Another great week here in Grade 3. We had a lot of meaningful conversations about Remembrance Day, peace, and the unrest in our world. The students reflected and wrote, read stories, created art and participated in the Remembrance Day ceremony beautifully. I was impressed with their thoughts, considerations and the simplicity that they view the world. It was a really special time. I was able to bring in some of my grandparents World War 2 memorabilia and artifacts and share that with the kids. I have a camera from World War 2 that my grandfather used, and the photos that he took with it. I hope it was a special time of learning for your children.
We continued with representing numbers to 100,000 and we are JUST wrapping up this topic. It's been a fun challenge to introduce this challenge to Grade 3's with the new Math curriculum in Alberta. This is a topic we will revisit this year, so they will have time to grow in their confidence.
Outdoor school was a windy time, as we journaled about peace... a little ironically. The students wrote some beautiful reflections and it was a gift to be out in the sunshine.
We welcomed Ryder into our class this week, which was a great transition as we get to know him and his family. Our class has been enjoying his presence and getting to know him.
A few things to keep in mind:
-I have just set up the online leveled library for our classroom. This is a place where your child can read "good fit" high quality books at home! The great thing is we can target their reading level because the books are all leveled! This is a great tool for home reading. I highly recommend you go on this weekend with your child and do some exploring. I have assigned one books to your child at their reading level so that you can see where they are at! Reading levels are alphabetical (A-Z). This doesn't ALWAYS have to be leveled reading, read by interest, read to a sibling, or let them have you read a book that is too difficult to them :). Keep discussing books and sharing the meaning of rich vocabulary words. Our goal is ALWAYS to foster a love of reading!
Their user name is: your child's firstname.lastname
their password is: msm2023
-Report cards will go live on November 24th on PowerSchool!
-I've been sending water bottles home on Friday's to get washed over the weekend :)
-We will soon have one of our students Ishani teach us about Diwali. The date is still to be announced. She will be leaving for India soon, and India is one of our places of study in Social Studies, so how cool is that?
-Do you have something in your family/culture that you'd like to share with us? We would love to hear from you and are always open for meaningful real world learning!
Next week:
- Monday - No School! I will be out in Standoff with the Indigenous school representatives in a workshop titled "Learning from the Horse". I am excited to bring back strategies for all students for anxiety and stress, as we explore it through a First Nations perspective!
- Tuesday is our World Map Quiz! My hope is that students are getting the experience of working on their working memory, and goal setting and achieving. The goal of this learning task is to build capacity and create a challenge while encouraging a love of learning. This is NOT an assessment tool that will be part of their grade, but it will be a piece of evidence of their learning and abilities at this time. There are MANY ways that I have been assessing this unit, so I hope this understanding takes the pressure off this learning task!
-Our next Outdoor Learning Field Trip is next Wednesday, November 15th! I have sent the parent letter attached to the weekly email. It is also a SCREEN FREE DAY/NO TECH DAY! Yay! We rarely use "tech" in the classroom, though students get an opportunity occasionally with very intentional purposes. We do use our Egen board to project videos/powerpoint and occasionally stories, so it will be interesting to see what our take aways are.
-Anticipation and excitement is building! We go on another field trip on Thursday November 16th to film for the CBC Music Challenge! We are so grateful to Mrs. Harmon for her vision and for offering this opportunity to our Grade 3's. Watching these kids put all of these instrumental and dance components together with focus and determination is truly magical. It is going to be an amazing musical experience for them to join the Senator Joyce Fairbairn band in creating this piece. Please refer to the letter that Mrs. Harmon had sent out prior with the Permission Click form, and ensure that you have filled it out for your child to attend. Students are asked to wear "performance black clothes" on this day. If you have any questions, please reach out to myself or Mrs. Harmon.
- Thursday is also Gordon's birthday! Yay Gordon!
That's that! Have a great weekend everyone. As always, I am here for you in whatever way you need. Please reach out if you'd like to join us on our hike this week!
