Archives (Previous Week at School Updates)

May 21st, 2019

Last week we welcomed a new grade two students to our classroom! On Wednesday, the quail were moved to the learning commons so that all the classrooms could enjoy them. We certainly loved watching them hatch and grow!

Our grade three students will begin EQAO on Wednesday. The grade threes will go to Ms. Bond's class during the testing period and her grade four students will join us in our classroom. We will be doing some writing and math activities together.

On Friday, our grade three students will be going to Track and Field at St. Dominic school. Please make sure that your permission form is completed through School Day or that you have completed the paper copy (grade 3 only).

Unfortunately our trip to Big Curve Acres had to be cancelled due to an illness in the family that runs the farm. Mrs. Shisko and I are working on another trip that relates to our science curriculum. Please stay tuned for further information. If you had already paid through School Day, you will be reimbursed. Please call the office if you have any questions about this.

Class Authors

We are authors! Each student was author and illustrator of his/her own book. We worked hard for over a month to create these masterpieces completed below. Students went through the writing process from brainstorming ideas, to planning, drafting, revising and conferencing. Students then illustrated their own story. Students worked very hard and the results were amazing! At the end we shared our books with Mrs. Shisko's and Mrs. Bunker's classes.

May 12th, 2019

It certainly was an exciting and busy week last week! Thank you to all parents who supported the BBQ and Book Fair and came to the fabulous play put on by the Drama Club on Thursday. Friday was by far the most exciting day. I would like to say how incredibly proud I was of all the students on our walk to the church. They represented our school very well and impressed many by signing the "Our Father" during Mass. It was a wonderful way to introduce ourselves to Father Hogan.

The Quail have hatched! So far, we have nine quail with a possible couple more. It was truly an amazing experience to watch them hatch.

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, May 14th - Jump Rope for Heart. Please come in comfy clothes and outdoor running shoes!
Thursday, May 16th - School Council is sponsoring a Science North Family Night! Come join us for some amazing science activities.
May 22nd - EQAO begins for grade 3 students
May 24th - Track and Field Day for grade 3 students only.

Have an amazing week and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmothers!

The Quail are Here!

On Friday, we were able to watch two of the quail hatch. Between the incubator in the Learning Commons and the one in our classroom, there are nine quail so far! Thank you to Mr. Romanow for helping to provide this amazing experience for us.

Meeting Father Hogan

To end Education Week, our class walked to Saint Mary Church for the noon Mass. The CWL was holding 12 hours of prayer for Palliative Care. We were excited to meet our incoming priest, Father Hogan who was there to say Mass. We wish Father Sercely a joyous retirement and thank him for his many years of service.

Walk for Social Justice

We participated in our walk for social justice by walking to the church. Students were encouraged to smile at everyone that they passed by. We read a book called "The Smile that Went Around the World" and we wanted to see if we could brighten someone's day by a simple smile.

May 6, 2019

Happy Catholic Education Week!

There are many events happening this week as we focus on Catholic Education. It was a very fitting beginning to the week today as six of our grade two students made their first communion today. Congratulations! You did an amazing job and looked fabulous!

In other news, our quail eggs are due to hatch this week. We are hoping to have at least a few hatch. This should happen around Wednesday!

Activities This Week

Catholic Education Week (May 6 - 10th)
Tuesday, May 7th - Saint Mary’s BBQ & Scholastic Book Fair: Tuesday May 7, 2019 4:30 – 6:30
Wednesday, May 8th - Rosary Marian Celebrations: JK/SK – 3/4 @ 9:00 am, Gr. 4/5 – 7/8 @ 9:45
Thursday, May 9th - Drama Club Presents “Big Bad Musical” @ 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Friday May 10, 2019 - Saint Mary’s Walk for Social Justice and grade 2/3 walk to St. Mary Church to attend Mass at noon.

Information - Friday

On Friday, our class is going to walk to St. Mary Church. The Catholic Woman's League is sponsoring a 12 hour of prayer for Hospice. Part of this is a Mass at noon. We will be leaving the school at approximately 11:20 and returning after the Mass. We will do the walk for social justice at the same time as the walk to the church. Parents, you are welcome to join us for this walk and attend Mass with us!

