Popcorn Words....

...they pop up everywhere.  We hope that you are enjoying the Snuggle up and Read program that has been going home weekly.  The books that are included in each folder are great books to search for popcorn words (high frequency words).  These are the words that POP UP everywhere.  We practice spelling them in the classroom and search for them during our morning messages and when reading.  Here they are for you to to help support your child's early reading at home :)





LIKE, AM, CAN


We have also been playing with rhyming words.  Rhyming plays a large part in your child's literacy development.  It allows them to not only play with words, but to develop an understanding of beginning and end sounds, as well as spelling patterns.  We've been singing a Raffi favourite of mine... Willaby Wallaby Woo  (sadly, this is not Raffi in the attached video!)

Wednesday is Double Lunch Day!

St. Gabriel Catholic School 400 Keyrock Drive, Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2T 0G6 Tel: (613) 271-6181      E-Mail:  Gabriel@ocsb.ca

April 25, 2017

Dear Families,

Welcome to our Double Lunch Day Initiative. St. Gabriel has joined together as a community to help those less fortunate. We are coming together to help The Ottawa Mission by providing lunches for their back-to-work and back-to-school programs. Our school has committed to bring in a second lunch on Wed. May 3rd. These lunches not only help many valuable members of our society, but they also lessen the load of The Ottawa Mission.

How can you participate?

The third and last Double Lunch Day for St. Gabriel school will be on Wednesday, May 3rd and we ask that you send your child to school with an additional lunch. The lunches can have perishable and nonperishable items. We ask that they are healthy lunches and that they be packed in a bag that will travel to The Ottawa Mission (brown bag, Ziploc bag, etc.). Feel free to include a thoughtful, spiritual message and/or a hand drawn picture that will be collected separately and sent in a special container. The lunches will be transported to The Ottawa Mission after the children enter the school. Upon their arrival at The Mission, the lunches will be distributed to the various programs in need. Please see their website for further information http://www.ottawamission.com/

The Mission has asked for a few special requests and additional items in need:

-please do not include mayo on the sandwiches

-toiletry items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, comb, brush, dental floss, deodorant, soap)

-socks

Your support in this initiative is truly appreciated by the patrons of The Ottawa Mission. The staff also sends their thanks. If you have any questions about the Double Lunch Days please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Lisa Brennen/Christine Maidment

(St. Gabriel)

Sending Blankets and Xtra Clothes home

  Sending home blankets and extra clothes.  Time for a wash and for new seasonal clothes, like shorts and t-shirts!  :)

Catholic Education Week Agenda

Please see Education Week 

Catholic Education Week - May 1 to May 4

All week - Volunteer Appreciation in Foyer Please Stop in for a treat! “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)

Date	Event and Time
Monday: Theme: Walking Forward Together with God	Music Monday Anthem - 1pm (613) 717-0400 “sing it together” aboriginal #MMC2C2C Video Book Fair - viewing
Tuesday Theme: Walking Forward Together with Our Families	School Mass at St. Isidore @ 9:30am Book Fair - viewing School Board Mass at Notre Dame Basilica @ 7pm Mrs. Dauncey receives The Director of Education Award!
Wednesday Theme: Walking Forward Together with Others	Staff Reflection / Meditation 8:15am Double Lunch Day first thing in a.m. Book Fair - buying $
Thursday Theme: Walking Forward Together with Creation	Book Fair - buying $ EA - Entrepreneurial Adventure of Grade 6 handmade products showcased for all teachers to sign up and students purchase $
Friday Theme: Walking Forward Together in Hope	Muffin Breakfast and Open House 8-9am **Parents are asked to bring in 6 peanut/nut free Muffins PER FAMILY Coffee and Juice will be served Silent Auction for Destination Imagination Team (for Parent Community) News Show in gym  9:15am Grade 6 EA showcase after News Show Vernissage - along grade one and two hallway Jump Rope for Heart - 2:15pm

Block Challenge

Recreating the Eiffel Tower!! 

