May Newsletter and Spelling Lists

Here are some of the important dates to remember for May and a little sneak peek into June! We have a lot of fun celebrations and fieldtrips planned so thank you in advance to everyone who volunteers both in our classroom and driving on fieldtrips! A hard copy of this is also coming home soon, please check packs! :)

Some of the other news in our classroom for May is that we are starting to learn to cursive write and are embarking on a poetry unit in Language Arts! We are wrapping up multiplication and diving into division followed by Geometry and Fractions!  This month we will be learning a lot about the Ukraine as we continue our Amazing Race and fieldtrip to the Troyanda to watch Ukrainian Dancers. A HUGE HUGE thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help with the Pysanky egg creation! The kids did an amazing job and I was very grateful to have so many willing participants my first time ever making Ukranian Eggs! In Science we are learning more about Life Cycles and will be doing some Animal Research projects as well as creating an A to Z animal adjective/alliteration book as a gift to our preschool book buddies!

One of our big projects school wide this month is the Canada 150 celebration. The grade 3's will be displaying some work in a gallery walk on May 31st at 1:15. Please send The Family Tree homework project to school on Monday May 1st as it is part of this project.  The gallery walk is a drop in, casual type event for you to come and see what we've been working on. Hope you can stop by! Please have your child wear red on June 1st for the outdoor school photo and Canada day cake! yum!

If you would like to volunteer for our Science WOW! stations on May 23 (8:30-11:45) please Dojo me!

Also, if you can drive to Feel the Beat on May 24 (leaving at 9:30am) that would be much appreciated! Just send me a quick message.  Thanks again!

April News

I'm hoping everyone received the Newsletter that went home on April 3rd but just in case it went missing here's an update for April! We have had a crazy busy month so far! Here's a few of the things we've been up to....

 
1. hatched baby chicks and started our Life Cycles Science Unit/Chick City tomorrow!

2. created Easter bunny houses with the preschool

3. started our multiplication unit

4. learned to draw a baby chick and give feedback to friends in Art

5. Launched our Amazing Race PBL for Social Studies

6. Started Badminton in gym

7. Finished building 5 kinds of bridges: truss, beam, arch, suspension, and  cantilever

8. Continuing with Morning Math & Literacy Stations where our focus is contractions, homonyms, suffixes, vocabulary/comprehension sort,  greater than>less than and sum fluency

9. Writers Workshop focus on changing boring words like walked into exciting words like sauntered or paced

 

And there are more things on the horizon....

1. April 12th swimming fieldtrip...Please contact me if you are able to drive for our fieldtrip swimming next week on Wednesday April 12th leaving the school at 9:45. I'll need enough drivers for 26 kiddos!

2. Our Easter party is April 13th , thanks to those who have already replied to send items. So far, plates and napkins, veggie dip, carrots and celery, broccoli and cauliflower and 12 juice boxes are covered, but we are in need of everything else.

3. April 13th Don't forget to dress fancy for our spirit assembly at 2:00pm

4. April 26 Ukrainian Eggs! I am excited and terrified at the prospect of 26 students and open flames! Please contact me if you are brave enough to join us 10:15-11:45

Whew! Thanks for reading to the end! Have a good night!

Great Resources to Check out!

Book flix

Amazing Animals Grolier Online

Pebble Animals Science and Social

Life Cycles- Power Knowledge

True Flix

GRADE THREE AMAZING RACE LAUNCHED TODAY

Handmade Diya as might be found in India for the celebration of the Festival of Light. The kids worked together to read and measure the ingredients to make the dough for this little light which represents the triumph of good over evil.

What is PBL? It stands for Project Based Learning. The grade 3 classes launched our PBL today to give the kids more in-depth exposure to all the countries we will study this year: India, Ukraine, Peru, and Tunisia. Since all the classes are working together, students got to choose a partner from another classroom who will go on all the amazing race challenges with them.  Each classroom is transformed into a country and the students work together to complete a variety of either roadblocks or detours! Check out our blog on the link below for more information on the project and for pictures that will be coming soon!

We made Canadian backpacks and duct tape wallets filled with bills from each country. Those who trek through the countries and have money at the end will get to shop for a surprise! The way to keep money in your wallet is to stay on task, help and encourage each other, and solve all the roadblocks/detours!

The kids divided up and travelled to different destinations today with their buddies and came back excited to do it again on Tuesday! Our classroom is India and we had so much fun making diyas and rangoli and learning about animals, clothing, landmarks, and daily life in India. It was great to see the kids so excited and motivated to research and create things together! In the words of one of our students "it was the best day ever!!" Here's the link!  Great job Grade 3's!!!

Click here to go to the Grade 3 Amazing Race Blog

spelling list!

MARCH NEWS!

Hope everyone had a nice reading week! I picked up a ton of great new books for the kids at teacher convention and had time to make some exciting materials for a big PBL project happening later in March called The Amazing Race with a Social Studies theme! Stay tuned for more information! Our launch day will be March 21st!

Also, we have invited a new student into our classroom from Syria and had a presentation by our District ESL teacher David Fuller and his friend Mohammed to help everyone with the transition.

Now our that we have the basics of materials and designs down, we get to start our big building projects as part of our Building With a Variety of Materials Science Unit! We'll be building everything from hanging cup holders and basketball towers, to playgrounds and famous landmarks! Thanks to everyone who sent in building materials! Keep'em coming!

In Social we are learning about Peru and the kids were so excited to make their woven bookmarks for Valentine's day! They did such a good job and some even made extras for their brothers and sisters! This week we are making a woven bowl so I am asking that everyone brings a ball of coloured yarn to school for Wednesday.  If your child would like to do more than one colour, feel free to send a few.

In Math, we are deep into double and even triple digit addition with regrouping! We keep practising our Monday Mad Minute facts as the kids should know addition to 18 fluently by the end of grade three.

In LA, we are wrapping up our study of the novel Stone Fox and of course Crenshaw! Next we have an author study of Patricia Polacco who is an American author and illustrator. She struggled in school because she was unable to read until age 14 due to dyslexia; she found happiness expressing herself through art. For a list of her books check our her website at patriciapolacco.com

 

Your newsletter is coming home soon!

One School One Book Donations to YWCA Harbour House

Greetings Mike Mountain Horse families!
We sincerely hope that you are enjoying our One School, One Book selection: Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate. A great many themes surface in this remarkable read, and, as you may have already noticed, there are also some very sensitive topics addressed. Though sometimes difficult to discuss, hardship and homelessness are realities in today’s world and we encourage you to take these opportunities to engage in conversation with your child (children) about these concepts. What better way to learn than through quality literature?
 With awareness of poverty and homelessness growing, we invite our school population to participate in two charity efforts for local individuals and families in need: 
1) Donations of personal care items and/or packages for YWCA Harbour House. YWCA Harbour House provides shelter and care for families in crisis.  Items to donate or include in a large Ziploc freezer bag: (see display case across from the office)

*full size shampoo and conditioner  *soap *first aid supplies (i.e. band-aids and ointment)  *toothbrushes and toothpaste  *deodorant/antiperspirant  *hand lotion  *slippers for women and children 

ITEMS CAN BE BROUGHT IN TO CLASSROOM TEACHERS ON OR BEFORE  WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 15TH.

 2) Monetary donations in the form of sponsorship as our school participates in the ‘Coldest Night of the Year’ walk taking place on the afternoon of February 15th (held in conjunction with our annual ‘Winter Walk)’. This fundraising effort will benefit Streets Alive Mission which battles poverty in Lethbridge and the surrounding communities by offering free services, clothing and aid to anyone who needs it. 
 
MONEY CAN BE BROUGHT IN TO CLASSROOM TEACHERS ON OR BEFORE  WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 15TH.

 *Donations will be presented to YWCA Harbour House and Streets Alive Mission at the One School, One Book Closing Assembly taking place in our gymnasium on Thursday, February 16th beginning at 2:15pm.