Have a fabulous week! I hope to see many of you at the BBQ on Tuesday!

April 28, 2019

Exciting News!

Our Coturnix quail eggs are doing well so far! They should hatch around May 8th.

Activities This Week

May 1st - You don't have to cook! Join the School Council for the Family Place Restaurant fundraiser on May 1st between 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. A portion of the bill from both dine in and take out orders will be given to St. Mary School. You don't have to be from St. Mary school to participate. Tell all of your friends!
May 3rd - PA Day. There are no classes on this day.

Catholic Education Week (May 6 - 10th)

Monday, May 6th - Leadership Spirit Day: Star Wars Revenge of the Sixth
Tuesday, May 7th - Saint Mary’s BBQ & Scholastic Book Fair: Tuesday May 7, 2019 4:30 – 6:30
Wednesday, May 8th - Rosary Marian Celebrations: JK/SK – 3/4 @ 9:00 am, Gr. 4/5 – 7/8 @ 9:45
Thursday, May 9th - Drama Club Presents “Big Bad Musical” @ 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Friday May 10, 2019 - Saint Mary’s Walk for Social Justice

Have a fabulous week!

April 24, 2019

Advent Food Drive

Thank you to everyone who brought in food for the food drive.

Exciting News!

We are hatching Coturnix quail! Mr. Romanow has generously set up an incubator in our classroom. We have 15 eggs hoping to hatch! Today, we looked up some information about quail and how to take care of the eggs. Thank you Mr. Romanow!

Mass

Our class lead mass on Wednesday, April 12th at 9:50 in the school gym. Students did an excellent job leading the prayers and the mass. Bravo!

Activities This Week

April 26th - "Back to the Future" spirit day. Students are asked to dress up from the past (Ex. from an era - 20s, 30s, 50s, etc;) or as if they are from the future.
May 3rd - PA Day. There are no classes on this day.

Curriculum Notes

Math - We are working on three dimensional solids and their properties. There is no Math Before Bed this week.
Language - Our books are almost finished! There are just a few students who need to finish their illustrations. We are excited to share these with another class!
Social Studies - Grade two students will be learning about Global Communities and Grade 3 students are learning about the Early Settlers to Canada.
Religion - Happy Easter! We are learning about how the story of the Last Supper relates to the parts of the Mass.

Have a fabulous week!

April 1, 2019

It must be April Fools that we are still having snowfalls! Here's to hoping that spring comes soon!

PLEASE SEND IN:

We are in need of some recycled materials for a science project. Grade two students will be making a simple machine out of recycled materials in class on Thursday or Friday. Useful materials are: cereal boxes (broken down), juice lids, small containers, toilet paper rolls. Please no glass or large objects!

Advent Food Drive

Donations have been very slow to come in for our class. Our goal is 40 items in 40 days per class, however, we have only had a few (less than 5) items donated for our class. Please help this worthwhile cause.

Mass

Our class will be leading mass on Wednesday, April 12th at 9:50 in the school gym. Parents are welcome to come and join in the celebration.

Activities This Week

Thursday - Science North will be visiting the school on this day.
Monday - Please join us for School Council meeting in the library at 6:30

Curriculum Notes

Math - We have been focussing on money this week. We are going to be learning how to make change. Practise with this concept at home is greatly appreciated.
Language - Please continue to do your nightly STARS reading. Our books are coming along nicely and will hopefully be finished this week!
Science - Grade 3 students are learning about structures and grade 2 students are learning about movement and simple machines. We will be concluding this unit hopefully this week.
Religion - We are focussing on the season of Lent. Students will be talking about prayer, fasting and Almsgiving.

Have a fabulous week!

March 18, 2019

I hope that everyone had a restful and fun March Break! It is odd to think that we are already talking about the last few months of the school year!

