IMPORTANT INFORMATION Early Dismissal February 14th A reminder that this Wednesday is an Early Dismissal Day, and we are following the Friday schedule. Dismissal time is 11:45am. Zoo School This is a callout for volunteers for Zoo School. When: April 9-13 Time: All day. Bus leaves at 8:10, arriving back at the school shortly before dismissal. You can meet up there, and parking at the zoo will be free for volunteers. I will confirm the time our day starts at the zoo if you choose to meet us there. We need 5 volunteers a day. You can contact Jodi (classroom coordinator) or you can email me. You can volunteer for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days. They have to be whole days. A Zoo School coordinator will be visiting our class on April 4th to go over the program, protocols and expectations. Volunteers are invited to this event. More details to follow. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. IMPORTANT DATES February 14: Early Dismissal at 11:45 am February 15-16: Teacher’s Convention - No School February 19: Family Day - No School February 21: Fun Lunch (OPA!) February 26: Elder Shirley Hill February 28: Pink Shirt Day OUR DAY 98 days under our belt, 82 days to go! Monday, Monday… On this 98th day of the school year, we began with a quick review of Addition Strategies with adding 3-digit numbers. We got through 2 of the following:
Ms England came into the class to work on some more addition with them, while I went to her class for a quick pillar making session. (I will be doing this with the students on Wednesday.) Ms England reported back that the students had a solid handle on addition, with some tweaking here and there, as well as they were delightful and respectful to work with. Huzzah on all accounts! After recess, a quick story, and snack, we had our Not-a-Spelling-Quiz Quiz. I will review them this evening, however a quick scan and they looked pretty good. Students are reminded that they can do the Blue Spelling Sheet activities at home with their words. If you do not have the Blue Spelling Sheet, please email me, and I can send another one along. I’d also like to clarify the spelling/sound patterns we do in class, as I have had some questions about the sorts themselves. I use the Words Their Way program, and I am not allowed to post the sorts or how they work, as they are under copyright law. Students can bring the sort list home to work with, and I encourage the students to explain the different categories and then do the sort. Students taking on the role to teach someone is the best type of learning. When students completed their quiz, they finished up their oil pastel water drawings that Mrs Ferrari has doing with them. She will be back in the class tomorrow morning to finish this project up. Students that are not to finished can stay in for 15 minutes at lunch until done, or, if they promise to bring the oil pastels back, they can bring it home to finish. This project is part of a school-wide endeavor that is tied in with our Spring Concert. After lunch, we began our pen pal letters. Ms Parent has arranged for the PoW Grade 3 students to write to the Grade 3 students at Piitoayis Family School, where she used to teach. In gym there was a busy basketball version of Capture the Chicken, focusing on dribbling. Ms Parent finished up the Second Teaching of Love/Eagle, based on the Seven Traditional Teachings of the Blackfoot. (I was in her class finishing up their pillar extravaganza.) Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Spring is 39 days. (Tick, tock, Winter…) ALSO... Students will write their Not-a-Spelling-Quiz Quiz next week, in light of our class being well, light. Extra days to practice your sound patterns! And perfect weather to play those games. IMPORTANT DATES 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 97 days under our belt, 83 days to go! Second verse, same as the first! We still had a number of students not in class, so we continued on with finishing up work! WOW! Most students have completed their journal entries, and it is a great way to begin up again after Teacher’s Convention. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Spring is 40 days. (This is your early warning, Winter…) IMPORTANT DATES 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 96 days under our belt, 84 days to go! An Academic Snow Day! Today was a KETCHUP DAY! We went through our Visual Journals and made a big checklist of all the things we have done so far in it. Then students did an honest day’s work, finishing up pages, adding information, colouring in their illustrations, numbering their pages, writing content in the Table of Contents, with breaks for Go Noodlin’, and shootin’ some b-ball. Tomorrow, we will continue this. Cap'n Crunch! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT DATES
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 95 days under our belt, 85 days to go! This morning, students were in the capable hands of Ms B. while I and the rest of the Grade 3 team, were in a fa-bu-lous meeting with Kenzie, our Galileo guy. The students’ morning consisted of Literacy Centres, Music, a Math Game (addition), recess, and a symmetry art drawing relating to ancient Peruvian artifacts. We will discuss the symmetry drawing tomorrow. After lunch, students selected their retablos, pasted a small version in their visual journals, and wrote some observations. Tomorrow, they will select 2 of 12 art reflective questions to answer. We also spent time with Elder Shirley. We began with a tobacco offering, thanking her for sharing her knowledge about water, the Earth, and our stewardship of it. We will reflect on our learning tomorrow. We dribbled some basketballs, threw them through some hoops, and then went to the Library. Aaaaaaannnnnnd, that was our day. I hear there is a storm a-coming. Batten down the hatches, heat up some chocolate milk, and curl up with a good book. Cheerios! Ms Lauf We have a new website.
