Home Reading Logs & Library Visit

Today your child is bringing home their home-reading log (green duotang) which marks the beginning of our new homework routine. The reading log should remain with their agendas at all times in the ziplock bag which will help to prevent any water damage from bottle leaks and spills!

Your child is to read for 20-30 minutes per day, Monday-Thursday. As they read, they need to complete one ‘4-Square Handout’ (these are in the green duotang). They are to complete ONE section PER night and write their answers beside the dots. ONE completed ‘4-Square’ is due each Friday with a parent signature. The first page of the reading log contains the instructions and some sample responses to help guide your child with each box. If your child is reading a different book each evening as opposed to the same chapter book throughout the week, then write the book title within each square every night. Thank you for your supporting your child in becoming a strong reader!


We had our first library visit this morning! At this stage of grade 4, students are allowed to check out one English book and one French book. A reminder that we will visit the library each Monday (unless it is a holiday) and that your child will not be able to check out books if they haven't returned the previous week's borrowed books.

Program Night Newsletter

Thank you to those families that were able to participate
in our ‘Student-Led Program Night’ at St. Augustine School!
If you were unable to attend, this post is the same information
that was shared in the handout which will be sent home with
your child in paper form. Please take the time to read through
the items in this newsletter. If you have any questions, write
me a note in your child's agenda!

Communication:

Student Agenda:

The student agenda is the primary communication tool
between school and home! PLEASE Initial your child’s
agenda each day and check for any communications from
school. If you wish to speak with me, write a note in the
agenda and be sure to include the phone number you would
like me to use in order to reach you.
I will contact you as soon as possible!   

This class blog will be the primary way that classroom learning will be communicated. Think of it as an online newsletter! Make sure you subscribe so that you receive notifications of weekly posts.

Subjects Taught Each Morning: 

Math, English Language and Family Life taught by Mrs. Stratford
and Religion will  be taught by Mrs. Gravelle.
Mathematics - Five strands: Number Sense and Numeration,
Patterning & Algebra, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense,
Data Management and Probability.
Language Arts  - Includes Reading, Writing,
Oral Communication & Media Literacy
Family Life/Religion  - ‘Fully Alive’ Program used by OCSB
for Family Life. For Religion instruction the ‘Growing in Faith,
Growing in Christ’ resource is used. 

To learn more about provincial curriculum expectations please
visit the Ontario Ministry of Education Website:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/subjects.html

Homework:

Daily Reading (Monday-Thursday) of approximately 20-30 
minutes for grade 4 students . Green ‘Reading’ duotang has
tracking sheets and instructions which should be kept with
the agenda in the freezer bag. They will be reviewed by the
teacher on a weekly basis. 

In the future there may be additional homework
expectations (i.e. math homework,  special projects,
tests to study for, word study, concept practice/review sheets, etc.).
If this occurs, there will be a communication in the agenda.

The OCSB Student Portal has many programs that your child
may access from home in order to enhance learning:
https://sites.google.com/a/ocsbstudent.ca/k-6/

Consider the following alternatives to homework
(and screen time): cook/bake with your child, encourage
him/her to build or make something, exercise/be active,
outdoor play. 
https://fouroclockfaculty.com/2018/08/5-alternatives-to-homework/

Housekeeping Items:

Library/Learning Commons:  We will visit each Monday
morning.  Your child will only be able to sign out new books
if their previously checked out books have been returned.

Dress Code: white on top and navy blue on the bottom.
No jeans (except on Fridays when students may choose
their own outfits). 

Lunches/Snacks:
Litterless lunches/boomerang lunches  in effect which means
that ALL garbage comes home.

All snacks must be nut/pineapple free due to life
threatening allergies.

Students are encouraged to have  healthy snacks only in
the mornings and save their treats for the afternoon!
Please send in necessary utensils as plastic utensils will
not be distributed.

Only water bottles allowed to stay on desks. No juice or
soft drinks.

Request for Headphones: Please please send in a pair
of earphones/earbuds for your child. They are extremely
important for your child to have when he/she is using
technology. Kindly label them and place them in a labeled
ziplock bag.

