Literacy
Students are thoroughly enjoying the novel study of our mentor text: Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. Through our mentor text, students are learning the foundational skills of envisionment and prediction. Students are learning how to look carefully at the characters to anticipate and co-construct the story line. Students are also learning ways to check their comprehension and use fix-up strategies when they’ve lost the thread of the story.
In writing, students have been busy working on crafting true stories about their personal lives. We have studied the craft moves of several mentor texts including Owl Moon, The Leaving Morning, The Night of the Veggie Monster, and Come On, Rain! Together, we have dissected the texts and examined how we can borrow some of those moves in our own writing. Students are learning how to find story ideas (small meaningful moments) that are focused and important, telling it in small detail bit by bit.
Science
Students started their first inquiry in our Strong and Stable Structures unit made by living things. We will continue with our unit and look at what kinds of materials are used in human constructions and animal constructions. We will also be investigating the impact of the structures on the environment and the impact of the environment on these structures. Please continue to bring in toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls as we still need some more for an upcoming experiment.
Math
We will continue to build our understanding of Number Sense and its relationship with Measurement. Through investigations, explorations, and practise, students have begun applying their knowledge of the 5 and 10 frame structures and using it as a landmark number for measuring and adding.
We will then move onto perimeter and adding and subtracting three-digit numbers with and without regrouping. Please regularly review basic addition and subtraction facts with your child at home. Quick recall and proficiency of these basic math facts is essential to their success with adding and subtracting larger numbers.
As in all math units, an emphasis will be on problem solving and justifying answers. Students must be able to explain their thinking. The Grade 3s have been working on solving problems in a variety of ways by making their thinking visible and using mathematical vocabulary. Students should also practise counting forward and backwards from various starting points and to skip count forward to 1000. Here is a link to some math games for Grade 3 students:
We will then move onto perimeter and adding and subtracting three-digit numbers with and without regrouping. Please regularly review basic addition and subtraction facts with your child at home. Quick recall and proficiency of these basic math facts is essential to their success with adding and subtracting larger numbers.
As in all math units, an emphasis will be on problem solving and justifying answers. Students must be able to explain their thinking. The Grade 3s have been working on solving problems in a variety of ways by making their thinking visible and using mathematical vocabulary. Students should also practise counting forward and backwards from various starting points and to skip count forward to 1000. Here is a link to some math games for Grade 3 students:
