Week Beginning June 12th

Dear Parents,

In Language Arts,  we have been focusing on analyzing characters: what traits the characters have with evidence from the text and how the character interacts with other characters.  We have also been focusing on identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in sentences.

In Math, we have finished up with recognizing money (both coins and notes), counting money, adding money and finding change.  We have now moved on to fractions. We have talked about the role of the numerator and denominator.  We have written out and drawn fractions.  They are now working on finding a fraction of an amount.

Religion

We have begun the program, I Am A Gift From God. Please discusses and sign pages 1, 2 and 3 in their books. We have talked about taking care of our bodies. We also discussed that body parts that are covered by bathing suits and our mouths are considered private parts. It is important that students know the proper names for these proper parts. I will not be teaching them these terms in class, but it would be very helpful if you went over the correct terms with them at home.  We have also talked about the 5 steps they can take if they are in a situation that is inappropriate, unsafe or uncomfortable.

Week beginning May 15th

Sorry for my hiatus from the blog. I was having trouble singing in and just got it worked out.

The month of April was devoted to writing the stories that the children are getting published.  It was a lot of hard work.  The books are going to be wonderful!

In Language Arts we have continued to work on reading comprehension and have begun practicing summarizing.  The class is using this flow chart to complete the summary: Somebody (who is the main character?), Wanted (What did the character want?), But (What was the problem?), So (How was the character solved), Then(What was the resolution to the problem?).

In math we have been working on money, specifically pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.  We have begun looking at menus and ordering items (adding).  We will continue ordering next week being finding change.

In Religion we have been focusing on the Trinity.  We compared the trinity to the parts of the apple (peal, flesh, core).  They all have different roles but are part of the same apple.  We then explored the characteristics of God the Father and God the Son (we also looked at the incarnation of Jesus and how he is both divine and human).  We will continue next week with who is the Holy Spirit and his role in our life.

In science, we have begun researching our animals.  We will be creating a food chain and completing a research report on their animal.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Week beginning April 3rd

This week the focus was on writing our stories to be published. The children have been working very hard and enthusiastically! We focused on different ways to start a story, making sure we have at least three events in the story and write using descriptive language (adjectives, adverbs, and similes).  Next we will be editing the first drafts of the stories making sure the correct punctuation, capitalization, interesting words and description has been used.  They will also be working on their  illustrations for their stories.

In Math we looked at pictographs this week.  We learned the symbol being used in the graph should be connected to the data that is being represented and the importance of the value of the symbol being clear.  They interpreted pictographs, matched pictographs to data tables and represented data by creating their own pictographs. Our next topic will be money. We will be completing a project that requires adding and subtracting money.

In Religion this week we prayed the stations of the cross after learning about the stations last week. We also began taking about Palm Sunday and Holy Week.  We will continue to focus on this in depth.

Correction:
In the post last week I wrote that our class trip to the Surrey Nature Center is on June 13th.  This is incorrect.  Our trip is on April 24th. Your child will have brought a permission form home on Friday about this trip.

Up Coming Events:
-Praise and Worship Club every Monday from 3-3:30pm
-Over 18 Screening - April 19th 6:30pm
 

Term 3!

We are on to the last stretch of Grade 3! The students have come a long way and I am very proud of all the hard work the have put in.

Term 3 will be a busy term.  For the month of April our class will be busy writing stories to go in our very own books, which will be published by Student Treasures Publishing.  We have two field trips planned and we will use the researching and writing and presenting skills we have been working on in the last 2 terms to begin and complete our passion projects.  More information on all this topics will be provided soon.

This week we were very focused on planning our stories in Language Arts.  We discussing the purpose of our stories and what themes they many have.  Before Spring Break we planned in detail who our main character(s) and villains were.  This week we reviewed this and focused on developing a detailed setting and planning out the plot of our stories.  We also continued to practice our reading comprehension and have begun our spelling tests once more.

