Today we had a special guest speaker! After hearing about how I wanted to help the siblings who have a sick brother or sister in hospital who may feel bored hanging around for long periods of time for multiple days while their parents looked after their new, poorly or very premature baby, the students decided that something they really enjoyed at school was their Maker Space time. Armed with a long list of what they suggested would be good to include, I set off to the shops. By the time I got to school the next day, I had 4 full bins and two hard cover books.

Danielle, who in in charge of operations at Josie's Angels, came in today to collect all our gifts. (This is my gift to the students, so is given on behalf of them). It was great to see a face behind where donations go to, but really it was her beautiful daughter who stole the show. She was very well behaved and made a whole bunch of new friends!

It felt really good to give and think of the happiness of others who are going through a stressful time. Your children are growing up to be so empathetic and caring. You should be very proud of them.

In the theme of spreading kindness, the grade three students are spreading their smile and seeing how far it can reach. The big smile is a mosaic of all our smiles! Check out the original tweet from Mrs. Jordan on kentayloryycbe

Housekeeping:

- Report cards went home today
- PJ Day tomorrow
-Early dismissal Thursday
- No school Friday (PD)
- There is still a day or two to bring in donations for the food bank

This week, we have been really focussing in on fluency. We are trying to move from speaking word by word (like a robot) to speaking smoothly like we do when we speak to one another. We are at all stages along that continuum but we are all trying to make improvements!

We have been doing this by using phrase boundaries. Here we clump together the words that feel glued together. So, instead of saying 'up... the ... stairs,' we make a real effort to say these words together. To remind us, we use brackets. The example below shows how some students used phrase boundaries:

As a bonus, phrase boundaries help us to understand why and where commas and periods work as they always fall at the edge of a phrase boundary. We had lots of fun practicing!

In math, we have started to look at the relationship between addition, skipping and multiplication. We took the opportunity to incorporate a little festive spirit by using our own version of the 12 Days of Christmas! This also gave us the opportunity to use and spell the words first, second, third etc. Ask your child to show you what the math for the fifth day might look like. They should be able to explain using 'groups of,' multiplication and skip counting. Look forward to getting your own personal book at the end of the term!

Housekeeping:

All books should now have been returned to the school library. I have two students who still need to do this, so please check at home.

Early dismissal Thursday. Much as I love your child, please remember to pick them up at noon:)

Performance - the schedule is on the last post, along with the dress up theme for the day. Our class is performing on Monday at 1:30pm. A big thank you to all the students who really rose to the occasion. When the music teacher fell ill, I was asked to step in and teach a dance. As in, a half hour before the dance class!  It's all part of team spirit, kindness and stepping in to help, which is what we try to impart to our students. The students are doing a really good job of remembering what to do! 

Winter Celebration Week – Assembly Schedule - Next Week!

Monday @ 1:30pm	Tuesday @ 8:30am	Wednesday @ 1:30	Thursday @ 8:30am
Festive Day	Holiday Hat Day	Pajama Day	Candy Cane Day (Red & White)
K – Steckly (pm) 1 – Witczak/Moore 2 – Stewart/Schrattner 3 – Pearson/Njie	K– Straiton/Steckly (am) 1 – Mann/Carstairs 2 – Brar/Scherschel	K – Walz/Straiton (pm) 1 – Petrie/Lai 3/4 - Jordan/Sayani	K – Lacey 2/3 – Krahn/D’Appolonia 4 – Hargreaves/Willis Choir Xylo Club Staff Dance

This week, we are excited to use Maker Space ideas to design our own instruments that can change pitch. We also had to design a soundproof room. The challenge was extra hard as we had to be able to take apart our equipment after we built our projects.

We started with our ideas:

We got busy:

 Some ideas worked...... And some did not! We just got busy again!

We had good fun. We learned about working with others and we tested out our theories about sound!

Ask me how I managed to make my instrument change pitch. Ask me how successful I was in soundproofing my box and what I could do better next time.

Mrs. Njie taught us a Scottish Country dance! We will be performing it next week. Our day to perform is next Monday at 1:30pm, if you want to come and see!!

Housekeeping:

ALL library books need to be returned to school by this Thursday. This is an excellent opportunity for you to visit the public library so you can keep reading over the winter break.

·       Dec. 19, 20 – Popcorn Days. If you wish any, please bring $2

·       Last Day of Classes before the break: Dec. 21. This is an early dismissal day. 

·       Report Cards go home Dec. 21

This week we have been looking at different paintings by one of the first abstract painters, Wassily Kandinksy.  The students have been analyzing the paintings, noticing differences and similarities between them, interpreting, and finally creating their own Kandinsky style art.

 

We have continued to work on our math word problems, extending the difficulty to include multi step problem solving.  For example: I’m thinking of a number between 347 and 363.  The number is odd, and can be skip counted to by 5’s.  What could my number be?  Feel free to check your child’s knowledge by asking them math questions in this form!

Students have been working on incorporating vivid verbs, onomatopoeias, juicy words, and dialogue into their descriptive writing. They have been utilizing brainstorming activities to plan out their writing.  The students have been making leaps and bounds in their abilities to introduce plausible substitutions for boring words such as ‘said’ and ‘walked’.  They have also been working on constructing engaging paragraphs that don’t start with phrases such as “I was…” or “One day…”

Reading Fluency and Comprehension

This week we made a reading salad! We learned that good readers think hard as they read. There is a lot more thinking than reading of the actual words in the text when you are really reading. We thought of the times when we have read the words but not actually understood what we read. This might be because we are tired, sick or the text is just complex. We thought of what we could call this and came up with a few names such as 'reading without meaning.'

We showed this understanding by building a reading salad that looked something like this:

From now on, we are determined to read with understanding and not just read the words. This might mean we have to choose different books. Please support your child at home. Even if they can read all the words, the book might not be a good fit book for them. Check that they fully understand what they are reading by asking them questions, such as:

What did you just read?
Why do you think he felt that way?
What does that remind you of?

Remember, books should be I PICK!

I - I (your child!) get to pick the book

Purpose - are you reading for pleasure or to learn etc
Interesting to the reader
Comprehension - I understand the words
Knowledge I know almost all the words on the page without hesitation.

Housekeeping:

I have odds and ends of unclaimed tupperware in my class lost and found. Soon it will be transported to the school's main lost and found. Please check in with your child if you are missing any items!

  See  December newsletter here -  Dec 2017.pdf 

   Monday December 4^th  
   Continuation of Creative Movement Unit   (Music and P.E. together)

   Wednesday December 6^th   
    Poinsettia Pick Up 2:15 – 2:45 pm

    Thursday December 7^th      Poinsettia Pick Up 7:45 – 8:15 am and 2:15 – 2:45 pm

    Friday December 8th    PD Day – No School