Our week in Grade 3!

Hello Grade 3 and Grade 3 parents,

It has been a few weeks since I posted an update of what been happening the Grade 3 classroom. So we started the week as Scientists…by Wednesday we were Data analysts and by Friday we were Google Docs experts (almost!)

Our current science module on Plants is ‘growing’ well! We investigated what happens to plants outside in the Fall season. We took our clipboards and magnifying glasses to the school garden and used our knowledge on photosynthesis to see why some plants were slowly turning into compost.

After, we started out bean plant experiment, our guiding question was ‘Do plants need soil to sprout?’. New scientific vocabulary was introduced when we built a hypothesis and added our procedure. We are currently documenting out bean growth and will update you on whether our hypothesis was correct.

We started a new module in Math : Data management. Building on our Math homework of looking into the language of math, we were introduced to new words such as; classify and interpret. We will be learning about collecting data and how to display the data through; Venn diagrams, Tally, pictograms, bar charts and double bar charts. Eventually we will bring our data to a conclusion and interpret what it means.

Structured Word Inquiry is in full flow in our classroom. We have been sorting and classifying prefix, base and suffix to build new and old words alike. We have also started our etymology research into where the prefix, base and suffix have originated from.

Our blogging challenge this week is linked to images online and what we can and cannot use with and without permission. Sites such as unsplash are excellent because copyright permission has been given and we are free to use. We also received our login  details to our school google accounts. We will be starting to explore google docs and google slides. We will be continuing our ‘personal interest projects’ but in a google doc so you can view from home all the amazing work.

November is also going to be our Grade 3 Kindness Month. We will be continuing to speak about kindness and what small things we can do to help each other out and brightening each others days as the greyness of November sets in! Watch this space for how Grade 3 will spread kindness throughout OJCS!

Blogging Challenge Week 2

Week 2 of the Blogging Challenge came with the focus of commenting. As a class, we discussed what a comment is, why is commenting important (or is it not important?), what comment can give (to the author of the blog), what is it’s purpose?

We also looked into the negative aspects of commenting and opened up a conversation around ‘trolling’. This part of the commenting learning curve will be re-visited through our digital footprint workshop with Miss Brigitte.

Here are the Grade 3’s in action, creating their first written comments on the class paper blogs. The next step for the class will be to review the comments as we open up the next part of the conversation around quality comments and the creation of our class commenting rules:

 

A (short) week in Grade 3!

This week started with a big leap into digital citizenship and continuing to learn about the safety of being online, we delved into what a digital footprint is (this will be explored deeper through a focused workshop with Miss Brigitte) and how we can be present online without putting ourselves at risk…. enter avatar!

As a part of our blogging challenge (see my previous post) we have created an avatar to represent each person in the class and short bio to go alongside. This bio includes our avatar name and some interesting facts about ourselves. Students learn about the types information you should/can share online and what you definitely shouldn’t. I am proud to say how knowledgeable Grade 3 about the way they conduct themselves online (Thank you Morah Ann-Lynn!) See our blogging challenge post to check out the avatars.

Show N Tell has been happening this week and will continue next week. All subjects had to create a description using adjectives, verbs, similes and alliteration! I have super impressed with all preparation, the amazing items and stories that came along too. The cutest being Tehila bringing in her new baby sister (with mum!) Here are a few in action!

We also have started to challenge ourselves in Math, not only continuing our knowledge about patterning and sequence but Ms Cleveland introduced us to T-charts. Using math cubes, we created out own and had to show the increasing pattern in a chart. once we were confident we re-cap our knowledge in a flip grid.

We also continued to develop our abstract thinking through open ended inquiry questions. This is a difficult skill and requires out of the box thinking…

Our Pumpkin Run took up most of Thursday – what a beautiful fall day to be outdoors!

Finally Friday was our Grade 3 Knesset representative vote. Congratulations to you who won and the 2nd in command(this person steps in when the rep is unable to attend) You will be an awesome Knesset member! Well done to all who entered to race – I loved your enthusiasm and ruach in preparation!

   

Our week in Grade 3!

This week, we have been developing our knowledge about Plants by learning about Photosynthesis and increasing curiosity by the make up of cells on a leaf…

We also looked in inquiry based questioning and not simply accepting the information presented to us. We are investigators in the making!

Continuing with our personal interest research project, paper blogs are starting to look incredible! The class have learned about positions of titles, subtitles (what is a subtitle? What is the point of it?) the importance of media in a variety of forms to make sure our audience is engaged. Some have been completed and displayed in our hallway. The next stage of commenting and feedback is always interesting.

   

Structure word inquiry has been become a hot topic this week! From Prefix, to suffix, trigraphs and digraph, Phoneme to Grapheme… we have been busy! Developing new vocabulary is a way to open up new curiosities and independence in learning. I am super excited to see how and where we go with this!

In our novel study of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, students have been practising speaking and listening skills when given discussion prompts. We use the Think, Pair, Share model in class which helps develop independent thinking, paired collaboration thinking and then class discussion. The prompts were linked to kindness and positivity and whether a persons outside appearance matters as much as the inside personality.

Linking finally into  a discussion about Aseret Yimei Teshuva. Grade 3 have shared their thoughts on choosing a more positive path and what asking for forgiveness means to them. They each selected a quotation and wrote what it means for them.

Grade 3 have set a challenge for themselves in which they will spent an hour  during the day  where they will focuses on positive speech and not focus on Lashon Hararh (gossip) . The goal is between Friday October 4 until the end of the Jewish Month of Tishrei,  every day (including weekends) for one hour we will focus on positive speech. We will celebrate this accomplishment at our first Rosh Chodesh Celebration.

Grade 3 have decided to dedicate this time to their Phys Ed lessons. The class suggested this is where they are the least kind and least positive because they ‘get caught up in the game’. I was really proud of the challenge they set as they are thinking about a time which specific positivity is needed. The days when they don’t have Phys Ed, they begin their morning with an hour of positive speech.

And that is all for this week, have a great weekend!

Miss M

October Homework

October is month full of celebrations and time to be with family.

In our OJCS homework policy, it is stated that homework is not to be set over holidays. With this in mind, for the month of October:

General Studies:

I will be setting weekly general studies homework as usual but the amount will be reduced and there will be NO WEEKLY MATH QUIZZES.

Math quizzes will resume in November.

Hebrew:

Morah Sigal will continue to set daily reading on the days children are in school (as usual this will not be set on a Friday)

French:

Monsieur P will be adjusting as follows:

Given Wednesday October 2nd and due Friday October 11th.
Given Wednesday October 16th and due Friday October 25th
Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to email or comment below.
Thanks,
Miss M

 

What a Whirl of a Week!

This week has whizzed by (can you tell Miss M is getting ready to teach alliteration!?) We have delved into the wonderful world of blogging; beginning to plan our first paper blogs. We also have tried lots of new learning styles and learning areas of the classroom to see what works best for each person. Here are a few examples of what’s been happening…

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

Number circles: helping with multiplication tables 4 and 6

Good Morning Grade 3 (and parents!)

I was re-capping Math review/practise skills and thinking how often do we get stuck with ‘just worksheets…’ Worksheets can be helpful and if they are best learning style for you then great.

But what happens when that is not the best way for you? What else can you do?

I have found a cool Number circle review (access the link here) which is another way to recap your 4’s and 6’s – this week’s homework

There are many different ways to learn so don’t worry if you are ‘not getting it’, we just need to find another way that fits you!

We have some AWESOME grade 3 student teachers ready to share their learning styles so watch this space!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Miss M

Everyone can be a genius in here…

Keeping our North Stars in mind, and one in particular “There is a floor here but no ceiling”, made me think about how I can push our grade 3 “ceiling” up, up and away…

And there Genius Hour was; waiting to be noticed! Mr Ray and Mrs Thompson introduced this concept to the Middle school last year and what a creative success it was. So after spending time researching and planning how to implement into Grade 3 – here we are. Grade 3 were introduced to Genius Hour yesterday and their response was phenomenal!

Here is  a video I showed the class about Genius Hour. I encourage you to watch this with your child and see their excitement about how their creativity and imagination can guide them anywhere they choose.

This will predominantly be a project we work on in school but of course enthusiasm and excitement will run over into home and if this is the case, I will adjust homework set that week. As always, if you have any questions about this, please email and we can discuss further.

Here we are getting involved in the initial planning stage – Miss M will have a project too! #alwayslearning!