Times-Advocate, 1999-01-27, Page 32NEWSFROM 0i�R SCHOOLS
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' Schools are a verb integral part of .our The ou the from Advocate owouldocaschoolssWatch for
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The children in these schools this page the last week of every month.
are our future leaders.
McCurdy School News
Winter has arrived! All McCurdy students are
enjoying Friday skating during January at the
arena. The grade 1/2 class has made giant snow-
men in art.
Outside the classroom a variety of activities are
taking place. The staff is busy raising money for
the Bunny Bundle in London by purchasing
healthy treats made weekly by Darlene Legoff.
Teachers are attending a workshop after school
in St. Marys on levelling, an assessment tool.
Also, the school is working with other area
schools on a School Accommodation Review with
recommendations to be made to the Board by
mid February.
Inside the classrooms many different activities
are taking place. Three classes are conducting
the Safe Child Program. Kathleen Babcock, Rural
Support for Families, will visit the classes on
January 21 and parents are invited to attend ses-
sions that day. Students learn skills of communi-
cation and making choices.
The jk/k class is into gymnastics and graphing
skills. A fairytale and technology unit is happen-
ing in the grade 2/3 room. Grade 6/7 students
are learning data management using File Maker
Pro. Grade 4/5 are into a Canadian unit while the
CLN room learns about multiculturalism: Most
students are involved in public speaking and sto-
rytelling which is sponsored by, the Legion.
Primary French students are working on telling
time while music classes focus on theory.
Basketball is the sport of the month. Noon
activities focus on free throw competition 'which
is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The.
girls and boys teams are busy practising before
and after. school,
# coirii t` t r 1nvi t�i�'rneI1t 4e • fnd eid. tifipor nt- oto.
the students of McCurdy. The Grand Bend
Alhambra group donated a computer to the CLN
room recently. The students are enhancing their
reading, math and writing skills on the comput-
er.
`News From Stephen Central
valentines.
Grade 7&8 students Ave been working hard
on their novel study contract this month. Three
different novels are being studied. The history
unit on Confederation is wrapping up with a map
assignment and unit test. Basketball skills have
been the focus of our phys.ed. classes. Students
will soon be preparing the teams and events for
the annual winter carnival.
From the Resource Centre:
Enrichment groups- Students from Grades 6-8
are involved in the Canadian Heritage Interactive
Journey on the Internet. They will be communi-
cating with young people who are cycling across
Canada.
Grade One - Grade One students, will be using
an exciting new word processing programme,
"The Ultimate Creativity and Writing Centre".
They will be able to put pictures, sound and even
animation into their stories.
Year Book Committee - The hard-working .Year
Book Committee is busy getting class pictures
and cameo pictures of students prepared for, the
Yearbook. They have become real `experts' at
desk -top publishing.
('Zurich Cougars
Mrs. Shapton's Early Years class (The Bear
Class) are learning about winter birds and mak-
ing bird feeders. We are learning to print our
numbers to 10 and make groups to 10.We have
set up a new alphabet store. We got a new cash
register and it is solar powered.
In grade 1 we have been talking and learning
about important people in Canada such as John
Davidson in Jesse's Journey. We have been
The Grade 2 students of room 7 have been
exploring shapes and solids, discovering rela-
tionships among. shapes and solids, using tan -
gram puzzles and making continuing patterns.
Grade 3 have been describing,comparing and
sorting geometric solids. The class had fun talk-
ing and writing about the possibilities of being
snowed in a Stephen Central.
Grade 7 students have been busy working on
thein Antarctica unit in geography. They have
been watching videos and doing research.
Students have been working up a sweat in the
gym trying out their basketball skills. Some stu-
dents have tried out for the basketball team and
• the Knights of Columbus free throw competition.
The grade 4 students are working on their
speeches. Many of the students are excited
about presenting their speeches for the first
time.
The student is Grade 6' are also busy writing
speeches. They have chosen topics and are roak=
ing outlines. These speeches will. be• presented in'
class during the week of February' 8. Three stu-
dents will be chosen to give their speeches in the
..��.. amaryllis (tower. We recorded
our amaryllis flower. We the tempera-
ture, made snow angels, brought snow inside to
see wh would happen and we talked about
hiberna iui, and what animals do in the winter.
We also talked about jobs in our community and
we madea book about what jobs our parents
have.
The Grade 2 class are involved in a Science and
Technology Unit about Movement in Structures
and Mechanisms. They have learned the names.
of the 6 Simple Machines and have used their
knowledge to draw and build machines and to
design and create models of playgrounds. It is
an interesting and fun unit. The gymnastics
equipment has arrived and the children are look-
ing forward to using it.
In 3/4, we have studied our first chapter book
called, "Owls in the Family", by Farley Mowat.
We made plasticine and paper mache owls. The
Grade 4's wrote a speech for the first time .and
Gr. 3's did a research project. We will be learn-
ing about„,1agnets and Landforms of Canada
next month. To warmup the cold January
weather we made hero cookies to support our
study of heroes in our I1rug Awareness program.
The Grade 4/5's are studying the Life Systems
of the Human Body. We watched the British
Version presentation of "The Lion, The Witch
and The Wardrobe" on video. We are preparing
for speech presentations set for February 3,
1999.
Grade 6/7 will be attending the' Grand Bend
Winter Carnival sculpturing cont'est';•oq
Thursday, February 4. Speeches are. duet on
January 25 and will be said January 26-29: -
The senior volleyball teams both. finished in
first place at their Zone finals, held at St. Anne's
..-on January; O. The teams will now compete in
countingby.: ;a..5's.. 040- . = k gpat tyle iS' +stetai als at. St. Michael's im Stratford on
tens inmatfi. " =We have been learning about
snow and making paper snowmen but we hope January 27 and 28. In class, students are very
to make• real snowmen when the snow is good busy preparing for speeches, learning to play the
guitar, and completing an in-depth look at, the
for packing. We got a reading bingo game from migration of people in Geography. A ski tripsis
Santa and we have been having fun playing it also scheduled for February 4 at Talisman.:.
and taking care of it . ` We also got straws and
connectors from Santa.
The Grade 2/3 class will be doing a unit in sci-
ence on the classification of animals. Geometry
will be featured in math, with drug safety in the
home as the topic in health. Ethan Deichert and
Laura Zandwyk are the Cougars of the week.
Mr. Pearson's grade 3/4 class is doing a novel
study using Judy Biome novels. We have just
begun discussing possible topics for the upcom-
ing public speaking competition. In science we
will be creating a working sundial as part of the
unit on light.
In Mr. Weido's Grade 5/6 class, the earth's
crust, rocks and minerals and associated
processes -are being studied. The students will
examine actual minerals and rocks, then do
experiments. A new novel, Bridge to Tarabithia,
will expose all students to how people try to deal
with unexpected tragedies. LAstly, all the class
is excited about being involved with making gar-
dens to grow vegetables.
Congratulations to Michelle Denomme and
Marcia 'Melick from grade 7 for winning first
place in the Alcohol and Drug Awareness poster
contest- sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.
Posters will advance to regional level. There is a
lot of excitement :about our upcoming musical,
gym in front of many other students. It takes-, Groovy .
courage to be able to speak in front of one's Grade 8 students have been working on basket-
peers. ball skills in physical education classes and have
Grade 5 has been studying the. weather in sci-. played some exciting close games at noon hour.
ence.. Preparation is well underway for Chess:. We have been .writing, editing and keyboarding
Club, Spelling Bee,Public Speaking and. Free stories, for English class. Speeches are also in
Throw activities. .the preparation stage. Most of the class is excit-
'fhe Grade 3 students in room 6 have just fin- ed about the high school visit and selection of
on courses for next year.
Mr. Weida has been teaching at Zurich Public
School for 30 years and will be retiring at the
end of JAnuary. - We wish him all the best and
is
fished their mapping units. They are working..
subtraction in math and using quotations in their
language .activities. They arq looking forward to
the storytelling unit coming up: in February.
The boys and girls in grade 1 have 'been doing.
dinosaur acts:and readings which go along with
the stories in their reader. They have also dis-
cussed winter safety rules.
Grade .2 students in room 12 are looking for-
ward-to
or-
ward-to 100 days at school. The .themes they
have been studying' are science, skating and
hope he will. enjoy spending more. time at h
many hobbies and interests. Farewell!
Our La . of tit. Carrel School
Kindergarten was a busy place In January as
we shared holiday+. stories. .We also measured
•
jet Stephens of Precious Blood .School was One of
many Kindergarten, Grade I and Grade 3 students
who went skating at the'South Huron` Rec Centre
last Friday.The sthool takes time out every'wetek
to enjoy the ice.