Wednesday....Part 2

The principal of the school took this photo and sent it to me.  I am still smiling over our good fortune of being awarded the BP Energy Grant for the next school year!

After our wonderful in school field trip with 'Awesome Bridges' the students had the opportunity to participate in the Grade Nine Business Fair.  It was a hands-on experience to recognize what a consumer is faced with when purchasing goods and/or services.  They had to make choices to ensure that they had enough money to get what they wanted.

It also gave them the opportunity to practise some money counting and mental math skills!

The 'pie in the face' booth was REALLY popular!  It was an example of paying for a 'service'.

This darling loves her brother, no matter what he looks like!

YUM! YUM!  This 'goods' looks good!

The exchanging of cash...

..enjoying the experience!

In the afternoon, the students were faced with another science challenge!

In groups of three, they counted out 50 straws,

and using a set amount of masking tape,

attempted to create the tallest, free standing structure that they could design.

The discussion, planning, co-operation and sharing was wonderful!

Again, it was an opportunity to put into action, their learning.

This group focused on ensuring that the structure had strong support.

This group was focused on getting the height element.

Science rocks!

Science Day Extraordinaire!

Now I know what you're thinking, but really this is NOT a way to torture students!

Instead, the students spent a happy and productive morning having the opportunity to actually build four types of bridges!  Thank you to our parent volunteers who manned the stations and assisted the students with getting the right pieces in the right places.  This really will be a case of a picture telling you the story, so enjoy!

Suspension bridge

Arch Bridge

Girder (or beam) bridge

Illustrating and labeling

Putting in the trusses

A sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when a job is well done!

Concentration

Teamwork

Inspection

I learned there is a suspension bridge in Edmonton, near Fort Edmonton Park!

The reason for the smile?  Today I learned that I have been granted $10,000 by bp Energy, to support a project in my classroom next year!  What an exciting morning for us all!

The rest of the day was just as exciting, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post!

What we've been up to...May version!

At last!  The snow is gone and we can spend our phy. ed. classes outside!

We have been learning to play an easy version of T-ball, getting a chance to field, hit and run the bases.  It's a new experience for some.

Without a pitcher or catcher, the students are becoming quite successful at hitting the ball.

Though we don't keep score, it feels great to make it around the bases and touch home plate.

In science we are "Building with a Variety of Materials" and trying to put into practise, the theories we learned in our "Testing Materials" experiements.  The students made plasticine animals and found that it wasn't so easy to get them to stand on their legs.

They were each able to choose the type of animals that they wanted to create.

 

The creativity came through..

                                               ...as did the details in all the llittle creatures.

  I couldn't move the other photo above, but we participated with the entire school in the "Living Rosary."  Our class joined the other Grade 3 class and shared the first decade.  Here one of our boys is leading the school in saying "Hail Mary."  We are saying a decade each morning in our class for morning prayer as well.

Daily, Daily Pray to Mary!

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)