In Math this week focused on data collection this week.  We asked questions, recorded the answers using tally charts and then represented the information using bar charts.  We will continue to work on data collection next week.  We will be focusing on representing information using pictograph.  We will also focus on interpreting bar charts and pictographs.  It is very important that students continue to practice their basic math skills all year round.  we will be working on basic math skills through out the term.  Please practice these skills at home as well.  xtramath is a great way to have your child practice their basic math skills.

In Religion this week we have focused on the Jesus' passion through the Stations of the Cross.  We will continue to do this next week and also focus on Paslm Sunday and the Triduum. 


Student Treasures and Publishing Books:
As mentioned above, we are writing stories that will be published.  It is wonderful that the students have the opportunity to go through the steps that writers go through before they finish a piece novel.  They will also be their own illustrators. The children are very excited about this and are putting in a lot of hard work. You will be receiving the following notice and an order form next week:

Hello parents!

 

This year your child will be getting their writing published into their very own book!  The company, Student Treasures offers us to give each child a FREE published paperback book and you have the opportunity to get an extra copy(s) if you wish (which will be hardcover).  Even if you do not want to order a copy, please send back this order form by checking “no” and sign as we must send in all those forms in order that your child gets their FREE book.  Please have the order forms in by Thursday, April 13.  The order form has the prices in US dollars but if you wish to pay with Canadian cash, no extra exchange rate will be necessaryJ. 


Field Trips: 
- Fort Langley : May 5th
- Surrey Nature Center : June 13th

As always, please feel free to email me any questions you may have!

Week beginngin the 13th of February

In Language Arts the class presented their Poems this week.  The class did really well over all! It was evident everyone had been practicing a lot.  We also continued one with our Monthly News and also began looking at story writing. The class really enjoyed writing their stories this week and will continue on with their stories, as well as continuing on practicing their reading strategies during silent reading and the novel study.

In Math, we continued to practice our multiplication and began looking at how division is connected to multiplication and sharing out the quantity equally. We will continue on with this next week.

Skating:

We will be going Skating on Monday afternoon.  Please ensure your child comes to school in uniform, but with coats, hats and glove to keep them warm while skating.  If you did not send money to school for rentals, please ensure your child comes to school with their skates and helmet.  It would be very helpful if skates are brought to school in an easy to carry bag as we will be walking to the skating rink.

Thank you to the parents who offered to walk to the skating rink with us. We will be departing from CCS at 11:45. Please bring your own skates and helmet or money for rentals if you would like to skate.


Student Led Conferences:
Student led conferences will be on Thursday and Friday this week. This is a chance for your child to share with you the learning they are proud of. If you would like to have a meeting with me I am happy to schedule a meeting with you for another day.


Upcoming events:
Feb. 20th - Praise and worship club from 3:00 - 3:30
Feb. 22nd - Public Speaking Assembly at 2:00 pm
Feb. 23rd - Student Led Conferences begin after school
Feb. 24th - Student Led Conferences - NO SCHOOL
Feb 28th - Shrove Tuesday - Non-uniform
March 1st - Ash Wednesday
March 3rd - Report Cards go out

Skating

 

Our Skating Date is:

Monday, February 20^th – Grades 1, 3 and 5 @ 12:30pm

Please return the signed form to the school by Thursday, February 16th.

 

COST TO THE STUDENT:  Skates $3.00/student; Helmets $2/student payable to Cloverdale Catholic School with permission form.

 

WHAT TO BRING/WEAR: Wear uniforms to school and bring skates, helmets (bicycle helmets are okay), gloves, warm clothing, boots (for walking).  Students will change back into their school uniforms following the skating sessions.  Girls may want to bring pants.

 

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:  Use your own skates & helmets if at all possible rather than renting as sizes run out.  Students will walk with their class to and from the Cloverdale Arena, 6090 176 Street.  We need parents willing to walk with the class.  Please indicate on the permission form if you can help and you will be contacted.

