June 4th -8th
It was another fabulous week of learning in grade 3!
Meteorites!
We had an exciting and interesting visit from Great Uncle Doug who spoke to us about his passion and hobby of finding and collecting Meteorites! He had many cool rocks for us to look at and even brought in his awesome microscope so we could practice our #lookingclosely! We also learned about Lunar Meteorites, Martian Meteorites, Kimberlite...and Diamonds! Ask your child to tell you more about what they learned from our guest speaker :)
Math
We have had lots of fun getting messy with math! We are looking at Subtraction with re-grouping and learning all about how to borrow from the number next door when there is more on the floor!
Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine and India
Students are beginning to look more closely at these communities to help better understand and appreciate Canada’s roles and responsibilities in global citizenship in relation to them. The following are some of the terms we are learning about and using:
- Equator : The imaginary circle around the Earth that is the same distance from the North and South Poles and divides the Earth into the northern and southern hemispheres
- Export: To sell goods and services to another country. global Relating to the whole world. global citizenship A feeling of responsibility, beyond a country’s borders, toward humanity
- Goods: Items that are produced and have an economic value
- Hemisphere: One half of the Earth, especially a half north or south of the equator or west or east of the Prime Meridian
- Import: To buy or bring in products and services from another country, or to introduce new goods, customs or ideas to one country from another
- Poles - North or South Pole: either of the two points on the Earth, the North and South Poles, that are the endpoints of its axis of rotation, are farthest from the equator, and are surrounded by icecaps
- Quality of life: The sense of safety, comfort, security, health and happiness that a person has in his or her life
- Relative location: A geographic location that is described by comparing its location to another location
- Resources: Useful or valuable possessions or qualities of a country, organization or person
- Services: Work done for somebody else: work done by somebody for somebody else as a job, a duty or a favour
Looking Forward......
Sports Day -
Sports Day is on Friday June 22nd from 9:45-11:20. We will have a kick off assembly that will start in the gym, followed by activities outside. This year’s theme is Calgary Sports! We want to celebrate the community of Calgary by supporting our four major teams (Flames, Roughnecks, Hitmen, and Stampeders). Students are invited to wear a jersey from one of these teams for this day... and if they don't have a jersey they can wear red, black, white or even their awesome Sibbald shirt!
Hot Dog Lunch –
Thank you to our Andrew Sibbald Parent Association who has organized a Hot Dog lunch to coincide with our Sports day! Lunch will be served at 11:20am on June 22. We will be eating picnic style outside on the west side of the school and families are welcome to join us! Hot dogs can be pre-purchased or you may bring your own picnic lunch. Order forms were sent home with students on Friday and are due by Tuesday, June 19th.
Comrie's Sports Equipment Bank -
We will be collecting gently used or new sporting equipment and donating it to this great organization . This allows families who otherwise would not be able to participate in organized sports, the opportunity to do so with the proper equipment. A donation bin will be located in the front of the school near the office. Donations are being collected from June 11th-27th.
Important Dates:
- June 11th > Calgary Public Library Presentation
- June 12th > ALL school library books are DUE back
- June 12th > School Council Meeting
- June 21st > Little Caesars Fun Lunch / 'Dress like a Book Character' Spirit Day
- June 22nd > Sports Day & Hot Dog Lunch / Picnic
- June 25th > Sibbald On Stage Talent Show (in the AM...time details coming soon!!!)
- June 26th > Year End Celebration & Farewell Assembly @ 9:00am
- June 27th > Last Day of Classes - Report Cards come Home
May 28th - June 1st
Forest School Day 1 -
Today's focus and lens was to have students slow down, take notice and observe - to look closely.
Good observers don't just look with their eyes. They use their ears, hands, all of their senses.
Finding our Sit Spots
Spending time outdoors and sitting in quiet state of awareness. This ‘sit spot’ was an area the student came back to visit over the week.
"By visiting the same place in nature many times, a relationship is developed; you get to know the place in all kinds of weather, many times of day, throughout the seasons, and from a variety of your own states of mind" (Wilderness Awareness)
Today's focus and lens was to have students slow down, take notice and observe - to look closely.
Good observers don't just look with their eyes. They use their ears, hands, all of their senses.
Finding our Sit Spots
Spending time outdoors and sitting in quiet state of awareness. This ‘sit spot’ was an area the student came back to visit over the week.
"By visiting the same place in nature many times, a relationship is developed; you get to know the place in all kinds of weather, many times of day, throughout the seasons, and from a variety of your own states of mind" (Wilderness Awareness)
Forest School Day 2 -
The focus for our second day was through a scientific lens where students were looking for and locating various animal habitats. Our question was WHO LIVES HERE? Students were reminded that good observers don't just look with their eyes...they also use their ears, hands and all of their senses!
Some of the guiding questions we gave the students:
What do you notice about the different habitats you see?
What type of animal would live in this home? How do you know? What evidence do you see?
What materials are used to create this home?
What makes this home unique?
How does this home provide shelter and help protect the animal living there?
What questions or wonderings do you have about the homes you are observing?
The focus for our second day was through a scientific lens where students were looking for and locating various animal habitats. Our question was WHO LIVES HERE? Students were reminded that good observers don't just look with their eyes...they also use their ears, hands and all of their senses!
Some of the guiding questions we gave the students:
What do you notice about the different habitats you see?
What type of animal would live in this home? How do you know? What evidence do you see?
What materials are used to create this home?
What makes this home unique?
How does this home provide shelter and help protect the animal living there?
What questions or wonderings do you have about the homes you are observing?
Forest School Day 3 -
Day three was all about being mathematicians and looking for how math lives in nature! The outdoor environment includes many natural materials that can be used to nurture children’s developing mathematical skills. On this day we were looking for evidence of how math exists in the forest.Some of the ways students saw math in Fish Creek were:
Day three was all about being mathematicians and looking for how math lives in nature! The outdoor environment includes many natural materials that can be used to nurture children’s developing mathematical skills. On this day we were looking for evidence of how math exists in the forest.Some of the ways students saw math in Fish Creek were:
- Symmetry
- Counting
- Looking for different sizes and shapes
- Patterns
- Shapes -Multiples
- Using non standard measurement to measure
- Ordering objects from shortest to tallest
- Identifying patterns
Forest School Day 4 -
On this day students were using the lens of an artist to create a piece of Land Art. We used the fascinating land art creations made by Andy Goldsworthy as an inspiration for students. Collaboratively they worked in groups of 2 - 4 to create their land art using found materials such as; sticks, stones, leaves, feathers, plants, logs, etc... The Land Art piece was their representation of their learning and experiences over the week at Fish Creek park.
On this day students were using the lens of an artist to create a piece of Land Art. We used the fascinating land art creations made by Andy Goldsworthy as an inspiration for students. Collaboratively they worked in groups of 2 - 4 to create their land art using found materials such as; sticks, stones, leaves, feathers, plants, logs, etc... The Land Art piece was their representation of their learning and experiences over the week at Fish Creek park.
May 22nd - 25th
It was another wonderful week in Grade 3!
It was another wonderful week in Grade 3!
Looking Closely At Soil
Students were excited to get hands on and play a little while they were looking closely at SOIL!
- AR “I wonder how many things we use soil for?”
- IR “ I think soil is a kind of compost and dirt mixed together”
- PS “Soil I think is what you use to plant vegetables in and I don’t know if there is other stuff you can plant in it”
- GB “I think that soil is just basically moist dirt”
- WW “Soil is basically just compost mixed together and you stir it around in a box with holes in it"
- JR “Soil is a home for many plants and animals…like worms, beetles, ants”
- CF “Soil is basically just decomposed food and that’s why we have compost”
- KM “I know you can plant things in soil like flowers, fruits and vegetables…but I wonder if soil can be used for other things too?"
We are very excited about taking our learning into Fish Creek Park next week!!!
Forest School Preparation Tips:
Forest School Preparation Tips:
- Remember to dress for the weather – layers are a good idea!
- Please wear appropriate footwear
- Bring a WATER bottle and nutritious SNACK each day
- We take out of the forest what we take in so ‘trashless’ snacks are appreciated!
- Apply sunscreen and Bug Spray (at home before school if possible)
- Hats are encouraged for sun protection
- There are NO washrooms available on site. (Please contact your child’s teacher directly if you feel this may be an issue
- May 28th - 31st > Grade 3 Forest School (we will be spending mornings in Fish Creek Park!!
