May Calendar

The May Calendar is available for viewing and downloading.  Have a great weekend!

CRAZY HAIR DAY

Some pretty crazy hairdos walked through the door this morning. Check it out...

Me To We

The Parnall Me to We Club at is collecting donations for the Hamilton, Ontario Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald House Organization makes comfortable living accommodations available without cost to families of children who are being hospitalized for a variety of health concerns. Students are being asked to bring in spare change to donate to this worthwhile organization. Throughout next week (May 2-6), representatives from the Parnall Me to We Club will be visiting each classroom every morning to collect money which will then be sent to the Ronald McDonald House Organization. If you are able to make a donation of any amount, we would be very grateful. Thank you.

Tomorrow is CRAZY HAIR DAY

Come to school tomorrow (Friday, April 29th) sporting your craziest hairdo. All students participating in this Parnall School Spirit Day will earn points for their Colour House Team.

Pattern Block Insects

Our latest scientific inquiry on INSECTS led us to extend a challenge to the students in K-1 on Tuesday. Children were first asked to pair up with a partner of their choice and explore the blocks in front of them. They were then asked to create a 'pattern block insect' using hexagons, trapezoids, squares, rhombuses, parallelograms and triangles. For students needing a bit of inspiration, a big book titled Fascinating Insects was set out at the carpet. If children wished, they could flip through the book and look at all of the exotic insect shapes and colours. Here is what our amazing entomologists came up with...

Wednesday, April 27th is 

PASTA DAY

Apparently there has been a bit of an issue with some families NOT receiving a PASTA DAY order form this month. We are truly sorry if you've encountered this problem this month. Please DO NOT WORRY!. Pasta Day will run tomorrow as scheduled. If you've not sent your order form as of yet to the school, check your child's Zippy Bag tonight. There should be a new form in every student's Zippy Bag who has not yet sent in a paid pasta order. Simply fill out the form, enclose $3.00 and send it back in to school tomorrow morning. We will make sure that your child is well fed. 

Again, we are unsure what the glitch was this month and we do apologize for any confusion which this may have caused you.

**Just a REMINDER that Pasta Day orders CANNOT be paid for with CASH ON-LINE.

Writing in K-1

As confidence increases and vocabularies grow, kindergarten writers are emerging all over the classroom. Children use their writing skills to make lists, label pictures, write books and explain their thinking while relying upon a variety of strategies which are encouraged by Mr. Pickett and Mrs. Jones. Accessing POWER WORDS, sounding out challenging words and using inventive spelling are just a few of the ways that young writers communicate their messages.

Math Night

Many thanks to the parents who joined us last Thursday Night for our school-wide Math Night. Here are a few of the many ways we incorporate MATH into our day.

Tomatosphere Seed Planting

This morning we planted some very special 'Tomatosphere Seeds.' Ask your child to tell you about them. You will be amazed!

Earth Day Fun

Last Friday, April 22, our students took part in a wide range of Earth Day activities. Here is just a sampling of some of the things that we did.

Celebrate Education/Literacy Week, 

May 2-6, 2016

Parnall Piblic School

We are celebrating LITERACY at Parnall School from May 2nd-6th. Throughout that week, we will be engaging in various activities to promote the love of reading and writing.

On Tuesday, May 3rd, each class will write 2-3 sentences for a school story. Chart paper will be passed around, beginning with the Kindergarten classes and finishing up with the Grade 8's. Creativity and humour are strongly encouraged. Mr. Scott will read the completed story during morning announcements the following week.

On Wednesday, May 4th, students will participate in a BOOK SWAP. Each child is encouraged to bring books from home that they have already read and are wanting to swap for new ones.

On Thursday, May 5th, students will team up and spend one period reading with Reading Buddies in a higher grade.

Friday, May 6th, is DRESS LIKE A BOOK CHARACTER DAY. Students are encouraged to come to school dressed as a character from a children's book. Those students who participate will receive points for their COLOUR HOUSE Team.

We hope that you will encourage your child to attend and participate in these fun, literacy promoting activities.

Another Busy Week

As April soon draws to a close, take a peek at some of the fun things we've been doing.

Family portraits continue to bring colour and comfort to our walls. Students worked with both crayons and water colour paints to create their masterpieces.

This student is writing a story. Volcanoes erupt.

Choral Reading

Each student has had an opportunity to select and plant some vegetable seeds. Many of the seeds have already sprouted.

Spring activities bring colour, joy and a renewed sense of life into our learning.

'Sweet Candy Rainbow Store' continues to be a popular hangout for our learners with an insatiable sweet tooth.

We've Been Busy

Check out some of the things we've been up to.

Our Candy Store is OPEN and ready for business!

Our family portraits look STUNNING!

Going on a SPRING SCAVENGER WORD HUNT is 

a lot of fun!

A more recent interest is BUGS, BUGS and more BUGS!

Math is EVERYWHERE!!!

REMINDER

Parnall School Math Night is tomorrow evening from 6:00-8:00 PM. We hope you will make plans to attend!

ME to WE Collecting 

Plastic Shopping Bags

This is EARTH WEEK and in an effort to help out our planet and possibly win $3000.00 for our school for the purpose of beautifying the landscape, our Parnall ME to WE Club (grades 4-8) is sponsoring a Plastic Shopping Bag Collection Drive. Families are encouraged to send in plastic shopping bags (e.g., grocery store bags, clothing store bags, etc...) which will be collected and recycled into more usable, environmentally friendly products. Schools across the province are competing for monetary prizes between $1000.--$3000.00 which will be used for grounds beautification and natural plays-cape construction. Please DO NOT send in used milk bags, old Ziploc bags, sandwich bags and such as they do not meet the collection criteria. The deadline for sending in bags is this Friday, April 22nd. 
Help us take care of our planet and make a difference in our community.

Math Night

Thursday, April 21

We hope that you will make plans to attend Parnall School's Math Night which is to be held on Thursday evening, April 21st from 6:00-8:00 PM. Come and see how math is integrated throughout your child's school day. There will be an information session on DreamBox, the Internet mathematics tool that helps support your child's understanding of Number Sense and Numeration. There will be an opportunity to see and play some of the games which your child plays throughout his/her day in the classroom. You will also receive ideas on how to incorporate math into your child's everyday activities at home.

We look forward to seeing you and discussing 'all things math' that evening. Please make plans to attend.

Mr. Pickett

Mrs. Jones 

Authors at Work

We're Having a Party!

In recognition of the positive response which we've had to our Cash On-Line campaign in the classroom, Mrs. Jones and I would like to congratulate and celebrate the many families who have already signed up and are now using the service. Tomorrow, April 13th, we will treat all of the children in our classroom to cheese pizza and ice cream during our lunch break. We will provide only cheese pizza as some students will not eat pepperoni. You may want to adjust your child's lunch accordingly. There is NO COST to any family for this treat. 

Thank you, again for your Cash On-Line support.

Memories of Agape Valley 

Sugar Bush

We had a great morning at Agape Valley Sugar Bush. We began our adventure in the dining area where we enjoyed eating freshly made pancakes, pure maple syrup and juice. Our hostess read the book, IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE which we all enjoyed very much. Next, we boarded a hay wagon and enjoyed a ride up to the Sugar Bush. We learned that it takes 40 buckets of maple sap to make one bucket of delicious tasting syrup. No wonder it is SO expensive! Our guide taught us that sap is collected in a very different way than it was many years ago. Lots of very sophisticated tubes route the sap from the trees back to the Sugar Shack where it is processed, bottled and packed for shipment. 

Thank you to all of the parents who were so kind as to volunteer their time and energy to join us on our trip. Everyone enjoyed themselves and learned many new things about the maple syrup making process.

April Calendar Amended

Please check the April calendar download as changes have been made to it beginning on April 18th and running up through to the end of the month. My apologies for the inconvenience.