Donations: If you wish to make donations to the classroom,
please select an item(s) from the wish display photo in
this post! Donations are totally optional and always
appreciated! 

Picture Day: October 9th, 2019.

Volunteering:If you plan on volunteering for any school
trips or events this coming year, the OCSB now requires
that ALL volunteers complete a Police Records Check.
The police records check has a small fee, can be done
online and takes approximately 24 hours to process. 

The process for completing a complete records check
can be found at this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15kgoCEZX
apjx6m0k1dSGWOyO6kUWQBTSL3s_lAzTd1w/edit?usp=sharing

This link can be found on the St. Augustine School
website under announcements on the HOME page
& under Newsletters on the NEWS & LINKS page. 

Thank You Again! 

Building Our Classroom Community and Learning to Collaborate

Over the next few weeks we will continue to focus on building our classroom community, getting to know each other and establishing routines and expectations!

Since the first week of school, the students have participated in a variety of cooperative games. In the card pyramid challenge, the students had to work with group members to build the highest pyramid they could out of cards. They were asked to first attempt the task without speaking which they found extremely difficult! When they did the activity the second time, and were allowed to speak with each other, they were much more successful.

In the cup stacking activity, students were asked to build a pyramid out of solo cups using a rubber band controlled by strings. They were not allowed to touch the cups with their hands. Through communication and listening to the ideas of others, all of the groups eventually succeeded in the task.

In our consolidation of learning, we co-created a collaboration anchor chart.  Listening to the ideas of others, using kind & encouraging words and trying a variety of strategies to solve problems, were just some of the things that students observed good collaborators do. 

Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I was so excited to meet all of the students today and look forward to a wonderful year of learning ahead!   We spent the morning getting to know each other, learning classroom routines, etc.  The first few weeks of school are all about establishing routines, classroom expectations, etc.  It will take us a little while to settle in but today we were off to an excellent start! I will be teaching your child each morning. I teach the English subjects of Math, Language and Family Life. Mrs. Gravelle will be providing the students with Religion instruction. 

Thank you to those parents who sent in donations of tissue, indoor shoes, pencil cases, etc. It is most appreciated!

Important Information about Snacks/Lunches/Allergies:
Your child should have enough food for 2 snacks and a lunch. I suggest that you send in 3 snacks in addition to a lunch. In the mornings, I strongly encourage them to eat healthy snacks only (fruit, yogurt, cheese, hummous and pita, etc.) and save their treats (cookies, chips, etc.) for lunch and/or their afternoon snack.

Please note that we DO have students in our class with severe, life threatening allergies and we would appreciate your cooperation in refraining from sending food with peanuts or tree nuts to school.  Thank you very much for your understanding. 

Agendas and Home-School Communication:
Today your child received their agenda and a bundle of notes, many of which are items that need to be completed and signed by parents at home. Please look through this material carefully and return necessary documents to school as soon as possible. Also, please sign/initial your child's agenda each night and check the agenda pocket for any notes, etc.


Student-Led Program Night September 11th from 5:30-7:00 p.m.:
Please take this opportunity to come and see your child's classroom and meet their teachers.  There will be more information shared during the evening. I look forward to meeting the parents whom I have yet to meet!

Thank you!
Mrs. Stratford

Correction to Last Post!

Please note that a correction was made to the previous post to reflect that the outdoor play day is on Wednesday, June 26th in the morning.  Sorry for any confusion!

Update and Reminders

In Math we continue to explore fractions. We have also been talking about measurement concepts , specifcally the length of the sides of regular shapes (measured in cm and mm)  as they relate to the perimeter (the distance around a shape) of shapes. We have exploring the concept of area (the amount of surface a shape covers) and learning to calculate area as L x W = Area,  for squares and rectangles (gr. 5) or by counting the grid squares inside a shape and expressing our answer in square units (gr. 4).  We are also exploring probability concepts by performing basic experiments with spinners and coins. In language we continue to examine the advertising techniques used by companies to sell products, journal writing and our morning debate and sharing circle.

