Classroom Notes - March 2019

Spring is here? There is still a lot of snow and ice in our school yard and the temperature has been very inconsistent. Please be aware that the temperature greatly affects the condition of our school yard. Each year, our yard is always wet, muddy and filled with large puddles. Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately each day for these changing conditions. It is still a good idea to pack extra socks, mitts, hats etc. in your child's bag, just in case.

Lenten calendars - Many students enjoy donating to our school-wide Lenten project by following the calendar that went home before the March Break. Thank you to all parents/students who will be donating their money later in April to support our social justice initiative.

Pasta Day and Bingo - Just a reminder that we will have another Pasta Day on Friday, March 29th. If you have ordered pasta, please remember to send a fork in your child's lunch bag to help reduce waste at our school. Also, we will have our second Bingo Day on Friday, March 29th. All money raised from bingo will allocated to our school-wide Lenten initiative. Thanks again for your generosity and assistance!

Rocks and Rings (Curling Lessons) - On Thursday, April 4th, our grade 3 class will participate in the Rocks and Rings curling program. This activity will be exciting learning and practice for our students. This activity will be held in our gym, not off school property.

Garden Tower Project - We have zucchini growing! The zucchini is still small, but growing very fast. If everything turns out, our class hopes to make zucchini bread/muffins and sell them to raise money for our Lenten initiative. Information and pictures to follow...

Good Friday and Easter Monday - These Holy days in our Catholic calendar will be Friday, April 19th and Monday, April 22nd. There is no school on these days.

Always Learning in Grade 3...

In Math, our students are learning about measuring the area and perimeter of various shapes. In area, we are learning to determine the area of shapes that have half squares/units. We have completed a unit in Geometry and students finished a summative test which will go home this week. Please sign and return the assessment. Next, we will focus on location and movement in Geometry by learning about flips, turns and rotations, as well as movement on a grid. We are continuing to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using various strategies and word problems.

In Writing, gr. 3's are very busy writing adventure stories. We read and looked at the picture book "Jumanji" as a guide to write a successful adventure story. In this writing activity, students are focusing on a big problem, followed by a series of dangerous/exciting events that their main character must overcome. In terms of success criteria, students need to use a variety of punctuation (periods, commas, quotation marks, etc.), adjectives and action verbs. 

In Science, we have started a new unit called "Soils in the Environment." We will learn about soil composition, types of soils, composting and the importance of soil on society and the environment. 

In Religion, we have been discussing the many symbols of Lent, as well as our personal Lenten journey during this important time in our Catholic calendar. On Ash Wednesday, students received their ashes in the symbol of the cross during our school liturgy. We have talked about sin, prayer and forgiveness and they have a deeper meaning/reflection during Lent. As we get closer to Easter, we will focus on scripture as we anticipate the death and resurrection of Christ.

In the Arts, students have been creating a butterfly using symmetry and pointillism as a technique. Next, we will focus our learning of Music in the arts.

Now that the March Break is over, the school will become increasingly busier as we get closer to the end of the school year. That being said, I will be sending home some information about EQAO in the near future. Grade 3's will complete this provincial assessment during the last week of May and the first week of June. Students have been preparing for this assessment and we will continue to focus our learning on curriculum being covered and strategies to ensure success for all. We take a positive approach to this assessment and students will more than ready when the testing begins.

Thank you for your continued support!

Mr. Blais