Here is the link: http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/PrinceOfWales You can still access it from the old website, but this will not be for long. Please copy and paste the new address to get the latest information, deals, coupons, ... No wait - it's the latest school information, blog access, calendar, etc.... Unless, of course, you child has made you chore coupons, then there may be coupons. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Word Sorts Word Sort lists have come home today. IMPORTANT DATES 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 93 days under our belt, 87 days to go! Monday Morning Blah Blah has changed a wee bit, based on student interest in writing about their weekend - they are now writing about anything they want to, and it has to be a minimum amount of sentences. Today’s minimum was 8 sentences. They also set their weekly goal. While Literacy Centres was underway, I did Word Sorts with all five groups in the allotted hour! HUZZAH! I went over last week’s Not-a-Quiz Quiz, and there were no major problems. After recess, We started the third chapter in Harry Potter. His first mysterious letter has arrived, and Uncle Vernon will have none of it. The character cards we began last week will become a Literacy Centre station. We continued with poor shape poems. Today, students created a Six-Room Poetry template, where each section focuses on one aspect of their item. The sections are: Image, Light, Sounds, Questions, Feelings, and Repeating Words. Today, students wrote Image ideas. This is a way of creating poetry that is part of the Calgary Open Minds, and we will be doing this again in Zoo School. We also did a look-about of Peruvian retablos, which are portable boxes, that came to South America when the Spanish arrived. They were used in Catholic prayers and services, and historically showed religious events. Over the centuries, the Andeans adopted them, showing everyday life, customs, and historical events. Students will select one that they like, make some observations, and answer questions relating to their selection. After lunch, I had students walk around the classroom and read 13 different hearing and sound vocabulary posters, which they had to sort into the proper categories of vibration, amplification, echo, sound waves/wave length, frequency, and pitch, in their visual journals. I told them that they would receive little help from me, as we have been learning and experimenting with sound for a month, and I wanted them to really think about what they were reading, and figure out wheee it belongs. This frustrated many students, as they didn’t know how to sort them. At the end of the task, I had a pep talk with the class. We discussed what kind of learning they would have if I always gave them the answer or told them where to sort the information versus figuring it out on their own. The class agreed that it was better to be frustrated and to use calming strategies in order to get ‘er done. I also reminded them that this is something they can’t do YET. After dribbling practice in gym, we looked at the Anger Signals chart that Ms Purkiss had introduced last week. This is a drawing of a blank person with a list of anger signals (physical and mental) that we have when we start getting angry. When we recognize we are getting angry, then we can use strategies to calm down and solve the problem, as opposed to letting the anger take control. I will have students refer to this poster for the rest of the year so they can become self-aware, and to watch out for those signals. Tomorrow is Tuesday, which means tacos. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT DATES
Pringles Containers We have 5 pringles containers so far, with our goal being one for each student (24 in total). While I fully endorse healthy eating, crack those containers open! It's the original duck-lips face! IMPORTANT DATES 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 92 days under our belt, 88 days to go! The day began with students reviewing their word pattern words for the Not-a-Spelling-Quiz Quiz. Students have put their nose to the grindstone, and have done well. I will review the Not-a-Quiz Quiz with them on Monday. After Music, students listened intently to Chapter 2 of Harry Potter. Once their snacks were out away we did a whole class brainstorm of a character’s traits (emotional and physical). A thoughtful discussion ensued, making sure that when they listed a trait that they were able to support it with evidence from the text. Students then drew a picture of Uncle Vernon Dursley, using the descriptions from the text to create him, as well as include the critical information on the back of the card. We will continue to make cards for the important characters that help move the story forward. Cheerios! Ms Lauf IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Scholastic Book Orders Scholastic Book Orders are due tomorrow, February 2. IMPORTANT DATES 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 91 days under our belt, 89 days to go! Today started off with Literacy Centres. Students are working on completing what they started in their independent centres before moving on to the next task. We met with Ms Purkiss, where we had a lesson about empathy, and helping each other out in the class. This was the first part that will help students know the life-strategies of making a new friend, and talking to people in the class we wouldn’t normally talk to. After our Blue Recess, we continued with Harry Potter while students ate their snack. We also looked at more images about Peru. It is hard to learn about a place when we don’t have a good and broad foundation of images to connect the information we are gathering. As always, the students are challenged to think critically about cultures, and how they have influenced (good and bad) other cultures, look at our lives and the impact we may have on others and the community. After lunch, we tackled the similes and metaphors head-on (metaphor). It was like buzzing beehive (simile) as they picked their favorite ones and did wee illustrations. We are now ready to begin our barking copy (rough, rough, rough copy) of the shape poem. We also moseyed on down to the gym for the Science Fair. WOW! Creative experiments, engaging displays, and the students we talked to taught us all something. Ask your child what their favourite one was. We finished off the day wit h continuing to read Measuring Penny. The students learned the difference between metric and imperial measurements, and I have given them “homework” to pick something they want to measure at home. Cheerios! Ms Lauf |
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June 2018
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