Mr. Conte's Grade 6 Class: Monday, January 20th

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

A quick note:

Mr. Foster’s Farmers Market and Ms. Gandy’s Groceries

As part of their summative assessment the grade one classes have decided to open a market to complement their organization unit. The market will include fruits, vegetables, drinks and other healthy snacks. It will be held in rooms 12 and 18. The market will take place all day Thursday, January 23^rd and Friday, January 24^th. All profits made will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House.

A message regarding our upcoming Town Hall on January 24^th.

Dear SJA Community,

We look forward to seeing you at the SJA Town Hall/Social on January 24 from 7 to 9 pm. All parent/guardians of JK to Grade 12 students are invited to hear about our exciting school year, survey result and future direction. To help us plan for this event, RSVP by January 17 to reception@stjudesacademy.com . We look forward to seeing you there!

And a reminder about re-registration:

Dear SJA Families,

Just a reminder that the SJA re-registration process is underway. To reserve your child’s 2020-2021 place at St. Jude’s Academy, complete and return your child’s re-registration forms and payment to Reception by Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 4:00 pm.

After this date and time, any available grade-level spaces will be open to new families on waitlists.

In addition, the deadline for our priority enrolment into our JK Program is Friday, January 17, 2020, a letter is attached with more information.

If you have any questions regarding the forms or next steps, please contact our Admissions Team.

A few quick reminders:

· Tomorrow is a Day 5.

· Aftercare invoices for the month of December have come out and were due Wednesday, January 15^th, 2020. Any questions can be directed to Ms. Chiappetta at echiappetta@stjudesacademy.com

· The lunch site for the month of February is now open and the special for the month (served on Fridays) is chicken stir fry. The site will close at 3:00 p.m. on January 22^nd. All payments will be due on February 6^th.

· Re-registration packages are due back by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 18^th. After this, registration will open to the public.

Inquiry into Explorers – We started the day by doing our inquiry into explorers. We started talking about Portuguese and Spanish explorers.

We reminded ourselves that at this time, the Ottoman Empire had control of land trading routes and European explorers were looking for sea routes to trade with Asia.

First, we talked about Prince Henry from Portugal, who later became known as Henry the Navigator. He was most famous for founding a school of navigation where students learned skills such as navigation, boatbuilding, astronomy and other skills needed for exploration.

After this, we talked about Bartholomew Diaz, who sailed for Portugal. He sailed south along the western cost of Africa, reaching the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of the continent. It was in 1498 that Vasco da Gama mimicked this journey but sailed all the way around Africa and successfully made it to India and back to Portugal. He had successfully found a sea route to trade with Asia.

After these explorers, we discussed the famous man credited with the discovery of the Americas. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic for Spain and found the American continents. He made 4 voyages to this new land in total.

We will continue tomorrow by talking about French and English explorers.

French – After this, the students had French with Ms. Autio.

Gym – After recess and lunch, the students had gym with Mr. Orr, which you can read about on his blog (http://tysonorr.blogspot.com).

Inquiry into Math – Students wrote their pre-assessment for Unit 6: Measuring Area and Perimeter.

Inquiry into Language – At the end of the day, students took the research for their speeches and began writing their first body paragraph. This will be finished tonight for homework and I will be completing edits tomorrow during class time as they work on their second paragraph. Students should focus on using transitions, providing supporting facts and details, re-iterating their point of view, use effective examples (minimum 1, maximum 3), and ensuring their arguments do not have any holes in them.

At this point, parents are also welcomed to edit their child’s work. Please make any edits in pen so it is separate from the student’s writing. I will write in a different colour pen so there are no mix-ups.