Last Week Before Christmas Break!

• It is so hard to believe that this is our last week of 2017!
• We have a very busy week here at ACC!  I am not assigning any homework this week, except for getting their procedural writing pieces signed and returned tom.
• Tuesday we will be going on a field trip to the Wyatt Heritage Properties in Summerside.  We are leaving in the morning and returning before lunch.  Thank you to all who have paid the two dollars to help cover the costs.
• Ugly sweater day will be Dec.21 and PJ day will be Dec. 22.  We will also be going skating on Friday, Dec. 22.  There should be a permission form coming home shortly.  I believe our time is 1-1:30pm.  Students must have helmets to participate. We will also be having Christmas stations put on by the leadership students Thursday afternoon.
• We delivered gifts and thank you letters to different staff members today and the students did a fabulous job not only writing them, but presenting them as well.
• I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Thank you so much for sending me such wonderful children each day. I love my job and consider myself very lucky to work where I do!  

Week of Dec. 11-15

• I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!  Hard to believe....two weeks before Xmas break!
• Please make sure students are reading 20 min. each night AND recording it in their nightly reading duotang.
• Practice math facts nightly and the gr.3 will have a couple of pages to do in their orange duotangs.  We had a quiz on adding and subtracting on Thursday. Those will go home on Monday.  Please sign and return to school.  We are starting our unit on measurement next week.
• I should have the procedural writing pieces corrected by mid-week.  I will send them home for you to sign and return to me.  This week the students will be reading their thank you letters that they have written to various staff members around the school.  They are very proud of these. The students will be starting "My Xmas Wish" writing pieces this week.
• Our Christmas concert will be this Friday, Dec. 15 beginning at 1:00pm
• Candy grams will be on sale Monday and Tuesday (I believe they are 50 cents)
• We are also collecting food items at our school for the food bank.  It would be great if you could send in anything you can spare.
• Have a wonderful week everyone!

Dec. 4-8

• Wow!  It is so hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks left before Xmas!
• Please have your child fill in their reading duotang each night.  They should be reading for 20 min. each evening.
• Math- practice math facts to 18 nightly.  Also, I will assign a few pages in their orange duotangs next week ( I didn't assign any last week :o).  We are working on 3 digit subtraction in class.
• We are wrapping up our Social Studies chapter on exploration.  The students handed in an assignment on Dec. 1 and I will have them back within the week.  Our next unit will be Rocks and Minerals in Science.
• In writing, we have been working on procedural writing in class.  The students have picked a topic and have been writing over the past week.  Their good copy of this is due on Tuesday.  I would encourage them to use their rubrics.  For the last few weeks before Xmas, we will be doing a few different writing activities including " My Christmas Wish."
• Christmas concert will be on Friday, December 15th ( I will check on the time)
• I have placed the December book order and I am estimating that they will be here by the end of the week.
• Have a great week everyone!

Week of Nov. 27-Dec. 1

• I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!
• With the cold weather upon us, please make sure that the students are dressed appropriately.
• Book orders due on Thursday!  They make great Xmas gifts :o)
• Math for gr. 3- please practice math facts to 18 plus I will be assigning a few pages in their orange duotangs. These will be due next Friday. We have been working on 3 digit adding and will be moving into 3 digit subtracting next week.
• The students are completing an end of chapter assignment in Soc. Studies.  They are responsible for writing an Acrostic poem on either Chris Hadfield or Amelia Earhart.  We will decide on a due date on Monday together as a class.
• Spelling will be long "u" sound.  Grade 3-huge, June, dew, few, knew, excuse, school, cool, clue, true, juicy, cruise.    Grade 4-  huge, new, knew, few, true, excuse, music, June, school, fooling, juicy, unusual, chewing, usually, using
• Keep reading 20 min. each night, fill in the purple duotang.  Students remember to give yourself a comprehension check!
• Have a great week!

Week of Nov. 20-24

• Thank you to everyone who attended parent teacher interviews this week!  I enjoyed getting to sit and  chat with you about the progress your child is making.
• Please have your child reading for their 20 min each night. Be sure to sign the nightly reading log!
• Gr. 3 math- practice math facts nightly 5-8 min or so. I'm finding we need a little more work on the subtraction, so maybe spend a little more time on that.  I will be sending home the orange duotang that will need to be returned by Friday.  The students and I will be deciding how many pages they will do.
• Spelling words for this week (principle long i)-  Grade 3- line, nice, write, why, fly,  buy , try, right, fight, light, night        Grade 4- divide, write, right, light, tonight, fight, online, reply, lighten, frighten, recognize, highway, exercise, why, fly
• We will be starting to work on procedural writing this week in class.  This is where the students will be writing step by step instructions on how to do/make/complete something.  
• I will be sending home their recounts that we looked at during interviews. Please sign and return to class.
• Have a great week everyone!

