Spelling List A (March 1 – 6)
Spelling List B (March 1 – 6)
Spelling List C (March 1 – 6)
As you can probably tell, we're looking at the 'tion' suffix this week. Similar to last week, this is another letter combination that is better to memorize than to try to decipher. Also similar to last week, if you know the 'tion' sound, the beginnings of the words are pretty straightforward. I have high hopes for this quiz. :)
After Friday, I don't want to see any more 'SHUNS' at the end of words!
We are thrilled to have the incredible Canadian author, David Bouchard, come to Lake Bonavista School. He will be at our school on Thursday, February 26th. In the morning he will present to all students. In the evening, we happy to host a special parent presentation called "The Gift of Reading". You do not want to miss out on this opportunity to hear from this legendary writer.
Thursday, February 26
6:30pm
Lake Bonavista School
To help us with planning, please RSVP by February 24th using this link.
Thank you to our School Council for their financial support of this event.
Hi parents,
We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, we made these Pink Shirt Day posters, which turned out super nice. I wish I could post them but they have students in them. They'll probably be out in the hallway for conferences though. :)
In math, we're working away at multiplication still. The Grade 4s are quickly getting the hang of 3-digit by 1-digit problems.
In Science, we learned about states of matter. We had an interesting discussion about atoms. The students made charts to show the differences between each state of matter.
Zac
Hi parents,
We had a good day today. The highlight was the 'whole school writing challenge', in which every class in the school spent 30 minutes writing about the same writing prompt. I was super impressed by the work the kids in Room 3 did today, I think it really reflected their best effort. :)
We had a good discussion about 'heating' and 'cooling', and how humans are pretty lucky to be able to manipulate the temperature in different ways. We talked about things like smelting, cooking food, freezing food, warm showers, etc. And the students made charts showing a wide range of activities and what temperature they are best completed at.
Tomorrow is PINK SHIRT DAY!
Have a nice night,
Zac
Hi parents,
We had a pretty good day today.
In the morning, we talked about classic plot structures of movies and novels. We learned about 'rising action', and how typically, a story doesn't just follow a completely linear path while characters take on the problem. Generally there are twists and turns, and smaller problems and solutions that are solved throughout the journey, building up to one big finish. The students chose a movie or book they were particularly familiar with, and created diagrams to show how the plot unfolds.
We went over this weeks spelling words, and came up with the acronym 'intelligent grinches have tacos' to remember the 'ight' blend.
In the afternoon, the Grade 3s worked on basic multiplication fact review, while the Grade 4s did small group stamp game lessons, focused on 2 and 3-digit by 1-digit multiplication. We're also learning the standard algorithm alongside the stamps, because the stamp game is very slow and inefficient. However, its a great way to visualize the regrouping.
Have a nice night,
Zac
We are thrilled to have the incredible Canadian author, David Bouchard, come to Lake Bonavista School. He will be at our school on Thursday, February 26th. In the morning he will present to all students. In the evening, we happy to host a special parent presentation called "The Gift of Reading". You do not want to miss out on this opportunity to hear from this legendary writer.
Thursday, February 26
6:30pm
Lake Bonavista School
To help us with planning, please RSVP by February 24th using this link.
Thank you to our School Council for their financial support of this event.
Spelling List A (Feb 20 – 27)
Spelling List B (Feb. 20 – 27)
Spelling List C (Feb. 20 – 27)
Hi parents,
We had another good day today. We spent a lot of time finishing up Art Cards, and students who finished early wrote short, engaging blurbs about their animal. Or Middle Earth landmark.
We had our spelling quiz, but I haven't had a chance to mark or look at them yet. I was really happy about how many kids raised their hands when I asked who had practiced at home though. :)
We learned a bit more French today, around the phrase 'J'ai'. We learned how to say some common clothing articles, and describe them based on colour.
We ended our day with bench dodgeball in gym.
Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice night!
Zac
Hi parents,
We had a great day today. I feel like the last few weeks have been a little hectic and we're finally getting a chance to get back to our routines.
A lot of this morning was spent working on Art Cards. I'm actually so happy with how they've turned out this year. Every student's artwork is super unique - they all did different animals, some have backgrounds, some are painted, some have text, others are super minimalist, its awesome (see below for a few examples).
In cursive, we learned the letters 'f' and 'j'.
In French, we learned the phrase "j'ai", which means "I have", and the students combined it with the french nouns we've learned to make simple sentences.
In the afternoon, we did an experiment where we went outside and threw boiling water into the freezing air. It was super cool. We recorded observations and hypotheses as well.
We ended the day with Daily LA and a math game called Mind Reader.
Tomorrow is our big 12-word spelling quiz! Good luck!
Zac
Hi parents,
We have had a pretty busy week!
The students have been working on their Art Cards, which will feature realistic sketches of animals found in Alberta. Before choosing an animal to draw, the students researched the six regions of Alberta, and wrote down examples of wildlife found in each one.
We started a daily Skip-counting challenge today. We're going to try this every morning, and if you want to try it at home too, its a great way to build multiplication skills. Basically, I will give the students 20 seconds to write down as many numbers as they can in a given skip-counting sequence. They'll record their score, and then we'll try a different number. After a couple weeks, I would bet that every students will see significant growth. Ultimately the goal is to be able to skip count by all numbers up to 12. And if you can write 12 numbers in 20 seconds, you've pretty much mastered it.
We had an awesome presentation this afternoon from Ken Kotyk, an Olympic bobsledder who competed for 7 years. He had a lot of wisdom to impart on the students, and also plenty of cool stories, fun facts, and equipment to share.
Have a nice night,
Zac
Hi parents,
We had a great Valentines Day today. In the morning, the class went to Music, and then we did more multiplication practice in math. I said this yesterday, but I am really impressed by how quickly the Grade 3s have caught on. After the break we'll really start focusing in on those skip-counting patterns. If you're looking for a quick, super effective way to build multiplication skills, just spend 5 minutes every day reviewing skip-counting by 2 - 10.
The students finished giving their speeches today, for Ms. Ireland's lesson. They did a great job overcoming their nerves, I was really impressed by that.
In the afternoon, we exchanged Valentines with our buddy class, and then did a collaborative activity where the students all anonymously wrote a kind adjective on every other student's card. Students who brought Valentines from home also had a chance to hand those out. Everyone seemed to enjoy the afternoon a lot!
Tomorrow is Teachers Convention - enjoy your long weekends!
Zac
