Good afternoon!

We started off the day today working on story writing.  Our class has become so successful turning their spelling words into sentences, that I have increased the expectations of them to now have to turn their spelling words into a creative writing story.  Each child was asked to create a story with any topic of their choice, and their challenge was to incorporate at least 3 of their weekly spelling words.  The stories that were turned in after this activity were great!  During our unit of inquiry today the students began building structures using the recycled materials that have been brought in this week.  The students were put into pairs and were allowed to create a structure of their choice (boat, car, tower, bed, chair, plane, etc.)  The only stipulations were that it was in fact a structure and that it was free standing.  The students will complete their structure in tomorrow's class and will be marked with a rubric.  Please see the pictures at the end of this blog posting of the students working hard today.  During the afternoon the children completed an Easter activity where they were each given a hard boiled egg that they were asked to decorate into a bunny.  A lot of creativity came out with this!  Each child is bringing home their Easter Bunny with them tonight.  They also went to french and P.E classes.


Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the reading chart, and practice weekly spelling words for tomorrow's spelling test.

Important information:  All students have brought home a field trip form for our upcoming field trip to the Streetsville Library.  This trip is taking place on April 18th at 9:00am and it is a free trip.  At the library we are going to be taking a tour, listening to stories, and completing a structures research project.  Please make sure you return the signed permission form by April 16th at the latest.  Please note, there is a section on the form for you to indicate if you would like your child to sign up for a library card, and if you allow them to sign out books to take home with them.

I am still waiting for report cards to be completed and returned to me from many students.  Please complete the 'Parent's Comments' section of the report card and return to school as soon as possible.

On Wednesday, April 11th Miss. Elliot's class is going to be holding a bake sale during lunch recesses and after school.  They are hoping to raise funds for their upcoming Ottawa field trip.  Bake goods will start at 50 cents each.  If you would like your child to purchase something, please send money with them on that day.

The French Cafe is taking place on May 4th at St. Jude's Academy.  All classes are participating for this exciting event.  Invitations with specific details will be sent out shortly.  Our class is doing a Renaissance piece for the event.  Girls are asked to come to school is fancy Renaissance themed gowns or robes, and boys are asked to come in fancy Renaissance themed attire with a tie.  For more information and pictures please see Mme. Stella's blog.

Once we return from the Easter weekend students may come to school dressed in their summer uniforms.  This means that students can wear their polo shirts with their gray pants or tunics and do not have to wear a sweater or a vest.  Students may also come to school wearing their navy SJA shorts instead of pants on gym days.

The Grandparent's Day concert is being combined with the French Cafe this year.  This means that all Grandparent's will receive special invitations to this event on May 4th.

I am going to be away on an IB conference all day tomorrow and will not be at SJA.  I wish all families a safe, and happy Easter weekend.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

We started off the day today in the computer lab.  The students were asked to complete various activities on the computer to help practice their keyboard and mouse skills.  Afterwards they were able to have some free time on the computer playing on www.pbskids.org.  During our unit of inquiry today the students learned all about the scientific method.  We learned that this is the model for science experiments that any scientist, at any stage, in any place would use to ensure that they perform an experiment correctly.   The students learned that there are 5 stages to the scientific method (1) have a question (2) make a hypothesis (3) perform the experiment (4) make your observations (5) create a conclusion for the experiment.  Today each child had to create their own question and hypothesis before we began our experiment using different materials to build structures.  The students had to test which type of material built the tallest structure.  The students made observations, throughout and formulated conclusions at the end of the experiment.  And we all had a lot of fun doing it!  Please see the pictures at the end of this blog posting.  In math we worked on measurement after our experiment.  The children were asked to estimate the heights of the towers and then measure them in centimeters.  They also went to french and music classes.


Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the reading chart, practice weekly spelling words, and cursive pages 160 - 161.

Important information:  SJA report cards went home on Friday.  All students have received their report cards.  I want to remind families that the final page of the report card needs to be completed and sent back to school.  Once we receive the completed final page, we will make a school copy and send it back to you to be kept as part of your own records.  Please send back the comments as soon as possible.

I am asking that children begin bringing in recycled materials for an art project that we are completing on Wednesday.  The students have been asked to look through their houses and recycling bins to find materials that can be cleaned and brought to school to build structures with.  Items we are looking for are cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, kleenex boxes, cotton balls, juice boxes, yogurt tubs, egg cartons, pop cans, water bottles, straws, empty toilet paper rolls, empty paper towel rolls,  pop bottles etc.  If you have any items that you can send in with your child for Wednesday's project it would be greatly appreciated.

