Beach Day...

This week, we celebrated the sun and sand by dressing up for Beach Day! 

In Language Arts this week, we started looking at the components of a story. We read different versions and spin off stories of the "Three Little Pigs". We talked about the similarities and differences in the characters, setting, problem and solution. As a class, we created story maps for each of the stories.

Students then used a story map to jot down ideas for their own story. 

We have now finished all of the letters of the alphabet in handwriting. The students  will be doing a bit of review before we start writing sentences. 

In Math, we continued learning about addition. The students learned how to round to the nearest ten. They also started adding two digit numbers, using base ten blocks to demonstrate an understanding of making groups of tens. 

To practice their basic facts, they played a game called Addition Battle. 

The students finished their Survivor title page in Science. 

Throughout the building unit, the students will be asked to complete various experiments. To launch the unit we discussed what a fair test was. The class was given a short activity which didn't end up being fair for all students in our room. We talked about why the activity wasn't fair and what makes a fair test. We then completed our first challenge. There was an earthquake on our island and the students needed to construct a bridge to cross the crevice. The students created a square bridge and an arch bridge and tested the load it would hold. We learned that the arch bridge holds more as the mass is distributed evenly and there are no pressure points. 

In Social, we learned about the Tunisian coat of arms. We talked about the symbols and the meaning of justice, order and freedom. The students then coloured the coat of arms for the front of their lapbook. 

Congratulations to another one of our students who flew to India this week by reading 1200 minutes! 

We also had a student complete the amazing race and is now flying around for a SECOND time!! 

Instrument Projects...

The students had the opportunity to present their instruments that they constructed at home. They described how they made their instruments and demonstrated how to control the volume and change the pitch. They were all creative and a lot of thought was put into the construction.

Our next unit in Science will be a "Survivor" themed unit. We will cover the concepts "Building with a Variety of Materials" and "Testing Materials and Designs" of the grade three curriculum. This week, the students were put into tribes and worked together to think of a tribe name. Over the next few months, the students will be given weekly challenges, which will require them to work together to make conclusions based on the curriculum outcomes of these two units. They are VERY excited to get started!

This week in Math, we talked about addition and subtraction equations. Students were given questions and asked to find the missing numbers. They were able to use a variety of strategies to find the answer. Example questions... 4+ ___= 11,     5+___= 10-2  

They will be given a review assignment on Monday.

Students also played a math game to review addition and subtraction equations. 

In Language Arts this week, we continued reading our Collections series. We have read numerous fairy tales. We have been really focusing on comprehension by stopping frequently throughout the stories to discuss what is happening. We also have been working on making predictions based on what we have read.

We also spent some time typing the good copies of their first "All About Me" paragraphs. The students used their chrome books to type and change the font, size, colour and layout of their paragraph. These paragraphs will be compiled into a booklet that will go into their year end memory books. 

We work on Spelling each day to give the students as much practice as we can on their weekly words. This week, the students also spent a bit of time testing each other.

For handwriting this week, we did the letter Mm and Vv.

In Art, we did a directed drawing of a cardinal as we talked about the foreground and background of pictures. The students then painted their drawings.

We had one student fly to Ukraine this week. 

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!

Skating Week...

Thank you so much to the parents who came to help tie skates and those who went on the ice with the students! 

The kids had a blast on the ice! Those who were fairly new at skating were determined to learn and their confidence throughout the week grew! 

We started a new writing project in Language Arts. The students were given an outline which included 12 different topic areas. Throughout the next few months they will choose from these topics and work on writing paragraphs which include a topics sentence, details and a concluding sentence. Once they have been edited, they will type their work so that it can be complied and published into a booklet. It ends up being a great keepsake and the students are excited about this project! 

We have also been reading from our Collections books and the students have been especially excited with this Fairytale series. 

Listen to reading was done on our classroom iPads this week. The students really enjoyed this!

For handwriting this week, we completed the letters Ee and Nn. The students were excited to add many classmates names to the list list of words we can now write. 

We started our next unit in Math, "Addtion and Subtraction". This week we focussed on different mental math strategies such as using doubles and making ten. 

The students were also taught a math game which reinforced finding the sums of the numbers 10-18, in more than one way. eg 6+6=12, 7+5=12, 8+4=12, 9+3=12 

The class was given their instrument project this week. These are due on Monday. The assignment package that was sent home also needs to be complete and brought back to school.

This week in music class, the students used the handbells. We had a chance to watch them in action and they did a fantastic job!

This week we learned about Gandhi and his beliefs. 

To wrap up our unit on India the grade three students spent the afternoon celebrating India culture by rotating through a variety of activities! 

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!