NDecember

ewsletter
2015
jennifer.ramsay@ocdsb.ca

South March Public School

1032 Klondike Road
K2K 0H9
Jennifer Shirley, Principal
Jennifer Lisowski, Vice Principal
Heather Nichols, Office Administrator
Phone Number: 613-595-0543
Fax: 613-595-0605

Import ant Dat es and Event s

Tuesday af t ernoons: Library
Thursday, December 10t hProgress Report s go home
Wint er/ Christ mas Hol idays:
December 21st t o January 1,
2016
January 4t h, 2016- School
resumes

Dear Parents,
It was a pleasure to meet with many of you before and
during the parent teacher interviews. It was great that
many of you brought your children with you so that they
could play a part in discussing their learning strengths and
goals. As outlined in the OCDSB Parent Guide to
Assessement and Evaluation and Reporting document that
was sent home recently, "When students are more
involved with classroom assessment they become more
aware of their strengths and areas needing improvement.
They can also focus their efforts of closing the gap
between where they are and where they need to be."
Sincerely,
Jennifer Ramsay
Literacy and Social Skills
The students have been learning to make deep meaning of the texts
that we read together, with guided teacher support or independently. Key
questions that support making deeper meaning of texts are:
- What is the author's message? (fiction)
- What did the author want you to learn or understand? (non-fiction)
- What is the author's point of view? (fiction or non-fiction)
It is important to listen to your children read every night and to have a
discussion about the information that the student is reading to help deepen
the students' understanding of the material that they read.
In class, we have been reading fiction texts and discussing what it
means to have character. The students are developing a strong
understanding of the characteristics of having character: acceptance,
appreciation, cooperation, empathy, fairness, integrity, optimism,
perseverance, respect and responsibility. Understanding what character
means helps them better understand the characters' behaviour in the texts
that they read and how to develop their own character. Please look on the
website under literacy for more information about character.

MATH
In mathematics, the students have been solving problems that involve adding and subtracting 3-digits
numbers. Through their problem solving, the students will develop the following enduring learning:
-

It important to recognize when each operation (addition or subtraction) is appropriate to use.

Addition leads to a total.
Subtraction tells us what is missing.
There are many ways to add and subtract numbers.
It is important to use and take advantage of the relationships between subtraction and addition.

Social Studies
We have begun to study aboriginals and early settlers of Upper Canada during 1780 to 1850. At
the end of our study of unit the students will choose something that interests them about
aboriginals or early settlers and write a report about the topic. Please refer to the key vocabulary
about aboriginals and early settlers under the Social Studies tab on the class website. We as a
class will also write a shared report on a different topic to help the students learn the key parts of
writing: brainstorming, planning, writing, revising, editing and assessing. Please refer to the report
rubric under the literacy tab on the class website. At the end of our unit of study the students will
be able to answer the following questions:
-

How are our lives the same as aboriginals' and early settlers' lives?
How are our lives different than aboriginals' and early settlers' lives?
Why did early settlers come to Canada?
How did aboriginals feel about early settlers coming to Canada?
What are resources and tools that we can use to find our more about aboriginals and early
settlers?