October Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe that it is already the beginning of October! September flew by so quickly.  We have had a great start to the school year.  We have a wonderful group of children in our class and I am looking forward to a great year of learning and fun!

Learning Skills

For the Progress Report, which goes home in early November, the two learning skills that we will focus on are Collaboration and Responsibility.  The expectations for these skills will be discussed in class.  Below are the expectations that these skills entail.  If you could talk about them with your child and have your tell you how they feel they are doing, that would be most helpful. These expectations will be sent home, discussed in class and will also be visible in the classroom.

Collaboration:

-I do my job and help others.
-I volunteer to do different jobs in the class.
-I use kind words.
-I listen to others when they share ideas, even if I don’t agree.
-I invite others to be part of my group.
-I play fairly and let everyone have a turn.
-I include others during play.
-I mind my own concerns when things don’t involve me.
-I don’t tattle.
 -I keep my hands, feet and body to myself.
-I try to solve problems that arise, and use my words to do so.
-I ask for help if I can’t solve a problem.

Responsibility: 

-I line up quietly when the bell rings.
-I do not take or touch things that do not belong to me unless I have asked to use them.
-I take care of my things and the class.
-I keep my space clean and organized.
-I admit when I have done something wrong.
-I stay on task even when the teacher isn’t looking.
-I do what I am supposed to do when I am supposed to do it.
-I look at what everybody else is doing if I am unsure of the given direction or task.
-I speak politely to my classmates and teachers.
-I know what to do when I need help.
-I come to class prepared with everything I need for the day.
-I complete and submit homework assignments on time.
-I am respectful when there is a guest teacher.

Math

The strand in Math that we have been covering through September and that we will continue into October is Number Sense and Numeration.  The expectations for this strand are the following:

-represent, compare and order whole numbers to 1000 using a variety of tools
-read and print words, whole numbers to 100
-read, identify and represent the value of a digit in a number according to its position in the number
-compose and decompose 3-digit numbers into hundreds, tens and ones
-skip counting
-adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers

I have been observing the kids in class to see how they are doing and will continue to assess their number sense knowledge through observations and "check-ins".  Because number sense is such an important part of Mathematics, we will continue to touch on it throughout the whole year, even if it is not our main focus at the time.  One of the expectations for grade three in number sense is: “read and print in words, whole numbers to 100”.  Please have your child practise reading and printing these numbers at home.  A list of numbers will be sent home and is also visible inside the classroom.

Language

Our focus right now in writing is Recount writing. The kids have really enjoyed writing about special memories.  We have begun to discuss paragraph writing and will continue to do so this term.  We have also practised writing simple and complex sentences that make sense using proper grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation.  For reading, we will be focusing on strategies that help us to better comprehend what we are reading such as making connections, inferences and predictions to texts that are read in class.  A big focus for reading this year is displaying comprehension through answers to questions about the text, in writing.  The children will learn to ensure that they have given enough detail from the text, and enough of their own ideas, to support their answers and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of what the given text is about.


Religion

We continue to participate in discussions and activities in regard to Samaritans on the Digital Road - This program is done throughout the board at every grade level, to engage students in learning about participating in the digital world in a proactive, responsible and compassionate manner.

Science

We have begun with our Forces unit.  The students will participate in activities and experiments about what forces are and what they can make an object do.  I will have a test at the end of the unit.  A review will be sent home!

Recycling

I ask the children to bring home any recyclable containers with food remaining inside to be recycled at home.  The children can ask me for a Ziplock bag if they need one, to bring home their containers in.  Everything else such as food and paper can be recycled at school.  Thank  you again for your help with this process!

Learning Commons

Our class will be going to the learning commons every Tuesday afternoon, however, we will only exchange our books every two weeks.  Our learning commons visits begin this week (October 4th).  I ask that the children please return their books on the Monday before book exchange so that we can ensure all books are brought back to the learning commons on time and that the children are able to take out new books.  Our first return date will be October 28th.  If they would like to keep the books that they have for more than two weeks, they can renew them, however, they should return them to do so.

Gym

Our class has gym time on Wednesday and Thursday.  Please make sure your child has both an indoor and outdoor pair of shoes that they can run in on these days. 

Homework

Homework begins this week! All the necessary information (e.g., passwords, email addresses) have been sent home already.  The homework has been shared with your child electronically.  Please follow the procedure on the Homework page of the classroom website: www.grade3pouliot.blogspot.ca.  We will have our first WWW test this Friday and will continue to do them weekly, on Fridays, unless otherwise noted.


This Friday, October 4th is our Thanksgiving Mass at school.  Our class, along with the other Grade Three classes are in charge of the planning.  We ask that your child wear a white (light) top with black (dark) bottoms on Friday.  Please join us at the Mass from 10:55-11:25!

Important Dates

Friday, October 4th – Thanksgiving Mass
Friday, October 11th – PD Day (No School)
Monday, October 14th – Thanksgiving Day  (No school)
Wednesday, October 22nd – Picture Day!
Friday, October 25th – Halloween Family Fun Night
Thursday, October 31st - Halloween!

I want to thank you all for your class donations of Kleenex, baby wipes, Ziplock bags, spoons and any other donations that have been made to the class.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and please continue to peek at our class website daily as I am usually very active with the Twitter feed.  Thank you for a great start to a great year!

 Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,
      Mr. Pouliot