Thursday, June 26 (Last day of school!)

 Hi parents,

Today was a great way to end another fantastic school year. We had a year-end assembly and reflected on all the good times. We watched one of the best Arthur episodes of all time - "The Short, Quick Summer" - and wrote summer to-do lists. We cleaned the room, and did our final spelling quiz of the year. We went outside and watched one last talent show entry. And the students received special journals with our school logo that they can use over summer! Then they all signed each others journals to practice cursive. Ironically, this took a long time, and we ended up missing our cursive lesson... so apologies that many students still do not know how to write a p, x, or z in cursive. I promise we'll do it much earlier next year.

I want to thank you all for reading the blog and supporting me and the class this year. The class community this year was unlike any other. We worked together on so many cool projects, like the Grinch movie, and our safe drop-off movie, and the kids came up with some of the most imaginative games I've ever seen during responsible work choice time. I've never had so many 'creations' left out on display. The building materials shelf was generally a disaster to look at but it was incredibly heartwarming to see the kids working together to invent their own games and worlds. We were a very tight-knit group. Near the end of the year we got a little bit too laid back on some work expectations, but the kids never stopped treating each other, and me, with the utmost kindness, and for that I am so grateful.

Our 'lost in found' isn't too bad this year! If you recognize any of these items, please come pick them up tomorrow (Friday, June 27). If you can't come in but don't want the items to get donated, please send me an email and I'll be sure to hang on to them until next year.

Thanks again for an unforgettable year, and have an amazing summer break!

Zac

Tuesday, June 24 (Sports Day)

 Hi parents,

Sports Day was a big success today. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time doing activities in the morning, and watching the kickball game in the afternoon.

We also had a bit of time for work period, and to learn three new cursive letters. I regret leaving cursive till the last minute! Next year we'll start it much earlier. But, we're still on track to learn every lowercase letter by the last day of school.

Tomorrow is Clean-Up Day! Please send your child with a bag. They have a lot of stuff to take home tomorrow - all of their workbooks, cubby contents, and any work I haven't yet handed back is all going home, and it may not fit in a backpack.

Thursday, June 26 is the last day of school, and it is a half day. Students won't need their workbooks for that day, but we'll still be doing some fun 'last day of school' activities, and more importantly, saying our goodbyes for the summer.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, June 23

 Hi parents,

We had a busy and fun day today. As you know it was Fort Day and the Talent Show. We put little talent show breaks throughout the day, and the students did a fantastic job. I loved seeing the huge range of performances, from taekwondo to dance, piano, art, magic, and even science. It was really cool. We've got a lot of talent in Room 3, and I was so happy that so many kids felt comfortable sharing in front of their classmates!

In math, we finally revisited the dreaded polygon / geometry quiz from earlier in the year. This was a great experience for everyone. For some kids, it was a perfect opportunity to refresh vocabulary and skills that were just starting to fade, from not being used much (polygon terminology doesn't come up much on a day to day basis). For other kids, it was an opportunity to learn these terms for the first time, as we did this unit during the time of year when a lot of people were on vacations. 

We did a writing activity that was basically a reflection on the school year - the field trips, work choices, friends, celebrations, you name it. I hope that the kids will look back someday on this one and remember things about the year they might have forgotten.

We did Daily LA and met up with our buddy class to watch their readers' theatre performances.

We watched the infamous "Music Festival" Arthur episode, and now a whole new generation of kids will have 'library card' stuck in their heads for the next 30 years.

Tomorrow is Sports Day! And it's a full day ordeal, so please help your child make good choices about what to wear on their feet.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Last Week of School!!!)

Words EVERY Grade 3 Needs to Know (June 20 – 26)

they	because	were	about	said
went	also	going	walked	take

 

Words EVERY Grade 4 Needs to Know (June 20 – 26)

they’re	could	shouldn’t	house	without
why	laugh	light	their	wanted

 

Words NOBODY Needs to Know (June 20 – 26)

quoth	bethink	betwixt	apothecary	VCR
bumbershoot	Fax	flimflam	methinks	landlubber

Here are the last spelling words of the year. We're going to practice really hard this week because I really do believe every Grade 3 and 4 would benefit next year from having those 10 words mastered. 

As for 'List C'.... never has so much challenge yielded so little reward.

Good luck!

Friday, June 20

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! Our school celebrated National Indigenous Peoples' Day today, and we went on a long walking field trip with our buddy class to a park deep within the heart of Lake Bonavista.

When we got back, we had our spelling quiz. The kids did pretty well with this week's words. Not everyone took their quizzes home today though.

We went back to our Buddy Class and watched their Readers' Theatre productions. 

Then, we ended our day with Daily LA.

Monday, June 23 - Talent Show AND Fort Day

Monday is a very exciting day for our class! Thanks to everyone who reached out about the Talent Show. I'm really looking forward to seeing it! The students have also earned a Fort / Stuffed Animal Day, which they've been asking for for a long time now. Students are welcome to bring 1-2 blankets and a small stuffy, as well as a flashlight. Last Fort Day went really well so I'm confident this one will too.

Tuesday, June 24 - Sports Day 

Dress for a full day of outdoor activities!

Wednesday, June 25 - Clean-Up Day 

Please send your child with a bag so they can take home the vast majority of their stuff! 

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words - the LAST spelling words you'll have to practice for a long time - and have a nice weekend!

Zac 

Tuesday, June 17

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today! In the morning, we talked more about Free Verse poetry, and the students took another shot at writing an original free verse.

In math, we talked about polygons, and angles. We talked about how the four angles in quadrilaterals will always add up to 360 degrees, and how angles can be classified as right, acute, reflective, and obtuse, within a given polygon. The students traced polygons and labelled the angles in each one.

In Gym, we started learning the Cadillac ranch dance, just to make sure everyone is Stampede-ready.

We learned 3 new letters in cursive, and the students wrote 30 words, using only the letters we've learned so far (l, u, I, e, t, r, c, a, g, d, f, h, y).

Room 3 Talent Show - June 23

Please let me know if your child is interested in participating! It will help me organize the day.

Have a nice night,

Zac 

Spelling Words (Week of June 15)

 Spelling List A (June 15 – 20)

can’t	don’t	won’t	what’s	it’s
Asher’s	I’m	we’re	she’ll	you’re

 

Spelling List B (June 15 – 20)

didn’t	they’d	Charlie’s	isn’t	let’s
she’d	Maya’s	that’s	I’ll	you’ll

 

Spelling List C (June 15 – 20)

shouldn’t	I’d	wouldn’t	haven’t	they’re
what’d	Alexis’	they’ve	Kavyn’s	weren’t

The most common issue kids have with these words is getting the apostrophe in the right spot. This is also a great opportunity to review those sight words (they, would, what, etc.)

Good luck!

Monday, June 16

 Hi parents,

Thanks everyone for your patience over the past few weeks, things were really busy but are calming down now. Report Cards are mostly done but as I reminded the class today, it's still not too late to change marks..... ideally for the better!

Today in writing, we learned about Free Verse poetry. It's deceptively tricky, despite having no 'rules', because good free verse poetry still feels poetic. It still creates an emotional or sensory reaction in readers. It's all about the word choice. And sometimes being able to choose from every possible word, with no regard for rhyme or syllable count, is actually harder.

In math, we revisited angles. We learned about supplementary and complementary angles. We're kind of filling in whatever gaps may have arisen over the course of the year at this point. Don't worry, we'll revisit polygons too.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and then learned about Food Chains.

We also went over this week's spelling words (sorry for not posting sooner) and talked about the many purposes of an apostrophe.

Room 3 Talent Show - June 23

The classroom talent show has become something of an annual tradition, and this year, it's on the 23rd. Participation is optional. All talents are welcome. Students can choose to perform live in front of the class, or to submit a video. The easiest way to share videos is with 'unlisted' Youtube links. Please let me know if your child would like to participate so I can plan the schedule beforehand. At school, we have access to a piano and sports equipment, so no need to send those.

Have a nice night!

Zac

T-Shirt Tuesdays!

 

In my plan to update the blog only on Fridays, I completely dropped the ball on T-Shirt Tuesday today... So from now on, the plan is to wear your school shirt on Tuesdays, for the rest of the school year!

Spelling Words (Week of June 8)

 Spelling List A (June 6 – 13)

they	were	make	walked	take
grey	obey	money	really	keyhole

 

Spelling List B (June 6 – 13)

honey	alley	barley	Turkey	kidney
monkey	jockey	survey	volleyball	paisley

 

Spelling List C (June 6 – 13)

pulley	nosey	keyboard	journey	trolley
greyhound	honeybee	disobeyed	chimney	jersey

The theme this week is '-ey', which mainly makes the sounds 'ee' and 'ay' (we're not getting into the whole 'eye' sound this week). These words are pretty hard. I do not recommend List C unless you're really looking for a substantial challenge.

List A has sight words that are still being widely misspelled - I don't know how many times we've had 'they' on a spelling list at this point, probably at least 5, but I'm still seeing it spelled 'thay' pretty regularly... 'were' was also the number one most misspelled word today on our quizzes!

Good luck!

Friday, June 6

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good week! I'll share some highlights with today's extra detailed Blog post.

Fish Creek Library

Our walking field trip to Fish Creek Library was a blast. The weather was perfect, the library program was interesting, and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the fire truck. We learned about the Ultimate Reading Challenge, which students can enter online, as well as the other cool programs and books the library has to offer.

Ozobots

We used the ozobots to learn about coding. The students created pathways for the bots to drive along, and included special blocks of colour coding that would make the robots do specific things. We tried to tell stories with the ozobots but they were a bit glitchy. It was still really fun and a good real-life lesson about how finicky technology can be.

Math - Fractions and Telling Time

We have been re-learning how to tell time using an analog clock, and introducing some 'fraction vocabulary' to the mix ('half past four', quarter to nine, etc.') Unfortunately it seems like the clock reading skills we developed earlier in the year have largely been forgotten, so it's been a bit like starting from square one.

Limerick Poetry

The students have been working on their limericks all week. The general struggle has been creating a poem them meets the criteria for rhyme and rhythm and also makes sense. I'm seeing a lot of limericks that go kind of like this:

"There once was a man named Bob

Who wanted to a get a job

So he went to a house

And he saw a mouse

And he met a man named Rob"

Lots of strong starts, but then the 'plot' kind of goes awry as the students try to fit their rhyming words in.

Reflecting on Art

One other activity we did this week was a reflection on a famous work of art. This one went pretty well! The students gave the artwork a lot of thought, and wrote detailed responses around their observations.

Overdue Library Book Slips

I sent home the overdue library book slips - please try to help your child locate their book and return it as soon as you can!

Upcoming Dates:

June 20 - Indigenous Peoples' Day

June 24 - Sports Day

TBD - French Party, Room 3 Talent Show

Apologies again for the lack of blog communication this week. This is a pretty busy time of year with report cards and end-of-year wrap up stuff. Next week will probably be the same, but then after that things will settle down and I'll get back on the daily updates. Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac