Marble Run

The Grade 3 students have been working hard to create a marble run! The goal was to show how the forces help the marble start moving, stop moving, and change direction. There were many challenges but the students worked together and problem solved. In the end, our marble run is a success!

Oct. 24th Quick Update

Dance a Thon

Thank you to the families that have donated to our first ever Dance a Thon! We are still hoping for more pledges to come in. Please know that this, and Hansen Palooza are our only big school fundraisers this year ( no QSP, plant orders, etc.) If you have any questions about this, or need a new pledge form please do not hesitate to contact me! Our class will be dancing before lunch on October 31st. Students are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes, or fall colours.

Pride Assembly

Our class will be sharing a movie that we created about Difference Makers at the Pride Assembly this Friday morning at 9:20 am. Families are welcome to attend!

Spelling Test

We will have our first spelling test this Monday, October 27th. I have explained this process to students, and sent a note home explaining the word choice, and how to prepare. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Math Homework

Math homework for this week will be handed out tomorrow. It is due Friday, if this does not work for your family then please remind your child to bring it to school completed by Monday latest. 

Edsby

A note went home last week explaining a new platform that our school is using called Edsby. This is a great tool for reporting an absence, and scheduling interviews (in November). The school is hoping that families will register, and perhaps download the app. Please let me know  if you have questions about this, or need  help!

Pictures from Today

I was able to capture a few pictures of our learning today! Below you will see pictures from our story walk outside, as well as some of the construction on our science projects. 

October 19th

Science

Here are some photos of the Grade 2 students exploring how the screw works in science class this week.

Today in science the students were presented with their design challenges. Time was provided for planing and designing cars, and marble runs. Construction will begin next week! We could still use more cardboard and toilet and paper towel rolls, as well as small empty boxes.




Grade 3 students designing a marble run.




A car design from a Grade 2 student.

Literacy

This was our final week of sharing our connections while reading as a whole class. Next week we will focus on making visualizations while reading, and learn about how this helps us with our comprehension. Students are still encouraged to make connections while reading as is helps readers monitor their comprehension, and think about the text in a deeper way. 

In our Writer's Workshop this week we officially began our first big writing project. We are learning from master writers, like Jane Yolen, and Angela Johnson how to write meaningful stories. We know that writers write about what they know, and all students have special memories close to their heart that will make great personal narratives. The special memories are called "small moments", and for the next few weeks, we will be focusing on how to stretch out these memories, and turn them into stories. 

Here are some examples of memories that students in our class shared today. These are all possible small moments stories!

Math

In the upcoming weeks in math we will be learning about counting, representing numbers, ordering and comparing numbers, and rounding. This week we spent some time counting items in our classroom, or "taking an inventory". We are focusing on how many groups of ten numbers represent. For example the number 43 is 4 groups of ten, and 3 loose ones. We will dig deeper into this concept next week. 

Today we spent some time practising our skip counting. Students in Grade 2 are working towards being able to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s to 200. Students in Grade 3 are working towards being able to count by 2s, 5s, 10s, and 25s to 1000. 

Skip counting is a skill that is easily practised at home. Students can play simple skip counting games with their families in the car, or waiting in line at the grocery store. First decide if you will skip count by 2s, 5s, 10s, or 25s,. Next choose a number to start at (it's  more challenging if you don't always start at 1). Then take turns skip counting, see how far you can get!

Here is a link to skip counting games for Grade 2 students:

Grade 2 Skip Counting Games

Here is a link to skip counting games for Grade 3 students:

Grade 3 Skip Counting Games

Monday

Don't forget! Monday is a PA Day.

October 12th

October Pride Assembly

Our class will be sharing a movie we made about difference makers, and the importance of making a difference at the October Pride Assembly. The assembly will take place on Friday, October 26th, at 9:20 am in the gym. Families are welcome to attend!

Food Drive

The "We Scare Hunger" Food Drive is in full swing. Thank you to families that have sent in non-perishable food, or household items. So far our class has brought in about 12 items! The food drive will continue until the end of the month. Thank you for your support!

Dance-A-Thon

Our first ever Dance-A-Thon will be on October 31st! This year we will have 2 big fundraisers (The Dance-A-Thon, and Hansen Palooza in June). Thank you for supporting our school!

Library

Library book exchange is on Monday next week. Please remind your child to bring their books to school.

Request

Next week we will be doing some design challenges in science! We need small boxes (empty Kleenex, cereal boxes, etc.) and toilet and paper towel rolls (empty) to support our construction. If possible, please send these items in with your child asap. Thank you!

