Mid-week catch up

 Hello family and friends!

Thought I would send out a little update for our class and to give you a glance at what we are working on in class.

This week we celebrate pink shirt day, and being a very difficult year for all, we decided to celebrate it all week by talking about anti-bullying ideas and kindness everyday. The students whipped up a quick video after they brainstormed ideas and made a brief outline in groups. Most student groups chose to focus on the bullying aspect and finished with a kind message. The video was shared with the other grade three classes who shared one they also made in turn. 

We continue to roll on this week with our addition strategies, with some subtraction on the horizon! We are settling into how we like to solve problems and no two students are the same. I expect the next two weeks to be a bit of an adjustment for some of the students, as we take the difficulty up a notch. Don't worry! We are here to help, support, and assist everyone in the class until they are comfortable. 

We have been learning a lot about sound the last few days. What it is, how it works, and how our ears and brains perceive it. We've also participated in some cool experiments about how sound can move through solid objects and how it can move objects. In social studies, the students had a chance to check out student life at a few different Indian schools. We then took turns teaching each other about what we had learned. At the end of last week we tried our hand at some student-led coding time and watched the Perseverance land on Mars! It was an exciting and historical occasion that we are still talking about. 

 

Looking forward to some continued warm weather so we can get outside more often. As always, feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns. 

Stay healthy,

Adrian

February 16: How it's been and where we're going!

 Hello! 

First off, let me apologize for being more than a little late with a classroom blog update. It has been a busy week for myself as i've tried to organize myself to fill in for the amazing Mrs. Jordan. It's been a fun and rewarding past two weeks in the classroom, and I have spent the majority of my time getting to know the students, forming relationships within the school, and complete some basic assessment of literacy and numeracy. 

In math we have been working on completing our look at double and triple digit addition strategies. We are looking at a variety of ways to solve problems so we can find what works best for each individual student. Some are more intuitive than others, and if you're like me, finding out which strategy works best takes time. We also had some fun graphing some questionnaires for our classmates and signed up for an online math game called Prodigy, which is a gamified way of learning grade-appropriate math skills. In the next few weeks we will be looking at some subtraction strategies in the classroom. and I will be sure to post what we are working with, as subtraction can cause some headaches for students. 

In language arts, I'm happy to report that a writing stories craze has taken over the classroom. Students have been writing their own little books and reading them to their classmates during downtime. As a classroom, we are using this newfound love to increase our writing skills, and have been working on planning for our stories and why having an outline is important. Next, we will be exploring some self and peer-assessment for the student work and then moving into writing impactful beginnings that will hook readers. 

Last week the grade 3 team started working with a program called Making Words by Patricia and James Cunningham. The program aims to enhance the spelling-decoding words connection with students and comes in the form of individual lesson and worksheet containing consonants and vowels for the chosen words. This program is intended to be used in the classroom for three weeks to see if there is any marked improvement in student writing and spelling. 

In social studies we continue to examine life in other countries around the world. This week and last we looked at India. Next week we will be taking a closer look at Tunisia, followed by Ukraine. We will be comparing and contrasting the ways and quality of life in the countries, particularly as how it relates to school for children their age. 

In science, we dabbled with soil briefly but ultimately decided it would be a better subject to take up when we can get outside more and the ground is not frozen solid. We will instead be staring noise and sound this week, and we have a few experiments and a lot of fun things planned for the classroom. 

Next week we will be celebrating pink shirt day, and to make sure this isn't a one day celebration, we at Kenneth D. Taylor have decided to turn it into "Kindness Week".  This will most likely dominate our art, stories, and health blocks, with some possible crossover into writing and gym. I hope to have some good news for you on this in the coming days, but we are still in the planning phase on what this might look like for the classroom.   

Pictures to follow later this week. 

Hope all is well with your family and friends,

-Adrian

Goodbye and thank you

Today your child met their new teacher, Mr. Murphy. I have no doubt that he will be caring and patient and be an incredible new teacher to each of your children. He instantly connected to the students and over lunch, many of them coloured him pictures and made him things. This shows the impact he was able to make so quickly. Please take some time to welcome him! 

