October 1 - 5

We had a very THANKFUL week in 3A. Leading up to Thanksgiving, our class talked a lot about our blessings and the many reasons we have to be thankful.

We used "The Most Thankful Thing" by Lisa McCourt as a mentor text for one of our writing projects this week. In this story a girl looks at old photographs with her mother, trying to figure out what her mother feels most grateful for in her life. Can you guess what her mother is most thankful for?

After reading this story, the students discussed what they were most thankful for. They chose their top 10 "Most Thankful Things" and created "Turkey Word Art" on the Chrome Books. The students really loved this project.

On Monday the students at RBES showed their support for Orange Shirt Day.  Orange shirts are worn in recognition of the harm the residential school system did to children’s sense of self-esteem and well-being and to remember that "Every Child Matters."

In our classroom we spent some time learning about how Orange Shirt Day started. When Phyllis (Jack) Webstad of Dog Creek, B.C. was 6 years old she was sent to a residential school. Before leaving for the school, her grandmother bought her a brand new shiny orange shirt to wear on the first day of school.When Phyllis arrived at the Mission School, the nuns took her shirt and never gave it back. Since then, the colour orange has always reminded her of how her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how she felt like she was worth nothing. The orange shirt taken from Phyllis, is a symbol of the many losses experienced by thousands of students, their families and communities, over several generations including: loss of family, language, culture, freedom, parenting, self-esteem and worth and painful experiences of abuse and neglect.

We also had the opportunity to read the book called "When I Was Eight" by Margaret Pokiak-Fenton.

Olemaun is eight and knows a lot of things. But she does not know how to read. Ignoring her father’s warnings, she travels far from her Arctic home to the outsiders’ school to learn. Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, When I Was Eight, gives us a glimpse into what life was like for her in a residential school.

After reading the book, we discussed how each and every one of us matters. The students enjoyed colouring their own "Every Child Matters" t-shirt and completing the sentence "I matter because...."

 

Reading Workshop

We read Owen and Tortoise together as a class. This story is based on the true story of Owen, a baby hippopotamus who was in the river with his mother when a huge tsunami hit the coast of Africa. He was separated from his mother, swept out to sea, and then thrown by a giant wave back onto the shore, alone. A park ranger rescued Owen and took him to a wildlife park, where he befriended an old tortoise who reminded him of his mother.

After reading the book together, the students completed a comprehension quiz to assess their understanding of the story.

Writing Workshop

During Writing Workshop this week the students focused on narrative writing and generating ideas about why each of us matter.

We continued to focus on writing complete sentences during Writing Workshop. The students wrote "Star Sentences" by including naming and telling parts, as well as, answering the question "why?"

Word Study

We started our spelling program this week. The focus of the spelling list this week was the short /a/ pattern. Each day in class we completed an activity to help us to better understand our pattern and to  practice spelling our words.

During our "Draw and Meaning" activity the students had the opportunity to practice their vocabulary by drawing a picture of each word from their spelling list. This was an excellent activity to really get the students thinking about the meaning of their words.

Making Words

The students were challenged to make as many words as possible using the letters in THANKSGIVING.

Handwriting

We worked on the letter G in handwriting this week.

Math

This week the following curricular outcomes were covered in math:

• use ordinal numbers (written in words, such as first, second, third, or using numbers, such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd) to identify and answer questions about positions of objects or symbols in lists.
• identify rows and columns in a table. 
• identify and describe patterns in a table of numbers.
• learn to use and create T-tables for number patterns made by adding or subtracting. 
• identify the rules of simple number patterns using T-tables and extend these number patterns using T-tables. 
• use T-tables to solve problems.  

Science

We completed our unit on Rocks and Minerals this week. The students wrote their unit test on Thursday.

Pumpkin Zentangle

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis was the inspiration for our art project this week. This story is about the Baxter Brothers who find a wonderful pumpkin for Halloween. But first they must catch up with it when it rolls down a hill. 

During art class the students created fun pumpkin "zentangles". A zentangle is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. The students were given a drawing of a simple dimensional pumpkin and they were asked to fill in the spaces with different repeating patterns.

Pet Rocks

The students were so excited to paint and decorate their pet rocks this week. Next week they will write descriptive paragraphs about their rocks.

Star Student


We really enjoyed getting to know our Star Student this week. Thank you for being a great role model for your peers!