Nov. 13-15

• I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend.  No school on Monday, Nov. 13 and Friday, Nov.17 due to interviews.
• Thank you to everyone who has signed up for interviews.  They will be Thursday evening and Friday morning.
• No spelling words this week due to a short week.
• Keep reading and practicing those math facts each night!
• Have a great week everyone!

Week of November 6-10

• I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend! Hard to believe that we are into November!
• Picture day will be Monday, November 6th.
• Please have students reading 20 min. each evening and record their reading in their nightly duotang.  They are doing a great job reading in class and I hope that love of reading continues at home :o)
• Grade 3 math - This month we will be working on estimating/mental math of addition and subtraction of 2 digit numbers along with adding/subtracting of 3 digit numbers.  Please continue reviewing math facts to 18 and I would also like the students to practice skip counting by 3's and 4's. 
• We are finishing up writing our book reviews for our novel Wonder  in class this week.
• Please sign up for parent teacher interviews on Thursday, Nov. 16 and Friday, Nov. 17.  Grade 4 math should sign up for Mr. Quinlan as well.
• Spelling words for week (long e sound) Grade 3- green, asleep, city, every, many, honey, monkey, key, team, dear, reading, piece           Grade 4- dear, piece, reading, repeating, agree,thirteen, speaking, breeze, relieved, eager, stream,slimy, shiny,funny, honey
• There will be no school on Monday, November 13th in lieu of Remembrance Day.
• Have a super week!

Week of Oct.30 -Nov.2

• Sorry for the late update to the blog!  I was away all weekend.
• There will be no school on Friday, November 3rd due to a PD day.
• Please be sure students are reading each night and fill in their nightly reading log.
• Gr. 3 math- practice your facts each night.  We will be having a quiz on Thursday.  It will include facts to 18, skip counting, and a few more questions on place value.
• Words for the week:  Grade 3- name, sale, make, made, pain, rain, mail, Sunday, stay, today, eighty, eighteen
• Grade 4- make, change, shape, frame, tail, waist, painter, faint, Sunday, today, Wednesday, painful, eighteen, weight, drain
• I am in the process of marking the personal recounts and I will hand them back with the rubric when I'm done. Please sign and be sure to return these to me for their file.  
• Book orders are due this Thursday.
• Have a great week.

Week of October 23-27

• I hope all of the students enjoyed their long weekend!
• We decided as a class that our good copy of our recount writing will be due on Wednesday, October 25th.  We have had quite a bit of in-class time to work on these and they will have an hour on Monday.  Please make sure they are using their rubrics to double check their work before handing it in.
• Spelling words for this week:Grade 3- spin, spine, not, note, stripe, pancake, us , use, plate, flame, car , care

          Grade 4-  pancake, stripe, spine, extreme,globe, use, escape, arrive, surprise, beware, skate, became, flame, smile, scrape

• Picture day will be Friday, October 27th.
• Grade 3 math-I will be starting to send a duotang with students.  I will talk to them about what I expect them to do for homework.  I am thinking it will be 2 pages, but they will have to week to finish at home and then return to me by the end of the week.  We are still working on skip counting by 3,4,5,10,100, and 25, forwards and backwards to 1000 and our adding and subtracting of math facts to 18.
• Fall is definitely in the air!  Please make sure to start tucking hats and mitts into kit bags.
• Have a wonderful week everyone!

Week of Oct. 16-18

• This is a 3-day week(no school on Thurs. and Friday).  The annual convention for teachers is on Thursday and Friday.
• I will not be having spelling words this week due to the fact that it is a short one.  I will be reviewing high frequency words with the students this week.
• Thank you for signing and returning the Health quiz this week. We will be moving into a unit of Social Studies next week.
• I sent off our book orders on Wed. so I am hoping that they will be here by this Wed.
• Gr. 3 math- this month we are focusing on math facts to 18 and skip counting by 3,4,5,10,25, and 100 forward and backward to 1000.   The students should be practicing their facts on a nightly basis.  They need to have a 3 second recall.
• Please be sure your child is reading for 20 min. each evening and sign the purple log.  We are about to finish our first read aloud called "Wonder" and the students have been hanging on every word!
• Students are working on recount writing and will be having a piece due Wednesday, Oct. 18 approx.  I may change this date depending on how much we get done next week. 
• Have a great week everyone!