Today was the last day for me in Grade 3 and at Ken Taylor School. I feel so blessed to have worked with each child in this class and each has taught me something new.  The students in this class are so kind and loving and I will never forget how each of them has made me feel special and loved. 

Teaching in a pandemic was a whole new learning curve, but I couldn't have asked for a better class to learn this with. Through this pandemic, students have shown me and each other what kindness and friendship are and how to care for each other. They have shown patience and optimism when many of us feel quite the opposite of this. Because of this, I loved coming to school each day and seeing all their faces (well the top half of their faces...).  I laughed more than ever this year and this is because of the joy that each child brought to learning. 

I also want to say thank you to all the families for your kindness and support. The little emails and kind words have made what could be a really difficult and stressful year an incredible year. Although we couldn't see each other in person, I felt connected to each family. Thank you for being so kind and wonderful. 

I would love to keep in touch with you through the year and even in years to come. Send me a quick note and let me know how you are all doing. I hope to continue to connect even in small ways with the class and tell them all about my new adventures and learning. 

Thank you again for being so amazing!

Mrs. Jordan

Jan 27

There have been a lot of questions about Valentine's Day! With it being such a unique year we have adapted how we will do Valentine's Day. We know the importance of honouring the day and recognizing friendship and for this reason, we will still allow students to exchange cards.  Here is what you need to know for the exchange:

1. You do not have to hand out cards but if you do, please make sure everyone gets one

2. You can find the names of each student in our Google Classroom under "People"

3. No candy, food etc

4. All cards must be at school by Feb. 5 in order for them to quarantine in the class. 

5. Students will hand them out on Feb 10 (Feb. 11, 12 are non-instructional days for Teacher's Convention)

Today your child should have come home with a model of the layer's of Earth. We have been learning about the different rocks, how they are formed and what the rock cycle is. The layer of the earth are key to understanding that, so today we watched a short SciShow video: Earth's Layers.  Then we reviewed each earth and drew a diagram of the earth in our visual journals. Finally - we used plasticine to actually make a mini-version of these layers. They were thrilled when I cut them open and they could see all the layers. The classroom was buzzing with excitement and they loved comparing theirs with their peers!

In math, we have been working with both 2 and 3 digit numbers using the expanded form method of addition. For some students, this method makes sense and really works for others, they are having a difficult time wrapping their mind around it. It is only one of many strategies we will introduce. Have your child try to show you how this strategy works - I can promise it will be quite different from the way you learned math ;)

This strategy is helpful because it allows students to connect to what they know about the value of the number and expanded form. It also allows them to break each number up and doesn't involve any "carrying". 

Please check back tomorrow for a message from me as tomorrow will be my last day with students at Ken Taylor School. 💜

January 19

 We are so happy to be back at school in person and have been busy catching up with each other and learning new things. 

In math, we have been strengthening our understanding of our multiplication strategies and the times tables through games, open-ended math problems and even art! We have also been working on building our fluency and speed of our times tables by saying them aloud and using our math journals to help us record the times tables up to 5x5. Check out our beautiful art flowers that bring some joy, colour and hopes of spring to our class!

We have also used the book, One is a Snail to apply our knowledge of problem solving, multiplication and addition. We were introduced to different creatures we might see at the beach. We focused on the number of feet they had (I know... a funny concept) and put different combinations of feet together to make the total number of 30 feet or 10 feet depending on each child's preference and confidence level. There were endless combinations but here are few that we came up with.

If you have time, ask your child their times tables as you are driving, eating dinner or even out for a walk! The more exposure and practice they have, the more fluent and confident they will become. 

In science, we continue to learn about how the rocks can change from one rock to another with the rock cycle. We created some personal anchor charts and did a whole class Reader's Theatre to help us really understand this process. Some questions you could ask your child are:

• what are the 3 types of rocks?
• How does ______(sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic) change into another rock?
• What is erosion?
• What does magma do to a rock
• Describe the rock cycle 

We will be moving into looking at the properties of rocks and how their formation influences their properties. 

