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May News from Grade 3

Dear Families,  

We have been so fortunate to have such wonderful warm weather so far this spring.  The children are definitely enjoying our DPA (Daily Physical Activity) time outside.  Please remember Safety when dressing your child for school.  Students wearing sandals should have a strap at the back.  Each year there are many accidents on the stairs, and outside when students run and play on the playground in flip flops.  Don’t forget to send your child with a hat and sun protection as well.  Further, proper running shoes are still required for Phys. Ed. class with Mme Howey on days 2 and 4.

Mlle Macoretta is beginning to organize the Dufferin School Yearbook.  It is important to place your order prior to production.  No late orders will be accepted. Thank You.

We continue to sell popcorn to support our class trip fund.  We have been very successful due to the enthusiasm of students and parents at Dufferin. Merci! We will be selling popcorn during the Open House on May 1^st.  Come and sample some of the new flavours!

As our Social Studies unit comes to an end, we are excited to be presenting our Pioneer and First Nations work on May 1st.  Activities will take place during the school day and in the evening during the Open House.  Some of the activities that we will do are: displaying and presenting our work; crafts; building; listening to legends, and learning about Pioneer and First Nations traditions.  We will also have a special guest who will explain the traditions of the Medicine Wheel.

As EQAO approaches, we are preparing ourselves more and more.  Even though we have been learning the Grade 3 curriculum all year long, it is important for students to familiarize themselves with the format of the testing so that it does not become stressful for them. Students are familiar with the multiple choice, and the in-depth answer style questions that will be in the Language and Mathematics components of the test.  Sometimes our children experience anxiety as the test approaches.  Ways to reduce this are by reminding him/her that it will be like many of the activities that they already do on a daily basis in class. Encourage them to do their best.  For more information on EQAO style questions, and for previous years’ practice-tests, please visit www.eqao.com Click on Parent Resources. There is also valuable information on the Dufferin School Website.  Click on EQAO.

Sincerely,

Mme V. Gasparotto

Dear families,

At École Dufferin, April is the month of Forgiveness. We will practise forgiving others, as well as ourselves. Everyone makes mistakes. Let’s forgive ourselves when we err, remember to make changes and move ahead.

We had excellent participation in Earth Hour - Turn off the Lights, on March 29^th. 12 out of 15 students in the class participated. Bravo!

April is a Green month. Earth Day is on April 22^nd, and Turn off the T.V. week begins on April 21^st. I know that we can conserve and have fun too. Go Green!!!!

École-Logique (Environment Club) began last week. Our students posted recycling posters above the Blue Boxes in all classrooms at École Dufferin. Did you know that we can now recycle drink boxes and milk cartons in Brantford?

Our Kernels popcorn fundraiser is going very well. We have raised about $200 to share between the grade 3 classes for class trips in Term 3. Thanks for your continued support.

Here are some important dates for April...

• 9th Safety Village. Please send in Bike Helmets that day. (Permission to follow)
• 17^th Quincy Mac presentation
• 18^th PA Day - No School
• 21^st Turn off the TV week begins
• 22^nd Earth Day
• 23d Secretary Day. Merci Mme Atkins for your dedication towards our students.
• 25^th Pizza Day

Merci,

Mme V. Gasparotto

March News from Grade 3

March 1^st, 2008.

Dear families,

This feels like a whirlwind of a month, full of many exciting extra-curricular activities, such as March Break and Easter…. We are finishing up our Term 2 and are closer than ever to being Grade 4 Students (Wow!)  Our parent council has asked us to remind you that there is no Pizza Lunch this month due to these many other commitments.

We have begun our “Kernels Popcorn” fundraiser to offset some of the cost of our class trips to come in Term 3. Our class is in charge of sales and distribution on Tuesdays, and Mlle Tanaszczuk’s class is responsible for Wednesdays.  Thank you for your support with this project.

