Christmas Thank You

Thank you parents for the Christmas gifts and for coming to the Christmas Concert.  Have a Merry Christmas !

Google Keep

We had a very helpful learning session this morning in grade 6 learning how to be better organised using Google Keep.

Great tool for the 6's to use as they move on to high school next year. Have them show you how to use it and explore it with them.

Grade 4/5 Class Party

On Wednesday (Dec 18) we will be watching a movie in the afternoon and students are allowed to bring snacks in. Please remember to keep snacks nut and sesame seed free.

Thursday is the rehearsal and performance for students so please make sure students are here that afternoon to get that last full practice in. 

Christmas Concert Schedule

A reminder that the junior Christmas concert is on Friday December 20th. It starts at 10:50.

The afternoon gr 4/5 class is scheduled to go 5th. I have no clue what time that will be, but each class performance should run between 3-5 mins. This group is under the direction of Mr Spindler.

The gr 6's are with me and they will be in the 6th spot.

I hope this helps you plan around your work schedules in you are looking to catch the show.

Learning About Lions

The grade 4/5 class spent time today with National Geographic and conservationist Dr Andrew Stein  online as we learned about lions.

Jonah and Lawson the Lion come on screen around the 29 min mark with our question. Feel free to rewatch it with your child and discuss what they learned.

New Religion Teacher Gr 6

An email should have gone out today to inform grade 6 parents that due to schedule changes, there has been a switch for grade 6 religion. Ms Ferguson (who is replacing Ms Bontes) will be taking over for Mrs O'Neil as of next week.

Thursday Lacrosse

Congratulations to the Lions in both my morning and afternoon classes who made the lacrosse teams.  I'm excited to be coaching the boy's team and will be taking them to the Oz Dome on Thursday. The girl's teams will also be joining us.

This means a supply teacher all day on Thursday.

Class Update

All 3 grades are half way through their book clubs. I am very proud of how engaged they are and how much they are enjoying their books. In addition to the lost art of reading a book they are doing, students are also summarising and answering comprehension questions.

Each student has a duotang they are working out of and the gr 6's are working with a combo of paper and tech to complete their weekly work assignments.

Gr 4' are reading - Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and the One and Only Ivan.

Gr 5's are reading - The One and Only Ivan, 39 Clues The Maze of Bones, and The Unteachables.

Gr 6's are reading - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Giver, Gathering Blue,
                    Coraline, The One and Only Ivan, 39 Clues, Losing Joe's Place, and What's His Face.


The morning class is also putting in practice for the Christmas concert and have been coding with their kindergarten buddy class. They learned how to code (thank you Finn) their own video games using Scratch and then brainstormed with their kinder buddy to design a game based on their younger friend's ideas. Trust me, the kinders had some pretty far out and cool ideas to turn into a video game!

The afternoon class is getting special visits from Mr Spindler as he prepares them for the Christmas concert.

Religion continues with Mrs O'Neill as she prepares them for Advent. Morning parents, look for an email from the school on Thursday about a change in the schedule.

Our last math strand is wrapping up for term 1 in the next week and that gives us more time to prepare for the Christmas concert. It also gives us the opportunity to explore coding and spend time working outside the box on fun ideas.

Looking For

The grade 6 class is looking for 1-2 large cardboard boxes for the Xmas Concert. They need to turn them into stand up trees for their stage.  Even if the boxes are large enough for us to glue together that should work too.

Math Tests on Tuesday

I know I haven't updated the math strand we've been working on. Sometimes I have to focus more attention and time to other things and the blog takes a back seat.

We've been working on data management, so they have been making and reading a variety of graphs, conducting surveys, and analysing data.  Gr 4 is also responsible for calculating median. Gr 5 calculates the mean, and gr 6 is responsible for mean, median, and mode.

Math test will be December 3rd.

Sweater Days

The last Friday of each month is Sweater Day at St Anne starting this week. In an attempt to do our part for the environment, the thermostat will be turning down. Bundle up!

School Photos Sent Home

Reminder that tomorrow (Thursday is retake day). Grade 6's that ordered school photos were given them today along with our class picture to bring home.

Unfortunately, they no longer take afternoon class photos.

