Merry CHRISTmas

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my students, their families, and anyone else viewing this blog, a very Merry CHRISTmas.  I hope your time is filled with fun, great food, family, and some gift exchange.  Remember that JESUS is the reason for the season, and it is important that you make mass a part of your celebrations.  See the last blog for the mass schedule at Corpus Christi Church, the one that is affiliated with our school.

Good News!

This week's Good News Ticket winners are:  Hannah 24, Serena, Julia B, Edxio (alias Fred), Thomas, Michael, and Hailey.  Congratulations!  The next winners will be announced next year.

On Friday we had a relaxed day.  I must say that I truly enjoy the numerous gifts that I was showered with (not necessary, however). I sent home thank you/Christmas cards with each student.  We watched the motion picture "The Nativity Story", compared it to the biblical stories that we read this week, and analyzed it from a drama perspective.  We enjoyed the pizza and drinks that Miss O. supplied, and the numerous treats that many friends brought to share.  Did you know that Santa stopped by over night on Thursday and filled the ornaments that the students made with lollipops?

We have discussed in great detail our obligation to attend weekly mass.  Hopefully I will see you at church this weekend and next (regular mass schedule) in addition to Christmas and New Year's masses.  Here is the schedule for masses at Corpus Christi Church, for your information:

Christmas Eve - Monday December 24
5pm, 7pm, 9pm, 12am(Midnight Mass)

Christmas Day - Tuesday December 25
8am, 10am, 12pm (noon)

New Year's Eve - Monday December 31
5pm

New Year's Day - Tuesday January 1
10am

Miss O's Gift to You!

Miss O. has decided that she would like to treat our class to a pizza lunch tomorrow.  She will provide three pieces per person and a Koolaid jammer for a beverage.  There will be two varieties of pizza to choose from:  cheese or cheese and pepperoni.  You will still need to bring snacks and anything else that you would like to eat during the day.  What a nice treat!  Thanks Miss O. 
            

Today we attended our Advent mass at Corpus Christi Church.  We also completed learning about the Nativity Story by reading selections from our text book and the bible (Luke 1.5-45, 56-66: Luke 2.1-20; and Matthew 2.1-18).  We have learned what life was like, especially for women 2000 years ago, and all of the details of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus.  The students also answered open response questions.

As a special treat we made ornaments today.  The students has their choice from:  monkey, Santa, snowman, or elf.  They will be bringing them home tomorrow.

The students also brought home the mass schedule for Corpus Christi today.  Please make every effort to attend mass this Christmas season!

What a Mixed-up Day!

Mr. Marenchin was a special guest in our room today.  He shared the text "A Porcupine in a Pine Tree" with us. We participated in a sing-a-long and a meaningful discussion about the religious song lyrics that I posted on our blog on Monday of this week.                                                          

 

               The "Jolly OLD Elf"

We also completed the gym presentations.  All groups have now taught their invented game and we have had the opportunity to participate in them all.  They were creative and fun!     Check out the photos!                                

   

Today we took a closer look at the math work from yesterday.  There was a very wide variety of answers:  the largest being a page with an area of 4050 square centimetres and the smallest being a page with an area of 1734 square centimetres.  The page that I was able to use had an area of 1519 square centimetres.  Various groups of students earned Good News Tickets depending on how close they were to my answer.  Congratulations to Hailey and Abbey who earned four tickets each because they were the closest!

  

It's a Wrap!

planning stage...

diving right in!

collaboration

...even a laugh or two...

wrappin' it up

Today we "wrapped up" our work with surface area of rectangular prisms in math.  The students worked in pairs to calculate the surface area of their math text book, then they had to wrap it (Christmas present style) using the minimum amount of paper, calculate the area of the piece of paper they needed, and finally they had to compare the two amounts.  Tomorrow we will compare their efforts to the piece of paper that I used to do the same activity.  Real life math at its finest!

testing a theory

they've got it covered

they're bookin' it

what teamwork

sticky notes are handy planning tools

do they measure up?

accountable talk!

Crazy Hair Day!

First of all, curriculum news - Literacy evaluations were returned today.  Please return them to school with a parent signature on them ASAP.  Since the two open response questions were not well done, you should also find a lined piece of paper with sample appropriate responses on them. We did those collaboratively today. We will have to revisit this and really practice this again, since many students did not answer them properly, even though the success criteria anchor chart and a sample response was hanging in the room!  Congratulations to Abbey and Maddy who did an excellent job on theirs!
The math test that was scheduled for this Thursday has to be postponed.  We will be forced to continue this unit after the holidays.  Today we had to spend another day on surface area of rectangular prisms - hopefully the practice work will be done well this time.  It is a good thing that I look at their work daily, so that I can see that we needed more guided instruction and practice!  Congratulations to the following students who received a "bye" in math today since their work was very well done:  Maddy, Hannah 22, Edxio, and Alysia.
Yesterday at mass, Father Roche distributed some interesting reading regarding a popular Christmas carol that we regularly sing.  Check out the visual below.  It is very interesting reading!

This afternoon we participated in our Crazy Hair Day assembly - another in a series of incentives that the students earned for their hard work during our fund raiser.  Many students came to school with crazy hair.  Then, to top it all off, some staff members had their hair done, or shaved, by professional stylists in front of the whole student body.  Check out the photos!  We were also entertained by the choir, rock band, and some crazy male teachers.

Choir

Rock Band

St. Gabriel's Temptations?????

The first set of "victims"

The second set of "victims"

The first victim to visit the shaver!

This brave soul "took it all off"!

Literacy!

Listening Centre

Classroom Library Centre

Word Study Centre

For the last couple of weeks we have been working on literacy centres to practice the skills that were learned in the last unit.  In addition to the ones pictures here, the students also worked at these centres:  Computer, Poetry, Media Literacy, and Newspaper.  We had our evaluation on Friday.  They will be sent home on Monday December 17 for a parent's signature.  Please send them back ASAP.  Thank you in advance!

Writing Centre

Good News!

   Congratulations to the Good News Ticket winners this week:  Ryan, Nathan, and Julianna.  Keep earning tickets!  We will begin the process again next week.

Constable Silver visited with us yesterday.  His message was to hold strong to your values, even when tempted by peer pressure.  Peer pressure will be a temptation throughout life, even in adulthood, so strength is a good skill to develop when dealing with this issue.  We also discussed what makes a role model a positive one - not all famous people have good values and therefore may not be the best choice.

       

Our class also wishes to extend our thanks to Luca and his family for bringing in delicious dairy and peanut-free cupcakes to celebrate Luca's birthday.  Unfortunately they did not last long enough to get a photo of them!

Bully Awareness and Self Defense with Mr. Kersey

Self defense

On Thursday all grade three to six students participated in a self defense and bully awareness presentation by Mr. Kersey of Mr. Kersey's Karate School.  The students learned how to deal with bullies in a non-contact fashion, learned a few basic karate moves, and were taught how to focus.  Check out the photos!

Shoulder taps - push up style!

standing at attention

Mr. Kersey

 

Volunteers received wrist bands

FOCUS YOUR EYES, FOCUS YOUR EARS, FOCUS YOUR MIND, FOCUS YOUR BODY!  

That is how you learn best!