Good afternoon!
The students started off the day today working on language.  In today's class the students used their Creative Writing folders and wrote stories all about a child who had something magical happen to them.  I heard a number of great stories using this topic, such as special visitors, aliens coming to earth and rich people giving to the poor.  Ask your child tonight what they wrote about!  During language the students also worked on their Language books where they continued practising their letter writing skills, and also practised their knowledge of periods, capitals and sentence writing. 

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students continued working on the concept of balance.  As a class we reviewed what we learned about balance yesterday, and began discussing how we can use scales and balances to help us discover weights and sort objects.  The students had a great deal of fun with this activity.  Ask your child tonight what they learned about weight and balance and their connection to forces!

During mathematics today the students had a review period in preparation for tomorrow's unit test on multiplication and division.  As a class we went through the textbook, lesson by lesson, to review what we have learned and explored throughout this unit.  The students then had time to work in pairs using their notebooks to pull out important concepts and questions to test each other and record down the important concepts they would like to remember.  As a fun way to end the unit, the students used flash cards to help them practice their multiplication and division skills for tomorrow's test.  Have a look at a few of the pictures from the students playing their flashcard game at the end of this posting!  The math unit test will take place tomorrow.

Students also went to PE  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, and complete math at-home review package for tomorrow's math unit test.

Important information:   The Streetsville Bowl field trip is taking place on Thursday!  The bus will leave the school promptly at 9:40am and will return in time for the regularly scheduled lunch period. 

Tomorrow is casual day!

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert tomorrow night. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The Christmas concert is taking place tomorrow at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.  I will look forward to seeing everyone there!

The grade threes do not have costumes to wear for the Christmas concert.  Ms. Pattenick just asks that students come wearing Christmas colours if possible.  'Fancy clothes' are preferred.
The grade 7 - 9 students will be hosting a bake sale during the Christmas Concert to help fund-raise for their upcoming trip to Ecuador this summer. Your support would be highly appreciated!

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Happy Monday!

I am happy that families made it through this wintry weekend we just had to begin our last week of school before the Christmas holidays!

The students started off the day today with spelling.  All students copied down their new weekly spelling words and then practised reinforcing them in their Spelling Workbooks.  This week the students focused on consonant digraphs with their spelling words.  Students also had a chance to work on their journal writing today, where they wrote a reflection about their weekend.  Just as I suspected, students shared many stories about weekends spent out in the snow!  Students also practised the use of prepositions and prepositional phrases today during language.

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students explored the concept of 'balanced'  Students had a  lot of fun sorting various objects from lightest to heaviest using a scale to help them check their estimations.  Students also worked on determining weight ratios of one object to another which is an important concept to understand in this unit.  Students worked on reinforcing the concept using a reinforcement activity.  Ask your child tonight what they learned!

During mathematics today the students worked on using calculators to help them find multiplication patterns with numbers. Students saw how by using the functions on your calculator you can see patterns in numbers such as, 4, +, = ,= ,= ,= ,= ,= ,= ,= ,= ,= will give you an answer of 40.  So what you are really doing is adding 4 ten times, which is part of our 4 times tables!  The students had a lot of fun using their calculators to find patterns with this activity!  The students also worked on their Abeka Arithmetic where they focused on counting money, multiplication, addition, subtraction, division and telling time.  

Our next math unit test for our unit on multiplication and division will be taking place on Wednesday, December 18th.  A review package for this unit has gone home with all students last week to help them prepare for the test at home.  The questions I have circled throughout the review package are a direct reflection of the questions that will be asked on the unit test.  Please help me by encouraging your child to review this important study guide.  As always, we will be working on a unit review during our math period all this week to help students prepare for this unit test during class time.

Students also went to PE  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, Spelling Workbook pages 65 - 68, complete the "Balanced/Unbalanced' worksheet if necessary  and Abeka pages 43 - 44.

Important information:   A field trip form has gone home with all students last week regarding our next class trip to Streetsville Bowl.  This trip will take place on December 19th, as part of our UOI which is exploring forces and movements.  The signed trip form and a payment of $9 is due back by tomorrow morning if your child is attending. 

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

The grade 7 - 9 students will be hosting a bake sale during the Christmas Concert to help fund-raise for their upcoming trip to Ecuador this summer. Your support would be highly appreciated!

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

The students started off the day today with their weekly spelling test.  All students will be bringing home their marked test with them tonight.  I ask that any incorrectly spelled words be re-written ten times each in their spelling books.  During language today the students also worked on the elements of letter writing by practising writing a friendly letter to a friend on a topic of their choice. Ask your child tonight what they wrote about!

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students had a chance to watch a video clip all about gravity.  The students got to witness experiments with gravity, and examples of how gravity effects us each and every day.  The students also very much enjoyed watching the examples of what happens without gravity!  They were then asked to use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast all the facts they have acquired with all of the learning we have done with friction and gravity over the last two weeks.  These marked assessments will be coming home with each child tonight.

During mathematics today the students continued working on their multiplication and division unit.  In today's class the students practised using factors to help them discover multiplication and division sentences.  As a class we saw that if you are given numbers such as 6, 4 & 24 you will be able to know 4 facts (6x4=24, 4x6=24, 24/6=4 and 24/4=6).   The students practised this concept in their Homework and Practice books.  The students also worked on their Abeka Arithmetic where they focused on counting money, multiplication, addition, subtraction and division.  

Our next math unit test for our unit on multiplication and division will be taking place next Wednesday, December 18th.  A review package for this unit has gone home with all students earlier this week to help them prepare for the test at home.  The questions I have circled throughout the review package are a direct reflection of the questions that will be asked on the unit test.  Please help me by encouraging your child to review this important study guide.  As always, we will be working on a unit review during our math period all of next week to help students prepare for this unit test during class time.

Students also went to PE, Art  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, re-write incorrect spelling words ten times each and Abeka pages 43 - 44.

Important information:   A field trip form has gone home with all students this week regarding our next class trip to Streetsville Bowl.  This trip will take place on December 19th, as part of our UOI which is exploring forces and movements.  The signed trip form and a payment of $9 is due back by Monday, December 16th if your child is able to attend. 

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

After-school program forms went home with all students tonight about the programs being offered at SJA in the new year.  Please keep an eye out for this form tonight!

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Nelson

Happy Wednesday!

The students started off the day today working on language. In today's class the students started off the day with note writing.  This is an important type of writing for the students to be able to do successfully.  As a class we explored the different reasons people write notes (reminders, thank-yous, best wishes, etc.) and went over the proper format for note writing.  Students then had a chance to write their own notes to a person of their choice, on a topic of their choice.  We then moved on to Language where the students continued practising their writing techniques.  We reviewed the important elements of proper letter writing that we have discussed to date, and the students were then asked to write a friendly letter to a friend of a topic of their choice.  Ask your child tonight what they chose to write about today!

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students had a lot of fun doing an experiment using the force of magnetism.  As a class we had a review of the scientific method (observation, question, hypothesis, experiment and conclusion).  The students then used their knowledge of the scientific method to create an experiment using paper clips, magnets and other objects from around the classroom.  Students were asked to experiment with the magnets on methods of separating the paper clips from the other objects using a pushing and then a pulling force.  Once the experiment was complete, the students used their knowledge they collected to answer questions about magnetic force.  Students had a lot of fun seeing magnetic force in action today!  See some pictures of the students in their experiment at the end of this posting!

During mathematics today the students continued working on division.  As a class we reviewed what we learned about division in yesterday's class (groups are able to be divided up into smaller objects which create division sentences).  In today's class the students practised creating and using arrays to help them solve division questions.  The students practised using arrays to help solve division questions in their Homework and Practice books.  The students also worked on their Abeka Arithmetic where they focused on counting money, multiplication, addition, subtraction and place value.  Our next math unit test for this unit on multiplication and division will be taking place next Wednesday, December 18th.  A review package for this unit has come home with all students tonight to help them prepare for the test at home.  The questions I have circled throughout the review package are a direct reflection of the questions that will be asked on the unit test.  Please help me to encourage your child to review this important study guide.  As always, we will be working on a unit review during our math period all of next week to help students prepare for this unit test during class time.

Students also went to PE, Art  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, Language pages 78 - 79, and Abeka pages 41 - 42.

Important information:   The math re-test for our geometry unit will be taking place tomorrow for all students who scored an 84% or lower on the original test.

A field trip form has gone home with all students tonight regarding our next class trip to Streetsville Bowl.  This trip will take place on December 19th, as part of our UOI which is exploring forces and movements.  The signed trip form and a payment of $9 is due back by Monday, December 16th if your child is able to attend. 

Ms. Chin's grade 6 class is running a toy drive and bake sale this week. Items start at 25 cents and go up to $5.  The proceeds from the sale will be donated to World Vision to sponsor a child for the Christmas season.