- May 29th > Gardening Club @ 11:45
- May 31st > Subway Fun Lunch / Spirit Day - Dress like the 80's
- May 31st > Choir Wrap Up Party @11:45
- June 5th > Bike to School Day
- June 11th > Calgary Public Library Presentation
- June 12th > ALL school library books are DUE back
- June 12th > School Council Meeting
- June 21st > Little Caesars Fun Lunch / Dress like a Book Character Spirit Day
- June 22nd > Sports Day
- June 26th > Year End Celebration & Farewell Assembly @ 9:00am
- June 27th > Last Day of Classes - Report Cards come Home
May 14th -18th
Our grade 3 students did an amazing job proudly sharing their important values during our celebration of learning assembly this week! What an amazing bunch of kids, with such thankful, kind hearts!
Slice Of Life Writing
This week we tried something new for writing! A 'Slice of Life' story is a moment or small sliver of your ordinary life! But just a slice... not the whole story! It is a fun way to test personification, or use authentic dialogue. Our students are ALWAYS sharing 'snipits' of their lives! Stories about cherished memories, sadness, frustration and many of times stories that are filled with lots of humor! It is like telling the excited and animated stories they share as they bounce into the classroom each day...but actually writing it instead!
Ask your child to tell you about the 'Slice Of Life' story that they wrote!
Important Dates:
Our grade 3 students did an amazing job proudly sharing their important values during our celebration of learning assembly this week! What an amazing bunch of kids, with such thankful, kind hearts!
Slice Of Life Writing
This week we tried something new for writing! A 'Slice of Life' story is a moment or small sliver of your ordinary life! But just a slice... not the whole story! It is a fun way to test personification, or use authentic dialogue. Our students are ALWAYS sharing 'snipits' of their lives! Stories about cherished memories, sadness, frustration and many of times stories that are filled with lots of humor! It is like telling the excited and animated stories they share as they bounce into the classroom each day...but actually writing it instead!
Ask your child to tell you about the 'Slice Of Life' story that they wrote!
Important Dates:
- May 21st > No School - Victoria Day
- May 24th > Volunteer Tea
- May 28th - 31st > Grade 3 Forest School (we will be spending mornings in Fish Creek Park!!)
- May 29th > Gardening Club @ 11:45
- May 31st > Subway Fun Lunch / Spirit Day - Dress like the 80's
- May 31st > Choir Wrap Up Party @11:45
May 7th – May 11th
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
We spent lots of time talking about What Do We VALUE.
Here are a few things that students said:
We had an Amazing Shave Your Lid For A Kid event on Friday!
12 of our very own Grade 3 students participated showing their Brave by going Bald or chopping their Ponytails!
THANK YOU to EVERYONE for all of their wonderful Support with this...together we raised close to $16,000 for Kids Cancer Care!
Important Dates:
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
We spent lots of time talking about What Do We VALUE.
Here are a few things that students said:
- I value my family and friends because if I don’t have them I would be lonely
- I value reserved green spaces and being able to go out and be exposed to nature
- I value schools because schools give you education
- I value my friends and family or I wouldn’t have anyone to take care of me
- I value the lake because it is a place where the community can come together
- Friends, family, kindness, love and peace because it wouldn’t be a nice place to be if there weren’t any of these
- I value shelter, food, and water because if we didn't have these we would starve, have no home or get wet
- I value education because when you are older you can have a job so you can have shelter and get food so you can be healthy
- I value being free to go wherever I want
- I value freedom
- I value the 7 tribes because without them we would not be living in Calgary
- I value shelter because if we didn’t have shelter nobody would be happy
- Vets because they take care of my animals
- I value sports because it keeps me in shape
- I value doctors because if I didn’t have them I would be sick all the time
- I value my parents because I would have no one to care for me
We had an Amazing Shave Your Lid For A Kid event on Friday!
12 of our very own Grade 3 students participated showing their Brave by going Bald or chopping their Ponytails!
THANK YOU to EVERYONE for all of their wonderful Support with this...together we raised close to $16,000 for Kids Cancer Care!
Important Dates:
- May 17th > Celebration of Learning Assembly
- May 17th > Floor Hockey Club Gr. 3/4/5 at 11:45
- May 18th > Non Instructional Day (No School For Students)
- May 21st > No School - Victoria Day
- May 24th > Volunteer Tea
- May 28th - 31st > Grade Three Forest School (we will be spending 1/2 days in Fish Creek Park!)
- May 31 > Fun Lunch / Spirit Day (TBD)
April 30th – May 4th
This week was full of lots of sunshine and smiles!
Learning About Rocks And Minerals
After looking closely at rocks and minerals the past few weeks, students have been eagerly sharing their special rock findings and rock collections! Through sharing circles they have shared important information about their rocks such as, where they found the rocks, why they are special to them and any understandings they have about the properties of their rocks. We have been acting as mineral detectives using the Mohs Hardness Scale for testing various minerals, as the determination of the hardness of a mineral can be an important step toward its identification.
Math
We continue to explore the concept of division. Students have been building their understanding that division is splitting into ‘equal’ parts or groups.
15 ÷ 5 = 3
15 is the dividend
5 is the divisor
3 is the quotient
We have also looked at understanding that division is the opposite of multiplying. When we know a multiplication fact we can find a division fact.
For example: 3 x 5 = 15….. therefore….. 15 ÷ 5 = 3 or 15 ÷ 3 = 5
So knowing our multiplication facts can also help us with division!
We continue to use our strategies to help us in solving division problems.
We can use:
The book - Window - by Jeannie Baker
We read this wonderful wordless picture book to help continue our conversation about perspective as well as move our learning forward in regards to values and quality of life.
Students were given a picture from the story to look closely at using the “I See, I Think, I Wonder, I feel” thinking routine.
This week was full of lots of sunshine and smiles!
Learning About Rocks And Minerals
After looking closely at rocks and minerals the past few weeks, students have been eagerly sharing their special rock findings and rock collections! Through sharing circles they have shared important information about their rocks such as, where they found the rocks, why they are special to them and any understandings they have about the properties of their rocks. We have been acting as mineral detectives using the Mohs Hardness Scale for testing various minerals, as the determination of the hardness of a mineral can be an important step toward its identification.
Math
We continue to explore the concept of division. Students have been building their understanding that division is splitting into ‘equal’ parts or groups.
- DS “Division means you split it up equal. Like you are sharing fairly.”
15 ÷ 5 = 3
15 is the dividend
5 is the divisor
3 is the quotient
We have also looked at understanding that division is the opposite of multiplying. When we know a multiplication fact we can find a division fact.
For example: 3 x 5 = 15….. therefore….. 15 ÷ 5 = 3 or 15 ÷ 3 = 5
So knowing our multiplication facts can also help us with division!
We continue to use our strategies to help us in solving division problems.
We can use:
- Pictures
- Arrays
- Multiplying
- Skip Counting
The book - Window - by Jeannie Baker
We read this wonderful wordless picture book to help continue our conversation about perspective as well as move our learning forward in regards to values and quality of life.
Students were given a picture from the story to look closely at using the “I See, I Think, I Wonder, I feel” thinking routine.
Important Dates:
- May 9th > Choir
- May 11th > Shave Your Lid For A Kid (starts at 9:30am)
- May 17th > Celebration of Learning Assembly
- May 17th > Floor Hockey Club Gr. 3/4/5 at 11:45
- May 18th Non Instructional Day (No School For Students)
- May 24th > Volunteer Tea
- May 28th - 31st > Grade Three Forest School (we will be spending 1/2 days in Fish Creek Park!)
- May 31 > Fun Lunch / Spirit Day (TBD)
April 17th - 21st
Thank you to all of the families who made it out to our Student-Led Conferences on Thursday evening or Friday morning last week! We are always so excited to watch our amazing students ( your amazing children!!! ) guide their parents through their learning! It was a pleasure to have the chance to touch base with families to answer questions or talk about any concerns as well as celebrate :)
Important Dates:
Thank you to all of the families who made it out to our Student-Led Conferences on Thursday evening or Friday morning last week! We are always so excited to watch our amazing students ( your amazing children!!! ) guide their parents through their learning! It was a pleasure to have the chance to touch base with families to answer questions or talk about any concerns as well as celebrate :)
Important Dates:
- April 24th > Book Club at lunch at 11:45
- April 25th > Choir
- April 25th and 26th > Rocks and Rings curling program
- April 26th > Floor Hockey Club Gr. 3/4/5 at 11:45
- April 26th > Fun Lunch and Spirit Day (Dress Western!)
- April 27th > Movie forms are due
April 9th - 14th
It was so wonderful to see all of the jerseys, and colours of green and gold this week in support of the Humboldt Bronco's - Thank you.
This week we finished up with our Alien In-Line skating! Students worked very hard over the 4 sessions and showed tons of improvement! It was great to see every student be successful with big smiles on their face :)
In Math we have been working on solving word problems that involve using multiplication. Students continue to work on solidifying their understanding of multiplication and the idea of making equal groups. They are becoming more familiar and comfortable with using the various strategies taught and are beginning to identify the best fit strategy for them. Students also learned about using an array as a type of strategy this week.
