We have a fun filled "Canada 150" Spirit Week ahead of us! We look forward to engaging in meaningful activities such as the talking circle and learning more about our history this week. Below is a quick look at what other learning we will be doing across the different subject areas. Religion: Last week students reflected about the importance of celebrating "Kindness Week." The grade three community decided to shower our administrative staff with an act of kindness on Friday morning by singing them a beautiful song called "Proud as a Mountain." The smiles on their faces and on the faces of the students exemplify just how much being kind makes a difference to all involved (the kindness givers and the kindness receivers). This week students will hear and reflect upon the Gospel from this past Sunday where Jesus tells His followers to love their enemies. They will also continue to hear more information about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Literacy: Students will begin to write procedural texts this week as we ran out of time for this last week. Last week students read a narrative text entitled "Where's Ms. Mitra?" and responded to multiple choice and short answer questions about the text. This week students will be given an opportunity to "bump up" their original answers, as many of them continue to leave out important details from the text, as well as their own ideas in the responses that they are giving. We will encourage students to think about the following questions when incorporating their own ideas into their responses ("What would I do?," "Has this ever happened to me?," "What would I say?" and "What do I know about?"). Last week our word work focus was on reviewing the homonyms from our word wall folders. This week we will focus on compound words. Math: Last week students completed an "On Your Own" check in that focused on Time Relationships. Some students still require some practice with telling time to five minute intervals. Visiting sites such as "Stop the Clock" and other sites under our Math links will help students. We are noticing that some students are not paying attention to where the hour hand is located and so they are making errors. Through warm up activities in class, students have learned that the closer the hour hand is to the next hour, the larger the minutes become. Asking your child to tell the time on an analog clock at different points in the day is an excellent way to support them in learning to tell time accurately. Later on in the week last week, students worked collaboratively to sort 2D and 3D shapes. This week students will share out their sorting rules and we will begin to explore the different attributes of 2D and 3 D shapes. Science: Last week students continued to read, record and wonder about Forces. Students gathered in small group knowledge building circles to share out the new knowledge that they had acquired, as well as to seek answers to their wonderings. On Friday, students had the opportunity to create an informative comic strip about "Forces" using "Pixton." This week, students will have an opportunity to do some more reading, recording and wondering about "Forces" and will also engage in some experiments about forces. Physical Education: Last week students began building their badminton skills and lead up to lacrosse skills using scoops and balls. This will be a continued focus this week. Here is a beautiful song about Kindness to enjoy as a family during this week of Kindness 2017. Your child has heard it many times in our classroom! Have a wonderful kindness filled week!
Welcome to another snow-filled week in February! As the glistening snow falls softly to the ground, we prepare for another week of learning on our journey through grade three. Here is what we will be up to this week! Religion: Last week as a class we explored answers to the deep question "Who is the Holy Spirit?" Students heard about who the Holy Spirit is and the gifts that we receive through the Holy Spirit. Students wrote about the gifts of the spirit that they use to show love for God and those around them. This week we will continue to hear more about the how the Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts and in our lives, as well as reflect on the message from the Gospel from this past Sunday where Jesus calls us to "Love One Another." What a wonderful Gospel message to reflect on for Valentine's week! Literacy: Last week students heard several procedural texts and as a class we created a success criteria checklist for what procedural texts "must-have." Through exploring different procedural texts students noted that procedural texts need a catchy lead, a list of materials, numbered steps, labeled diagrams and a closing. When looking a variety of procedural texts students also recognized the many non-fiction text features that are found within procedural texts (bold titles, subtitles, close up pictures and photographs, labeled diagrams). Students also read an info-fiction graphic text and responded to multiple choice and short answer questions about this text. They were reminded to be critical thinkers when determining if the answers to the questions were "Right There," "Think and Search," "Author and Me," or "On My Own." We continue to work with students on using relevant details from the text to support their answers. This week students will begin to write some procedural texts for "How To" topics of interest to them (e.g. How to Snowboard) and will read another grade level text where they will once again have to respond to both multiple choice and short answer questions about the text. Math: Our focus last week was on time relationships not related to the clock. Students solved a variety of problems where they needed to think critically about the relationship between days and weeks, weeks and months and months and years. We will finish up our focus on time relationships with a short "On Your Own" task and then we will forge ahead into exploring 2D and 3D shapes. Science and Technology: Students continue to read texts about forces and are recording the new information they have gained, as well as any wonderings they have. This week they will have an opportunity to shared some of the new knowledge they have built with their peers in small group knowledge building circles. Last week students were introduced to a new tool that they can use to share our their learning. It is called Pixton. With this tool, students can create graphic texts/story boards to inform their audience about a topic. This tool has been purchased by our school board for student and teacher use. Students will receive their login information this week so that they can begin to use this amazing learning tool to demonstrate their learning and build their creativity and critical thinking skills. Jungle Sports: Students had a blast climbing, hanging, zip-lining, balancing and swinging during our Jungle Sport times in the gym this week! We are so fortunate to have had this wonderful experience! Cake Walk: Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generous support of the St. Cecilia Cake Walk! Students have received their tickets and have filled them in. If your child brought their tickets home to fill out, please make sure to send them back to school with them by Tuesday for the cake walk. Your generosity in supporting this awesome school-wide fundraiser is very much appreciated! Welcome to the short month of February! We have a busy month of learning ahead and look forward to all of the learning we will do alongside our students! Religion: Last week students reflected and wrote about the following question "Who is the Holy Spirit?" Many students had enlightening ideas about who the Holy Spirit is. This week we will explore the Holy Spirit through stories from our Growing In Faith, Growing in Christ Religion program. Students will also hear the Gospel from this past Sunday where we are called to "Let Our Light Shine." They will have an opportunity to write about the ways in which they will let their light shine in their classroom and school communities and within their larger community using a Padlet. We'd love for you to share the ways in which you shine your light too. We will post a link to our Padlet tomorrow so that you can collaborate with us! Math: Our focus in Math this week will be on time relationships other than those related to time on the clock. We will explore inquires that involve relationships between days and weeks, weeks and months and months and years. Visiting links from our Website that focus on telling time is a good way for students to practise telling time to different intervals. Literacy: Students will hear some procedural texts and we will build our procedural writing success criteria chart. We continue to ask "deep" questions while we read and we are recording our questions and thinking about if the answers to these questions are: "Right There," "Think and Search," "Author and Me" or "On My Own" type questions. Physical Education: This week we are privileged to be having Jungle Sport on Wednesday and Friday. Please make sure your child wears suitable clothing for climbing on these days. If you have not sent in your child's permission form, please do. They will not be able to participate unless it is signed and returned. Next week we will begin badminton skill building activities. Time got away from us this past week and students wanted more time to rehearse and refine the dances that they choreographed to the song "Can't Stop the Music." Last week students completed their Plants and Soil "Show What You Know" presentations. They also had an amazing experience with building circuits with leaders from the University of Ottawa Maker Mobile. Students were collaborating, being critical thinkers and showing character as they explored how to build circuits and make a light bulb light up! This week, students will begin to read texts about forces and structures. While they are reading they will record the new knowledge that they gathered and wonderings that they still have. Students will have opportunities to share out their learning and wonderings in small group knowledge building circles. That is how our first full week in February looks at a glance. Remember to ask your child how they will let their light shine!
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