News for Week of April 29 - May 3, 2024

Language:

Since April is poetry month, we are listening to and reading poems, and showing our comprehension by answering questions and visualizing. We have also been learning about the parts or elements of fictional narrative stories (make-believe stories). We will begin to plan our own fictional narrative story (a make-believe story).     

Our next UFLI phonics lesson will be about the long u vowel sound as in the word use. The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name, u. 

The vowel u says its own name, u, when there is a silent E at the end of a word, like in the words cube, mute, and cute and also words such as flute, rule, tube, duke, and tune. The E at the end of the word does not make a sound so we say it is "silent" ("silent E" or "bossy E"). 

This week's new heart words are: one, once

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, or, for, who, by, my, *one, *once.

Spelling Check-In Friday, May 3rd:

On Friday, May 3rd, we will have another heart word spelling check-in. Your child is expected to know how to spell the heart words learned in class so far. In addition, the assessment will include words that follow the long vowel patterns we've been learning. At home, please continue to help your child by practising reading and writing the heart words. Remember, the heart words are high-frequency words so it is essential that your child learns to read and write them 'by heart".

Math: 

This week, the Grade 2s will have an assessment of their learning about multiplication and division. The next unit will be about data, with the first few lessons focusing on sorting according to two attributes. 

The Grade 3s will continue to learn about multiplication and division. 

In Grade 3, the curriculum focus is to represent multiplication of numbers up to 10 x 10 and division up to 100 ÷ 10, using a variety of tools and drawings, including arrays and number lines. In addition, Grade 3 students need to recall and demonstrate multiplication facts of 2, 5, and 10, and related division facts. 

Link to Grade 3 Parent Letter Multiplying By Special Numbers here 

Link to Grade 3 Parent Letter Multiplication Tables and Patterns here

HELP PLEASE - Grade 3 Multiplication: To support your child in this learning, practising the times tables of 2, 5, and 10 (e.g., 2 x ___; 5 x ___; 10 x ___) on a regular basis will help your child's confidence. If your child already has his/her times tables of 2, 5, and 10 memorized, encouraging them to practise times tables for all other numbers to 10 will surely do wonders to prepare for Grade 4. 

Important Dates:

Thurs., May 2 - Library books due

April 29, May 1, May 6, May 10 - Jewelry Sale for Ryan's Well

May 6 - 10 - Education Week

Wed., May 8 - Catholic Education Week Mass in gym 11:00 (Mrs.

Maidment's class responsible for the readings)

Fri., May 10 - St. Gabriel Open House 8:15 a.m.

  News for Week of April 22 - 26, 2024

Earth Day Monday, April 22nd: 

We will honour Earth Day by discussing how we can care for God's creation. On Monday, students are invited to wear Earth colours (blue, green, brown) and/or Earth slogans. 

Curriculum Update:

Language:

In Grade 2 and 3, we have been learning about the parts or elements of fictional narrative stories (make-believe stories). The students will continue to learn how to use a Shape Go! Map graphic organizer (see link and image below) to retell stories including the beginning (characters, setting, problem), middle (3-6 main events), and end (solution or resolution of the problem). We will soon use this knowledge to learn how to write our own fictional narrative story (a make-believe story).          

             

Our next UFLI phonics lesson will consist of a review of the long vowel sounds we have learned so far (long a, long i, long o) as well as the long e vowel sound as in the word eve. The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name, e. 

The vowel e says its own name, e, when there is a silent E at the end of a word, like in the words theme, eve, and Pete. The E at the end of the word does not make a sound so we say it is "silent" ("silent E" or "bossy E"). 

This week's new heart words are: one, once

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, or, for, who, by, my, *one, *once.

Math: 

The Grade 2s and 3s will continue to learn about multiplication and division. Please note that in Grade 2, the expectation is only to learn to represent multiplication as repeated equal groups. The focus of division in Grade 2 is to represent division of up to 12 items as the equal sharing of a quantity. 

Link to Grade 2 Multiplication Parent Letter

Link to Grade 2 Division Parent Letter

In Grade 3, the curriculum focus is to represent multiplication of numbers up to 10 x 10 and division up to 100 ÷ 10, using a variety of tools and drawings, including arrays and number lines. In addition, Grade 3 students need to recall and demonstrate multiplication facts of 2, 5, and 10, and related division facts. 

