Tuesday 7 April 2015

Welcome Spring!

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend with their family and friends! I'm also hoping we will soon begin to see more signs of spring!

Congratulations to Piper who has completed Reading Across Canada! Congratulations also to Tai and Jocelyn, our March recognition award winners! Well done!

In Math, we have finished up our Geometry unit and are beginning our next unit in Number Sense. This unit will focus on representing, comparing and ordering numbers to 1000, addition and subtraction of 3-digit numbers, and multiplication and division facts to 7x7 in problem solving situations. We will begin with understanding the concept of multiplication as repeated addition or "____ groups of ____." We will first focus on the 2, 3, 5, and 10 times tables as most students can skip count by these numbers. At home, students should practice counting by 4, 6, and 7 and begin to memorize these times tables. Later we will investigate how multiplication and division are related.

In Writing, students have written a descriptive dream house paragraph. I'm excited to read about all of their creative ideas! We will continue to write paragraphs regularly, and will also work on persuasive writing. Students will be writing a letter to Mrs. Dillon attempting to persuade her to purchase either new gym or new yard equipment.

In the last few months of grade 3, our focus in reading switches from "learning to read" to "reading to learn". This means that the focus is on comprehension and written responses to texts. Students will be given a checklist to ensure they Answer, Prove and Extend their answers.....Go APE! They are encouraged to answer the questions using their own ideas, find proof in the text to support their answer, and relate to the text by making connections. Their reading mark for this term will reflect not only their ability to read grade level texts, but also their ability to clearly formulate these written responses.

Happy Spring!

Mrs. Hale