Beginning new units

We are beginning a new unit in ELA that is structured around an author/genre study which uses a lot of figurative language.  The majority of stories will be Amelia Bedelia stories, with some other materials incorporated for us to compare writing techniques used to create humour.

In math we are working on place value and whole number concepts.  Grade three should be comfortable with numbers to 1000, and grade four with numbers to 10 000 when we finish the unit.  You will notice a major change in the math report card when it comes home mid-November.  I will try to post some information here to help you interpret it, and will also take time to share and explain this new format with you when you come for interviews.

My crazy month is over and I am thrilled to be back in the classroom for at least a week straight!

We will not carve pumpkins on Monday but will be doing a variety of math activities with them involving measurement. If you are interested in joining us for the afternoon on Monday, we welcome you any time after 1:00.

Crazy month

I am off to an inservice today and Wednesday.  Mrs. Tenney is in for me both days.  Please email if you have any concerns.  On Friday afternoon we will participate in Spooktacular and next Monday afternoon we will do some fun activities along with our regular school work.  We MAY do some pumpkin carving - I will keep you posted as I will need parental help if we decide to carve.

Busy week

OSR began yesterday and I think that students are adapting well to their groups.  Remember that tomorrow is a hand in day for magazine subscriptions if you are ready to hand those in now.

I will be away Wednesday and Friday this week for meetings and appointments but will respond to email if you have something urgent to share with me.

For those of you trying to reach Mr. Feil by email his address is:   dj.feil@nwsd.ca  Also, if you send notes in the agenda for him, I always set them aside for him to see.

We are working on a personal story this week as the final project for our ELA unit.  Students were told that they were creating a Radio Story for other 8-10 year olds and they are coming up with some amazing things.  When they are ready to share we will let you know.

Fire Safety

Our class was visited today by three firefighters from the RM of Britiania fire department.  The key information that the firefighters shared was:
1. Have a fire escape plan for your home and a meeting place a short distance from the house
2. Check your smoke detectors regularly
3.  Have your land location and directions to your home posted on the fridge. 

They suggested the fridge because even people who don't live in your home can find the fridge and if that was a common spot for all the members of our community, we could all direct the fire department to wherever they were needed.

I sent information home with your children today about OSR as well as their personal GRADE results.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Backwards Day

Thursday is backwards day so if your children wish to wear their t-shirts or pants backwards, please encourage them to do so.  I will be away but when we spoke about it today, they were all really excited.

Picture day went with only one hitch - Mr. Feil was in another class when we got our photo taken so he is not in the class pictures.  Sorry Mr. Feil!  I hope that we get some wonderful individual pictures, the students all looked wonderful today!

Magazine collection days are Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of the month.  Thank you to those of you who are busy selling subscriptions.

We completed our patterning unit today with a short quiz.  I hope to send them home on Friday with your child so you can see what we have been up to.

I will also be sending home reading assessment scores for the GRADE testing we did this fall.  Unfortunately, in the transfer between computers there has been a data glitch and when we view the reports we only see the latest score on the graph rather than the scores for your child since the end of grade one.  We are working to rectify this but need external computer support to do so.  If you have questions about the report please stop by with the report and I will be happy to translate it for you.

Orchestrated Success in Reading sessions will begin on Monday, look for a note home explaining the program and its rationale with your grade 2-6 children on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to let you know that the students created a "I am thankful for . . . " document today that you should take a moment to read tomorrow if you are at the school for lunch.  I will also send them home, so if you are unable to be here for lunch, ask to see it at home.

Many students should have new spelling words in their agendas this week as we will have completed three tests when we write tomorrow.  They may still have some of the same words but some should be new too.

A reminder that all our elementary students are expected to be outside at recess and noon hour so please be sure they are dressing for the cooler weather.

Enjoy your weekend.

Two reminders

Hope your long weekend was fantastic and that you have fun plans for this one too. 

If you did not look at the Monday Note last week please take a moment to look today at the request for picking children up.  In order to keep everyone safe at the end of the day we have put a reminder in for parents and children.

Thank you to those of you who have been calling or emailing the school about your children's absences.  If you know you will be away for an extended time and are requesting homework, please give us some lead time to prep that for you. 

Book orders for October are due this Friday.

Hope to see you at the Turkey Dinner!