Happy Family Day!

I hope everyone had an amazing long weekend with their family and friends. I was busy with my family; skating, sliding and we even attending a Sens game. So much fun! Report cards went home last Thursday.  I am looking forward to meeting with most of you during parent teacher interviews this upcoming Thursday (February 23rd). Please be sure to sign up on the google form that was send to you by email or contact the school to set up a time. 

Last week we attending Jacques Cartier Park. Feedback from the students was that they had a great time and then they hope we get to go again next year. It was a beautiful day and the students made St. Francis proud.

 

We will be celebrating Kindness Week this week in our classroom. Last week, we spoke about the importance of "random acts of kindness". Don't be surprised if the students are little more cheerful than usual this week. So proud of them and how they believe that kindness can change a person's day! “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” (Aesop)



The students were introduced to Genius Hour last week. We have shifted gears and will be working on different forms of Non-Fiction writing and reading. The culminating task for this unit will be for the students come up with an essential question they can answer by researching a topic that is of interest to them and presenting it to the class in whatever form them wish. Each student will be required to complete a non-fiction writing component that will support their topic. I will be sending a letter home this week explaining how our Genius Hour will work. I can tell you that the students are pumped for this project!

In Math this week, we will take everything we learned over the last few months and work on a review of different concepts in math centres (always a student favourite!)  It's been a long haul and they have learned so much up until now. We will continue with our number talks as well. The thinking progression is amazing to see.

Marble Run!!

So much innovation, creativity and collaboration, mixed in with some Math and Science!



 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Important Message from Mme. Hatano

It's that time of year when parents and students decide whether to continue French studies in the Immersion or Extended program in grade 4. Your child will be bringing home an information packet that outlines each program and a form for you to sign with your choice. The forms are due back by March 1.  Forms should be returned to Madame Hatano. 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask her by message, phone or in an upcoming interview. 

It's icccyyyyy out there!

As I type this I can hear the pitter patter of ice pellets against all my windows. I hear that there has even been some power surges here and there in Orleans this evening. Ice can be heavy for sure. I hope you're all cozy in your beds!

We have had a busy (when aren't we busy!) start to February am I am grateful for all the hard work that everyone has been doing in class. We have been working really hard integrating our math over the last few weeks and will continue to do so until the end of February. We are working on time, temperature and data management. These are great math strands to integrate ~ it's my favourite time of year! Children are learning time to the nearest 5 minutes. Please take the opportunity to tell the time whenever you can at home. Practise makes perfect! It's also the best time of year to work on temperature and we will be starting to keep track and graph the results of over the next week or so. We watched the snow melt and the thermometers rise in class on Monday.

Today we had a full on science and math day (for the most part!) while working on our Marble Run Challenge. We planned, created and tested the marble runs. Pictures will follow tomorrow as I forgot my iPad at school! The students measured the length of their Runs and then we timed how fast it took to run the marble through the tracks. We will compile our results and the students will create graphs to show the differences in all the speeds and lengths. Our results will be recorded and compared to schools all over the world!

In Language, we are really focusing on following those conventions! Students are peer editing and making sure that their fellow students have those capitals, periods and word spelled correctly.

I will be sending home the Geometry quizzes this week as well as a little certificate that shows everyone where their reading levels are at this point. I am proud of you all and am so lucky to be your teacher!

                                  

It's February! What??!!!

I cannot believe it is February. We are halfway through the school year already. We wrapped up our Swim to Survive last Monday and should be getting our certificates in the next couple of weeks. Big thanks to all the parent volunteers who helped to make this a successful experience. I have posted our February newsletter as well!

Our student teacher, Louise Trudeau, planned an amazing Music lesson last week using the boomwhackers. We were able to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by the end of the block and it sounded amazing.