Weekly News - Nov 26th

Greetings,

This was another busy week in Grade 3. We were fortunate to have skyped with the author Melissa Stewart. She sparked our excitement for information writing and taught us that nonfiction writers revise, revise, revise! The students were able to ask questions and comments with the author. This was a special opportunity for them to meet an author we have been studying in class.

This past week we also celebrated Deepavali. It was a wonderful day of performances and hallway activities. Students looked great in their Deepavali costumes. It was an incredible day!

Thank you to all the parents who came in to make Christmas decorations with the students!

This week will begin on a Day 4

Reading Students will continue their work on talking about texts in conversation with their reading partners using prompts such as: This makes me think that.. I wonder.. It is important to notice that… Students will also determine perspective. One of the questions they will ask themselves as they read a text is: “Is the perspective or point of view of this topic different from the reader's’ point of view?” This foster the concept that authors can write about the same topic, but have varying perspectives.

Writing Students will work on connecting the information in their chapters by using different transitional strategies, phrases, and words. They will continue to study mentor texts to help develop ideas on how to best transition in their own informational books.

Math Students will begin our new unit in math. This unit focuses on multiplication and division and the relationship that they have with each other. It begins with students solving problems that ask them to think of ways they can share into equal groups a given number of items. For example: “How many apples are in 4 baskets of 8 apples?” The students will work on grouping the apples into 4 groups of 8. Lastly, they will count all the apples to find the answer.

Science This week we will have composting and worm experts come to our room. Students will examine the concept of decomposition by looking at how worms play a vital role in the process of composting our food waste. Each class will have their own container of worms to study throughout the weeks. This investigation will help students better their conceptual understanding of the interdependent relationship in an ecosystem.

Nov. 26th-Nov. 30th, 2017- Choose 2 activities to complete before Friday to share in class.

Math: Create a poster that explains multiplication. You should include pictures, numbers, and words. It might have example strategies like: equal groups, arrays, skip counting, repeated addition, turn-around, decomposing, (commutative property) etc.	Language arts: Read a biography. In your home learning journal, take notes on the person’s life: Who, Wanted, But, So,Then.	Language arts: Write a creative story of your choice in your home learning journal.
Math: Practice your basic multiplication facts (1-5).	Science Observe all the different things you and your family use WATER for in your house. In your home learning journal, rank them from most important use to least important usage of water.	Other: Build something out of recycled material that floats in water. (If possible, take a picture of it)

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.

Weekly News - November 19th

Good Morning,

It has been another exciting week in Grade 3! Here are some photos. We have been busy with our nonfiction reading and writing units.

Over the past few weeks we have been reading a lot of non-fiction books by the author Melissa Steward and we are looking forward  to skyping with her to ask questions about non-fiction writing and the process she goes through to write her books!

This week is a shorten week with no school on Tuesday in honour of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday.

We are looking forward to skyping with Melissa Stewart on Wednesday morning and making ornaments with parent helpers on Thursday.

On Friday students will celebrate Deepavali and are encouraged to wear traditional Indian clothing to celebrate.

Just a reminder Scholastic Book Orders went home with students on Friday and you should have received an email on how to order the books – as this is a cashless system.

This week will begin on Day 8

Reading Students will continue reading nonfiction. Students will rev up their minds by asking and thinking: What sort of text is this? What will this must be about? What parts/subtopics? Recall prior knowledge and build expectations Students will also practice summarizing narrative nonfiction by including only important details and keeping the characters/subjects motivations and problems in mind.

Writing Students will work on connecting the information in their chapters by balancing facts and ideas. We will revise our work and use strategies that will focus on word choice and structure. If we do not have enough interesting facts, we will become researchers who can research and find more information to enhance their informational books.

Math Students will continue to work on word problems and applying different methods of subtraction, including the standard algorithm.

Science Student will continue to examine the interdependent elements of an ecosystem and begin to discuss human impact on those systems.

November 19th - 23rd, 2018- Choose 2 activities to complete before Friday to share in class.

Math: Create a 3 digit addition problem and 3 digit  subtraction using the numbers 1-9, no repeating. Trying to get your answer as close to 300 as you can in both problems.	Language arts: Read an informational book and take research notes as you read. You can organize the notes into boxes and bullets	Language arts: Write an informational paragraph about a topic that you have done research on. Include a topic sentence, detail sentences (facts, reasons, examples, details), and a “so what” conclusion.
Math: Practice your addition and subtraction facts.	Science Draw a diagram of an animal that has different adaptations. Label those adaptations. For example:	Other: Go for a walk in a park or other green space. Look/listen for the different living and non-living elements. Write down what you noticed.

