Month: November 2018

The W. Erskine Johnston Primary Team is excited to present the live performer YAKI to our gymnasium on Friday, December 7th.  The children will be privy to songs and poems and a morning of exciting entertainment. Yaki will even be performing some of his work from the showcase show that he is putting on at Centerpointe Theatre! The concert runs from 9:40am to 10:35am.

The cost for this show is $2.00. Funds raised go to the Kanata Food Cupboard.

Please review with your child what being an excellent and engaged audience member means.

When I woke up this morning and looked outside I realized it would be great day to make a snowman!! I ran to my fridge and grabbed a bag of carrots to bring with me to school.

As soon as students entered into the school this morning I said, “Keep all of your winter clothes on…we are heading outside to make a snowman!!” I was greeted with smiles and cheers.

We headed outside and stopped by the lost and found to grab some “outdoor clothing” for our snowmen. Students collected items that they wanted to use and we all headed outside. Students got into small groups and started to roll snow into balls as soon as they got outside. Students had to work together to create their snowman. As they were working, I reminded them of the steps that they were taking to make there snowman – what did they do first, what did they do next – as we would be doing some procedural writing once we came back inside.

Students did an amazing job at creating their snowman and snowman families! Here are some pictures from our snowy adventure outside this morning:

*Click or tap on an image to enlarge it in a new screen*

Today, we will be writing about the steps that students took to make their snowman. This is called procedural writing. Procedural writing is the steps that you take to do or make something. If you have ever read how-to guides or followed step-by-step instructions you are using procedural writing! Students will be using procedural writing to write about how to create the perfect snowman! Stay tuned to see what students wrote.

Ms. Argue 🙂

This year, I will be running a Grade 3 Sports Club every Wednesday at second recess in the gym. This club will offer our five Grade 3 classes at WEJ the opportunity to learn new skills, play new sports and games, make new friends from other classes and be physical active!

A few weeks ago as part of the Media Literacy strand in our Language Arts program, students in our class had to create a poster advertising the Grade 3 Sports Club. As a class, we talked about what makes a good poster – words and fonts used, information needed, pictures and drawings related to the poster, making it bright and colourful etc. We also talked about what details should be on this specific poster – when the sports club is (date, time and recess), who can join, what sports/games will be played, why students should join the club etc.

Students did an AMAZING job at creating a poster to advertise the Grade 3 Sports Club at WEJ! Once everyone completed their poster, we walked around the school and students had the opportunity to pick where they wanted to place their poster so grade 3 students could see them.

Here are posters that students in our class created:

*Click or tap on an image to enlarge it in a new screen*

Ms. Argue 🙂

Remembrance Day is a great time to teach students a little bit about Canada’s  history. In order to help them understand what war was like, Catherine Roberts, a former parent of the school, came in to share her Remembrance Day presentation with our class.

In class, students worked really hard on creating a poster depicting the theme of “Remembrance”. Before beginning our posters, we looked at many Remembrance Day posters that I have collected over the years from Veterans Affairs. They talked about what makes a good poster (font, colour, images chosen) and students had to share their ideas and critique the posters shown in class.

Here are some examples of the posters that the students got to look at and critique in class:

The Remembrance Day posters that students created were entered into the Royal Canadian Legion Poster Contest at the Kanata Branch this past Friday. Students were allowed to choose to create either a Colour or Black & White poster to enter into the competition. Thank you to all of the parents/guardians for filling out, signing and returning the Royal Canadian Legion Poster Contest form (blue) to school last week. Keep an eye out in the mail in early January as winners are usually notified then.

Here are the posters that our class created! As part of the competition, students were only allowed to write their name on the back of their posters so…can you guess which poster is your child’s?

Colour Posters

Black & White Posters

Congratulations to all of the students in our class for creating great posters that demonstrate the theme of “Remembrance”.

