October 29 - November 2

-






This week in grade 3…

Students worked on two specific reading strategies. They focused on making connections; while students read, they were looking to make “text to self” and “text to text” connections. The students used sentence starters, such as “This book reminds me of….” to help them generate connections and when recording their ideas in their journals. After reading the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, students made connections between this book and another story we have read in class. One student explained that he thought the two books were similar because the message in both stories is that we don’t have to be perfect. As your child reads a book this weekend, ask him/her to make a “text to self” or “text to text” connection.

To celebrate Halloween this week, students continued to practice their writing skills, including descriptive language, by writing a story from a picture prompt of their choice. The students included descriptive words in their stories, such as “spooky, dark, stormy, creeeeak,” and “delicious.” For their story writing, students helped create criteria so they were sure of what their stories needed to include. Some of the criteria were “a plan, beginning/middle/end, descriptive words, a variety of sentence lengths,” and “punctuation and capital letters.” Ask your child to share what he/she thinks he/she did well and also one thing he/she thinks he/she could improve on based on the criteria.

In math, students continued to improve their number sense by working with numbers to 1000. Students created a variety of three-digit numbers and compared them. To compare numbers, students needed to prove which number was the greatest by using place value vocabulary, such as “hundreds, tens, and ones” (e.g. “I know 592 is greater than 567 because 592 has more tens than 567). Students also proved their response by representing their number in words, pictures, or expanded form. Students also ordered numbers with partners and plotted numbers on a number line. Ask your child to compare two three-digit numbers and to explain which one is greater and why. 

For the start of our inquiry task, students examined pictures of children around the world collecting water, playing on swings, and crossing bridges to go to school. The students carefully looked at the pictures and discussed what they noticed, what they inferred, and what made them think “whoa!” Ask your child what he/she noticed about one of the pictures. After examining these pictures, students brainstormed and created lists of what they need in their lives. Then we discussed the difference between wants and needs. After this discussion, students looked at their initial list and divided their ideas into wants and needs. Finally, as a class, students created a web of what they all think we need in our lives. Students then looked at the ideas and identified similarities. Students determined that health, safety, education, shelter, and people impact our quality of life. Ask your child to explain one thing/person that impacts his/her quality of life and why.

Students completed the Marshmallow Challenge! In groups of three, students were given 20 pieces of spaghetti, a meter of tape, a meter of string, one pair of scissors, and a marshmallow. The goal was to build the tallest free standing structure that the marshmallow could be on top of in 18 minutes. After completing this challenge, students determined that the purpose of this task was to persevere, learn from mistakes and try different strategies, as well as work as a team. The next day, students completed the challenge again. Ask your child how their structure compared from the first attempt to the second attempt. 

With their grade two buddies, students completed a STEM Challenge! The students designed and built a maze that a HexBug could get through. The materials the students used were cardboard, straws, scissors, and tape. Ask your child to tell you about this challenge.

In P.E. students played a variety of parachute games. Ask your child which game was his/her favourite!

Thank You

Thank you again to all the volunteers who were able to support us on our swimming field trips last week. Also, thank you to the parents who were able to come watch.

Upcoming Dates

November 9 - Remembrance Day Assembly (10:45 am)
November 9 - Scholastic Orders Due
November 12 - Picture Retakes
November 13 - School Council Meeting (7:00 pm)
November 15 - Fun Snack (Kernels)
November 22 - Parent Conferences (3:30 - 7:00 pm)
November 23 - Non Instruction Day
November 23 - Parent Conferences (8:00 am - 12:00 pm)
November 29 - Fun Lunch (Papa John’s)
November 29/30 - Parent Association Casino

Popular posts from this blog

September 10th -14th

-
Image
Students are settling into their routines and continuing to make connections. Throughout our first full week, they engaged in a variety of tasks! This week, the students: -continued exploring various spaces in the classroom to focus on the different areas where they learn best. -used criteria to reflect on their writing and spent time revising their work. -went on a ‘Listening Walk’ through the Learning Grounds. There, they focussed on their sense of hearing and created a Sound Map where they recorded the sounds they heard. -began to incorporate descriptive vocabulary such as sound words (boom, swish, pop, snap, buzz, etc.) into their writing about their favourite place. -completed a ‘Show What You Know’ on a range of Math topics. This will help guide us on where to go next. -were provided an opportunity to share what they already know about Hearing and Sound. Then they focussed on uncovering what sound is through and various experiments. Af...
Read more

June 17th - June 21st

-
Image
In grade three this week (from the students' perspectives): "This week we did SOGO. Each class in the school got to go. In Ms. De Luca's class we did a scavenger hunt and we had beepers on our finger and every time we go to the flags we won't put the beeper inside and mark it and then we went to another flag. Then Ms. Bonanno did the other one and we switched to the next day." AM "For SOGO on the first day Ms. Bonanno's class did a scavenger hunt for symbols and each symbol had a different meaning." SS "In Sports day we had freezies and it was raining outside. We also got to play in the gym and outside. It was themed Superheroes. "LR "It was Sports day and there was a lot of different obstacle courses to do and the Grade 4s made it." WC "This week we started making stories about the animals we were researching." IB "We did a slideshow on an animal we are researching a...
Read more

September 16-20

-
Image
This week, the students: - looked at mentor texts to see how authors use their sense of hearing to add description to writing. Then the students revised their  "Favourite Place" writing by adding descriptive sound words. Some student examples are "Ka-Pow!", "Bam!", "Whoosh", and "Creeeeak". -also focused on their sense of sight as a way to increase their descriptive language. As a way to build their vocabulary, students went to  the Learning Grounds to seek out a "gem" or a natural material that they later had to describe during a gallery walk. Some words used were "jagged", "sharp", "smooth", "grainy", and "spotted".  - tried a new routine called I Notice...and I Wonder... in Math. They examined a short video clip using their Math lens and discussed what they noticed and wondered. This provided them with an opportunity to see Math as open and approachable. It will al...
Read more