Nativity Scene - Construction Complete

Students we organized into six building teams: Stable Team, Holy Family Team, Animal Team, Shepherds Team, Angels & Star Team and Wisemen & Gifts Team. 

Over the last three days students have worked enthusiastically hard to complete their building assignments. With the use of many different materials we now have a beautiful reminder of our Advent journey to Christmas. 

Budding Artists - Crazy Hair Days

Building Number Sense at Home - Games & Strategies

Building your child’s Mathematical Mind

Subitizing

Math should not be stressful or hard.  I want to make math fun and easy for your child.  This month I want to encourage you to play games that help build your child’s ability to SUBITIZE.  I know that seems like a weird word, in fact it is kind of new to me, but all it means is the ability to know how many without counting.

For example, if you hold up 4 fingers on one hand, does your child know it is 4 without having to count each finger?  If so, that is subitizing.  When you are playing with dice and a five gets rolled, does your child know that it is 5 without having to count all the dots?

The ability to tell “how many” without having to count each individual item is a really big key to building your child’s number sense and helping them understand addition and subtraction.  However, even as adults we can’t subitize sets of items that are larger than 5, unless they arranged in a familiar pattern like dice.  We will be working on this idea throughout the school year, but I wanted to send home some fun and easy things you can do with your child so that they see math, and subitizing, outside of school.

1.    When giving your child a group of things at snack time, give them the items and say how many they are getting.  For example, give them 3 crackers and say, “Here, you get 3 crackers.  This is 3 crackers.”  This way they start to see numbers are connected to a group of objects.

2.    Fast Finger Flash - hold up a number of fingers and then hide it behind your back.  Ask them if they could tell how many fingers you were holding up.  After they get good at doing it with only fingers on one hand, move to showing fingers using both hands so they can practice subitizing up to 10.

3.    Play the old card game of “war.” Split a deck of cards in half, you get half and your child gets the other half.  Each person flips over one of their cards, whoever has the most on their card wins.  You can also play that whoever has the least on their card wins.  Most of the time, try to encourage your child not to count to tell how many, instead just look at the cards and tell who has more and who has less.

December- Peek At Our Weeks

November was a whirlwind but we're back and now that we have all student FOIP permissions I will be able to share more photos of their work 😊

Language Arts – The class has just finished one of two pieces of writing. Students each wrote an expository piece explaining how to wrap a present. Our next project is to study the poem 12 Days of Christmas and choose one gift and write an opinion piece that argues it is the best of the 12 gifts – these two pieces are designed to assist them in learning how to write a paragraph. We have already begun or book study on Johann’s Gift to Christmas. Please ask your child to tell you about the book at home.  

Science – Building and Testing is underway, and the students are enjoying every building challenge.  They are currently divided into six teams and are constructing a Nativity Scene for our classroom. Pictures will be coming soon!   

Math – Currently we are exploring number sense further in preparation for the operations of addition and subtraction using 2 & 3–digit numbers.  It is important to take our time learning the next two units as many students are developing their personal strategies for problem solving and converting their mental math strategies into written algorithms. We are spending a lot of time on place value and more information will be posted on the blog about how to help your child develop a stronger number sense at home.   

Social Studies – The class has been enthusiastically learning about four children in different parts of the world.  As we delve deeper into our Social Studies program students will be learning about geography and mapping skills. 

October - Peek At Our Weeks

Language Arts – Currently our class is learning about the different genres of books found in our classroom and school libraries. The class is ready to begin the writing process, starting with a project which focuses on writing an exciting story beginning. We look forward to sharing our work with you.

Math – The students have been learning how to extend, create and describe both increasing and decreasing patterns in numbers this month. Students should practice their basic math facts and families at home to improve their computation skills. Study guides will be sent home before Thanksgiving and our test will be Friday, October 12, 2017. 

Social Studies – As we explore cultural identity further we have begun to look at what people value in their community. After looking at our own community the class has begun to look at the values of communities in other parts of the world such as, Peru and Ukraine.   

Science – Exploring Rocks and Minerals has been exciting for the students so far! We are now learning about the rock cycle and the three major types of rocks.

Religion – Our Bible studies this month have helped the students learn more about respecting the dignity of others . The class will also delve more deeply into what it means to be a member of God’s family and how to bee a person of virtue. 

