The new Kid and Play cut a rug. For more pictures, scroll to the bottom, but read my Pulitzer Prize winning writing first. Happy New Year and welcome back Caleb! We missed Caleb a lot. Hardly a day went by when someone didn't say, "I miss Caleb" and we'd all have a Caleb moment.
I hope that everyone had a relaxing, fun-filled holiday. While visiting my folks in St. Catharines, I went to the Book Depot's humongous Boxing Day Sale and loaded up on wonderful books for our classroom. It doesn't take much to get carried away. I'm working hard to create an exciting classroom library filled with all kinds of books for all different types of readers. I know the boys and girls of Room 108 will be happy to get their hands on our latest stash of books.
Here's what we're going to work on this week:
Language: Writing - Students are going to write a final piece of procedural writing. We will review the elements of procedural writing and then students will be given a choice for their topic. If time permits, we will begin writing friendly letters. I am teaching to the curriculum, but also making sure Grade 3s are receiving instruction in areas that relate to EQAO.
In Word Study, students will begin to create a word book. This week, we will be reviewing contractions and we'll be mastering the spelling of fruit words. Something healthy for the new year.
Reading: Question and Answer Relationships continued. Students will learn how sometimes they make meaning of texts by combining the author's ideas and their own. This is called "Author and Me."
Math: We are wrapping up Measurement for the time being by looking at temperature. We will be measuring temperature outside and graphing our results. This connects to Data Management, which we'll be starting very soon. In Math, we are also working on problem solving. Each day, there will be a "Problem of the Day" students will be asked to solve with a partner. We will share our understandings in a math congress (sort of a mini meeting) at the end.
Social Studies: Grade 2s will continue learning about Celebrations and Traditions by comparing Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Eid, and Kwanza. We have learned about all of these, apart from Kwanza. Students will use a graphic organizer to look at similarities and differences. Grade 3s will take a close look at the communities who moved from Great Britain and Europe to Upper Canada. We will discuss the reasons why they moved and we will begin learning about the First Nations people who were living in Upper Canada at the time.
Homework:
1. Reading Response Journal entry (students will answer a few short questions in their journal). Due Friday.
2. Temperature tracking assignment. Students will have until Monday, Jan. 31st to complete this assignment.
3. Calendar questions. Students are assembling an owl calendar in class. Using it - or a calendar at home, students will take a look ahead at the year and answer some questions. Due Friday.