Weekly News - November 11th

Good Morning,

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and the International Fest on Saturday. Even though last week was a shortened week it was a wonderful week of learning and celebrations. Our first international flag parade at our new campus was a huge success and showcased how fortunate we are at ISKL to have such a diverse group of students. Here are some pictures from the day.

Students continue to immerse themselves into our non-fiction reading and writing units. Choosing topics for their information books and organizing that information in a way that makes sense. Students are getting help by looking and reading different non-fiction texts and noticing how the author presents the information and what text features they use.

We look forward to a full week of learning this week!

This week will begin on Day 3

Reading Students will continue their work on talking about texts in conversation with their reading partners using prompts such as: This makes me think that.. I wonder.. It is important to notice that… Students will also determine perspective. One of the questions they will ask themselves as they read a text is: “Is the perspective or point of view of this topic different from the reader's’ point of view?” This foster the concept that authors can write about the same topic, but have varying perspectives.

Writing Students will work on connecting the information in their chapters by using different transitional strategies, phrases, and words. They will continue to study mentor texts to help develop ideas on how to best transition in their own informational books.

Math Students will begin to look at different subtraction strategies for three digit numbers. They will be using place value, number lines, decomposing, and a standard algorithm. As students become more familiar with subtracting strategies, they will select a strategy that they feel is effective. We will also begin to work on rounding when solving subtraction problems to check the reasonability of their answer.

Science Student will examine the interdependent elements of an ecosystem. (The consumers/producers, food chain, food web and the competitive relationships that help promote adaptation in the ecosystem.

November 12th - 16th, 2018  Choose 2 activities to complete before Friday to share in class.

Math: Write a 3-digit by 3-digit subtraction number story. Solve it and show your thinking	Language arts: Visit the website of the author Melissa Stewart and explore! Melissa-stewart.com	Language arts: As you read a nonfiction book, use these sentence starters to determine perspective: The author seems to feel… about this topic My evidence is… I agree/disagree with this perspective because...
Math: What is this? What math do you see? What questions do you have?	Science Draw a model of how living and nonliving things depend on each other in an ecosystem. Think: sun, plants, water, soil, animals, insects.	Other: Make something that will help you organize your things( pencils, artwork, toys).

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.

Weekly News - November 5th

Greetings,

It has been another busy week in grade 3 as we dove into our non-fiction reading and writing units. We ended the week with a wonderful field trip to FRIM and learned a lot about patterns and the different living and non-living elements in that diverse ecosystem. A huge thank you to our parent volunteers for helping make it a smooth trip. If you were one of our amazing parent volunteers and took pictures on your phone, we would love to add them to the folder of the field trip. You can send them to me via email, we would love to include them in our blog posts. Here are some photos from the week.

This week is a shorter week with no school on Tuesday in celebration of Deepavali!

There will be no after school activities on Monday due to the expected Deepavali traffic.

Friday will be our International Festival Flag Parade – This is an annual event at ISKL, and students are encouraged to wear clothing that represents their culture and wave flags in the parade.

This week we begin on Day 7

Reading Students will organize the bits of information in a nonfiction text into categories. They will also teach others what they’ve learned from their nonfiction texts, paying close attention to the main ideas and supporting details.

Writing They will make plans for how to organize their information writing and try different organization structures on for size. Writers look at the different parts of an information text paragraph, breaking them apart and identifying their purpose. They will write an informational paragraph.

Math Students will continue to practice a variety of addition strategies to find the sum of 3-digit numbers. They will also be solving real world problems involving addition and measurement.

Science Students will look for commonalities among components of biomes in different locations, as well as adaptations that plants and animals make to these different biomes. They will begin to study food chains/food webs to think about the interconnectedness of living and non-living elements in an ecosystem.

November 5th  – November 9th

Math: Jesse practices the trumpet for a total of 165 minutes during the first week of school. He practices for 244 minutes during the second week. Estimate the total amount of time Jesse practices by rounding to the nearest 10 minutes. Estimate the total amount of time Jesse practices by rounding to the nearest 100 minutes.	Language arts: Make a list of things that strong informational authors include in their writing.	Language arts: Read an informational book and take research notes as you read. You can organize the notes into boxes and bullets. Then you can teach your new understanding to an audience.
Math: Practice your fact fluency (+ or - facts to 20) Flashcards, online, games, worksheets, or game.	Science Design  your own ecosphere or closed terrarium. Draw and label your design in the home learning journal. If possible, make it!	Other: Go outside for a walk, observe the different biotic and abiotic (living and non-living) elements on your walk.

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.