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Lunch forms for the month of January have gone home with all students. Forms and money are due back no later than December 13th if you are interested in ordering a hot lunch for your child.

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

The students started off the day today working on language. In today's class the students created fictional stories about a time they were surprised with something!  The students had a lot of fun with this activity.  We got a chance to hear stories based on a variety of topics such as Martians, birthday surprises, and visits from family from out of town.  Ask your child tonight what they wrote about!  In language the students also worked on their Language books where they focused on reviewing synonyms, antonyms, and contractions.  They also worked on their cursive writing.

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students wrote their mini-quiz all about types of forces.  We had great results with this quiz, which shows the concepts have really been absorbed by the class as a whole.  Each child is bringing home their quiz to share with you tonight!

During mathematics today the students began working on division.  As a class we reviewed that division is simply taking a group of objects and making equal groups.  We practised taking numbers and turning them into groups and then counting up the total of groups to find the answer to division questions.  The students practised the act of making groups and counting the total groups in their Homework and Practice books.  The students also worked on their Abeka Arithmetic where they focused on multiplication, addition, subtraction and Roman numerals.

The students also had a lot of fun today writing letters to Santa as a method of practising letter writing.  Students were asked to write to Santa to talk to him about anything they wanted to write about.  Some students chose to write a Christmas gift list, some wrote about their holiday traditions, and some wrote about their classroom and school life.  These letters will be mailed off to Santa in the North Pole today.  We are hoping to get a response back from him before the end of school on the 19th!

Students also went to PE  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, Language pages 76 - 77, Abeka pages 39 - 40, and Cursive pages 54 - 55.

Important information:   The math re-test for our geometry unit will be taking place on Thursday of this week for all students who scored an 84% or lower on the original test.

Ms. Chin's grade 6 class is running a toy drive and bake sale this week. Items start at 25 cents and go up to $5.  The proceeds from the sale will be donated to World Vision to sponsor a child for the Christmas season.

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Lunch forms for the month of January have gone home with all students. Forms and money are due back no later than December 13th if you are interested in ordering a hot lunch for your child.

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is going great!
Families have until the night of the Christmas concert
to help donate!

Happy Monday!

The students started off the day today working on language. In today's class the students copied down their new weekly spelling words and worked on their words in their Spelling Workbooks.  The spelling words of this week focused on 'ch' and 'wh' digraphs.  During language today the students also worked on journal reflections of their weekend to practice their writing.  The students had a lot of fun writing and then sharing about their weekends with the class!

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students continued exploring our forces unit.  In today's class the students watched a video all about friction. They saw many examples of how friction is used to either slow down or speed up objects depending on our needs. As a class we spoke about examples such as winter tires being designed with lots of friction, and the slide at the park being designed with very little friction.  These were two examples of how we use the force of friction to our benefit.  The students then worked in pairs and created a t-chart of all the ways they could brainstorm that we increase and decrease friction to suit our needs.  Ask your child tonight what they came up with!  In tomorrow's class we will be having a quiz on the concepts we have learned so far in this unit.  The students will be quizzed on concepts such as 

• forces move an object by pushing or pulling
• gravity only pulls objects
• buoyancy only pushes objects
• other forces can both push and pull
• magnetic forces can only attract objects made from metal
• magnetic forces will pull when one force south and the other is north, but will push when the forces are from the same pole
• friction moves objects by slowing them down
• humans use muscular force to move ourselves and objects by using our joints and muscles
• you can transfer force from objects (bowling ball and bowling pins)
• forces can come from nature (wind and water can push and pull objects)
• objects that will bounce back into place after a force are put on them are called elastic (rubber bands)
• you can change the amount of force
• heavier objects will have more force when travelling at the same speed as a lighter object
• friction can be either increased or decreased depending on the type of surface

During mathematics today the students continued working on multiplication.  In today's class we began working on our one times tables.   The students  explored how when you are multiplying anything by one the answer is always the number back again (eg. 6 x 1=6).  We illustrated this concept by drawing arrays of various questions as a class to see that questions such as 6 x1 is literally simply one group of six which equals 6.  The students also explored how we can use a multiplication table to quickly and easily find the answer to multiplication questions.  They had a lot of fun with these charts, as they were very familiar to them from the extended use with addition charts from previous units.

The math unit test from our geometry unit has now gone home with all students.  We will be having a re-write for students who scored an 84% or lower on Thursday, December 12th.  Please use the original test as a study guide, as well as the review package the students worked on for the test.

