Wednesday, September 25

 Hi parents,

Sorry about the spelling words fiasco. I don't know how I missed posting them. Our quiz is still going to be tomorrow, because we have spent quite a bit of time in class on these words, and I think the students have mostly got them down. 

Today we did more work with the Stamp Game. We have started to work on using the standard algorithm side by side with the stamp game so that the kids can see the process of 'carrying the one', aka 'regrouping', in action.

Yesterday we finished reading Wayside School, and today, the students started writing their own Wayside School stories. They had the option to start a story from scratch, or to finish a story from a given beginning.

In the afternoon, we learned about the significance of the eagle in many indigenous cultures. We watched a video about how the eagle represents the virtue of 'love', and as such, an eagle feather is a symbol of this virtue as well. Then, the students sketched feathers, and painted them orange, to make a little orange shirt day art display.

Orange Shirt Day is tomorrow! Please remind your child to wear an orange shirt if they have one, and if not, maybe just a shirt they really like.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words! (Sorry for late)

 Spelling List A (Sep. 20 – Sep. 27)

shins	cash	wish	shop	shut
shoe	fishing	push	wash	rush

 

Spelling List B

share	sharpen	shift	should	shoot
brush	shade	shiny	sharks	blushing

 

Spelling List C

shouldn’t	shield	flashy	shower	vanished
shaggy	thrashing	shrunken	shroud	shovel

Forgot to post these last week - sorry about that! We've been practicing consistently in class this week so hopefully the quiz will go okay anyway.

Tuesday, September 24

 Hi parents,

Today was fairly similar to yesterday, but without the Terry Fox run. We continued using the Stamp Game to practice 4-digit addition with regrouping. The students are doing pretty well with this concept and really only make mistakes when they rush. Since the addition problems were going so well, we tried a few subtraction ones as well - also with regrouping. That was tougher. 

For writing, we talked about the idea of a 'complete sentence'. A lot of students have been completing writing tasks by writing a whole bunch of ideas down, and then adding periods after. This is a really terrible habit for writing that almost always results in incomplete sentences. We practiced writing complete sentences by writing a sentence for each spelling word.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, and then had a conversation about Orange Shirt Day. We mostly talked about the historic events that led to indigenous peoples being treated unfairly. We watched this episode of Molly of Denali: 

While the episode focuses on indigenous people in Alaska, the experience that Grandpa Nat had as a child is quite similar to that of Phyllis Webstad, who had her orange shirt taken on her first day of school. We'll be talking more about orange shirt day tomorrow, and of course on Thursday (Thusday is orange shirt day at LBS).

We ended our day with Music.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Monday, September 23

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today. In the morning, the students wrote in their journals about their weekends. We talked about how work time is like a big bucket of Lego - you could use a few pieces and make something simple, or you could use every piece, and make something really cool. A lot of students in this class are fast writers, and can write the minimum requirement for a task like this in less than 10 minutes. As time goes on, I'm really hoping those fast-finishers can find ways to use all that extra time to create something exceptional.

In math, the students worked in pairs using the Stamp Game to solve 3 and 4-digit by 4-digit addition problems, with regrouping. I really like working with this material because it teaches Place Value while also teaching addition. Representing each number, stamp by stamp, forces kids to think about what each digit of the number really means.

In the afternoon, we did Daily LA, Mindfulness, and the Terry Fox Run. We ended our day with Spelling.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Friday, September 20

 Hi parents,

Our Terry Fox run was sadly postponed until next week, but we still had a good day. We went to the gym for the Terry Fox assembly, and when we got back, the students wrote about mini "Terry Fox Run" posters they'd made yesterday with the I-Pads.

The spelling quiz this week was a bit rough. We didn't practice as much in class because things were so busy, and the words were the toughest yet. Next week we'll get back to our spelling routine.

We ended the day with Music.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac

Thursday, September 19

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today with a lot of work period time. Students worked hard on their My Story Good Copies, and many were able to finish them!

We continued working on three digit, and even four digit addition, using the Montessori materials.

Tonight is the Welcome Back Open House (which is not a BBQ after all - but there will be excellent pancakes). It starts at 4:00 pm. I hope to see you there!

Tomorrow is our spelling quiz, and it's also the Terry Fox Run. If you'd like to donate, you can do so by sending money (we're doing "Toonies for Terry" this year), or online at https://terryfoxschoolrun.org/

See you later,

Zac

Wednesday, September 18

 Hi parents,

Thanks to everyone who did the Blog homework! I really enjoyed reading those sentences!

