September 14-18

 What We Got Up To-Week 3

Math

Students are becoming more confident reading an analogue clock.

• relating fractions such as halves and quarters to how we read the clock
• using our skip counting by 5s to read time to 5 minute intervals
• talking about different ways to say the time (e.g. quarter past/after..., quarter to..., half past...)

Students spent time both using hands-on manipulatives (clocks) and drawing the hands on clocks to show their understanding.

Most students also completed their provincial numeracy assessment.

ELAL

We continued to explore ways to make our writing more descriptive with adjectives.

• practiced using adjectives to capture emotions from a book we read about Residential Schools (Stolen Words) and created a poem about the emotions they felt
• practiced the work on writing and reading response routines for our daily literacy centers
• continued to work with me on literacy preassessments (reading and word decoding)

Social Studies

This week was a Science week Science and Social Studies will alternate more consistently as we get further into the year, but we did take some time this week to finish building our Land Acknowledgement and complete some art for our Orange Shirt Day Assembly on September 29 at 9:30 AM.

Science

Students impressed me when we talked about what they already know about Earth Sciences and the ground beneath our feet. They had so many great wonders and I look forward to exploring many of them in this unit.

• started our Earth Systems unit by learning about the layers of the Earth and completed a mini model in our visual journal
• read Earth: “My First 4.54 Billion years” and “The Street Beneath Our Feet” as a way to introduce some of the ideas we will be talking about in Our Earth Systems unit
• went outside and journaled about the land our school is on and discovered how much we can notice and learn from sitting still and watching closely

Art

This week, we celebrated Dot Day and talked about the importance of trying new things, taking risks in our learning and talking positively about ourselves. We created mixed media dots using watercolours and oil pastels to represent our learning and these will be displayed in the school as part of a whole school art project.

We also did a Terry Fox art project with our Grade 1 Buddies. Students were so excited to hang out with their little buddies again.

Wellness

We discussed the importance of following routines in class such as raising our hands and taking turns speaking to ensure that everyone can be heard and understood. We also discussed appropriate ways to get the teacher’s attention in different situations. In PE, students talked about trying like Terry and celebrated that their perseverance in running helps them to reach their goals.

Looking Ahead

Next week

• Math-finishing up time, talking about 12 and 24 hour time and the invention of clocks (student wondering)
• ELAL: talking about the writing process, what good writers do and starting to investigate biographies, starting with reading some Terry Fox biographies
• Social Studies: We will be looking more at the diversity of land (regions) and landforms we find in Alberta (landforms will also give us a connection to our science to keep students excited about our Earth Sciences unit)
• Wellness: Continuing to reflect on how perseverance and the willingness to “Try like Terry” helps us learn and grow our skills

We will be outside on Wednesday, participating in the Terry Fox Run, and on Thursday for our community walk in PE. Please help your child to dress appropriately for the weather (preferably dressed in layers so they can adjust as the day warms. There is a big difference right now between our morning temperature and our temperature later in the day.

Reminder: The Open House is Thursday evening next week. The Open House is from 5:00-6:30 PM and is an informal drop-in opportunity to see your child's school and classroom and meet the staff. I look forward to seeing you there. 

The Grade 3 classes will be leading the Orange Shirt Day Assembly on Tuesday, September 29 at 9:30 AM. Families are welcome to join us for the assembly. Students who volunteered to speak will be bringing home their speaking parts to practice next week.