Friday 30 January 2015

February News!

Congratulations to Ellie and Jackson for always being Optimistic! They received the recognition awards for the month of January. These students always come to school with a smile, try to find the positives in a situation, and rarely complain! Well done!

Congratulations also to Leah for completing "Reading Across Canada"! She read at home for a total of 2600 minutes since October, and has begun the program for a second time! Great job!

In Math, we've been working on Measurement. Last week, students were measuring classroom items in centimetres and metres, as well as choosing the most appropriate unit of measure (cm, m, or km) for an object or distance. We also worked on converting units (m to cm), so that we could order measurements from shortest to longest, and solve problems. Our quiz went home on Thursday to be signed and returned. This week we are measuring perimeter and area in problem solving situations. As our measurement unit continues, we will learn time and temperature as well.

In Language, we are focusing on reading comprehension strategies, and procedure writing. In Media Literacy, students have been analyzing the persuasive features of products and designing their own cereal box.

In music, we will be singing some of the Beauty and the Beast songs in order to become familiar with the musical prior to seeing the performance at the Gayety Theatre on February 9th.

Students will have an opportunity to exchange Valentine cards on Friday, February 13th. I will send home a class list shortly to help with this. If you would like to send in a snack for sharing for our party, please do! It is also red, white and pink day!

As part of our physical education program, the grade 3's will be going cross-country skiing and snowshoeing at Highlands Nordic on February 27th. This is always a wonderful day of fun and fresh air! The permission slip will be sent home shortly.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support!

Mrs. Hale

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Painting Bowls for Beds

Here are some pictures of our class painting the bowls that will be auctioned off in order to raise money to buy beds for members of our community! The students had a wonderful time painting, and felt proud that their efforts were going towards a great cause! Well done class!






Wednesday 7 January 2015

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back! I hope everyone enjoyed a  wonderful holiday with much needed rest and relaxation!

Mrs. Ridsdale is replacing Mrs. Wallace who is now on maternity leave, so she will be teaching gym, health and science to our class.

Congratulations to Ava Rolling who received a character award in December for always being caring towards others! Well done to Leah and Tehya who have read through many provinces in our "Reading Across Canada" home reading program!

The following outlines some of our curriculum for January and February:

In Literacy, we are continuing to work on making inferences while reading a variety of texts. Students have been reading poems which require them to infer what object is "speaking" in the poem, and then explain their thinking in a written response using clues/evidence from the text. For example, in the poem entitled "Fear of Frying", students had to infer that a potato was speaking based on clues such as "I was born dirt poor in the richest soil", and "my life took a turn for the worst when I first saw those golden arches". Students will also have an opportunity to create their own poem that the other students will have to use their inferring skills to determine what object is speaking.

We will begin procedure writing using language such as first, second, next, then, finally.

In oral language, we will be working on some impromptu speaking on a variety of topics.

In math, our number sense unit continues with a focus on addition and subtraction with regrouping, as well as problem solving. All students should practice quick recall of addition facts to 18. We will be learning some different strategies for adding and subtracting, including estimating by rounding numbers and checking if our answer is reasonable. Students should also practice counting forward by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's, and 100's to 1000, from various starting points, and backwards by 2's, 5's, and 10's from 100. For extra at-home practice, please visit the Nelson Math website at www.mathK8.nelson.com and click on "student centre". The "Try it Out" option for Chapter 4: Addition and Subtraction, has questions that relate directly to our unit. Our Measurement unit will follow.

In Social Studies we continue to learn about Ontario. We will have a quiz in the next couple of weeks so duotangs will come home shortly for studying.

I wish everyone all the best in 2015!!

Mrs. Hale