Advent Food Drive

Our class is again in charge of the food drive. This began on Ash Wednesday. Donations have been very slow to come in. Please send donations when you can during the season of Lent. All donations will go to the St. Vincent de Paul.

Ms. Hammond

This will be Ms. Hammond's last week with us. She will be returning to finish her first year of Teacher's College at Nipissing. We thank her for all of her fun lessons, especially subtraction with pretzels and marshmallows! We wish her luck with her teaching career and we hope that she visit's us!

Activities This Week

On Friday, we will have a "House Colour" spirit day. Students are asked to dress in their house colour. We will write this colour in the agenda on Monday so that parents are aware. All students in the school were put into a house colour for activity days.
Tuesday - We will have a hydro presentation in the library.

Curriculum Notes

Math - We are learning about addition and subtraction with double (grade 2) and triple (grade 3) digits. Extra practise at home is encouraged. After this, we will be talking about money. This is often a difficult concept for students. Reinforcement of money amounts and how to count money is helpful. This is a good time to look for that change under the couch cushions and have your child count it up! Playing "grocery" and making change is also a great game.
Language - Please continue to do your nightly STARS reading. We have only had two students reach the first incentive of 10 books. Writing - students have begun to write their very own book. Most students have finished their plan and are working on writing their story. Students will go through the entire writing process and end up with a finished book, complete with illustrations!
Science - Grade 3 students are learning about structures and grade 2 students are learning about movement and simple machines.
Religion - We are focussing on the season of Lent. Students will be talking about prayer, fasting and Almsgiving.

Have a fabulous week!

February 11, 2019

We have a very busy few weeks ahead of us! Here is a quick reference for you.

Electives are on Thursdays in February 14th, 21st and 28th. Please make sure that your child is ready for the elective. For skating, please make sure that students have a helmet and skates in a separate bag. Plastic grocery bags tend to rip with the skates.
Friday, February 15th - Students will present their poems on this day. Students brought home the poems over two weeks ago. Hopefully by now, students have practised and are ready to go!
Friday, February 15th - We will celebrate Valentine's Day on this day since Thursday is electives and the grade three students will be gone all day. A list of student names will go home to help with Valentines if you wish to send them in. There is also a spirit day on this day - Wear red, white or pink!
Ms. Hammond will return for her practise teaching block after the Family Day weekend. We are excited to have her back!

Grade two students have been trying to finish their research project on a holiday (too many snow days!). Grade three students are learning about land use in Ontario.

Homework

A note will be going home about a new incentive program for the STARS reading program. Reading at home is encouraged each day. Please see the note for details.
Math Before Bed - I am finding that many students are not completing this and returning it on Thursdays each week. Students receive the question on Monday and are to return by Thursday. If there is a reason why it can not be completed in that time, please let me know and complete it as soon as possible.

Have a great week!

Math Before Bed Answer

Students came up with some amazing answers for the "Which One Does Not Belong" Math Before Bed question. We made some interesting comparisons and had a great discussion to defend our ideas!

Australia Day

One of our students who has come from Australia, told us all about Australia Day. This is Australia's birthday and is celebrated on January 26th. It is similar to Canada Day. It fit in perfectly with the grade two social studies unit about traditions and celebrations. Daniel shared the Australian flag, what they do on this holiday and even brought some treats for us to try! He even gave us each a keychain to take home. Thank you Daniel and his family for sharing their celebrations and traditions with us!

January 20, 2019

We have had quite a start to our year! We have welcomed two new students - Daniel and Eva. We also said goodbye to one of our classmates who is moving.

Homework Routine

Thank you to those families who are completing the Math Before Bed homework each week (goes home on Monday to be returned by Thursday) and who are working on the weekly word list each week. STARS reading continues to also be an important routine, as reading at home is essential for developing reading strategies and confidence. I notice that many students have not been changing STARS books, even though reminded to.

