The end is here!

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Students are of course expected to be in attendance as there are lots of activities planned for this special day. 

Students have received their report cards today. Included in the Report Card envelope is the report card, an information sheet about the Trinity Nation Orientation for students who will be attending Holy Trinity in Grade 7 on August 29, and the certificate from the Entrepreneurial Adventure. 

It has been a very special year for me as I have taught and worked with this amazing group of students . They are an enthusiastic, talented bunch and I know that they will be successful in all of their endeavours thanks to the excellent foundation they have received here at St. Anne. It has been a pleasure to teach them and to work with all of the parents to make this school year such  a success. Have a great summer and best wishes to all as they begin grade 7. 

Year end trip

Many of my students have requested that a list of what to bring on the year end trip on Thursday June 23. The following is a list of items that students are required to bring:

sunscreen
hat
water bottle
bathing suit
towel
change of clothes
jacket/sweater (it may be cool in the morning)
snacks(nut free please)

It is recommended that students wear their bathing suits underneath their clothes for the day. They will be rotating through stations that may involve getting into the water. They will need a dry change of clothes to get into at the end of the day as this trip will go ahead rain or shine.

We ask that students not bring valuables such as, but not limited to, iPods, iPads, cell phones, cameras, etc. as there will not be a facility where their bags can be locked up at the camp.

Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase

Today our class attended the Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase held at the Museum of History.  We got to view the other ventures that took place across the city of Ottawa and were also privileged enough to have a visit form The Minister of Finance for the Federal Government Bill Morneau. We also took part in the awards celebration and although we did not receive an award, we were happy to be there to represent St. Anne. We also met up with our business mentor Tammy who said her final farewell and mentioned how proud she was of our students and how they will be able to look back on this and remember the impact we had on Ms. Devine to help her through her most difficult time.

Last Minute Change for EA Showcase

The Busses will be picking us up at 12:15 from the Museum of History not 1:30. This is a last minute change that I only became aware about now. Students will return to school in time for their afternoon classes. We will have lunch at St. Anne.

Family life and the gift of Life

Today we started Theme 3 of our Family Life program entitled "Created Sexual: Male and Female". We recapped what was taught in previous grades as well as discussed sources of information about our sexuality including our parents, other family members, friends, teachers as well as more informal ways of learning such as media including TV, magazines, the Internet and social media. We also discussed how we can have normal, natural attractions and desires for things including friends, food, video games and that those attractions may eventually include being attracted to another person and how we can control those desires and use them in a positive way such as making healthy eating choices and not eating too much junk food. We will continue to learn this week about how God created us unique and different and about the purpose for why he created us male and female.

Today is also the day where we can give the gift of life by donating blood to support Ms. Devine and all others who need blood transfusions. There are still spots left for those who are able to give blood in many time blocks from 3:30-7:30.  Below are some tips on donating blood. Don't forget to specify that you are signing up for the clinic in honor of Nicky Devine. If for some reason you are unable to make it today, you can always donate at your earliest convenience at 1575 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7M3. 

Tips for a positive donation:

·         Review the Basic Eligibility criteria https://www.blood.ca/en/blood/abcs-eligibility    or take the quiz here https://www.blood.ca/en/node/497

·         Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

o   drink LOTS of water the days leading up to and the day of your donation,

o   have those 8, 8ounce glasses of water –You can do it!

o   Limit yourself to one cup of coffee or tea the day of your donation.

·         Eat a healthy breakfast and have a substantial snack before coming to donate!

·         For lunch time appointments eat your lunch before donating

·         For dinner time appointments eat a meal before donating

·         Remember to bring identification- Photo and address or address and signature

·         Children under 12 must be supervised by a parent or other adult
·         All children must remain in our Café Rouge refreshment area –

Review of learning

This next week in Math we will do an in depth review of the 5 main strands in Mathematics. Today we reviewed Number Sense, which has an impact on all the other strands. Tuesday, we will review Patterning which includes describing patterns using pattern rules, Wednesday we will review geometry which includes transformations to an object on the coordinate plane, Thursday we will review Data management and probability and Friday we will review measurement. Students are invited to take the work we do in class home with them to help them remember what was taught this year.

In Language we will also review the different types of text that we read and how to best analyze them; narrative, poems, news reports, graphic texts, etc. We will also review how to write narratives, poems, reports, opinion pieces, and persuasive letters.

In Religion we will begin our family life unit on how we are created sexual. There will be a letter going out with the students on Tuesday outlining the topics of discussion. We will be finishing our Confirmation preparation by learning about the 7 themes of Catholic Social teaching which is how we can live out our faith and life in the Holy Spirit.

Have a safe and relaxing Victoria Day long weekend!

Blood Drive

The Staff at St. Anne are organizing a blood drive to help support Ms. Devine. Each student will have received a cookie with information about the blood drive. Please keep Ms Devine in your prayers as she is undergoing her scheduled surgery today.

Below is a note from Ms. Devine regarding the blood drive.

January 2014 I received my first call to supply teach for the Ottawa Catholic School Board. I taught kindergarten that day. The staff and students were wonderful and this quickly became my main school to work at. I loved it at St. Anne. Every time I was there I learned something new, whether it was from a teacher sharing their knowledge, the set up of a classroom, or the students themselves. I enjoyed every minute in that school.

The day after hearing that I had a tumour I received a phone call to supply at St. Anne and sadly had to turn it down. My mom saw the devastation in my eyes as we waited in the doctors office.  When the doctor asked "do you have any other questions" my mom asked "can she go to work during this time". The doctor was shocked that I had been working at all the last 4 months, so no... no working for me.

Yet, St. Anne didn't give up on me...  they stood behind me every single day of this fight. Whether it was fundraising for me, emailing me, visiting me... they have never let me feel alone.

And still, after everything they have done... they still want to do more. They changed my life, and now they are going to save other peoples lives.

During my journey I have received 4 bags of blood, this blood allowed me to continue my fight. I have met so many patients who have also been given blood that literally saved their lives. St. Anne is holding a blood drive on Wednesday May 25th from3:30-7:30 at 1575 Carling. Together we can make a difference.

For those giving blood...

Step 1 register at blood.ca.

Step 2 Do the eligibility quiz under the Blood tab.

Step 3 Under find a clinic, put 1575 Carling Avenue then put the dates as May 25 and find a clinic

Step 4 Click the tabs for time of day and then choose a time

Step 5 Update this doc so we know when you’re going

Eqao practice

This week we will be doing a dry run of the EQAO assesments as a practice for the Assessments which will begin on May 31. Students are asked to ensure that they have pencil and eraser for the Language practice assessment tomorrow and the a pencil, calculator and eraser for the Math practice assessment Wednesday. 

Confirmation information letters will be handed out this week, reminding students of our Confirmation date as well as other info. 

Permission letters will also be handed out for students attending the Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase on May 30. We are in need of 2-3 parent volunteers to come with us on the trip. Students will take part in the showcase as well as a brief tour of the Museum of History where the showcase takes place. There is a cost of $6.50 yo take a tour of the museum. Students are also advised to bring a lunch. This will be an exciting opportunity to showcase what our class has accomplished through the Devine Snack Shack. 

Baby Chicks

We have received our Confirmation date from the parish. Our confirmation date for Mr. Spindler' class and Mrs Bontes' class is June 1 at 7:00 at St Patrick's Fallowfield. 

Yesterday we had an opportunity to visit the Baby chicks that the grade 1 students have been taking care of. Our students were able to learn about how to properly hold a chick so that they are not distressed.

We were able to visit the chicks for about 10 minutes at the end of our language block.

Book Fair Sale

A reminder to students that tomorrow is our day to buy items from the book fair. Please make sure that you have your money for the books you wish to buy.

A big thank you to all the parents who showed up to the open house today. It was great to have you in our classroom.

Upcoming events

We are looking at a very busy next two weeks in Mr. Spindler's class.

Yesterday permission forms went home regarding the Catholic Education Week Mass at St Patrick's parish on Monday May 2. Permission is required to bus students to and from the church. Please have your child return the form by Friday April 29.

We will also be hosting an Open House at the school on Tuesday May 3 from 9:00 to 10:30. Parents are invited into the classroom to take part in the lesson for the first block and see the amazing things we do in the classroom. Please let me know if you are able to attend so that I can make sure there are enough materials for everyone.

Next week is the St. Anne Scholastic Book Fair. Students will be able to preview books to buy this Friday and be able to purchase books next week on May 4. Please make sure that your child brings their money on that day as the book fair is quite popular and there will be little time outside of our scheduled class visit to buy any books.

In Math this week we will explore creating triangles, rectangles, and parallelograms with the same area using geoboards and elastics. We also discovered the need for a standard order of operations when dealing with questions with more than one operation such as 14x17-12/6+3. We will continue to consolidate our Math learning this week and next week.

In Language we will complete our poetry unit. The students have a goal to create at least 3 poems and pick their best one to revise and display. We also completed an EQAO reading called "The Discombobulator" which helped us read and analyze poetry.

We will be holding our Jump rope for Heart fundraiser this Thursday afternoon. Thank you to all who have donated to this worthy cause. The school is very close to reaching our goal of $11000. It is not too late to sign up.

Our class also brought in over 700 batteries during Earth Week and won the prize for bringing in the most batteries. The school will still accept used batteries to be recycled until the end of the month.

Lastly, the Devine Snack Shack raised over $1400 to help Ms. Devine as she receives treatment for cancer. What an excellent way to show Ms. Devine our support and build community!

Poetic forms

This week we have received a lot of forms to fill out and return. I would like to thank parents for their patience and understanding. The confirmation form is due by April 29. The grade 6 year end information form is due as soon as possible. If you have not yet done so please submit the earth week parade permission for and cleaning up the capital. for these form it would be great if we could have some parent volunteers help for these events. 

Next week is earth week. There are many activities that will be taking place at school and in the classroom. Students can participate in daily trivia questions to win a prize. We will also be participating in a garbage can challenge where the garbage cans will be replaced with a small paper bag. Students are encouraged to not bring in packaged foods. If they do bring in packaged foods they are encouraged to bring any non recyclable waste home to minimize our use of the garbage can. This activity is to increase awareness about the amount of waste that we generate. 

We will be participating in a crayolacylce challenge where students are encouraged to bring in any used markers from home to be recycled and reused by Crayola. The used markers can be from any brand. 

We are also participating in a battery recycling drive. Batteries contain toxic materials that should be properly disposed of. Any batteries can also be brought to school to be properly recycled. 

There will be a prize for the class that brings in the most used batteries and markers. I think that Mr. Spindler' class will rise to the challenge. 

Also a reminder that students will be attending the transition day on April 22. 

Next week we will be looking at measurement relationships in math and poetry in language. Students will begin to compose their own poetry by the end of the week. 

Have a great weekend. 

Grade 6 news and events

This week we will be holding our final Devine Snack Shack event. We will be holding our bake sale Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

We are writing a fable in Language to help further our learning in our synthesizing unit. Students learn to synthesize by first explaining the main message of a story like the moral in a fable.

In Math we are identifying geometric patterns through using a graphical organizer called input output machine which can help organize the different steps in a mathematical pattern.

There has also been some letters regarding various grade 6 events. The first letter is from St Patrick's Fallowfield regarding Confirmation. The confirmation dates have been set for June 1st and 2nd. Parents are asked to complete the confirmation form and return it to the school by April 29. Parents will need to locate a copy of their child's baptismal certificate if their child will be confirmed at St Patrick's Fallowfield this year and attach it to the confirmation form. We will be discussing choosing a sponsor for this week's Religion class.

An information letter also went out regarding the transition day at Holy Trinity on April 22. Please contact me if you have any questions about that day. There is also a parent information night at Holy Trinity this Thursday April 7 at 7:00 at Holy Trinity. More information can be found at the Holy Trinity website. 

Easter break

It seems like we just had a break and now we will have another short break for Easter. Next week we will be preparing for our second Devine Snack Shack sale, called Batter Up which will take place the week of April 4-8. The date will be confirmed next week. We are hoping to once again have many students participating in baking our various treats.

In language we will begin our unit on synthesizing by putting together what we have learned and creating something new. We will be looking at how to create our own legend or myth as part of this unit.

In Math we will have a measurement quiz on April 1(no it's not an April fool's joke) and will review our measurement concepts such as area of a parallelogram and triangle, volume of triangular prisms and surface area of rectangular and triangular prism. We will also explore some concepts in probability that have not been previously covered.

Have a blessed and happy Easter and take some time to pray and spend time as a family.

FSL sheets

If parents have not already done so, could they please return their child's FSL sheets that were handed out with the report cards back in February by tomorrow. The school that they will be entering next year needs to know this information as soon as possible. Students have a choice of either choosing French immersion or extended French. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Batter up recipes have been shared.

For those who were thinking of baking or asking for donations during the march break, the recipes will give us some idea of what kinds of items to get. The Battr up recipes have been shared in the student's language folder.

Once again have a safe and restful March Break.

Happy March Break

This week we explored volume as well as surface area of rectangular and triangular prisms. We discussed how when we cut a 3 dimensional object in half the volume is halved but the surface area is actually increased. This means that we can't use a formula similar to that for the area of a triangle  A=bxh/2 or the volume of a triangle V=bxhxd/2 to find the surface area of a triangular prism.

We are also progressing with our next step of the Devine Snack Shack called Batter up where we will have a larger variety of baked goods for sale. We are still finalizing a date for that sale but it will be either the last week of March or the first week of April. Later in April we will hold our Smoothie Blast sale.

We are hoping that some of the students in the class can bake some of the baked goods to be ready for the Batter Up sale. Students are to purchase their supplies at Bulk Barn on Fernbank Drive(the same complex as the Walmart) since they will be able to measure out exactly the amount of ingredients that they need. Students are to submit receipts to the student led financial accounting Department of the Devine Snack Shack and will be reimbursed.

We are also hoping that some students will be able to do some baking over the break to be able to meet the demand for our amazing product. Cookies that are baked can be frozen and the brought to school on our baking day.

After the break we will begin to focus a little more or preparing students for EQAO. We will be doing quizzes from multiple strands which will cover both current and previous learning. We will also begin practicing more written responses to reading selections, as well as review different types of writing. We will also look at concepts that did not fit into previous units in Math to further student understanding of all strands of the curriculum. Students will continue to deepen their understanding in the strands of Mathematics.

Have a safe and restful March Break.

Spirit Week and Devine Snack Shack recap

The Devine Snack Shack has completed our first sale. We sold cookies on 2 separate Days. Our total profit was $694.25. This would not have been possible without the help of our students and their parents who went to various stores such as Laura's Independent and Bulk Barn to collect donations. A big thank you to Bulk Barn on Fernbank Road that donated $120 worth of ingredients and bags to put the cookies in. Ms. Devine is very grateful for the effort that all the students put in to this project and is inspired by their support. She hopes to beat cancer to be able to return to teaching and inspire others.

The next goal for the snack shack is to prepare for the Batter up sale of baked goods including cookies, cupcakes, and truffles. We will be planning out the sale next week and will be baking soon.

Next week at St. Anne is Spirit Week. Students are encouraged to wear their spirit wear according to the schedule below. There is a suggested donation of one or two dollars a day to raise funds for First Nations education and to provide clean water to places in Africa.

Monday School Spirit (Blue and White)
Tuesday Jersey Day (wear your favorite sports jersey)
Wednesday Wacky Wednesday
Thursday Clone/Twin Day
Friday PJ Day

In math next week we will continue our 2D measurement which will include area of polygons and potentially explore 3D measurement which will include volume and surface area of polyhedrons such as triangular and rectangular prisms.

In Language we will take a look at some EQAO reading and writing tasks to review our language curriculum covered so far such as analyzing for meaning, sequencing, and writing a series of paragraphs with main ideas and supporting detail.

Grad photos proofs were also sent home today. If parents wish to order they are due March 10. Unfortunately there is no opportunity for retakes.

Also a reminder that grade 6 t-shirt payments are due March 9.


Have a great weekend!

Devine Snack Shack Sale postponed.

Due to the inclement weather and the busses being cancelled for today February 29, the K-3 snack shack sale will be postponed to Thursday March 3. The grade 4-6 sale will still take place Wednesday March 2.

If there are any students who baked cookies over the weekend and are attending school they can bring them in to the school today. We will attempt to bag them if the student with the decorative bags attends. If not we will bag what we have on Tuesday.

If there are any questions email me at benjamin.spindler@ocsb.ca

First Devine Snack Shack Sale on Monday

The Devine Snack Shack will be hosting their first sale on Monday February 29. Students in Mr. Spindler's class are asked to wear green if possible, even if it as an accessory. The service managers are asked to wear their white collared shirt.

For those who are baking the inks to the recipe are found below.

Sugar cookie(don't forget to decorate it)
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sugar-cookies-0

Shortbread cookie(leave out the rosemary)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/84205/rosemary-shortbread-cookies/?internalSource=rotd&referringId=362&referringContentType=recipe%20h

Chocolate chip cookie
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/10813/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/

If there are any questions please use my email address benjamin.spindler@gmail.com. Happy baking!