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:
-Friday, June 21st,  Seniors from 'The Ravines' retirement residence will be visitng St. Augustine in the morning
-Tuesday, June 25th, Term 2 report cards are distributed
-Wednesday, June 26th, Outdoor play day for all students in the morning
-Thursday, June 27th, last day of school for students

Update!

May has been a very busy month! With so much going on at school, it seems there has barely been any time to stop and smell the roses!

In early May, we celebrated 'Catholic Education Week.' We had a storytelling workshop with Daniel Richer about the seven Grandfather Teachings and it was amazing. Teachers and students alike were captivated for the entire hour plus performance. Friday's muffin breakfast and open house was a wonderful opportunity to host families and showcase some of the learning that has been taking place in the classroom and the school.

Language:

In Language we have wrapped up our 'Mystery Unit.' Students finished reading their individual mystery novels and we finally finished 'Treasure at Turtle Lake' which was our shared class read aloud. Joel and Paige found the missing jewels and there was some debate in our class as to whether or not, they deserved a portion of the loot as a reward for their great sleuthing. Most students thought that they did not deserve a monetary reward as returning the jewels to the relatives of the deceased owner was the 'right' thing to do.

Students completed their own mystery narratives in early May. Currently our writing focus is poetry. We have been looking at various forms of poetry such as Acrostic, Word-Count Cinquain  and Haiku. Students have been writing beautiful Cinquain and Haiku poems inspired by animal and landscape photos from a couple of awesome websites devoted to nature photography. We will be moving onto Limericks next. We will continue to share our poems with each other from our classroom 'Author's Chair.'

Most days at school we debate a question or idea at our 'Sharing Circle' (from time to time we have an open 'Sharing Circle' whereby students can share whatever they'd like). Students have shown much improvement in their ability to listen attentively to the ideas of others as the talking feather is passed around the circle. They have also grown in their ability to consider both sides of an argument and articulate their ideas clearly and succinctly to their peers. We always record responses and do the math at the end of each debate by coming up fractions, expressed in their lowest possible terms, to represent the debate results.

We continue to receive letters from our friends at 'The Ravines' retirement residence. Each time we receive a letter it creates excitement and buzz in the classroom. Sometimes the letters are addressed to the class and other times to an individual student. We currently have two letters that we need to respond to. Reading and responding to the letters has helped the students to better understand the friendly-letter format. As well, they are strengthening their writing skills and learning how to communicate effectively through letter writing exercises (e.g. separating ideas into paragraphs, responding to questions asked, asking questions back, effective openings and closings to a letter, etc.). We are looking forward to hosting a group of seniors from 'The Ravines' on the morning of Friday, June 21st. It will be wonderful to meet our 'pen pals' in person and put faces to names!

We have only three more weeks of our weekly 'Word Study.'

Math:

Our main focus has been fractions in Number Sense and Numeration.  We have learned that the denominator (bottom number) in a fraction represents the number of fractional parts of a whole and the numerator (top number) represents the number of fractional parts being considered. Grade 4's  have been comparing and ordering fractions using their fraction strip tool and pictures/drawings. They also know how to identify the whole numbers and fractional parts in mixed numbers.  In grade 5, we have been examining improper fractions and how they can be converted to mixed numbers and vice versa  (11/10 as 1 and 1/10). In both grades 4 and 5 we have been looking at the concept of equivalent fractions and how you can create equivalent fractions by using common factors (e.g. 1/3 is equal to 3/9). In addition, we have examined how to represent numbers in standard decimal notation up to tenths and hundredths and how decimal numbers are related to fractions (e.g. The mixed number 1 and 3/10 be expressed in standard decimal notation as 1.3). As well as fractions, grade 4's have been practicing adding and subtracting decimal numbers and grade 5's have been practicing multiplying decimal numbers. I continue to emphasize with the students that they drill their multiplication facts at home in order to make these higher-level thinking applications of basic operations, easier and more successful. I also emphasize that if you have a good handle on your multiplication facts you will already know your division facts as the two concepts are so closely linked! Looking ahead we will be exploring a variety of mathematical concepts such as perimeter and area, probability and linear measurement.