“École-logique” environmental club is up and running.  We are very excited to be learning more about environmentally friendly activities.  One of our initiatives is to begin vermicomposting, where we will learn about the cycle that uses fruit and vegetable waste and turns it into nutrient-rich soil.  Another project that we hope to implement is full-scale recycling of plastics and metals.  We currently recycle 100% of paper products, but not all of the others.  Thirdly, we will be looking at reducing consumption.  Stay tuned for news from École-logique!

I would  ask that parents and students continue to check agendas daily at home.  This is a very important tool for teaching our children about time management and responsibility for submitting assignments on time.  Your child may not have very much homework as it may have been finished in class, however they should be reading their A-Z readers every night for practise in pronunciation, fluency and comprehension.  Math practice is also something that can become a daily routine.  There are many ways to practise Time, multiplications, and division within families.  Check out the board website (www.gedsb.on.ca) for  links to Math and Literacy sites, and much more .

Our virtue this month is Self- Discipline… Self discipline is taking charge of yourself.  It’s maintaining control of yourself when you feel hurt or angry, and deciding how you are going to talk and what you are going to do.

What would self-discipline look like if …

• You have put off doing a big job for some time?

• You are really angry when your brother starts wrestling with you?

• You keep getting punished for breaking a rule?

Math…             This month we will continue learning about Time, Temperature and Multiplications.  These are great subjects to work on together at home.

Social Studies…             Pioneers and First Peoples…continued.  What do the Natives teach the Pioneers?

Literacy….            All stories in English and French have been submitted.  English stories have been published, and we will work on publishing our rough drafts of our French stories.

…            Self-confidence, Friendship, and Bullying.  It is important that we continue to discuss, practise and implement ways to show respect for ourselves, for others and for our community.

Important Dates to Note                     

Have a safe and relaxing March break.  Enjoy the Canadian snow, or maybe even some warm sand and sunshine!

Sincerely,

Mme V. Gasparotto

…you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things.

February 1_st, 2008.

Bonjour les familles,

I can’t believe that February is upon us.  It seems like only yesterday we were returning from the Christmas holidays.  I am very pleased with the progress that our students are demonstrating in the classroom, in the school and on the school yard.

Our class put on a fabulous song and dance for the whole school at January’s Character Education Assembly with their performance of It’s only Fair!  The students continued to demonstrate their knowledge of Justice throughout the month by truly empathizing with and speaking up for others in our community.  I am delighted to see students in our class helping  their peers to prepare  knapsacks when they are late and in a hurry; assisting in cleaning up equitably following lessons and at the end of the day; asking others to show respect for our rules that keep us all safe; and showing understanding toward others’ learning needs.  Félicitations! Bravo!

We finished our science unit on Structures in style with our Cantilever Bridges.  There are some definite future engineers in our classroom!

Students have begun to gather information about their heritage.  Please feel free to send in pictures and family artifacts that support this research.  We would love to share your stories.  We will look at the origins of many of the first Pioneers in Canada.  We will travel back in time to explore first hand the life of a Pioneer in Upper Canada.

Good work in Mathematics.  Let’s continue working on reading and understanding difficult questions in French from the math textbook.  We were awesome at 2D Geometry in January and  have moved on to the characteristics of 3D Geometry.  We have also made a good start with our multiplications.  Keep practicing at home (up to 12x).

We have continued to write stories in English and short stories in French.  Well done to those who make characters come alive!  Keep working on those stories that are due towards the end of February.  In French we’re reviewing the accents that change the sounds of our vowels. We are halfway through the alphabet in cursive writing.    Please continue to write sentences with dictation / dictée words in preparation for Day 5 Dictations and Dictées.  Lastly, do not forget to continue to read your A-Z readers daily at home.  Madame Gasparotto would like to hear you read twice this month.

This month

Bien à vous,

January 7^th, 2008

Dear families,

Happy New Year! I hope that you have had a special holiday amongst family and friends. We gather for another year together, with our bodies and minds relaxed and renewed, prepared to accept new challenges and to persevere with our goals. Many students are already working towards their long-term goals, established following first-term reports. Keep up the excellent work!

Thank you for making the month of December so very special; your generosity and compassion has been tremendous. The families of our grade 3 class have raised over $80 dollars to donate to World Vision, a non-profit organization, that will now be able to send one girl in China to school for one year, as well as purchase warm blankets for a child in need.

I would also like to thank our community for the wonderful support in attending our Christmas Open House. It was wonderful to see our children’s final written and oral Poetry and Story writing. Well done to all Grade 3 students for your excellent efforts in preparing for your families! I can’t wait to read about your new Story Characters to come.

Virtue: Justice / Fairness

HOW TO BE A FAIR PERSON ...

Treat people the way you want to be treated. Take Turns. Tell the truth. Play by the rules. Think about how your actions will affect others. Don't blame others for your mistakes.

For more information/interactive games, check out…

Math: We have finished our unit in Data Management and have written our unit test. Please look for it in your child’s agenda and take some time to review answers at home. Please sign and return the test to school for your child’s portfolio. We will continue with Geometry this month and then we will begin looking at Multiplication. For math homework this month, please begin to practice multiplications (up to the 12 times tables) with your child.

French: Élève de la semaine continues…Please assist your child in preparing personal items and / or photographs to be shared with the class on the Monday of the week of their presentation. Presentations are to be done in French. The itinerary is on December’s Newsletter. Merci. Students should continue to read regularly in French as a part of their homework. I make the A-Z readers available to take home each week. Please encourage your child to read to you in French. We have begun cursive writing. This should be added to homework of reading in French, and practicing dictation words and sentences. Students should have one published story by the end of term 2. This will constitute a major part of writing marks in term 2. Good Writing!

English: Each student should be finished at least one published story by the end of term two. Students who displayed stories during the Christmas Open House should ensure that they are continuing to work on improving stories and beginning new ones. Students are given time each week to work on new story ideas and to share them with classmates. This will constitute a major part of writing marks in term 2. Good Writing!

Dictations / Dictées: We continue to practice using grade-3 sight words each week. Our focus this term is to continue to recognize patterns in words which help us to decode new words, and also to use our learned words in our writing. Please encourage your child to practice words and to prepare them in the context of sentences in preparation for dictations and dictées.

Science: Structures and Stability… We have examined many details of stability in structures including size, weight, and shape. Our final task this month will be to build a cantilever (bridge) and to test its strength by applying forces to it. If you have any straws or duct tape at home that we could use this would be much appreciated.

Social Studies: Heritage and civilization: Early Settlements in Upper Canada. We have examined Canada’s place on our globe in term one. We will now look at it in relation to other countries (especially those where Settlers came from during pioneer times).

We will discover the way of life of Pioneers and compare it to our own. We will be doing some investigating into our family histories to see what our origins are. We would love to hear any family stories, share pictures or artifacts, detailing your family’s origins and past, in or outside of Canada.

Drama: Students are preparing a play with their teacher, Mr Maxted. I am sure that they are very excited about any future performances. Please discuss further details with your child or Mr Maxted.

Pizza : January 31st

Scholastic: Please return any orders by January 20_th. Cheques only please.

Sincerely,

Mme V. Gasparotto

December 1^st, 2007.

Dear Families,

Time rolls on and Christmas decorations are already in the store! I would
ask in advance that you do not purchase a Christmas present for the teacher (i.e. me!). This practice is not necessary, although any hand made children's cards would be lovingly accepted.

As our school virtue this month is compassion, I would like to encourage our children to be thankful for all that we have here in Canada and to put themselves in the shoes of others who are less fortunate. Through World Vision, we have the opportunity to "Make the dream of education come true for a girl in China". Our class goal is to raise $60 to support one child’s education for one year. Please visit WorldVision.ca for further information. Thank you in advance for any donations.