Is it a pyramid or a prism?

To assist the boys and girls with practice at home for Tuesday's Math test, here is the strategy we use to help remember the difference between a pyramid and a prism.  

The countdown is on!

Parents, you have some homework to do...sort of!  Tuesday night's Practice Page is all about you! The boys and girls are going to ask you about your favorite Christmas gift as a child.  
I'm posting this nice and early in the day so you have time to think about that special gift. 

Maybe your gift was handmade by someone special in your life.  Perhaps it was a Cabbage Patch Kid or an Atari Game System! Or maybe it was the Barbie Camper?! ! 😉

You don't have to do the work for this assignment, but you do have to provide the subject.  I can't wait to read the results on Wednesday,  this is my favorite homework activity of the year! 

Reindeer Directed Drawing

As part of our Fun Friday activity, the boys and girls are learning how to draw a reindeer! They're coming a long very nicely! We'll continue to work on them on Monday, but in case blog visitors would like to draw one at home or have their own class create one, here's the video I made with directions! 

Let's talk about procedural writing

We've started procedural writing this week. The boys and girls are writing all about what Mrs. Claus does on Christmas Eve while Santa is out delivering all the presents. The purpose of this activity is multi-layered. I'm teaching my students to: 

• think like a character
• write an interesting paragraph with sparkly, memorable details that evoke a response from the reader 
• write steps in sequence 
• implement feedback from their writing pieces thus far  

We've talked a lot about procedural writing in my class. Actually, you might say we've done so since the first day of school.  Our Morning Message letter is an example of procedural writing. I always first tell my purpose for writing and then explain what we'll be doing throughout the day. Here's an example of what this looks like: 

Over the next few days, students will learn the key features of procedural writing pictured below.  

I'll be thrilled if everyone finished their paragraph, but it's this ideas page that I'm most interested in. Since such a heavy focus has been placed on creating an interesting and memorable paragraph, I want to see that my students are capable of generating these ideas on their own. We're using the two commercials and my paragraph pictured below as inspiration. 

On Wednesday and Thursday, I'll conference with each student, look at their ideas and give a bit of feedback to help guide them along. I'm really looking to see that they can come up with their own ideas (sometimes kids tend to follow the teacher's example) and ask themselves the following questions:  

• Have I included the essential details so that the reader can make a picture in their mind?
• Have I included some details that will be memorable to the reader like the ones in the commercials we watched?
• Have I included details that will evoke a response from the reader (likely it will be laughter, but you never know!) 

After looking at and discussing key features from a few samples I wrote, along with television commercials that include many interesting details, I set my little authors loose to create their own literary works of art.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how these all turn out; it's a lot harder than it looks and requires students to think very critically about their own work.

An important conversation!

It was a very important day on Tuesday! 
We had a BIG talk.  I explained to the boys and girls that in late May, early June, along with all of the other Grade Three children in Ontario, we’ll complete a set of booklets that ask us to demonstrate what they've learned so far.  

The students understand that this is not a test, but a set of tasks that all children in Grade Three complete. It covers reading, writing and math. We don't really study for EQAO in the traditional sense because by learning the curriculum and learning to apply the skills, we will indeed be very well prepared when the writing days roll around. 
  
As a matter of fact, we've already been preparing for EQAO since the first days of school. Our Morning Message is a major player in this. Now that the kids know what's coming, we'll start to integrate the EQAO language and activities even more fully in our day-to-day routines so that come May/June, everyone will feel confident and well-prepared. 

In addition to our Morning Message, we have started preparing for EQAO since the first days of school by: 

• learning how to write an effective letter
• learning about the parts of speech, grammar, text features and other aspects of writing and language through our Poem of the Week and recently, Non-Fiction Article of the Week
• learning how to answer Reading Response questions  
• explaining our thinking in Math using the appropriate and related vocabulary
• speaking and writing in complete sentences
• solving higher level thinking problems in Math

Pretty soon we'll start focusing more on adding more evidence from the text to our answers, which is not only expected on EQAO, but an important skill to develop for future grades. 

I refer to EQAO not as a test, but as a set of booklets to be completed. I'd really appreciate your support with this messaging too.  This has proven to be very effective in minimizing anxiety for those students who are test-sensitive. An example of a phrase I'll use in class would be, "When completing your booklets, you'll want to make sure your printing looks smart and your work sounds smart."  

Our talk was the first of many. The boys and girls had a lot of questions and we'll continue our discussion on Wednesday and beyond. I always feel relieved after this talk. I like to have it early on so that it takes away some of the stress and confusion my students might be experiencing, which is a win for everyone! 

