The Gospel Values Assembly that was scheduled for today will now take place at 9:40 tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

On Friday, we will be having an Elf Yourself Day and/or Wear a Christmas Hat/Shirt Day. On Friday we will be making Christmas cards for people in our community. If students wish, they may bring a snack to share with the class while we are making cards. Please remember though that we are a NUT FREE school and that we have several students with allergies in our class.

Thank you so much to everyone who was able to make it to our Christmas Concert tonight! It was an amazing evening and it seems like everyone had a lot of fun! Also, thank you to all of the volunteers; we wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

Secret Santa

Last week, several students asked about doing a class Secret Santa. I explained to the class that I do not like Secret Santa because there is always someone who forgets to bring a gift, gets left out, or can not participate for whatever reason. On Monday, I reaffirmed that we would NOT be doing a Secret Santa at school. Some students said they would be doing one with their friends after school. I explained that, like all other activities outside of school, I have no control over what they decide to do on weekends or after school with their friends. It has been brought to my attention that some students have said that they are planning a Secret Santa, even though I have said we are not doing one. We discussed this issue again this morning and all of the students are aware that there is no Secret Santa taking place in our Grade 5 class.

Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Miss Hodgins

Only 11 days until our school Christmas Concert! We have been busy practicing our song with our reading buddies (Mrs. Jackson/Mrs. Moore's Kindergarten Class) and everyone is getting very excited!

(If you know that your child will be unable to attend the Christmas Concert on the evening of December 11, please let me know as soon as possible. Your child will still practice with the class but this will help us to finalize our arrangement on the stage during our upcoming practices.)

December Scholastic order forms will be going home on either Monday or Tuesday and will be due Friday, December 5 in order to ensure that all ordered items are received before Christmas Break. If you wish to place a secret order, you may do so at any time throughout the year. Just drop it off at the office or send it to school in a sealed envelope and make sure to include a note with it so that I can give you a call when it arrives.

Sens Assembly Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Tomorrow morning we will be having a very special Sens assembly. Please wear your Sens gear (or if you cheer for one of those other teams then wear your Sens colours)!

Reminder to all parents/guardians/grandparents, etc. of our Remembrance Day Ceremony that will take place tomorrow at 10:45.

All students registered in Boy Scouts or Girl Guides, as well as, any parents in Military, Police Services, Fire and Rescue and Para Medics are encouraged to wear their full uniform and join the procession at the beginning of our Ceremony.

Interview

If you requested an interview, forms were sent home today with your designated time. If you are not able to attend your assigned time, please let us know as soon as possible. Your time will be cancelled and we will be able to reschedule for another day or for a phone interview. I am still available most days before school if you would like to meet but did not schedule an interview. I can also do phone interviews before or after school and some days during the day. If you are interested in a phone interview, please let me know when the best time to reach you is and the best number to reach you at.

*Reminder that interviews are scheduled at 10 minute intervals.

*Progress Reports go home today.
*Interview request sheets were supposed to go home at the end of the day yesterday but since they did not, they will also be sent home today. (Reminder that if you would rather schedule an interview before school, please write a note in your child's agenda; do not use the interview request form.)

*The Gospel Value Awards Assembly will take place on Thursday 9:45-10:05

Interviews

Interviews are scheduled to take place on November 6. Since I teach 2 classes with a total of 50 students, I am also making myself available for interviews before school on most days. If you would like to schedule a 10-15 minute interview before school one day, please write a note in your child's agenda indicating which day and time you would prefer. If Mme Racanelli is available on your requested day then she will also be able to join the interview if you wish.

*The Addition and Subtraction Quiz that we did yesterday is going home today. Students who did not get 15/15 will be doing a retake on Thursday with similar questions. The retake will have 10 questions instead of 15 and I will be taking the best mark out of the two.

*Tonight all students are bringing home their Language notebooks. Students were given 20 minutes today to begin writing a recount about what they did this morning (from the time they woke up to the end of first recess). We discussed as a class that it is important to included details, HOWEVER, details do not need to include every single minute! Below, please find the Success Criteria that students are asked to refer to while writing.

This recount is a practice for the recount we will begin to work on tomorrow.

Success Criteria:

Knowledge and Understanding

I described an event in chronological order.

My writing is about a main idea and has a focused purpose.

I provided information about who, what, when, where, why, and how the event happened.

Thinking

I used an interesting topic sentence that grabbed the reader’s attention.

I included details that described how I felt and what I thought.

I described events using the five senses.

Communication

I used sequencing words to help organize my ideas.

My paragraphs were written in past tense.

I used a voice and style in my writing that reflects my personality.

My sentences flowed together and were organized into logical paragraphs.

Application

I used strong , active verbs and clear, descriptive adjectives.

I included interesting events and details to give the reader a clear picture of the event in their mind.

C.O.P.S. (Capitals, Omissions, Punctuation, Spelling)

*Today pictures were sent home. Orders are due Friday, October 24. I am not sure when retakes will be taking place but once I know, I will make sure to post it on the blog.

*CASI: Today I sent home the first Grade 5 CASI that the class completed. We spent an entire block today going over each question and examples of each level. During this time, students were asked to use a coloured pen/pencil to add to their answers to try to bump them up to a level 3 or level 4. 

This CASI is being used as a baseline to see where everyone is at and if students used the pointers they were given after completing a Grade 4 CASI in September (which we reviewed but I did not send home). This is not the only thing I am looking at for the Progress Reports. The level for each question is in purple and the overall level for the entire CASI is on the front page in pink. Students are asked to have this CASI signed and returned as soon as possible.