Week of Oct. 10-13

• I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
• Please continue reading 20 min each night. Some of the duotangs are not getting signed, so please remember to do so.
• We had a health quiz on Thursday.  I will hand them back to be signed once everyone has the quiz written.  Please sign and return to school.  Our next unit will be a social studies unit on what it means to be an explorer.
• Math quiz for gr. 3 will be going home on Tuesday.  Please sign and return to me.  This month we are focusing on math facts to 18 and skip counting by 5,10,100,3,4 and 25 forwards and backwards.  Please be practicing the adding and subtracting facts each night. I did send home a couple of laminated fact sheets/strategies, however the flash cards from the dollar store are a great way to practice as well. The students love these!
• Book orders are due Wednesday, Oct. 11th.
• The students completed some Thanksgiving writing pieces and they are displayed in our room.  These will be going into their scrapbooks and you can have a peek at parent teacher interviews.  The other pieces of writing that I will be assessing will always come home to you to see, sign and return to school (I keep it throughout the year).  Our next writing piece will be some descriptive writing pieces on Halloween and personal recounts.  
• Thank you for all of your support at home and have a great week!

Week of October 2-5

• We have had another great week in our classroom!  I love when I hear the children say "What? It is the end of the day already!"  They are continuing to settle in and follow rules and expectations.  
• Monday our class should wear the color green because our school is dressing in rainbow colors in support of the verbal abuse prevention award that was won.  We will be attending a small assembly at 11:15 to see the award being given.
• Please continue to sign the nightly reading log.  They are expected to read 20 min. each evening.  I have also presented them with a new challenge. If they read 30 different books, keep track of them, and be able to discuss them with me, I will get them a book from the book order!  
• I will be having a small health quiz on Thursday, Oct. 5.  I will send home a review sheet on Monday with the children.
• New spelling words:   Grade 3-hollow, fossil,rock, top,promise, costume, umbrella,under, until, bug, runs, jumps

           Grade 4-prompt, costume, shock, octopus, clock, drop, cotton, cousin, follower, suddenly, crunch, fudge, summer, under, plump

• Please sign spelling quiz and return to school.
• No school on Friday, October 6th (PD day) and Monday, October 9th
• I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I am very thankful to be working in such a wonderful school with such amazing kids!  So thank you for doing such a great job raising them!

Week of Sept. 25-29

• Wow!  What a fast paced week!  The students are continuing to get settled into our routines and expectations for our class.  Great work!
• Just a reminder that the fundraising packages are due back on Monday.
• The students seem to be very into the books that they are reading throughout reading time and I would like to remind everyone to sign the nightly purple duotang.
• In writing, we have been working on coming up with "seed" ideas and not "watermelon" topics.  Students have been doing some free writing with these ideas.  We will soon be moving into our first text-type of writing called Recount Writing.   
• Spelling quiz was today (Friday) and they will be going home to be signed on Monday.  Please put back into homework bag.  Words for next week are:

Grade 3- bang, land,ask, track, kept, remember, bread, yellow, bigger, river, brick, whisper

Grade 4- after, than, package, rapid, festive, spend, shelf, measure, enter, activity, trick, festive, bring,

               whisper, special

*These words focus on short a, e, i sounds.

• Grade 3 math- keep practicing those facts each night.  We are continuing to work on representing numbers different ways AND  comparing and ordering numbers to 1000.  I am feeling that I will be assessing students on these outcomes before Thanksgiving.
• Thank you to everyone who ordered books from the book order.  The books were handed out yesterday.  Some very excited kids! :o)
• Have a wonderful week everyone!

Week of Sept. 18-22

*  I hope everyone had a great weekend!
*  Homework for this week will consist of reading for 20 min. each evening. Please let me know if your son/daughter is having a hard time finding a book to read in the evening.  They are more than welcome to take any book home from our classroom! The key is for them to find one at their level.
*  Spelling words will  be on the board first thing in the morning.  Students will write these words into their agendas and review them for the quiz on Friday.  We will be working with these words throughout the week.
*  Gr. 3 math-  I sent home laminated fact sheets on Friday for students to have to review their addition and subtraction facts nightly.  We are working on representing numbers to 1000 in class.  This includes reading 3 digit numbers, writing 3 digit numbers, writing 3 digit numbers in words, expanded form, and making and drawing 3 digit numbers using base ten blocks in more than one way.
*Book orders due tom. (Monday)
*Have a great week everyone!