We continue to work on enhancing our Amazon Rainforest display and are excited to share it with parents at our conferences! Students are getting ready to talk about their contribution to the display, as well as share all the interesting information that they have learned.
Our students are becoming quite the amazing Musicians with their recorders! Just a reminder that we have music with Mrs.Harris on Monday's, Tuesday's and Thursday's. If you could please remember to have recorders back at school for those days that would be great!
Just a reminder that Student-Led Conferences are happening this week on Thursday evening (Apr.19th) from 4:00-7:00 and Friday morning (Apr.20th) from 8:00-12:00. This is an amazing opportunity for your child(ren) to share their wonderful learning with you! Time blocks are booked for an hour...some families take advantage of this whole time and some families share a little quicker. The most important part is your child having a great time sharing their amazing hard work with you!
If you have not yet booked a conference time, you can log onto your 'My CBE Account' to book.
https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fmyaccount
Thank you very much for your continued support and partnership with us as we work together to help make your child's learning journey a success!
Important Dates:
It was so wonderful to see all of the jerseys, and colours of green and gold this week in support of the Humboldt Bronco's - Thank you.
This week we finished up with our Alien In-Line skating! Students worked very hard over the 4 sessions and showed tons of improvement! It was great to see every student be successful with big smiles on their face :)
In Math we have been working on solving word problems that involve using multiplication. Students continue to work on solidifying their understanding of multiplication and the idea of making equal groups. They are becoming more familiar and comfortable with using the various strategies taught and are beginning to identify the best fit strategy for them. Students also learned about using an array as a type of strategy this week.
We continue to work on enhancing our Amazon Rainforest display and are excited to share it with parents at our conferences! Students are getting ready to talk about their contribution to the display, as well as share all the interesting information that they have learned.
Our students are becoming quite the amazing Musicians with their recorders! Just a reminder that we have music with Mrs.Harris on Monday's, Tuesday's and Thursday's. If you could please remember to have recorders back at school for those days that would be great!
Just a reminder that Student-Led Conferences are happening this week on Thursday evening (Apr.19th) from 4:00-7:00 and Friday morning (Apr.20th) from 8:00-12:00. This is an amazing opportunity for your child(ren) to share their wonderful learning with you! Time blocks are booked for an hour...some families take advantage of this whole time and some families share a little quicker. The most important part is your child having a great time sharing their amazing hard work with you!
If you have not yet booked a conference time, you can log onto your 'My CBE Account' to book.
https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fmyaccount
Thank you very much for your continued support and partnership with us as we work together to help make your child's learning journey a success!
Important Dates:
- April 17th > Book Club at lunch at 11:45
- April 18th > Choir
- April 19th > Floor Hockey Club Gr. 3/4/5 at 11:45
- April 19th > Student-Led Conferences 4:00pm - 7:00pm
- April 20th > Student-Led Conferences 8:00am -12:00pm (No School for Students this day)
- April 25th and 26th > Rocks and Rings curling program
- April 26th > Fun Lunch and Spirit Day (Dress Western!)
April 3rd - 6th
Welcome Back! We hope that you had a wonderful, fun Spring Break!
This week we spent some time catching up with our friends and sharing stories about our time off, as well as slowly got back in to the swing of things!
We were super excited to start our Alien In-Line residency with Coach Payne and had a ton of fun zipping around the gym on our skates! We learned all about how to skate safe, put on our equipment, balance, break, stop and even learned a few neat tricks to try! We will have our last day of In-Line skating tomorrow.
Welcome Back! We hope that you had a wonderful, fun Spring Break!
This week we spent some time catching up with our friends and sharing stories about our time off, as well as slowly got back in to the swing of things!
We were super excited to start our Alien In-Line residency with Coach Payne and had a ton of fun zipping around the gym on our skates! We learned all about how to skate safe, put on our equipment, balance, break, stop and even learned a few neat tricks to try! We will have our last day of In-Line skating tomorrow.
- SK "This is so much fun! I wish we could do this everyday!"
- NJ "I'm going to try some new tricks!"
- AL "I was a little nervous but I did great!"
In math we have been exploring multiplication.
We are practicing using different strategies to help us.
So far we have talked about:
- the 'x' symbol means 'groups of'
- drawing equal groups
- skip counting
- repeated addition
- multiplying by 1 (identity property)
As we finish up our Amazon animal research, we are looking a little closer at the make-up of the Amazon Rainforest and the different layers it contains:
- Emergent
- Canopy
- Understory
- Forest Floor (Leaf layer)
Students have been busy recreating these layers into an exciting wall display! We will continue working on this throughout this week!
Happy Spring Break!
~ School begins again on April 3rd, 2018 ~
March 12th - 16th
Important Dates:
- March 13th > School Council meeting 7:00pm
- March 22nd > Fun Lunch and Jersey Day
- March 23rd > PD Day
- March 23rd - April 2bd > Spring Break
- April 3rd > Back to school :)
February 26th - March 2nd
This week we talked lots about the importance of Spreading Kindness wherever we go! We celebrated Pink Shirt day on Wednesday, learning a little more about how it all started. Conversations about the bully, the bullied and the bystander helped clarify some understanding about various bullying situations and how we can be helpful in these situations when we are caught in one of these roles. You can read more about the story behind Pink Shirt Day here > www.pinkshirtday.ca/about/
Straight From The Students
Important Dates:
This week we talked lots about the importance of Spreading Kindness wherever we go! We celebrated Pink Shirt day on Wednesday, learning a little more about how it all started. Conversations about the bully, the bullied and the bystander helped clarify some understanding about various bullying situations and how we can be helpful in these situations when we are caught in one of these roles. You can read more about the story behind Pink Shirt Day here > www.pinkshirtday.ca/about/
Straight From The Students
- DS "In Google Docs we got to pick our own topic to research and we had to have a question and we could add a picture if we wanted. This is to help us get better at using Google Docs before we start our Google Slides."
- JK "In SibbaldU (#scrapbookingandcardmaking) our group was working on our scrapbooks and after we finished we added some words to match the pictures."
- AR "This week Ms. H brought Echo's harness! ...
- JZ "Pink Shirt Day is all about getting together to wear pink shirts to spread kindness and stand up to bullying."
Important Dates:
- March 9th - Fun Snack (Jugo Juice)
February 19th - 23rd
It was another great week in Grade 3! We definitely enjoyed the warmer weather and the chance to finally get outside for some fun and fresh air!
We had a chance to watch some of our Canadian Olympic athletes answer questions from students throughout Canada during the #teamcanadachats assembly. It was very inspiring to hear them talk about their olympic dreams as kids, how they set goals to achieve their dreams, the training that they do and how they feel during their competitions.
Ms. Manser finished reading The One And Only Ivan to us this week - we learned a little more about the real Ivan that was the inspiration for the book...you can read all about his story here > zooatlanta.org/animal-legend/ivan/ Students started to work on a personal reflection of the story. Some students are writing about the characters, setting, favourite part, the different events, the ending as well as questions or wonders about the story.
This week we will be starting our work with gymnastics by transferring our knowledge of movement into various routines on the mats. So far we have been exploring the following different types of movement:
Important Dates:
It was another great week in Grade 3! We definitely enjoyed the warmer weather and the chance to finally get outside for some fun and fresh air!
We had a chance to watch some of our Canadian Olympic athletes answer questions from students throughout Canada during the #teamcanadachats assembly. It was very inspiring to hear them talk about their olympic dreams as kids, how they set goals to achieve their dreams, the training that they do and how they feel during their competitions.
Ms. Manser finished reading The One And Only Ivan to us this week - we learned a little more about the real Ivan that was the inspiration for the book...you can read all about his story here > zooatlanta.org/animal-legend/ivan/ Students started to work on a personal reflection of the story. Some students are writing about the characters, setting, favourite part, the different events, the ending as well as questions or wonders about the story.
This week we will be starting our work with gymnastics by transferring our knowledge of movement into various routines on the mats. So far we have been exploring the following different types of movement:
- levels (high, medium, low)
- speeds (fast, medium, slow)
- directions (forwards, backwards, sideways, diagonal)
- forms (skipping, sliding, jumping, etc)
- balances (with different numbers of contact points to the floor)
Important Dates:
- Feb. 28th - Pink Shirt Day ( wear something pink to symbolize that as a society we will not tolerate bullying)
- March 9th - Fun Snack (Jugo Juice)
February 12th - 14th
Last week was very short... but still very busy!
We continued our work on researching our Amazon Rainforest Animals. We talked about the difference between a predator and prey and learned that some of our animals actually feast on each other! Students are showing great digital citizenship while using iPads and laptops to look up information. They are becoming very skilled at accessing the flagged links off of our grade 3 D2L page. Your child can always access our D2L page by signing in here: d2l.cbe.ab.ca/d2l/loginh/ There are lots of great links on this page for all subjects and topics that your child is welcome to explore any time!
Last week was very short... but still very busy!
We continued our work on researching our Amazon Rainforest Animals. We talked about the difference between a predator and prey and learned that some of our animals actually feast on each other! Students are showing great digital citizenship while using iPads and laptops to look up information. They are becoming very skilled at accessing the flagged links off of our grade 3 D2L page. Your child can always access our D2L page by signing in here: d2l.cbe.ab.ca/d2l/loginh/ There are lots of great links on this page for all subjects and topics that your child is welcome to explore any time!
In math we have had lots of hands-on fun exploring 3D shapes!
We have been talking about what the word 3 Dimensional means as well as the different properties of 3D shapes. Students have had the opportunity to look closely at various shapes and even examine the flat version of the shape once they rolled out the inner parts! We learned that you call the flattened out 3D solid a Geometry Net. Students have been identifying the vertices, edges and faces on the solids as well as learning them by their proper names > cube, cone, cylinder, pyramid, triangular pyramid, sphere, triangular prism, rectangular prism, hexagonal prism, pentagonal prism, hexagonal pyramid.
Important Dates:
- Feb. 20 - Board Games Club - 11:45-12:15
- Feb 22 – Fun Lunch/ Spirit Day - Crazy Hair Day
February 5th - 9th
It was another great week in Grade 3!
We were excited to have Miss Tracy back for a visit to help us put the finishing touches on our glass mosaics. We added the grout to fill in the spaces between the glass pieces. It was a VERY messy process! Some of us thought it was lots of fun - just like playing in the mud, while others thought is was a little too goopy and didn't enjoy it quite as much! Thank you again to all of the wonderful volunteers that helped throughout our art journey...we couldn't have done it without you!!!
The students worked incredibly hard throughout this valuable art process and learned many important things like -
It was another great week in Grade 3!
We were excited to have Miss Tracy back for a visit to help us put the finishing touches on our glass mosaics. We added the grout to fill in the spaces between the glass pieces. It was a VERY messy process! Some of us thought it was lots of fun - just like playing in the mud, while others thought is was a little too goopy and didn't enjoy it quite as much! Thank you again to all of the wonderful volunteers that helped throughout our art journey...we couldn't have done it without you!!!
The students worked incredibly hard throughout this valuable art process and learned many important things like -
- Creativity
- Confidence
- Problem Solving
- Perseverance
- Focus
- Receiving Constructive Feedback
- Collaboration
- Dedication
-
- In math we have been exploring Polygons.
- Students have been learning how to identify various polygons based on their characteristics as well as identify irregular polygons.
Students have been eagerly researching their Amazon Rainforest animal of choice. So far we have zoomed in on locating information for Appearance, Diet and Habitat. We have been discussing different ways to take Jot Notes as well as appropriate ways to Organize our information. Students are becoming more diligent in weeding through information to find the important information that they need.
Important Dates:
- Feb 13 –School Council Meeting
- Feb 14 - Valentine's Day (students can exchange cards)
- Feb 15/16 – Teachers Convention - NO SCHOOL for students
- Feb 19 – Family Day - NO SCHOOL
- Feb 22 – Fun Lunch/ Spirit Day - Crazy Hair Day
January 29th - February 2nd
As we end the month of January and head into February we have been talking lots about how we are officially half way through the grade 3 school year! This brings up great conversations about what we have accomplished so far this year and what we continue to look forward to achieving!
Some of the favourites so far this year have been:
This week we have been very busy:
Important Dates:
As we end the month of January and head into February we have been talking lots about how we are officially half way through the grade 3 school year! This brings up great conversations about what we have accomplished so far this year and what we continue to look forward to achieving!
Some of the favourites so far this year have been:
- Going on field trips
- Making new friends
- Learning how to be a better writer
- Reading time every morning
- SibbaldU
- Doing research about animals
- Ms. Manser reading to us
- Echo visiting
This week we have been very busy:
- Wrapping up our stories - looking at strong story endings
- Putting the finishing touches on our glass mosaics to get ready for grouting
- Learning about different ways to organize information while researching - webs, lists, charts, diagrams
- Learning lots of fun skipping tricks!
- Listening to Ms. Manser read 'The One And Only Ivan' - What is happening in this story so far? What is Ivan's problem?
Important Dates:
- Feb 13 –School Council Meeting
- Feb 15/16 – Teachers Convention
- Feb 19 – Family Day
- Feb 22 – Fun Lunch/ Spirit Day
January 22nd - 26th
Thank you to all of the families that made it out for our parent-teacher conferences! It is always so nice to connect with you and celebrate all of your child's wonderful learning!
In math we have been working on understanding and solving perimeter as well as looking closely at various 2-D shapes and how to categorize them.
In writing we are just wrapping up our stories by completing our solution section. We have been working very hard on our stories and are excited to finish and share them with others! As we move into our research work with the Amazon Rain Forest, we are switching our writing focus from a narrative style to an informational style.
Students will be working on:
We have been learning lots about the difference between Vertebrates and In-Vertebrates. We have been looking closely at mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians and students have selected which category they would like to study an animal from. Ask your child which specific animal they have decided to study and learn more about! We are lucky to have a guest in our classroom for the next little while...Echo the Bearded Dragon, will be our classroom pet while we learn about the different animals we are researching. Together we will become Bearded Dragon experts and learn how to best take care of our new reptile friend!
Miss Tracy is not with us for art this upcoming week, however we will be finishing up our glass mosaics getting them ready to be grouted the following week. Students have worked extremely hard at this art technique and are excited to see the results of their hard work in the finished product! So much has been learned along this incredible art journey :)
Important Dates:
Thank you to all of the families that made it out for our parent-teacher conferences! It is always so nice to connect with you and celebrate all of your child's wonderful learning!
In math we have been working on understanding and solving perimeter as well as looking closely at various 2-D shapes and how to categorize them.
In writing we are just wrapping up our stories by completing our solution section. We have been working very hard on our stories and are excited to finish and share them with others! As we move into our research work with the Amazon Rain Forest, we are switching our writing focus from a narrative style to an informational style.
Students will be working on:
- organizing information using a variety of strategies, such as clustering, categorizing and sequencing
- recording facts and ideas using a variety of strategies; list titles and authors of sources
- listing significant ideas and information from oral, print and other media texts
- determining if gathered information is sufficient to answer research questions
- using titles, headings and visuals to add interest and highlight important points of presentation
We have been learning lots about the difference between Vertebrates and In-Vertebrates. We have been looking closely at mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians and students have selected which category they would like to study an animal from. Ask your child which specific animal they have decided to study and learn more about! We are lucky to have a guest in our classroom for the next little while...Echo the Bearded Dragon, will be our classroom pet while we learn about the different animals we are researching. Together we will become Bearded Dragon experts and learn how to best take care of our new reptile friend!
Miss Tracy is not with us for art this upcoming week, however we will be finishing up our glass mosaics getting them ready to be grouted the following week. Students have worked extremely hard at this art technique and are excited to see the results of their hard work in the finished product! So much has been learned along this incredible art journey :)
Important Dates:
- Feb 13 –School Council Meeting
- Feb 15/16 – Teachers Convention
- Feb 19 – Family Day
- Feb 22 – Fun Lunch/ Spirit Day
January 15th - 19th
What an amazing week this has been in Grade 3! The glass art mosaics that we have begun are starting off great! We are excited to see the transformation of the glass pieces adding shape and colour to our designs! We are using our best puzzle skills to help piece our art together! A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our amazing volunteers that have been busy scoring and nipping the glass pieces for us - we couldn't do this without you!!! We are looking forward to sharing the finished mosaics with you soon!
Important Dates:
What an amazing week this has been in Grade 3! The glass art mosaics that we have begun are starting off great! We are excited to see the transformation of the glass pieces adding shape and colour to our designs! We are using our best puzzle skills to help piece our art together! A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our amazing volunteers that have been busy scoring and nipping the glass pieces for us - we couldn't do this without you!!! We are looking forward to sharing the finished mosaics with you soon!
Important Dates:
- Jan 25 - Fun Lunch/Spirit Day
- Jan. 25 - Parent Teacher Conferences > 4:00pm – 8:00pm
- Jan. 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences > 8:00 am – 1:00pm
- Feb 13 –School Council Meeting
- Feb 15/16 – Teachers Convention
- Feb 19 – Family Day
- Feb 22 – Fun Lunch/ Spirit Day
January 9th - 12th
Welcome Back!
This has been a wonderful week getting back into the swing of things!
Students were excited to see their friends and catch up after the break.
We were excited to welcome our Artist in Residence Tracy Franks this week! We are looking forward to doing some special glass art with her in the upcoming weeks! Stay tuned for updates!
Parent-Teacher conferences are coming up soon!!!
Please make sure to log-on to your 'My CBE Account' to book a conference time with your child's teacher once the on-line booking opens!
Important Dates:
Welcome Back!
This has been a wonderful week getting back into the swing of things!
Students were excited to see their friends and catch up after the break.
We were excited to welcome our Artist in Residence Tracy Franks this week! We are looking forward to doing some special glass art with her in the upcoming weeks! Stay tuned for updates!
Parent-Teacher conferences are coming up soon!!!
Please make sure to log-on to your 'My CBE Account' to book a conference time with your child's teacher once the on-line booking opens!
Important Dates:
- Jan 25 - Fun Lunch/Spirit Day
- Jan. 25 - Parent Teacher Conferences > 4:00pm – 8:00pm
- Jan. 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences > 8:00 am – 1:00pm
Happy Holidays!!!
We hope you have a wonderful, fun-filled winter break!
Best wishes for 2018 - we look forward to seeing you in the new year!
Classes resume on Tuesday January 9th.
We hope you have a wonderful, fun-filled winter break!
Best wishes for 2018 - we look forward to seeing you in the new year!
Classes resume on Tuesday January 9th.
December 11th - 15th
What a wonderful week filled with lots of happy holiday spirit!
The students worked incredibly hard over this last week preparing for their Christmas Concert...and what a concert it was! Thank you to all of the families for coming out to watch and cheer their children on...It is always so great to see their faces light up when they find you in the audience :)
This week we will be working on creating some seasonal / festive art that will be showcased at the Alberta Children's Hospital. We are excited to be able to help create some colorful, fun art that will put smiles on the children and families who spend so much time at the hospital. We did a quick 'Idea Splat' on Friday where the students shared all of the holiday items and seasonal scenes we could create! Some of their ideas included: Snowflakes, Winter trees, Ornaments, Gingerbread People, Skating, Sledding, Skiing... So many great things for us to create! Keep your eye on Twitter for progress reports and final pictures!
Important Dates:
What a wonderful week filled with lots of happy holiday spirit!
The students worked incredibly hard over this last week preparing for their Christmas Concert...and what a concert it was! Thank you to all of the families for coming out to watch and cheer their children on...It is always so great to see their faces light up when they find you in the audience :)
This week we will be working on creating some seasonal / festive art that will be showcased at the Alberta Children's Hospital. We are excited to be able to help create some colorful, fun art that will put smiles on the children and families who spend so much time at the hospital. We did a quick 'Idea Splat' on Friday where the students shared all of the holiday items and seasonal scenes we could create! Some of their ideas included: Snowflakes, Winter trees, Ornaments, Gingerbread People, Skating, Sledding, Skiing... So many great things for us to create! Keep your eye on Twitter for progress reports and final pictures!
Important Dates:
- Dec 21st - Fun Lunch / Spirit Day (TBA) / Last Day of Classes / Report Cards Go Home
- Dec 22nd - Jan 8th - Winter Break
- Jan 9th - Classes Resume
December 4th - 8th
There is always a lot going on in Grade 3! We know it's sometimes hard to get our children to talk about their learning...so here are some 'Conversation Starters' for home to help get your amazing Grade 3 student sharing a little more about what's happening in our classroom!!!
Writing:
Tell me about the story you have been planning?
Who or what is the main character?
Where does the story take place (setting)?
What are the problem and the events going to be in your story?
How will your character solve the problem?
What kinds of things have you been writing about in your 'Fire Writing' journal?
Reading:
What kinds of books are you reading during your 'Read To Self' time?
What kinds of books have you signed out of the library lately?
Tell me about The Wild Robot. What was your favourite part?
What strategies have you been using and recording in your reading journal?
Math:
What are some important things to remember when you are measuring objects?
What does perimeter mean?
Explain what non-standard and standard measurement means?
Science:
What does pitch mean?
How can you change the pitch of something?
What are some examples of instruments that you tested pitch on?
Phys. Ed:
What can you tell me about floor hockey?
What are the different parts of the stick called?
What does it mean to stick handle the puck?
Explain 2 things that you can do to be more accurate when you are passing?
Social Studies:
Tell me about at least 3 different Rights of a Child?
Why is important for us to have rights?
Give an example of how your rights are being met?
Important Dates:
There is always a lot going on in Grade 3! We know it's sometimes hard to get our children to talk about their learning...so here are some 'Conversation Starters' for home to help get your amazing Grade 3 student sharing a little more about what's happening in our classroom!!!
Writing:
Tell me about the story you have been planning?
Who or what is the main character?
Where does the story take place (setting)?
What are the problem and the events going to be in your story?
How will your character solve the problem?
What kinds of things have you been writing about in your 'Fire Writing' journal?
Reading:
What kinds of books are you reading during your 'Read To Self' time?
What kinds of books have you signed out of the library lately?
Tell me about The Wild Robot. What was your favourite part?
What strategies have you been using and recording in your reading journal?
Math:
What are some important things to remember when you are measuring objects?
What does perimeter mean?
Explain what non-standard and standard measurement means?
Science:
What does pitch mean?
How can you change the pitch of something?
What are some examples of instruments that you tested pitch on?
Phys. Ed:
What can you tell me about floor hockey?
What are the different parts of the stick called?
What does it mean to stick handle the puck?
Explain 2 things that you can do to be more accurate when you are passing?
Social Studies:
Tell me about at least 3 different Rights of a Child?
Why is important for us to have rights?
Give an example of how your rights are being met?
Important Dates:
- Dec 11th - Yoga
- Dec 14th - Christmas Concert Rehearsal @ 9:00-10:00am - parents welcome!
- Dec. 14th - Evening Christmas Concert @ 6:00-7:00pm - doors open @ 5:30. Treats & Hot Chocolate will be served after the concert in the Learning Commons.
- Dec 21st - Fun Lunch / Spirit Day (TBA) / Last Day of Classes / Report Cards Go Home
- Dec 22nd - Jan 8th - Winter Break
- Jan 9th - Classes Resume
November 27th - December 1st
It was another exciting and jam packed week in Grade 3!
We started the week with making the final decisions about our Ingenuity Project. Our students truly embodied our school’s values of ‘Create, Collaborate, Care’ during this Beakerhead Challenge! We started our journey seeking sources of inspiration for the challenges' theme of “there must be a better way” After many conversations and much reflecting back to the start of the year work around Terry Fox, our visit from Colin Pishke and our recent visit to downtown Calgary, students decided that our continued focus about helping others was a really good starting point. Students were tasked with generating different ideas of possible problems through small group brainstorming. Students re-examined the top identified problems through the lens of how effectively it would help others. As a group we decided to create a robot that would help keep homeless people warm in the cold Winter months. Students worked in groups designing and drawing robot prototypes making sure to highlight: how it worked, important components, as well as any additional ‘cool’ features. Following group presentations, the class analyzed the data collected and observed commonalities in the different designs. With each section and body part accounted for, students then chose the section they most wanted to do a final design for and help build. It was back to the drawing boards we went! With new criteria for the specific parts as well as ensuring they communicated with the other groups, they planned to build each section of our robot. During the building process, students measured, remeasured, tested for stability, strengthened parts, failed, tried again, persevering throughout to successfully put the final robot together! Through this Beakerhead journey our students demonstrated much curiosity, creativity, and a greater understanding of the importance of coming together as a community to help others. Well done Grade 3's :)
Important Dates:
- Dec 4th - Choir practice at lunch / Yoga
- Dec 5th - Actors rehearsal at lunch
- Dec 6th - Choir practice at lunch
- Dec 7th - Actors rehearsal at lunch
- Dec 8th - PD Day - NO SCHOOL for students
- Dec 14th - Christmas Concert - 6:00-7:00pm
- Dec 21st - Last Day of Classes - Report Cards Go Home
- Dec 22nd - Jan 8th - Winter Break
- Jan 9th - Classes Resume
November 20th - 24th
Beakerhead
Students are excited to start working on our Beakerhead challenge! The theme is 'There has to be a better way...' and our material is cardboard! We started brainstorming ideas about everyday problems we encounter, and ways we could possibly try to improve these problems. Here are 2 examples we used to help inspire us:
The Unthinkables - Miss Jessica
We have been continuing our work with Miss Jessica around building social skills and met the Unthinkables this week!
Ask your child to tell you all about these distracting and not so good choice making characters!
