IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Scholastic Book Orders Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday, February 2. IMPORTANT DATES February 1: Science Fair February 2: Scholastic Book Orders due February 7: Elder Shirley Hill with our class February 14: Early Dismissal at 11:45 am February 15-16: Teacher’s Convention February 19: Family Day - No School February 21: Fun Lunch (OPA!) February 26: Elder Shirley Hill February 28: Pink Shirt Day OUR DAY 90 days under our belt, 90 days to go! HALF WAY THERE! Brrrr! My hands have finally warmed up from this morning’s getting-my-coffee-in-the-drive-through shock! Students played around with textures and patterns using oil pastels this morning. After Music, we continued with handwriting and the “clock” letters - c, a, d, g, o, and q. Recess was a Blue Recess; I guess that was to make us feel better for not seeing the Blood Blue Moon eclipse this morning. We finished the first chapter of Harry Potter. Tomorrow, we will create a character index, illustrating the critical characters based on the information of the book. This is such a wonderful book to teach writing with, as well as reading skills, such as inferring, and predicting. I will also begin a timeline with them, which will help support an understanding of number lines. (It all comes back to math.) Students created a 3-2-1 Cusco in their Visual Journals. It was a bit tricky for some, as they watched the video yesterday, and today they had to remember. This lead to a discussion about learning strategies, such as connecting it to prior information, and intentionally thinking about what was just seen. After a Blue Lunch, we continued with our science experiments. We watched a video reinforcing the concept that sound is a vibration, and how can we visualize it. I also took a slow-mo video of a taut and a slack string being plucked on a ukulele, which we then looked at to compare the different vibrations. Using our growing knowledge of how sound is created, I filled wee Coke bottles with coloured water, and which we did two tests. Students predicted that the bottle with the most water would be a “thump” pitch (low), and the empty one would be a “ping” pitch (high), with the bottles in-between increasing from the tump to the ping. WERE WE SURPRISED WITH THE RESULTS! Ask your child for the results. But here is what happened:
After Circus in Gym, we had Library. The day ended with a read aloud of Measuring Penny, a book about a girl named Lisa who is given a project at home to measure something with both standard units of measurement, and non-standard units. We made it a few pages in before the bell, but not before deciding this would be a fun project to do at home. We will finish the book, and I will have the whole class design a task to do, along with measurements of success. Measurements of success. Measurements. (…crickets…) I will keep you posted! Stay warm, my friends! Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Scholastic Book Orders Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday, February 2. Fun Lunch (Edo) is Tomorrow! Please see above header. IMPORTANT DATES January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) February 1: Science Fair February 2: Scholastic Book Orders due February 7: Elder Shirley Hill with our class February 14: Early Dismissal at 11:45 am February 15-16: Teacher’s Convention February 19: Family Day - No School February 21: Fun Lunch (OPA!) February 26: Elder Shirley Hill February 28: Pink Shirt Day OUR DAY 89 days under our belt, 91 days to go! (For those of you counting, I had to readjust… I can’t know why.) Today was like a walk in the park. The kids worked like busy beavers. I was as happy as a clam! Similes were on the menu today. I read My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil, and we discussed why the similes work. We also used a Double Bubble Thinking Map, which helped us see the commonality between the two unlikely things. We will continue tomorrow. Students also did the Speaking Into a Tin Can Connected by a String to Another Tin Can thing. Hoo Boy! There was hooting and hollering when they could actually hear each other. We will discuss tomorrow why. We began our handwriting today. Students took their time forming an “a” on a clock. Next step will be “clock letters” (a, c, d, g, o, q). We also watched a video about Cusco, Peru. Tomorrow, students will write a 3-2-1, (3 new learnings, 2 interesting things, 1 question), plus add in any information into our Peru Research sections. A notable learning today, was learning about Tobacco Offerings, which we will be offering Elder Shirley next week. Mrs Bezugley and Ms Gray led this. Students were thoughtful in their sharing. Mrs Gray and Mrs Bezugley commented after that they felt very safe in the class, because the students were showing great respect with each other. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Word Sort Lists have been sent home today. Please check your child’s backpack for it. If it needs replacing, please email me. One group of two students will get their sort tomorrow. We are still working on coming quickly to the sort, and getting the work done. We whittled the time from 2.5 hours last sort to 1 hour today. SPRING CONCERT - REQUEST FOR EMPTY PRINGLES CONTAINERS WITH LIDS Grade 3s will be making rain sticks to accompany one of the songs they are singing in the Spring Concert. THIS IS A CALL-OUT FOR PRINGLES CONTAINERS WITH LIDS! I would personally eat enough for a class set, but, alas, Pringles have gluten, and PopChip bags just won't do. Science Materials Request Shortly, students will begin their next two Science Units: Testing Materials and Designs in conjunction with Building With A Variety Of Materials. For the months of February, March, and April students will participate in collaborative, hands-on Science activities that will involve designing and building various structures. In order to make these activities a success I am hoping that parents will be able to donate the following items:
Thank-you in advance! IMPORTANT DATES January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) February 1: Science Fair February 2: Scholastic Book Orders due February 7: Elder Shirley Hill with our class February 14: Early Dismissal at 11:45 am February 15-16: Teacher’s Convention February 19: Family Day - No School February 21: Fun Lunch (OPA!) February 26: Elder Shirley Hill February 28: Pink Shirt Day OUR DAY 88 days under our belt, 92 days to go! (For those of you counting, I had to readjust… I can’t know why.) The day started off with the Monday Morning Blahs (Blah Blah). But really it was more sleepy than blah. Students shared their weekend, but with a twist. I am having the students focus on one thing they did, and then answer the 5Ws+1H. I haven’t had a chance to read what they wrote, but visually, there is more output. This is also reiterating our writing in many different areas, where you identify a general, and then beef it up with specifics, not to mention the foundation for paragraph writing. While Literacy Centres where going on, I pulled almost all of my groups for their sorts. I will finish up with the last group tomorrow morning. After recess, I read some more Harry Potter to the students. We are looking at how we can identify critical information (the more detail, the critical it is), as well as foreshadowing and building up. Tomorrow, we will find out how the Dursley’s life will change. This was followed by looking at some more pictures of Peru, which included a fantastic discussion about why there was a gutter in the middle of a cobblestone and flagstone road. Thoughts included a gutter for when it rains, an irrigation canal (“where the part leads water somewhere else”), a track for a wheelbarrow, and where to get water if you are thirsty. We will keep our eyes open if this information comes up in the next few days. If not, we will go over how we can find this information quickly, because, boy, can the internet be a rabbit hole (I’m looking at you, Pinterest). We started to review the pre-assessment for addition. When students are doing math computations and solving problems, and there is a mistake, I will be highlighting where the first mistake happens along with a quick note of where to look or what they should be correcting, and then have the students figure out what went wrong. They are also doing their corrections in a coloured pencil crayon, so to see the corrections more readily. After lunch, a student shared a clay sample he had. He had brought it to a scientist who tested it, and said it was several thousand years old! We talked about why there are different ages for geological things, bringing up the rock cycle. And here they thought they wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore. Welcome to Room 18, where the education just keeps on giving. A quick movement break brought the students to their shape poems. Talking about Rabbit Holes & Pinterest, I found an incredible website where they show different thinking maps, and how they can be used together to help organize and plan information. Today, students used a Bubble Map to develop “Things I love”, then picked one thing (general), and then we used a Tree Map to write the details (specifics). WOW! This process before the break took 2-3 sessions, and today, they got it done in 40 minutes. LOVE IT! I will give them feedback for tomorrow, where they will begin creating their poetic phrases and sentences, as well as their shape drawing. After a loud game of Capture the Chicken (it started at 70 dB and got up to 103 dB!), we reviewed the sound presentation from Thursday and watched a video about sonic booms, which demonstrated quite nicely what it looks like. We are back at it tomorrow! Cheerios! Ms Lauf SPRING CONCERT - REQUEST FOR EMPTY PRINGLES CONTAINERS WITH LIDS
Grade 3s will be making rain sticks to accompany one of the songs they are singing in the Spring Concert. THIS IS A CALL-OUT FOR PRINGLES CONTAINERS WITH LIDS! I would personally eat enough for a class set, but, alas, Pringles have gluten, and PopChip bags just won't do. Science Materials Request Shortly, students will begin their next two Science Units: Testing Materials and Designs in conjunction with Building With A Variety Of Materials. For the months of February, March, and April students will participate in collaborative, hands-on Science activities that will involve designing and building various structures. In order to make these activities a success I am hoping that parents will be able to donate the following items:
Thank-you in advance! IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Parent-Teacher Conferences Tomorrow evening and Friday morning are the conferences. Along with the amazing work your child is doing, I will be passing along an outstanding school fee slip. A reminder that if there are any concerns that the office will be the best place to sort it out. A Message from Mrs Bezugley - Important Parking Information Parents we need your help. Please DO NOT stop in our bus zone anytime between the hours of 7:00 and 4:00. With the cold weather and field trips we have busses arriving at different times throughout the day. If you are dropping off students late or picking up early, please DO NOT use the bus zone. There is a 20 minute loading zone closer to our parking lot. We have struggled this week with parents parking or stopping in the bus zone preventing our busses from parking safely. Please encourage your children to use the crosswalks. Running across the street in this slippery weather is very dangerous. Please choose safety over convenience. Thank you for your help to keep everyone safe. Nicole Bezugley Principal IMPORTANT DATES January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 25: Hearing Presentation (afternoon) January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 84 days under our belt, 96 days to go! We are back from radio silence! Monday, there was a substitute teacher in for the day, as I was with the rest of the Grade 3 team, and two members of the Galileo Organization (a math and science (STEM) based organization that provides many learning opportunities for students and staff). We have been working on developing and enriching our cross-curricular studies, with a focus on mathematizing the learning. More to follow! Yesterday, I was back, BUT our school, as part of a CBE-wide process, changed over our server and they were getting it up and running, so I had no access to the internet. The past three days in a nutshell:
Tomorrow evening and Friday morning are the Parent-Teacher conferences. I truly enjoy these times to see you all again, and to share your child’s learning in the class. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Spring Choir Forms Spring Choir Forms (for Grades 3-6) came home yesterday to students that want to participate in it. They are yellow, and the signed slips need to be returned by Monday. Parent-Teacher Conferences: You may now book for the conferences, which can be accessed on the Prince of Wales School Homepage. IMPORTANT DATES January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 25: Hearing Presentation January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 81 days under our belt, 99 days to go! Today started off with our The Not-a-Spelling-Quiz Quiz. This is an accountability quiz, to let students know how well they are learning the new sound patterns, as well as let me know. The rule of thumb is 2+ incorrect words out of 10, 2 weeks in a row is where I check for 2 things: 1). Did you do your word work throughout the week, using the learning strategies of thinking of the patterns and words, making connections, as well as songs, chants, etc, to help you remember? Or did you use the Independent Literacy Time to go through the motions? OR 2). Are you in the right group? The students can (hopefully) tell you what they got on their Not-a-Quiz, but, just like the lottery winnings, all quizzes must be verified by the teacher, which will be on the weekend. After Music, we dove into our portraits, which we put on the back burner for the Winter Family evening and Winter Break. We practiced facial proportions on the wee whiteboards, and then did another copy using pencil, in our Visual Journals. We also started to draw a detailed eye. We will pick this up again next week. The Grade 3 Team have their Team Planning Day on Monday, so there will be a substitute teacher in all day. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Parent-Teacher Conferences: You may now book for the conferences, which can be accessed on the Prince of Wales School Homepage. IMPORTANT DATES January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 25: Hearing Presentation January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 79 days under our belt, 101 days to go! Today was filled with words, Peruvian food, gorillas, penguins, and sound. Students continued to work on their word sorts and word work, and after music we began warming up for handwriting. After recess, we continued The One and Only Ivan read aloud; we are almost finished the book! Will Ivan see Ruby again? Will Bob the Dog be okay? Will the gorillas at the zoo accept Ivan as the silverback of the group? We will find out tomorrow! We continued with developing our research skills, looking at the different foods grown in the different regions of Peru. We also discussed having a Four Countries Tasting later in the year, and I assured them MANY TIMES guinea pig will NOT be on the menu. Not. No. Nyet. After lunch, we watched a video about sound, as expertly told by Bill Nye. (Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!) Students then shared with partners what they learned and what they found interesting, which was followed by the students sharing with the class was their partners learned. After gymnastics, we had library. With 15 minutes left in the day, I read to the students 365 Penguins, by Jean-Luc Fromental and and Joëlle Jolivet. I’m thinking a calendar activity AND learning about penguin needs activity is coming down the pipeline. Boom! Math! Boom! Science! That’s how we roll in Room 18. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Fun Lunch is tomorrow! Parent-Teacher Conferences: You may now book for the conferences, which can be accessed on the Prince of Wales School Homepage. IMPORTANT DATES January 17: Fun Lunch (Subway) January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 78 days under our belt, 102 days to go! First off, I would like to give props, kudos, and huzzahs to the class for creating wonderful and thoughtful acrostic poems. Most students are finished their good-copies, and are now working on illustrations to go with their poems. Our next poem will be a shape poem. Students worked on a word work activity, either attributing a value to each letter and adding them up, or writing silly sentences. We will have A Not-A-Spelling-Quiz-Quiz on Friday. We continued with our math question from yesterday. I will keep giving them little questions to help solidify their understanding of what ‘equal’ means. We worked on the Peru-Food & Arts research page. This first round is guided, where I am showing them the ways of pulling out key information, paraphrasing important ideas, and organizing them in their Visual Journals. This will become the foundation for the students to do their research independently. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Word Work - Literacy Centres Sound Pattern Sort Lists with a blue sheet a activities are coming home today. This is an extra support for your child, to help them with learning the patterns. For the sorts that have the following on it: C = Consonant V = Vowel CVCe = Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-e —> This refers to the ending of the word; it usually means that the Vowel is a long sound, as the ‘e’ makes it so. This is referred to as a Bossy E. The activities should not take longer than 15-20 minutes. Parent-Teacher Conferences: You may now book for the conferences, which can be accessed on the Prince of Wales Homepage. IMPORTANT DATES January 17: Fun Lunch (Subway) January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 77 days under our belt, 103 days to go! We did our first Monday Morning Blah Blah of the year. This consisted of a Wordstorm (bonus word for 37 points, arpilleras), a share of what was done on the weekend with their table group, writing goals and then writing about their weekend. This was followed by Literacy Centres while I pulled students for their Word Work groups. All students that were here did their sorts. If your child has come hoe without their sort, have them bring it home tomorrow. (You may also email me, and I will have a copy on at their spot.) After recess, students finished up their arpilleras. We will add the finishing touches, and then they gluing will begin! After lunch, we started our Activation of Prior Knowledge (math strategies and Grade 2 2-digit addition) with a quick Connect 4 style game, which was followed up with a discussion of vocabulary. Students were shown the following statement: 18 + 12 = 30 + 8 = 38 They were then asked to think about whether this statement is a truth or an untruth. We talked about process (figuring out the problem and showing the work), as well as writing a statement like this. The students were given some quiet time to think, and then they were asked to write their answer in their math journals, making sure to give their reasoning why. They were given two clues: 1). Look at the equation, and think about if it is one equation or more. 2). What does the equals sign mean? This was eyeopening for me, as some students didn’t quite understand what ‘equals’ means. We spent some time discussing and modelling equals, and I will go over this again tomorrow, along with an activity or two. Ask your child about the above math statement, for their take. After gymnastics, we learned some hearing and sound vocabulary (vibration, sound waves, frequency, volume, amplification, pitch), as well as protecting our ears from hearing damage. We will continue with some videos and experiments. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION Math We will begin 3-digit addition and subtraction next week. I will be showing the students different ways to add 3-digit numbers, including the most common way of stacking and carrying over/borrowing, including checking their work. The expectation is that students pick one they find proficient for their calculations and problem-solving, as well as being able too explain what their method is, and what the place value of the digits mean, as well as being able to check their answer. Word Work - Literacy Centres Students will begin their sound pattern/spelling groups next week. On Monday, I will send home their sort list, and a sheet of suggested spelling activities to do at home. After that, only their sort list will come home. If it is a short week, I will carry that list to the next week. This is not expected homework, but a way to support their learning. An activity should be no longer than 15-20 minutes long. On Fridays, students will be doing an assessment of their list. This is not for marks, but a way for me to make sure they are learning their sound patterns/words, that they are in the right group, and to make them accountable when they are learning their sound patterns. Plus they truly love the wee Friday This-Is-Not-a-Quiz-Quiz. If you have a questions or clarifications, please do not hesitate to contact me. IMPORTANT DATES January 17: Fun Lunch (Subway) January 25: Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30 January 26: Parent-Teacher Conferences 8:00 - 11:00 am (No school for the students) January 31: Fun Lunch (Edo) OUR DAY 76 days under our belt, 104 days to go! We finished up our rough copies for the acrostic poem. They have now been submitted into the Editor (me) for final review before going to copy on Monday. After Music, The One and Only Ivan, and snack, we worked on finishing up our arpilleras, the Peruvian story quilts. Next steps will be for students to design their own arpilleras (their own life story) in their Visual Journal, along with a reflection writing why they chose what they did. Short and sweet! Cheerios! Ms Lauf |
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June 2018
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