Hello everyone!

I hope you are enjoying a nice week.
We have been pretty busy these past few weeks. We are gearing up for Catholic Education Week and there are many things going on. Please check out the schedule by following this link:

SJA Catholic Education Week


Here is some of the exciting learning that has been going on in our class! 

We have been comparing and contrasting different objects. This past week, we looked at how an octopus and a spider were alike and how they were different.  At home, talk to your children about how things are similar and different (How is a tree like a flower? What is unique about each plant?)

We will also talking A LOT about stories. Stories follow patterns. They have a setting and characters; they have events that make up the beginning, middle and end of the story; there is a problem and a resolution within the story. We will be using a few different strategies to learn more about how these elements go together to create stories. While learning how to retell a story, I am hoping we can extend this knowledge to writing their own stories! We are looking at retelling the story with picture support and also by filling in blank words. Once we have practiced a few times, we are going to tell the story in own words! The students are really enjoying the story and seem confident in their knowledge of events!

The Grade 3 students have been working on a special Earth Day Presentation. I am hoping they can present these projects to the class soon!

Through daily writing, the students have been learning about adding adjectives and descriptors to sentences, both orally and in writing. We are looking to take this knowledge and transfer it to more in depth writing. The expectation for the older students is to write a descriptive paragraph. The younger students are looking at writing complete, interesting sentences. Everyone has been using the tools within the class to help them achieve their goal.

The students each planted a seed and we have been anxiously waiting to see what will grow. Unfortunately, many of the seeds did not sprout. So, after some conversations about why that may have happened, we have decided to try again to see if we can get a different outcome. Stay tuned!

Wishing everyone a happy May. I am always amazed at how fast the year flies by! There will be more posts in the coming weeks as there is always so much happening at the end of the year. I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather and sunshine!