December Update

Hello Families!

We have been busy in our classroom completing writing tasks, math problems and projects and we are now getting ready for a well deserved break!  The next week is busy.  

Monday, December 18 - Grade 3 Field trip to see Star

Thursday, December 19 -  Pyjama Day, Stuffies and Movie
                                         
Friday, December 20 - 9:30-10:30 Primary Christmas Concert

Van Gogh's Starry Night

We have learned about elements of design in art over the past few months.  Students have been focused and hard at work producing their own interpretation of Van Gogh's Starry Night.  

Steve Irwin Day

Mr. Winship (year 1 student teacher) introduced the grade threes to  Australian zookeeper, conservationist and television personality Steve Irwin on November 15.  Students were fascinated to learn about 'The Crocodile Hunters' love of caring for and protecting animals.  

Classroom Update

Good Morning!  It was nice to meet and see so many parents at interviews last week.  I also had the opportunity to catch up with some parents over the phone.  We will continue to work together and communicate to support your children in their learning.  What learning is  currently happening in our grade 3 classroom?

Math

We are wrapping up Patterning and Algebra this week and moving on to Measurement (beginning with time).  We have explored describing, extending and creating a variety of numeric and geometric patterns.  In Algebra, we are working towards demonstrating an understanding of equality between pairs of expressions using addition and subtraction.  To support your child at home, continue to assist them with their homework and have them explain their problem solving strategies to you. (16 + 8 = 11 + ?)

Language

We have finished descriptive writing and we are now letter writing.  Together we developed an anchor chart to assist us with understanding the letter writing format.  Our task this week is to write a letter to someone who found our missing backpack.  In that letter we want to thank them for finding it as well as explain why it is so important.  

In reading, we continue to enjoy our read aloud, Fenway and Hattie and the activities that accompany it.  We have explored inferencing and using our schema to understand the text and make predictions.  We continue to develop success criteria for EQAO reading responses
and we are using the written feedback provided by our teacher to improve our responses.  

Science

We are about to wrap up our Soil unit and move on to Forces.  Before we do that, students are busy researching an animal that lives in the soil around us.  In the next few weeks, students will use this research to design a poster that will be presented to the class.  All research and work must be completed in the classroom.  Students are asked to bring in a sheet of bristol board to complete the task.  

Religion

We are tying in our learning skills and WITS with our gospel values this fall.  We have discussed respect and the importance of treating others the way that we expect to be treated.  We continue to build on these ideas as well as discuss the character traits of Jesus.

Gym

The focus for this term has been cooperative games.  We share our gym time with Mrs. Zulpo/Juneau's class and students have worked on demonstrating collaboration, leadership and sportsmanship in our games.  

Dance

We are working on a Christmas dance for our show in December.  We look forward to having parents come and see our grade three friends perform!

Art

We have explored the elements of design and we are putting these to the test in recreating Van Gogh's Starry Night.  Students are currently working on their final draft.  We have some budding young artists in our class!

Fenway and Hattie

Many of our grade three classes are part of the global read aloud this fall.  We are reading a terrific book about a girl named Hattie and her dog, Fenway.  The hilarious story is told from the dog's perspective and our class has been thoroughly enjoying it!  In keeping with the dog theme, Lawson brought his dog Beans in for a class visit on Friday.  Beans was very well behaved and he even performed a few tricks for some treats! Students are more than welcome to bring in a pet for a visit as long as it is set up in advance.  If that is too complicated, your child can put together a quick slide show or bring in some pictures to share with their classmates.

Happy Halloween

Have a fun and safe night trick or treating!  We discussed different ways that we can think mathematically tonight.  Ask your children:

- how many houses they visited
- how many blocks they covered
- how many treats they received
- how they can sort their candy
- how they can compare one candy to another

Looking forward to students sharing their Halloween math tomorrow!

Spirit Week!

 October 30-November 3 is Spirit Week.  

Monday - Sports Day

Tuesday - Orange and Black Day (Costumes for Kindergarten)

Wednesday - PJ Day

Thursday - Crazy Hat or Hair Day

Friday - Favourite Book or Movie Character Day

Scientists at work in the soil! We had a great morning of hands on learning.

Picture Day - October 20

Good Evening!  Just a reminder that Picture Day for our class is this Friday, October 20, 2017. 

Scientists in School

We have our Scientists in School workshop on Wednesday morning where we have another opportunity to explore soil.  Details and photos of our workshop will be posted later this week.  

Thursday, October 12 - Baxter Conservation

We enjoyed a terrific day of outdoor learning at Baxter Conservation.  We became experts on various tree species and we travelled back in time exploring soil.  

Yellow Portfolio Folders

Good Evening!

I sent students home with folders filled with work that has been completed in Math and Language.  Please have your child share it with you and send back to school tomorrow or Wednesday.  Should you have any questions about their work, the feedback given or their progress, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

With regards to the Ryan's Well reading activity, students completed the answers to the comprehension questions and then we worked together to improve our responses.  The answers that we came up with as a class are below.  We also looked at the EQAO exemplars and students were asked to compare their own answers and then self assess.  Hopefully, this process will allow for improvements with our next reading comprehension task which will be at the end of the week.

Ryan's Well - EQAO Reading Comprehension Activity

Answer #1
Wells are helpful to communities because if you don't have clean water to drink you can get sick.  In some countries, there are no indoor sinks and people have to walk for hours just to get clean water. 

Answer #2
Ryan is making a difference in the world by raising money for building wells so that people who don't have clean water can get clean water.  He also changes the world by going to two dozen countries to tell people about clean water. 

Math Resources

If you are looking for some math resources for at home practice, click on the first link.  The second link is a parent guide to helping your child with mathematics.  

1. Mathies Home - http://oame.on.ca/mathies/ 
2. Doing Mathematics with Your Child Kindergarten to Grade 6 A Parent Guide.pdf 

Math Talk at Home

Consider the following for building on math skills at home:

1. Math Card and Dice Games ( list and explanation of games to play)

2. Grocery Shopping - Estimation and counting of what the final grocery bill would be.

3. Cooking and Baking - fraction talk and measurement

4. Helping with a budget for a night out or a weekend away.  Adding up hotel costs, camping costs, movie costs with food. Does the total match a set budget that was set?

5.  Cutting the lawn - measurement of bags raked or filled.

6.  Party planning - calculating how much food is needed ex. sandwiches, hotdogs, etc. 

7.  Pizza night and leftovers.  How many fraction pieces to share? What if there were leftovers? How would you divide equally?

8.  Think about books/stories/poems/nursery rhymes that they have read or will read with math.  ex. 3 Blind Mice

9.  How long will it take to drive a certain distance in the car for vacation at 100 km per hour?

10.  Spot the shape in the house or out for a walk.  ex. rectangular windows and doors

Math Links

Students were assigned homework on Thursday. Hopefully, all students were able to access the slide deck through google.  There are two links below that you might be interested in checking out.

• Parent Engagement: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_parentEngage.pdf
• EduGains – Home Support: http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/math/homesupport.html