Week Beginning January 30th

This week we spend 3 sessions creating our dream gardens with our Grade 6 buddies. First they created a rough copy with their ideas and then a final copy to which they added materials such as feathers, beads and buttons. They have done such a great job and I invite you to come see them displayed in the classroom if you have the chance. 

In Language Arts we are continuing practicing writing paragraphs with a clear topic sentence and 3 descriptive supporting sentences.  We are finishing up practicing using capital letters in the correct places and will be moving onto when we use a and an.  I have also begun testing the children on the top 100 and next 200 high frequency words. They will begin practicing the words they were not confident in. In reading we have been reviewing and practicing the rules we have learned in January.

Speech Arts
We completed the Bible reading portion of Speech Arts this week.  All the children did very well! It was evident they have been practicing.  I am very excited to see them perform their poems on the 14th and 15th of February!

Next week will only be two days.  We will continue to practice writing, reading and move further with our novel study.

In Math this week we continued to practice our multiplication facts. One of the games we played is Multiplication squares. The class really loved it.  Please have your child practice their basic math facts on xtra math.  They have their pins taped to the plastic pocket in their planners. 5-10 minutes every day will help them with their speed and accuracy in math.

We will continue practicing our multiplication facts next week and then begin to look at division using fact families and arrays the week after.

Catholic Schools Week:

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 7th of February will be silly hat and crazy hair day.  It will also be a non uniform day. Children are asked to bring in $1 to donate to our RC Challenge Club.  They are fundraising for some school equipment.

Wednesday the 8th of February will be Funky Socks & Shoes Day. This is a uniform day.

There will be No School on Thursday and Friday due to the Catholic Educators Conference for
staff.


Other Upcoming Events This Month:

February 13th - No School (BC Family Day)
February 14th - Non-uniform Day (Valentine's Day)
February 14 &15 - Poem Performances in class (Speech Arts)
February 20th - Skating
February 22nd - Public Speaking Assembly
February 23rd - Student led conferences 3:15 pm - 7:15pm
February 24th - Student led conference 9 am - 12pm
February 27th - Skating
February 28th - Non-uniform (Shrove Tuesday)
March 3rd - Report cards sent home

Week beginning the 23rd of January

This week in Language Arts:
In reading we focused on using our prior knowledge of a topic to help us work out what challenging words might be in a text.
In writing we focused on writing topic sentences.  We talked about how our topic sentence should inform the reader about the content of the paragraph and that often times we come up with our topic sentence after we decide on the content of the paragraph.
In grammar we are still focusing on when to use capital letters.  There are many rules to remember.  Many of the children are beginning to use them correctly in their writing.
Our novel study is on going. We are practicing answering questions that don't have direct answers in the text but require inferencing and opinions. We are also practicing comparing and contrasting characters and summarizing events.

This week in Math:
We began looking at multiplication. We have discussed why we use multiplication and how it is repeated addition.  We looked at the variety of ways we can represent multiplication and focused specifically on using arrays to solve multiplication word problems.  The class has done very well overall with this topic.  They do however need to practice their multiplication facts for speed and accuracy. This is one of the reasons the class is now using xtramath.  This program allows children to practice basic math facts for a few minutes daily working on speed and accuracy.
Xtramath: Each child has received a enrollment notice that has been sent home.  This is one way you can support your child in improving their math skills at home.  Their pin will be taped to the plastic pocket of their planner with their Mathletics log in.

Speech Arts:
The children will be reading the Bible readings this Wednesday to Friday. They still have 2 weeks to memorize and practice their poems which will be presented on February 14th or 15th. A reminder that the poems must be a minimum of 1 minute long.

Other Upcoming Events:
Monday, January 30th 3 - 3:30pm Praise and Worship Club
Sunday, February 5th 12:00pm -2:30pm Open House
February 9th and 10th - No School Catholic Educators' Conference

Week beginning January 16th

Dear Parents,

We had another busy week in Language Arts: In reading we focused on Voracious reading and began looking at the Monitor and Fix up strategy. In writing we practiced writing supporting sentences for a topic sentence. We also continued on with our novel study, grammar (capital letters), and Monthly News.
Next week, in reading we will continue to focus on the Monitor and Fix Up strategy and using prior knowledge to connect with a text. In writing we will continue practicing writing paragraphs with a clear topic sentence and connected supporting sentences.  We will also start thinking about closing sentences.