Curriculum Notes

We continue Daily 5 during Language and are working on adding detail to writing.
In Math, we are working on telling time. Grade two students are learning to tell time to the hour, half hour, quarter after and quarter to times. We are also learning activities that we can do in a minute. Grade 3 students are learning to tell time to the five minutes. All students need more practise with using the calendar. For example, ask your child what the date is a week from now or have them count how many days until a special event. You can also have them mark important events on the family calendar, or have your child make or mark events on their own calendar. Many students are not sure of the months of the year and the order they occur.
In Social Studies, grade 2's will be doing an in school project on a celebration (Christmas, Diwali, etc;). Grade three students continue to learn about the landform regions in Ontario and the way that we use land in Ontario.

Electives

Grade three students will be at the elective of their choice
Grade two students will be skating. Please contact me ASAP if your child does not have skates and a helmet. I will need time to see if the school has equipment. I will not be able to find equipment the day that we go skating.

Have a fabulous week!

Thursday, January 3, 2019

I hope that everyone had a joyous holiday season! We have a busy few months ahead of us with a lot still left to learn in grade 2/3.

We will hopefully quickly get back into routine again. Please make sure to continue to read your STARS books each night and to complete the Math Before Bed each week (return on Thursday please).

I would like to take the time to welcome a new student, Daniel into our classroom. He is from Australia and will be living in Muskoka for a year. We are pleased to have him and his family become part of our St. Mary family!

Monday, December 17, 2018

It is hard to believe that Christmas is only one week away! Thank you to everyone who came to the fabulous Christmas concert. The kids did an amazing job.

This week we will be finishing reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Students have been responding to the text in a variety of ways (orally, answering questions using APE (Answer, Prove, Explain) format.

We will be focussing on preparing the way of the Lord and learning about the Nativity Story. Our Advent food drive will end on Wednesday. Thank you all for your generous donations. It is in giving that we receive! This has been the mantra of our food drive this year. The grade 2/3 class has done an excellent job collecting the food each day and saying announcements each morning. Bravo!

Grade two students submitted their first project last week on Family Traditions. We will be presenting these this week. If your child has not completed this (due December 13), please finish and return ASAP.

I would like to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!

Monday, December 2, 2018

Today began the season of Advent. I can't believe that it is already December! It has been a busy few weeks. Please see below for a video on the season of Advent.

Here are some important dates:

December 3rd: Mass at 9:50. Our class will be hosting this Mass.
December 3rd: The Advent Food Drive begins.
December 13: Saint Mary Christmas concert @6:00.
December 13: Grade 2 Family Traditions Project is due. This went home last week. Please return when it is completed.

Please remember that our library day is Wednesday. Please return your child's library books on this day. Many students have overdue books. Also, homework should be completed by the student with the help of a parent or sibling. For Math Before Bed, both the student and the parent may record the way the problem was solved on the sheet.

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, November 26th, 2018

Thank you to all parents who were able to make it to the three way conferences. I was so glad to meet you and talk about the progress that your child has made so far this year!

There are some busy weeks ahead and I wanted you to be aware of some important dates:

December 3rd: Our class is in charge of the Advent Mass on this day. You are welcome to join us at 9:50 for Mass in the school gym. Some students will be bringing home Prayers of the Faithful to practise for this Mass.
December 3rd: The Advent Food Drive begins. Our class is organizing this for the Knights Of Columbus. Students will be making posters and doing daily announcements. Please be generous. I am encouraging students to "earn" the food to donate by doing extra around the house to help out.
December 13: Saint Mary Christmas concert @6:00.
December 13: Grade 2 Family Traditions Project is due. This will go home this week.

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, November 12th, 2018

Curriculum Notes:

Language: Please continue to work on reading with your children at home to develop confidence. The STARS reading program has begun and many students are diligently changing their books. Please make sure to record the books that are read. If you need a new form, please let me know and I will send one home. These books are an excellent way to get "just right" books. Each child is given a bin of books to choose from. Each bin has a few different reading levels in them, so if you find that your child has chosen a "Papa Bear" book (too hard), don't worry, read the book together. A good idea is to have your child do a "picture walk" through the book before you begin so that your child gets a sense of what the book is about. This is also a good time for you to point out any words that might be difficult. (I see a glacier, can you find the word glacier on the page?)
MATH BEFORE BED - Each Monday, students will be bringing a "Math Before Bed" duotang home. It will contain a math question to solve and return by Thursday. There is a parent information sheet in the duotang. This is meant to be a conversation between you and your child about how you both solve math problems. Please take time to read the parent information sheet for instructions.

