 My family's Thanksgiving Pumpkins on display. We wrote what we were thankful for on pumpkins. So much in which we are grateful to God!
Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend! I'm thankful that I was able to teach all of you! Mrs. McCuen
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Hello Grade 4's! I do hope you are all working hard and achieving many of your goals! I think of you all often! Thought you might like to see my new classroom. Some friends were asking me about it. These were all taken while I was setting up my classroom. Take good care and keep working hard to Make God's Dream come true by your actions and words! Mrs. McCuen 
 Hope your second day of Grade 4 was awesome! I am certain you are shining on in Grade four and working to your personal best potential! Always shine your light! You're all in
 Well it's that time of year again! I do hope that you all had a
wonderful summer filled with fun times with family and friends! It's hard to believe that I won't be starting this school year at Guardian Angels and I miss everyone already very, very much! I will especially miss coming to school each day and being greeted with so many friendly familiar faces and good mornings. I know that I will get to know all of the children here at St. Cecilia and I am very much looking forward to that! I wish you all a successful year in grade 4. You are all amazing and have so many God given gifts to share! Never forget to show your faith by the works that you do and to always strive to be the best person that you can be. I would love to hear from you. If you wish you can write to me at St. Cecilia- 3490 Cambrian Rd, Nepean Ontario, K2J 0V1. I would absolutely love to hear from you and will write you back! May God be in your mind. May God be in your heart. May God be always looking over your shoulder. "God Has No Hands Here But Ours"- Steven Bell Love, Mrs.McCuen  On Friday the students at GUA had the wonderful opportunity of hearing about NED! It was an inspirational and motivational talk that is linked to this month's recognition theme of Excellence. It is an excellent message for people of all ages...Never Give Up, Encourage Others and Do Your Best! There is an information sheet posted under Helpful Resources. Students are able to purchase NED yoyos and other merchandise on Monday to Friday of this week just before lunch recess outside of the learning commons.
Thank you for continuing to maintain your child's homework routine. I enjoyed reading the students' paragraphs about EQAO. This week I have asked them to write a paragraph about what Excellence means to them. Today the students are having a First Nations guest speaker and Artist named Daniel Richer come in to piggy back onto their social studies learning about the Aboriginal people and their customs. Students will be making their very own talking sticks. Many thanks to Madame Bourris and Madame Currie for organizing this very worthwhile learning opportunity! We are just about finished our Science Unit on Strong and Stable structures. Students have thoroughly enjoyed all of the hands on experiments that are a part of this unit. Last week they did an amazing job on their "Show What You Know" activity for Forces. They learned a lot and communicated their knowledge in a thorough manner. It's hard to believe there are only nine more days of school left. We will continue to work hard throughout these last nine days and maintain our focus on the remaining few learning goals we have left to accomplish. Have a great week!  I am so very proud of all of the students in 3D! They truly displayed their personal best work on the EQAO tests and shone as bright as stars! It was challenging work, but they persevered their way through it with positive attitudes. Thank you parents for supporting your children with the review activities, as well as with love and encouragement each day. I truly believe it made a difference! Although EQAO is complete, we still have several expectations in all subject areas to cover from now until the end of the year. Our hard work is not done yet! In Religion we will learn about the Apostles Creed and in Fully Alive/Drama students will present their short decision making skits. In Literacy we will finish up with writing persuasive texts and will spend some time looking at different types of Media and Media texts. Students will also have an opportunity to act out a book from a favourite author (in a group) and do a short author study to present to the class as a group. In Math we will explore mass and capacity and continue to review all grade three concepts through a variety of Math stations. This week in Music we started to work on some two part rounds (Ring, Ring, Ring the Bells and The Grand Old Duke of York) and we also talked about what we have to do to various instruments in order for them to make a sound (e.g. strum, blow, strike, shake). Next we will explore tempo as well as make choices about which instruments would go with various song lyrics. We will try playing some of the instruments to familiar songs as well. We have just about completed our Forces unit. We have a couple of more experiments to do and then for an assessment students will have the opportunity to complete a "Show What You Know" task in class. Today we combined Drama and Science as students got into small groups to create a Tableau (a frozen scene) that depicted a force that we have studied (Static, Muscular, Magnetic, Friction, Gravity, Buoyancy). They also learned a mnemonic device to help them to remember all of the forces (Sometimes Max May Follow Good Brothers). Our final unit will be on "Stable Structures." It is a short unit that lends itself to many hands on experiments and tasks. Students have learned how to complete a "Science Experiment Write Up" complete with a purpose, materials, hypothesis, procedures, observations and conclusions! They are a bunch of budding scientists! That is how our next couple of weeks looks. I will post short "update" blogs from now until the end of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing those of you who will be attending our school carnival on Wednesday, June 12th, 2013 in the Holy Spirit church parking lot. So much fun and for such a great cause. What a wonderful parent council we have! God Bless! 