This week in Math, we concluded our time with subtraction with subtraction word problems.  We also began looking at multiplication with a focus on arrays.
Next week we will continue with multiplication. It is important that students practice their multiplication facts.  The quicker they get at reciting their facts the easier the next steps in multiplication will be.

Speech Arts is not too far away. Please practice the scripture passages at home with your child as we do not do this in school.  I have received a couple of poems from students in the week.  Please send a copy of your child's poem choice.  If your child chose one of the poems from the class dojo posts, I just need the name of the poem and I can make a copy myself. These poems must be a minute long and memorized.

Reminders:
No School Monday
CCS Open House - Feb 5th

Speech Arts

Today I handed out the three bible readings that the students need to practice for Speech Arts. They DO NOT need to MEMORIZE them but they should be familiar with the readings, as they will be given them at random to recite in front of the class. We will present them on February 1st-3rd.

Students will also need to learn a poem of their own choosing. We will have a classroom Speech Arts on February 14th - 15th. They may choose any poem they like but it need to be a minimum of one minute in length orally.  They must provide the title and author of the poem at the beginning of the recitation.  They need to memorize the poem and recite it in front of the class.  I have poems the students can choose from.  If they are choosing one that is not from the collection I have in class, please provide a copy for me for marking.

Poetry4kids is a good site for children's poems. Shel Silverstein is a popular children's poet as well.

 

 

Week beginning January 9th

Dear Parents,

We have had a busy week!

This week in Literacy we have been learning and practicing the reading strategies: check for understanding ( check if you can summarize the main points in a reading every few pages) , back up and reread (when meaning breaks down, go back and reread to understand the meaning of the section), cross checking (ask yourself: does the word look right, does it sound right, does it make sense) and tuning into interesting words. We have began reviewing and practicing when to use capital letters. In writing we began to look at how to write a paragraph and focused on the topic sentence. Our Novel Study: Third Grade Angels will be on going.

Next week we will look at the following reading strategies: review of the importance of good fit books, Monitor and Fix up (stop and think if the reading makes sense and the understand what it is about, if not they go back and fix it [summarize it, go back and adjust reading rate, read the text and read carefully, etc.) and voracious reading (readers become more fluent by increasing their volume of reading). We will also continue to review the reading strategies from this week. In grammar we will keep practicing capital letter rules and in writing we will looking at topic sentences again and if we are ready, start looking at supporting sentences.  Third Grade Angels and Monthly News comprehension will be ongoing.

In Math we completed our time unit.  We will return to it again next term. We also began working on subtraction with regrouping.  We will continue on with this next week and begin looking at multiplication at the end of the week if we are ready.


Uniforms:
Please ensure PE strips, school tops, school pants and sweaters are labeled. Also, could you please the items you have at home.  A few children in the class are missing various articles of clothing.  It would be wonderful if they were found!

Up coming events:
Praise and Worship club every Monday from 3 - 3:30
Professional Development Day on the 23rd of January - No School
Open House - February 5th

Happy New Year!

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope your Christmas holidays were filled with joy, laughter and relaxation! I pray that this new year be filled with God's abundant love and grace for you and your family, as Psalm 65 beautifully expresses. I also want to say a huge thank you to you for all the Christmas gifts.  It was very kind and thoughtful of you!

 

We had a great first week back at school. Our class was responsible for the Friday Mass this week and the readers read beautifully!  

 

In Religion we reviewed and continued discussing aspects of the Christmas story. We also reflected on what our gift to Jesus would be for the Christmas season and new year. We will begin looking at parts of the mass this term and digging deeper into meaning of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Apostle Creed.

