May 12

Friday again already.  Wowza!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
On Tuesday May 16 we will be walking to Dr. George Stanley.  We will be leaving the school around 8:50ish and returning to Cranston around 11:00.  I am hoping a couple parents will be able to help out on this day.  I am looking for 2 or 3 volunteers to help walk over and hang out with us while we learn about DGS.  Please email me if you are available. klsloane@cbe.ab.ca.

Volunteer tea is on May 18.  

This week we have been working on:
- Literature circle jobs
- drawing maps and writing "how to" stories
- Perimeter in metres and centimetres
- animal inquiry (we are almost finished).  


Next week I will start assessing the students in math.  I will be looking at the following skills:
- multiplication, division
- time, reading a calendar
- perimetre and measuring with a ruler
- 3d shapes (edges, faces, vertices)


If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Moms!!

Happy Friday Families!

What an amazing day we had at Cranston School yesterday celebrating Arbour Day.  I am so proud of all the hard work that was put into our projects.

Here is what we have been working on:
-  learning the lyrics for the songs for Music Monday and Arbour Day
- Literature circles in LA
- Animal inquiry - habitat, life cycle, environment threats, adaptations, diet and parental care.
- in math we have been working on measuring and figuring out the perimeter of objects.  We have also been using a variety of domino games to figure out the missing addend of an addition sentence.
- next week in writing we will be working on how to write instructions.
- in handwriting we did n and m today and we still have v,x,y and z to do before moving onto capitals.

Blogger has introduced emojis.  We are happy about this 😃😃😃

Have a great weekend!

Important Information

1. We are going on a field trip on June 8 to Drumheller to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  This is very important:

- our bus will be leaving the school at 8am.  Please have your child at school by 7:45 (please have them enter the building through the front doors). 

- we will be leaving the museum at 2:30pm which means we will arrive back at school somewhere between 4:00 and 4:15.  

- we will be travelling to Drumheller on a coach bus not a school bus.

- I will be sending the permission forms home next week.

- I will need approximately 5 volunteers (I already have one volunteer).  I will also need one of the volunteers who is able to drive their own vehicle and the other volunteers to the museum.  Please email me at klsloane@cbe.ab.ca if you are available to help.

2. Tomorrow is Arbour Day!  We have many events going on during the day.  If possible, please have your child come to school tomorrow evening at 6pm.  We will be singing Colours of the Wind and This Pretty Planet at 6:45 and 7:15 in the gym.  You are welcome to come to our classroom to see our projects and also to visit the other classrooms and their projects.

3. On May 30 from 9:30 - 11:00 we will be having an in school field trip with Clay for Kids.  We will be representing a butterfly life cycle on a leaf which ties in nicely to our current science unit.  I also need 3 volunteers for this activity.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a wonderful evening.

Good morning families!

I have made some changes to  my blog post and will now only be posting information once week.  Usually on Fridays.  That being said if you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to email me klsloane@cbe.ab.ca.

Update:
1. We are involved in the Music Monday assembly at May 4.  All of our families are invited to attend.  The assembly starts at 10:30.

2. May 16 we will be going to Dr. George Stanley for a visit as we prepare to transition to this school.  We will be walking over in the morning.  The time has not yet been confirmed.

3. Math - we are reviewing measuring and then next week we will be moving on to perimeter and area.

4. Science - rocks and minerals.

5. LA - we have been working on writing about Arbour Day and demonstrating on learning on Power Point or Google Slides.  These projects will be available for you to see on the Arbour Day evening May 4.  More information to follow but I believe it starts around 6:00pm.

6. SS - rights of the child

7. Book orders due on Monday

I think that is it for now.  Have a wonderful weekend.

April 7

Happy Club Friday.  Today the kids switched to a new club which they will stay with until June.

We are working on sorting rocks and identifying their characteristics such as: shape, colour and shine.

Today we also had Edible Arrangements for Fun Snack (Thank you for reminding me to write this Charlotte).

Next week we are moving onto a new literature circle job: it is called Question Master.

Today we celebrated Hope's birthday.  We sang to her and enjoyed some cupcakes.  Happy 9th birthday Hope.

We will continue with our Dance Residency next week. We will be having an afternoon performance during the 3rd week of April. I will post the date and time as soon as I receive it.

April 19 is Spring Pictures (thanks again Charlotte).

Have a wonderful weekend.

April 5

We had a great day!!!  We are working on our Non-fiction Narrative biographies.  Each child has been paired up with another student in our class.  These partners interviewed each other and today we started to write the actual biographies.  We hope to make a book called the Biographies of Room 73.

