January 14th -18th

Life in 3A has been very busy since we got back from Christmas holidays. We are almost half way through the year. Crazy! We continue to work through our curriculum, while having some fun as well.

Star Student

Congratulations to our Star Student this week. We loved getting to know you even better!

One of our favourite parts of the week - parent letter time!

Curriculum Update

Reading Workshop

We continued to focus on penguins this week. One of the books I read to the class was The Emperors Egg by Martin Jenkins. This is a story of the world's most devoted dad - the male Emperor penguin! We learned that while his mate is off swimming and catching loads of fish, he stands around in the freezing cold with an egg on his feet for two whole months. The male Emperor penguin keeps the egg warm while waiting for it to hatch.

While reading the book, I modeled how to determine the main idea of the story. Together we pointed out evidence from the book to support the main idea. In doing this we discussed the following terms:

•  topic – the subject, what the text is about
• main idea – most important idea about the topic (usually a sentence)
• supporting details – bits of information used to support main idea

Buddy Reading

The students enjoyed having the opportunity to buddy read this week, practicing their EEKK (elbow, elbow, knee to knee) posture.

Writing Workshop

The students continued to work on their Penguin Research Report during Writing Workshop. They were asked to google addition information about their penguin and add it to the graphic organizer. Later in the week the students began working on their presentation in google slides. The students were asked to create one slide for each section on their graphic organizer (appearance, habitat, diet, predators, and cool facts.) Using their jot notes, the students started writing important information about their penguin in complete sentences.

Word Study

This week we focused on penguin vocabulary words for our word study. Throughout the week, the students participated in various activities, such as Draw and Write, Alphabetical Order, and Rainbow Sentences to practice their spelling words.

Handwriting

We learned a new "kite string" letter in handwriting - the letter T.

Back and Forth

Thank you for continuing to respond to your child's Back and Forth journal each week. The students really enjoy reading your comments.

Amazing Race

Congratulations to our Amazing Race flyers this week!

Math

This week in Math we focused on:

Rounding Tens - round two-digit numbers to the nearest ten.

The rule for rounding: When we round to the nearest multiple of 10 and the answer is smaller than the number, we say that we round down. When we round to the nearest multiple of 10 and the answer is larger than the number, we say that we round up. 

If we wanted to round the number 27 we would write the previous and the next multiples of 10 which would be 20 and 30. If the ones digit is 1, 2, 3, or 4, round down (previous) 6, 7, 8, or 9, round up (next). So the rounded number of 27 would be 30.

Estimating - estimate sums and differences by rounding numbers to the nearest ten.

The rule for estimating: How would you estimate 93 − 21? Round the numbers, then subtract. (90 − 20 = 70).

Estimating Quantities - use a referent of 10 or 100 to estimate the number of items in a group, estimate a given quantity by choosing among three possible choices, select and justify a referent for making an estimate for a given quantity.

Social Studies

This week we learned about India's Goods and Services, Environment, and Technology.

Art

We finished our "Happy Feet "art this week by gluing the penguins to the watercolour background and adding shadows under their feet. This is my favourite art project so far this year!

PE

The focus for PE this week was to work on Gymnastics skills.

Congratulations to our Student of the Week!