 

In Language Arts we continued to work on practicing reading comprehension through the Current Events Monthly News booklet. We also began a novel study with the book Third Grade Angels.  This will be the focus of our small group guided reading sessions for the next couple months. The children will also continue to look at different reading strategies during Daily 5. In writing, we will continue practicing writing descriptive sentences with adjectives, adverbs, similes and by using capital letters in the right place. We will also begin looking at paragraph writing.

 

In Math we looked at reading analog clocks to the nearest minute this week.  We will continue this topic for a few more days next week and then revisit subtraction with regrouping.  We worked on this briefly before Christmas.

 

Upcoming Events:

- Professional Development Day on January 23rd - No School

 

Have a wonderful weekend and a Blessed week!

 



SECRET SANTA!

The some of the students in the class came up with the idea of having Secret Santa with the class this year and the rest of the class liked the idea.  I agreed that we could do this with a $2 limit. Today, each child wrote their name and at least 2 of their interests on a post-it note to help their Secret Santa out. The children will receive the person they are a Secret Santa to tomorrow.  We will exchange gifts on the last day of classes before holidays, but I would love for wrapped gifts to come in by next Thursday. 
Thank you very much for your participation!

Happy Second Week of Advent! 

As a class we are investigating and will continue to investigate the questions: why is the season of Advent important, what does Christmas mean to us Christians, and what does this season tell us about God.  We are also thinking of ways we can prepare ourselves as we await full of hope for the coming of our Saviour!
 Over the past few weeks we have been focusing on a few different things in Literacy:- skimming and scanning for key words to answer reading comprehension questions and look up or ask about difficult or new words- when we use capital letters in our writing other than at the start of sentences- writing lists with commas, an and before the last item and the purpose of a colon- the importance of editing and rereading our work- persuasive writing (We are currently writing a letter to Santa) Over the past few weeks we have focused on the following things in Math:- patterns with more than on attribute- identifying the pattern core- identifying and writing the pattern rule- addition with regrouping
 This week we will be continuing to focus on persuasive writing and then begin looking at story writing. We will also continue practicing when to use capital letters and using our editing skills.  In Math we will be beginning subtraction without and with regrouping.
 The next two weeks will be busy ones! The children are in full gear practicing for the Christmas concert.  Their Biblical time period costumes can begin to come in this week. Please have them in a bag labeled with your child’s name. Here are some examples. The concert will be on December 13th at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

 

 

Precious Blood’s Annual Parish Bazaar

Saturday, November 26th  

9 am to 2 pm

We are all very excited that our parish bazaar is coming up in less than two weeks!  

Good morning!
It has been another great week! God blessed us with sunshine and a beautiful day at Westminster Abbey yesterday.  A huge thank you to the parent drivers and supervisors for helping make this day the wonderful success that it was. I have included a few pictures below forwarded to me by parents.

In literacy this week we reviewed genres, which we will continue with again next week.  We also focused on using adjectives, similes and prepositions to write detailed sentences.  For example: The tiny, grey mouse ran across the marble floor as quick as lightning. We will continue to work on this goal in our writing next week.  We will also look at using interesting vocabulary and adding adverbs fto their writers toolkits.

In math, we continued looking at patterns.  We worked on identifying a pattern rule, continuing a pattern and using a pattern rule to write a pattern.  We will continue on with this next week for a final week before we begin addition and subtraction. As well as this, we have been practicing counting in threes and will be moving on to practicing counting in 4s.

New Club: We have started up a Praise and Worship club. Parents, students, and staff are invited to pray together through song every Monday after school in Sister's room from 3pm to 3:30pm .  It is one of my favourite ways to pray. I hope to see you there!

Up coming events:
- Monday, October 31st: Painting pumpkins with their grade 6 buddies
- Tuesday, November 1st:  To celebrate All Saints Day, the children are asked to dress up as a saint of   their choice
- November 10th and 11th: No School
- November 18th: Grade 3 adoration
- November 22nd: Report cards go out
- November 23rd - 25th: 3 way conferences
-November 27th: First Sunday of Advent

Have a blessed weekend!

