Face to Face Ministries

In our parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we have a group of members who believe in bringing to our school faith community, rich spiritual experiences and today we had another such experience.  The R.E.A.L. Foundation (who have a great golf tournament to fundraise to support these opportunities...can you help??)  completely sponsored the Face to Face Ministries from Saskatoon.

These two young men laid their faith out for us all to see.  They made believing in God, prayer, praise and worship cool.  They showed our children that God is with us always.

They worked with the whole school, then worked with students by grade level, teaching them about the Saints, what our purpose in life is (Know God, love God, serve God and get into Heaven), the power of prayer, and the meaning of love.  They never preached, but they certainly did minister!

In a friendly sing along competition, the girls sang "He's the best....."

and the boys added "J-E-S-U-S!"

No one was afraid to shout their love for God!  It was very inspiring!

Next Tuesday is the Grade 3 PAT Part A:Writing

I had a question from a parent about preparing their child for this test.

Here's what I believe...

Your child knows what is expected of him or her. 

They have been working on writing with detail and interesting vocabulary since September.

They can tell you all the rules of punctuation, and find errors and fix them in others' work (though no always their own).

They have written using picture prompts and they have written under the pressure of time constraints.

They are already prepared for this exam because they have done the work expected of them as a student in Grade Three.

Will they do fine? 

They will do their best if they have a great night's sleep (actually asleep by 8:00 without the light keeping them up or little sister turning on lights) and a protein rich breakfast in the morning.

The test has certain rules related to it so they need to be at school on time.  They have to believe in themselves and hear that the ones that love them, believe in them too.  They have to put their best effort forward and we have to make sure that we keep this one little writing assignment in perspective.  They will all go onto Grade 4 and have wonderful lives even if this one writing sample is not their absolute best work.  It may assist them, when they get the results in Nov. 2013 (yes that long after) to learn that there are areas that they need to improve in. (But honestly, I already know which areas they could do better in, as individuals....I don't mark these tests, strangers do.)

If you want to have them plan out a story or write a story for you, that's a bonus, but I won't require it.  I know my little dears, and they are ready.  It's really up to them now to show us that they are willing to do their best.  I have no doubt that they will!

An update...

I am not sure what's up with my camera, but it has been doing some wacky things lately, like erasing photos that I know I took!  Here's the web shot of the much too difficult for one teacher and 21 students diorama that I thank you for working on with your own child.  It looked easier than it really was!  If you would like to try again, here's where I found it:

http://www.geekadelphia.com/2008/10/09/disaster-dioramas-print-build/

What I really want to do is let you know about all the important dates coming up in the next few weeks.

May 14  a.m.  Grade 3 PAT Part A for Language Arts:  Writing

May 14 p.m.  Open House at Madonna Catholic School for all parents to tour

May 22 a.m. In School Field Trip for Building Bridges; We'll need at least four volunteers

May 22 a.m.  Jr. High Business Fair

May 23 p.m.  I will be at a planning meeting at Madonna in the afternoon.  

(I might even know that I am teaching there for sure by then!)

May 31 p.m. St. Theresa Family Barbecue (more info to come)

June 11 Grade 3 PAT Math

June 13 Grade 3 PAT Part B for Language Arts: Reading

June 19 a.m. All Kindergarten to Grade 3 students spending morning at Madonna Catholic School

June 19 p.m.  Mass will be held at St. Theresa School

June 21 Schools in Sherwood Park proper will be closed to facilitate the moving of materials between buildings (Anyone have a trailer I could use that day??)

June 27 All day field trip to Fort Saskatchewan Museum for Gr. 1, 2, 3 students

(Many volunteers will be needed!! Please plan ahead)

Leduc #1 (but post #2)!

We were blessed with wonderfully knowledgable guides.  This gentleman explained how the oil and natural gas actually got underground, and how it is found.

We didn't have enough time to explore all the amazing models of different rigs, both land and water.  They were breathtaking!

This display showed the changes in the safety gear worn over the years by the men working on the rigs.  The students learned that modern hardhats (made of petroleum products) are much safer to wear than the aluminum ones worn back in the 1940's.

The students got to pretend that they were the cleaning mechanisms that are put into pipelines. They

are called "smart pigs" because as they go through the pipes, they squeal, just like little piggies do!

Safety first!  Hardhats were mandatory on the deck of the rig.

The lovely man in the blue hardhat told us all about how to run the rig.  He himself had worked on the Turner Valley rigs when he was only 18 years old!

He kept over 40 students mesmerized with his stories.

It was a wonderful experience....

