October 26, 2025

 

It is amazing we are already at the end of October! Time is going so fast! Fingers crossed we will have a dry Halloween night on Friday evening for the children.

Our We Scare Hunger Campaign has been another great success so far! Thank you for all your support. You have been wonderfully generous. The children are super excited to participate. It ends this week! It has helped us with our math skills. We counted and added up our total each day. Lots of great math! We are collecting until the end of the week. The money raised from the Pumpkin Raffle will also be given to the Barrhaven Food Bank with all the food we have collected.  

Tuesday, October 28 - Toonie Tuesday for CEFO and Wear Blue for the BlueJays Day!

We will be starting our campaign for CEFO this week. If you can, please send in a loonie or Toonie for our Catholic EducationFoundation of Ottawa. This Foundation directly helps the board alleviate the effects of poverty on students in the Ottawa Catholic School Board. We help families right in our own St. Cecilia community too. Go Jays Go!

Pumpkin Raffle - Wednesday

We began decorating our class pumpkin this week. The children will get a chance to try to win a pumpkin on Wednesday. Good luck to all of them!

 St. Cecilia Halloween Dance

The St. Cecilia Halloween Dance-a-thon is back! On Friday, October 31st, our children will be dancing in the school gymnasium between 9:30-10:00. Children can wear costumes but please do not send in masks or props. If you are able to join us, please bring your dancing shoes! This is a major fundraiser for our School Council. Please use School Cash Online to submit the pledges raised by their children. Simply find the item in your School Cash Online profile, choose Dance-a-thon (variable amount), enter the amount of your pledge, click ‘add to cart’ and check out as usual. This is all being run by our Parent council, a note went home Via email with more details! Thank you School Council! 

Dressing for Fall Weather!       
Unfortunately, the weather is changing and getting cooler. Mornings are much cooler than the afternoon. Layering is best! We check the weather most days before recess. Please remember to label all your child’s clothing. Some friends need extra practice at home to keep their things organized :) Help your child become more independent at school by giving them time to learn at home.

Headphones 

The child had a chance to log into the Chromebooks last week. It was very slow but they were all super excited. We will continue to practice this skill. Soon they will learn about some new educational apps and websites. It is very helpful if you can send in a set  of headphones for your child. The ones that sit on top of their heads seem to work best at school with the laptops. If possible, do send the ear-bud style. In my experience, they are too difficult for children to use. They will be only used by your child. 

Language

Thank you for all your support at home with the consonant sounds! The children know them well! We practice them at school everyday as well. We have only focussed on the short /a/ and /o/ vowel sounds so far. Continue to practice the short a and the short o at home. The children have also been working on recognizing their weekly words. Thanks for practicing these words with them at home. 

Math

We continue to work on our number sense. Students are learning to order numbers and compare numbers to 10. 

We will begin to work on patterning.  They will learn how to locate the pattern core. I will challenge the children by making different sequences, for example, AB, ABB, ABCD, or AABB patterns. I will have the children make patterns and they have to follow specific criteria. For example, make 2 different patterns that have red in the third spot of your pattern. Here are some examples:

                  💙💙❤💙💙❤💙💙❤💙💙❤💙💙❤💙💙❤

                  💜💛❤💙💜💛❤💙💜💛❤💙💜💛❤💙

Book Exchange

Our class will be having a book exchange every Tuesday morning in the Learning Commons. These books are not at your child’s reading level. They will be perfect story books for you to read to your child. He/she has chosen this book on his/her own. Please remind your child to return his/her book by Tuesday the following week. Thanks for your support. 

As always, please write me a note if you have any questions or concerns. I am truly enjoying them all. I see growth in each of them. I hope you see it at home as well. I'm looking forward to another great week of fun and learning!

Sincerely,

Giovanna Smith