On Wednesday, April 11th Miss. Elliot's class is going to be holding a bake sale during lunch recesses and after school.  They are hoping to raise funds for their upcoming Ottawa field trip.  Bake goods will start at 50 cents each.  If you would like your child to purchase something, please send money with them on that day.


The French Cafe is taking place on May 4th at St. Jude's Academy.  All classes are participating for this exciting event.  Invitations with specific details will be sent out shortly.  Our class is doing a Renaissance piece for the event.  Girls are asked to come to school is fancy Renaissance themed gowns or robes, and boys are asked to come in fancy Renaissance themed attire with a tie.  For more information and pictures please see Mme. Stella's blog.

Once we return from the Easter weekend students may come to school dressed in their summer uniforms.  This means that students can wear their polo shirts with their gray pants or tunics and do not have to wear a sweater or a vest.  Students may also come to school wearing their navy SJA shorts instead of pants on gym days.

The Grandparent's Day concert is being combined with the French Cafe this year.  This means that all Grandparent's will receive special invitations to this event on May 4th.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Happy Monday!

We started off the day today copying down the new weekly spelling words and working in spelling workbooks.  The students worked on words with 'r' blends (grade one) and words that have a vowel paired with an 'r' (grade two).  In our IB unit of inquiry today we had review session on the knowledge we have gained so far in this unit.  As a class the students reviewed what they know about materials, objects, structures, descriptive words and their 5 senses.  We had to opportunity to view a power point presentation of different interesting buildings in Canada and used the knowledge of descriptive words to discuss them.  The children then worked on an activity that had them naming and describing interesting buildings found in Ontario, such as the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower and Roy Thompson Hall.  Ask your child tonight to show you what they learned!  During language today we read another chapter of ' Dealing with Dragons' by Patricia Wrede and the students worked on their cursive.  In math we worked on exploring lines of symmetry (grade one) and measuring the masses of various objects (grade two).  They also went to french and P.E classes.


Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the reading chart, practice weekly spelling words, Spelling Workbook pages 105 - 108 (grade one) 101 - 104 (grade two), math page 169 and cursive pages 156 - 157.

Important information:  SJA report cards went home on Friday.  All students have received their report cards.  I want to remind families that the final page of the report card needs to be completed and sent back to school.  Once we receive the completed final page, we will make a school copy and send it back to you to be kept as part of your own records.  Please send back the comments as soon as possible.

I am asking that children begin bringing in recycled materials for an art project that we are completing on Wednesday.  The students have been asked to look through their houses and recycling bins to find materials that can be cleaned and brought to school to build structures with.  Items we are looking for are cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, kleenex boxes, cotton balls, juice boxes, yogurt tubs, egg cartons, pop cans, water bottles, straws, empty toilet paper rolls, empty paper towel rolls,  pop bottles etc.  If you have any items that you can send in with your child for Wednesday's project it would be greatly appreciated.

The SJA Running Club will meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

The French Cafe is taking place on May 4th at St. Jude's Academy.  All classes are participating for this exciting event.  Invitations with specific details will be sent out shortly.  Our class is doing a Renaissance piece for the event.  Girls are asked to come to school is fancy Renaissance themed gowns or robes, and boys are asked to come in fancy Renaissance themed attire with a tie.  For more information please see Mme. Stella's blog.

Once we return from the Easter weekend students may come to school dressed in their summer uniforms.  This means that students can wear their polo shirts with their gray pants or tunics and do not have to wear a sweater or a vest.  Students may also come to school wearing their navy SJA shorts instead of pants on gym days.

April 6th is Good Friday.  There is no school on this day.

April 9th is Easter Monday.  There is no school on this day.

The Grandparent's Day concert is being combined with the French Cafe this year.  This means that all Grandparent's will receive special invitations to this event on May 4th.

Contrary to the school calendar, the Skate-a-thon is NOT taking place on the 27th of April.  Details regarding the Skate-a-thon will become available as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Grade One                 Grade Two

1. brown                     1. world
2. green                       2. girl
3. trap                         3. skirt
4. from                        4. her
5. drink                       5. first
6. broke                      6. worth
7. grow                       7. word
8. train                         8. sir
9. grew                       9. turn
10. brow                    10. were