Winter learning......

Math is all about multiplying these days!  

 When you hear the word anchor chart, here is an example (picture
not as clear as I would like). An anchor chart is something the teacher creates with the class. It is posted so that students can remember the key ideas as they do their assignment. So if you hear us natter away "Use the anchor chart...." it means that your child may find it helpful to be independent and check what they need to include in a certain piece of work. 

Multiplying is about repeated addition of equal groups. We have just learned about using an array to show multiplying.

This array shows 4 X 5 or 5 X 4 = 20 . It is just a special way of showing equal groups in a more organized way using rows and columns. 

Playing a game by counting to 30 by 3's 

We throw the dice (numbered 1-7) and X3

We will learn the meaning of multiplication but I also feel that learning quick recall of the X tables is also helpful. We will start with the 3 X tables and then will continue with the 5 X tables. In Grade 3 we go up to 7 X 7. I also do X 10 as it is very easy and useful. To help students we will play games in teams, Around the World, flash cards, dice and playing cards. There are many good interactive websites and apps to help learning. http://www.multiplication.com/

Yesterday Julia B's team won the 3X game, but today after secret plans were made to study, Faith's team won! Both teams held a huddle to make a plan for the next REMATCH!!! How can you help?? Remind your child to practice by playing a game to learn the tables.

Class Meetings 

Find out how kind and caring your children are.....

We are having class meetings more consistently these days. A class meeting is held on the carpet. The teacher is a guide but not "in charge", more of a facilitator We begin with what is going well or sometimes go directly to a problem. A student brings up a problem to discuss. It is very open and honest. We name the people we might be upset with and speak about our feelings, try to find out why a behaviour is happening and try to find solutions. We talk about the solutions and then come to a consensus where everyone agrees and buys into the solution. It uses peer pressure in a positive way and it makes it very clear that we are a team and we care about each other.

 I would like to share what we discussed 2 weeks ago. 

The problem was that someone was very, very sad and felt they did not have friends. The person didn't have people to play with at recess.  The class immediately sat up and listened They took it very seriously. Right away Luke said he and his friend would really want to play with that student. Others quickly chimed in with invitations. Marlee said that we are like a family to each other. "We are your school family." The next day, Julia B came racing into the room after recess to tell me our class meeting helped! Our previously sad friend was overjoyed to have friends! 

We came up with solutions to try and a plan. When the student added that birthday parties were an issue, everyone had feelings to share about not being invited to parties or, about having a party and wondering why people didn't come.                                                                            

 Listening to each other and asking openly about what others were thinking was very therapeutic for the students. Hearing that others feel the same way helped a lot. One idea that 2 students had, Aymerick and Luke, was to have a very small party, more like a playdate.

I agreed to share their ideas on the blog because as parents, you are their home family and can help too. Every single child in our class today showed compassion and understanding to each other. I wanted to share their solution of playdates with you but even more importantly, I really wanted you to have a glimpse of how your children made you very proud that day. 

Sciences Sociales: An exciting activity coming up!!

The students are beginning their inquiry into wild animals of Ontario. We hope to find out about the animals that live around us, including what they look like, what they eat, and how their lives are impacted by their habitats. In the process, we will be learning how to organize research notes and how to make an interactive presentation.  It is going to be a busy few weeks! 

Mme. Cynthia

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/kids/animal-facts/animals.asp?region=ont




The class has finished learning the geography of Canada so they should know the names of the provinces, the Great Lakes, the oceans.

What is "gradual release of responsibility"? 

This is an education term that describes one way we teach a new concept to students. We start with a teacher guided activity, then move to the group doing the activity together (shared) then to partners and then to individual work. 

We are exploring a text form called narrative. In reading, students heard several narratives in read alouds, where the adult points out the features of a narrative with some help from the class. We then focused on reading narratives in the guided reading groups. Then students were ready to find the features of a narrative with their peers: Setting, main characters, problem, events and solution. Finally a student does an activity on their own. 

Why is it important to understand the features of a certain kind of text? This information helps a reader understand the text better and the reader knows what to expect in that kind of text. 

Enjoying a read aloud with Ms. Petrocco

The kind of narrative to write will be a Mystery Narrative!

 Analyzing the clues! 

I think these props will make the reading and writing very interesting!

Our class has 5 Chromebooks! We use them for reading and writing!

At the same time, we have been focusing on writing narratives. The students have had lots of experiences with reading narratives but now they are preparing to write their own. So before they did, again the teacher will modeled by writing her own narrative, then students worked in groups, and soon they will be writing their own narrative with all of the background knowledge we have discovered together in the gradual release model. Using props and a mystery theme engaged the students as you can see in the class pictures!