Orange Shirt Day

It was great to see all the Canadian children dressed for the weather today!  It made our community walk for Orange day and our phys. ed. time much more comfortable.  

We spent some time with Mrs. Harmony this morning on the topic of Orange shirt day.  She gave a presentation to all grade 3 students about Phyllis Webstad and the origins of orange shirt day.  Ask your little learner what the focus is of orange shirt day.

I introduced the digital math portion of the Student Learning Assessment this morning and we all practised questions together.  We saw that there will be some basic facts questions, some graphing, some ordering, some adding of two digit numbers and so on.  The tests are based on the grade 2 curriculum and play like a game.  Headphones are required.

https://public.education.alberta.ca/assessment is the website you can practise at home too.  Just click on Practise Questions

Library book exchange tomorrow
Read 20/10 tonight

School Apparel

T-shirt, hoodie and sweatpant orders are due tomorrow.  No money is required at this time.

In a backpack near you is a notice about our neighborhood walk to coincide with Orange Shirt day on Monday.

Ask your child for a fact they found today while doing a book walk through rocks and minerals -

Quiz

12 question math quiz this morning on how to skip count, tell what number is odd or even and what comes before and after a number on the hundreds chart.  Very straight forward.  Ask you little learner how they think they did.

Read 20/10

Headphones at school please.  We will start to practise for SLA testing next week. 

Toonie for Terry

We have a school wide goal of $ 500.00 for our Terry Fox run.  If we are able to collect $500.00 then Mr. Shackelton will allow the grade 6 students to dress him up and Mrs. Young will cut her pony tail and donate it to the Cancer society.  Please have your toonie for Terry at school by Friday.

Ask your child how many laps of the 500 metre course they ran today.

We were working with even and odd numbers today it makes a great dinner table conversation!

Read 20/10
We were in the library for book exchange today your little learner should have new material this evening.  Once they are finished their book it can come back to school for exchange - it need not wait until next Tuesday.

What is a compound word?

Compound words were our focus today.
We worked with a partner to read pictures of compound words.  We looked for compound words in a list we were given.  We looked through the books we were reading to find compound words.  We made an anchor chart of our compound words.  It was a compound kind of day!

We learned to play Flip 10.  Ask your little learner to show you how to play (deck of cards required)

Read 20/10
No school tomorrow.  System wide PD day -
See you tonight.  Here in room 11.

Check for Understanding

The reading strategy of check for understanding is a very important comprehension strategy that was introduced today.  I modeled for students with my checkmark for understanding that good readers stop and ask themselves what is happening in the story.  Good readers ask questions such as "Who is in this story?"  "Where is this story taking place?"  I also modeled for them what happens if I don't know what is happening in the story, I can't remember or it doesn't make sense.  A good reader backs up and rereads.  Your little learner then practised with a partner and a checkmark for understanding the reading strategy of check for understanding.

Please join the grade 3 team tomorrow evening for Meet The Teacher.  We will introduce to the wonders of grade 3 and you will have opportunities to ask questions about life here at Beddington Heights.  Please book a time slot on the website.  We will be here from 6 - 7:30 pm.

No school Friday

Ignite

Ignite is a program we are running Monday and Thursday mornings school wide to give students the opportunity to have choice around their learning and make good decisions for themselves.  Ask your child about Ignite and where they went today.

Looking at patterns on the hundreds chart today we played with an interactive hundreds chart to talk about patterns we can see.  Help your child be skip counting with them at different starting points ie: count by 10 starting at 3 or count by 25's from 100.

We read 'Sheila Rae the Brave' and found out she wasn't so brave - and we also worked on the story elements of setting, characters, problem, solution and 3 important events.

Scholastic book orders due tomorrow.
Digital citizenship forms due.

What Are The Pillars of Care?

We worked today around the question, "What are the Pillars of Care?"  Your little learner knows that Care for Learning, Care for Self, Care for Others and Care for Place are the four main pillars and in the month of September we are also including belonging.  We've read stories about including others, making friends, being a steward to give little learners ideas of what the pillars mean.  We have begun some work around this topic that you are invited to view on Thursday September 19 at our Meet the Teacher night.

In a backpack near you there should be a September school calendar and a few other papers from the office.

Read 20/10
Scholastic book orders due Tuesday September 17
Demographic papers all due
Digital citizenship forms due

Foundations

We are busy laying the foundations of our classroom -

We have launched Read to Self with 3 Ways to Read a Book, Building Stamina and How to Find a Just Right Book.  Your learner should be able to tell you the best way to find a book that is 'just right' for them.  A 'just right' book is one they can read with accuracy, enjoy and is a good fit for them.  We will work all through September around the importance of 'just right' books and then through out the school year to empower students to select just right books on their own.

In a backpack near you is the school's blue important folder with the digital citizenship form in it and the September Scholastic book order.

Digital Citizenship needs to be returned before your student can use technology in the building.  Please review that they are promising to use the equipment with care for educational purposes only.  Grade 3 students will also require headphones to complete the grade three Student Learning Assessment in October and can come to school at any time now.  More about that at Meet The Teacher next week.

Scholastic book orders can be paid on-line, by cheque or by old fashioned cash.  When you order from Scholastic they place books into our classroom and that is a wonderful thing.  A literate classroom will have over 1000 book titles for learners to access every day.  My classroom library would not be possible without your help.

Ask you learner about READ 20/10

Welcome!

Welcome back to  school and welcome to grade 3!
Please watch backpacks for information coming home from the office.  You should have received a package today that requires your attention before September 10.
Please check with your little learner that they are getting enough to eat during the day.  Students may be finding they are tired and a little extra 'pick me up' may be in order.  That should come in the form of fresh fruit, vegetables and water.
Our work is well underway and we are looking forward to having a great year together!