In Language Arts, we started Journal writing. Every Monday morning when they students arrive at school they will have time to "free" write in their Journal. They are allowed to write about anything they would like to share with us. Most of the students will share what they did on the weekend, a special event that they might be looking forward to or they may even write a short story. This week, they were encouraged to write five sentences and then they had the opportunity to illustrate their Journals if they had time. We will be reading their Journals every week and responding with a question for them to answer the following Monday.
We completed our good copies of our Summer Memories. These, along with other art and writing projects, will be kept at school in your child's black "memory book". They will go home with your child on the last day of school.
We continued reading from our Collections series. We read a short story each day, having students volunteer to read aloud. The students are working on sounding out new words, becoming more fluent and using expression. We stop frequently throughout the stories to talk about new vocabulary words and main events that are happening. This week, we learned a few new words... jetty, congee and Amahs.
We decided our first spelling test of Grade 3 should be learning how to spell our classmate's names. As a class, we put all 17 names in alphabetical order in the agendas. We also did a number of activities throughout the week to help learn the names, including a pre-test. After completing the pre-test, each student was asked to make an individual goal for themselves. We were so proud of their accomplishments and there were a lot of smiles after the final test. Great job, 3B!
We completed one version of a "Making Words" activity this week, where the students were given vowels, consonants and a sentence clue and had to choose the word that could fit in the spaces provided. This activity is very valuable in reinforcing spelling rules and practicing word families.
We started our Mad Minutes this week. Each day the students will be given two minutes to complete thirty questions. They will do they same set, four times during the week starting at +1 for the first week, then +2 and gradually getting more difficult. Each student was asked to make a personal goal for the next day. Some students will be working on completing more questions within the two minutes and other students who have mastered the Mad Minutes for that level will be working on getting a faster time. If you notice that your child is struggling please help them practice at home. Making flash cards works well or we can send home extra sheets for practice.
Our first unit in Math is Patterns. This week we worked on number patterns by skip counting by 2, 3, 4 and 5. This is also a good skill to practice with your child at home, making sure they can start at any number between 0-100. For example, you might ask them to start skip counting by 2 starting at the number 46.
The students also learned a new domino game, called Tic Tac Twelve, to help them with their basic math facts. They enjoyed playing with a partner when they finished their work.
In Science, we learned about the difference between rocks and minerals. Rocks are made up of one or more minerals. Minerals have the same chemical makeup and crystal shape. We then learned about the 3 types of rocks - Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary. We recorded the information into our lap books.
We also read and watched a video about the different layers of the Earth. The Earth consists of four layers...inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. Then the students coloured a diagram for their lap books.
We had our first opportunity to buddy read this week. Our grade 1 neighbours across the hall joined us for some reading time. The students really enjoyed reading and being read to!
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