Classroom Notes - January 2019

Valentine's Day Basket - Thank you to everyone who has generously donated to our class basket. If you have not yet donated an item and plan to do so, please bring in your chosen items as soon as possible. The Valentine's Day dance is a popular event at our school and all classroom baskets will be raffled off during this evening. On behalf of the St. Gregory team, thank you for your assistance and I hope that you are planning to attend. Good luck!

Classroom Garden Towers Program -  At St. Gregory, we are very lucky to have two indoor garden towers for students to learn about plants and a variety of recipes. We have worked collaboratively to make a plan to grow plants to assist others in our community. We will be growing carrots and zucchini and our students are interested in making carrot cake, carrot muffins and zucchini bread. We will be having some raffles at our school and perhaps a small bake sale. Our class has been researching charities in our community to donate to and we will make a decision shortly. More information will follow in the upcoming weeks regarding this project.

Zorbits - A letter went home this week outlining the Zorbits math app for student use at home. Our Board has purchased licencing for this app and it replaces Dreambox. Also, students have their login information glued into the front of their agenda. Zorbits is a excellent app for students to use at home for extra homework practice.

Report Cards - Term 1 report cards will be sent home on February 13th. Our learning skills focus for this term will be initiative and self-regulation. Please be advised that there will be no official sign-up for interviews. I will call those parents who I wish to meet with and schedule a time either before or after school. 

PD Day - Our next PD Day will be Friday, February 15th. There is no school for students on this day.

Always Learning in Grade 3...

In Math, we have just started a unit in Geometry and we will continue to learn about 2D shapes and 3D figures over the next few weeks. Students will build on their knowledge of geometric shapes and learn about right angles, angles less than/greater than a right angle, parallel sides and symmetry. A focus on the attributes of 2D shapes and 3D figures will also assist students during a variety of sorting activities. We are also learning about different strategies for multiplication and division.

In Language, we have been learning about and practicing how to write an organized paragraph. Students are continuing to practice reading comprehension strategies as well responding fully to short answer reading questions. Next, we will focus on persuasive paragraph and letter writing.

In Science, we have conducted a few experiments on strength and stability in our unit "Strong and Stable Structures." We have been learning about different types of materials as well as how shape and design make a structure strong and stable. Students know the similarities and differences between man-made and natural structures. Next, we will learn about struts and ties.

In Family Life, we will focus on the last two topics in unit 2: "Sisters and Brothers" and "What is a Friend?" In Religion, we will focus on several of the teachings and miracles of Jesus as we anticipate the upcoming Lenten season. We we learn about ways in which we can spread the Good News.

Thank you for your continued support!

Mr. Blais