Link to Multiplication Parent Letter #1: Representing Multiplication Using Sets and Arrays

Link to Multiplication Parent Letter #2: Representing Multiplication On a Number Line

Link to Multiplication Parent Letter #3: Representing Division as Sharing

HELP PLEASE - Grade 3 Multiplication: To support your child in this learning, practising the times tables of 2, 5, and 10 (e.g., 2 x ___; 5 x ___; 10 x ___) on a regular basis will help your child's confidence. If your child already has his/her times tables of 2, 5, and 10 memorized, encouraging them to practise times tables for all other numbers to 10 will surely do wonders to prepare for Grade 4. 

As stated in the Grade 3 Math curriculum, "Having automatic recall of multiplication and division facts is important when carrying out mental or written calculations and frees up working memory when solving complex problems and tasks."

Grade 3 EQAO At-Home Preparation Booklets:

The students are doing an excellent job of preparing for the upcoming EQAO assessment (end of May). I have heard many positive comments from parents about the at-home review booklets. The material that is being sent home is also helpful in showing parents the type of curriculum-based learning our students are doing at school. Thank you so much to all of you for assisting and encouraging your child to complete their weekly EQAO Practice booklets. 

Important Dates to Remember:

Mon., April 22: Earth Day - Wear blue, green, brown

Tues., April 23: Wear red or orange

Wed., April 24: Wear lines or stripes

Thurs., April 25: Wear yellow or white

Thurs., April 25: Library books due

Fri., April 26: Wear school colours (purple/gray)

Fri., April 26: Homework due

  News for Week of April 15 - 19, 2024

Thank You

The Grade 3 students are doing an excellent job preparing for EQAO. Thank you to parents for assisting and encouraging your child to complete their weekly EQAO Practice Booklets and return them by the due date (Friday) so we can review their answers together. ***The next EQAO homework (Practise booklet #3) is due back to school on Friday., April 19th.

A reminder to Grade 2 students that it's important for them to return their phonics homework by the due date requested. The latest Grade 2 phonics homework is due Monday of this week.

IMPORTANT: Grade 3 Coding Workshop/Hackathon Challenge:

Students in grade three will be participating in a “Coding in the Classroom” experience hosted by Coder Sports. Students will take part in three 1-hour coding sessions (April 22, 23, and 26), specially crafted to offer a fun and engaging introduction to coding. A group of co-op students will be leading the workshop, and they are part of a STEM leadership program, coming from various high schools across the city, including All Saints.

The aim of the experience is to foster teamwork and creativity among the students, who will be organized into small groups based on their prior coding experience. This hands-on approach not only introduces them to the basics of coding but also encourages collaboration and problem-solving. 

In an effort to organize students into the appropriate groups, please follow this link and complete the registration form by Wednesday, April 17th. The information will be used to group students based on their individual comfort levels with coding. 

We look forward to the students engaging in the Hackathon challenge!

Our Learning 

Language:

In Writing, we have completed our persuasive letters. We will complete some more persuasive texts over the next couple of weeks as additional practice. We will soon begin to work on retelling fictional narrative stories using the Shape Go! Map as an organizer. We will then use what we have learned about the elements of narratives to write our own narrative stories. You can support your child's learning by asking them to retell the important parts of a fiction story they read to you.

Our next UFLI phonics lesson will focus on  the long o vowel sound as in the word open. The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name, o. 

The vowel o says its own name, o, when there is a silent E at the end of a word, like in the words home, bone, code, rope, and note. The E does not make a sound so we say it is "silent" ("silent E" or "bossy E"). 

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, or, for, who, *by, *my.

Math:

In our Grade 3 time unit, we have been using analog and digital clocks to tell the time in hours and minutes, and we will soon learn how to include seconds to tell the time. Please review how to read and write the time to the hour (e.g., 2:00), half hour (e.g., 8:30), quarter hours (e.g., 3:15, 3:45), as well as to the 5 minutes (e.g., 6:05, 6:10, 6:25, etc.). We will have an assessment of our learning about time this week. 

Link to Grade 3 Parent Summary Letter About Time here

In Grade 2, we will review how to use non-standard units and standard units of time, including seconds, minutes, hours, to describe the duration of various events. We will have a short assessment early this week.

Link to Grade 2 Parent Summary Letter About Measuring Time in Seconds and Minutes here

Help Please

We still need your help! We are working on a collective Welcoming Multilingual mural. We are seeking parent volunteers to come and help us paint Welcome in as many languages as we have at St. Gabriel School. Thank you to those of you who have already volunteered to help us. If you are interested in getting involved, please fill out this form:

Welcome Mural Form

Important Dates:

April is Earth Month

Thursday, April 18: Library books due

Friday, April 19: St. Gabriel School Movie Night

Monday, April 22: Earth Day

April 22, 23, 26 (morning): Grade 3 Coder Sports "Coding in the Classroom" Hackathon 

 News for Week of April 9 - 12, 2024

On Monday, April 8, we will experience a near total solar eclipse in Ottawa. The eclipse will begin at 2:11 p.m. and will reach its peak at 3:25 p.m. The event will end by 4:35 p.m. We are all super excited! Ask your child to tell you what we've learned about solar eclipses, including the paper model we made on Friday. 

Help Please

We need your help! We are working on a collective Welcoming Multilingual mural. We are seeking parent volunteers to come and help us paint Welcome in as many languages as we have at St. Gabriel School. Thank you to those of you who have already volunteered to help us. If you are interested in getting involved, please fill out this form:

Welcome Mural Form

Our Learning 

Language:

In Writing, we are finishing up our first persuasive letter. We will soon begin to work on retelling fictional narrative stories using the Shape Go! Map as an organizer. We will then use what we have learned about the elements of narratives to write our own narrative stories.  

Our next UFLI phonics lessons will focus on long vowel sounds. Our next lesson will be about the long i vowel sound as in ice cream. The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name, I. 

The vowel i says its own name, I, when there is a silent E at the end of a word, like in the words bike and side. The silent E makes vowels say their names, or long vowel sounds. 

*Usually, when there is a silent E at the end of a word it will tell us to say the long vowel sound like in the words five, ride, and kite. The E does not make a sound so we say it is "silent" ("silent E" or "bossy E"). 

New heart words: by, my

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, or, for, who, *by, *my.

Math:

In our Grade 3 time unit, we will use analog and digital clocks to tell the time in hours, minutes, and seconds. Please review how to read and write the time to the hour (e.g., 2:00), half hour (e.g., 8:30), quarter hours (e.g., 3:15, 3:45), as well as to the 5 minutes (e.g., 6:05, 6:10, 6:25, etc.). This unit is a short one and should be completed this week.

Link to Grade 3 Parent Summary Letter About Time here

In Grade 2, we will continue to learn how to use non-standard units and standard units of time, including seconds, minutes, hours, to describe the duration of various events.

Link to Grade 2 Parent Summary Letter About Measuring Time Using Non-Standard Units here

Link to Grade 2 Parent Summary Letter About Measuring Time in Seconds and Minutes here

Science:

The Grade 2 students will continue to explore the properties of solids and liquids, because, matter matters!

The Grade 3 students will learn more about magnetism in our forces unit. 

Grade 2 Homework:

The Grade 2 students will bring home their long a vowel sound phonics homework as a follow-up to last week's phonics lessons.

Grade 3 EQAO Homework:

The Grade 3 students will bring home their EQAO At-Home Practice Booklet #3 at the end of this week. It will be due back to school on Friday, April 19th. Please ensure your child brings their booklet back for our discussion and review even if they have not finished all of the questions. It is much easier for them if they have a copy in front of them to follow along with.

Looking Ahead:

April is World Autism Awareness Month

April is Earth Month

Monday April 8th - PD Day & solar eclipse

Thursday, April 11: Library books due

  News for Week of April 2 - 5, 2024

I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter long weekend. We will continue our learning about Jesus' resurrection this week. Ask your child to retell the story of Benjamin's Box to you. We will complete the last part of this story over the next few days.

Help Please

We need your help! We are working on a collective Welcoming Multilingual mural. We are seeking parent volunteers to come and help us paint Welcome in as many languages as we have at St. Gabriel School. Thank you to those of you who have already volunteered to help us. If you are interested in getting involved, please fill out this form:

Welcome Mural Form

Our Learning:

Language:

In Writing, we continue to work on writing our first persuasive text. We are having fun exploring how to convince or persuade others that our opinion of a topic is correct. 

Our next UFLI phonics lessons will focus on long vowel sounds. Our first lesson will be about the long a vowel sound as in the word acorn. The long vowel sound is the same as the vowel's name, A. 

The vowel a says its own name, A, when there is a silent E at the end of a word, like in the words made and tape. The silent E makes vowels say their names, or long vowel sounds. 

*Usually, when there is a silent E at the end of a word it will tell us to say the long vowel sound like in the words cake, same, and skate. The E does not make a sound so we say it is "silent" or "silent E". 

New heart words: who, by, my

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, or, for, *who, *by, *my.

Grade 2 Homework:

The Grade 2 students will bring home their next phonics homework once we have completed our long a vowel sound lessons.

Math:

In Grade 2, we will finish up our unit on two-digit addition and subtraction. We will have our end of unit assessment task this week. 

Our next unit in both Grade 2 and Grade 3 is about time. 

In Grade 2, the time curriculum focuses on how to use units of time, including seconds, minutes, hours, and non-standard units, to describe the duration of various events.

Link to Gr 2 MathUP parent summary letter measuring time in seconds and minutes here

Link to Gr2 MathUP parent summary letter about relating units of time here

In Grade 3, the time curriculum focuses on using analog and digital clocks and timers to tell time in hours, minutes, and seconds. 

Link to Grade 3 MathUP parent summary letter about time here

Grade 3 Homework:

***Grade 3 EQAO Practise booklet #2 is due back to school on Friday., April 5. Please ensure your child brings the booklet back for our consolidation even if they have not finished all of the pages. We will be taking up each question and it is easier if your child has the booklet to follow along with.***

Looking Ahead:

April is World Autism Awareness Month

April is Earth Month

Thursday, April 4: Library books due

Friday, April 5: Wear blue for Autism Awareness

Friday, April 5: EQAO prep booklet #2 due 

Monday April 8th - PD Day & solar eclipse

 News for Week of March 25 - 28, 2024

It's Holy Week - a time for prayer and quiet reflection. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and leads to Easter Sunday, the most important time in the Catholic church. On Palm Sunday, we learn how Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem and the people waved palm branches at Him shouting, "Hosanna!". On Holy Monday, Jesus and His disciples went into the temple and Jesus overturned tables since people were selling things rather than praying. Holy Tuesday - Jesus and His disciples returned to the temple and taught the people many things through parables and gave the people the New Commandment. On Holy Wednesday, Judas agreed to hand over Jesus for silver coins. On Holy Thursday, Jesus had the Last Supper, which is the institution of the Eucharist and also the first mass. He also washed the feet of His disciples. Jesus asked His disciples to pray in the garden with Him all night, and they fell asleep. On Good Friday, Jesus died on the cross. The stations of the cross happen on Good Friday. Holy Saturday is when we learn that Jesus is dead in the tomb. The evening of Holy Saturday is considered the "vigil" and Easter celebrations can begin then. On Easter, the Alleluia returns and life is renewed, as it was for Jesus through His resurrection. The children will be hearing the story of the Passion throughout the week in class. Ask your child to retell the story to you. 

Grade 3 Homework:

***EQAO Practice booklet #1 is due back to school on Thursday, March 28, before the long weekend. Please ensure your child brings the booklet back for our consolidation even if they have not finished all of the pages. We will be taking up each question and it is easier if your child has the booklet to follow along with. EQAO Practice booklet #2 will be sent home on Thursday, March 28 and due back to school on Friday, April 5th. 

Grade 2 Homework:

The Grade 2s will bring home phonics homework to reinforce last week's lesson about the digraph ng. The homework will be due back to school on Tuesday, April 2nd. 

Curriculum Update:

Language:

In Writing, we have started to plan our persuasive texts. The students are excited to write their letters to persuade someone that their opinion about a topic is the best one!

Math:

The Grade 3s are coming to the end of their measurement unit. We will do a final review of perimeter and area, and have an assessment of learning about linear measurement, perimeter, and area on Tuesday. 

The Grade 2s will continue their learning about 2-digit addition and subtraction. This week, we will focus on subtraction using a variety of strategies, including subtracting in parts and using addition to subtract. 

Link to MathUP Parent Summary Letter About Subtraction 

Looking Ahead:

Friday, March 29th: Good Friday (No school)

Monday, April 1st: Easter Monday (No School) 

Monday, April 8th: PD Day and Solar Eclipse

News Week of March 18 - 22, 2024

                      WELCOME SPRING!

I hope everyone had a safe, restful, and fun March Break!

World Down Syndrome Day Thursday, March 21 - Rock Your Socks

We will honour the day by wearing our fun, mismatched socks. Each year on March 21st, we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, to raise awareness. People with Down Syndrome have an extra chromosome (they have 3 copies of chromosome 21 - hence 21/3, 21st of March!). For more info: https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/

World Water Day Friday, March 22

Did you know that there is the same amount of water on Earth today as there was when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth? Unfortunately, there are now billions of people on the planet using that same amount of water. If we are not more careful, we will soon not have enough clean water to sustain all of life on Earth. This year's focus of World Water Day is on Water for Peace. 

To learn more, visit https://www.worldwaterday.org/

Earth Hour Saturday, March 23 - 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Join us on Saturday for Earth Hour in Canada. If everyone in Ottawa unplugs from electricity for just one hour, we could prevent 41. 6 tonnes of carbon emissions! https://www.earthhour.org/

Wacky Weather

Although Spring begins on Tuesday, the cold, wet weather (and, yes, even some winter weather!) is set to continue for a little longer. The warmer temperatures around the corner will mean that the schoolyard will become even wetter and muddier soon. Please help us keep our students, school, and classrooms dry and clean by reminding your child to wear appropriate outerwear such as splashpants, boots, and a warm jacket. Extra gloves or mittens, socks, and even a change of pants are highly recommended. Thank you for your support.