Today we started an animal inquiry project with our grade 1/2 buddies.  We are learning about the 5 animal groups.  Can you name them?  While working with our buddies each group chose an animal and they are beginning to do research using the computer and books from the library.  The final project will be an envelope book.  Parents I need your help!!  Is there anyone who has a sewing machine that would be willing to sew some envelopes together for us?

In math we have learned all about 3d shapes and the difference between a pyramid and a prism.  Can you tell you parents the difference.  Also our new word in math in congruent.  Can you tell you parents what this means?

We have started to learn about rocks and minerals.  Please don't forget to bring in 10 or so different rocks.

Have a wonderful evening!

April 3

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break and is ready to get back at things.  

This morning I met with one of my guided reading groups to introduce literature circles.  Lit Circles are a fun way to talk about books and develop a deeper understanding.  To begin with, each child was given a new book called The Desk.  There are 5 specific roles to be assigned during a lit circle.  For the first few rounds everyone will be working on the same job until we are more comfortable.  Today's job is Favorite Part Finder.  When each child is done reading the book they will write and draw about their favorite part and then present to the group.  I will be introducing literature circles to the entire class over the new few weeks.  

Today in handwriting we worked on the letter i.  We learned that this letter is part of a group called kite stringers.  Tomorrow we will be working on u.

During writing we learned about non-fiction narrative writing.  Here is what we learned:

Non-fiction Narrative Writing

Purpose: to inform, to educate, to entertain

Organized: facts, sequential

-       starts with a title

-       followed by details and facts (background information

-       some personal comments

-       ends with writer’s feelings

1.Who

2. What, what

3. where

4. when

5. how that person effected the world

6. Wow amazing facts to wow your audience

Tomorrow we will start writing our own personal non-fiction narratives.

Today in math we reviewed 3d shapes and more specifically talked about and made a cube.  We talked about how many vertices, edges and faces a cube has.  

We have library tomorrow.

Peace Ambassador forms were sent home today.l

This week we started our dance residency.  We are learning to become amazing hip hop dancers.

2 students have been selected for the Healthy Learners Club.

Have a wonderful evening.

March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today was a quiet relaxing day after our week of swimming.  Today our posters for the year book cover were due so many of the kids worked on these during Daily 5.  During this time I have been assessing the kid's math skills.  These skills include: adding 2 and 3 digit numbers, fractions and mental math strategies for adding basic facts.  I am able to speak to all parents about these skills next week during Student Led Conferences.

This morning we also had choir and it was Club Friday.  Next month we will be changing clubs as this was our third round.

Next week we are finishing up growing patterns.  We have one activity left to do.  Then we will be reviewing 3d objects.  Some of the terminology that we need to know include: faces, edges, vertices, base and point.  

During writing we will continue to work on non-fiction descriptive writing.  

We will also be finishing up our inquiry art projects and speeches.  Hopefully we can start videotaping next week.

After spring break we will be moving on Animal Life Cycles.  We will be teaming up with Mr. Soulliere's grade 1/2 class as their science unit of Living things ties in nicely with our science unit.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Math information for parents

March 14

Hello Families....we have been having a great time at swimming.  We are swimming with our grade 3 buddies (Ms. Thomas' class).  Both Ms. Thomas and myself have been super impressed with the behaviour of all students.  

When we returned from swimming today we decided to go outside for a body break.  We had lots of fun outside in the warm fresh air.

After our body break we worked for the rest of the afternoon on our Inquiry art projects.  Ms. Thomas showed us how to properly use water colour pencil crayons.

This afternoon Caitlynn performed a beautiful song for us about butterflies.

This week we will be finishing up growing patterns in math and then we will be moving on to geometry.

Have a wonderful evening!

March 9

Happy Thursday.  We had a great day despite the cold temperatures outside.  Thank goodness it looks like things are suppose to warm up next week while we are swimming.  Here are out swimming details:

10:00 leave Cranston
10:30 arrive at Bob Bahan
10:45 swimming starts
11:30 swimming ends
11:45 board bus to Cranston
12:15 arrive at Cranston
12:15 -1:00 kids have lunch

This morning each child got a new set of Words Their Way.  I met with my largest group to talk about different spelling patterns.  These patterns include igh and y that sometimes says i at the end of a word like in try.

We also had time to work on our posters for the yearbook cover.  There is a contest currently going on and all grade 3s have the opportunity to create a picture that will then be voted on and possibly chosen for the cover of the yearbook.