 Well the time has arrived! Tomorrow morning, students will begin their EQAO testing. For the most part, students seem excited and I am very confident that they are ready to show all of their amazing thinking in Literacy and Math! On Friday we read Dr. Seuss' book "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!" In this fun filled story, the students at Diffendoofer school must take a test in order not to have to go to school in dreary "Flobbertown" where everyone and everything looks the same. When Mr.Lowe their principal makes this announcement in an extremely anxious manner, the students become worried too. Their very awesome and unique teacher Ms. Bonkers comes to the rescue though, by reminding them that they have what it takes to pass the test because they've "learned how to read and write and that red and white make pink," but most of all they've been taught how to "THINK." I like to think that the students in 3D have also been taught to think and that is why I feel that they are ready to meet the tasks presented in EQAO with success. I am so proud of all of the work that they have done since September and have told them, that this is their time to shine and show everything that they have learned. I will attach a Youtube version of the story at the end of this blog for you to enjoy with your child at some point this week. Please ensure that your child comes to school rested, with healthy lunches and ready to do their personal best work each day.Testing days are Monday to Thursday of this week ( May 27-May 30th) and the Monday and Tuesday of the next week (June 3rd-June 4th). Tomorrow morning, students will come in and will complete a student questionnaire and will then be given a few instructions. Once opening instructions have been given, they will begin the first test which will be Literacy. If students need extra time they have to work through his/her recess as the tests need to be completed in one continuous session. Once students have finished they will be able to have a snack and some break time. We only write the EQAO test during first block and a portion of second block if needed. The rest of the day will consist of regular teaching/learning. On Wednesday afternoon of this week, we will be participating in the Jungle Sport activities set up in our gymnasium for a 75 minute block of time. Thank you for signing and returning permission slips so promptly. Last week in Religion students began to write their own versions of the Ascension Story and The Story of Pentecost. They will continue with this activity this week. Each day after morning prayer students heard prayers about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As students embark on their first journey through Provincial Testing may the Holy Spirit be with them and bless them with the confidence that they need to do their personal best. Thank you for all of your support with the preparation for EQAO. It is now the students' time to shine. I know they will shine bright! The Gifts of the Spirit 
Hooray For Diffendoofer Day!  Hoping all of the moms enjoyed a very relaxing Mother's Day on Sunday! This month in Religion we are highlighting a very special mother- Mary the mother of Jesus. We are doing this because May is the month to honour Mary. Each day this week we are sharing a special prayer for Mary from our book "Prayers Before the Bell." Also in Religion this week students will hear the story of Jesus' ascension into heaven. Students are extremely excited about their decision making skits which is a part of our Fully Alive program and have started working on them class. We will aim to present them in class later next week. EQAO/HOMEWORK UPDATE: This week there is no homework in the homework duotang as students have been instructed to work on the EQAO package that was distributed last week during this week and next week, in preparation for EQAO which starts on Monday, May 27th. Also under the "Helpful Resources" section of the website I have posted another Math Concepts review package for you and your child to look over and review together. This week in Math we are working on transformational geometry- moving shapes by sliding (translating), flipping (reflecting) and turning (rotating). Students have been engaged in a variety of activities where they have to move shapes in these different ways. Please see the "Helpful Resources" section of this website for information about these concepts. Later this week we will dive into the strand of numeracy again as we explore money. In Literacy, we are reading persuasive texts and will be working on some partner persuasive writing as the week progresses. In Science we will explore the force of static electricity which has been on our "TO DO" list for quite some time! So, so busy in Grade Three! Have a wonderful week!  God Bless Mary the Mother of Jesus! 
 Welcome to Catholic Education Week 2013! What a wonderful week to celebrate the many unique learning opportunities associated with attending a Catholic school. We are so blessed to be able to invite Jesus into our classroom communities daily and to have Him present in all that we do across all subject areas! This week we will spend some time discussing the many blessings that come from being a part of Catholic Education! May God continue to bless our communities with the gift of Catholic Education. Under Links you can view a beautiful message from His Excellency Douglas Crosby OMI, Bishop of Hamilton about Catholic Eduction.