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, November 5th, 2018

We made it through Halloween week! The kids looked adorable in their costumes. We had lots of fun doing some pumpkin math and science experiments. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Valdez for providing the McDonald's lunch for the students on Friday!

A week ago, we said "see you soon" to Ms. Hammond. She finished her placement, but will return to us at the end of February. We wish her well at teacher's college.

Curriculum Notes:

Language: Please continue to work on reading with your children at home to develop confidence. The STARS reading program has begun and many students are diligently changing their books. Please make sure to record the books that are read. If you need a new form, please let me know and I will send one home. These books are an excellent way to get "just right" books. Each child is given a bin of books to choose from. Each bin has a few different reading levels in them, so if you find that your child has chosen a "Papa Bear" book (too hard), don't worry, read the book together. A good idea is to have your child do a "picture walk" through the book before you begin so that your child gets a sense of what the book is about. This is also a good time for you to point out any words that might be difficult. (I see a glacier, can you find the word glacier on the page?)
Word wall words: Each Monday, students bring home ten words to work on for the week. We do work on these in class, but extra practise at home is necessary. The students do have a test on the words on Friday. More importantly, I add these words to our class word wall and see if student transfer the learning to their writing. Five of the words each week are based on a word family or grammar point.
Math - We continue to work on numbers and patterns. Many students are having difficulties with counting by 2s, 5s and 10s from various numbers (Count by 2s starting at 35).
MATH BEFORE BED - Each Monday, students will be bringing a "Math Before Bed" duotang home. It will contain a math question to solve and return by Thursday. There is a parent information sheet in the duotang. This is meant to be a conversation between you and your child about how you both solve math problems. Please take time to read the parent information sheet for instructions. It is quite interesting to me when we do math talks a few times a week and a student comes up with a logical way to solve a problem that I might not have thought of!

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, October 22nd, 2018

Please forgive me for not updating in the past few weeks. We certainly were busy. Ms. Hammond is back and will be here until the end of this week. She has begun to teach lessons in Art, Science and Writing. It is great to have her.

Curriculum Notes:

Science: Grade 3 students continue to learn about soils and grade 2 are learning properties of air and water.
Language: We have begun our daily 5 rotations. Students will have words each week. Half of the words focus on either a word family or grammar point, the other half are sight words. Please practise these words with your child each night. It doesn't just have to be pencil and paper tasks - write it in sand, soap in the bathtub, magnetic letters, make them out of playdoh!
STaRS reading program has begun. The form was sent home on Friday. The way it is run in our class is students make a choice from a bin (I ask them to choose from a certain bin that it at or near their level of reading. We call these "just right" books. These books help us to become a better reader. On the information sheet, there are some tips for how to help your child. I completely understand that this may not be done every night as there are extracurricular activities that take up time. However, reading each night is important. Please call if you have any questions about this program. If your child happens to choose a "papa bear" (too hard) book, feel free to read it to them and indicate on the record card that it was read to them. Modelling reading and reading strategies is important too!
Please note that Friday is a PA Day and there is no school.

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, October 1st, 2018

I hope that everyone enjoyed the first PA Day of the year! Teachers were busy learning about how to keep the workplace safe! It certainly was a very busy week with the Terry Fox Run, Picture Day, Cross Country Run and PA Day!

The St. Mary Cross Country Team was the biggest team yet with 63 students attending the event at Arrowhead Park! It was a spectacular autumn day, and Saint Mary students performed well and represented our school to the highest standards! Congratulations to everyone who went to the event!

We are putting the finishing touches on our class book "What If Everybody Did That?". It will be uploaded on this page as soon as it is finished. We are ready to begin Daily 5 in Language and are learning to rotate through five centres: Work on Writing, Read to self, Read to Someone, Word Work and Listen to Reading (done with Epic Reading online).