 

Hello,
It's been a short, but good week. There have been a few new topics introduced to the class in the past few weeks:
1. We have started exploring the idea of Growth Mindset with our Grade 6 buddies.  I shared the videos of Mojo who is learning about Growth Mindset on class dojo.  It is a great topic to discuss with your child.  We talked about how our brain becomes stronger when we work hard and don't give up.  We also talked about what we might say to ourselves instead of "I'm not good at this" or "I give up."
2. We have also begun using the zones of regulation in the class.  This is a good way for the class to become more aware of how they are feeling physically and mentally.  They then think about what tools they might use to help themselves stay on task in class. Check out the document link under important notices for more details.
3. The Genius Hour/Passion Project idea has been introduced to the class.  They have been sent home with a sheet to fill out with a Minimum of 2 things they are passionate about.  They have then been asked to think of any questions they have or what they are curious about  pertaining to those topics.
Eg. Passion - painting
       Questions- Does using different materials to paint on make a difference to the final product?
                       - Watercolour vs. Acrylic   How are they similar and different?

In Language Arts the children have been looking at prepositions and similes to describe this week.  In Math they have been focusing on rounding to the nearest 10s, 100s and 1000s.

Upcoming events:
- School photo retakes are on Monday, October 24th.
- Abbey Trip: We will be going to Westminster Abbey in Mission on the 28th of October. If you have not yet returned the permission form please do as soon as possible.
- Pumpkin painting-  We would like to Paint pumpkins with our grade 6 buddies on the 31st of October.  Could you please send your child to school with a small pumpkin no earlier than the 28th?
- All Saints Day- Dress up as your favourite saint to celebrate All Saints Day!

Tomorrows Trip (Thursday, Oct. 6th) has been cancelled due to lack of drivers. 

Our next possible trip:

We are hoping to visit Westminster Abbey in Mission on Friday, October 28th with some other grades depending upon parent drivers. Why now? We would have the opportunity to go through the Abbey's Door of Mercy (one of only two in B.C.) during this Year of Mercy, which will conclude with the end of the liturgical year in November. It will also be a nice, peaceful day with an opportunity to explore the Abby grounds and the Abby itself.

Are you available to Drive and Spend the Day with us on Friday, October 28th? We are thinking we'd leave after school Mass-ish and return by 3pm. If you are available and interested, please let me know and if you could kindly include the number of children you can transport, that would be great! :)
Thanks!

P.S. if you'd like to learn more about the abbey/seminary, click here:
http://www.westminsterabbey.ca/

Possible Trip Cancellation:

We do not have enough drives for the class to go to Campbell Valley on Thursday.  At the moment there are only enough drivers for 12 students.  Without more volunteer drivers we will have to cancel the trip. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to drive. I will make a final decision at the end of the day tomorrow.

A couple upcoming events:

1. It is the grade 3 class mass on Friday.  A few children will be chosen on a voluntary/draw basis to participate as readers and gift bearers tomorrow.

2. Fitness-a-thon on Friday. The children will  be dismissed at noon.

It's been a busy week! In literacy we have been focusing on reviewing the use of capital letters and punctuation correctly in our writing.  We have also used this topic to inform our reading; especially stopping where there are full stops to end a sentence and using expression when reading sentences that end with exclamation marks. We also had our first spelling test today.  The children will be receiving their new sorts on Monday.

In Math we continued looking at place value and focused on the different ways to write a number.  This includes standard, expanded, base ten and word form. The children really enjoyed challenging themselves by attempting numbers in the thousands and ten thousands.

New:

The follow by email link has been added to the blog for those who are interested.

Next week:

Wednesday
1. Cross Country Championship meet
2. Walk-a-thon assembly and pledge collection check in

Thursday
1. Trip to Campbell Valley park