2018 is turning into the year of weddings in my family. In early March I attended my brother's wedding in Regina, the following week my brother-in-law's wedding in Mexico, and in June my eldest is getting married as is my husband's youngest cousin. In March I was lucky to experience a "real" Canadian winter in Regina (for a few days), then catch some rays the following week in Mexico. I love the snow so both climates were good fuel to tackle more rain.
This Friday the 13th marks Mlle Nessim's last week in our class. She has been teaching with us since January and the students and I have benefited from her creative ideas and perspectives. Next week she plans on returning to Abbotsford to start her teaching career closer to her family. We wish her the best. She will be missed!
Math: This past week we started to work with multiplication. Our goals this year will be to understand multiplication concepts such as arrays, skip counting, and repeated addition, as well as using multiplication to solve word problems. Students will show their knowledge by using equations, drawings, number lines, ...
According to the new BC Curriculum, "memorization of facts is not intended for this level". Despite this, many students are already familiar with multiplication facts to 5s, and some even know them to 9s and beyond! The best way to learn facts of any kind is by playing games.
Many of you dice games in our student-led conferences back in March. Here's a dice game to practice multiplication and arrays. We tried it out in class this past week:
The goal is for each player to cover as much of the page by drawing rectangles representing the numbers rolled in the dice. To expand the game, write the product (the answer) inside the rectangle. Some students may also enjoy using at least one die with more than 6 sides. You can find these at games stores or School House Teaching Supplies.
For more traditional "facts" games, here are some online games: Multiplication facts games . But beware, they look fun but they don't develop brain skills as much as the array game above.
Bonjour!
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Spring Break! There will not be a dictee or spelling the first week to make sure everyone can relax over the break. As mentioned last week, the Spelling Units are here. Our next unit will be Unit 7.
Please welcome the addition of a class calendar to the blog. The link is on this "home" page, on the right side, or here.
For some online French activities over the break, Radio-Canada has many options here.
Enjoy the break and see you back on Wednesday April 4th!
Last week on February 28th as part of Pink Shirt Day, our class spent time meeting a student from Mrs. Ireton Grade 2/3 English class. Students rehearsed how to present themselves and how to ask an interesting question. Then, students played Math games in both classrooms. Mrs. Ireton and I split our classes in 2 so that half of her class could teach half of my students an addition and logic game, while the other half of my class taught her remaining students a subtraction game. The link for our game is also on the Links tab of this blog. Playing games is such a great way to reinforce skills.
Last week we also walked to Cattlepoint and Willows Beach on a sunny, blistery day to observe the wildlife, and to get a sense of space, standing where First Nations lived centuries ago.
Coming up in the next few weeks before Spring Break:
Français - Fairy tales and First Nations Legends
English - Finish reading Stone Fox
Math - Measurement, perimeter, and area
Socials - First Nations
Science - Ecosystems
lundi le 5 mars: Student-led conference forms go home, to be returned ASAP
mardi le 6 mars: Folk dance lessons in P.E.
jeudi le 8 mars: Dictée, Family dance at 6:30pm. Purcase tickets here.
vendredi le 9 mars: Report cards go home
lundi le 12 mars: Author visit-Alison Gear, Scholastic Book Fair to the 16th
mercredi le 14 et jeudi le 15 mars: Early dismissal at 11:52am, student-led conferences from 1 to 5 pm.
jeudi le 15 mars: Spelling Unit #6
vendredi le 16 mars: Last day of school before Spring Break
March 17 - April 2nd - Spring Break
April 4th - return to school. (Please note that there was an error in the date when 1st posted)
April 23 1pm: Afternoon musical performance. Orange cast and Chatham choir
April 24 6pm: Evening musical performance. Orange cast and Chatham choir
April 25th 7:15pm: Evening musical performance. Green cast and Chatham choir
April 27th: Pizza/sushi lunch
I hope everyone enjoyed the winter break! We all came back relaxed, albeit a bit sleepy. I'm afraid this may be a bit of a long post so please bear with me. (I really ought to post weekly.)
Carpet
As you may have heard, our classroom carpet was cleaned over the Christmas holidays as it had not been vacuumed for a few months. I purchased a manual vacuum but not being as powerful as a real vacuum cleaner, the carpet was quite dusty.
I'm so happy that the SD61 has agreed to vacuum our carpets once again. I have taught both with and without a carpet and have found that having a carpet is vital to creating a classroom community. Grade 3s are still wiggly and need to move around throughout the day. While we have movement breaks throughout the day, the carpet gives little bodies another space where they can sit. It's also a place where we can be close together, have discussions, and listen better to one another. The first year I had my carpet, about 4 years ago, I saw a few non-readers start to read, simply because they could flake-out on the carpet with a book. The carpet provided a less-structured environment more conducive to reading, either alone or with a friend. I really hope that the District continues to fund daily vacuuming of carpets. The kids are worth it!
Please send inside shoes to school for your child. Our fields are exceptionally muddy this year due to construction in the fall. We are trying to keep carpets and school clean.
Recap & update on what we are working on right now:
We started 2018 off with a handshaking demo/some practice as we wished each other a "Bonne Année". Key points were to shake not too hard or too soft, and have some eye contact.
Math
In Math we have been practicing how to subtract numbers such as 45 - 18, to harder problems such as 825 - 487. We spent a portion of each day practicing with blocs to understand what happens to the hundreds, tenths, and units when subtracting. We then moved on to learning how to subtract by placing the larger number above the other. This can be a hard concept to grasp for some learners leading some to think that "they are no good at Math". It's up to us adults to encourage and remind them that some skills take perseverance, but that they are still attainable. Grade 3 students can use written calculations, drawings, or blocks to demonstrate their subtraction knowledge on quizzes.
Inuit
In Social Studies we have started to study Canada's North and the traditional Copper Inuit ways of life. As they gain more knowledge, students will be making a project in class. They will be able to work on their own, or in a group with up to 2 other students. Please send a piece of cardboard to class or a cardboard box for the base of the project.
Students also painted some beautiful pictures à la Ted Harrison this past week.
French
In French we have been looking at Masculin/Feminin words, as well as incorporating more of the 6 senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, emotions) into our writing.
Competencies
In English, each week students write about their competencies in the form of "I can..." statements. So far this year we have explored subjects such as: "I can connect with others", "I can contribute to the community"...
This week's topic was "I can define my personal values and choices". I knew this might be abstract for 8/9 year olds, a few of whom find it difficult to voice their opinions. To make it more concrete, we had a class discussion about the Vancouver Aquarium's decision to no longer keep marine mammals in captivity. The important part here was not the individual viewpoints, but to have the ability to say why they were either for or against this.
I was impressed with how well students were able to give reasons for their viewpoints. The discussions were lively and interesting while students made their opinions known and listened to other points of view. After the discussion, students wrote in English about their point of view.
Carnaval
As you have probably noticed from the dictée words, this week is Carnaval week at Willows for French Immersion classes. We will be having a Carnaval assembly in the gym tomorrow, and on Thursday afternoon we will have a presentation about the Métis and their traditions. There will be singing and spoons involved! Please send a long scarf to school for your child to wear as a "ceinture fléchée" (sash) this week.
Ice blocks
Also on Thursday morning, a first for Willows, Immersion classes will attempt to build an ice castle on the basketball courts. In preparation for this, please freeze an ice block at home and bring it to school Thursday morning. You could freeze water inside a clean/empty 2L carton of milk, a tetra pack, or purchase a block at a garage that morning. Students will leave their blocks outside in their line-up upon arrival Thursday. They will go to Music class at the bell, then we will return outside around 9:45 to build our portion of the castle. Should be fun!
Dress-up as your favourite book character day
This will take place next Monday, January 29th.
Student-Teacher
On January 29th we will also be welcoming Beth Nessim, who will be doing her final teaching practicum with us for the next few months. Beth has already visited the class many times this year. I look forward to her energy and new ideas. Having two teachers in a class is always great!
Skip-a-thon
February is skipping month at Willows to promote healthy hearts. Grade 3s will be having a Skip-along at lunch recess on Feb. 6th and 8th. On Feb. 22nd we will have a school-wide Skip-a-thon in the gym throughout the day. Please see notice attached to this week's email for more info.
Valentine's Day
Kids usually like to exchange Valentine's on February 14th. If your child wishes to do this, please include all students in the class. Many thanks!
Upcoming, at a glance:
Jan. 22: Carnaval Assembly
Jan. 23: P.E.
Jan. 25: Dictée, Ice blocs, Metis presentation
Jan. 26: Pizza/sushi
Jan. 29: Dress-up as your favourite book character day
Feb. 14: Red and White day
Feb. 28: Pink Shirt anti-bullying day
Last but not least, this week's audio dictée. Thanks for making to the bottom of this post!
Just two more weeks before the Winter Break. Here's what's coming up:
Tuesday Dec. 12 - P.E., Choir rehearsal in the afternoon
Thursday Dec. 14 - Dictée, Choir rehearsal in the afternoon
Friday Dec. 15 - Pizza/sushi
Monday Dec. 18 - Field trip, afternoon Choir performance in our gym
Wednesday Dec. 20 - Evening choir performance at Oak Bay High School
Thursday Dec. 21 - No dictée or spelling!!
