Hello Everyone,
Last week I posted that we were missing photos of some of our anchor charts that we have been using for money. Here they are below.

We have practised many different ways and have seen many different strategies in class. Ask your child what strategy works best for them in order to continue practising at home.

In Language, the class is learning how to answer questions in a detailed grade 3 way. They have discovered that their thoughts need to provide evidence to support their written answers. Below are some common sentence starters that we have been using to ensure the evidence is there.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER.....

• This week's homework is just what we do with the 5 spelling words. There is no formal math homework this week . Many have not done last week's homework or signed last week's assessment. Please ensure that when homework is handed in this week, that those responsibilities have been taken care of.
• You are all invited to our Ash Wednesday Liturgy on Wednesday February 26th at 10:15 am in the gym.
• This Thursday February 27th is the last day of term 1's pizza and Subway order. The new order will start the first week of March.

Have a great week. I know we will.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you enjoyed the little Valentine Day gift your child brought home on Thursday. Each student made 2, 1 for home and one to give to the personal support workers who work with the elderly in a local nursing home.

Making and giving the hearts away is a real life example of showing love through our words and our actions,

In Math, we still continue to work with money. A gentle reminder that your child should already be able to identify, add to find the total, subtract to make change and represent different values up to $1.00 in Canadian coins. The grade 3 expectation is to extend all that good thinking up to the $10.00 amount. This is what we are currently working on. We practice a lot in class using different resources but repetition at home in real life experiences would assist any child to become more efficient.
Our class explored 3 different ways to find the total and make change but only 1 was recorded on chart paper. We did the rest on the whiteboard and I forgot to take a photo before it was erased.
 I am sending the Math Up link so you can see. Strangely enough, the link at the bottom under NOTES says stay away from the formal procedure of subtraction but we noticed that it was the most widely used strategy in the class!
https://www.mathup.ca/ui/LessonDetail/Mini%20Lesson/4/-15/117/643

In Language, we had an amazing presentation on marketing and advertising thanks to the expertise of the parents of one of our students. Their interactive lesson went hand in hand with what our class explored during our media literacy lessons. Lots of real life examples. We were all so engaged, I forgot to take photos!

In Science, our class did experiments to test our predictions about gravity, friction and muscular force. We were able to look at the scientific method of how questions are answered. Ask your child to explain what their HYPOTHESIS was for each experiment.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER..............

• A reminder that French Pathway forms are due back to the school no later than March 2nd.

• There are no word wall words for this week BUT there will be a spelling test for the last 2 weeks worth of words. One test was postponed because of the Snow Day. The plan was to test on all 10 words in 5 sentences this past Thursday but we were interrupted by the fire alarm. So this Thursday all 10 words will be incorporated in 5 sentences.

• Information about the St. Rita Family Family Dance was sent home to the oldest and only child last week.

• St. Rita is having their annual Winter Carnival Day this Wednesday February 19th in the afternoon. Please ensure your child is dressed to stay outside for an extended period of time.
• There is no school on Friday February 21st.

Have a great week. I know we will!

Hello Everyone,

Take a look how our week went. Your child would be an excellent resource to ask questions to in order to add more detail for you.

We continue to work on money in Math. The focus of one of our lessons this week was that a collection of money can have the same value but can look very different. Here, the students were asked to represent $7.00. When we looked at everyone's answers, we could see how many students used the same collection BUT we also saw  how many students represented the same value except in a different way.

 We practised representing different money amounts in different ways throughout the week. The children really enjoyed a free website called

https://www.mathsisfun.com/money/money-master.html  There is also an activity in Prodigy. It wasn't until Friday that we noticed that we did not construct any anchor charts. Our small group of 9 gave input to what we had already discovered throughout the week.

In Language we began our unit on QAR. Our goal is to answer questions with more detail and explanation by providing evidence as to how we came up with the answer.

We're back on track for our Library time to be on Wednesdays. Please ensure library books are handed in before that time.

As you know, the buses were cancelled on Friday. We had a grand total of 9 students. We had some great opportunities for review and for some collaborative problem solving questions.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER........

Some are asking for the names of their classmates for Valentine's Day cards. I typically do not post names on the blog and to me, by now all students should know who is in their class. Here are some clues to help:

1. We have a class of 22 students.

2. We have 11 girls and here is the first letter of each girls' name: M, M, S, L, M, S, A, R, H, M, J.

3. We have 11 boys and here is the first letter of each boys' name: A, E, J, P, M, S, A, T, H, A, N. 

4. Each child has a nameplate with the correct spelling of their name on it that your child passes many times throughout the day. 💗💗

• On Thursday February 13th, St. Rita School is supporting Ronald McDonald House. Please bring in a toonie and wear your pyjamas to school.

 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WCFhE5OFWAhsgJENwgzX9GKnNnFP87xaMbmWR0zoCz8/edit#slide=id.p1

• First term report cards are going home with your child Thursday February 13th. Please fill out and return the bottom of page 4 to request an interview time if you would like to discuss your child's progress.
• There is no school On Friday February 14th or Monday February 17th.
• Pizza and Subway lunch order forms are due February 19th. Please let me or the school office know if you are having difficulties completing your order.                                                    Have a great week!
• French Pathway forms are due at the school soon. In order to assist you with your decision there is an information session at the school on Tuesday February 11th, from 5:30 to 6:30 in the Learning Commons.
• Have a great week. I know we will!

Hello Everyone,
A busy week. Take a look. Some of the photos are not our usual photos. Many of our authentic experiences were outside of the classroom this week.  Ask your child to explain the events in the snaps.
Our school had Starr Gymnastics in.

We also had some gym time outside to take advantage of the sleds that Mrs.MacAulay bought for the school.

We danced our little hearts out to raise funds to put back into school initiatives. A great big thank you to the St. Rita School Council for organizing this event.

With all this going on, we still had time to shift our math focus to learning about money.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER........

• Listen to School Messenger and check St. Rita website for updates on the next pizza/Subway order.
• There is no school this Tuesday February 4th.
• A reminder of the 6 X table multiplication quiz this coming Friday.
• Please check your child's homework book for assessments that need to be signed.
• Homework books are always due on Friday. Please ensure your child has completed it to the best of their ability.

Have a great week. I know we will!