In Math today we continued to work on comparing double digit numbers in word problems.  We were reminded to use the think, solve, answer strategy.  We also had lots of fun practicing our basic facts with the dice on the smartboard.

At the end of the day we worked with our buddies and started to create a piece of art work to go along with our speeches.

Have a wonderful evening!

March 8

Good afternoon families.

We are looking for some school friendly magazines that you would be willing to donate to our class for a Social Studies art project that we will be starting soon.

I am still looking for a male volunteer for Monday and Thursday next week.  Please please email me if you are available.  I do have enough female volunteers for next week.

In handwriting we learned the letter q.  The kids found this letter a little tricky because it looks so similar to the letter g.

Starting tomorrow we will be learning about different forms of non-fiction writing.  Some of these forms have already been covered but we will once again be visiting them for review.

Today Mrs. Hunter told me that our class was the best behaved class in all of lunch room.  I was very proud of this.

In Math we added 2 new games to our Math Daily 3.  We added growing pattern word problems for Math Writing and also a money/shopping match game for Math by Myself.  This game helps kids learn the value of money and counting groups of coins.

At the end of the day a couple of groups presented their speeches.  Ms. Thomas and I were blown away by how amazing they sounded.  Ms. Thomas also talked with the class about our up coming art project.  Today we talked about the word multi-media.  Please ask your child what this means.

Have a wonderful evening!

P.S.  The kids want to send these out xoxoxoxoxoxo.  We are all laughing now :)

March 6

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I especially love Mondays because I get to hear so many interesting stories about the things the kids did on the weekend.

This morning we learned a new letter in handwriting.  We are now practicing the letter g.  We are able to connect a,d and g to write some nonsense words.  Please practice these letters at home.

Today we had some changes to our lunch room.  All grade 3s are now eating at lunch tables in the hub.  Here's how this works.  When the kids come in from playing outside, they go to the hub, find the pocket chart with all of our class pictures on it.  Each student turns over their card and this shows the lunchroom supervisors that they are present.  Milk is being handed out by the little window right before going into the harmony wing.

This afternoon we worked with our grade 1/2 buddies.  We taught them a game where you roll 2 dice together, add those numbers and then double.  Caitlynn just informed me that this game is called Froggy Facts.  If one of the grade 3s was paired with a grade 1, they only used one die, rolled it and then doubled.

In math we also worked on extending growing patterns on grid paper.

Our speeches are coming along quite nicely.  We hope to be finished by the end of this week.  We will then be moving on to an art project and a science unit on building things.

I am still looking for a few parent volunteers for swimming.  Any dads or grandpas who are able to help us out?

Have a wonderful evening.

March 3

Happy Friday Families!

This morning we had a few University Students from Mount Royal visit our classroom.  The kids enjoyed talking to them about our Daily 5 jobs.

We had choir this morning.  We are practicing songs for our assembly in May.  I will post more information as the day approaches.

This morning we talked about a new reading strategy.  This strategy falls under Expand Your Vocabulary.  Use word parts to find meaning.  If you come across a big word, break it into smaller parts, look for what you know and those smaller words may give you clues to what the bigger word means.

In Math today we continued to build our problem solving strategy repertoire.  We reviewed the problem solving process:  Think, Solve, Answer.  Today we learned to compare 2 numbers.  This involved figuring out how much bigger one number is than another.

We had an assembly this morning.  

At 10:30 we shared popcorn snack that was provided by parent council.  This popcorn was offered free to all students.

Have a wonderful weekend.  See you Monday

March 2

Our goal for the next couple weeks is to really focus on making good decisions as a learner.  This includes choosing a learning spot that works best and choosing to stay focused even when others are not.

Today was a great day!  We learned about a new reading strategy that will help us improve our fluency.  This strategy involves paying attention to the punctuation while reading aloud.  The punctuation gives us clues as to how our voice should sound.

We also learned a new letter in handwriting today.  d!!!!  We can now spell a few words: add, dad, ad

In Math today we learned another version of a game called Warp 18.  Please ask your child about this game.

At the end of the day we worked on our speeches.  Here is the first part of the speech we wrote together.

What: All kids in Pakistan should have the right to go to school.

Why: So they can learn and have opportunities.

Why: So they can make more friends.

Why: To respect people and teachers

What:  All kids should have the right to go to school.

Thank you to all the members of the United Nations for having me here today.  Thank you to my family and friends for helping me and teaching me to think of others.  Thank you to my brothers and sisters for helping me to learn and play.  Thank you to my wonderful teachers for providing me with guidance and allowing me to discover my own wisdom. 

