Monday, October 30

 Happy Halloween!  As you see from my previous post, we have some theme days this week.  Lots of interruptions, so there isn't a ton to update.  However, there are some announcements:

• please take note of the last post for all the theme days this week.  There is a dance on Friday where you can order a loot bag that will be distributed at the dance.
• the Scholastic Book Fair is at our school over the next two weeks.  Our class time to go is next Monday, November 6th during our library time.  You can have your children bring money during this time.  If they forget, no worries...they can always write down what they were interested in, discuss it at home and they can then bring some money to visit later in the week. 
• with the arrival of snow today, just a quick reminder to ensure the boots, mitts, snowpants and jackets all still fit and the zippers all work!

Not much to update otherwise.  We have been working with and building 3D solids in Math, finishing our Monster Match descriptive writing exercise and have been trying some one-point perspective art.  Also, we have been trying some beginner volleyball skills in our gym class!  

Spirit Week: October 30 - November 3

 

Monday, October 23

Sorry for the late post, a lot going on today!  

Main announcements this week:

• pumpkins will be decorated in the school this week for a fundraiser on Halloween.  You can buy raffle tickets on SchoolCashOnline if interested.  
• Halloween is coming!  On that day, we will be having a Halloween Dance.  I believe there will be loot bags being offered at the dance.  Again, you can find this on SchoolCashOnline

In Language, we have been working on our Monster Match descriptions.  The class used Book Creator to brainstorm their ideas, and they have written rough copies using this information.  It was handy using this tool to help with spelling and sentence format.  We will be working on the good copies this week, and will have the "game" on Halloween.  Also, we have had our second library visit today.  Please ensure the children return their books for each Monday morning library.

In Math, we have moved on to 2D shapes and 3D solids.  We have been learning words such as vertices, edges, and faces.  We have also be comparing and sorting prisms and pyramids.  This week, the class will have an opportunity to build these 3D solids while looking at their properties.

In Science, the class has been working in groups to present some findings about things that are added to soils (intentionally or not).  They will be presenting as group this week, but we will be following up with a discussion about what Collaboration looks like and how they felt their groups worked.

Monday, October 16

 I hope you all had a nice weekend!  Not many big announcements this week aside from Pizza and Subway orders are due this week (payments to be made on School Cash Online).

This week in Math, we will be continuing to look at addition and subtraction with regrouping.  Soon, we will be starting some review work on 2-D and 3-D shapes, followed by more in-depth 3-D solids work next week. Please continue to practice your addition and subtraction facts over the next 2-3 weeks as we move to this new topic.  There will be "assignments" place on:

https://www.thatquiz.org/tq/classpage?01e23679abf890f

In Language, the class had their new Working with Words lesson.  It was very interesting to see all the words that have the word "one" inside of it.   We made words like lone, clone, alone and even cyclone.  You could see how each word has a relationship to the word one in its meaning.  Also, the class made some clay monsters last week that they will describe for a little in-class Halloween game.

This week in Science, we will be working further in our Soils unit.   The class has been working in small groups to look at a variety of "additives" that can enter soil (ie. salt, herbicides, fertilizer and pesticides).  Soon we will be looking at the advantages of composting.  In Art, the class will soon be learning about one-point perspective, the vanishing point and the horizon.

We also had our first Library time.  The class can each take out a book for the week.  Please make sure these return for the following Monday (we go to the library every Monday morning).

Tuesday, October 10

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  Too bad the weather wasn't more cooperative, but it was still nice to spend some time with the family.

Here are the updates for this week:

• if you haven't filled out the school forms (Verification, Technology, etc) found on the Parent Portal, please do so as soon as possible.  Still waiting on a few from the class to get this done.  Here is a link to the Technology form 
• this Friday will be Pajama Day!
• the Terry Fox run was a success!  Thanks to all who donated even a little!

In Language, we did a EQAO reading sample last week (Where is Ms Mitra?)  I have linked this in the workspace, and many children took it home to reread.  We also went through the questions together, and I showed them exemplars of what a grade 3 answer should look like. We looked at how level 3 and 4 answers were phrased, and will be setting a goal for ourselves to be more clear in our answers, with lots of detail and proof!  Both the reading and the questions are linked on the workspace and provide a good reading for those that want to review it.

  

In Math, we have been working with addition and subtraction strategies.  Again, the lessons are all in the workspace on Pear Decks, along with the Sum it Up information page.  We will be looking at different ways to mentally add and subtract numbers.  For example, if given the problem 36 + 49, you may add 36 + 50 instead, and then give back the extra 1 afterwards.  Similarly, we tried questions like 78 - 39.  We tried these strategies on hundreds boards and number lines.  I encourage the class to keep practising and to try some mental addition and subtraction when they are out and about!

In Science, we have continued looking at the parts of soil, and how soil can be different depending on where it was found.  We learned that soil can contain a combination of sand, silt and clay.

Monday, October 6

I hope everyone enjoyed the past weekend and are looking forward to a week of summer-like weather!  Here are some notes for this upcoming week:

• Terry Fox Run is this Thursday afternoon.  Here is a note from our Terry Fox committee
• SMY is participating in the Terry Fox School run on October 5th! We are proud to be a part of this Canadian tradition to fight cancer. If you would like to donate, here is a link to our donation page: https://schools.terryfox.ca/40172
• On Thursday, everyone is encouraged to wear crazy socks that day for the theme, Socks for Fox!

In Language, we have been working on descriptive writing and looking at creative ways to add description to our sentences.  We have been going through a "Descriptive Setting Mystery", which is giving clues to the class around a selected setting picture.  We have also done another RAZ-Kids recorded reading.  I encourage everyone to keep reading for 10-15 minutes a night.

In Math, we have been working on skip counting on a 100s board.  They have been looking at patterns they see on a hundreds board in order to predict future numbers in the given pattern (for example, counting by 2s leads to even or odd numbers depending on where you start).  We will be moving onto Addition and Subtraction strategies shortly.

In Science, we did an experiment called "Sugar Shake" to demonstrate how rocks break down into smaller components, which becomes part of the soil.  This lead to discussions about weathering, erosion and we even looked at rock tumblers.

In Art, we looked at Atmospheric Perspective.  This is how colours can be used to show distance in a picture.  We looked at real pictures of mountainscapes to show how the shading gets lighter the farther away it is.