Faith - Our Next Gospel Value for the month of March!

The Grade 3s will be presenting the next Gospel Value at our monthly school assembly.  The assembly will be held during Block 3 on Tuesday.  The Grade 3s will be singing a song called "These Hands, This Heart".  There will also be two students from each Grade 3 class who will be reading a response to the question, "What is Faith?".  Lastly, one representative from each Grade 3 class will be reading the story, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" to the whole school!  We are very excited to share our learning of what Faith means to us to the rest of our St. Cecilia School Family.

Here is a video of the song we will be singing!

Last Week In February

We have been very busy in Grade 3D!  The students have been working hard on projects which started with researching and exploring different plant based foods.  The students were asked to think about how their food gets to their table and the positive and negative effects this can have on our environment (how shipping time affects the quality of our food, pollution, packaging, freshness etc.). During this project, the children have also been focusing on their collaboration skills and working together as a team e.g., realizing that their actions can affect others, using each others' strengths to most effectively complete the task, etc.  This week the students are finishing up their inquiry by creating a Public Service Announcement telling others about the benefits of eating and buying locally grown foods.  The students were able to choose the medium for their production and some of the choices included apps such as, 30 Hands, Green Screen, Puppet Pals 2 and iMovie.  As the students complete their assignments, I will upload them to their individual Google Drive.  The students were very engaged in this project and I know that you will enjoy viewing them.  Way to go Grade 3!

In Math, we continue to work on 2D Geometry and will be moving into 3D Geometry next week. The students are also learning about Angles (recognizing Right Angles and angles that are larger than (obtuse) and smaller than (acute) right angles).  Many students are still having difficulty seeing right angles and when the shapes are rotated so this would be an excellent area to focus on at home - students can try and find different kinds of angles at home and all around them:).  Some other concepts that we have been learning about in math are finding lines of symmetry and matching congruent shapes.  This week we opened up new Math Stations and some of the highlights were the Tangram Station and the Geoboard Station!

Here are the Grade 3 curriculum expectations that we are working on as we move from 2D to 3D Geometry.

The overall expectations include:
-comparing three-dimensional figures and sorting them by their geometric properties
-describing the relationship between two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures.

Students will:
-compare and sort prisms and pyramids by number and shapes of faces, number of edges and number of vertices
-construct and describe geometric properties of prisms
-describe and name prisms and pyramids by the shape of their base

In Language we have been working very hard on Reading Responses by learning that we must first restate the question.  Next, we need to include our opinion along with a specific example (proof) from the text.  Lastly, we need to add our own experiences (connections) and a concluding sentence.  We have read some wonderful texts to practice our Reading Responses (Sam and the Lucky Money, Ms. Mitra, At the Sugar Bush and Canada's Dollar Coins).  In Writing, the students have written their Baseline Narrative Story.  We have also been reading model Narrative Texts and using the Shape Go Map to help determine the Main Characters, Setting, Problem, Key Events and Solution in the story.  We will continue to read and examine some more texts and begin our Narritive Anchor Chart at the beginning of next week.  We are also going to practice further the importance of making a plan before we write in order to keep on track and include all of the elements of a Narrative Story.  I can't wait to read more of the stories that our creative class will produce.  Have fun and imagine big!

I will end with the Lego Movie song "Everything Is Awesome." I saw and heard it for the first time last night while watching a brief segment of the Oscars. I felt it had a catchy connection to our work on collaboration. This particular Youtube video was created by a six year old boy. Pretty cool! Enjoy!

Important Upcoming Dates

We had a wonderful day skating today and I know the students are very excited for our last skating day which is scheduled for Tuesday March 10th at 1:15 p.m.  A HUGE thank you to all of the parent volunteers that have joined us for our skating events and who have signed up for the next outing.  



Some additional dates to mark on your calendars:

Monday, March 2nd - PJ and Teddy Bear Day and Buddy Reading during Block 2

Tuesday, March 3rd - Crazy Hat and Socks Day and "Dance Your Socks Off" (2:50-3:20) as well as Pizza Day

Wednesday, March 4th - Jersey Day and School wide board game playing during Block 3

Thursday, March 5th - St. Cecilia Spirit Day (wear red and white)

Friday, March 6th - WinterPlay Day (Dress warmly as activities will be outdoors)

Tuesday, March 10th - Final Skating Day (1:15 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 11th - Pizza Order Deadline     Click here for Information

Update

The students have been really enjoying our Science unit on Growth in Plants.  We have examined stems and their uses as well as well as the various functions of plant parts.  We have been learning about the foods we eat and what part of the plant that food comes from.

The students have also really enjoyed learning about different plant based foods and how that food gets to our table.  Through personal inquiry, partner tasks and knowledge building circles, the students have created maps of where their food comes from and how it gets to our local food markets and grocery stores.  From there, we have talked about local vs. imported food and how importing foods, the packaging of foods, etc. can effect our environment.

In math, we are finishing up our unit on graphing in Data Management and drawing meaningful conclusions from data being displayed on graphs (bar graphs, pictographs, line plots).  We have also learned all about mode!  Next up, the students will be learning 2 Demensional and 3 Demensional Geometry.

In Language, we are finishing up Procedural Writing.  The students even had a chance to write a Procedural text on Google Docs after we created a Shared Procedural Writing together (How to Get Ready for an Outdoor Recess at St. Cecilia Catholic School)!  They did a great job.  Many of the students were even able to insert pictures into their writing.  Our next writing focus will be on Narrative Writing.

During our Religion lessons, the student have been learning about God's Dream for Jesus and His dreams for us.  The students have been writing about how they can help make God's Dream come true.  Some beautiful examples of love, kindness, inclusion and forgiveness have been discussed in our community gatherings.

During Phy. Ed. we have been learning how to throw overhand and underhand at a target as well as catching and throwing a wiffle ball while travelling.  The students have also been enjoying cooperative games that we play as a whole group along with Mrs. Denyer's Grade 3 Class.  Other activities that we have been working on are some lead up lessons and skill based drills for sports such as, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse.

Valentine's Day - if you are interested in sending in Valentine's Day Cards with your child, we have 19 students in our class:).

February brings many exciting events here at St. Cecilia!  Looking forward to another great month. Keep up the terrific effort Grade 3!


Mrs. Caluori

Skating

This Friday will be our first skating day over at the new Minto Recreation Complex!

The students are very excited for our skating adventure to begin:).  Our Grade 3 class will join Mrs. Denyer's Grade 3 class for the 3 three scheduled skating trips.

We will be walking over this Friday around 12:50 p.m. so that we are there in time to begin skating at 1:00 (50 min. session).

Students are reminded to have their skates and helmet on Friday and a bag to carry over their equipment.

We have 6 volunteers who will be joining us on our first skating excursion so I am sure that will help speed up the process of getting the children set up and onto the ice.  Thank you!!

Lastly, if anyone is able to volunteer on the other two skating trips that would be wonderful.  We have two volunteers at this point for the second trip and 1 volunteer for our last trip.  If you are able to join us to help out, just write me a quick note in your child's agenda and I will add you to our list of volunteers.  Thanks again for all of your help and support!  We would not be able to do these trips without you.

Mrs. Caluori