What's a recount?

A week or so ago, I surprised the kids with a pancake breakfast for Fun Friday. We were really focused that week on compound words and pancakes seemed like the perfect way to cap it off!  

To give them a fun twist to add to their recounts, I first told the students I was making the pancakes for the teachers in the school! 

This week, we started writing a recount of that special day.  The gif above shows the features one needs to include in an effective recount. 

We're just about finished them and they're great! I am so impressed with the way the boys and girls have incorporated all the criteria into their writing! I also love the personality and sparkle they've added to really bring their writing alive and engage with the reader! It's very rewarding to see the boys and girls using the resources at their fingertips such as their no-excuse word list or the Portable Word-Wall to add new words to their writing and make sure those words are spelled correctly!  

I'll put these up on the bulletin board for all to see here at school, but I look forward to parents and families reading about all the fun we had that day! It's exciting to read that event from a kid's point of view! 

Special thanks to Miss Paget for capturing for all to see this mess I made in the frying pan! It never fails...no matter how many lovely and round pancakes you make, when the camera comes on, disaster ensues! 😂

Poster Problem

We've been talking a lot this year about inferring.  Inferring means we use the clues on the page, plus our own knowledge to figure out the author's message. In other words, we read between the lines.  

This week's text of the week is a carry over from last week because it also provides an inferring opportunity for the boys and girls.  

Here are a few of the things we'll continue to discuss using our text of the week: Poster Problem: 

1. Who are the boys partners for the poster project? (inferring)
2. How are italics used in this text? (to show the name of the cartoon) 
3. Why are some words written in all capitals?
4. What is compromising? 
5. How can we resolve problems like the one the boys have without resorting to tattling or teacher intervention? 
6. Calling people names is never okay.  We can be mad at someone, but we never call them a name (e.g. "cheese curd")
7. We never, EVER threaten people with violence because they don't want to do things our way. 
8. What are some new words from this story that students could use to add to their own writing (e.g. smirk, glared) 
9. What are chores? Students, how do you contribute to making your home run smoothly? 
10. What's a food drive? 

We Remember

On Tuesday, the boys and girls in grade three led the Remembrance Day Liturgy and they did a beautiful job. We've spent a week or so preparing for this day by learning about the sacrifices made by so many so that Canada would be the home we know and love.  

Early last week, ALL of the grade three students gathered in our classroom for the first of a few opportunities to practice the Liturgy. Everyone that was in the room that first day knew this was going to be a very special assembly. This year, we have a group of very respectful audience members who are also great readers and singers. 

Students in my class especially enjoyed Stephanie Innes' and Harry Endrulat's storybook, "A Bear In War".  It's a true story told from the perspective of a teddy bear sent to join a solider dad in World War 1.  The boys and girls were very excited to learn that someday they could travel to the Canadian War Museum and visit teddy themselves! 

We also talked about some other aspects of Remembrance Day such as: what the Legion does for veterans and their families, why and how we we wear a poppy, along with the roles women played in both World Wars, which resulted in some of our most meaningful and lively discussions of the year so far! 

Thank you to all the boys and girls for working so hard to prepare for our service today. It was a very special day made even more so by your great reading, singing and citizenship.

The kids 'round here!

Recently, I taught one of my most favorite lessons of the year in Math: rounding numbers! 

We had a ball learning about how to round numbers to the nearest ten and we'll talk more in depth in the next day or two about how to round to the nearest 100. 
We read Stuart Murphy's story called "Coyotes All Around". He writes great books to support many math skills covered in the grade 3 program. 

Now a  fair warning to all you parents out there, because the kids are coming home armed with this new information. They're fully equipped to tell you your "round about" age. I've warned them to steer clear of anyone in their late 30s, 40s, etc. I was not thrilled to hear that I was "about 50" in the world of rounding numbers, and you won't appreciate your rounded age if you're 37, 45 or even 28! Nope. You won't appreciate it at all. 

To support our learning, students are working on something called a "rounding folder".  They're asked to use the feedback from their Fall Y'all folder to help them improve on this one.  Each panel of the folder reflects a lesson from this mini-math unit.  

On Friday,  to review our skills, the kids will learn about my make-believe monster truck school bus.  They'll learn that the Mihalides Monster Truck School Bus has stops at house number: 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. They will learn about which stop they'll need to get off at if they live at house #21, 34, 39, 41,etc. But, to be honest, the monster truck school bus doesn't actually come to a full stop, the kids just kind of leap out of it, which is probably why you don't see many of them on the road.