Ms. Argue 🙂

Back in October, students got a chance to head outside one beautiful fall day to create their ECOART. The idea of creating art within a diverse environment using natural materials came from a workshop I took through the Monarch Teachers Network called “Voices…from the Land”. Students got a chance to explore a diverse environment (in our case – we got to go up on the rocks which is normally off limits to students) and found a place that spoke to them to create their art. Students used any natural materials that they could find…from pine needles, to leaves to pine cones to sticks…anything found in nature could be used as long as it was found on the ground. Students were also allowed to pick invasive species (such as dandelions) and use it in their art.

Here are some pictures of students in action creating their ECOART!

During the whole process, I took pictures of students ECOART that they created outside. I printed off the pictures and this week, students had a chance to take the ECOART that they created and make it into a card! Each student got to take a card home tonight that they made and we will be selling the other cards that we made for $1.00 each. As a class, we decided that all of the money raised will be donated to the Ottawa Humane Society.

We will be selling cards tomorrow night during parent/teacher interviews! If your child would like to come along with you to the interview tomorrow, they can help sell our ECOART cards outside our classroom door at the table that we will have set up. If they would like to come for a longer period of time, please send me an email at: laura.argue@ocdsb.ca so I know ahead of time. They will be out in the hallway directly outside my classroom and I will check in with them each time a new interview starts.

If you are not coming in for an interview and still want to buy a card you can! You can send in money with your child next week and we will send the cards home with your child.

THANKS for you support!

Ms. Argue and her Grade 3 class of ECOART artists!! 🙂

This is just a reminder that there will be Parent/Teacher Interviews coming up next Thursday, November 22nd from 4:30pm – 7:30pm. I am hoping to meet with all of the parents of my students even if your child is progressing well. This is a great time to chat and discuss how your child if progressing and what goals we can set for moving forward!

Here is the link to sign up for a parent/teacher interview:

https://wejps.schoolappointments.com/admin/

Here is a copy of the instructions that went home in your child’s report card on how to sign up for an interview.

If you are having difficulty signing up for a spot, please let me know and I can help!

I still have the following spots available:

Thursday, November 22nd

4:45pm – 5:00pm

5:30pm – 5:45pm

5:45pm – 6:00pm

6:00pm – 6:15pm

7:15pm – 7:30pm

I am also opening up a spot from 4:15 – 4:30pm – this spot is not on the online sign up so please email laura.argue@ocdsb.ca to book this appointment.

Also, if Thursday, November 22nd does not work for you, I can open up some spots on Friday, November 23rd in the morning. Please email me and let me know if a time slot of Friday would work better for you.

Thanks!

Laura Argue

Progress report cards are coming home tomorrow! Please remember that these progress reports are only a snap shot of your child’s academic and social skills. It is still early in the school year and there is always room for progress to be made.

In the progress report you will also find a step by step instruction note outlining how to sign up for parent-teacher interviews. Interviews at WEJ are slated for the evening of November 22nd and morning of November 23rd. I am trying to meet all of my parents and students on Thursday night or before this date as I do not work on Fridays. The interview time slots are 15 minute intervals and I am looking forward to meeting with most of you. For some parents of whom I’ve already met with, you may choose to skip this set of interviews as we have been in steady contact. For those of you who’s children are progressing well (PW) in all areas, I would love to meet you too, however if the timing is just not quite right, please remember that I do have an open door policy and will meet with you any time that suits you and your family lifestyle best.

Thanks so much for your support!

Ms. Argue

Just a friendly reminder that your child’s orange homework duotang is due tomorrow! We didn’t do them last week with Halloween but I did send them home this week.

Thanks for your support!

Ms. Argue 🙂

Next Monday, we will be recognizing Remembrance Day in our school. All the grade 3’s will be singing in the assembly. Students are asked to wear black, red and white for this. Unfortunately, we are not able to open an invitation to parents for this assembly. Students are all also encouraged to wear a poppy for this assembly. They will be selling them here at school all week or can be purchased throughout the community.

Thanks!

Ms. Argue 🙂