Miss Kowal and Mr Neiger Grade 3

Literacy: We are beginning to look at how to build suspense in our writing.  We are working on giving the reader clues in their writing before providing a big reveal. Math: We are going to continue learning about multiplication and learn how multiplication is connected to telling time on an analog clock. Science:   We are wrapping up or Hearing and Sound unit and just finished a Show What You Know assessment of all the things we have covered this far.  This week we are going to start a short research project on amazing animal hearing. Social Studies: We are going to wrap up our research about a trip to Peru. Ask your child to login to their google account to show you their trip plan! Other: Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day to promote Anti-Bullying. For more information please check out  https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/about  . As as school, students are invited to wear a pink shirt on Wednesday to show their support. Our student teacher, Mr Spackman,...

Literacy: We are wrapping up our study of creating paragraphs with elaborative detail.  We are looking at when to pause our writing and to add elaboration and how doing so too frequently or too sparingly can both equally take away from the quality of our writing.  Next, we will look at how to build suspense in our writing, getting the reader to read between the lines to give the reader clues without having to explicitly state what might be coming.  Math: We are continuing to explore multiplication up to 5x5. We are learning different strategies to solve multiplication problems. We emphasize being able to explain how they got their solution. Students are not expected to memorize any multiplication facts in grade 3, but are learning to explain their strategy of how they know what the answer is. Some strategies we have explored so far include: repeated addition, equal grouping pictures, skip counting and arrays. Social Studies: We are planning a pretend trip to Peru. S...

Literacy: This week we are continuing to look at how to write with elaborative detail.  We are looking at when the best times to use elaborative detail are, specifically when we introduce an important setting, character or object to our story.  We discussed how pausing to write a descriptive paragraph is like adding a spice to a recipe.  It should be used sparingly but a little bit helps to make our stories delicious!  Math: We have been learning different thinking routines that help students to learn to explain their mathematical thinking. Last week we learned about 'always, sometimes, never' and 'prove it'. Today we learned 'disappearing Dan'. Ask your child to explain one of the thinking routines to you. We are also exploring what it means to multiply using equal groupings. Art: We practiced doing perspective drawings from still life.  Students acted as living models to hold a pose while students used charcoal sticks to try to capture the shape and movem...

Social Studies: On Thursday we are going to cook a Peruvian dish called Quinua con Leche. We are asking for food donations to make our dish. We require the following: 2.5 cups of quinoa (uncooked) 5 cinnamon sticks 10 whole cloves 10 cups of whole milk 1.25 cups of brown sugar 25 paper bowls If you are able to donate any of the above items, please email Miss Kowal at djkowal@cbe.ab.ca (I will respond to you if we still need that item donated). All donations must be at school by Wednesday at 2:30. Thank you! Math: Today we did a kahoot (interactive multiple choice questions in a game show format) on the computers to see how well we understand increasing and decreasing patters. This week are are also going to begin exploring multiplication. In grade 3, we learn multiplication up to 5x5. Memorization of facts is not required in grade 3. We will learn multiple ways to understand and represent multiplication. Literacy: We have moved on from our Engaging Beginnings and are looki...

Language Arts: We have been reading 'The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell' as a class. Students are making insightful connections and predictions as we read and are excited when we read about another well known character that pops up in the novel.  We are also continuing our work on looking at creating engaging story beginnings. Technology:  We have started our first mission as part of the Wonder Workshop Robotics Competition.  Over the next few weeks we will attempt four more challenges before finding out of we make it to the invitational stage!  Math: Today we reviewed collecting data and using a bar graph to display our information. Later this week we are going to begin our study of decreasing patterns. Social Studies: Last week we learned that young children in Peru learn to knit and weave. We are learning how to knit on a loom. Students are eager to learn this new skill and would like to make their own projects. If you wish to send your child with a skei...

To clarify the recorder information that was sent home yesterday... $10.00 for the recorder, book/CD OR $6.00 for just the recorder (if they already have the book or CD from a sibling)

MATH: We learned a new game called 'Don't Break the Bank' to practice our addition skills. We are continuing to explore growing/increasing patterns. We are learning to use charts to display patterns and analyze the pattern to determine a pattern rule. LANGUAGE ARTS: We are beginning our new writing unit on Narrative Writing and we are starting off by looking at how to create an Engaging Beginning.  We looked at four different strategies: starting with an ACTION, DIALOGUE, SOUND EFFECT, and THOUGHTS/ FEELINGS. SCIENCE: We have been looking at how sound moves as a vibration.  We conducted an experiment to visualize vibrations by pointing a vibrating tuning fork at salt on a tightly pulled surface.  SOCIAL STUDIES: We are learning about Peru. We are watching a video about school in Peru and learning how to pick out the important information to write down as jot notes. Ask we learn more about Peru we compare it to India and Canada. PHYS ED: Gymnastics is continuing. P...