February Update

Dear families,
Our Valentine's Day at school was filled with kindness, laughter, and yummy treats!  Thank-you very much to all of the families who were able to bring in the delicious and very creative treats!  Fun was had by all!

February 19th was our 100th day of school!  We did a variety of activities around the number 100.  The most challenging one was to make a list of 100 math equations where the sum was 100.

In Language Art's the grade 3's are going to write an Auto Biography! We have had a discussion about biographies and autobiographies and the difference between the two.  Yesterday they were able to read through several biographies and watched an autobiographic video. 
The next step in this process will the kids generating interview questions to find out about their earlier years.  Stayed tuned to be interviewed parents!

*** For some reason we are not able to download pictures.  When we are able to we will add them.  Thank-you for your patience with this as we know the pictures are the BEST part!

Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Sprau and Ms. Hardacre

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!



These are a few samples of the New Year's Resolutions ALL grade 3's wrote the first week back at school after the Winter break

Our new class novel is called Mr. Popper's Penguin

Before starting the book we sketched Emperor penguins in our visual journals.  They turned out FANTASTIC!  Take a look....


In Social Studies we have been talking about Quality of Life.  We have had really thought provoking conversations about what it means to have a good quality of life.  We also have compared OUR quality of life to those who live in Peru, Ukraine, India, and Tunisia.  The kids found a lot of similarities and some differences.
On Thursday the kids worked in partners on creating a collage around Traditions and Celebrations.  Their task was to choose one of the four countries, log onto learn alberta/culture grams and navigate through photos choosing ones that represent traditions and celebrations of their country. We will continue this project next week.

In Science we have started a new unit: Testing Materials and Building Things
We began the unit by having them explore with a variety of materials to build the tallest structure!  Fun was had by all.  It was interesting to see how each group worked differently with the exact same materials.


Grade 6 students came to our classrooms to share their puppet shows based on MINDFULNESS.  They were very well done and the grade 3's enjoyed hearing about how they made the puppets.  The puppet shows made for a good discussion around mindfulness.  Each child is working on a poster in Health on ways to be mindful and how to calm your mind down when it get's full.


At the end of the day on Thursday, all K-4 students gathered in the music room to hear stories about Chinese New Year.  Ms. Ling organized a wonderful presentation for the students.  Also our facility operator read a story in Chinese.  All students were engaged and left the room knowing a lot about Chinese New Year.



                                     

December in Grade 3

Hello parents!  We apologize for not posting in a while as we were having technical difficulties.  We do want to let you know what when on in grade three in December!!!

December was been a busy one!  The students:

1. Worked in small groups on an animal research project.  They were responsible for collecting and writing down specific information about their animal.  All groups displayed good work ethic and everyone participated in presenting their finished poster to both classes.

2.  Learned how to do perspective drawings using SNOWMEN as our object.  Each and every one of them turned out AMAZING.  The students really seemed to take a lot of pride with this art project!

3. One World drumming came to the school and taught our kids a thing or two about DRUMMING.  Most of you were able to attend the concert last night and heard the beautiful sounds and rhythms.
Below are pictures of the kids practicing in the music room.

4. Thank-you for those who donated $2.00 to our special art project.  The kids had so much fun making sock snowmen and having them come to life!

5.  Now that their SNOWMAN is complete we are working on writing a book about WHAT THEIR SNOWMAN DOES AT NIGHT (at school). Their stories are coming along nicely and will be finished next week.  We are hoping to share them with the grade one classes!

LAST WEEK OF NOVEMBER!!!

We had a great week in grade three!  The children arrived on Monday, focused, eager, and ready to learn!

This was clearly demonstrated in our Wednesday poetry time.  Each student was asked to think back on the different types of poetry we have been working on and write a poem reflecting their favourite style. They all turned out amazing.  Here are a few examples!

In Science this week the children are working on a group research project.  They were put into groups of 4 or 5.  Each group selected an animal from the mystery box. From then they were given two web sites to gather their information.  Their information was put onto a rough draft that outlined what information they needed to collect.

When that was completed, the group had to then decide how to transfer that information onto a poster. The teachers gave each group a rubric to follow to ensure they include all of the necessary items.

At this point every group is working on their final touches of their poster and are practicing for their oral presentation. Each group will be presenting their project to the class in the upcoming week!

It was so great to see all of the teamwork and leadership throughout this process. 

We are really looking forward to their presentations.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

Love,

Mrs. Sprau and Ms. Hardacre