Research Project

What a busy wee we have had! They are really stepping up and working hard this term so far. We finished our pages for our space book, did lots of math, and refreshed our memories for our daily literacy activities. We had a wonderful hoop dance performance with an inspiring message of peace and connectivity. The performer was wonderfully engaging and the students really enjoyed! If you would like to learn more about the performer, his name is Teddy Anderson and his website can be found here. Students also have a small research project to finish this weekend.

For this project, students need to pick a constellation of their choice. Take a look at sites like this one that gives a list of constellations. Astronomy for Kids, Constellation Legends, as well as the Vancouver Space Centre's website can be useful places to find information.

Students need to write the following on a piece of paper or in their agenda in French. You can use google translate but it would a much more meaningful exercise if you have students translate what you read into simple French. Have them do as much as they can in French and then translate specific words, instead of translating whole sentences at a time.

The information that needs to be included is as follows:
- the name of the constellation
- a drawn picture of the constellation
- the names of significant stars in the constellation
- the mythology or story of the constellation. This can be the ancient European stories, or the First Nations stories. You may even be able to find both, and could compare your findings!
- any other interesting information

As always, let me know if you have any questions. This will be due on Tuesday, and we will be presenting our findings to others in the class!

Be sure to check below as I also did 2 other posts today! 

You may have seen in the agenda that students need to bring a labeled mug. We will be doing tea tasting in class with herbal teas. If you do not want your child to participate in this, please just let me know. Also, if you have a favourite herbal tea that you would like to contribute to our class stash of teas, please send it along! 

FYI

Dear division 1 families 

 

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I will be away from school from February 19th until March 1. There will be a TOC in for me that I will leave very detailed instructions for! They will know all our routines and expectations that are normally in place In the class!

 

I will be away at two different sporting events as a coach. I volunteer my time as a figure skating coach with Special Olympics Vancouver, working with athletes with intellectual disabilities. While I am away, I will be acting as Vancouver head coach at provincial games. I will then be going straight to Canada Games where I will be acting as provincial head coach for the Special Olympics skaters on Team BC. This is a very special opportunity since figure skating is the only sport that has a Special Olympic contingent in the games! 

 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me!

 

Mme Jessica 

Cursive

Yesterday, we started cursive writing. This will be one of our choices for daily literacy activities. As I told the students, as our society becomes more technology driven, they may not need to use handwriting for the rest of their lives, but it is still a very important thing to learn. There are so many benefits for brain development associated with cursive. The way I explained it is that it helps make lots of electrical connections in the brain. If you are interested in learning more, you can check out this article. You can find lots of practice pages to print out if your child wants to practice at home! Happy handwriting!

Welcome back!

Happy new year! I hope everyone has a restful and relaxing break! 

We had a great day today, and are easing back into school! Here are a few reminders/some new information that you should know. Pleaee take the time to read it over and let me know if you have any questions. 

Home reading

Don't forget to mark home reading in the agenda. We mark the title, and amount of time read in the agenda on the one page calendar. I look at this every day, so please remember to mark it down. 

Headphones

Some students have not yet brought their headphones in for the listening center. Please send a pair of inexpensive headphones in a labeled zip lock bag. 

Batons 

We have been keeping track of french spoken in class with 'batons'. Up until now, only I have been checking the numbers. It was a 'warm up semester'. Starting tomorrow, students will write the number of batons they have left in their agendas. This way, we can keep track, and you can see it too! Students will get a small prize for every baton they have at the end of the week. 

Dictée 

This week there is no dictée!

A quick note on term 2...

Term 1 was a lot of working on expectations, routines, and basic skills for grade 3. Term 2, while much shorter (there is only 9 weeks between now and spring break!), will be much more focused on content. I spoke to the students today about how we will be 'stepping it up' with math, socials, and science! They all looked keen and ready to learn!

Friday

Thank you everyone for coming to the concert last night! It was so sweet to see the kids perform their own choreography! And they did such a good job!!

Everyone was definitely tired today but we did a lot of work! We did a new favourote writing project of mine about what makes a grinch grin, or comment faire sourire le Grinch. They are in the hallway if you would like to take a look at them. 

The students won another full puzzle for our classroom prize system, and they voted for another pajama and film day. On Friday, students can wear pajamas, bring one stuffy, and can bring a snack to share with the class. Please make sure it is nut free. 

Merci!

Concert info

I hope everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's concert! I love seeing the kids practicing and singing in their free time! Here is what you need to know for tomorrow:

Be at school at 6:45. Our class will meet in the library. There will be another concert going on. Ours starts at 7. 

Costume is: shorts, tshirt (as tropical as you have), sandals, sunglasses, toque and mittens! I know it sounds mishmashed but it will make sense! Please don't feel that you have to wear this outfit to get to school. Students can change once they are here! 

Our concert should last about an hour. 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

See you tomorrow night!

Div 1 updates

Hi everyone, here are a bunch of updates for our class!

- remember to stay healthy! Lots of us have been sick (myself included). Remember to make sure children get enough to sleep and eat lots of healthy fruits and vegetables to keep immune systems up! 

- Tomorrow we are skating!! Please remember the following:

Skates (if you have them)

CSA approved helmet (hockey helmets not bike helmets)

Warm clothes (jacket, mittens, snow pants) 

Booster seats!! I cannot allow someone else to drive your child if they do not have a booster seat. 

- winter concert

The concert will be the night of Tuesday december 16th. A note was sent home about it today in agendas. The students have been working hard practicing their dances that they choreographed! If you won't be here for the concert, please let me know!

I will give you more information on our costume tomorrow! 

I apologize the blog was quiet last week. We had lots going on! Students worked hard on their snowman writing projects and on finishing up some reading assessments! We did lots of math and started on holiday art! 

Just a reminder, our winter concert is on Tuesday December 16th.

Here are a series of pictures from last week, as well as this week's dictée. 

This week's dictée

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Here is this week's dictée 'paragraph'.