We will beginning new science units this week. Grade two students will be learning about Air and Water. Grade Three students will be learning about soils.

The STARS reading program will be beginning soon. It is always encouraged that you read with your child each night.

We have Mass on Thursday this week. Mrs. Shisko's students will be leading us. You are welcome to join us. We only have one more week until Ms. Hammond is back with us! She will start to teach some lessons in her second week. We are excited to have her back.

Have a fabulous week!

Monday, September 24th, 2018

This promises to be a very busy, shortened week! Here is a reminder of this week's events:

Monday: We will have our in class toonie toss for the Terry Fox Foundation. Please send in your toonies!

Tuesday: School Terry Fox Run. Wear your Terry Fox t-shirt, or your country/western gear to support Mrs. Jenkinson! Please send in the pledge forms ASAP. There is also a bake sale this day sponsored by Mrs. Bunker's grade 7/8 class.

Wednesday: Photo Day!

Thursday: Cross Country Run (for those one the team and have forms). Mrs. Webster will be taking the team to the race. Students will have a supply teacher this day.

Friday: This is a PA Day. There is no school for students on this day! Have a great long weekend!

Monday, September 17th, 2018

We are settling in and adjusting to the balanced day. Students do start the day with a quick snack each day while doing their bell work, so they have a change to eat before 10:45. We are all learning to eat one small snack (healthy) at this time, and divide the rest of the food in the lunch between these two breaks. It might help in the beginning if you talk to your child about when they eat the different items.

Here are a few upcoming events at the school:

School Council Meeting is Monday 17th at 6:30 in the school library. Please consider becoming involved with the school council.
Meet the Teacher BBQ and Book Fair is Thursday, 20th @4:30. The Knights of Columbus serve up a delicious BBQ. Come in a visit the classroom!

I am looking forward to meeting many of you at the BBQ. I will be around helping out in different areas, so please come an introduce yourself! The classroom will be open for you to see where your child's desk is and what our classroom looks like.

Keep looking below to see what we have been learning in math class!

Have a fabulous week!

Fun with Math!

We have been having fun doing growth mindset activities in Math using youcubed "Week of Inspirational Math" activities! In this activity, students were given different shapes and challenged to: only change one attribute at a time (colour or shape), use all shapes, start with a red circle and end with a blue triangle. Students were challenged to solve the challenge in as many ways possible. Students rose to the challenge and demonstrated that with effort and perseverance, anything is possible!

Monday, September 10th, 2018

It was an exciting first week! We got to know each other a little bit, learned some classroom routines and talked about the importance of rules in our classroom and school. Ms. Hammond helped out in our classroom this week and she will be back after Thanksgiving. We are all starting to get used to the balanced day.

Thank you to those of you who have already written to tell me about your child. The information that you give helps me to get to know your child much better. When you share strengths and needs, it gives me valuable information to help your child succeed.

Here are a few upcoming events at the school:

Thursday is Mass in the gym @ 9:00. You are more than welcome to join us for this first school Mass.
There is a meeting at the church today (Monday) regarding interest in the sacraments of reconciliation and communion. A note went home about this last week.
Cross Country Running team: Many students have signed up for the cross country running team. We practise on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at first nutrition break. Students will need to make sure that they have proper running shoes.

Thank you for submitting your forms. I know that there is a lot of information to fill out at the beginning of the year!

Have a fabulous week!

Welcome to the first week of school!

Welcome to our class website. I hope to use this site to communicate what is happening in our classroom, school and church. Please make sure to check out the contact page if you wish to find out how to contact me. I will send home periodic paper copies of updates, however, I try to go paperless as much as possible and find that a website is a quick and easy way to send current information.

In the first week of class, we will be getting to know each other and doing some introductory activities in each of the curriculum areas. We will also be establishing routines.

There will be a large amount of information going home in the first week of school. Please make sure to return it to the school as soon as possible. I am looking forward to a fabulous year!