Upcoming Dates

Nov 22 - Friends Helping Friends Raffle.  Gr 6 were given tickets. Please bring them back this week.

Nov 28 - Photo retakes

Nov 30 - St Anne Christmas Bazaar

Dec 5 Girls and boys lacrosse tournament

Dec 20 - Junior Christmas Concert


The permission form that went home for boys lacrosse has the wrong date. I put Friday when it’s actually the Thursday. If you read this in time please correct the date so I know you are aware of the error. If not, I will send it back for you to initial.

Christmas concert - the math/language teachers are responsible for their class performances. I am one of 2 junior teachers that gets double the work so Mr Spindler has been kind enough to take the afternoon class from me.

Read Out Loud

We’ve spent the first half of the year writing in all 3 grades so it will be time to shift into reading soon. Book Clubs will begin once all the books I’ve asked Ms Jenn (our library tech) to collect from other schools come in.

To warm them up to the idea of reading, I started reading out loud today to the grade 4/5’s. If they came home telling you a tale about a loud, smelly, warty, persistent hopping pot then you’ll recognise that I’m reading them Tales of Beedle The Bard. The little Potter Heads who understood the references enjoyed the first tale. They are convinced that their Muggle classmates will be happy with the tales as well.

Homework

How many of you just winced at the title?

This is fun homework though! The grade 4’s and 5’s were assigned homework today. I’m curious 1) how many went home and did it and 2) how many parents actually read the blog.

The homework was to go home, grab a book, and ask you to read and snuggle with them. Besides the great opportunity that reading and snuggling with your kiddo presents, there is an ulterior motive. On parent teacher night, many of us discussed how to get them to be better writers and the easiest advice is for them to read. Reading helps model writing.

-  reading shows them how to format sentences and paragraphs. It models structure and a process.
- it demonstrates correct conventions like grammar, punctuation, verb tense, capitalisation, etc.
- it introduces them to new vocabulary and expressions of speech.
- the more words they are exposed to, the more words they add to their speaking and writing
  vocabulary.

Gr 5 Pics

Ssssssssssshhhhhh......  don't tell Mr Spindler but I stole the gr 5 photo proofs from him and have given them to the 5's to take home.

Sorry gr 4 parents, you'll have to wait for their morning teacher to pass them out.

Photo Proofs

I don't want to brag too much, but I'm pretty sure I have the best looking grade 6 class in the school.

They are bringing home their proofs for you to order.

Poppies

Our grade 6's have been going class to class collecting contributions in exchange for a poppy.

Please consider sending in some change for them to buy a poppy.

Our St Anne Remembrance Day Liturgy is at 10:50 on Monday.

A Parent Night Thank You

Thank you parents for coming to parent teacher night last night. I have always been blessed to have students with such amazing parents here at St Anne. I am happy that your children are enjoying their year and that you like our class environment.

Math Test Postponed To Monday

I may have gotten a little overzealous in thinking I have time this week to write 3 math tests and get through parent teacher night.

I've postponed the math tests until Monday.

Parent Teacher Night

Don't forget that Tuesday is parent teacher night!  Junior interviews will be in the gym. 

Math Tests On Friday

I have conceded the fact that my decision to teach 3 different grades this year means I need my weekends to mark all the tests I make.

So..... let's wrap up measurement this week with some assessment.

Gr 4 will need to be able to:

- tell time to the minute
- determine elapsed time
- measure and record length, height, mass, capacity

Gr 5's

- tell time to the second
- elapsed time
- 24 hour time
- temperature
- measure and record length, height, mass, capacity

Gr 6's

- measure and record length, height, mass, capacity
- measure and record area, perimetre, and volume
- convert units of measurement

Progress Reports

Students will be bringing home their progress reports today.  You will also be getting an email from the school with instructions on how to book an appointment on Nov 5th for an interview.  Some of you will find a note attached to the progress report with a request from me asking for an interview.  If there is no note from me then it is your choice to request an interview or not.

A reminder that I teach math and english.

Grade 6 get their progress reports from me and you will need to sign the slip and return it in the envelope so that we can keep reusing them throughout the year.

Also in this envelope you will find a letter about grade 6 confirmation, Mabel's Labels and a fundraiser about cookie batter and muffins.

Spirit Week