Poetry

Below is our poem of the week, "Autumn Wind". This week students in Grade 2 and 3 both examined this poem. We discussed strategies for determining the meaning of new and different words, as well as the different connections and visualizations that we can make while reading. The Grade 3 students learned about personification, a type of figurative language. Personification is when the writer gives human actions, or sounds to something that is not human. In this example the poet has given the human action of running to the wind.

Science

Our learning wall is growing! Here you can see that the Grade 2s have explored 4 of the 6 simple machines, and the Grade 3s have learned about 4 different forces in our everyday lives. Next week we will continue to explore a few more examples of simple machines (the screw, and wheel and axle) and natural forces (e.g., wind). 

Below see some pictures from our experiments today. The Grade 3 students were challenged to form a ball of clay into a shape that could float. From here we discussed the meaning of buoyancy and pondered how boats float. The Grade 2 students learned about the wedge by conducting a simple experiment using clay and their pencil. They were able to see how the pointy side of their pencil acted as a wedge to slice through the clay.

Math

In math this week we worked on sorting by two, and three attributes using a double, and triple Venn Diagram. Here are some examples of the grade 2s sorting gingerbread children by two attributes. The Grade 3s were working to sort shapes onto a triple Venn Diagram but we didn't get any pictures this time. The bottom picture shows a challenging sort where students had to determine the sorting rule. We had fun with a few challenging sorts like this throughout the week. On Monday students will sort objects of their choice by determining their own sorting rules using two, or three attributes on a double, or triple Venn Diagram. After that we will begin learning about place value. 

Visual Arts

Ms. Caughey sees our class twice a week for visual arts. This week she instructed the students to create some beautiful pieces incorporating leaves, pastels, and a variety of lines. 

Math Homework

Math homework was sent home today and it is due on Friday. There will continue to be math homework on Wednesdays, due on Friday most weeks this year. The math homework supports and reinforces concepts learned in class. It is intended to be a review, and practise, and not new or confusing. Please let me know if your child finds this math homework very challenging, and/or is taking longer than half an hour to complete. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

October 5th Update

Library

We continue to visit the library as a whole class on Day 3. Students are reminded to bring their books to school for exchange on this day. If a student is ready to exchange their books before Day 3 they may do so on Day 5, 1, or 2 in the morning right after O'Canada. 

Spelling

Spelling homework for this week was due today. If your child did not bring their spelling to school today, please remind them to bring the book on Tuesday as we will be exploring new words lists that day.

Portfolios

The green portfolio should come home today. Please review the first math test with your child, sign and return. If you have any questions, please ask!

Dance-a-Thon

We are having a Dance- a- Thon fundraiser this month! The dance will be on Halloween (October 31st!). Students will be bringing home information, and a pledge form today. The class that raises the most money will be rewarded with a pizza party! Thank you for supporting our school. If you have any questions please ask me. 

We Scare Hunger Food Drive

Throughout the month we will be collecting non-perishable food items, as well as household items to donate to our local food bank. Thank you for your support!

Math

We are now transferring our learning about attributes in patterns to sorting by attributes. Sorting is part of the Data Management curriculum. Here are the learning goals for each grade:

Grade Two: I am learning how to organize objects into categories by sorting and classifying objects using two attributes at the same time (sort attribute blocks by colour and shape at the same time)

Grade Three: I am learning how to organize objects into categories by sorting and classifying objects using two or more attributes at the same time (sort a collection of buttons by size, colour, and number of holes)

Literacy

In reading, we have been learning about the comprehension strategy of making connections while reading. Students have been sharing their connections orally, and in writing in their Learning Journals. 

In writing, we spent the first few weeks of school working on generating ideas. Students created a variety of "heart maps" where they wrote down ideas about memories and stories that are close to their hearts. This week we began "working on writing". Students were learning how to take these ideas and turn them into a story or recount, a letter, or a poem. 

Poetry

Each week we examine a new poem. Sometimes the Grade 2s and 3s have a different poem, and some weeks we all focus on the same one. Through our poem study we learn about new vocabulary, and strategies for determining the meaning of new words, figurative language, inferring, and more! 

This week the Grade 2 and 3 students had different poems. Here are the poems that they examined this week. 

Grade 3 Poem 

Grade 2 Poem 

Zones of Regulation

This week we were lucky to have Mrs. Britten visit our classroom. She read us a story and taught us about the zones of regulation. The zones  help us describe our emotions. Mrs. Britten explained that it is perfectly normal and ok to be in all of the different zones, but it is important to learn how to take care of ourselves, and cope when we are in the blue, red, or yellow zone. 

and finally....Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful long weekend with your families. We have so much to be thankful for!

Oops!

I have a couple of spelling books on my desk. If your child did not bring their spelling home tonight I accept full responsibility! I’m sorry! If your child needs more time please let me know and I will extend the due date to next Tuesday. Here are this week’s words.