Week of Sept. 11-15

*  What a great start to a new school year!  The students have been very busy over the last two days learning new routines, etc.
* I am hoping to see everyone on "Meet the Teacher" night this Monday starting at 6:30.  There will be a session in our room from 6:30 -6:45 and one from 6:45-7:00.  Mr. Gallant will call us all down to the music room for a group information session at 7:00.
*  I will be sending home Scholastic book orders on Monday.  I usually give a week for their orders to be in.  This is a great opportunity to pick up some reading material at great prices!
* The students discussed and shared their  "special reading spot" for their at home reading.  I would like 20 min. each evening and their reading duotangs will be coming home Monday.
*Spelling words will start the next Monday.
*Have a great week everyone!

Welcome Back!

* Wow! Where did the summer go!  I am so thrilled to be the Grade 3/4 homeroom teacher this year.  I am very excited to see the kids first thing in the morning.
* I will be trying my best to have my blog changed by Sundays each week, so please check :o)
* I will be sending home a parent letter tom.  If you could please read and answer the questions, it would be greatly appreciated.
*  Have a wonderful night and a restful sleep and I will see everyone tom.!

Week of May 1-4

• Wow! So hard to believe that we are into the month of May!
• Gr2. - Students please keep reading on a nightly basis.  It is very important to be discussing what you are reading. Use the comprehension questions that are in your homework bags. 
• Gr 3- Math-  I am sending home a letter today outlining some times for extra help sessions after school.  Please remember that if you are staying you must have a note on that day giving you permission.  We have finished up our unit on fractions and have moved on with data analysis.  This includes using tallys, charts/tables, line plots and bar graphs to display information.  The provincial math assessments are being held on June 7th and 8th.
• Gr 4 -Math- Our facts are improving so much!  I would encourage the students not to forget about the basic addition and subtraction as well.  We are into our unit on telling time on digital, analog and 24h clocks. 
• No school on Friday, May 5th 
• Have a great week everyone!

Feb. 21 - 24

• Wow!  What a snowy last week!  I am so glad to see everyone and get back into our routine.
• Gr.2 LA-  I want to remind parents to continue reading nightly with your child and discuss the book that they have read.  Don't forget to sign the nightly reading log!  We are moving into our persuasive writing unit.  I'm sure the students are going to have a blast writing about all kinds of topics that they are passionate about.
• Grade 4 math-  We have been working on division for the last couple of weeks.  It is so important for the students to have a good handle on their multiplication facts to help them achieve success with division.  I am feeling like I will have a quiz late this week or early next week.  The students and I will decide on a date tom.  My homework expectation is for the students to be reviewing their multiplication and division facts each night. These are improving so much and I am very proud of them for their hard work.
• Grade 3-  We have been working on multiplication and division over the last few weeks.  I will assess how they are doing so far on two different days coming up:  our quiz on multiplication will be this Friday, Feb. 24th and division will be next Thursday, March 2.  The students have been grasping these concepts and they have been working very hard in class.  Please have them continue to review their  adding and subtracting facts to 18 on a nightly basis.  
• Have a great week everyone!

Week of Jan. 16-20

• Gr. 2 - Continue to read each evening and discuss book with your child.  We will have our spelling quiz on Friday.
• Gr. 3-  We will be having our quiz on measurement and perimeter on Friday.  The students have been enjoying these outcomes so much!  Our mental math warm-ups have been introducing the concept of multiplication.  Please keep practicing those facts each night!
• Gr. 4- We will be having our math quiz on multiplication facts and 2/3 digit by 1 digit multiplication on Friday.  It is very important for your child to be reviewing the facts each night.
• Have a great week everyone!

Week of Jan.9-13

• Grade 2-  Please make sure the nightly reading books are being copied into their reading logs each evening (Mon-Thur.)  It is very important that the students are reading each night and discussing what they have read.  Spelling quiz will be on Friday and the focus for this week is compound words.
• Grade 3-  Please be practicing math facts each evening.  I will be sending home a duotang home this week filled with some practice adding and subtracting.  This is to keep up our adding and subtracting skills over the next few months.  When students finish 3 or 4 pages, they can take it in to me and I will correct it and send it back home.  We are now into our measurement (cm and m) and perimeter of regular and irregular shapes.
• Grade 4-  Students MUST be practicing their multiplication and division facts each night.....this is an outcome for them.  This outcome leads into the outcome we are working on now which is multiplication 3 digit by 1 digit numbers.  If they do not know their facts, they will have a hard time being successful with that outcome.
• Have a great week everyone!