Learn more about it here: https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=Superflex%20the%20Team%20of%20Unthinkables%20and%20the%20Five-Step%20Power%20Plan
Math
The past few weeks we have been working on developing a ‘toolbox’ of strategies to help us when solving math problems. The following strategies are the ones we have been learning about:
Hearing and Sound
Ask your child to tell you what the significance of these words are in relation to hearing and sound:
Important Dates:
Beakerhead
Students are excited to start working on our Beakerhead challenge! The theme is 'There has to be a better way...' and our material is cardboard! We started brainstorming ideas about everyday problems we encounter, and ways we could possibly try to improve these problems. Here are 2 examples we used to help inspire us:
- The Kazbrella > http://safeYouTube.net/w/bKoc
- The Help Desk > http://safeYouTube.net/w/fKoc
The Unthinkables - Miss Jessica
We have been continuing our work with Miss Jessica around building social skills and met the Unthinkables this week!
Ask your child to tell you all about these distracting and not so good choice making characters!
Learn more about it here: https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=Superflex%20the%20Team%20of%20Unthinkables%20and%20the%20Five-Step%20Power%20Plan
Math
The past few weeks we have been working on developing a ‘toolbox’ of strategies to help us when solving math problems. The following strategies are the ones we have been learning about:
- Using Manipulatives (Base 10 blocks)
- Drawing a Picture (often based on the manipulatives used)
- Break Apart (breaking the number down into hundreds, tens and ones)
- Number Line (placing numbers in order on the line)
Hearing and Sound
Ask your child to tell you what the significance of these words are in relation to hearing and sound:
- Vibrations
- Balance
- dB
- Messages
- protect
- Brain
- Funnel Shape
- What are the 3 Tiny Bones in the middle ear?
- What are the 3 Parts of the ear?
Important Dates:
- Nov 27 - Yoga
- Nov 29 - Choir practice at lunch
- Nov 30 - Fun Lunch and Spirit Day > Pajama & Stuffy Day
- Dec 1 - SibbaldU
November 6th - 10th
We spent this past week working on learning how to use an open number line as another strategy, building story characters, discussing and reflecting on Remembrance Day as well as preparing for our upcoming field trip!
National Music Centre & St. Patrick's Island Field Trip
We are excited to be extending our learning outside of our 4 walls by going to the National Music Centre! This trip will help enhance our Hearing and Sound science curriculum and give the students the opportunity for a hands-on experience with various instruments as well as a indepth look at music elements such as vibration and pitch.
St. Patrick's Island Walking Tour
In the afternoon we will be walking through East Village and heading over to St. Patrick's Island. Connecting to our social studies curricular topic of Community, we will be looking at how it was designed to help bring communities together. Students will be given guided questions to think about as we tour the island.
Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather, has a lunch as well as a water bottle.
Important Dates:
We spent this past week working on learning how to use an open number line as another strategy, building story characters, discussing and reflecting on Remembrance Day as well as preparing for our upcoming field trip!
National Music Centre & St. Patrick's Island Field Trip
We are excited to be extending our learning outside of our 4 walls by going to the National Music Centre! This trip will help enhance our Hearing and Sound science curriculum and give the students the opportunity for a hands-on experience with various instruments as well as a indepth look at music elements such as vibration and pitch.
St. Patrick's Island Walking Tour
In the afternoon we will be walking through East Village and heading over to St. Patrick's Island. Connecting to our social studies curricular topic of Community, we will be looking at how it was designed to help bring communities together. Students will be given guided questions to think about as we tour the island.
Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather, has a lunch as well as a water bottle.
Important Dates:
- Nov 13 - Picture Retakes - ** Please make sure to let your child's teacher know if you would like retakes done**
- Nov 13 - Grade 3 Field Trip to The National Music Centre and East Village Park
- Nov 14 - School Council (7:00pm)
- Nov 17 – PD Day – No School for Students
October 30th - November 3rd
Happy Halloween!!
We hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween filled with lots of tricks and treats!
This week we spent some time looking closely at various forms of art.
Students were asked to consider the following questions when looking at and evaluating the different art forms:
Happy Halloween!!
We hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween filled with lots of tricks and treats!
This week we spent some time looking closely at various forms of art.
Students were asked to consider the following questions when looking at and evaluating the different art forms:
- What do you see?
- How was it made?
- How does it make you feel?
- Does it work?
After looking at a picture of some mixed flowers in a vase, some students responded with:
What do you see?
Students were also asked to look at and compare the difference of the colour version of their picture to the black and white version:
What do you see?
- IR – I see flower petals
- AB – I see that they actually used petals to make the flower
- HJ – it kind of looks 3-D – It looks like a real picture and it looks like someone took a picture and made it on top
- PS – I see a basket part – it looks like brown petals
- RM – I see tiny brown seeds
- M – They put the petals down on the shapes onto the paper
- LG – they put glue all over the paper and sprinkled seeds and petals all over the place (they probably ‘placed’ the seeds on it)
- GB – I think they took a flat piece of paper and organized it and the pot is just different colours and sections.
- MD – It makes me feel happy because of the bright colours
- BJ – It makes me feel Joyful because it is colourful
- EJ – Happy because there is lots of yellow in it and yellow is a happy colour
- MD – it kind of works for me because they placed the bottom part down nicely but the top part is messy.
Students were also asked to look at and compare the difference of the colour version of their picture to the black and white version:
- BJ – "It reminded me of what it looked like on tv when they didn’t have colour tv. I couldn’t see the details like; there was a pond and in the black and white it disappeared."
- GB – "On the coloured one I could see the lily pads and flowers on the lily pads and on the non-coloured one I couldn’t see the flowers or lily pads. It looked like a whole different picture!"
- KM – "It is relaxing and peaceful because they used less colours and they are balanced together."
Important Dates:
- Nov 13 - Picture Retakes
- Nov 13 - Grade 3 Field Trip to The National Music Centre and East Village Park
- Nov 14 - School Council (7:00pm)
- Nov 17 – PD Day – No School for Students
October 23rd - 27th
Math
We have been working on using the Break Apart Strategy. Students are becoming more confident in showing their thinking by recording the steps of the strategy they are using to solve 2 digit and 3 digit addition problems. Breaking apart addends as a way to solve an addition problem means that students reorganize the numbers in a way that makes the numbers easier to calculate. This strategy often involves students rearranging the addends (the numbers that are being added together) into groups of hundreds, tens and ones. Next they add the hundreds, tens and ones individually before adding them all together to produce the final sum (answer).
Yoga
Students have been enjoying their first few yoga sessions! The focus for our yoga times are to become more mindful of our bodies and thoughts. How are we feeling? What are we thinking about? What are our worries? How do we clear our minds to help us focus? How can deep breathing help us regulate our emotions and feelings?
Follow My Directions! Game
We played a fun game where students had to sit back to back and try to create a picture together. The Speaking student had to use words to describe what and where they wanted their partner to draw on the mini whiteboard. The Drawing partner had to listen carefully and try to draw exactly what their partner had asked them to. The Speaking students quickly realized that the more specific and detailed directions they gave the more accurate their partner was able to record and draw what they were describing. After this activity, the students all agreed that good details definitely help make things much more clear and easier to understand!
Important Dates:
Math
We have been working on using the Break Apart Strategy. Students are becoming more confident in showing their thinking by recording the steps of the strategy they are using to solve 2 digit and 3 digit addition problems. Breaking apart addends as a way to solve an addition problem means that students reorganize the numbers in a way that makes the numbers easier to calculate. This strategy often involves students rearranging the addends (the numbers that are being added together) into groups of hundreds, tens and ones. Next they add the hundreds, tens and ones individually before adding them all together to produce the final sum (answer).
Yoga
Students have been enjoying their first few yoga sessions! The focus for our yoga times are to become more mindful of our bodies and thoughts. How are we feeling? What are we thinking about? What are our worries? How do we clear our minds to help us focus? How can deep breathing help us regulate our emotions and feelings?
Follow My Directions! Game
We played a fun game where students had to sit back to back and try to create a picture together. The Speaking student had to use words to describe what and where they wanted their partner to draw on the mini whiteboard. The Drawing partner had to listen carefully and try to draw exactly what their partner had asked them to. The Speaking students quickly realized that the more specific and detailed directions they gave the more accurate their partner was able to record and draw what they were describing. After this activity, the students all agreed that good details definitely help make things much more clear and easier to understand!
Important Dates:
- Nov 2 - Bee Presentation
- Nov 13 - Picture Retakes
- Nov 14 - School Council (7:00pm)
October 16th - 20th
Thank you to all of the families who attended our conferences!
It is always a pleasure to work with you and your child along their educational journey!
Important Dates:
Thank you to all of the families who attended our conferences!
It is always a pleasure to work with you and your child along their educational journey!
Important Dates:
- Oct 26 - Bee Presentation Assembly (10:30am)
- Oct 26 - Halloween Dance
- Nov 13 - Picture Retakes
- Nov 14 - School Council (7:00pm)
October 10th - 13th
It was a short week...but a busy one! We hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving :)
Kananaskis Wetlands Assembly
Students enjoyed the entertaining and educational Wetlands Assembly brought to us by Alberta Parks. There sure was a lot to be learned about the beaver! Our grade 3 students had the opportunity to participate in a smaller group presentation and learned more about the beavers adaptations, home and how many factors can influence their survival.
Art > Self-Portraits and Leaf Sketching
Students worked hard on finishing up their self-portraits this week. We talked a lot about the importance of looking closely and drawing what they see...and not from memory. Using mirrors students studied their faces and unique features such as freckles, moles, scars and birthmarks. We talked about proportions of the face and using symmetry. When sketching our leaves we looked closely at the leaf to understand the shape, edges, veins as well as markings, holes and tears. Students did a great job slowing down to take their time to study the leaf and draw what they saw.
It was a short week...but a busy one! We hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving :)
Kananaskis Wetlands Assembly
Students enjoyed the entertaining and educational Wetlands Assembly brought to us by Alberta Parks. There sure was a lot to be learned about the beaver! Our grade 3 students had the opportunity to participate in a smaller group presentation and learned more about the beavers adaptations, home and how many factors can influence their survival.
Art > Self-Portraits and Leaf Sketching
Students worked hard on finishing up their self-portraits this week. We talked a lot about the importance of looking closely and drawing what they see...and not from memory. Using mirrors students studied their faces and unique features such as freckles, moles, scars and birthmarks. We talked about proportions of the face and using symmetry. When sketching our leaves we looked closely at the leaf to understand the shape, edges, veins as well as markings, holes and tears. Students did a great job slowing down to take their time to study the leaf and draw what they saw.
Math
We have been spending some time playing with the concept of place value in math. Students have been learning how to represent a three digit number in a variety of ways, such as through drawing pictures, using manipulatives (units -1's, rods -10's, flats - 100's) or writing it using numerals. They are learning how to tell the position as well as the value of a digit in a given number. For example when given the number 642 and asked to tell the position of the 4...they could say "The 4 is in the ten's place and has a value of 40. They are learning to show the expanded form of the digit as well -> 600 + 40 + 2 = 642
We have been spending some time playing with the concept of place value in math. Students have been learning how to represent a three digit number in a variety of ways, such as through drawing pictures, using manipulatives (units -1's, rods -10's, flats - 100's) or writing it using numerals. They are learning how to tell the position as well as the value of a digit in a given number. For example when given the number 642 and asked to tell the position of the 4...they could say "The 4 is in the ten's place and has a value of 40. They are learning to show the expanded form of the digit as well -> 600 + 40 + 2 = 642
Important Dates:
- Oct 16 - Parent Teacher Conferences (8:00am– 1:00pm and 3:00pm – 7:00pm)
- Oct 19 - Picture Day
- Oct 13 - School-wide Yoga Begins
- Oct 26 - Bee Presentation Assembly (10:30am)
- Oct 26 - Halloween Dance
- Nov 13 - Picture Retakes
- Nov 14 - School Council (7:00pm)
October 2nd - 6th
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful Grade 3 Families! We hope you have enjoyed a lovely weekend filled with lots of smiles, happiness and love. We are very thankful for the amazing grade 3 students who fill our classroom with Heartprints everyday!
Math
In math we have been working on understanding numbers through concepts such as highest and lowest, odd and even as well as place value. Looking at different numbers with 2 - 4 digits in them, students were asked to identify which number was highest or lowest, odd or even while using place value language to 'prove it'. For example when asked about the numbers '7863' and 5216" a student might say - "I know the number 7863 is odd because the last digit in the ones column is a 3 which is an odd number" or they might compare and describe the numbers this way, "7863 is higher than 5216 because it has 2 more thousands in it."
Here are a few comments from our 'Math Talks' this week:
The NED Show
Students were well entertained by Ryan with his crazy yo-yo tricks and magic that he used to help tell the story of becoming a Champion! The message of the NED show was...Never give up...Encourage others...Do your best. It was a great reminder of the importance of having a good attitude and making good choices!
SibbaldU
Teachers and students were excited to have the first SibbaldU course this past week! Lots of great things were happening all over the school. This cross-grade time is a chance for opportunities to build leadership, collaboration, and new friendships! Students in grade 3 came back from their courses buzzing with excitement to share about their experiences. This round of SibbaldU will be held on Friday's until December.
Important Dates:
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful Grade 3 Families! We hope you have enjoyed a lovely weekend filled with lots of smiles, happiness and love. We are very thankful for the amazing grade 3 students who fill our classroom with Heartprints everyday!
Math
In math we have been working on understanding numbers through concepts such as highest and lowest, odd and even as well as place value. Looking at different numbers with 2 - 4 digits in them, students were asked to identify which number was highest or lowest, odd or even while using place value language to 'prove it'. For example when asked about the numbers '7863' and 5216" a student might say - "I know the number 7863 is odd because the last digit in the ones column is a 3 which is an odd number" or they might compare and describe the numbers this way, "7863 is higher than 5216 because it has 2 more thousands in it."
Here are a few comments from our 'Math Talks' this week:
- LB "If you have 4 cookies and 4 people, you would each get 1 cookie and it would be fair. But if you had 4 people and only 3 cookies it wouldn’t be fair. It would be an odd amount"
- BJ "If you had 3 its not even because there are 1 and 2 and so its not balanced"
- KM "The last digit in the number tells us if it is odd or even"
- AB "8 is 4 and 4 – they each have a partner so that means it is even"
- RM "If you look at the front number it tells you if it is highest or lowest and the back number tells you if it is even or odd"
The NED Show
Students were well entertained by Ryan with his crazy yo-yo tricks and magic that he used to help tell the story of becoming a Champion! The message of the NED show was...Never give up...Encourage others...Do your best. It was a great reminder of the importance of having a good attitude and making good choices!
SibbaldU
Teachers and students were excited to have the first SibbaldU course this past week! Lots of great things were happening all over the school. This cross-grade time is a chance for opportunities to build leadership, collaboration, and new friendships! Students in grade 3 came back from their courses buzzing with excitement to share about their experiences. This round of SibbaldU will be held on Friday's until December.
Important Dates:
- Oct 9 – No School Thanksgiving
- Oct 10 – School Council 7:00 pm
- Oct 11 – Kananaskis in the Classroom – Wetlands Assembly
- Oct 16 – Parent Teacher Conferences (8:00am– 1:00pm and 3:00pm – 7:00pm)
- Oct 19 – Picture Day
September 25th - 29th
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
Here are a few highlights from the week:
Planting for Pollinators
What a great afternoon we had for this experience! Students eagerly walked to our planting site and were excited to get their hands a little dirty as they dug through the dirt and planted milkweed to help attract butterflies and bees! We had tons of fun learning interesting facts about bees and students had lots of great questions too!
Terry Fox Run
The students worked very hard to prepare for our annual Terry Fox Run and did an AMAZING job getting it all done! They were busy making posters, doing announcements, delivering and collecting donation jars, organizing stickers/tattoos, interviewing friends, choosing music for the run, writing the script for the assembly as well as counting all of the donations...and it was all done with lots of heart and great big smiles :)
A total of $740 was raised this year by our school! Thank you for your participation and generosity - You have help Make A Difference!
Writing
Students have been working on writing personal reflections and connections over the past week. After reading stories such as 'Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears', students were invited to share their personal responses to the stories. How did they connect...to the storyline or characters? How did the story make them feel? What lesson or learning did they take away from the story? What made the story interesting or not interesting? We discovered that our own personal experiences effect how we may interact with different stories. For example, if someone has never gone fishing they would have a difficult time relating to a story about fishing!
Orange Shirt Day
We showed our support on Friday as we wore Orange Shirts for #EveryChildMatters. We read the story 'Shi-shi-etko' and began our discussion about the history behind Residential Schools. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for us to talk about the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.
Important Dates:
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
Here are a few highlights from the week:
Planting for Pollinators
What a great afternoon we had for this experience! Students eagerly walked to our planting site and were excited to get their hands a little dirty as they dug through the dirt and planted milkweed to help attract butterflies and bees! We had tons of fun learning interesting facts about bees and students had lots of great questions too!
- "I learned that the Nevada Bee is endangered"
- "Wow! When a honey bee stings you it dies because its stinger is attached to it's guts so they get pulled out!"
- "A bee tries to look like a wasp so they seem like more of a threat...that's so cool!"
- I can't believe that there are 29 different kinds of bees in Calgary! How do they figure that out?"
