Week 5 Update

 Dear Parents,

The seasons are definitely changing! There were a number of rainy days this week. Please feel free to send your child with rainboots if you wish on rainy or wet days. 

We worked hard this week, and finished quite a lot of projects. First, in writing we finished our pop rocks writing that we began last week by eating some pop rocks to see how they looked, felt, tasted, smelled and sounded. We used a graphic organizer to write a sentence for each of the senses, and then wrote a rough draft of a descriptive paragraph. Afterwards, we looked at some examples that I created and decided on what grade we might give them. We talked about how we could “Bump Up” from one grade to another. Then students self assessed their work and tried to “Bump Up” their own writing. They did a great job! 

In reading, we are working on reading with fluency, answering multiple choice questions by looking at the evidence in the text, and writing written responses using evidence from the text. Here is a link to a slidedeck that I use to explain to students how to answer written questions:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-8JxInA0MUof7dKeHlDvB_PVORsHd6E5PjpSzjhH94w/edit?usp=sharing

In math, we have been learning about 2D geometry, of which there are not many expectations in the new grade 3 math curriculum. I felt that it was important for students to have some background in this area however, before we attempted 3D geometry, because the faces of 3D shapes are made up of 2D shapes. The background knowledge will help students when we get there next week. This week, we learned about sorting 2D shapes, identifying the attributes of quadrilaterals (ex. A parallelogram has 2 pairs of parallel sides, a rectangle is a parallelogram with all right angles, etc.), and congruence. We also learned that shapes can be made from putting other shapes together (we did this using pattern blocks in class). For example, I can make a hexagon by using 2 trapezoids, or by using 6 triangles, etc. We also practiced these concepts in Prodigy. 

In science, we did an experiment in which we learned how to make a structure more stable. We learned that we can make it more stable by: adding weight to the base, making the base wider, or fastening the base to the ground in some way. We also began an experiment called the “Straw Structure Experiment”, in which we will learn how to strengthen a structure by adding support to it. We will finish this next week. Here are the cubes we made so far:

Finally, in Health we talked a little about the Pandemic and Covid, and watched a few videos that helped clear up any misconceptions. The students had many questions, and we had quite a discussion about it (along with a few comments about President Trump!). Here is a link to one of the videos we watched: https://youtu.be/XUMScnrK63o

Thank you to all families who were able to send canned food items for our Hunger Heroes Canned Food Drive this year. These items will greatly help the Kanata Food Cupboard. Thank you. 

Next week, we will be learning about visualizing in reading, 3D shapes in math, and continuing to learn about structures in science. In health, we will begin talking about making healthy food choices. 

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I personally feel quite thankful for such a wonderful group of students and community to work with. 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Mr. Pouliot