As you know by now, I have accepted a new position with the Calgary Board of Education as an ELL Strategist. This means that my last day with our class will be on January 28th. This was a very difficult decision to make as I have such a connection to this class, but this opportunity provides me with a unique learning experience and allows me to connect with children all over the city. I know that this learning will make me a better teacher. This transition is not easy for the students or families, but I will work to make this as easy as I can for everyone and please know I am only an email away if you need something :)

Important Upcoming Dates

• January 28 - Mrs. Jordan's Last Day
• January 29 - No School - Professional Development Day

Dec. 16

 Believe it or not, we are only two days away from our winter break. We have been busy this week doing some winter watercolour and mixed media art, learning about the different kinds of rocks, and learned about where one of our focus countries for this year is (Peru). 

In art, we designed a winter scene using watercolour paint and paper. We first created our sky by allowing different colours to blend into one another on our special watercolour paper. We then used white paper to create a snowy hill and lastly, created ombre stripes for some colourful winter pine trees. When we put them all together, they created a beautiful, calming winter forest masterpiece!

In science, we have learned about two of the three kinds of rocks: sedimentary and metamorphic! We used plasticine to model how these rocks are formed over many years on earth. Tomorrow we will learn about the last type, igneous rocks. Have your child tell you:

• how each rock is formed
• what energy is used to make rocks (heat, pressure etc.)
• where these rocks could be found
  
  
  
  
  
  

In social studies, we have been learning about quality of life and how different wants and needs can impact our quality of life.  We have been using our own lives as a focus for this concept, but will be expanding this into different counties in our world. This year, we will be focussing on 4 different countries: Peru, India, Tunisia, and Ukraine. Today, we used Google Maps to find South America and then Peru and explore the rainforest, mountains and oceans of this country. Your child should be able to name the continent and country we live in as well as the continent that Peru is in. 

Lastly, from Monday, January 4th to Friday, January 8th, schools across our province will be going online. We will once again be using the Google Classroom platform to host classroom meetings and to access the assignments for the week of online learning. Your child has had practice during school logging in into Google Classroom and has practiced assignments and Google Meets. You can find a timetable which includes whole class Google Meets, small groups as well as times I am available for questions or help. We will meet for the first time on January 4 at 9:15 on our Google Meet. Attendance will be taken at our classroom meet at 9:15AM each morning. 

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Friday is the last day before winter break!
• Online Learning - January 4 - 8
• Regular classes resume January 11

We look forward to this week. Please email me if there are questions or concerns.

Dec. 11

 We have finally finished all of our videos to show our knowledge of Animal Life Cycles and adaptations! To celebrate, we are going have a Movie Premiere on Tuesday, Dec. 15. We are going to take the afternoon to watch and enjoy the videos that each of us has made. With this red carpet event, we are inviting students to dress up if they wish and to bring a special second snack that they can eat while we watch them. Once we have watched them, we will post them on Google Classroom for you to watch as a family. 

We are so excited for this special event! Please don't hesitate to contact for me with any questions about this!

Also, your child may have come home with a "metamorphic rock" today. We learned about how metamorphic rocks are made and used plasticine to apply pressure, heat and time to create our own. Ask your child to tell you about this experiment and how metamorphic rocks are formed!

Important Upcoming Events:

Spirit Days - Monday - Ugly Sweater Day; Tuesday - Movie Premier or Christmas Ho-Down - Wear flannel and plaid; Wednesday -  wear red and white; Thursday - wear fun and/or fuzzy socks; Friday - Hawaiian Shirts or Vacation wear

Dec. 18 - Last Day of School before the break

Dec. 19 - Jan 3 - Winter Break

Jan 4 - 8 - Online Learning - No Face to Face Classes. Log on to Google Classroom!

Dec. 10

Welcome back! We were so excited to be together today. Knowing many of us hadn't spent much time outside in the last week, we spent a huge part of the morning outside!  We took a short walk, did a sharing circle and built structures out of snow. We tried to build the different 3D shapes that we learned about during online learning. Students worked in teams to create cones, rectangular prisms, cylinders and of course spheres. Can you find the different shapes in our structures?

We also have some fun spirit days in our school - We have been doing these online, but here is the calendar for the next week that shows them all! 

Important Upcoming Dates:

Last day of school - Dec. 18

Online Learning - Jan 4 - 8

Nov. 25

 Thank you to everyone who met with us for Parent Conferences. That connection is so important for all of us and really helps us keep connected! It was nice to have the time to be able to see each other and talk about your children and their progress. 

