Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Winter Electives at the SARC

It was another fun-filled winter electives day!  Students had a wonderful time participating in outdoor activities such as a scavenger hunt in the community, a story walk, obstacle courses, and skating at the SARC.  A big thank you to all parent volunteers who helped with tying up laces and fastening skating helmets for nearly 200 students!

Math

Last week students worked on a problem solving question that allowed them to apply what they have learned in 3D Geometry.  It was so exciting to see how engaged our young mathematicians were.  Have a look at how they persisted and worked through the problem!

 

Reminders

• Math quiz on Geometry on Monday
• Return completed poetry responses by Monday
• Math worksheet completed and handed in on Monday
• Scholastic orders due on Friday

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Thank You!

Thank you to all who were able to come and join us for the publishing party yesterday.  The students were incredibly excited to have you come out to support and celebrate all their hard work.

As we begin our new unit in Information Writing on Monday, please have your child come prepared with a topic of interest.  In order for your child to experience greater success in this unit, the topic should be about something they know a great deal about.  This could be based on a hobby or interest, a special interest, a sport they engage in or something they are passionate about.

Science

We were also very fortunate to have Mr. Rodrigues come into our classroom yesterday to do a presentation and share his knowledge and expertise on civil engineering.  He spoke about the who? what? and why? of what engineers do.  This further supported students' understanding of structures in our science unit and sets the context for their final inquiry project.

Math

In math we will wrap up our unit on symmetry and 3D geometry and move onto our unit on probability.  A study package will come home shortly to help prepare students for their quiz on geometry.

Reminders:

• Please hand in the Swim to Survive permission forms.  All forms are due on Wednesday January 23rd.

• The second Winter Electives will take place on Thursday January 24th at the SARC.  Please let me know if you are available and would like to volunteer.

• Kindly sign and return all math packages.

• All poetry responses are due on Monday.

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our Publishing Party.  Please join us as we celebrate the incredible work of our authors.  We look forward to seeing you!

Please join us for our classroom

Authors’ Celebration and Readings!

The Grade 3 students from Mrs. Garlow’s class will be sharing personal narratives from their latest books.

When:

Thursday, January 17^th, 2019 at 9:20 a.m.

Where:

Your child’s 3^rd grade classroom (room #313)

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Students have worked incredibly hard in crafting true stories about their personal lives.  We have studied the craft moves of several mentor texts, dissected the texts and examined how we can borrow some of those moves in our own writing.  Now that they have completed publishing a chosen story, they are excited to share their work!

Please join us for our classroom

Authors’ Celebration and Readings!

The Grade 3 students from Mrs. Garlow’s class will be sharing personal narratives from their latest books.

When:

Thursday, January 17^th, 2019 at 9:20 a.m.

Where:

Your child’s 3^rd grade classroom (room #313)

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Math

A math package went home today outlining some of the concepts that was covered in-class as well as a few problem solving questions.  Please make sure to go over the feedback with your child and return the signed package.

We have also begun our unit in geometry and have looked at the relationships between different types of quadrilaterals (a polygon with four sides and four vertices), identifying congruent two-dimensional shapes by manipulating and matching concrete materials, and complete and describe designs and pictures of images that have a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line of symmetry.  Here's a few pictures capturing students' learning.

    

Winter Electives

Yesterday was a fun day had by all at the ROC!  Our next winter elective day is on January 24th.  If you're interested in volunteering your time with tying up laces or helping the children learn to skate, please let me know.  

  

Mrs. Garlow's Classroom Blog

Welcome back to school! 2019 is a new year filled with new learning, new opportunities, and new goals. On our first day back to school we will share our New Year's resolutions, reflect on our learning skills, and set new goals. Students will be encouraged to set academic as well as social goals. The grade 3s will also revisit our reading goals that they set back in November and monitor their progress and revise their goals as necessary.


Reading

In January students will delve into the world of non-fiction. Students will practise reading long chunks of texts to grasp what the author has highlighted. They will learn that the little facts that matter are those that support, illustrate, and embody the big ideas. Students will also learn how to read an informational text and determine the main ideas and recognize the structure of a text so that they can turn around and teach the main idea and the supporting points to someone else. This will support the research skills needed for our non-fiction writing unit.

Writing

In writing, students will complete the publishing process of their personal narratives. We will be inviting families into our classroom community to join us in the celebration and to hear the stories read aloud by the authors! Please stay tuned...

Later this month we will begin our unit on Information Writing. To help your child, have a discussion with them on topics they are an expert on/knowledgeable about. To ensure success in this writing unit, it is crucial that the topic chosen by your child is something that he/she is knowledgeable and passionate about. Such topics could include:

• animals
• games (videogames, card games, etc)
• toys
• sports
• hobbies 
• a well-known person 
• a historical event 
• a well-known place 

Students will learn how to write with authority for real audiences, and to actually do some teaching on their topics. They will also learn how powerful a table of contents can be as a tool for structuring an expository piece. As the year progresses, greater emphasis will be placed on drafting, revising, and publishing. Students will revise by learning concrete strategies and using those strategies to lift the level of their work. They will learn more complex revision strategies such as using grammar with meaning, tapping research for elaboration, using text features, and fact checking.

Social Studies

As our unit on Communities in Canada 1780-1850 wraps up, students will apply what they have learned to write a realistic fiction guide to survive living in Upper Canada. 

Science

We are wrapping up our unit on Strong and Stable Structures. Students can identify the difference between strength and stability and will investigate how these two properties affect the usefulness of a structure. The grade 3s will investigate the factors that affect a structure's strength and stability such as shape, centre of gravity and apply their learning as they design and build their own dream school in teams. Be prepared to be amazed!

Visual Arts

Please remember to have your child send in magazine cutouts of texts or letters that spell out words that describe who they are or how they see themselves (e.g., sister, athletic, creative, curious, Canadian, etc...) by Tuesday January 8th!