*Progress Reports go home on Tuesday, October 28.

*Tomorrow (Friday) we will be doing Reading Buddies since we weren't able to do it on Wednesday. Students are invited to bring one or two stories to school tomorrow that they would like to read to their buddy.

Reminder that the Food and Milk order forms are due tomorrow! 

Hot Lunch forms went home today and are due Thursday, October 23.

New Page Added - Curriculum

As a way to keep parent(s)/guardian(s) informed about what we are learning about each month, I have decided to add a page to this blog entitled "Curriculum". When you click on the page, click on the link that says "Curriculum" and you will be brought to a Google Document that lists our class focus for Math and our class focus for Language each month.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time!

Place Value Quiz

This quiz was sent home on Friday. I explained to the class that I apologize for it taking so long for these to be returned. We did a few follow up activities as a class and I needed to conference with several students one-on-one before I could send home the quiz.

Some students were shocked with their mark when they looked at the quiz. I did explain though that when it comes to a final grade for reports, I take into consideration ALL of the work that has been completed, including what each student did the best with. This is why I also included with the quiz a worksheet that students completed with place value and expanded form since several students did not do well with expanded form on the quiz but then did very well with it on the worksheet (in this case, the worksheet portion counts NOT the quiz portion).

A few students also wanted to know what level they received just on the quiz (even though I explained that this may change depending on how they did on the worksheet and other activities). Please find below the ranges for each level for just the quiz which was a mark out of 35.

Level 4: 28-35

Level 3: 24-27

Level 2: 21-23

Level 1: 17-20

I have also sent home (with the quiz) a worksheet for expanded form extra practice if I felt that this was something that would help your child.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Canned Food Drive

Just a reminder that the St. Stephen Canned Food Drive has begun! We have currently collected 32 cans as a class! Please continue to send in cans!!! The final day to bring in cans is Thursday, October 9. (Remember that the winning class gets a breakfast hosted by Mr. Santos and Mrs. Kelly!)

Reminder: Today is Picture Day!!!

Handout Update

My apologies for not sending home the handout tonight like I said I would! We got busy today discuss a math problem and then working on nouns and I lost track of time. Before I knew it, Mrs. Kelly was there for Religion. I only just realized I still have the handouts sitting on my desk! If you are able to attend tonight, I will give you a copy of the handout with your child's name at the top. Any copies that I have left at the end of the night I will send home with the appropriate student tomorrow.

Sorry for any inconvenience!!!

Open House/Program Night

Reminder that tomorrow night (Thursday, September 18) is the St. Stephen Open House. Presentations will take place in each classroom at the following times: 7:15, 7:40, and 8:05. I will be available for all three times, however, since I teach kindergarten in the afternoons, I will be in a different classroom each time. Please find my schedule for tomorrow evening below.

7:15 - I will be in my kindergarten room.
7:40 - I will be doing a joint presentation with Mme Racanelli in her French room
8:05 - I will be available in our English room (room 176) should you have any questions or wish to take a look at the classroom.

Tomorrow I will be sending home my Program Night handout so that you can take a look at it in advance and so that everyone is receiving the same information (I know that several parents/guardians will not be able to attend tomorrow evening). Please feel free to bring the handout with you tomorrow night to use as a reference.

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening!

***A friendly reminder to please sign your child's agenda each night! We have created a list of consequences as a class and one of them is that if a child's agenda is not signed 4 times I will be calling home. I understand that sometimes life is busy and you may not get the chance. We have discussed as a class that it is one thing if you don't get it signed once a month (I'll let that go) but it's an entirely different thing if it is not signed a few days in a row (which has been the case already for a few students). We have also discussed that it is the student's responsibility to have a parent/guardian sign their agenda. It is not your job as a parent/guardian to have to remember this! :)

*Scholastic orders are due Friday. This is a great way to get your child interested in reading! Plus, every purchase from Scholastic gives the class rewards that we can use to buy things for the classroom (new books for the class library, various supplies, etc.)!

*LTPA forms went home today. They are due back NO LATER THAN September 17.

Lastly, I am making an effort to contact one parent/guardian of each child this week to introduce myself and to see if you have any questions. If I miss you, I will leave you a message and if you would like, you can call me back. 

I look forward to meeting all of you at the Program Night/Open House next week on Thursday, September 18!

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! My name is Miss Hodgins and I am very excited to be your son/daughter's English teacher this year. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! I know I'm excited to get the new school year underway!

I will be using this blog as a main way to communicate information throughout the school year. I believe that communication is key and I have an open door policy. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I will also be teaching Kindergarten in the afternoons so I may not get the chance to update the blog each day. I encourage you to subscribe to the blog by typing your email address into the "Follow by Email" section and clicking submit. This way you can ensure that you will receive an email each time I update the blog.

I look forward to working with you and your child this year. My main priority is to ensure that each student recognizes that they are a valued member of our classroom community and that we each bring something special to the group.

Below, please find a list of OPTIONAL school supplies that you may wish to purchase for your child:
- 2 packs of lined paper

- 2 Duo-tangs (plastic preferably) Blue and Yellow

- Calculator

- Protractor

- Metric ruler

- HB pencils (4 or 5)

- Sharpener

- Eraser

- Markers (non-permanent)

- Colored pencils (box of 24)

- Glue sticks (2)

- Scissors

- 2 boxes of Kleenex

- 1 box of large zip-lock bags and 1 box of small zip-lock bags

- Highlighters (4)

- Ear Buds for use with iPads, netbooks, and Chrome Books. Please put in a plastic bag and label with your child's name.