I am here before you because I strongly believe that every child must have the right to go to school.  All children need an education so they can grow up, have opportunities and have a job to make money so they can support their families.  Education is the key to a successful future.  Another reason that all children must go to school is so they learn how to make and keep friendships.  When children have friends and a sense of belonging, they will not grow up to be lonely adults.

Have a wonderful evening

March 1

WOW!  March already.  We noticed today that March came in like a lamb not a lion and we are wondering what this means?

This morning I met with my guided reading groups and we learned about the Titanic and how people make video games.

During Writer's Workshop we are working on our riddles.  Here is the procedure"
1. Choose topic/object
2. Write 3 clues
3. add more details to your clues
4. write all your sentences together to create a poem/riddle
5. read your riddle to someone to see if they can guess your object.

Today was a very very exciting day in Room 73.  We started learning how to use cursive writing.  We learned how to write the letter a.  The letter a falls in a group of letters called Clock Climbers.  Please have your child show you how they are able to write the letter a in cursive writing.

In Math we learned a new game that can easily be played at home.  All you need is 3 or 4 dice.  Each person takes a turn rolling the dice and adding those numbers together.  We are working on understanding the cumulative property of addition.  This means it does not matter the order of the numbers or how they are grouped together.  If I roll a 6, 4,4 and 3.  I am encouraging the kids to make a friendly number such as 10.  Add 6 and 4 and that is 10 and 3 and 4 and that is 7 and put that together with 10 and you have 17.

We are learning about persuasive writing during inquiry and we are still working on our speeches.

I am in desperate need of volunteers for swimming.  Please please email if you are available.  We cannot go if I do not have at least 3 volunteers per day and this must include one male.  Thank you!

February 27

Happy Monday Families.

This morning I met with my guided reading groups and reviewed strategies that help us read unfamiliar words.  I have noticed that the most popular strategy seems to be "look for the parts you know or look for little words in big words".  This makes me soooooo happy :)

Mrs. Quilley is at swimming this week so Ms. Thomas and I taught gym.  We played a hoop/card game that Mrs. Quilley taught us last week.

We had  music today and we were working on creating our own songs with our precorders.

We did not have Writer's Workshop today.  During this time I collected many guided reading books that need to be returned.

This afternoon in math we worked with a group of 1/2 students and taught them an addition game called Slam Dunk.  I am looking for more dice. If anyone has some to donate I would be very grateful.

At the end of the day we worked on organizing our ideas for our Speeches to the United Nations.  We are working in pairs with Ms. Thomas' class.  Our job today included: picking a right, choosing a country, and organizing our ideas using a word web or list.  Tomorrow we will work on writing a persuasive speech.

Please return swim forms.

February 24

At the end of the day yesterday we attempted to write the blog however we were unable to do so as we were having power/internet glitches.  The lights were going on and off.

Today we had one round of Daily 5 and then headed off to gym.  We played a math/cooperation game with Mrs. Quilley.  We used the cards to to try and find matches.  The team with 3 matches first had to kneel down to show they were done.

After gym the kids worked on a Daily 5 and I worked on videotaping a couple of S4 groups.  We now have 2 videos completed.  

This morning we had a Peace Assembly.  We enjoyed a play by rooms 77 and 78 about perseverance.

First thing this morning we enjoyed a beautiful song written and performed by our very own Caitlynn.  It was a song about having a voice against bullying.  If you see her, please ask her to sing for you.  Her voice is wonderful!  She is very talented.  These are all comments that came from her classmates.

****Very important.  Swimming permission forms were sent home today.  Please return by next Friday.  We start swimming on March 13.  Please please please consider being a volunteer.  I need 3-4 parents each day.  I also need one male volunteer each day.  

I also sent home Child Care Tax Receipts.  If you did not receive one please contact the office.

Have a wonderful weekend.

February 22

Just a reminder there is music homework.  It is due on Monday and it is on page 11 of your precorder book.  Thank you Cameron for reminding me of this.  Cameron's job this week is classroom reminder.  He is responsible for reminding me of all the things I forget :)

We are currently working on writing Cinquain poems.  These poems follow a specific pattern.  There are 5 lines in this poem and each line has a certain number of syllables.  The pattern goes like this 2,4,6,8,2.  Can you write a cinquain and post it on this blog.

In math we are currently working on growing patterns.  We did a visual journal page today to demonstrate what we know about growing patterns.  Do you know the other name for a growing pattern?

