September 26 - 30th

Congratulations to our new VIP for the week! We had a great time getting to know our friend better. The class especially enjoyed having Miss E's mom come in to read her special letter.

Curriculum Update

Reading Workshop

During reading workshop I introduced the students to the book "Ralph Tells a Story" by Abby Hanlon. Ralph can’t find a story no matter where he looks until finally, with the help of his classmates, he shares a great story about his adventures with a worm at the park. This is a great book for introducing the idea of personal narratives and making text to self connections.

Writing Workshop

Some of you may be wondering what I mean by "Writing Workshop." In "Writing Workshop"the teacher is a writing professional and peer coach, guiding authors as they explore their craft. It is designed to emphasize the act of writing itself—students spend most of their time putting pencil to paper, not just learning about it. Over time, students learn to choose their own topics and to manage their own development as they work through a wide variety of writing projects in a sustained and self-directed way. In Writing Workshop classrooms, full class lessons are short and tightly focused on practical real-world issues. As in professional writing workshops, emphasis is placed on sharing work with the class, on peer conferencing and editing, and on the collection of a wide variety of work in a writing folder, and eventually in a portfolio. Teachers write with their students and share their own work as well. The workshop setting encourages students to think of themselves as writers, and to take their writing seriously. 

So What Exactly is Writer’s Workshop? For some, Writer’s Workshop is a philosophy, but I like to look at it simply as a way of managing the class. Each Writer’s Workshop period follows the same basic format: 

• Mini-Lesson (5-15 minutes). A short lesson focused on a single topic that students need help with.
• Status of the Class (2-5 minutes). A quick way of finding out what each student is working on.
• Writing Time (20 minutes). The students write. During this time I will conference with individual students or small groups. 
• Author's Chair (5-10 minutes). Writers read what they have written and seek feedback from their audience. 

During Writing Workshop this week the students focused on narrative writing and generating ideas. 

The students loved decorating their Writer's Notebooks. We will take some time during Author's Chair next week to share our notebooks with the class!

Here the students are "peer conferencing" or brainstorming ideas prior to writing in their journals.

The students were also asked to add a page to Emma's memory album.

Math

The following curricular outcomes were covered this week in math:

PA3-4 Number patterns made by subtracting: 

- find a number that is less than another number by a given difference

- extend number patterns made by subtracting a constant difference

- solve word problems involving number patterns made by subtracting

PA3-5 Number patterns made by adding or subtracting:

- distinguish between increasing and decreasing number patterns

- identify the constant difference or gap and extend these number patterns by adding or subtracting the gap

- solve word problems using increasing or decreasing number patterns

PA3-6 Number patterns and rules

- identify rules for patterns made by adding or subtracting the same number

- extend increasing or decreasing number patterns using rules

- use rules to identify mistakes in patterns

Social Studies

This week I read the story "Atlantic" by Brian Karas.

"I am the Atlantic Ocean" begins this tale of how the ocean stretches from the land to the beach and far beyond. Karas perfectly weaves important facts about the ocean, like "My water doesn't stay in just one place. It travels from continent to continent", while still maintaining a flowing, story like feel to this nonfiction title. The way the Atlantic is described as having relationships with the fishermen, the seagulls, the dolphins, and the artists it touches is charming and humanizing. Overall, it is an effective book both as a read aloud and as an informative text about this beautiful ocean. 

This week our focus was on learning about the 7 continents and the 4 oceans on earth. As well, the students used the chrome books to fill in their map of Canada by identifying all of the provinces and territories.

PE

This week the focus during PE was on locomotion and movement activities. Here the students are playing "Jumping Bean" tag.

Student of the Week

Congratulations to Emma Caldwell for being chosen as Student of the Week during assembly this week!

Terry Fox Walk

Friday, September 30th was our annual Terry Fox Run. I am so happy to announce that our class collected $51 to donate to cancer research! Well done 3A! Thank you to all of the parents and volunteers who came out to support the event. Also a big thanks to the Town of Devon for donating hot dogs, apples and granola bars for the students to enjoy after the walk.

Dojo Dollars

This week the students were given "Dojo Dollars" in exchange for the amount of Dojo points accumulated (for example, 10 points=$10). I told each student how many points they have acquired to date. It was their responsibility to let me know exactly what denominations they required to total their number of points. We ran out of time but on Monday the students will cash in their money for prizes that we agreed upon as a class. The students also have the option to donate some of their money toward a class movie party.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!