3FT Third Grade Thoughts: Safely on Board and Motivational Magic

We had a short but COLD week. Luckily, we had a few presentations to keep our minds off of the winter weather.

Each class participated in the "Safely on Board" program to remind the students of the bus rules. This is important for all students, not just those students who normally take the bus on a daily basis. We will all be boarding the bus at some point this year for field trips and other special events. The students played a fun, interactive game to test their bus safety knowledge! Then they were off to show what they learned by boarding a bus, demonstrating proper behaviour while being a passenger and exiting safely incase of an emergency.

We were also treated to a very fun presentation by Steve Harmer from Motivational Magic. His assembly was focused on "Friends" and he talked about how important these people are in our lives. He performed magic tricks for the school and the students were absolutely amazed. He even used his magic to make a dove and bunny appear!

Every Monday, the students will begin their morning with Journal writing. Most of the time, it will be free writing about their weekend or on a topic of their choice. A few times throughout the year, they will be given a specific topic based around special events or holidays. They were reminded about how to write a paragraph; making sure it includes a topic sentence, details answering any of the five "W" questions (who, what, when, where and why) and a concluding sentence. If they finish their writing, they may add an illustration to go with their paragraph.

They used their "sloppy copies" from last week and worked on their good copies of their "Favourite Summer Memory" paragraphs and illustrations. These will be put in their binders for a Grade 3 keepsake.

We started reading from our Grade 3 Collections series. As a class, we will be reading short stories, poems or non-fiction selections from this book. The students are encouraged to try reading aloud to the class. If they do not feel comfortable, they are asked to follow along. Reading aloud will help them with their fluency and expression. We are hoping that by the end of the year, everyone will have the confidence to take a turn reading to the class.

The students have been assigned chrome books and introduced to Typing Club. They started by practicing the keys in "home row". When they are at home using the computer, please encourage them to practice their typing skills instead of using one finger to type.

The students were introduced to an activity that we will be completing often throughout the year called "Making Words". They are given a set of letters and asked to make 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 letter words. This set of letters also makes a "Mystery Word" which is a challenge and bonus if they figure it out! After giving them a few minutes on their own to make words, they are allowed to partner up to add to their charts. At the end of the activity, we share the words as a class. This week, they were given A, E, O, T, R, M, W, K... to spell TEAMWORK!

In Math this week the students worked on...

-Finding the differences between numbers by counting backwards and counting up.
-Using number lines to help counting backwards.
-Finding a number that is less than another number by a given difference.
-Extending a number pattern made by subtracting the same difference.
-Solving word problems using subtracting number patterns.

We have started our daily Mad Minutes. Students will be given two minutes to complete thirty questions. Each students has been asked to make individual goals. They are either trying to improve their mark each day or, if they are already getting 30/30, they are working on getting a faster time. We started with +1 and will increase the addition each week until +10. Then we will move on to subtraction, mixed facts (addition and subtraction) and then multiplication. If you notice that your child is struggling with any of the basic facts, please help them at home by making flash cards or having them do extra questions.

In Science, we started our "Rocks and Minerals" lapbook. This book is an alternative to using a duotang with worksheets and notes. They are really excited to start putting it together. This week, they worked on their title page. We also read books and watched videos to learn about the three different rock types; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Then the students added definitions and descriptions about the three rock types in their lapbooks.

This weeks focus in PE was locomotion. We played a variety of games and worked through different activities to work on locomotion. They practiced running, skipping, galloping, crab walk, bear walk, slithering and hopping!