Students also went to PE, Art  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, Spelling Workbook pages 61 - 64, Math pages 84-85, and complete friction worksheet if needed.

Important information:   Payment for After-school care fees are due by Tuesday, December 10th, 2013.

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Lunch forms for the month of January have gone home with all students. Forms and money are due back no later than December 13th if you are interested in ordering a hot lunch for your child.

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

I had a great time meeting with many of the grade 3 parents last night!  Thank you all once again for attending the 2013/14 parent/teacher interview night!
The students started off the day today working on language. In today's class the students had their weekly spelling test.  All students will be bringing home their marked spelling tests with them tonight.  I ask that all incorrect words be re-written ten times each in their spelling books.  During language today the students also worked on their language books where they continued practising homonyms, and contractions.

During our Unit of Inquiry today we had a large class discussion about the next two types of forces we are studying as part of our unit- magnetic forces and static electric forces.  As a class we read books about all these two types of forces and had great discussion about the types of magnets, how we use magnets, the two poles in a magnet, the creation of static energy, the feeling when you get shocked, etc.  Ask your child tonight what they learned!  The students then moved on to working on a review of the 6 types of forces we have learned about to date- muscular, buoyancy, gravity, friction, static electric, and magnetic.  This prep is going to be great for Tuesday's quiz the students will be having in this unit.

During mathematics today the students continued working on multiplication.  In today's class we began working on our ten times tables.  As a class we reviewed how our prior knowledge of counting by tens has already allowed us to know our ten times tables.  The students had a great time working on the lesson from today and were amazed at the skills they already possess.

We also met up with our reading buddies this afternoon, but instead of doing paired reading the students worked on designing reindeer antlers based on their hand prints!  All students will be coming home with their antlers tonight.  Have a look at a few of the pictures from this activity below!

Students also went to PE  and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, re-write incorrect spelling words ten times each, Language pages 75, Math pages 80-81, and complete forces worksheet if needed.

Important information:  After school care forms have gone home with all children tonight.  Payment for the fees are due by Tuesday, December 10th, 2013.

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Lunch forms for the month of January have gone home with all students. Forms and money are due back no later than December 13th if you are interested in ordering a hot lunch for your child.

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Nelson

SKs and the Grade 3 with their reindeer antlers!

Arin's examples antlers!

Happy Thursday!

The students started off the day today working on language. In today's class the students practiced their letter writing in a fun activity.  They wrote letters to their parents that they are going to hand out during parent/teacher interviews tonight!  During language the students also worked on their Language books where they continued reviewing synonyms, antonyms and homonyms and they worked on cursive.

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students continued inquiring in our How the World Works unit.  In today's class we read a book together that review many different types of forces.  It gave examples of forces in real life examples.  Ask your child tonight what they can tell you about the connection between forces and bowling, forces and ice skating, forces and playground slides, and forces and the wind!  As as class we also took a walk around the school and the students recorded and described the many different types of forces they saw.  They answered some questions about our walk as well.  Ask your child tonight to tell you about it!

During mathematics today the students continued with their new unit on multiplication!  In today's class the students explored how they can use arrays to help them find answers to multiplication questions.  Students were asked to use arrays to find the answers to multiplication sentences, and create their own arrays!   Students will be bringing home their Homework and Practice book with them tonight to practice this new concept.

Students also went to PE, Art and French classes.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, Language pages 73 - 74, Math pages 76 - 77,  Cursive pages 52 - 53 and complete forces worksheet if needed.

Important information:  I am looking forward to seeing SJA families at Parent/Teacher Interview Night tonight!

The SJA Holiday Food Drive is on now and running until the night of the Christmas concert on December 18th. Please feel free to donate non-perishable food items for the food drive. All goods collected by the school will be donated to the Eden Food Back for families in need in our community.

The next casual day is on December 18th.

The Christmas concert is taking place on December 18th at 7pm. All SJA families and friends are invited to attend! It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Lunch forms for the month of January have gone home with all students. Forms and money are due back no later than December 13th if you are interested in ordering a hot lunch for your child.

December 19th is a red, green and white Spirit Day at SJA! Students are encouraged to come dressed in red, green and white!

The last day of school before the holidays is on December 19th, which is a full day of school. There is no school at all on December 20th. Families have the option of registering their children for a karate camp on the 20th if they so choose. Please contact Mr. Monaghan for more information. pmonaghan@stjudesacademy.com.

School does not resume until Tuesday, January 7th after the Christmas holidays.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson