I hope everybody had a fantastic Halloween! I am looking forward to seeing you all again next week at Parent Teacher Interviews. Again, I will try to keep this short as I communicate regularly via the website and Twitter. Please make sure to check out Twitter feed daily to see what is happening in our class.
Math
- identify, extend, and create a repeating pattern involving two attributes using a variety of tools
– identify and describe, through investigation, number patterns involving addition, subtraction, and multiplication, represented on a number line, on a calendar, and on a hundreds chart
- extend repeating, growing, and shrinking number patterns
-create a number pattern involving addition or subtraction, given a pattern represented on a number line or a pattern rule expressed in words
-represent simple geometric patterns using a number sequence, a number line, or a bar graph
– demonstrate, through investigation, an understanding that a pattern results from repeating an action, repeating an operation, using a transformation, or making some other repeated change to an attribute
– determine, through investigation, the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction
– determine, the missing number in equations involving addition and subtraction of one- and two-digit numbers, using a variety of tools and strategies
– identify, through investigation, the properties of zero and one in multiplication
– identify, through investigation, and use the associative property of addition to facilitate computation with whole numbers
Our next strand in math will be Measurement. We will be looking at Time, Temperature and relationships between minutes, hours, days, weeks and years. Please have your child look at an analogue clock regularly to tell you the time. In Grade Three, they are expected to learn to read an analogue clock to the nearest 5 minutes.
Language
We have finished Recount writing and have moved onto Descriptive writing. So far, we have co-constructed a writing piece describing a scary bat. Here is the model we came up with:
Scary Bat
The scary bat looked creepy. It had itchy, brown, spiky fur all over its tiny body. Its teeth were dirty, white, sharp fangs that felt like sharp, broken glass poking through your skin. It smelled like wet, soggy, dirt and rotten bugs. It made screeching sounds like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. The bat was really scary.
The general structure I am looking for when writing descriptive writing is as follows:
- Topic sentence - general statement about the object ("Our Pumpkin is cool.")
- Detail sentence - tell how it looks (for all details, use lots of adjectives, and try to use linking words to make your sentences big Grade 3 sentences!)
- Detail sentence - tell how it feels
- Detail sentence - tell how it smells (if possible)
- Detail sentence - tell how it sounds (if possible)
- Detail sentence - tell how it tastes (if possible)
- Concluding sentence - another general statement ("Our pumpkin is the best")
Next, we carved a pumpkin and made a list of describing words and phrases to describe it. we began writing a descriptive paragraph about the pumpkin, and revising it a few times to bump it up to our best writing. In class, we watched a video about “Austin’s Butterfly” which taught us that we can really improve our work with very specific, detailed feedback. We also learned that sometimes it takes many revisions to get to our best work. We will be practicing this in class to bump our pumpkin writing up. We will be doing some other fun describing activities and descriptive writing pieces during this unit as well.
Here is the video we watched about Austin’s Butterfly:
Extra writing practise at home is highly recommended. When writing sentences, I ask that the children focus on spelling, punctuation, capital letters where necessary, use of adjectives and creating simple and complex/compound sentences using linking words. An example of a complex/compound sentence would be: The fluffy black dog ate the large bone because he was very hungry. The word “because” would be the linking word. Instead of stopping at bone, the sentence was made longer by adding "because" and then the rest of the sentence. The children usually do write longer sentences, however, many times the linking word is missing and it becomes two sentences with no punctuation. For example: The dog ate the bone he was very hungry. For reading, the children will continue to independently read stories and answer questions in which they have to go back through the story to find the answers. They have to use details from the story to support their answers. In Grade Two, reading comprehension is typically assessed through oral assessment. As the students move on to Grade Three, to display comprehension and to prepare for EQAO, they are assessed through written responses. One thing the children often have trouble doing is writing enough detail from the text, and their own ideas to show that they understand. We have discussed this at school and will continue to work on this skill throughout the entire year.
Learning Skills
Our learning skills focus for this coming term will be Independent Work and Organization. I will send home more details of what is expected for each of the skills.
Wonder
We have continued to read the story Wonder. It is a great book so far. We have been using different reading strategies such as making inferences and visualization while we read. We have been discussing definitions to different vocabulary words that the author uses. We have also discussed character traits and the children had to list a number of character traits to describe one of the characters in the story.
Scientists in School
Scientists in School was a huge success and tied in perfectly to our science unit on Structures. We continue to look at structures and the importance of their stability and strength.
Homework
Thank you so much for ensuring that your child has completed homework as it reinforces what has been done at school and/or other learning skills that we may not be able to focus on at school. I have asked that it be completed by Friday. Please send me a note if it cannot be completed or more time is needed. We will continue to have a weekly Spelling Quiz every Friday. Please review the words with your child on a regular basis as these are words they are expected to know how to spell by the end of grade three. In math, our homework has focused on Khan Academy. Soon, I would like to blend the math homework so that some of it is completed in Khan Academy, and some of the slides that I was sending home before. Both are excellent, so I would like to ensure students are exposed to both. We will also be completing the slidedeck homework in a folder, so that it is easier for students and parents to track and keep organized. Thank you so much for your support. In a couple of weeks, the students are going to be asked to complete a project at home in lieu of their regular homework for that week. They will have to research one of the famous structures we have discussed at school and present it on a large piece of bristle board paper. They will then present it orally to the class. They will not be assessed for the actual research, however, they will be graded on the visual and oral piece. More information will follow.
Important Dates
November 7th: Parent Teacher Interviews – Please sign up through the link that will be sent home with the report cards.
November 11th: Remembrance Day Ceremony
November 16th: PD Day (no school)
November 29th: Picture Retake Day - Please make sure to let me know if your child will be getting retakes done.
Thank you for helping to make this a successful school year so far! I really enjoy working with you and your child. Please feel free to contact me at any time through your child’s agenda or by calling the school and leaving me a message. Thank you for all of your contributions to United Way and the annual food drive for the Kanata Food Cupboard.
Sincerely,
Mr. Pouliot
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