they do come in from outside quite wet, so extra clothing will make their day more comfortable. Also, please label all clothing since many winter items end up in our lost and found and many students have similar clothing. Doing so will make finding those items much faster!
Christmas Shopping Day - Our annual Christmas shopping day will be held on Friday, December 16th. Thank you to all parents who have donated items for this event.
Christmas Hampers - The last day to contribute Christmas Hamper items will be Friday, December 16th. Thank you for your thoughtfulness at this time of year. If you are planning on buying a gift card, please let me know by writing a note in your child's agenda. Once again, on behalf of St. Gregory School, I thank you for your continued generosity.
Christmas Concert - Our annual Christmas concert will be held on Thursday, December 22nd. We will be singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." The Christmas Concert is a popular event and all parents are welcome.
Always Learning in Grade 3
In Math, students have been working very hard on applying strategies when solving challenging word problems. We spent most of November working on representing, adding and subtracting money amounts to $10, as well as rounding numbers to the nearest ten. All students can benefit from extra practice with money at home, so this can always be an extra activity to reinforce your child's learning at home. Currently, we are working on creating surveys and using this data to organize and create bar and pictographs. Also, students are learning to read and interpret data from a given or created graph. We will continue working on Data Management after Christmas as well.
In Language, our grade 3's are working on a new narrative story influenced by the story, "Snowmen At Night." We are continuing to focus on the characteristics of narrative writing, such as characters, setting, problem/solution. Students will also use a variety of punctuation, including quotation marks and adjectives in their writing. In Reading, we have been working on retelling a story and answering reading comprehension questions using the A.P.E. strategy. Students will practice this strategy throughout the year in preparation for EQAO.
In Science, we have begun our unit on structures and we are very lucky to have Mr. Ball working in our class as students design and create a strong and stable bridge. Mr. Ball assists our junior students each year in preparation for the engineering challenge, as well as our weekly maker's space activities during lunch.
In the Arts, students have been very busy creating winter scenes using water colour paints. Also, our class is doing a wonderful job with drawing Advent candles/wreaths with a stained glass perspective using pastels. We will begin Dance very shortly!
Now that we are in the season of Advent students have been learning how to prepare for Jesus' coming and how we can share the message of Advent and Christmas with others. As we get closer to Christmas, our days will get busier at home and within the school. On behalf of all St. Gregory staff, I wish all families a safe and memorable Christmas as we celebrate this special time of the year.
Mr. Blais
In Science, we have begun our unit on structures and we are very lucky to have Mr. Ball working in our class as students design and create a strong and stable bridge. Mr. Ball assists our junior students each year in preparation for the engineering challenge, as well as our weekly maker's space activities during lunch.
In the Arts, students have been very busy creating winter scenes using water colour paints. Also, our class is doing a wonderful job with drawing Advent candles/wreaths with a stained glass perspective using pastels. We will begin Dance very shortly!
Now that we are in the season of Advent students have been learning how to prepare for Jesus' coming and how we can share the message of Advent and Christmas with others. As we get closer to Christmas, our days will get busier at home and within the school. On behalf of all St. Gregory staff, I wish all families a safe and memorable Christmas as we celebrate this special time of the year.
Mr. Blais