...and made us really understand how our natural resources in Alberta allow us to be a province in charge of our own economy.

The students will be bringing home these little invitations to attend a day at the Leduc #1 summer camp.  It's very reasonably priced and allows the students a better understanding of our province for their studies next year when Alberta becomes the focus.

Leduc #1

I can hardly believe that it's been two weeks since I posted last!  It wasn't for lack of things that we are doing in class but somehow time has gotten away from me and I apologize!  Here's a basket full of our lovely pysanky, a nod to the Ukrainian culture at Easter time.

The students learned how to find definitions in dictionaries.  They learned that some words have multiple meanings and that you will have to refer back to the text to know which meaning is best for the word in the story.

The definitions are for words in our little novel study, using this lovely chapter book "Freckle Juice" by Judy Blume.

Thank you tons and tons to all the parents who assisted with today's field trip to the Leduc #1 Energy Discovery Centre.  I didn't even know that this place existed but thanks to our Grade Two teacher who asked us to join her class.  It was well worth it (no pun intended... Ha!)

There were many interesting photos and paintings and I loved the caption on this one:

"Imperial Oil drilled 133 dry wells before striking oil at Leduc #1 in 1947, a discovery that's often called the single most important event in Alberta's financial history."

Isn't that true

We had the opportunity to spend time in the science discovery room, looking at different types of rocks and silt through microscopes...

..learning about water power

...the separation of different liquids because of their density

...touching actual fossils

...then digging for some in the sand

..imagining that we were working at various jobs in the oil industry

before finding out that petroleum products are used to make many of the things we use every day.

Who knew that toothbrushes, fleece blankets, CDs, plastic toys, the scales on the Space Shuttle and even hockey pucks are produced with petroleum?  It definitely showed the students that our lives would be very different with out these products being extracted from the ground.

Come back and visit the blog tomorrow, when I'll share even more of this day with all of you!

Celebrating Easter Ukrainian Style!

Just like in real like, no two artists interpret what they see the same way!

Now that the students had completed a paper "pysanky'...

...they got to move onto one that was a little more real!

Using a gift certificate that one of the little ones gave  our class as a Christmas present, I purchased wooden eggs.  The students used a pencil to draw on traditional designs,

then added colour using 'Sharpie' pens because they have permanent ink.

The students were very careful,

deliberate,

and focused on this project.

What a wonderful surprise we got today!  A box came from the book company Amazon, and I couldn't imagine what it could hold.  We have a lovely lady in Ajax, Ontario who faithfully follows our classroom blog and comments on the learning that the students are doing.  She asked if she could send a gift to our class and that was what was in the box!  Many students love Magic Treehouse books.  I didn't know that there is a series that is very similar, but Canadian based.  It's called Canadian Flyer and the two main characters travel through time to important events in Canada's history.  We were lucky enough to receive two, one about the Titanic but also one about the gold rush.  This young lad loves Magic Treehouse and has read almost all of them.  His ear to ear grin is because he now has a new series to read!  Thank you to our generous friend who made the donation!

Welcome back and HAPPY EASTER!

The students are already involved with new learning even though this is only their third day back after Spring Break.  They are concentrating on compound words and contractions during Word Work.

Given the number of boys that are in the class, I was sure that our non-fiction reading of stories about the Titanic's tragic voyage 101 years ago this month, would be very popular.  They are learning how to use 'Thinkmarks', a tool to purposefully record their thinking as they read.

Later in May, all Grade Three students across the province of Alberta are required to write a story using a picture prompt as one part of the Provincial Achievement Tests.  The students are beginning to practice that skill.  They have written a great deal in the classroom this year, but most often about topics that interest them, or about themselves.  The practise is to learn to write about something that someone else chooses for you to write about.

The four countries that the students are studying as part of the Social Studies curriculum this year are Peru, Tunisia, India and Ukraine.  We are tying in the cultural aspect of the Easter season with the traditional writing of Pysanky, Ukrainian Easter eggs. 

The students watched the process via some YouTube videos, and I shared some eggs that I was given when I was in Ukraine.  These are wooden, created for the tourist trade.  Traditionally, pysanky are written on raw eggs.

Each student was given the opportunity to choose a traditional design and then colour it with felt pens, following the colours in the order that the eggs would be dyed: white, yellow, orange, red, green, (blue and purple, though these colours are not traditional) and black.

The designs have meanings behind them and most often, flowers, water and the cross can be found.

These will be displayed, but the students will be involved in another project, thanks to a generous donation at Christmastime, allowing us to buy the supplies needed.