I noticed a few questions that many of us had that I thought I could add to this blog today!I  know that families are looking for more books so here are a few sites with some book recommendations for grade 3. I hope this helps keep busy and engaged over the winter break!

This site is great for recommending books based on other books:

https://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

Recommended Books:

https://www.readbrightly.com/books-for-advanced-second-third-grade-readers/

Grade 3 Series:

https://imaginationsoup.net/24-book-series-3rd-graders/

Non-Fiction:

https://imaginationsoup.net/nonfiction-books-8-year-olds/

The other thing that came up often was around reading sight words. I have attached the list of words that students should be working on reading in grade 3. Remember that not all children are the same and some need more practice with them than others. Here are a couple of websites that have some games and activities you can do as a family to practice sight words. If you practice these at home, try to make it fun and engaging so that kids will want to read them - they will have more success with games and fun than rote memorization.

https://sightwords.com/sight-words/fry/

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/10-simple-sight-word-activities/

https://www.readbrightly.com/sight-word-games-activities-reading-ideas/

We have been working on finishing our science projects creating a Wild Animal or a Life Cycle stop-motion video. I hope to have these posted by early next week to our Google Classroom! The students are so proud of them, so please take some time to ask them about their projects. I will post some guiding questions and more information about the project next week so that you have some background information and ideas for discussion. 

Lastly, with the announcement last night, I wanted to say how glad I am that our students still get to come to school until the winter break! They are so happy to come to school each day to learn and see their friends.  That being said, we will be online for one week at the end of our winter break (Jan 4 - 8). We will continue to practice logging in to Google Classroom, using Google Meet and using the technology tools so that they are ready for this week. We will ensure that what we are doing that week is intentional and  purposeful and that the learning tasks will connect to what we do when we are back to in-person classes. I know online learning can seem overwhelming and scary for many families, but if we all work together, we can ensure this runs as smoothly as possible. Please watch for more information about this before the winter break :)

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Dec. 4 - No school - Professional Development Day
• Dec 18 - Jan 3 - Winter Break
• Jan 4 - 8 - Online Learning through Google Classroom (More information to follow)

Nov. 17

 I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

 We have all but a couple of our Peace Books published into videos for you all to see on our Google Classroom. The students created some beautiful books about Peace that I know you will love. I hope that posting these into video form  on Google Classroom is helpful for you to see! I know how difficult it is not being able to come into the school and see your child's work in person so I am experimenting with this format. I would love your feedback!

In math, we have started using our knowledge of skip counting to help us better understand the concept of increasing and decreasing patterns. Students have been using blocks to help them create and complete patterns. They have been practicing verbalizing a pattern rule based on patterns that peers create or they create. 

Students also played a game that you could try at home. Here are the gist of it. Have your child teach you!

Choose a number between 1 and 5, roll your die. Your first number is what you will start your pattern with, the number you rolled is your pattern rule (how many your pattern will increase by each time). Create an increasing pattern using these numbers, with blocks or drawing a pattern.

You can make a decreasing pattern by choosing a number between 20 and 30 to start with, rolling the die, and decreasing your pattern by that number each time.

We will be moving into using numbers to show repeating patterns, such as 3, 7, 11, __, ___ or 

90, 84, 78, ___ ,____ and identifying the pattern rule. We will also be doing some input and output tables. This is a great way for students to see patterning in another way and one they will see often in future years.

To help your child at home, you could:

Don't forget that Thursday and Friday are our Parent Conferences. You will receive a link for the conference 5 minutes before your time to your email address. Please check your junk folder just in case it goes there.  At your time, I will admit you from the lobby into the Teams Meeting.  Please have your microphone and camera on for this meeting! It is nice to be able to see each other, even though it is through a computer screen. Alternatively, if you don't want a video conference, you can email me and I can call you at your time. I am looking forward to seeing you all and having some time to chat about your child!

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Parent conferences - Nov. 19/20
• No School - Nov. 20
• No School - Dec. 4
• Ms. Wolfe's Last Day - Dec. 8  :(
• Winter Break - Dec. 19 - Jan. 4