Last week of October

 Hello room 5 students and parents! Thank you for another busy and productive week in the classroom. We had a chance to go on a nature walk on Thursday afternoon and took the opportunity to sketch the many types of 2D and 3D shapes we saw in nature and also those that make up structures we saw along the way. Also we celebrated on Friday with our Halloween activities and showed off our costumes to the rest of the school via Google Meet.

In Mathematics, students were working on creating a bar graph based on their houses that they constructed out of various types of 2D shapes drawn on the paper. Students are also working on decreasing number patterns and being able to explain the pattern rule that goes with the pattern. Students are still working to represent numbers and using a variety of strategies to add numbers together. 

In writing, we are using our 6 Senses (including feelings) to write about our experiences as we enter into our Spooky or Mysterious houses that we had drawn earlier in the week. We used a variety of sentence starters and tried to vary how we began each of our sentences to draw the reader into our writing. 

In Science, we looked at how various animals care for their young. With mammals and some birds, the caregiving time is a lot longer than with some animals that just lay eggs and leave. We also look at how animals have to adapt to their environments in order to survive.

In Social Studies, we are exploring the landscape of Peru and what they use the land and water for in their daily lives. Each country we study has unique features to it and they can effect the quality of life for the people who live in that country.

I hope you have a safe and enjoyable Halloween if you are choosing to go out tonight. Remember to wear your formal uniform for Monday and if parents didn't know, our class has won free ice cream for the whole class for always having our formal uniforms on for each Monday since the start of the school year!

October 19th - 22nd

 Where has October gone? It seems like this month has just flown by and we are close to the end of the month next week!

Students had the opportunity to participate in Adventure Running this week at school. Students learned the basics the first day in the school playground and then had a chance to travel to a close by park in the community and put their mapping reading skills into practice. It was a lot of fun to watch them carefully read their maps with their partners and then race off to figure out the various words they could spell out using the letters on the flags they found throughout the park.

In Mathematics, students continue to try out various strategies in order to find the sums of 2 and 3 digit addition sentences. They were also asked to create an increasing movement pattern with a partner while the rest of the class tried to guess how their pattern had changed. Students are also being asked to represent numbers using a variety of methods and then explain what their thinking was in expressing their answer.

In Writing, we brainstormed various ways to use our 6 Senses while taking a Fall walk. Students were asked to use vivid language in order for the reader to get a clear picture of what they say, hear, tasted, felt and smelled during their fall walks. 

In Science, we have explored the three different classifications of animals based on what they eat. We talked about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and how they get their energy to live. Students also started to explore how various animals care for their young with different animals either leaving their young right away whereas some care for them for quite a while before letting them go out on their own. 

In Social Studies, we have created a brochure to highlight the landforms found in the country of India. Students had to create a map that showed the 4 regions that make up India, talk about how long it takes to get there by plane and describe some of the features that make up the landscape of India.  

A reminder that Monday is Photo Retake for students and parents need to email me that they would like their child to get a retake done on this day. Next week, we hope to go as a class on a Community Walk to use our senses to observe how the season of fall is all around us. Students will also be excited to know that on Friday, we will be having our Halloween celebrations and Virtual Halloween parade of the costumes that students have chosen to wear. Students need to wear their costumes to school on Friday and there are no weapons that are part of costumes allowed at school. Students are invited to bring a special treat for themselves, but please do not send any treats for other students in the class.

Have a wonderful weekend and see everyone on Monday morning in their formal uniforms!

October 12th - 15th

 

Welcome to this week's blog. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with their families. 

This has been a busy week in the classroom. In mathematics we have focused on representing three digit numbers using the standard form, written form, expanded form, Base Ten blocks, addition and subtraction sentences to show our understanding. Students haven also been exploring increasing or growing patterns and the importance of being specific if you are writing out the pattern rules. We have looked at patterns with shapes, numbers and recently, movement patterns that increase. Next week, the students will be sharing their movement patterns that they created with their partners with the rest of the class.

In Writing, we are looking at using our 6 Senses (including feelings) to write about what we might experience on a fall walk. The students were brainstorming the various sights, sounds, activities and feelings we have during this season of autumn.

In Science, the students continued to explore the classifications of animals while looking at the characteristics of reptiles and amphibians. Students also tried their hand at creating What Animal Am I riddles to share with their classmates by giving them clues as to what specific type of animal were they talking about. There were so very interesting creatures shared over the past couple of days!

In Social Studies, students have been taking their understandings of land, the climate and resources founds in the country of India. Students have been creating their own brochures to share their information with others, including the regions found in the country, how long it takes to get there from Calgary and the resources that can be found or grown in the country. 

In Art, we are looking at creating art pieces using various 2D shapes and then connected it to math and recording the number of shapes we used and creating a graph based on it.

Have a wonderful long weekend and see everyone back at school on Tuesday morning.

 

October 4th - 7th

 Hello Room 5 students and parents! The first full week of October has flown by and we are heading into the long Thanksgiving weekend. The students spent part of the week discussing and writing about the many thing that we have in our lives that we are thankful for and the list was long! We all realized how grateful we are to live in a country where our quality of life is very high compared to so many other places in the world.

In Mathematics, students are reviewing increasing patterns and writing specific pattern rules to match up with the pattern they are being asked to create themselves. Students have also been looking at representing numbers with 3 digits and soon will be looking at numbers that go above 1000.  

In Social Studies, we continue to explore the land and climates of the various countries we study. We have discussed how land can greatly effect people's quality of life and whether the land is suitable for people to meet their needs.

In Science, we have explored birds, fish, insects and amphibious types of animals in our studies of animal life cycle. Each category of animals have various types of body parts that allow them to move, swim and breathe in their respective environments. Students recently learned that insects or invertebrates make up almost 95 percent of the total animals found on Earth!

In Reading, students have started to work in their small guided reading groups doing a variety of literacy activities throughout the week. The students are being asked to explain how they decode unfamiliar words they find in the stories they read and also what reading strategies great readers use to understand the various elements found in the stories being read. 

Again, there is no school on Monday, but I hope that you are able to spend some quality time together with family and look forward to hearing all the wonderful stories from the students about their weekends!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

September 27th - October 1st

 Hello Room 5! Hard to believe we are already into the month of October!

This week in math, we have been learning how to write and draw numbers into the hundreds. We have also touched on increasing patterns and writing out a specific pattern rule to explain what others are to do in order to make the pattern.

In Science, we continue to classify animals into groups and learning about characteristics such as body covering, how they breath, habitats and if they are warm or cold blooded. We also looked at the life cycles of chickens (for birds) and rabbits (for mammals). 

In writing we are wrote out what we had learned about Terry Fox and his influence in Canadian society for all that he has done to aid cancer research.

As this week recognized both Orange Shirt Day and the Truth and Reconciliation Day on Thursday, the grade three classes put together our first (virtual) assembly. If you haven't had a chance to see it parents, please check out the amazing job the grade threes did!

In Social Studies, we have been exploring landforms and names of bodies of water as well as start to look at the various regions that make up the countries we are studying, starting with the country of Peru. Students have been discussing how the land and water sources that make up the country can effect their quality of life in many ways.

In Art, we have been evaluating Indigenous art and the feelings we have when we look at a piece of art. Students were introduced into what the foreground and background is and what shapes and patterns we might see in a piece of artwork.

Next week, there is no school on Friday as it is a Professional Development day and remember to come dressed in your formal uniform for Monday morning! Enjoy what looks like a beautiful Sunday and see you Monday!