Health – Our class has been learning about school Fire and Road Safety. There will be a quiz on what they’ve learned later this month.   

Fidget Spinners

Due to the fact that Fidget Spinners are NOT considered by experts to be educational tools, Light of Christ Staff has made the decision to ban these toys - please do not allow your child to bring them to school. 

Peek at Our Weeks - May

A Peek at Our Weeks

Language Arts: The children have been enjoying our Robert Munsch book study! As we finish off this unit students will have an opportunity to share their favourite Robert Munsch excerpt in front of the learning commons green screen! I will then attempt to edit the full file to make a short film to share with the class - stay tuned.   As we near summer students' good reading habits tend to trail off.  Please keep your child engaged in reading as it improves their writing and speaking skills. 

Math: I have heard no more information yet about the S.L.A. pilot project mentioned in April's post - I will post information as I receive it.  Students are working on Patterns & Algebra. This unit is the next step in our practice and assessment booklets 3.2 series.  Students will be assessed as the unit moves forward. We are also doing mad minutes daily to increase students' ability to calculate their basic math facts quickly.  This assists them when we work with larger numbers. 

Science: We have moved on to Animal Life Cycles and everyone is excited.  We head to the Zoo May 9, 2017 for some extra hands on experiences.  Thank you to the parents who volunteered. Permission forms are due no later than Friday, May 5th. 

Religion: In our new unit we are exploring how the Holy Spirit guides us toward God's path.  As the Easter season of the church continues students will engage in activities that open their hearts and minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within them. 

Volunteer Opportunity in May!

Hello Parents and Guardians,

We are excited to announce our trip to the Calgary Zoo this coming May! All fees for this trip are covered by your child's school fees which you paid in September. If you have not yet paid your fees please contact the office to make payment.

Students permissions slips will go home Monday May 1, 2017 so please keep an eye out for them as each child needs a signed permission form to attend.

The zoo has requested five parent volunteers.  Each parent/guardian wishing to volunteer must have already completed a volunteer orientation with L.O.C. If you wish to volunteer for this trip but require an orientation please contact the office to set one up as soon as possible.

Volunteers will be selected on a first come first serve basis.  I require five volunteers but more parents may join us if they are willing to pay admission. The first five parents selected will have their admission paid for.

Additional parents attending will not be able to accompany the students into Zoo School as they only permit a certain number of adults in the room for fire code reasons.

An important note: no siblings or smaller children will be able to accompany parent volunteers into the Zoo School classroom as this can create additional risks.

Parent volunteers who do accompany us will be required to spend half the day in Zoo School and the other half completing activities with their assigned group around the zoo. Each student will need to complete a Zoo booklet as they travel through the different habitats. Each parent volunteer will be responsible for a group of 4-5 students.

We would love for you to accompany us May 9 , 2017!! If you are available please contact me to reserve your spot.

Thank you, Grade 3B

April - A Peek At Our Weeks

Language Arts: The children have been enjoying our new unit on Poetry! As a class we have been studying various poems to learn about their common elements. Recently students have been learning about alliteration.  After studying each element students have been challenged to write their own poems using them.  We are also undertaking a six week author study. Two classes a week, students choose their own Robert Munsch book to read. Afterward, they complete activities dealing with comprehension, vocabulary and thinking beyond the text. Students were given the choice to work independently or with a partner. 

Math: As we finish up our geometry unit we will again venture into understanding numbers and operations beginning with 3-digit addition and subtraction and quickly moving from there into multiplication and division. Our class will also be hosting an S.L.A. field study to improve Provincial Reporting to Parents.  Students will be given sample questions to complete and give feedback on – for more information please feel free to contact me.

Science: Hearing & Sound is our fourth unit of study in science this year.  At the end of April students will be able to experience sound in new ways as they hear their classmates' musical instrument presentations.  

Social Studies: In pairs the students have been working on their research of services in Calgary.  As research is one of the most difficult skills learned in Social Studies this project will take many weeks.  We will however, still be moving on to unit 3 in our study of other countries’ lands and resources.  

Blogging is Back!

Hello Parents & Guardians,

I finally have access to my blog again.  Please look for new posts on subject matter being covered currently in class, volunteer opportunities and other updates.

Thank you for your patience!