PJ Day!

Tomorrow St. Andrew is having their first Spirit Day of the year... PJ Day! Kiddies are encouraged to wear warm jammies to school (remember recesses will be cold). As a class we have worked very hard all of November so as a special treat I said that the chickadees could bring along their stuffies, pillows, blankets etc. and we would have a jammie movie afternoon after lunch. We just finished reading the novel "Because of Winn Dixie" so my thinking is we will cozy up for the movie tomorrow afternoon! I am looking forward to a great day!

More Angles!

Today we worked some more with angles. We used another math manipulative called pattern blocks to explore angles in 2 D shapes. As partners we solved a problem which allowed us to put our learning from yesterday into practice. I am thinking a "pop quiz" tomorrow on angles.

Glogster

I am bringing my keen learners over to the techy world! In Social Studies the boys and girls have been researching a different First Nation tribe with a partner. Now that all their research is collected, I wanted them to share their great learning with their peers. In the past I would have used "old fashioned" Bristol Boards to present their written information and pictures. In keeping up with the times, I realize that these type of presentations are not so popular and will probably never be used once the kiddies get to high school (which is crazy to think is in only 5 years!)This is when my wheels started turning and I have tried to get creative! I have turned to an online resource called "Glogster." This website allows users to create interactive posters (sorta like a Bristol Board). It looks like a poster, but readers can interact with the content. We can insert text, images, photos, audio, and videos into their glogs (a.k.a. posters) to generate a multimedia online creation! We began to explore the site on the Smartboard today and fiddled around with how it works. This week we will begin to create our posters with our partners... I can't wait to get "glogging!"

Angles!

Today's math learning goal was to identify angles as either a right angle, greater than a right angle or less than a right angle. In grade three we do not actually need to name the angles or measure them using protractors... this is saved for grade four.

Hook Your Reader!

In our writing blocks we have been working on writing "a good hook." A hook is the opening sentence in our writing. When we write a good hook we get a reader interested in our writing so that they  will want to read on!

Last week we learned about a type of hook called "The Checklist Hook." We had a lot of fun experimenting with this kind of hook both in small groups and independently. 
Here are a few examples of this type of hook:

Soccer ball? Check. Uniform? Check. Lucky shoes to make me score?
Check. This is what happened at my soccer game this weekend.

Hat? Check. Snow pants? Check. Mittens? Check. Plenty of snow to attack my sister with snowballs? Check. Let me tell you about my adventures in the snow!

Today we learned and practiced a second type of hook called "The Question Hook."
Here are some examples of this type of hook:

Have you ever heard of a dog that could dance? Well I have one and her name is Champ!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to get stuck in a car wash? It happened to me this weekend and I'm going to tell you all about it!

As you can see these hooks require creativity and some thinking "outside of the box." Opening up our writing with a good hook really sparkles up our writing and makes it our own! 

Attributes

We have been learning about the different ways to describe 2 D shapes. We came up with the following list of attributes:

- type of lines (curvy or straight)
- number of sides
- length of sides
- parallel sides

Today for our math warm up we were introduced to a math manipulative called a Geoboard. On this board students can make their own shape using an elastic band. Our task was to make any type of shape we want and then on a sticky note describe the shape using the above attributes. Some of us had a chance to show their shape under the document camera on the Smartboard and share the attributes with the class.

Math Test

Today we wrote our math test. I have marked about half of them and I am so thrilled with the results!!! We have all done so well. I have a bunch of addition and subtraction rock stars in this room!
We will begin Unit 3: Geometry this week.

It's Here...

It is official... cold and flu season is here (ugh!). Many of us are coughing and sniffling in Room 209 (me included). I remind the boys and girls to cough in their sleeve and to wash their ands frequently (especially after coughing in their hands and blowing their noses).
Let's help stop the spread of germs!

Math Problem #3

Last night's practice page was another great problem that is "math test worthy" *wink wink.*
Here are a couple that could be practiced over the weekend:

Manny read 18 books in the Read-A-Thon.
He read seven books in the first week.
How many books did Manny read in the second week?
Explain your thinking.



A bake sale sold 145 cookies on Monday and 93 cookies on Tuesday.
Round to the nearest ten and tell about how many cookies the bake sale sold over the two days.

 

Problem #2

Mickey has 600 trading cards in his collection. Minnie has 387 fewer cards in her collection than Mickey.
How many fewer cards does Minnie have than Mickey?

Math Problem

In October Sammy the Squirrel collects 136 acorns. In November, he collects one hundred seventy-four acorns.
How many acorns does he collect in all?

* Talk together about how you know to add or subtract.

Math Test

Our Unit in Addition and Subtraction is coming to an end. We will write a unit test on Tuesday November 19. I will post various word problems over the next few days that the boys and girls can practice at home to help them study.

The following will be covered on the test:

- adding and subtracting strategies (make ten, doubles, near doubles)
- fact families
- find the missing number
- mental math
- estimation
- adding and subtracting with and without regrouping (up to three digits)
- word problems (it is important that the students can identify whether they should add or subtract)

Remembrance Day

To sum up our Remembrance Day liturgy today in one word it would be "beautiful." I can confidently say that the kids touched the hearts of everyone present. The readings were read clearly, the songs were sung with passion and the story was read with expression. It truly was remarkable.

Remembrance Day holds an extra special place in my heart. My (baby) brother Kyle is a proud member of the Canadian Armed Forces. He is stationed in CFB Edmonton. Days like today I miss him more than anything and am so proud of what he does for our country!

Reseach

Today we began a mini research project in social studies. This activity will be completed only at school. I am very excited as this project is going to be one of those "hit many birds with one stone" sorta activities. We will cover curriculum expectations in the areas of:

- reading
- writing
- social studies
- media
- oral visual

I anticipate a lot of great learning to take place. I can't wait to share the finished projects with everyone!

Two Digit Subtraction

We have done so well with three digit addition with regrouping this week that I felt very confident moving on to two digit subtraction (also with regrouping)today. After a bit of practice and review of our Grade 2 skills, we all quickly remembered how to subtract with regrouping. We will learn how to apply this skill to three digits tomorrow and practice into next week. I am thinking that late next week, or early the next, we will be ready for a unit test. I will post an exact date by Friday. 

Addition With Regrouping

Math today was a lot of review from Grade Two. We reviewed how to add two digit numbers using a standard algorithm (stacking the numbers on top of each other) both with and without regrouping.
Later this week our learning goal will be to add three digit numbers. Home practice and review of two digit adding with regrouping over the next few days would be quite helpful!

Online Practice

Remembrance Day

Next Monday we will be hosting the Remembrance Day liturgy for the school.
Some of us will be doing readings. These went home tonight and should be practiced nightly until the day of the liturgy. We will also be singing a beautiful song called "Little Red Poppy." Below is a Youtube link to the song. I encourage the kiddies to practice singing it at home too!

Little Red Poppy

Happy Weekend!

Today we got off to a bit of a slow start... I am thinking all the extra sugar and later than usual bedtimes last night (I know I was feeling it too). But we quickly "woke up" and picked up the pace. We were all able to finish our animal paragraphs based on the research we did with a partner last week. I am really looking forward to reading them as I know they will all be jammed packed with all kinds of "treasures."
In the afternoon we worked on a Halloween reflection page. We will collate all the pages and turn it into one of our famous classroom created books!
On November 11 our class is in charge of the Remembrance Day prayer service. We began learning a song today. Student readers will receive their parts on Monday.
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Hopefully the winds calm down and we can all enjoy some outdoors. Have fun and be safe!