KTS - Mrs. Njie - Grade 3 2020-21

Well, I guess it is winter?! Thank you to all the parents who managed to find warm winter clothes and boots at short notice! We still find that most children enjoy going outside and all children benefit from some unstructured down time so please make sure you continue to send your child to school with appropriate clothing.

We did a lot of thinking during Orange Shirt Day. The students are truly becoming critical thinkers. We practiced another Thinking Routine (version of Daily Double). First we recorded all the facts from the story "When I was Eight." Then we recorded our thoughts, wonders and questions. Most students were able to think up great questions, such as 'If the girl was sent to school, then why was she not allowed to learn?' or 'If the parents could not speak English then why did they have to go to an English speaking school?' By helping the students to think about what they hear, they are not only deepening their comprehension but they are also learning to 'use their thinking brain.' Orange Shirt day leads nicely onto The Rights of the Child, which we will be looking at soon, in social studies.

 We also worked on thinking about what the summary of a story meant. Some people thought it was a retell of the story. Having such a small place to write in helped us to remember to include only the main points. You can support your child at home by asking them to summarize when they read to you.

In science we practiced being a scientist by making detailed observational drawings like Mrs. Njie used to do in University. We brought in a little math when we decided that artists, like Leonardo da Vinci also made observational drawings. We recorded our understanding of this in a Venn Diagram. You could compare and contrast things at home, such as family members favorite foods, in a Venn Diagram for some extra practice.

In math, we are continuing our practice of our 'make ten' numbers. We noticed them in our math talk.
First we were given the question:

7 + 3

Then we were given the question

7 + 6 + 3

If we noticed that there was a 7 and 3, our brain did not have to work so hard to add all the numbers as we had done most of it already!

You can support your child at home by practicing the make ten number bonds. (example, 6 and 4, 2 and 8). We are aiming for automaticity of these number pairs (so the students 'just know' the answer and do not have to work it out).

We also learned a game where we used the hundreds chart to add and subtract 10, 20, 30 etc. You can also practice this at home (just Google a Hundreds Chart). Again, your child should be moving toward being able to quickly add example 30 to 27. If they find this challenging, you could practice this at home.

Home reading will be going home tomorrow or the next day, depending on time.

This week the Grade 3s have started their home reading program.  You will notice that your child came home with a Ziploc bag with a leveled book, home reading log and some parent information.  Please have your child read each evening for about 15-20 minutes.  They can read independently or aloud to a parent or sibling.   Feel free to explore other genres and reading material other than the leveled books if you have those available at your house… Just READ!!

It is important that your child bring the book and bag back to school each day to help build habit. They will have the choice to read these during independent reading times at school.  Please encourage your children to read a book or a passage of a book 3-4 times to help increase their accuracy, fluency, and understanding. This may mean that they have the same book for several days. 

There is a spot on the reading log for parent comments.  Please take the time to comment on the fit of the book or to write a wish or compliment on your child’s reading.