During our inquiry time together, we listened to Malala's speech to the United Nations.  Here are some of the important messages we received:
- every child has the right to education
- one child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world
- Malala has learned to forgive
- strength was born after she was injured
- her injury created strength and courage not fear and weakness

What do you think is the most important message that Malala told us in her speech to the UN?

Have a wonderful evening!

February 15

What a great day for Carnival.  We had lots of fun trying out the many winter activities.  I sure had fun at human curling.  Most of our morning was taken up by Carnival.  We also enjoyed some hot chocolate when we came in from outside.

After lunch we continued on with our normal routine.  We had a session of DEAR.  During this time I am working one to one with students on a mental math assessment.  Here is what I have noticed.  As a class we need practice on double digit subtraction using mental math.  Here is what I mean.  If I asked your child to give me the difference between 73 and 35.  I would like to hear them say.  "I would leave 73 alone (not break it up) and then I would do 73-30 which is 43.  Then I would do 43-5 which is 38."  

I have also noticed that when I ask students to estimate the answer to an addition question such as 34+29 most want to give me the actual answer. Here is what I would like to hear them say.  " I would round 34 to the nearest group of 10 which is 30.  Then I would round 29 to 30 and add 30 to 30 and the answer to 34+29 is about 60."    Caiden says this is how you estimate.

At the end of the day we worked on our S4 skits.  I got a couple of them videotaped but we quickly learned that most of us are not speaking loud enough.  We also need to remember to not turn our backs to the camera.  We will get there.  

Have a wonderful long weekend.

February 13

Tomorrow is our Valentine Celebration.  Please do not forget your Valentine holders.  If you would like to bring a treat or healthy snack for the class that is fine.  We have 23 students as 2 are on vacation.

Wednesday is Winter Carnival Day.  We will be participating in activities in the morning.  Hot chocolate will be supplied.

Today we worked on our Why poems.  We turned our wishes into questions which we then wrote in our journals.  I will be typing out each child's poem and we will be making a class book.

In math today we learned a new multiplication game called Multiplication Squares.  Please ask your child how to play this game. If you are interested I can send a copy of the game board home.

Our CAFE strategy today was a fluency one.  It is called Practice sight words and high frequency words.  I showed the class how to google grade 3 dolch sight words.  There are many games and flash cards that can be printed for practice.

At the end of the day we practice our S4 skits.  I also practiced videotaping one group in front of the green screen.  I still need a bit of practice but we are well on our way.

No school on thursday, friday or monday.

Have a wonderful evening.

February 9

Tomorrow is Club Friday.

Today we had a lot of fun.  The class had the opportunity to spend the last part of the day on Mathletics.  They really enjoy "versing" each other and racing to see who can answer the most questions during the time allotted. Congratulations to Caiden who earned a Bronze Medal!  

Yesterday and today during gym class we presented our skipping routines.  We worked in groups of 3 or 4 kids and created a routine that was presented to our class along with Ms. Thomas' class.

Today during Writer's Workshop we started learning about poetry.  Poem is a great way for us to improve our song writing skills.  We are starting to write a "Why" poem which we will finish tomorrow.

During Math we learned a new fractions game called "Roll and Colour Fractions.  Many kids have brought this game home to share with you.

Thank you Tyson for reminding me that we did not write a "juicy word" list today.  We will do it tomorrow for sure.

Have a wonderful evening.  Thank you Braydon and Hope for helping me edit this post.

P.S.  I have asked the kids to make a Valentine holder at home which they can bring to school on Tuesday.  You may make a holder/envelope out of paper, shoe boxes or kleenex boxes.

February 8

Happy Wednesday families!  Today was a busy day.  This morning we had our usual routine.  During Daily 5 I was listening to several students read their non-fiction books.  We are still working on our comprehension strategies which we continue to learn about in CAFE.  Our strategy for the day was Tune In To Interesting Words.  Tomorrow we will be getting a juicy words collection sheet where we can add interesting words that we come across in our reading.  We read a bit of a Fancy Nancy book which definitely helped us tune in to interesting words.

Today in Writer's Workshop we had the option of working on our twinkle twinkle song or creating a completely new song.  I know Mrs. McBride is very eager to hear what we have written.

In Math today we continued to learn about fractions.  We played a fractions bingo game.  This bingo card has been sent home with each child for extra practice.  They will tell you how to play.

Today we practiced our word work strategies during Words Their Way. I met with a new group and we learned about many new interesting words.  Such as the difference between stationery and stationary.

Today during S4 we talked about using words to create sunny days rather than words that create stormy days.  

Book orders are due on Monday February 13.

Have a wonderful evening.