Upcoming events

For those of you who are new parents in the community I would like to make sure that you are aware of the Thanksgiving Dinner that our students put on for the community.  It will be held next Friday, October 7th in the gym, and is a great way to see some of the faces of the community and to have lunch with your child. It begins at 11:30 and ends about 1:00.  Last year we served over 350 people!

I will be talking to students tomorrow to remind them not to share hats, hair brushes, or head bands as a caution towards the prevention of head lice.  Please take a moment or two to talk to them too, and make note if anyone is complaining of an itchy head.  The school policy is to keep infected children at home until the problem has been taken care of if it arises.

We will be wrapping up our current patterning unit in math next week and moving on to place value.  We will also be wrapping up our MY STORY unit in ELA in about 10 days.  Please send the address your child requires to mail their postcard a.s.a.p.

Library class tomorrow, and no classes on Monday.  Enjoy the three day weekend!

Spelling

We completed our first spelling test last week and your children will have  the exact same list this week even if they spelled them all correctly on Friday.  They need to get them all correct three tests IN A ROW before those words leave their list.  They should have them copied onto this week but I have to admit that I did not have time to check them all today - I will do so tomorrow.

Our library class will be on day four all year so if you are wondering when to send the books back it moves around according to the six day schedule.  This week it will be on Friday.

Reminder there are no classes on Monday the 3rd of October since it is a PLC day. 

The flu has hit a few children in our class over the past few days.  Please remind your child to wash their hands often while at home and school to help us stay healthy.

Have a wonderful weekend

Well, a busy week is over and I hope that you and your family are able to enjoy a relaxing weekend.  If you have a chance this weekend, have your child read you a recipe - maybe you can make whatever it is that they read to you.  Make it fun!

Back in Routine

What a difference the morning routine makes for us all.  We had a wonderful morning and then worked on our GRADE testing again this afternoon.  Some of us finished but most will need some more time tomorrow.  My goal is for us all to finish by noon tomorrow. 

Remember to practice your spelling words - first test Friday.

We have been working on time/calendar concepts.  Feel free to quiz your child on the months, days, seasons and when special events like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Canada Day, etc happen.

Our big question today was "Is it possible for every person in the WORLD to have a different birthday"  We had a very interesting debate but finally agreed that it was NOT possible.  Ask your child about it.

Busy day

Wow, we had an unusual day today and your child is likely feeling the effects of a day that was out of routine.  In order to facilitate our OSR groupings for the first session we are completing GRADE testing this week - an individual reading assessment. We started our morning off with a fifty minute session today, then had a VERY BUSY math class and we had a guest teacher in for fourth and fifth class while I had admin time (Mr. Lobb away today), and sixth class everyone was tired and out of sorts.

I am sure Wednesday we will be back to our routines and things will be wonderful again.  We will be completing the GRADE assessment tomorrow afternoon during social and science so both Mr. Feil and Mrs. Newman are able to have a class.

Lamontang orders due tomorrow - no exceptions! Thank you to those families who were able to support this fund raiser.

Spelling Lists

Each child will come home today with a list of 10 words in their agenda.  Their list is personal to them so you will not be able to call a classmate to get the word list.  We will have spelling tests on Fridays.  Students will have to spell each word on their list correctly three tests in a row before they will get new words added to their list. Each Monday (or Friday if we are really organized) their updated list will appear in their agenda. 

This all sounds confusing, but I promise it will work.  If Mr. Hart has taught any of your older children ELA you will be familiar with this program as I am using the same format he did.

If you have questions, please send me an email and I will try to help you out.

Email excitement

Your child set up a school email account today.  Their email address is firstname.lastname@k12.nwsd.ca if you would like to send them a message I am sure they would be thrilled.   Thank you to Mr.Betker without whom we would not have had success!

The walk today was wonderful, it is one of my favourite activities of the school year. Thank you to all the parents who joined us and to all of you who helped out with the fundraising.  We raised just over $2800.00.

Terry Fox walk

Please consider this your formal invitation to join your children while we complete the Terry Fox walk on Friday.  We will be leaving from the school about 11:00 and love to have community members participate with us.

If your child has collected pledges, please send the money with them Thursday or Friday.

Meet the Teacher

Thank you to all of the parents who were able to join us last night for Meet the Teacher night.  It was lovely to see "old" and new parents alike.  If you were unable to come in last night but would like to see some of the things we have been working on, please stop in just before or after school sometime and have your child show you around the room.

We continue to work towards completion of the individual spelling lists and will be ready to send them home on Monday the 19th.

Please try to make time at least three times a week to listen to your child read for ten minutes or so.

Book orders due this Friday please.  If you do not have a cheque but would like to order, please send cash - I encourage cheques because they are so much easier to keep track of but would hate for that to be the reason that you felt unable to purchase a book for your child.

Spelling News

I am going to use an individualized spelling program with the grade three/four students this year.  In preparation for that, we are doing spelling work this week and perhaps into next, which will give me the basis for your child's spelling list.  I am using the 3000 most frequently written words in the English language as the basis for the program.  Over the next several days, I will dictate words to the students for them to spell and then record any errors they make.  The words that they have errors with, are the words that will become their spelling list.  We will have weekly spelling tests once the word lists are compiled and each word will have to be spelled correctly three consecutive times for it to be "dropped" from their list.  My goal is to make the spelling more meaningful and more transferable for each child.  If you have any questions or would like to meet with me so I can show you the word lists, please let me know.

Look for word lists in their agendas the week of September 19th.