Terry Fox Run
The students worked very hard to prepare for our annual Terry Fox Run and did an AMAZING job getting it all done! They were busy making posters, doing announcements, delivering and collecting donation jars, organizing stickers/tattoos, interviewing friends, choosing music for the run, writing the script for the assembly as well as counting all of the donations...and it was all done with lots of heart and great big smiles :)
A total of $740 was raised this year by our school! Thank you for your participation and generosity - You have help Make A Difference!
Writing
Students have been working on writing personal reflections and connections over the past week. After reading stories such as 'Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears', students were invited to share their personal responses to the stories. How did they connect...to the storyline or characters? How did the story make them feel? What lesson or learning did they take away from the story? What made the story interesting or not interesting? We discovered that our own personal experiences effect how we may interact with different stories. For example, if someone has never gone fishing they would have a difficult time relating to a story about fishing!
Orange Shirt Day
We showed our support on Friday as we wore Orange Shirts for #EveryChildMatters. We read the story 'Shi-shi-etko' and began our discussion about the history behind Residential Schools. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for us to talk about the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.
Important Dates:
- Oct 5 - The NED Show Assembly 9:00 – 9:45
- Oct 9 – No School Thanksgiving
- Oct 10 – School Council 7:00 pm
- Oct 11 – Kananaskis in the Classroom – Wetlands Assembly
- Oct 16 – Parent Teacher Conferences (8:00am– 1:00pm and 3:00pm – 7:00pm)
- Oct 19 – Picture Day
September 18th - 22nd
This week there was a big focus on the WE versus the ME. Time was spent talking about what the word 'Hero' means to us and why the WE is so important. Terry Fox was our inspiration for our discussions as we began preparing for our school Terry Fox Run event happening this week coming up. Students were eager to make posters, write announcements, make donation jars, prepare for our assembly as well as organize stickers and tattoos to hand out to all of the students. Some quotes from our students:
Thank you again for all of your support with this important event.
Important Dates:
This week there was a big focus on the WE versus the ME. Time was spent talking about what the word 'Hero' means to us and why the WE is so important. Terry Fox was our inspiration for our discussions as we began preparing for our school Terry Fox Run event happening this week coming up. Students were eager to make posters, write announcements, make donation jars, prepare for our assembly as well as organize stickers and tattoos to hand out to all of the students. Some quotes from our students:
- "It is important that we do the Terry Fox run because we need to carry on his legacy."
- "Terry wanted to make a difference for people with cancer - he was thinking of the WE not the ME"
- "Terry never gave up, He ran a marathon everyday so people would donate money. He is a hero"
- "I want to be like Terry and never give up even when it's so hard"
- "Terry helped others and we should too"
Thank you again for all of your support with this important event.
Important Dates:
- Monday Sept. 25th > Planting Day (we will be leaving @ 1:05)
- Thursday Sept. 28th > Terry Fox Run (Assembly @ 9:00 / Run begins @ 9:30)
- Friday Sept. 29th > Orange Shirt Day (http://www.orangeshirtday.org/)
September 11th - 15th
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
We had a great visit from Colin Pischke talking to us about his work with making prosthetic hands using his 3D printer. He shared his passion about wanting to make a difference in the world and talked about how the most difficult things often bring us the most reward. Students were excited to watch his 3D printer at work as he presented, as well as manipulate the model hand that he passed around. After his presentation some students shared their comments:
“I liked Colin because he was spending his time helping others and not just himself”
“Colin wasn’t just thinking of himself but he was also thinking of others”
“Colin is a good person because he is changing peoples lives”
“I wonder if he will ever make legs for people or animals?”
“I wonder who made the first prosthetic hand?”
“I wonder how old Colin was when he started his own business?”
The weather held up for us for the most part as we visited the Beakerhead site by Fort Calgary. Thank you for dressing warm!
It was a great field trip experience as the students were eager to check out the Teeter-Totters, a giant snake, the infamous Star Wars AT-AT and learn a little about baton twirling!
Our first stop was the Impulse installation. Kids tested their teamwork skills to work the teeter-totters in sync so they would play music as well as light up. There were many wonderings and conclusions being uncovered as they tested: "I think it has to touch this pad on the ground to work?!" "Maybe it is louder if we hit it harder?" "I wonder if the shorter ones make a different sound?"
Next was the giant Serpent Mother. What a beauty! The students stood in awe of her size - 168 feet long! and her remote controlled head as it moved up and down and side to side (although they were a little disappointed to not get to see her breathe fire!) There was talk about all of the different sciences behind her design - engineering, chemistry, biology, art.
The AT-AT installation was a chance to get hands on and creative! The students had fun designing and building their own creations out of small pvc piping and plastic joiners. There were many interesting creations and lots of wonder and conversation about each others designs!
As we began our presentation about Baton Twirling and Newton's Law of Motion...the skies opened up and we ran for shelter! This is something that we will look more closely at in class!
Important Dates:
It was another fabulous week in Grade 3!
We had a great visit from Colin Pischke talking to us about his work with making prosthetic hands using his 3D printer. He shared his passion about wanting to make a difference in the world and talked about how the most difficult things often bring us the most reward. Students were excited to watch his 3D printer at work as he presented, as well as manipulate the model hand that he passed around. After his presentation some students shared their comments:
“I liked Colin because he was spending his time helping others and not just himself”
“Colin wasn’t just thinking of himself but he was also thinking of others”
“Colin is a good person because he is changing peoples lives”
“I wonder if he will ever make legs for people or animals?”
“I wonder who made the first prosthetic hand?”
“I wonder how old Colin was when he started his own business?”
The weather held up for us for the most part as we visited the Beakerhead site by Fort Calgary. Thank you for dressing warm!
It was a great field trip experience as the students were eager to check out the Teeter-Totters, a giant snake, the infamous Star Wars AT-AT and learn a little about baton twirling!
Our first stop was the Impulse installation. Kids tested their teamwork skills to work the teeter-totters in sync so they would play music as well as light up. There were many wonderings and conclusions being uncovered as they tested: "I think it has to touch this pad on the ground to work?!" "Maybe it is louder if we hit it harder?" "I wonder if the shorter ones make a different sound?"
Next was the giant Serpent Mother. What a beauty! The students stood in awe of her size - 168 feet long! and her remote controlled head as it moved up and down and side to side (although they were a little disappointed to not get to see her breathe fire!) There was talk about all of the different sciences behind her design - engineering, chemistry, biology, art.
The AT-AT installation was a chance to get hands on and creative! The students had fun designing and building their own creations out of small pvc piping and plastic joiners. There were many interesting creations and lots of wonder and conversation about each others designs!
As we began our presentation about Baton Twirling and Newton's Law of Motion...the skies opened up and we ran for shelter! This is something that we will look more closely at in class!
Important Dates:
- Tuesday Sept. 19th > Parent Council meeting @ 7:00
- Friday Sept. 22nd > PD Day (NO SCHOOL for students
- Monday Sept. 25th > Planting Day (more info to come)
- Thursday Sept. 28th > Terry Fox Run
- Friday Sept. 29th > Orange Shirt Day
September 5th - 8th
Wow - What a great first week we had in Grade 3! It was so exciting to see everyone - catching up with old friends and meeting new ones! We spent this week getting back into the swing of things learning new routines as well as new expectations.
This week we:
Important Dates:
Wow - What a great first week we had in Grade 3! It was so exciting to see everyone - catching up with old friends and meeting new ones! We spent this week getting back into the swing of things learning new routines as well as new expectations.
This week we:
- played a classroom scavenger hunt to help us become familiar with our new learning environment
- met the wonderful Mrs. Harris for Music and played a few fun games
- wrote about how we view ourselves as learners
- played with a variety of lines and created interesting, unique line art
- worked in groups to design a community with loose parts
- talked about 'good-fit' books and selected some books for our personal book bins
- enjoyed learning some new games such as Ship, Shark, Shore in Phys. Ed
- watched a skittles video and noticed and wondered in math
Important Dates:
- Monday Sept. 11th - Coco Brooks Pizza orders due
- Thursday Sept. 14th - Grade 3 Field Trip to Beakerhead
- Thursday Sept. 14th - Welcome Back Picnic @ 6:00
Thursday August 31st
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our Grade 3 Classroom Blog. This space will be updated each Friday with highlights of our learning from the week, as well as important classroom / school updates and information.
We are excited about the 2017/18 school year and look forward to working with you and your child on this exciting journey of learning!
Important Dates:
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our Grade 3 Classroom Blog. This space will be updated each Friday with highlights of our learning from the week, as well as important classroom / school updates and information.
We are excited about the 2017/18 school year and look forward to working with you and your child on this exciting journey of learning!
Important Dates:
- Friday September 1st - Open House from 1:00 - 2:00