Here is short glimpse at our week! Education Week Activities: Monday, May 6th- Education Week Assembly- 2:40-3:20 Wednesday, May 8th- 3D Visit to Scholastic Book Fair in the GUA Learning Commons Thursday, May 9th- Open House at GUA 8:15-9:15- Come and Visit our Classroom! Friday, May 10th- Recognition Assembly Block 2 In Math we will be completing our work on probability and will start exploring transformational geometry (see last post for more details). We will then move into solving problems involving money. On Friday students enjoyed working through Math stations about probability and fractions- how many equal parts,halves, quarters. In Literacy, we will continue explore persuasive texts and their features and will begin to do some partner persuasive writing about different topics. Students will learn that when writing a persuasive text they need to first state their opinion in a clear manner and then give at least three strong reasons to support their opinion. Finally, they need a closing sentence that repeats their opinion in a different way. Also in Literacy, Media Literacy specifically, I asked students to create BitStrips comic with a theme of "Caring for God's Creation." These are due with this week's homework on Thursday. Students will have some class time to work on this activity this week at a literacy station. Students used a new App on the Ipad entitled "Show Me" during literacy stations last week. They wrote a sentence that had to include the correct use of quotation marks in it. As they wrote they also recorded their voices. All students thoroughly enjoyed this station. This week we will use this App at a Math station. Last week in Science students were able to work with magnets and this week they will explore static energy and how it works as a force. EQAO UPDATE: Grade three students will be writing the EQAO test on the following dates: Monday, May 27th, -Thursday, May 30th Monday, June 3rd- Tuesday, June 4th Under the Important Links section of the website, I have posted a link for EQAO practise tests. Many students have enthusiastically told me about their experiences doing some of the practice tests at home. We continue to do EQAO warm ups at the beginning of our Literacy and Numeracy blocks. The students are well prepared and know that all that is expected of them is to do their PERSONAL BEST! Thank you for all of your support at home in preparing for EQAO.  As the title of this post says, we do have a busy week of learning ahead of us across all subject areas. We will definitely be busy bees. Here is what we'll be buzzing/learning about over the course of the week: In Religion/Fully Alive we will continue to hear some stories about decision making and will begin our skits about decision making. We will also discuss Sunday's Gospel reading about Jesus' message to "Love One Another" and what loving one another looks like and sounds like. Finally we will think and write about all of ways Jesus is an important part of our lives. In Literacy, we will read some persuasive texts and discuss the format of persuasive writing. Students will also engage in some partner persuasive writing paragraphs later on in the week and early into next week. At some of our literacy stations, students will have some punctuation, parts of speech, main idea and supporting details tasks to do as a review for EQAO. Last week we read the book "Punctuation Takes A Vacation" and students had to identify the different roles for each piece of punctuation. Students have visited the "Punctuation Station" at the smart board where they had to edit the punctuation from a section of the story. Today some students used an interactive App on the Ipad called "Show Me" to write a sentence with quotation marks in it. The rest of the students will continue to visit this station as the week goes on. During reading stations, students will read and respond to some more Fables. Since we are finished with introducing new grade three word wall words, I strongly suggest that you review the uses of the many homonyms and contractions on our list, by having your child write sentences in which they could incorporate these words (e.g. there, their, they're, weather, whether, where, wear, its its, right, write, to, too, two, can't, won't isn't etc...) This will serve as a good review. In Math we have started probability. Today we discussed probability vocabulary through a Math conversation where students turned and talked to their elbow partners about the likelihood of events happening using probability vocabulary. Students did a partner inquiry where they had to determine the likelihood of a coloured counter being picked out of bag, based on the number of each colour of counter that was in the bag. Next students had to determine the colours that would have an equal chance at being picked. Students came up with a variety of ways to justify their thinking in response this question. Some students even included a fraction which is where our probability learning is headed! If there is a bag of 7 red counters, 3 orange counters, 2 green counters and 2 blue. The blue and green have an equal chance because they both have a 2/14 chance at getting picked out of the bag. Next week we will move into transformational geometry or as many of you might know it -exploring how shapes can slide, flip or turn or translate, reflect, rotate. Tonnes of Math exploring and learning to do! Due to the short week last week, we did not get to our static electric force or magnetic force experiments. It is on the "to do" list this week! So as you can see we have a lot of learning jobs to accomplish in our 3D hive! Now you know what all the "BUZZ" will be about! Have a "BEE" UTIFUL week! 
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