Please send your child's choir uniform to school this week in preparation for next week's concerts.
Last week we started our first Spelling Unit of Grade 3. We will be alternating Spelling and Dictées for the remainder of the school year. This week will be our last Dictée/Spelling of 2017. We will be taking a break from these next week and restart after the New Year.
I will be placing all Spelling Units on a website called "Spelling City". This site uses the class Spelling lists and allows students to play a few games like "Hangman" and "Unscramble". As an added bonus it is free and there is no need to register. This year's lists will always start with a "3", followed by the Unit name. Ex: 3 Unit 1. My previous units from when I taught Grade 4/5 are still up there for anyone to try. You can access it here. Another way to reach the site is to go to: SpellingCity.com/teachers/s showers.
I mainly update this blog to post the new audio dictée, but it also allows me to reflect on the past week and what is to come. Perhaps if I only posted the dictée the post would get out sooner, but I wouldn't get to share the fun things like how fun it was to make bread this past Wednesday!
Making bread in a classroom with 7 & 8 year olds is a whole-day adventure. In the past I would help each student to measure ingredients. In an effort to streamline the process, and to save my sanity, this year I decided to pre-measure ingredients for each group. With the pre-measured ingredients, the dough had extra time to rise since all groups were able to mix the components at the same time.
My goal was to tie-in this baking with our Matter unit, so I tried to point out how the yeast was activated with the warm water and how mixing the ingredients together produced gasses. The proof were the bubbles in the dough.
Mixing ingredients was a cinch. An hour or so later, shaping the dough quickly became very exciting. At some point someone had the idea to add more flour and soon many students were running to the front of the class while stretching gooey dough between their hands. I wish I could have shared the laughs by texting a picture to my night custodian! Everything turned out fine and it really wasn't all that messy after all. I still have to perfect this part of the process though so next time, giving each group a small bowl of extra flour and having more cookie sheets would make it this step easier.
Bread dough is very forgiving and it turned out well in the end. We ate the buns around 2pm, hot out of the oven. Many thanks to all of you who sent in flour, butter, and jam. Every year someone says: "This is the best bread in the world!". I love hearing this and it makes it all worth while. Next time we will have to make a few extra buns for hungry staff who turn up at our door.
On Thursday we wrote-up our "experiment" in our Science duotangs. If you would like to try this at home, the recipe is here. Our dough was a bit too runny so you may need to add more flour.
Friday and Saturday I was sponsored by the District to attend the Google Summit for educators at Oak Bay High School. It was a s 2 day conference packed with all the latest and greatest ideas using Google Apps for Education. I'm really grateful to have been one of the teachers chosen to attend this conference. Oh, and someone in my household may or may not have welcomed a new 360camera into our life.
It was a busy
week with our field trip to the Royal BC Museum, and us teachers writing report
cards for the past few weeks. Luckily we had such an incredible day on
Wednesday, and the end is in sight for the reports.
First, let me
thank Paul, Tracy, Shari, and Daphne for shepherding the students on the bus as well as in
the museum. We were treated to our guide Lesley McGarry's knowledge of
First Nations traditions and ways of learning during our visit of the First
Peoples' Exhibit. While I have visited this gallery many times in the
past decades, hearing her information was like experiencing it for the first
time. The kids were mesmerized by Lesley's delivery, we all were
actually, and they were able to retell many tidbits of information they had
learned on a Mindmap they created later that afternoon in school. I hope
they were able to share some of their experiences at home too.
It's hard to
believe that our first term is already at its end. It seems like we're
just getting comfortable in our new classrooms (new to me too). Exciting
news at Willows this week as the portables/studios/cottages/... are near
completed and the 2 classes will finally get their new digs.For us that means that the library will be
back in business this week and students will be able to have classes in the
gym.
To celebrate our first term of learning together
I would like to celebrate in a small way.I like to make bread with students at least once a year.It’s messy, but fun and delicious. We can also look at it from the point of view of matter changing states from liquid goo to solid as we are starting to look at Matter in Science. I’m planning onbaking this Wednesday, as long
as the kitchen is available.
- Please send along 1 cup of flour or some butter or jam if
possible.
Tomorrow afternoon we have the pleasure of welcoming Gary
Allen and his wolf to Willows, yes that's right, his 90% wolf.Gary will
be speaking about ecosystems and is a speaker in great demand.You can find out more about his program
here:
