Good afternoon!


Today was a lot of fun in our grade 3 class at SJA!

Unit of Inquiry: The students were given an opportunity to inquire and explore while researching new communities.  Students were put into pairs and asked to use books to explore communities of various designs such as mining, forestry, commercial and suburban.  The students are asked to complete a research booklet as they worked in their pairs.  This research booklet will be assessed with a checklist and presented to the class on Friday.  Marked research booklets and the assessment pieces will come home with each student on Friday.  Ask your child tonight what community they are researching!

Language: During language today the students worked on a creative writing piece.  The students were asked to create a humorous, fictional story about a time that they annoyed someone.  The students had a lot of fun working on their stories and sharing them aloud with the class.  Ask your child tonight what they wrote about!  We moved on in our language period to our novel study.  In today's class we read chapters 5 and 6 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The students had a lot of fun reading and then discussing what was read in their novel study groups.

Math: During math today the children began focusing on ordinal numbers.  The students practiced counting and then using the place of various items to assign them an ordinal number.  As a class we found the ordinal numbers of various letters of the alphabet.  The students were then asked to work independently on finding the ordinal numbers of letters of the alphabet in their workbooks.  Each student has brought home their Practice and Homework book with them tonight to practice this concept.

The students also went to PE and French classes today.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, math pages 14 -15 and cursive pages 20 - 21.

Important information: The weather is beginning to get colder as I am sure you have all noticed.  Please be sure that your children are wearing the proper uniform for the cooler weather.  Long sleeved polo shirts, mock turtle necks, 3-in-1 jackets, the house sweat shirts and blazers (grade 4 and up) are the only long sleeves that are allowed to be worn in the school.  Unfortunately sweaters and jackets that are not part of the SJA uniform are not allowed to be worn in the school.  If you have any questions about the uniform or need to order additional pieces please contact Alpa at uniforms@stjudesacademy.com.

The SJA Cross Country Team is having their first meet of the school year. It is taking place this tomorrow from 4:00 - 4:30pm. The children are asked to meet in Ms. Elliott portable to head out for their first try-out. Many students from our grade 3 class have chosen to sign up which is great! Please make arrangements with your child to be picked up after the team finishes their meet at 4:30 tomorrow if your child is a part of the team. For more information please contact Ms. Elliott at melliott@stjudesacademy.com.

The Terry Fox run is happening at SJA on Thursday, September 26th. Students are asked to collect pledges for this event which will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. Pledge forms went home with all students last week. If you have pledge money collected please send it into the school. Pledges can be collected up until the morning of the 26th when the run takes place. For more information please contact Mr. Browning at rbrowning@stjudesacademy.com.

A trip permission form went home with all children last week. The grade 3 and 4 classes at SJA are taking a trip to the city of Toronto! This trip is a part of our IB Unit of Inquiry that is inquiring into urban and rural communities. On this trip we will be looking at the different elements of the great urban city of Toronto, taking various types of transportation offered throughout the city, and visiting the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Trip forms are due back with the $14 fee by this Wednesday, September 18th. We are looking for 10 volunteers between both classes for this trip who will be confirmed on a first come, first serve basis. Please make note of the allergy form that is attached to the permission form. This allergy release form must be signed and returned back to the school in order for your child to be admitted into the factory.

We are looking to have small boxes collected for an upcoming project in our Unit of Inquiry. The students are going to be asked to build small scale rural and urban communities. Please help us with this project by collecting and sending in small boxes that we can use. Please see the form sent home yesterday for more information.

The first casual day of the school year is taking place on Wednesday, October 25th. Students may come to school dressed in any casual clothing they wish as school uniforms will not have to be worn on this day.


Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson