This week the students will continue their math work in the area of Measurement. So far we have been looking at linear measurement mm, cm, m and km, temperature and telling time. The GRADE 2’s will have a brief quiz on Wednesday and I will send their measurement math packages home tomorrow. The Gr. 3s have already completed their summative measurement task – The Perimeter Party Challenge.

Gr. 2 students who have not already brought in their money for Scientists at Schools are asked to please do so.

Last week our Star of the Week was Lynn Chen. She did a nice presentation for us, please see her picture below. This week our star is Owen Chen!

Mr. Jackson’s chess club starts this week as does Ms. Lewis’ finger knitting club!!! Ask your child if either or both of these extra curriculars is something that they might have an interest in joining.

Gr. 3 homework duotangs will resume this week.

Also, please note that this Thursday and Friday are both “FRIDAY” schedules.

 On Thursday our Gr. 2s will have their unit test on Solids, Liquids and Gases. We will certainly review on Monday and Tuesday in class and I will send home their science duotangs Tuesday night for studying. Here are some of the concepts that we have studied in length in class that you may want to hone in on when preparing for the test with your child.

• Matter is something that takes up space and has weight.
• There are three states of matter; solid, liquid and gas.
• Solids have a shape and a size, they have particles that are close together and cannot move around.
• Liquids take the shape of the bottom of a container, but the size does not change, they have particles that are spread out and move around.
• Gases have no shape or size, they fill a container, they have particles that are really far apart and move really fast.
• Matter can change from one state to another by adding or taking away heat.
• For example, ice, water and steam are all the same substance, but at different temperatures.
• What sinks and what floats?
• Some experiments that may be covered on the test are:
• Liquid Races – Which liquid moved fastest
• Mixing Solids and Liquids – Which solids mixed with water?
• Mixing Liquids and Liquids – Which liquids mixed with water?
• Absorbency – Which objects absorbed water, which don’t?

Too cold to play outside today? Just dance inside! Over the course of December and now into January we have been doing dance and movement as a part of our Physical Education unit. The students have had the opportunity to decide for themselves if they wanted to perform a dance in a large group, smaller group of 4-5 people or in a mini group and we even have some wonderful friends going to perform a solo dance in front of the class. So brave!  The students know what they have signed up for and have been encouraged to practice at home.  They have also been told that having props or accessories from around home -hats, sunglasses, dance costume etc., will help enhance their overall dance effect too.

Students in Ms. Lewis’ & Mr. Jackson’s classes will perform and be assessed on their routines on Thursday, January 21st.  

This Thursday (Jan. 21st), the students will have a test on our Strong and Stable Structures unit. There will be no homework duotang this coming week. Your child can prepare for the science test by reviewing and answering the questions below! Students should review their notes in their duotang each night next week (duotangs will go home this weekend). They should be prepared to add detail to their answers on test day. Think “why?” or “how?” Please make sure the duotangs come back to school each day next week!

• Write definitions for the following words: structure, strength, stability, load.

• Make a list of three natural structures and three man-made structures.

• In class, we did an experiment with cardboard tubes of different heights. What did we learn about stability by doing this experiment?

• In class, we tried to build towers out of 50 cue cards. What were two things that the winning group did well with their tower design to make it so tall and stable?

• In class, we did an experiment where we attempted to increase the stability of a cardboard tube. What did we learn about stability by doing this experiment? (How can you increase the stability of tall objects?)

• In class on Monday, we will do an experiment with pasta noodles and marshmallows. You will have to recall what did you learn about strength from that experiment? How can you reinforce, or make structures stronger?

• What properties of material do you need to consider when building the following: a) a car tire; b) a backpack; c) a roof for a house in Kanata, d) a baseball bat.

• What will students have to consider if they want to do well in next week’s in-class structure-building challenge? How will they make their structure strong and stable? Use words like: struts, ties, layers, pillars, posts, beams, balanced, materials, tension, compression, torsion, etc. in your answer.

• Mr. Brian Johnson, a structural engineer, visited our class. What are some things he does as a structural engineer?

 We had our very first Star of the Week presentation this week and it was AWESOME! Beyzanur brought in her beautifully coloured, decorated and written poster (friendly reminder Gr.2s have been given their own template, Gr.3s have to create their own), she also took 10 questions about herself from her classmates and showed off her talent of being a fabulous free hand artist!

Friendly reminder to help your child find different textures around the house that they can bring in to incorporate into their art work during Friday’s double ART period. Examples of such items might be sand paper, scraps of yarn, fabric, wrapping paper, cotton balls, Q-tips, buttons … the possibilities are endless, you may even want to look through the trash can or recycling bins!

In math this week and last we have been studying linear measurement (mm. cm, m and km), perimeter and temperature. Next week we will look at telling time before we are quizzed on all we know about measuring later next week. Also look forward to a science test for each grade next week as we wrap up our unit of Liquids and Solids as well as Stable Structures and Forces with the Grade 3’s. The students will be well prepared as we have been reviewing concepts that were taught before the Christmas break already.

A HUGE congratulations to our very own TRACY YE who won the Marianne Wilkinson Kanata Community Christmas Card Design Contest! We are so proud of you as so many kids from so many school in Kanata also entered the contest. Way to go Tracy!

Reminders:             No School Friday Jan 22nd for students      Scholastic Book Orders are Due January 21st        Term 1 Report Cards go home Feb. 4th

Click on the letters below to learn more and find out what each one stands for!

We kicked off our very first WITS assembly and it was VERY well received by both students and staff! Constable Cybuski came in and helped roll our the new program. She did the formal introductional oath with the kiddos and they were super excited about this new opportunity at WEJ.

Parent brochures were sent home, please take a moment to walk through the benefits of using WITS at home with your child. We hope to have bi-monthly assemblies to celebrate the use of our WITS, to cover different aspects of the program and as well as an opportunity to come together and showcase our inter connectedness of how we are being the best students that we can be!

This past Friday, the Gr. 3 students worked with charcoal in art class to draw a variety of famous structures from around the world. We talked about how charcoal is a wonderful art tool to use when creating works that have dark and light areas as well as shades of grey. We printed off a variety of dramatic black and white photographs of various famous stable structures from around the world that the students used for a scavenger hunt as a part of their science unit earlier in the week that could try to draw. I was very pleased with the striking images the students created! Here are some photos of their beautiful work:

DENTAL COMMUNICATION TO ALL PARENTS

_____________________________________________________________________

Hello, I will be at your school to provide the dental screening:

Date(s): February 2, 2016

For grades: JK, SK, 2,

Note to parents – the information pertaining to dental screening of your child will come home in a hard copy form sometime this coming week. I have made this post early so that you can mark your calendar and ensure that your child is promptly to school that day.

 Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season. It was great to be back yesterday and most of the kids had a fabulous transition back to routine and work ethic. I just wanted to inform parents that our Star of The Week presentations will commence on January 11th. I have gone through the school calendar and accounted for holidays and special occasions to come up with a working schedule. Please refer to the tab entitled ‘Star of the Week’ to read more on how this project works. Gr.3s are to create their own poster on Bristol board and the Gr.2s have already been given their template, you will find it in your child’s agenda pocket.

January 11th -Beyzanur

January 18th -Lynn

January 25th -Owen

February 1st -Lexi

February 8th -Monica

February 16th -Adrian

February 22nd -Fatima

February 29th -Dennis

March 7th -Cameron

March 21st -Sarah

March 29th -Ben

April 4th -Vincent

April 11th -Peter

April 18th -Tristan

April 25th -Chingis

May 2nd -Alec

May 9th -Zara

May 16th -Tracy

May 30th -Eric