Spelling Words (Week of April 6)

 Spelling List A (April 4 – 11)

nation	vision	options	motion	lotion
potion	action	fusion	they	because

 

Spelling List B (April 4 – 11)

section	version	station	emotion	mention
portion	mansion	caption	tension	fiction

 

Spelling List C (April 4 – 11)

auction	pension	passion	mission	erosion
fashion	cushion	evasion	suction	caution

The theme this week is 'sion' and 'tion' - the 'shun' endings!

List A and B shouldn't be too hard. List C has some weird words, like 'fashion' and 'cushion', that break the rule with a seemingly redundant 'sh'. Proceed with caution! 

Friday, April 4

 Hi parents,

We had a really good day today! 

In the morning the students finished up work from earlier in the week, and made some big improvements to their pendulum whacker devices. 

The spelling quiz went quite well - a lot of A's today - and then we went to play a math game with our buddies. 

When we got back, we started the writing portion of the Book in a Box project. I gave this class this exemplar for how a 'character item' writeup should look:

We talked about how the paragraphs weave in lots of important information about the character, without being robotic. We learn about Samar's significance in the story, how she connects with the setting and other characters, and how she overcomes problems. Ideally with this project, there should be a good amount of overlap between the items - it should be clear how characters, items, settings, and events all come together to form a story.

Anyway - I didn't actually think the students would be able to meet that standard on their first effort. But I was happily surprised to see that wasn't the case! The paragraphs I've seen so far have been very clear and descriptive, while also maintaining a good 'flow' and not being choppy or robotic. 

I'm sure the conversations you've had at home have contributed to the students having a deep understanding of their books!

Have a nice weekend,

Zac

Thursday, April 3

 Hi parents,

We had another good day today. In the morning, students continued working on their pendulum-based whacking devices from yesterday. They reflected on the changes they'd made to the 'prototype' model, and how these changes helped to improve their design. 

Then, we went out into the hall and tested them all. Every single device outperformed the prototype - some were even able to hit the ball more than 30 feet!

In math, the Grade 3s worked on Multiplication and Division Fact Families. They rolled dice to create a multiplication equation, and then wrote the corresponding multiplication and division facts. For example, if you rolled a '6' and a '3', you'd write:

6 x 3 = 18

3 x 6 = 18

18 / 3 = 6

18 / 6 = 3

The idea here is once again to help students see division as being connected to multiplication, and not a whole new concept that they have to start from scratch to learn.

We had a class conversation about 'Roasting', which has been a bit of an ongoing issue at recess. Students often seem to confuse lighthearted, friendly banter with mean, hurtful insults. We talked about how it can be hard to know what might hurt someone's feelings, and that in general, it's probably best just to not engage in 'roast battles', or any kind of negative talk at school. The class felt that was a good plan.

We ended our day with Daily LA, Social Emotional Learning, and Music.

Here is some information about the upcoming PEACE night, which features an art auction, where you could bid on our class' beautiful hand-painted dollhouse!

The Montessori Alternative Public School Society Presents

PEACE Night with Tammy Shamuhn (R.Psych, RPT)

April 24^th, 2025, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Captain John Palliser School

FREE Workshop and Classroom Art Fundraiser

(Art from all classes of our 3 Montessori Public Schools will be present and part of our PEACE night Art Auction Fundraiser)

TOPIC: Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

Join us for a night of education and conversation with a registered Psychologist, Tammy Schamuhn, around the topic of "Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child". This presentation covers why Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is more important to your child’s success in life than IQ, What the research says about how children develop Emotional Intelligence Helping kids manage their emotions, so they can manage their behavior Secrets every parent needs to know about crying and anger Managing your own emotions so your child learns to regulate their own

CLICK HERE to get your FREE ticket:

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/peace-night-raising-an-emotionally-intelligent-child-with-tammy-schamuhn

CLICK HERE to sign up for FREE CHILDCARE at the event:

Go to  www.careinapinch.ca/onlinebooking and click on the link to register your children.

2) When you get to the registration page, under Event Name, select "MAPSS Fundraiser" and write "NA" in the ticket or membership field and follow the prompts.

Spelling quiz tomorrow! Have a nice night,

Zac

Wednesday, April 2

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty awesome day today, especially in the afternoon.

We've been learning about matter, and forces, in science, and today the students designed their own device to apply consistent contact force onto a ball. Basically the devices were made from K-Nex, and involved a swinging mallet-type thing, that collides with a ball and makes it move. I was super impressed by how well the students independently built, tested, and modified their creations - I'm seeing a big improvement in their resilience, teamwork, and flexibility, compared to when we started building simple machines. Here are a few creations I managed to catch in action:

The 'Prototype'

We worked on Book in a Box planning templates. In preparation for writing paragraphs on each item in the box, students took notes on important aspects of characters, events, settings, and themes in their chosen novels. I gave them some guiding questions to help with this.

In math, the Grade 3s worked on division and multiplication worksheets. They've pretty much learned everything they need to about division, and now its just a matter of practicing it, and moving from reliable, concrete strategies (for example, physically dividing counters into equal groups), to more abstract ones (using skip-counting with no materials). 

The Grade 4s, and a few brave Grade 3s, started learning long division, using the Stamp Game. The Stamp Game is my all-time favourite Montessori material because it does such a good job of representing the processes involved in the standard division algorithm. Today, the students just used the Stamp Game, while I modeled the algorithm on the board. Tomorrow, they'll start using the algorithm alongside the Stamp Game, and eventually, they'll be able to just use the algorithm, while still understanding how and why it works.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, April 1

Hi parents,

Today was an April Fools day for the books. We had a lot of laughs but also managed to do a bunch of work too.

In the morning, we had a "flood drill", where the students learned what to do in the case of a flood, including how to deal with 'sewer serpents'. This turned out to all be an elaborate April Fools scheme.

The real joke was on me though, as the students spent the rest of the day putting plastic bugs on my computer and writing on the whiteboard.

In spite of all that, we did a ton of division work - the class learned how to read and answer division problems in the 'long division format', although we only addressed basic facts today. Many students completed their multi-paragraph spring break writing from yesterday, and we continued our exploration of forces and matter, by learning about solids, liquids, and gases. 

We used a kettle to show how water can be heated to change states from liquid to gas. The class brainstormed examples of important solids, liquids, and gases in our daily life.

BLOG HOMEWORK: Write a 1-2 sentence response to this question. (+1 table point)

Liquids are substances that flow to fill their container. Is sand a liquid? Why or why not?

We ended our day with Daily LA and Music.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Volunteers Wanted - Thursday, April 10

We will be making traditional Ukrainian Pysanky Eggs! This activity will take most the morning, in our classroom, likely from 8:30am - 11:00am or so. Students will likely need support with dying their eggs, lighting candles, and using the tools. 

Please let me know if you're interested in helping out!