I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Happy April Fools Day!
A couple of quick reminders:
· Tomorrow is a Day 2.
· Tomorrow is Autism Awareness Day, so students can wear a blue shirt and pay $2 to support a great cause.
· Aftercare invoices are due on April 15th; if you are unsure if you have any owing amount, please email Ms. Chiappetta at echiappetta@stjudesacademy.com
· Re-registration is now open to the public; if you have not submitted your package – please do so as soon as possible and reach out with any questions.
· Spring Fundraiser forms were sent home last week – all money is due back by tomorrow Tuesday, April 2nd. The deadline has been extended.
· Pick-a-time forms were sent home last week for the upcoming student-led conferences on Thursday, April 4th. The website opened yesterday morning at 10:00 a.m.
Inquiry into Biodiversity – Today, we began discussing the different types of trees and leaves. There are coniferous trees and deciduous trees. Coniferous trees are trees like evergreen trees that lose needles and leaves throughout the year, but not specifically during one season. Deciduous trees are the ones that lose leaves in the cold weather and then grow new ones in the spring seasons.
We discussed photosynthesis and the process where plants take in water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sugar (energy for the plant). 6CO2+ 6H2O à6O2+ C6H12O6
We had a great discussion as to why we need trees and why trees need us. It goes beyond the production of oxygen. We also need them because animals live in these ecosystems and this is part of the process of biodiversity.
After our unit of inquiry period, we worked to prepare for our student-led conferences on Thursday. Students reflected on the term on their strengths, areas of improvement, and overall goals for the next term.
Inquiry into Language – Today, we started our second week of literature circles and worked on spelling lesson 25. Just a recap:
1. Summariser – Summarise the three chapters for the week.
2. Connector – Connect what is happening in the text to your own life, current world events, and other books, movies, or television shows.
3. Literary Critic – Choose a short passage from the book and analyse why it is important to the story.
4. Discussion Moderator – Come up with questions to fuel a group discussion.
5. Word Wizard – Define and explain new or interesting words.
Inquiry into Math – Today during math, we did a review of what we have learned so far in fractions. We worked on adding and subtracting fractions using a common denominator and writing equivalent fractions out of 100. We worked on writing fractions as decimals and percents. Here is a reminder:
To add/subtract fractions…
1. Find a common denominator.
2. Write your equivalent fractions.
3. Add / Subtract the numerators in order (the denominators stay the same).
4. Simplify if necessary.
When you have a fraction and you want to make it a percent, you need to write an equivalent fraction out of 100. Then, the numerator is your percentage. This can also be written as a decimal. Just remember to add the right amount of 0s! For example, 1/5 can be written as 20/100. This is 20% or 0.20. 1/20 can be written as 5/100, which is 5% or 0.05.
At the end of the day, we had an assembly where we got to see Ms. Cass get pied in the face! Can't wait to see who it is tomorrow!
For homework:
· MMS Pg. 122-123 (due tomorrow)
· French: passé compose (due tomorrow)
· Spelling Lesson 25 (due tomorrow)
· Read chapters 5 & 6 of Hatchet
· Practice for spelling bee
· Pick-a-time forms now open
· Spring Fundraiser money due tomorrow
All homework for the day is placed here, but time may have been given in class to complete this work.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns by email, and I will respond as quickly as possible.
Mr. Conte