Our Learning

Grade 3 EQAO Homework:

Later this week, I will be sending home EQAO preparation "at-home" packages to help students prepare for the EQAO provincial assessment to be completed in May (dates will be shared when we have them). The "at-home EQAO preparation packages" will be sent home with your child, in paper format, at the end of each week and must be returned back to school on the following Friday. We encourage your child to complete a few questions per night to make it more manageable. We encourage you to review the concepts with your child. This is the perfect opportunity to improve your child's confidence in these areas. Do not worry if your child is not able to complete all the questions as we will be taking up and reviewing each question in class on Fridays when the packages are returned.

Most of your child's preparation is taking place at school but we have heard from students and parents that they would like help in feeling well-prepared. The ministry EQAO assessment is based on students' cumulative learning of the curriculum from all grades up to and including Grade 3. The "at-home" practice packages have been prepared by a team of Grade 3 teachers and are meant to be a link between home and school, and are designed to allow parents to see the sorts of concepts that may be assessed and the types of questions that have appeared on the EQAO assessments in the past. Please note that there have been many changes to the EQAO assessment over the last two years but teachers have to rely on previous years' assessments to use as practice for this year. Additionally, there is also a link on the ministry EQAO website to an online practice test and we have already begun exploring the Language practice test. We will also be doing the Math practice test in the next month. Thank you for your help and support in improving your child's confidence and feeling of readiness for the provincial test. The most important thing is that your child is not feeling anxious about the test. 

Language:

Our current UFLI phonics lesson is about the digraph ng, as in the words king, long, ring, rung, rang, sing, sang, song, sung, hang, thing, wing, bring, swing.

New heart words: or, for

Please have your child practise the heart words we have learned so far in class: the, I, a, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was, your, want, go, no, so, goes, says, they, their, were, talk, walk, could, should, would, *or, *for.

Spelling Check-In:

On Friday, March 22, we will have our second heart word spelling check-in. Your child is expected to know how to spell the heart words learned in class so far. At home, please continue to help your child by practising reading and writing the heart words. Remember, the heart words are high-frequency words so it is essential that your child learns to read and write them 'by heart".

In Writing, we will continue to explore the elements of persuasive texts and practise writing a persuasive letter to convince or persuade others that our opinion of a topic is correct.

Reading Comprehension:

To develop reading comprehension in both Grade 2 and Grade 3, over the past few months, we have been working on strategies such as identifying the important ideas and supporting details in a text, making inferences by using stated and implied ideas as evidence, making connections to our own ideas and experiences, visualizing, asking questions, and using text features to find information in a text. 

The Grade 3 students will bring home a reading comprehension assignment, titled "Snowshoe Adventure", in their yellow Assessment Folder. Please take some time to have your child show it to you, then sign the work and return it as soon as possible as we will refer to it when trying to improve on further tasks. Before completing this task, we reviewed the criteria for answering comprehension questions. We are using APE to help us:

The Grade 3s also looked at scoring exemplars created by the Ministry of Education (based on past EQAO task). These criteria were used when your child's work was marked and feedback was provided. Please note that their "scoring guide" uses the levels  10, 20, 30, and 40. A level 10 corresponds to a level 1, which is equivalent to a "D". A level 20 corresponds to a level 2, which is equivalent to a "C". A level 30 corresponds to a level 3, which is equivalent to a "B" (which is the ministry standard). A level 40 corresponds to a level 4, which is equivalent to an "A". Click here to see the exemplars.  

Math:

In Grade 3, we will continue to explore how to measure the area of 2-dimensional shapes using non-standard units and standard units, such as square centimetres. 

Link to Grade 3 parent summary letter area using non-standard units 

Link to Grade 3 parent summary letter measuring area using square centimetres

In Grade 2, we will continue our 2-digit addition and subtraction unit. This week, we will focus on adding large numbers using base ten materials and place-value concepts. 

Link to Grade 2 parent summary letter adding 2-digit numbers using base-ten blocks

Religion:

We will continue to discuss the meaning of Lent as a time to ask for forgiveness, with a focus on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We will also learn about the Parable of the Lost Sheep. 

Important Dates:

Thursday, March 21: Rock Your Socks for Down Syndrome Awareness Day!

Friday, March 22: World Water Day - how can we protect our groundwater sources?

Saturday, March 23: Earth Hour at 8:30 p.m.