Fully Alive

Today a letter went home in your child's agenda.  The letter outlines the Fully Alive Grade 3, Theme Three Unit that we will be covering over the next couple of weeks.  All of the topics and vocabulary being discussed are included in the Family Letter sent home today.  If you would like to see a copy of the student text that we will be using, please write a note in your child's agenda this week and I would be happy to send it home for an evening so that you may read it with your child prior to our lessons. We will be starting this unit later this week or early next week.

Your Partner In Education,

Mrs. Caluori

Spring Is Here!

Welcome to the second week of Easter! The sun is shining and Spring is definitely in the air! It is an exciting time of the year after a very long and cold Winter:).  

This week, we will gather as a St. Cecilia faith community to celebrate our Easter Mass on Wednesday, April 15th at 9:30 AM in our gymnasium. All parents are welcome to join us for this special mass.

This week in Religion, students will hear the Gospel story from Sunday- John 20:19-31. Below is a short little video that captures Jesus' message this Gospel.

Literacy
We are finishing our unit on narratives. The students are continuing to 'bump-up' their responses to comprehension questions by adding more specific proof from the text and their own ideas.  We are certainly noticing improvements!  They are working hard.

Our next unit, on persuasive texts, will focus on further examination of non-fiction text features and the difference between facts and opinions.

Mathematics
The students are continuing to examine time relationships.  Looking at calendars at home would be beneficial.  Asking questions such as:

• What date will it be 3 months from today?
• What was the date 4 weeks and 3 days ago?
• What will the date be in 3 weeks and 2 days?
• See the Resource Tab on the Blog for a calendar to use.

We will focus more this week on money. Things such as:

• Show me $3.45 using the least number of coins.  Now, show it to me another way.
• Ben has $5.46 in his wallet.  He wants to buy a book that costs $9, how much more money does he need?

Our next unit will be Measurement.  We will examine how to measure to the nearest cm, the relationship between km, m and cm, along with area and perimeter.

Dramatic Arts
The students are learning about how to use their body and face to depict emotions.  We will focus this week on tableaus and 'wax museum' to display various sports and texts.

EQAO
The dates for EQAO are:
Tuesday, May 26th, Wednesday, May 27th, Thursday, May 28th & Friday May 29th (First Block each day)  AND Monday, June 1st,  and Tuesday June 2nd (First Block)

Please refrain from making appointments during the above times.  It is important that your child comes to school on time as we will begin right when they get in. As mentioned earlier in the year, your child has been exposed to the EQAO assessment through daily tasks.

For more information about EQAO including samples and scoring guides, please visit EQAO.com.

The Calendar Lottery:  Thank you for all of the money that has been coming in and the hard work that everyone has been doing to sell their calendars.  I think that the month of May will be very exciting as the winners are announced each day!  Just a reminder that all unsold calendars, stubs and money are to be returned by Friday of this week.

Please remember to check out the school's April newsletter.  Below is information about our upcoming Earth Week!

A.P.E. Reading Response

APE - Today we learned a new strategy to help answer Reading Response Questions!  The students really seemed to like this strategy.  We wrote the word APE on our reading response questions and then ticked each letter when we had completed that part of the question.  This poster provides some great sentence starters for each part of the response as well.

Holy Week

This week in Religion we have focused on Holy Week and have been reading, discussing and writing personal narratives.  The children have been learning about Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, Good Friday and Jesus' Resurrection.  Today the students will participate in the Stations of the Cross in the gym alongside the other students in our St. Cecilia school community.  

As a link to our narrative writing in Literacy, students have been re-writing the Holy Week story through the eyes of Jesus as a personal narrative. Students will also continue to add to their Gardens of Love - looking for others who are working hard to be the best they can be. Lastly, the students have been working hard on their Pastel Crosses and Resurrection Eggs.

Here are a few resources that we have been using during this special week in our Catholic Calendar.

(click on the link below)

Holy Week

Video of Palm Sunday:

The Jelly Bean Prayer is a special Holy Week Prayer (Author Unknown). 

Easter Blessings to each of you during this holy season of Easter!

Wishing everyone a family filled weekend full of love and happiness.

                                                                                         Mrs. Caluori