Thursday, April 1, 2021

 Happy April 1st!  Fortunately, nobody played any tricks on me:)

We had a fun-filled yet productive day.  We did some water colour painting in two stages: the first so that the paint would dry thoroughly, and the second to add in Sharpie our designs.  Here's what the kids produced: some before and after...   *Remember, you can click on a picture to enlarge it.

We also  did some Easter-themed math: patterns and rotations, a MAZE exercise, learned about Alan Turing https://youtu.be/ynTAFPukXBk  and The Easter Story  https://youtu.be/J_E-3BqqeiU.  The latter was intended for educational  purposes, not promoting a religious belief. 

In the afternoon, we played another game of Kahoot! about Polygons and a second game about Growth vs Fixed Mindset to revisit what we had learned yesterday.  The poster that we created as a class yesterday is posted below.  

We had a wonderful hot lunch today: chicken noodle soup and a homemade bun.  The kids also had a brief egg hunt - thanks to Ms Pehgee's chocolate egg donation:)  Lastly, everyone went home with a bag of hard-boiled eggs, egg decorating materials, a new mask, and a new re-useable bag.  Wow!  Students are encouraged to attend the online Zoom tomorrow night for egg decorating and, if they do, will receive a gift certificate for Sporty's.  

Enjoy the long weekend!

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

 Greetings!  First off: a reminder that a hot lunch will be served on Thursday: chicken noodle soup & bun! 

We started our day checking out a short video about the Mars Rover being sent to and landing on Mars. This video is truly amazing! https://youtu.be/XRCIzZHpFtY

Next, we continued reading about and discussed Famous Failures: Oprah Winfrey, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, and Albert Einstein.  

Later on I showed a short 4 minute video about 15 Famous Failures Before Success. 

https://youtu.be/hNihl8oGA7A

Related to this, students worked in pairs to distinguish between Fixed versus Growth Mindset statements. Tomorrow we will look to see what they came up with and, as a review, put them onto a larger poster for the classroom. 

After recess, students continued their 4X drills, noting an improvement from yesterday's results.

Then we marked /reviewed the Polygons worksheets from yesterday before watching another MathAntics video about classifying Quadrilaterals.  We did some pages together while we sorted them out.  Some challenges came up when we named some Triangles and had to find missing angles.  The key is to remember that the inside angles of triangles always add up to 180 degrees. Grade 3s are not expected to know this but those who like to challenge themselves appreciate it:)

After lunch, we followed step by step instructions about how to draw a bunny head.  We did this with pencil, then went outside for some fresh air on the play ground.  Upon our return, we experimented with chalk pastels.  We were supposed to do bunnies but they turned out looking like dogs and other animals - mine included:)  

Some people gave up altogether (So much for growth mindset!) while others created more than one.  

We learned a lot about working with chalk pastels and blending with our fingers.  

Here's what we came up with:

Friday, March 12, 2021

 Wow!  What a day!  The kids were kept busy but they are sure ready for a break:)

We started with a short St. Patrick's Day story on Youtube, with most students remembering to wear green today.  Then, I showed them the following making / recording of the theme song from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". It's worth a watch and listen to. 

St. Patrick's Day Book Read Aloud:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQyvfYho9Ns

 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Danish National Symphony Orchestra   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo

We also finished adding the 'spelling rules' notes we started yesterday to our Interactive Notebooks.  [change the "y" to an "i" and add "-es";  adding just -s or -es to words ending with an "o".  Example: pianos, tomatoes, heroes.]

Next, we sorted out our Working Binders and cleaned out cubbies before the break.  

Finally, students had some time to work on their Landforms project on Book Creator.  When we come back from break, we will finish them up.

After snack and recess, students returned and did eight questions about perimeter; they did this independently so that I can assess their understanding thus far. 

Following that, they finished their pastel landscapes while I finished reading My Side of the Mountain. 

Pat's class made tacos for those students who wanted one, and then it was time to collect the compost and sort the recycling.  

At 1:30, Isaiah and Latisha walked us down to the stream to release the young fry.  Lyam joined us, and the two sang a prayer, the salmon song, and a song of gratitude.  The following photos and a video hopefully captured this special event. 

Have a wonderful spring break, everyone! 

Thursday, March 11, 2021

 We had a rather productive day, despite the craziness and Spring Break being only one day away!

*Purdy's orders are in!  Some students took them home, others will need to be picked up.  You can call the office if unsure.  

We started our day watching an amazing video about people in China who live up in the mountains.  Check this out:

Next, we marked the possessive nouns worksheet that we did yesterday, followed by a second short review quiz about nouns.   That left a few minutes for students to work on their Landforms book in Book Creator.  

After recess break, students did their second X3 drill and recorded their results on their bar graph.  Then we marked / reviewed the perimeters package they worked on yesterday, not only reviewing what perimeter is, but developing strategies to make addition easier.   Students are also encouraged to write down partial sums and not to keep everything in their head; this is how mistakes are often made.  Students are also reminded to include the ever-important unit of measure in their answer!

After lunch, Pat's class presented their research projects about grease trails and the eulachon.  My class played Kahoot! after the presentations to see how well they listened to the presentations.  I think they enjoy the competition more than anything:)  

This took us to PE where we went outside to enjoy the fresh air.

Upon our return, students learned about warm and cool colours. 
They began landscape pictures using warm or cool colours (either one or the other for the sky, and the opposite for the land).  I also introduced them to Ted Harrison's art work and whose style we are using to create our art pieces.  The following are works in progress. 

REMINDERS: WEAR GREEN TOMORROW FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY, and TACO LUNCH PROVIDED for those who said they wanted some.  :)