February Updates

Hello Parents and/or Guardians, 

The month of February was a short but very busy month here at JPII. Between finishing units, beginning new ones, and practicing for the school musical, February went by quickly. 

March is going to be equally busy as March Break is just over one week away. There are a few reminders that I would like to share before discussing the curriculum focuses for the months of February and March. 

1. Wednesday March 8th is the last Swim to Survive lesson for the Grade 3 students. 

2. Please have your child bring their drama costume to school by this Friday. The school will be holding a dress rehersal during the day. 

3. Our school's drama production "Musicville" has two evening shows: Monday March 6th and Tuesday March 7th. All drama students must attend. All other students are encouraged to participate in the evening shows. Students must arrive at school for 5:30 pm in order to change into their costume and get ready for the production. The musical will start at 6:30 pm and end around 8:00 pm or so. 

4. The Grade 3 students have new homework for the next few months. To assist the students in preparation for EQAO this spring, the new homework packages contain previous EQAO reading, writing, and math test questions. I will be going over the homework with the students and give them feedback. We are also preparing for EQAO in class by discussing terminology, expectations, and continuing with more practice questions throughout our units of study. 


Classroom Updates! 

Language

We have started new units in both reading and writing. Our new reading comprehension strategy is Making Inferences. Inferring is when readers use clues in the text and their own background knowledge to make sense of the text. Authors do not always explain the characters and events in detail therefore readers need to be able to read between the lines. 

Our new writing form is persuasive which we started to discuss in media literacy. The goal of persuasive writing is to convince the reader of an opinion or belief. The author could be trying to convince to do something, to change the reader's mind, or to make someone believe in something. 

I read a non-fiction text to the class about whether or not students should choose their own bedtimes. The text listed the pros and cons of each argument. 

Math 

Our focus in math is on addition and subtraction. The goal for our grade 2 students is to add and subtract two-digit numbers using a variety of strategies. The goal for our grade 3 students is to add and subtract three-digit numbers using a variety of strategies. In addition, both grades are focusing on mental math and learning to explain their thinking. 

The problem above was given to the class to solve. Students were able to solve the problem using three different strategies using mental math only. 

Science

Our focus in science is on forces and simple machines. The class is learning that simple machines help make work easier for people to do. The simple machines that we will be focusing on are: inclined plane, screw, pulley, wheel & axle, lever, and wedge. We will be learning how each simple machine works, various examples of each machine, and how they help make things easier for humans. 

Religion

In Religion, we are continuing to learn about the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion. Our focus will be on sin and forgiveness as well as God's grace. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday which marked the first day of Lent. Lent will be our main focus in religion up until Easter. The students will be learning about the importance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

Art

The class has been enjoying a mixture of music and drama as we have been preparing for our school musical. We will be continuing to learn about elements of drama during the months of March and April. 


Physical Education 

In gym class, we have been working on moving objects in space as well as exploring movements patterns while using equipment. 

Winter Carnival 2017

Hello Parents and/or Guardians, 

Happy Family Day! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend with their loved ones!

Tomorrow, the students at St. John Paul II Catholic School will be celebrating their Winter Carnival. Each day, the students will be participating in indoor and outdoor winter activities. In addition, the students are encouraged to dress up. On Tuesday, students are encouraged to wear their team colours which is either blue or red. On Wednesday, students can wear their favourite tuque to school. On Thursday, we will be celebrating crazy hair and/or hat day. Lastly, on Friday students are encouraged to wear their clothes instead out.

Our class will be divided up into two groups: Team Red and Team Blue. Each group will have students from various other classes as well. 

Team Red                    Team Blue

Nathan B.                     Nathan M.
Alexander                     Aidyn.
Adaja                           Elizabeth
Darrion                         Rainbee
Farrell                          Malek
Enzo                             Mya
Shauna                         Cheyenne
Taya                             Quinn
Aiden M.                       Ethan 

I cannot wait to see everyone's school spirit! 

A Few Reminders

Hello Parents and/or Guardians, 

I have a few reminders just in case I have forgotten to mention something. 

1. Please sign and return page 4 of the report card as well as the envelope it was sent home in. 

2. Please confirm if you are unable to attend your scheduled interview time (only for families who I've requested an interview with). 

3. For parents of Grade 2 students, please complete and return the Sacrament information sheet to the school. If you have a son or daughter that is in Grade 3 that has not received their First Reconciliation and Communion but would like to this year, please contact the school. 

4. Please sign and return the Grade 3 Swim to Survive permission form as the students begin their lessons next week. 

5. Monday is Family Day - No School! Enjoy the day with your loved ones!

Thank you and have a wonderful evening! 

January Updates

Hello Parents and/or Guardians, 

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a wonderful time expressing their love and appreciation for one another yesterday. The students were very eager to exchange Valentine cards as well as work on various Valentine activities. This week, students brainstormed what love meant to them by creating a class book about what love is. Then we discussed what our hearts are filled with. Students drew pictures of people or things that they love and keep in their hearts, as well as a written explanation. I was so impressed by some of the responses the class gave. I think we have a really good understanding of what love means!

January Updates

During the month of January we finished our Language units of visualization and descriptive writing. We also started our media literacy unit. Our focus was on identifying the various types of media forms and determining whether that form was meant to persuade, inform, or entertain its viewers and/or readers. 

Our focus in Math was patterning. Students learned to identify, extend, and create various repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns. We created geometric as well as number patterns. Repeating patterns have a pattern core that must be repeated at least 3 times. In addition, the class also learned that a growing or shrinking pattern has a pattern rule which includes a starting point (e.g., Start at 12 and add 4 each time; Start at 80 and subtract 10 each time).

In the picture above, students can be seen creating various types of repeating patterns using pattern blocks. 

