How Lucky Are We?

When I count my blessings at school each day two things come to mind immediately!

#1- I am so lucky to work with such fantastic kids each day!

#2 - I am so lucky to share my love of books with Mrs. Becker!

Our Students Are Filled With Wonder!

Last week was a short one but it was packed with learning in 3FM!

Language Arts News

Reading

To say that the students are enjoying the book Wonder might just be the understatement of the year! We have been enjoying the journey through August's first month of grade five and the discussions that occur after we finish reading each day. One of the reoccurring themes in the book is about precepts.

PRECEPT = RULES ABOUT REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS!

In the book, Mr. Browne discusses with the students what is important.

"Who we are," he said, underlining each word as he said it. "Who we are! Us! Right? What kind of people are we? What kind of person are you? Isn't that the most important thing of all? Isn't that the kind of question we should be asking ourselves all the time? What kind of person am I?"

Each month, Mr. Browne, August's English teacher, introduces the class to a new precept. They discuss the precept and then the students are asked to write a paragraph about the importance of that precept and what it means to them.

MR. BROWNE'S SEPTEMBER PRECEPT:
WHEN GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN BEING
RIGHT AND BEING KIND, CHOOSE KIND.

The students and I discussed this precept and came up with many examples of when we should choose kind. I let them think about it for a couple of days and then I asked them to write a few sentences about what it meant to them or why it was important. Here are a few of the responses:

Choosing kind is good, it brings people together. (Logan)

When you're being kind it makes you happy and everyone else happy. The world wants peace and harmony. When you are being kind you get friends. (Cheyenne)

You choose kind so that they don't get sad. Choose kind so that you don't get into a fight. Choose kind so that the place will get better. Always be kind to people. (Belle)

Choose kind because it makes people happy. If we don't choose kind it will empty people's buckets. (Vanessa)

If you choose kind and not right you will have lots of friends. And then, if you are kind for the rest of your life you will be happy! (Olivia)

For me, I think to choose kind, to not make your friend feel bad. But choosing right just makes your friends feel horrible about themselves. Always choose kind not right. (Tristen)

The students have become very attached to the main character August. Today they were expressing how proud they were of him for taking the risk of inviting everyone in his homeroom class to his birthday party. I asked them why they thought he would take such a chance and they were quick to point out the support that he has now with his friends Jack, Summer and Charlotte and the increased confidence that he has after a month in school. Not everyone from his class came to the party...actually only five did. Julian's mom didn't even have the courtesy to RSVP. August's mom says, "I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."  The students and I discussed what this phrase means. They all recognized it but no one could tell me what it meant. I love when these opportunities present themselves! Please ask your child to explain what it means tonight.

Words Their Way

The students are all adjusting well to their new sort levels. The white and yellow groups continue to work on vowel sound discrimination. Please continue to sort blind initially (you read the word to your child without them seeing it), have them listen for the vowel sound and then tell you where the word belongs.

Thank you to all parents for taking the time to work through the sorts with their children. The home practice helps the students master these important spelling rules.

Writing

This week we are going to plan and start writing our next stuck story! Stay tuned for more details!

Math News

The students have been eagerly learning all there is to know about multiplication and division! Wow! They sure are an enthusiastic bunch! After looking at multiplication in three ways, equal groups, repeated addition and arrays, we looked at comparing multiplication sentences. Multiplication sentences, like addition sentences, can follow the commutative property. This means that 3 x 4 = 12 and 4 x 3 = 12. There is no need to learn these facts separately, you just need to know that you can switch the front numbers around and come up with the same product or answer.

Turning our focus to division was so much fun! It was neat to see the wonder on the students' faces as we dove into this unknown territory! We started out by looking at division as grouping. By this I mean, dividing a large set, into groups of a predetermined number.

For example, the students would read this division question like this:

12 ÷ 3 = 4

"12 divided into groups of 3 equals 4 groups"

Today we started looking at division as sharing. I explain this to the students by demonstrating dealing out cards to play Go Fish. The "one for you, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for you, one for me" approach to dividing a set of objects into a certain number of groups. 

For example, the students would read this division question like this:

10 ÷ 2 = 5

"10 divided into 2 groups equals 5 in each group"

This week, we will be looking at division as repeated subtraction and we will be looking at how multiplication and division facts are related. 

Students are also working on mastering their basic multiplication and division facts up to 5 x 5. We have worked on tricks for x0, x1, x2 and x5. The only facts left remaining to master are 3x3=9, 3x4=12 and 4x4=16. A few of our students have mastered these facts and are now challenging multiplication facts up to 10x10! 

I am in full time this week to cover for Mrs Ferguson while she is on a family vacation. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at the school. 

Take care and have a great week!

April 13 - 17

Ukrainian Day

This past Monday we celebrated the culture of Ukraine. Students were able to try various types of food that is common to Ukraine: cabbage rolls, borscht, sour kraut, kutya (wheat pudding) and of course, we couldn't leave out the perogies!!!

It was a whirlwind of an afternoon, and I am so deeply indebted to Tammy Huber for volunteering her time to come in and help. She was instrumental in helping the students with the their pysanky and we would never have completed all of them without her help.

For those of you unfamiliar with pysanky - it involves drawing designs on eggs with melted wax in between dipping them into different colours. Let me tell you - it is quite the process and I, as well as the students, are so in awe of some of the very finely detailed eggs that we have seen. Students were asked to design an egg using some of the common symbols used for traditional pysanky. Then they begin the lengthy process of decorating their eggs. I have to say it was harder than we expected. Therefore, it was quite the panic to make sure everyone had an opportunity to complete their pysanky and I totally forgot to take any pictures that afternoon!!!

We also did not have time to take the wax off - so I spent some time this weekend melting the wax off of the eggs and here is a picture of the final products:

They turned out so awesome!!! Good job guys!!!

Science Update

This week in science, the students completed a Unit End Show What You Know - and I am so proud of how well they did. There were some students away - so I haven't handed them out and I won't until all of the students have completed it - but "Great Work" on understanding the concepts in our Testing Materials and Designs unit. 

We also started our new unit, Building With a Variety of Materials. In this unit the students will apply the concepts that they previously learned in some hands-on building projects.

Their first project was to construct a Gift Bag that had to meet the following criteria:

1. It had hold a package of fruit gummies. 

2. It had to have a lid - it could be attached or separate.

3. It had to be sturdy.

We discussed the purpose of containers, in particular, gift bags and then we talked about shapes and how we might go about making a gift box. Students needed to plan their gift bag first and then attempt their design. This was definitely a learning experience as many students just wanted to try it without really having a plan.

Here is what they came up with - there were some pretty awesome gift bags created in class - and a heck of a lot of enthusiasm, too!!!

Some of the designs worked really well, while others needed some work - but it was a great introduction for the students to realize the importance of a plan - and that sometimes things don't always turn out how we anticipated. 

I hope everyone has a super fabulously awesome 4 day week - as there is no school this Friday April 24 due to a PD day.

The one thing you need to know about me...

Today when we were reading Wonder, we came to a part in the story where the kids were introducing two important things about themselves to their new classmates on the first day of school. Julian chose to mention a wii game and ping pong table that he just got. Charlotte spoke about her family and their new puppy that they adopted from a shelter. After reading this chapter, we discussed what we can learn about a person from what they saw as important to share about themselves.

I asked the students to each come up with one important thing that they would want someone to know about them. Here are there responses:

Connor- I like play soccer with my dad and sisters.
Kaiden- I am very protective of my big sister because  I love my big sister so much.
Olivia- I like playing outside with Elise and Jack.
Jada- I like going outside with my cats.
Austin - Me and my family love sports so we are a sports family.
Vanessa- I like to be very active.
Benjamin- I like going on bike rides.
Kennedy- I like riding my horse Buck.
Avaya- I am proud of myself for winning first place in running.
Hunter- Me, my dad and sister like to jump on our trampoline.
Logan- I am a nice, gentle, kind and positive boy.
Isabella- I like playing cars with my brother.
Dillan- I like to dirt bike with my dad.
Spencer- I like to help my dad fix stuff.
Tristen- I like to go for long walks.
Max - I love my family.
Cheyenne- I like to play with my kitties.
Mrs. Milson- I love spending time with my family.

As I introduced the next chapter, Lamb to the Slaughter, the students all gasped! This was the perfect reaction! We had discussed this phrase earlier in the book, when August's dad was explaining his concern for August starting public school for the first time.

"So sending him off to middle school like a lamb to the slaughter..."Dad answered angrily...

As soon as the students heard the title of the chapter, they predicted that something bad was going to happen to August on his first day of school. I couldn't have been happier to witness this mature reader reaction! It made my day!

April already!

With less than three months to go, we are working hard in 3FM!

Language Arts

As I mentioned in a previous email, we have started reading the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. 

Over the past seven months, I have been working on teaching and reinforcing a variety of reading strategies focusing on fluency, accuracy, comprehension and expanding vocabulary. I will continue to reinforce these strategies in small group or one on one reading conferences. While we read Wonder, we are going to dig a bit deeper and look at some higher level comprehension strategies. Our students are maturing as readers and their reading experiences and strategies need to mature too. Reading comprehension involves the ability to not only read the lines but also the abstract step of "reading between the lines." Good readers have the ability to read beyond the lines and take away a deeper meaning and connection from a book.

I can't imagine a better book to introduce these new concepts and skills to my students. From past experience, students immediately connect with the main character, August Pullman. They become very protective of him and passionate about how he is treated. Just today, as I was reading to the students, they instantly fell silent after a few gasps, when another character in the book, Julian, was being rude to August. I asked them why they were upset and suddenly so quiet. The response was unanimous...they were upset that someone would be so mean to August. We are only on page 32 and they already have connected so deeply with the ten year old main character. Many discussions come from reading this story. We have already discussed white lies, bullying, how to stand up against a bully, how to handle seeing someone who has a physical abnormality and how our reactions affect them. We have and will continue to put ourselves in other characters' shoes and discuss how we would feel in various parts of the story. 

In addition to reading an amazing book, we also finished up some pretty amazing stories of our own! At student led conferences you had an opportunity to read your child's first stuck story. The feedback I received from parents was positive, which is always great to hear! We had one final paragraph left to write and we finished that up last week. We will start planning our next story in the next week and start writing it shortly after. We are also going to take some time to write some poetry during poetry month. 

Our new WTW groups are working hard through their newest sorts. I hope you found my email on Monday helpful when working with your child on their sort. Due to the increased challenge this week with their WTW words, we will not have WWW this week. I want the students to give all of their time and attention to WTW this week. 

Math

Wow! Our students are super excited about multiplication!!! We have started our multiplication unit by discussing how you need equal groups to multiply. 

We discussed how you can't make a multiplication sentence to count up a bunch of apples if there were 5 in one group, 3 in another group and 4 in the last group. All groups need to be equal with multiplication. 

We have also discussed how multiplication is a short cut for repeated addition. 

Today, I introduced the concept of arrays and their use with multiplication. An array is a set of rows with the same number in each row. 

We will continue to work through this concept tomorrow. The students were very excited to look for arrays in their world! You should have seen their faces when they realized that not only is our tile floor an array, our ceiling tiles make an array, and better yet, their structures in Minecraft form arrays!!! They were blown away! 

We have also started working on a few tricks to help them master their basic multiplication facts. In grade three, they need to master up to 5 x 5. So far we have learned that:

Anything times zero is zero.

Anything times one is the other number.

Multiplying by two gives you two choices. Either double the other number or count by twos while you touch the spots on the other number (Touch Math) or your fingers. 

Multiply by five by counting by fives while you touch the spots on the other number (Touch Math) or your fingers. 

Once they have mastered these facts, the only facts that are left are:

3 x 3 = 9

3 x 4 = 12

4 x 4 = 16

Your child should have brought home a math package with feedback on their progress in multi-digit addition and subtraction. If you have any concerns or questions about this please do not hesitate to contact me ASAP. 

April 6 - 10

Welcome Back!!!

Welcome back to a nice short week to get us back in the swing of things. I hope everyone had a fabulous break! It`s hard to believe it but the school year is coming to an end quicker than we expect. There are less than 3 months left to go!!!

Science

This week in science we wrapped up our Testing Materials and Designs unit by looking reviewing adhesives, as well as the strengths of different shapes such as triangles, arches and squares. We also talked about how bricks are layered to make them more stable by completing a class demonstration to show how boxes stacked together in a layer are more stable than boxes stacked directly on top of each other without a interconnecting layer. As always, students love anytime we get to know things down!!!

We further discussed the strength of triangles by testing different designs of trusses built from popsicle sticks. Those trusses built using triangles were clearly stronger than ones without triangles. 

To end off our unit - I challenged the students. 
In groups, the students were given:

1 piece of paper

1 foot of tape

1 - large marshmallow

20 - mini marshmallows

20 - spaghetti sticks

The challenge was for each group to work together to build the tallest
 free-standing tower that they could using the above supplies. The one condition was that the large marshmallow had to be at the top of the tower.

Congrats to our winners at 41.5 cm tall:

A close 2nd 40 cm:

And here are the rest of the towers:


Good job using your triangles: 24 cm.

Also a good job trying to use triangles to strengthen their tower: 18.5 cm.

Good try: 10 cm

 Tough time getting it to work: 0 cm

It can be challenging to apply some of the things that the students have learned in this unit and then to be able to work in a group on the task. It was definitely a fun, yet great learning activity!


Social Studies 

This week in social studies we reviewed what makes a good leader by reviewing our Working Together brochures, and then students completed a Show What You Know. The sheets were sent home to be signed and returned so that I know that you are aware how your child is understanding the concepts. Overall, I was very impressed with how well students did - a number of the students received 100%!!!

 Have a fabulous week!!!

March 23-26

Week Before Spring Break

Wow - what a week! I think we can all say that we were looking forward to Spring Break with excitement - and it was very apparent in 3FM!

First things first - I want to send out a very big heartfelt thanks to the super volunteers who made it out to our Building Bridges Session. Thank you to Ms. Lynette Gaulton, Ms. Tammy Huber, Ms. Kendra Stewart and Ms. Sheena Rector. Your help is so appreciated by myself and the students. We couldn't do it without your continued support. 

SCIENCE UPDATE

What a super week for Science in Grade 3! We continued to test materials - looking at different adhesives as previously discussed. We were quite shocked at how strong white glue and hot glue were in comparison to tape, glue stick and plasticine in holding together popsicle sticks.

Students also completed a Show What You Know as a review of the concepts we have been studying as we test the various designs and materials.

On Thursday March 26, we had an in-school workshop, Building Bridges - and it was a great hands-on experience for our students.  I sent home the booklets that we completed during the session with some photos - but here are some in color:

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATE

In Social Studies - we continued to work on our Brochure Assignment - Working Together. If you attended Student Led Conferences on Wednesday March 25 - I explained that this assignment was a little tricky for some students as it was an exercise in gathering and recording information from the text. At first, many students found this to be a difficult task, however after completing one section - it became easier for some students as they became familiar with what was expected. Some students really needed encouragement and support in regards to completing this assignment - but overall, I was impressed by the dedication of the students in their efforts to finish.


Whether you had a vacation or stay-cation - I hope everyone had a fabulous Spring Break!!!


We will be having our Library period on Wednesday this week as we missed it with having Monday off - so don't forget to send in your library books so you can get some new books to read!