Happy Wednesday!

A great deal of fun and learning took place in the grade 3 classroom today!

During our Unit of Inquiry today the students had an opportunity to get back into their research pairs and explore the community they started looking at yesterday.  Students have a number of areas they are encouraged to look in to while exploring their community.  They will be completing a research booklet which they will be assessed on individually.  In tomorrow's class the students will have a final work period to finish their exploration.  Pairs will then present their community research to the class.  As a class today we also read a non-fiction text about urban cities.  As a class we discussed and reviewed the elements of an urban city and related the characteristics to the City of Toronto, where we are fortunate enough to be going in a couple of weeks!

During language today the students worked on writing a list as a method of using variety in their writing.  As a class we looked at a list I made up regarding things I need to pack to go to the cottage.  We then worked in our Ontario Writing books where the students explored another list as an example, and then had an opportunity to write their own list.  The students also had a 'catch-up' period for their novel studies.  Students were given extra time in the language period to work on the previous chapters we have read and add information to their summaries.

During math today the children continued working on their place value unit.  In today's class we began working on the hundreds place.  As a class we discussed when and how we would move our tens into the hundreds place.  We discussed how to show hundreds in a base ten number (4 hundreds, 6 tens and 5 ones = 465) and they also saw how to use stacks to represent different numbers.  The students worked on concepts in their math notebooks.  Students will be bringing home their math Homework and Practice book with them tonight to reinforce these concepts.

The students also went to PE, Art and French classes today.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, practice weekly spelling words, and math pages 16 -17.

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 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