In these pictures, students were creating shrinking patterns based on pattern rules given by their teacher. The rule for the pattern on the left was "Start at 15 and subtract 5 each time." The rule for the pattern on the right was "Start at 11 and decrease by 2 each time."

In Science, we finished our units on Plants and Animals and started our unit on Forces. Students learned that a force is considered a push or pull and that their are many different types of forces (e.g., muscular, friction, gravity, magnetic, etc.). 

In Physical Education we focused on Aim and Accuracy. Students learned various ways to throw objects at targets. In Health, the class learned about the four food groups, where food comes from, and how to make healthy choices for their lunches. 

In Religion, we have been focusing on the different Sacraments as the Grade 2 students will be preparing for their First Reconciliation and Communion this spring. 

Stay tuned for February updates!!!

2D Shape Assessment

Hello Parents and/or Guardians, 

On Wednesday our class will be having a math assessment on 2D shapes. This assessment is based on what the class has already learned. The concepts and pictures below outline the curriculum expectations that the class has been working on and will be assessed on. 

Grade 2 

- identify and describe various polygons (e.g., triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons) and sort and classify them by number sides and number of vertices 
- compose and decompose two-dimensional shapes

Grade 3 

 - identify and describe various polygons (e.g., triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons) and sort and classify them by number of sides, number of vertices, number of right angles and number of interior angles
-explain the relationships between different types of quadrilaterals (e.g., a square is a rectangle because a square has four sides and four right angles; a rhombus is a parallelogram because opposite sides of a rhombus are parallel)
- compare various angles and describe angles as bigger than, smaller than, or about the same as other angles

Students do not need to know the proper terms for the acute and obtuse angles however they do need to understand and identify that angles can be smaller or larger than a right angle. 

If you or your child have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. 

Your partner in education, 
        S. Perrone

December Updates

Hello Parents and/or Guardians,

Happy New Year! In this post, I am going to share some of our lessons and activities that the class worked on during the month of December. I meant to post this before the Christmas Break but time got away from me. I do apologize for not updating the blog in a timely manner.

Language

In Language, we moved onto two new units. In reading, we focused on the reading comprehension strategy of visualization. Visualization is the strategy of creating a mental image in your mind as you read a story. In writing, we focused on the writing form of descriptive writing. The students learned about how our five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) and adjectives help describe people, places, and things.

This was a shared writing activity in which the class and I completed. We focused on describing the Christmas object of a candy cane. We focused on using our five senses and well as strong adjectives.

One of our favourite reading activities involved the story, "There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!" On each page, the main character swallowed a different object. The goal was for the students to visualize all of the objects and determine why the cold lady was swallowing them. In the end, the cold lady swallowed all the pieces needed to build a snowman. The class loved the story so they created their own version.


Math

In Math, we began our unit on Geometry. Our focus was on identifying two-dimensional shapes as well as sorting and classifying the shapes by their geometric properties (e.g., number of sides, number of vertices, etc.) Both grades learned about 2D shapes however they focused on different properties. The grade 2 students focused on the geometric properties of number of sides and number of vertices. The grade 3 students focused on identifying and comparing various polygons and sorting them by number of sides, side lengths, number of interior angles, number of right angles, etc. Below is an anchor chart of various polygons and their number of sides and vertices.

The class explored 2D shapes while using geoboards. The students were able to make different polygons using elastic bands. 

In this activity, students created unique snowflakes using pattern blocks. Then the class cut out polygons out of paper to create a paper copy of their snowflakes. The students also had to identify the shapes and how many of each they used.  


Religion

Our focus in November and December was on Advent. During each week of Advent, our class participated in an in-class liturgy celebrating Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. We prayed, read passages from the Bible, and sang songs. Learning about the Nativity Story and preparing for Jesus' birth was our goal for the month of December. Our class also created our own Advent wreaths using construction paper and tissue paper. 

Science

In Science we continued our units on plants and animals. The grade 2 students learned about the various physical characteristics of animals (e.g, fur or feathers, legs or no legs) as well as some changes animals go through to adapt to their surroundings. The grade 3 students learned about the major parts of a flower (e.g, stamen, pistil, seeds, fruit) and how seeds travel. Both grades also learned how humans can have a positive and negative impact on both plants and animals. 

Art

In Visual Art, we focused on the terms of foreground, middle ground, and background. The class learned these concepts through creating a portrait of a snowman. First, we learned what a portrait was. Then the class drew a portrait of a snowman. After, the students added detail in the middle ground and background of their picture.

In keeping with a winter/Christmas theme, the class learned about various lines (e.g., horizontal, vertical, curvy, diagonal, straight, thick, thin, etc.) through the directed-drawing activity of a reindeer. 

Schedule for the last week before the Christmas Break

Hello Parents and/or Guardians,

I hope everyone is enjoying the winter weather we have been receiving. December has been quite a busy month and it will continue that way up until the Christmas Break. It is hard to believe that we only have one week of school left for the 2016 year.

St. John Paul II will be participating in many festive activities next week to celebrate the holiday season. Here is our schedule:

Monday
- Jersey/Sports Day (wear your favourite sports gear)

Tuesday
- Wear your Christmas sweater, shirt, or any apparel
- Our "Happy Birthday Jesus" luncheon

Wednesday
- PJ Day
- Advent Liturgy and Tableau (second block)
- Gingerbread House Activity (third block)

Thursday
- Wear your Christmas socks, Santa hats, or festive headbands
- Joy Day (half day - Christmas activities in classrooms)

Friday
- Red and Green Day
- Spirit Assembly (first block)
- Christmas Bingo (last block)

It should be a fantastic week! I hope all students will be able to attend school each day so that we may celebrate the holidays together!