It was another good day in Room 3 as the students continued working on their 'My Story' good copies. I think most will be done, or mostly done, by tomorrow. :)

In math, the students worked in groups to 'regroup' numbers using the golden beads and stamp game materials. Basically the groups were given huge quantities of beads (for example, 25 'ones', 30 'tens', 14 'hundreds'), and had to use regrouping to show the quantity in the most clear and efficient way. After that, we cautiously approached 3-digit by 3-digit addition with regrouping. Even though many students are already familiar with the addition algorithm, I think its important that they work through exercises like this first, so that they can see what's really happening when the 'carry the one'.

In the afternoon, we had our first Library visit, which was mostly just an orientation. Next week we'll get to sign out books.

We did another round of Daily LA, and then ended our day by watching a video on Terry Fox. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Tuesday, September 17

 Hi parents,

We had an awesome day today. In the morning, the students once again greatly surpassed my expectations as we started writing our 'good copies' for the My Story writing task. I figured this would take about 3 days. Half the class is already finished. And somehow nobody is rushing. The work is looking really nice.

In math, we talked more about Place Value, and did an activity where the class determined the value of each digit in a number. So for example, in the number 45,982:

The value is 4 is 40,000.

The value of 5 is 5,000.

The value of 9 is 900.

The value of 8 is 80.

The value of 2 is 2.

Students used 10-sided dice to roll and create their own numbers. I intended this to be just for grade 4's, but the Grade 3's seemed more than ready to take on the challenge too.

In the afternoon, we did Mindfulness as usual, and then had our first official 'Daily LA' block. The students were split into reading groups, and engaged in a variety of different literacy stations while I read with a small group as well. 

After that, we revisited Kandinsky and had a fantastic discussion about some of his paintings.

We ended the day with Music.

Apologies for not sending home the 'blue forms' on time. They've been sent home now. Please fill those out at your earliest convenience and send them back.

BLOG HOMEWORK - SPELLING SENTENCES (+1 table point)

Write a sentence using at least 3 of this week's spelling words.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Terry Fox Run - Friday, September 20

More information to follow!

Monday, September 16

 Hi parents,

Today was "International Dot Day", and we had a good time. I'm still getting used to this being a day we celebrate and I forgot to remind the students to wear polka dots. Sorry about that! 

We did a quick 'Artist Study' on Wassili Kandinsky, a Russian painter known for his abstract art involving shapes, lines, and colours. His artwork pairs really nicely with "The Dot". The students made their own artwork inspired by one of Kandinsky's pieces from the early 1900's.

We also worked with the Grade 5/6 students to do some editing for our "My Story" writing work. The students will start on their good copies tomorrow!

In math, we continued to work on skip-counting. We've been using the golden beads while skip-counting so students can visualize the numbers growing or shrinking, rather than just memorizing a pattern. Skip-counting by 10's and 100's, forwards and backwards, is a great skill to practice at home. You can also try starting from different places (for example, 20, 120, 220, 320...)

We ended our day by learning about this week's spelling words, and practicing them.

Have a nice night,

Zac

Spelling Words (Week of Sep. 15)

Spelling List A (Sep. 13 – 20)

back	rocks	neck	kick	lucky
pocket	docks	sick	deck	picking

 

Spelling List B (Sep. 13 – 20)

stock	checker	thick	trucks	rocket
ticket	jacket	hockey	chicken	packed

 

Spelling List C (Sep. 13 – 20)

attack	haddock	Nickelback	sickening	knuckles
unlucky	mockery	thicket	warlock	wicked

 The spelling concept this week is 'ck'. You'll notice all the lists have once again gotten more difficult! 

Good luck!

Friday the 13th

 Hi parents,

Today was a nice end to our first full week of school. We had a lot of work period time so that students could finish up their rough drafts of their "My Story" writing tasks. We should be on track to have the good copies done (or mostly done) by the end of next week - just in time for the Family BBQ.

In Math, we practiced writing large numbers as a class. I noticed that the students are pretty good at numbers up to 1000, but then anything after that, they'll start adding too many zeroes. For example, they'll write the number "five thousand six hundred four" as "5000,604".

For Daily LA, it was student choice. We've officially covered all the stations. Next week, they students will be placed in Daily LA groups, and we'll start rotating through the stations independently. While the class is engaged in Daily LA, I'll be reading with a group myself. It's an awesome way to meet kids where they're at and work on books that are a good difficulty level for them.

Stay tuned for next week's spelling words, and have a nice weekend!

Zac

 Some highlights from the 'word magnets' this week