September 29 - October 3, 2025

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Tuesday, September 30:

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (originally known as Orange Shirt Day) is on Tuesday, September 30. On Tuesday, September 30th, staff and students are invited to wear an orange shirt to participate in the day.

Each year on September 30th, people from all over Canada are invited to wear orange in honour of The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and to remind ourselves that Every Child Matters. Wearing an orange shirt on September 30th is an initiative to commemorate the residential school experience, to witness and honour the healing journey of the survivors and their families, and to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation. The inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was recognized by Parliament in partial fulfillment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 80.

The origin of Orange Shirt Day is based on Phyllis Webstad’s story of having her new orange shirt, that her grandmother bought her, taken away on her first day at Residential School. It was replaced by the school uniform. (Phyllis’ Story).

For more information about why we wear orange on September 30th, see official website:  http://www.orangeshirtday.org/

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an opportunity for each of us to recognize and commemorate the legacy of residential schools. This includes quiet reflection and participation in school and class activities.

Your child will be learning about the Indian Residential School system in Canada and about reconciliation through participating in this week's stories and activities. The Residential School System was an attempt to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society and to educate them in an environment that removed them from their families and their culture. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission defines reconciliation as “an ongoing process of establishing and maintaining respectful relationships.” First Nations educator Pamela Toulouse says, “Truth and reconciliation are even more necessary in a world that is challenged and for our children and youth who have inherited it.”

Friendly Reminder:

Please have your child bring in a pair of headphones (over the head please) to school to use with his/her class Chromebook. This enables each student to take advantage of hearing the sound on interactive activities such as Zorbits and other curriculum-related videos/activities, as well as when using Google Read and Write features.

Student gmail Account and Hapara Workspace Login Information:

Please ask your child to give you their school board gmail account login information. It will be sent home in their agendas this week and, for privacy reasons, should not be kept in the agenda. Please place it somewhere convenient at home. This login information can be used by your child at home to log in to our class Hapara Workspace (English). In the beginning, while we get used to using the Workspace at school, I will not be posting very much on our class Hapara Workspace. Many students are just learning how to login to their class Chromebooks.

Topics of Learning

Language: 

In Writing, we continue to learn about how to stretch out our sentences and add details, without writing run-on sentences. We also continue to learn about how to put several sentences together on a topic to write a good paragraph. 

In grammar and word work, we will review common nouns and proper nouns. We will also continue our beginning lessons in our phonics program, UFLI. Last week, we reviewed short vowel sounds and the "-flsz rule" during our phonics lessons. The -flsz Rule (or "Floss Rule") reminds us that in a one syllable word, if a short vowel is followed by an f, l, s, or z, then the consonant is doubled. For example, in the following words: off, sniff, staff, doll, bell, dress, grass, pass, buzz, fuzz, fizz. NOTE: There are a few rule breakers or exceptions to this rule: bus, if, as, plus, this, chef, gas, us, pal.

One part of our phonics lessons consists of a few weekly "heart words".

What Are "Heart" Words? 

Many common words present challenges to children because they are irregular in some way. These words contain letters or letter combinations that do not follow the most common letter-sound correspondences, and those must be learned “by heart,” hence the term “heart” words. Some words are permanently irregular (the sounds of the letters are unique to that word or to a very small number of words) and others are temporarily irregular (words in which we have not yet learned the letter-sound correspondences in the word).

This week's heart words are: your, want

Please also review the following "heart words" that your child would have learned last year: the, I, a, and, said, to, do, of, see, he, be, me, from, you, what, have, look, book, are, was.

Homework this week:

The Grade 2 students will bring home their first UFLI phonics homework this week. It will consist of a review of some of our Heart Words, short vowels, and the FLSZ Rule (see above). Please have your child keep it at home for the week and practise reading the words and story each day. Have your child return the homework next Monday, October 6th.

The Grade 3 students will also bring home phonics homework to review the FLSZ Rule. This homework will be due by next Monday, October 6th.

Math:

In Math, we continue our study of increasing and decreasing patterns. In Grade 2, the learning for students is to identify, extend, and describe growing number patterns and represent them in different ways. In Grade 3, students are practising finding, describing, representing, and creating growing number patterns using charts, number lines, and pictures.

Link to Grade 2 parent summary letter Representing Increasing Patterns here

Link to Grade 3 parent summary letter Relating a Pattern to a Rule or Picture here

Physical Education:

We are beginning our soccer unit. We will be practising our dribbling and trapping skills.

In Visual Arts, we will continue to learn about the primary and secondary colours and the colour wheel.

Multi-Language Learners: Things to do at home

Please find below some information and helpful strategies for supporting your child at home, shared by our school ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher.

Researchers have found that speaking multiple languages at home offers significant benefits to young children. Speaking in your home language to your children from birth helps build their young minds and prepare them for success in school and beyond. Source: USA Department of Education

Community Activities:

• Visit the Ottawa Public Library

• Visit the Museums in Ottawa

• Become involved in community activities 

Language Building Activities:

• Reading together and talking about the book, in any language

• Writing a journal/drawing pictures, and adding names of things 

• Talking about things they see/do

Card/Board Games:

• Scrabble

• Bananagrams 

• Pictionary

• Charades 

• Picture BINGO 

• Spot It! 

Online Reading and Games:

Unite for Literacy 

FlyLeaf 

Starfall

ABCya

Games to Learn English

Phonics and Stuff

Duolingo

Important Dates:

Tuesday, Sept. 30th - Wear orange for National Day for Truth & Reconciliation 

Thursday, October 2 - School bus safety presentations

Friday, October 10 - P.D. Day: No school

Monday, October 13 - Thanksgiving: No school

  September 22 - 26, 2025

Terry Fox Walk Friday, Sept. 26th:

Once again, St Gabriel is excited to participate in the Terry Fox School Run this Friday, September 26th at 9:15 am on the All Saints High School track (weather permitting). On this day, students will walk or run the track to raise awareness and help carry on Terry Fox's legacy.

Thanks to your generosity last year, we surpassed our goal of $500 by raising just over $2000. When buying Terry Fox clothing online, please know that 100% of the sales count towards our fundraising total. 

If you're available to walk with our class that morning, please contact me via email or a note in your child's agenda. We ask that you come to the school office area for 9:00 a.m. and wait for us in the lobby until we are ready to leave for All Saints High School.

In summary, here’s how you can help:

● Donate directly, by using this link: https://schools.terryfox.ca/104787. You’ll receive an email receipt immediately.

● Donate via the Terry Fox Foundation site: Visit www.terryfox.org → Terry Fox        
School Run → “Donate to a Student/School” → search for St. Gabriel Kanata.

● Buy a T-shirt (proceeds go to cancer research) either through School Cash Online or during Open House on September 18th (cash only).

Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant difference in the fight against cancer. We are grateful for your support and involvement in helping us honour Terry Fox’s legacy and advance cancer research.

Thank you for your generosity and commitment to this cause. Together, we can make a meaningful impact.

Topics of Learning and Curriculum:

In Math, we continue our study of increasing and decreasing patterns. In Grade 2, the learning for students is to identify, extend, and describe growing number patterns and represent them in different ways. In Grade 3, students are practising finding, describing, representing, and creating growing number patterns using charts, number lines, and pictures.

Link to Grade 2 Describing Increasing Patterns Parent Summary letter here

Link to Grade 2 Representing Increasing Patterns Parent Summary letter here

Link to Grade 3 Patterns in Charts and Number Lines parent summary letter here

The Grade 2 and 3 skip counting units we recently completed provide your child with the basics they will need to help them with the patterning unit. You can support your Grade 3 child at home by encouraging them to practise counting forward and backward by 2's, 5's, 10's, 20's, 25's, 50's,100's, and 200's to 1000. Also, they must be able to skip count starting with a variety of numbers on the 100-chart (for example, start at 27 and count by 2's - 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 ... etc.). Grade 2 students should practise counting forward by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's, 25's, 20's, and 50's to 200. They should also practise counting backwards by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's, and 25's from 200.

In Language, we are learning how to write a proper paragraph. We have also started to focus on determining important ideas to share with others orally and while writing complete sentences (with a beginning uppercase letter and ending with proper punctuation). We have also started our phonics lessons. We are currently doing a review of some basic skills learned last year. Over the next couple of weeks, your child will bring home some phonics homework to help review skills. The program used by grades 2 and 3 is the UFLI Phonics program. Thank you in advance for supporting your child at home by helping them review their phonics skills when the home practice is sent home.

Our Grade 3 Science unit for the next few weeks will be soils. We look forward to sharing what we already know and dig deeper into the components of soil. In Grade 2 Science, we will explore air and water in the environment.

In Visual Arts, we will be learning about the primary and secondary colours and the colour wheel.

Looking Ahead:

Wed., Sept. 24- First Popcorn day

Friday, Sept. 26 - School Terry Fox Walk at All Saints HS 9:15 a.m.

September 30th - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - Wear an Orange Shirt

October 8th- School Photo Day

 Week of September 15 - 19, 2025

We had a great second week of school! Students have transitioned very well into their new classroom and we are thrilled to be getting to know each other.

Here are a few updates and reminders:

Technology News:

We have received our class set of Chromebooks. Each student in our class has been assigned their own class Chromebook to use. Over the next couple of weeks, the students will practise logging in to their Chromebook using their board-issued email and new password for this year. Once we have practised that a few times, we will learn how to login to the Student Portal to access their Grade 2/3 English Hapara Workspace (coming soon).

In the next week, I will be updating our class Hapara Workspace. In order to login to their Hapara Workspace from home, students must use their school board email account (firstname.lastname@stu.ocsb.ca) and new password which will be issued this week. A copy of your child's login information will be sent home soon. You are also asked to complete our school board's Responsible Use of Technology agreement form for your child/children. Instructions can be found HERE

Reminder to Parents to complete forms on Parent Portal

Every SEPTEMBER Parents MUST complete the following documents.

• Consent for Use and Disclosure of Student information

• OCSB Student Verification form (ONLY if there are changes)

• Responsible use of Technology

Please log into the Parent Portal to access each form.

**IMPORTANT TO DO**

Visit  “Quick Links” on our  SCHOOL WEBSITE  for links or see below.

1. Please sign up for School Messenger to receive important updates.  LINK 

NOTE Please select ‘general' to receive Weekly news from Principal/Office and "teacher to parent messaging" in order to receive emails from teachers. This step must be completed for each child.

2. Please sign up for School Cash online. LINK

3. Please sign up for the Parent Portal with the OCSB. This is where you will access report cards etc. LINK

4. If you would like to volunteer in our school please complete the necessary Vulnerable Sector Check paperwork. LINK

Please review with your child and complete the Accessible Use of Technology online submission. Instructions can be found HERE

Support on using the ocsb parent portal : Parent portal – The Ottawa Catholic School Board

St. Gabriel Meet the Teacher Open House:

Please join us on Thursday September 18 between 4:30pm - 5:30pm for our St. Gabriel Meet the Teacher. You will be able to tour the school, see your child's class, and meet their educators. This will be a ‘drop-in’ format so you can come and leave as you need between the hours of 4:30 and 5:30. We encourage your child(ren) to come and be your tour guide.

Our Topics and Learning This Week:

In Math, we have almost completed our first units on counting. Both the Grade 2s and 3s will have an assessment task this week in order to assess their learning during our skip counting units. Our next unit will be on patterning. To begin, our focus will be on growing (increasing) patterns. In Grade 2, the learning for students is to identify, extend, and describe growing number patterns and represent them in different ways. In Grade 3, students will also learn to find, describe, represent, and create growing number patterns using charts, number lines, and pictures.

Link to Grade 2 Increasing Patterns Parent Summary Letter#1 here

Link to Grade 3 Increasing Patterns Parent Summary Letter #1 here

In Language, we will continue to explore how to write a complete sentence and how to write a paragraph. We will spend some time in the coming weeks learning how to develop interesting opening and closing statements, and detailed sentences in between. We will practise adding adjectives and descriptive words to writing to make it clearer and more interesting.

In Family Life, we have been discussing how we are each unique, with unique names, unique likes and dislikes, and unique family traditions. In Religion, we are working on our Samaritans on a Digital Road unit and learning how to be positive digital citizens who model the gospel values during their online citizenship. This unit is also part of our Media Literacy unit in Language.

**Reminder to please send an email to your child's teacher or call the school to let us know if there are any changes to your child's usual routine (picking up early for an appointment, picking up in person rather than taking the bus, etc.). This will help ensure smoother transitions and allow us to keep your child safe.

Homework:

Occasionally, your child may bring home some of their unfinished classroom work to complete at home, or work in which they need to make their corrections or review concepts with you at home. In the coming weeks, your child will also bring home phonics or grammar homework. Thank you in advance for your support with this and for helping your child return this work to school when finished.

If possible, the recommendation is that Grade 2 students should be reading or reviewing concepts for 20 minutes at home daily. The recommendation for Grade 3 students is that they should be reading or reviewing concepts for 30 minutes daily at home if possible. The students can read aloud to a parent/guardian, or they can be read to by an adult. The focus should be on reading fluency and comprehension. You can help your child develop these skills by reading to them so they can hear what a fluent reader should sound like. You can help develop their reading comprehension by asking them questions before, during, and after the reading (regardless of whether they read to you or you read to them). Some examples of questions you could ask before reading: Look at the front cover. What do you think the story will be about? What is an author/illustrator? During and after reading a fiction book: Who are the main characters? What is the setting in the story? What is the problem? How do you think the character feels? How do you think it will end? Is there a hidden message or moral of the story? Who is your favourite character and why?

Looking Ahead:

Thursday, Sept. 18 - School Meet the Teacher Open House 4:30 - 5:30

September 24- First Popcorn day - sign up using schoolcash online

Friday, Sept. 26 - School Terry Fox Walk (rain date Oct. 3)

September 30th - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation/Orange Shirt Day

  Week of September 8 - 12, 2025

September Topics of Study:

The following are some of our current and upcoming topics:

Math: 

Our focus in Math for the next couple of weeks will be on counting skills. The curriculum expectation for the Grade 2s is to learn to count to 200 in a variety of ways, including by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 25s, and 50s, using a variety of strategies and tools (for example, whole and partial number lines, 100- and 200-charts). The curriculum expectation for the Grade 3s is to learn to count to 1000 in a variety of ways, including by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 25s, 50s, 100s, and 200s, using a variety of strategies and tools ((for example, whole and partial number lines, hundreds charts)

See below for the Grade 2 and Grade 3 parent summary letters outlining some key ideas for this week:

Grade 2 Counting Forward Parent Letter linked here

Grade 2 Counting Backward Parent Letter linked here

Grade 3 Counting Forward Parent Letter linked here

Grade 3 Counting Backward Parent Letter linked here

Language:

We will review how to write a complete sentence, including correct uppercase letters at the beginning of each sentence, and punctuation at the end. The Grade 3s will begin to learn how to write a paragraph. We will also begin our UFLI phonics lessons this week.

Religion, Language, and Media Literacy:

This week, the Grade 2s and 3s will begin a unit called "Samaritans on a Digital Road", in which we will learn about how to be good digital citizens and how to be safe and respectful when using technology and the internet.

 

Visual Arts:

We will start to explore primary and secondary colours, including the use and repetition of colour in everyday objects and in works of art.

Health & Phys. Ed.:
      
We are learning the routines and safety rules for physical education. We will also work on our travelling and locomotion skills (e.g., hopping, galloping) and play a few simple cooperative games.

Housekeeping Items:

If you haven't already done so, please consider sending indoor running shoes for your child.

In addition, we will use pencil crayons most often so it would be helpful for your child to have their own pencil crayons at school. It would also be very helpful for your child to have a pencil case (or two) to store pencil crayons, markers, etc. Some of the marker and pencil crayon packages (original packages from the store) are already starting to fall apart in your child's supply storage bin. Please label all of your child's belongings (lunch boxes/bags, containers, backpacks, shoes, rubber boots, winter boots, outdoor clothing, etc.) with their full name. Your child and teachers will thank you!

Parent Questionnaire:

A reminder to parents to please complete a questionnaire for me. This questionnaire is meant to help me get to know your child better. 

Link to parent questionnaire here

School Communication

In order to receive all school communication, please register at: 

 http://ocsb.ca/schoolmessenger/  . 

Agendas

Student agendas are being sent home daily. Please check and initial the agenda every day and ensure that it is sent back to school in your child's mailbag (plastic ziplock bag). It is helpful if it is left open to the page that corresponds to the current week, so that students don't have to find the page each time.

Thank You

Thank you for all the supplies you sent in last week with your child.  

IMPORTANT:  CLASS BLOG

It is very important that you check this class blog every week as there will be important news items as well as information about our topics of study. There will occasionally also be links to suggested websites for your child to visit.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, Sept. 15 - Dot Day: Wear polka dots to school. We

will honour the day with fun dot activities.

Dot Day Website here

Sept. 30 -  Truth and Reconciliation (Orange Shirt) Day