Good Bye Mrs Forbes

It's hard to believe 5 weeks has come and gone since Mrs Forbes joined our kinder room. Naturally, she fit right in and was a great member of our team. We will miss her. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication during your time here at St Gabriel. 

Earth Day

Little Caesar Pizza Kits

From St. Gabriel email.

A more formal announcement will go out shortly, but please join me in congratulating the Destination Imagination team from St. Gabriel's! They placed first at the Ontario Provincial tournament and they will be the only team representing the entire Ottawa Catholic School Board at the Global Finals in Tennessee, USA this upcoming May! We are so proud. This competition promotes creativity and innovation.

We are now supporting some fundraising efforts to help get some of our 'own' to Global Finals. At St. Gabriel's we are so fantastic in helping other schools and families but in this case, we are asking that our community help fundraise for our own DI team to make this journey and proudly represent the school and the school board.

As a start, we are hoping that every family help us by selling Little Caesar Pizza Kits. They are a fantastic product and we promise you will want more in the future. We make 5$ for every kit sold. We will be giving generous prizes for top sellers - 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Please follow the link below to sell the links:

Group ID#: 136257
Fundraiser ID #: 333068
Delivery Date: 5/17/2017

Simply forward the link below to your sellers, friends & family, or post the link on your Facebook and Twitter pages, or other social media sites. Be sure to include your Fundraiser ID#, noted above, in any communication you send out.
http://www.pizzakit.ca/fundraising-products?shop=1&f=333068&s=250905

In addition - please be sure to purchase our new yearbook. They are on sale until May 8th. 
ORDER YOUR 2016-2017 ST. GABRIEL YEARBOOK TODAY! 
Full Coloured Yearbook $20.00!
Order and Payment Due by May 8, 2017
Order online: http://www.YearbookOrderCenter.com 
School Code: 15978

Enjoy a wonderful weekend with your family!

Happy Easter

The students viewed the Stations of The Cross in the Learning Commons. The grade 6 students did a wonderful job sharing Jesus' last days with us. It was a great learning experience. 

We have spent a lot of time practicing our Popcorn Words (words that pop up everywhere) and now students are being challenged to regularly use them in their writing. Modelled lesson and whole group instruction using sentence starters like: I see, I can, and I like. We talked about how the popcorn words can help us write about anything that interests us. Thinks like dresses, flowers, animals, pokemons or vehicles. Try using some of these sentence starters at home!!! 😊

In Math we have been looking at measurement. The Kindergarten students worked in groups comparing each others height to a piece of yarn. Their job was to figure out if they were taller than the string, shorter than the string or the same height as the string. It was a lot of fun. The students also discovered that many different things can be used to measure height. Things like bean bags, feet, markers or snap cubes. 

Map Of My Heart

During the month of February the children showed interest in the world and the places we have travelled. This interest also led some students to explore maps.  To deepen their learning of maps and expand in the learning that was taking place, I read a special book called, My Map Book.  Inside you are introduced to a little boy and the maps of all the things that have meaning to him - a map of his bedroom, a map of his tummy, a map of his day and a map of his family.  The students took some time to reflect and think about what was most important to them.  Each student wrote down a list of 3-5 things that were most important to their hearts.  Next, they cut out a shape of their heart and drew lines to show it's pieces. Next, students used their original lists and drew pictures and wrote words within the pieces of their heart.  Last, a light paint was washed over top to complete their maps.  We are so proud of the hard work and perseverance the children showed when completing this multi-stepped task.  

Yaki!

Yaki came to visit all of the Kinders on Wednesday.  It was great fun.  Together we sang familiar songs such as The Wheels on The Bus and Twinkle Twinkle little star.  We used our hands, feet, shoulders and eyebrows to help keep the beat in his songs.  Yaki kept us laughing with some of his own special songs like, My Big Banana Feet and The Ketchup Song.  Some of us had a chance to stand up with Yaki and play his guitar while he sang.  It was a lot of fun!!