Good afternoon!

We had a great time today at The ROM!!  The children had a lot of fun in the special 'world cultures' class we attended, and the children also really seemed to enjoy the free time we had to wander and explore The ROM on our own.
A very special thanks to our class volunteers Mrs. Patrawala and Mrs. DeSola!
I have a few pictures at the end of my blog posting from today for you to enjoy.

Important information:

Tomorrow is a P.D day.  There is no school for the students.

Monday is Family Day.  There is no school on Monday.

Tuesday, February 21st is the SJA Pancake Eating contest.  All houses will compete to see who can eat their stack of pancakes fastest for house points!

The whole-school oral presentation contest is on Thursday, February 23rd.  Parents are welcome to attend to watch the children compete, even if your child is not in the competition.  The judging starts at 9am.  If your child is one of the students competing, please remind them to continue practicing their poem every night up to the competition to ensure best results!

Have a great long weekend

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

We started off the day today with a surprise spelling test.  The children are not going to be in the classroom tomorrow (ROM trip) or Friday (P.D Day) so today was the only day we had to get tested on the weekly spelling words.  I was confident in the students' ability to score high with only a few study nights and I was right!  The students are bringing home their marked tests with them tonight.  In language today the students worked on suffixes, special sounds, opposites and cursive.  We also read another chapter of The Tale of Despereaux which is getting exciting!  During math today the children worked on estimating the masses of various objects (grade one) and identifying the length of various objects (grade two).  In our IB unit of inquiry the students once again got into pairs and explored books relating to art forms from cultures all around the world.  The pairs were asked to come up with 2 facts and 1 questions that they presented to the class in an oral presentation.  I hope this exercise has helped them to develop inquiring minds regarding art which can be used on our trip tomorrow!  At the end of the day the children worked on a media based activity where they studied a newspaper ad that advertised something. We identified the purpose of this type of media, and then the children designed their own newspaper ad that advertised either a bike, toy or garage sale.  They all had a lot of fun doing this!

Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the spelling chart, re-write incorrect spelling words ten times each (including bonus word), cursive pages 128 - 129, and Letters and Sounds page 126 - 127.

Important information: 

We had the in-class poetry competition today along with Mrs. Haag's class.  All the children did a great job and I was really proud of them showing off their hard work.  Three students have been chosen from each grade level to compete in next Thursday's whole school competition.  Congratulations to the winners!

Grade One:  Adi B, Mishal L, and Angela H.
Grade Two:  Carter C, Lukas V, and Adam R.

All the children are bringing home their marked rubric with them tonight from the poetry competition.

There are a number of exciting and important dates coming up.  Please make a note of the following:

• Tomorrow is our class ROM trip.  Lunches should be sent with the children.  Backpacks are not allowed to be brought into the ROM.  Lunch bags will be left in a class cubby to be used at lunch time.  The bus is leaving the school at 9am sharp.  Please make sure you are not late on Thursday, as your child will miss the bus.
• Please make sure all children come in their full SJA uniforms tomorrow and not their gym uniforms for the ROM trip as we are not going to be here for the gym day.
• Friday is a P.D day.  There is no school on Friday.
• Monday is Family Day.  There is no school on Monday.
• Tuesday, February 21st is the SJA Pancake Eating contest.  All houses will compete to see who can eat their stack of pancakes fastest for house points!
• The whole-school oral presentation contest is on Thursday, February 23rd.  Parents are welcome to attend to watch the children compete, even if your child is not in the competition.  The judging starts at 9am.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

We had a great Valentine's Day together today!  Everyone had a lot of fun and are coming home with treats and kind messages from friends.  We started off the day today by having a whole-school Valentine's Day game.  The houses all competed against each other for house points.  This was a very fun way to celebrate this fun holiday.  When we returned to class the students worked on language where they practiced working with root words, picture words, finishing sentences and cursive.  We also read another chapter of The Tale of Despereaux which is getting really interesting!  During math today the children worked on comparing the masses of various objects (grade one) and length and order (grade two).  We also had some time today to do a practice recital for tomorrow's in-class poetry competition.  The students all presented their poems to the class again, and were given tips to help improve their performance for tomorrow's competition.  As a reminder,  here are the 5 elements they are going to be graded on during tomorrow's competition (1)  How well they listen to the other presentations (2)  How prepared they are with their poem (3) How clearly they speak (4) Their volume during the presentation (5) Their enthusiasm- body language, expression, facial expression etc.  Please go over these important elements with your children while you are practicing with them at home.  They also went to music and P.E classes.

Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the spelling chart, practice weekly spelling words, cursive pages 126 - 127, and Jump Math pages 144 - 145.

Important information: 

There are a number of exciting and important dates coming up.  Please make a note of the following:

• Tomorrow is NOT a gym day.  Students should come to school in their regular SJA uniforms.  This is because Mr. Browning is going to be away at the AGO tomorrow with the 4 - 8s.  Gym day is scheduled for Thursday instead, but because we are going to be at The ROM, our class is going to miss Thursday's gym class.
• Tomorrow is the in-class poetry competition.  Our class is reciting their poems along with Mrs. Haag's class on stage in A2.  This is where the winners from each class will be announced for the whole-school oral presentation competition on February 23rd.
• Thursday is our class ROM trip.  Lunches should be sent with the children.  Backpacks are not allowed to be brought into the ROM.  Lunch bags will be left in a class cubby to be used at lunch time.  The bus is leaving the school at 9am sharp.  Please make sure you are not late on Thursday, as your child will miss the bus.
• Please make sure all children come in their full SJA uniforms on Thursday and not their gym uniforms for the ROM trip.
• Friday is a P.D day.  There is no school on Friday.
• Monday is Family Day.  There is no school on Monday.
• Tuesday, February 21st is the SJA Pancake Eating contest.  All houses will compete to see who can eat their stack of pancakes fastest for house points!
• The whole-school oral presentation contest is on Thursday, February 23rd.  Parents are welcome to attend to watch the children compete.  The judging starts at 9am.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Happy Monday!

It was a great weekend due to the fabulous turnout and performances at the Gala!  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did chatting with SJA families and watching all the children perform.  It seemed like a great time was had by all!
We started off the day today working on spelling.  The children copied down the new weekly spelling words and worked in their spelling workbooks on long 'i' words (grade one) and 'wh' and 'ch' blends (grade two).  In our Unit of Inquiry today we began our second line of inquiry 'the art forms of international cultures both past and present'.  To begin this line of inquiry, the children were introduced to a number of books that allowed them to explore art forms from various countries around the world.  They got into pairs and choose a country and an art form to study further.  The pairs then had to present 2 facts and 1 question they gathered from their reading.  Ask your child tonight to tell you what they presented.  We also spent some time today going over the rubric for the upcoming poetry in-class competition.  There are 5 elements they are going to be graded on during Wednesday's competition (1)  How well they listen to the other presentations (2)  How prepared they are with their poem (3) How clearly they speak (4) Their volume during the presentation (5) Their enthusiasm- body language, expression, facial expression etc.  Please go over these important elements with your children while you are practicing with them at home.  During math today we worked on identifying the masses of various objects (grade one) and length, width and height (grade two). 

Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the spelling chart, practice weekly spelling words, and Spelling workbooks pages 85 - 87 (grade one) 81 - 84 (grade two).

Important information:  Today was the last day to bring in ROM trip forms and money to be able to join us on the school trip.

Thank you to Ninara's family for the pizza lunch that was enjoyed today!

There are a number of exciting and important dates coming up.  Please make a note of the following:

• Tomorrow is the Valentine's Day Spirit Day.  Children may come to school wearing red, white or pink to celebrate the holiday.
• Tomorrow children are welcome to bring in Valentine's Day cards for their peers as well as any treats they would like to share with the class.
• Wednesday is the in-class poetry competition.  Our class is reciting their poems along with Mrs. Haag's class.  This is where the winners from each class will be announced for the whole-school oral presentation competition on February 23rd.
• Thursday is our class ROM trip.  Lunches should be sent with the children.  Backpacks are not allowed to be brought into the ROM.  Lunch bags will be left in a class cubby to be used at lunch time.  The bus is leaving the school at 9am sharp.  Please make sure you are not late on Thursday, as your child will miss the bus.
• Friday is a P.D day.  There is no school on Friday.
• Monday is Family Day.  There is no school on Monday.
• Tuesday, February 21st is the SJA Pancake Eating contest.  All houses will compete to see who can eat their stack of pancakes fastest for house points!
• The whole-school oral presentation contest is on Thursday, February 23rd.  Parents are welcome to attend to watch the children compete.  The judging starts at 9am.
• Gym days are happening on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the month of February.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson


Grade One                     Grade Two
1. five                            1. what
2. mine                          2. such
3. like                            3. where
4. ride                           4. peach
5. time                           5. much
6. kite                            6. when
7. bike                           7. whip
8. dime                           8. arch
9. rise                             9. coach
10. dive                         10. who