Good afternoon!

In today's class the students started off the day by having their weekly spelling tests.  All students will be bringing home their marked spelling tests with them tonight.  During language today the students also worked on the proper use of plurals in their Language books.

In our Unit of Inquiry today the students were continued working on their summative project.  In today's class the students all completed their rough copies of their stories.  These stories are really shaping up to be very interesting pieces of work!  I am excited for the time when the stories are completed and ready to be shared!  Next when we return to school, the students will begin turning their rough copies into good copies!

During mathematics today we continued on with our new geometry unit.  As a class we reviewed what we know about figures, the ways in which we can describe them, and the knowledge we have with sides, lines and angles.  As a class we explored how we can take this knowledge and use it to help us sort and classify figures.  We used Venn Diagrams and sorted figures using various attributes.  Students were then asked to independently review figures, and find rules for sorting them into Venn Diagram using their Homework and Practice books.  During math today the students also worked on roman numerals, multiplication and addition and subtraction.

During the afternoon today the students were surprised with a treat- the movie version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!  After all the hard work the students have done with their novel studies, they were very happy to have the chance to see the story play out before their eyes.  Next week we will be completing a reflection on the differences between the book and the movie.  Ask your child tonight what they noticed!
The students also went to PE and French classes today.

Homework: Read for 2o minutes and record in the reading log, re-write incorrect spelling words ten times each, Language pages 58 - 59, Abeka pages 27-28 and math pages 60 - 61.

Important information:  A Polar Expression consent form has gone home with all students tonight.  This is a contest that all SJA students participate in.  Our class has already created the poems we would like to submit for the contest.  In order to submit them we need the consent form signed by parents.  Please fill out the information on the form and send it back to me by Monday as we must submit the forms by early next week.

December lunch forms have gone home.   Forms and payment are due by November 22nd for any students wanting to order lunch for the month of December.

We are excited to announce that St. Jude's Academy is going to be hosting an author visit for SJA students and their families!  Cecile Marie, a children's book author, will be visiting us on November 26th at 10am to share her stories, answer questions and sell her latest books.  Parents and family members are welcome and encouraged to join us for this fun event.  Cecile Marie's books will be for sale at the end of her talk for $10.  Half of the proceeds of the sale of her books on that day, will be donated to SJA for the purchase of books for our own school library.  Purchasing her books is optional and not a requirement of attending the author talk.   We look forward to seeing SJA grade 3 families out on the 26th!

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

In today's class the students started off the day by working on language.  The students worked on turning singular words into plurals and using plurals in sentences.  The students also had time for one-on-one conferences with me to discuss their letters from yesterday.  These conferences were useful, and I believe helped set up the students for success with their Ontario Writing Assessment which they also completed today.

In our Unit of Inquiry today the students were continued working on their summative project.  In today's class the students began working on their story boards where they used jot notes to plan out the characters, setting, problem and solution of their stories.  This is the best method to ensure that each student produces a well thought out and well organized story!

During mathematics today we continued on with our new geometry unit.  The students explored various figures, and as a class we discussed the figure's sides and angles.  The students then had to draw figures of their own.  Student also worked in their Abeka Arithmetic where they worked on multiplication, addition, subtraction and telling time.

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, Language pages 56 - 57 and math pages 57 - 58.

Important information:   Picture re-take day is tomorrow for those students who require re-takes. If you are interested in purchasing the original school photos, the order must be submitted by November 18th!

A Polar Expression consent form has gone home with all students tonight.  This is a contest that all SJA students participate in.  Our class has already created the poems we would like to submit for the contest.  In order to submit them we need the consent form signed by parents.  Please fill out the information on the form and send it back to me by Friday.

After-school Care Payment Request Forms went home with all students last week  Please keep an eye out for these forms if your child attends after-school care.  The payment was due on Tuesday.

December lunch forms have gone home.   Forms and payment are due by November 22nd for any students wanting to order lunch for the month of December.

We are excited to announce that St. Jude's Academy is going to be hosting an author visit for SJA students and their families!  Cecile Marie, a children's book author, will be visiting us on November 26th at 10am to share her stories, answer questions and sell her latest books.  Parents and family members are welcome and encouraged to join us for this fun event.  Cecile Marie's books will be for sale at the end of her talk for $10.  Half of the proceeds of the sale of her books on that day, will be donated to SJA for the purchase of books for our own school library.  Purchasing her books is optional and not a requirement of attending the author talk.   We look forward to seeing SJA grade 3 families out on the 26th!

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Good afternoon!

In today's class the students started off the day by working on language.  The students were asked to write a letter to a friend from another school (imaginary or real) to tell them about what school is like here at SJA in grade three.  Students had a lesson on the proper format for writing letters, and a review of proper brainstorming technique prior to the letter writing activity.  This activity will be very beneficial for the Ontario Writing Assessment the students will be working on in tomorrow's class.  During language the students also worked on reviewing the proper method of turning singular words into plural in their Language books.

In our Unit of Inquiry today the students were introduced to their final assessment of this unit.  Students will be asked to write one final story that incorporates all the elements of story writing we have learned in this unit so far.  As a class we explored the final assessment package to fully understand the criteria for success with this writing assignment.  All students are now aware of the 6 elements that must be included in their story:

1. Your story must clearly represent one of the genres we have studied in class (horror, friendship, adventure, fairy tale, or western) 

2. Your story must have a clear beginning, middle and end.

3. Your story must clearly show the characters, the setting, the problem and the solution.

4. Your story must use dialogue and dialogue tags effectively.

5. Your story must have a range of sentences and sentence length.

6.  Your story must have clear paragraphs.

Please see the rubric for this assignment posted at the end of today's posting.

During mathematics today we continued on with our new geometry unit.  The students used their knowledge of describing figures from yesterday to go further and describe angles.  In today's class we explored right angles, angles that are greater than a right angle, and angles that are less than a right angle.  Students practised describing angles and creating their own angles in their Homework and Practice books.

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, Language pages 54 - 55 and math pages 55 - 56.

Important information:   Picture re-take day is on November 15th for those students who require re-takes.  The original school photos went home with all students tonight.  If you are interested in purchasing the original school photos, the order must be submitted by November 18th!

After-school Care Payment Request Forms went home with all students last week  Please keep an eye out for these forms if your child attends after-school care.  The payment was due today.

December lunch forms went home yesterday.   Forms and payment are due by November 22nd for any students waning to order lunch for the month of December.

We are excited to announce that St. Jude's Academy is going to be hosting an author visit for SJA students and their families!  Cecile Marie, a children's book author, will be visiting us on November 26th at 10am to share her stories, answer questions and sell her latest books.  Parents and family members are welcome and encouraged to join us for this fun event.  Cecile Marie's books will be for sale at the end of her talk for $10.  Half of the proceeds of the sale of her books on that day, will be donated to SJA for the purchase of books for our own school library.  Purchasing her books is optional and not a requirement of attending the author talk.   We look forward to seeing SJA grade 3 families out on the 26th!

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Category	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Knowledge & Understanding	-Identified topic, purpose, and audience with difficulty -does not include a beginning, middle, and end -characters, setting, and plot may be missing - genre unclear	-Identified topic, purpose, and audience in somewhat vague terms - beginning, middle, and end are not clear -Story contains characters, and or setting and or plot -genre vaguely identified	-Identified topic, purpose, and audience accurately - beginning, middle, and end are clear -Story contains characters, setting, and plot - genre is clear	-Identified topic, purpose, and audience precisely - beginning, middle, and end flow smoothly -Story contains well described characters, setting, and plot -genre is clearly identified without question
Thinking	-Little brainstorming of ideas in box provided -Made poor use of organiser for topic and developing sentences -Creative thinking process used with limited effectiveness -Almost no revisions made -rarely confirmed spelling -Much prompting needed	-Brainstorming of ideas in box provided to a certain extent -Made sufficient use of organiser for topic and developing sentences -Creative thinking process used with some effectiveness -Some revisions made -often confirmed spelling -Some prompting needed	-Ample brainstorming of ideas in box provided -Effective use of organiser for topic and developing sentences -Creative thinking process used with considerable effectiveness -Competently made revisions -regularly confirmed spelling -Little prompting needed	-Extensive brainstorming of ideas in box provided -Made full use of organiser for topic and developing sentences -Creative thinking process used with a high degree of effectiveness -Very efficiently made revisions -readily confirmed spelling -No prompting needed
Communication	-Story unclear -failed to use proper paragraph form and structure/organization, or provide a title -poor sentence fluency and use of dialogue	-Story satisfactory -Little use of proper paragraph form and structure/organization, as well as title creation -satisfactory sentence fluency and use of dialogue	-Story clear -Consistent use of proper paragraph form and structure/organization provided reasonable title -good sentence fluency and use of dialogue	-Well developed story -Precise use of proper paragraph form and structure/organization, provided creative title -excellent sentence fluency and use of dialogue
Application	-no story writing elements used	- most story elements used	- story elements used throughout	-superior use of the elements of story writing

Happy Tuesday!

In today's class the students started off the day by copying down their new weekly spelling words.  This week's words focus on using 'y' as a vowel.  Once the words were recorded, the students worked on reinforcing the words in their Spelling Workbooks.  Moving on, the students had a chance to reflect on their 4-day long weekend by writing about it in their journals.  We heard stories about hockey games, birthday parties and families having a moment of silence at 11am in respect of Remembrance Day.  It was great to see all the fun the students had over the weekend! The students also worked on the proper use of plurals in their Language books.  Lastly, the students had one final work period to work on their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory novel studies.   In today's class the students had a chance to add more to chapters they felt needed more information, improve illustrations and complete their About the Author sections.  The novel studies have now been collected and will be marked using the rubric I provided and posted early last week. 

In our Unit of Inquiry today the students continued working on their fairy tales.  We had a story telling session where all stories were shared by the students which everyone enjoyed!  See some pictures at the end of this posting of the pairs sharing their stories.  The fairy tales have all been collected and will be marked using the rubric I posted last week.  In tomorrow's class, the students will be beginning their final assignment of this unit- writing one final story using all of the elements we have explored to date.  Keep an eye out for the rubric for this final assignment tomorrow! 

During mathematics today we began our next unit- Geometry!  In today's class we had an introduction to the unit by exploring and inquiring into various geometric figures.  As a class we inquired into the various ways we can describe the figures, and then the students had a chance to practice this concept in their Homework and Practice books.  A re-test was also given today for the numeration test for those students who scored an 84% or less on last week's re-test.

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, Spelling Workbook pages 46 - 48, Language pages 52 - 53 and math pages 54 - 55.

Important information:   Picture re-take day is on November 15th for those students who require re-takes.  The original school photos went home with all students tonight.  If you are interested in purchasing the original school photos, the order must be submitted by November 18th!

After-school Care Payment Request Forms went home with all students last week  Please keep an eye out for these forms if your child attends after-school care.  The payment was due today.

December lunch forms went home tonight! Forms and payment are due by November 22nd for any students waning to order lunch for the month of December.

We are excited to announce that St. Jude's Academy is going to be hosting an author visit for SJA students and their families!  Cecile Marie, a children's book author, will be visiting us on November 26th at 10am to share her stories, answer questions and sell her latest books.  Parents and family members are welcome and encouraged to join us for this fun event.  Cecile Marie's books will be for sale at the end of her talk for $10.  Half of the proceeds of the sale of her books on that day, will be donated to SJA for the purchase of books for our own school library.  Purchasing her books is optional and not a requirement of attending the author talk.   We look forward to seeing SJA grade 3 families out on the 26th!

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson