Read to your children

Did you know children who are read to make successful adults?
Did you know children who are read to develop better logical thinking skills?
Did you know children who are read to are more empathetic people?

Three great reasons why you should still be reading to your child.  Even though they are good readers themselves it is still super important you have that bedtime routine or lap time together daily.  

Our goal as writers is to make sure our writing is interesting to our audience.  We looked at robot writing and how boring it is.  "I like snow."  "I like candy."  "I like dogs."  So, we are working on giving a fact.  "I can swim." and adding a detail to the fact.  "I can swim and I go to Thornhill Pool and swim 1km twice a week."  We are trying to get our reader to feel that they are sharing something personal with the writer and it is not just a list of facts.  BORING.  We had an excellent writing time this afternoon and began writing with a fact followed by a detail.

Sticker math started today.  Hooray!

Sticker math is essentially a sticker to place in our math workbooks that is a problem to solve.  Problem solving prepares children for real life and develops logical and abstract thinking. The key to sticker math is explaining your thinking.  It is important that children are able to explain how they know.  I often ask children, "Why do you think that?" and "Does you answer make sense?"  Sticker math will come home for home work if it is not finished in the classroom.  If you start to see a lot of sticker math coming home please ask your child if they are getting started right away on math and sticking with the problem without giving up.

Who was Terry Fox?

'Rolling to 100' is the game we played today in math.  It is a cooperative game that uses problem solving to stimulate our thinking.  The winning team was finished in just over 10 minutes.  We played the game as part of our unit on creating patterns on the 100 chart and to build confidence when working with the 100's chart.

"Who was Terry Fox?"  I asked this question this afternoon and got some pretty interesting answers.  We read a book about Terry and added to our chart and then had a look at a few short videos that highlighted his struggle with cancer and his dream to raise money so other children would have hope when faced with cancer.  He was a remarkable Canadian and we will celebrate his life and legacy Friday with our school run.  Please consider donating a toonie for Terry.

Friday - Pillars of Care Assembly @ 8:15am

Friday - Terry Fox run about 9:30am

Does that make sense?

"Does that make sense?" is a question I ask a lot during the day.  In math it could be to the answer, an estimation, a pattern, the place value of a given number.  Students also need to be able to rationalize their answer and think clearly about what they are doing.  Today we played a number sense game called 'Guess My Number.'  I introduced some questions that could be asked about a number, such as, "Is the number even?"  "Is it between ___ and ____?"  The range we used today was 1-100.  I secretly picked a number and held it in my head.  On the SMARTboard we had a hundreds chart.  Children began asking me questions about my number and I marked on the hundreds chart the answers.  They wrote on their whiteboards what they thought the answer could be and made a prediction.  Everyone was involved and everyone had an answer. It was great.  As we asked more questions the number was narrowed down and within the 5 question limit they had figured out my number.  We played several times and we will play again tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.  Number sense is super important.  Help your child by playing at home, in the car, waiting at the restaurant etc.  No tools required, really.  Ask your child to "Guess My Number."

What do author's do?  Actually a book that we read today.  First we brainstormed all the things we thought author's do and then we read the book!  The author showed us how authors develop their ideas into books and find a publisher.  They gave us ideas about where to look for things to write about too.  We then went to work on our 'Friends' poem which may have come home in your child's backpack.  If their writing was not finished they were asked to take it home and finish for tomorrow.  They have in their journal the example from Jessica Crum we are using and the beginning of their own poem.  I will be marking their writing for capitals, ideas (hidden gems) following the pattern (You get, I'll get, We'll go together) and sentences that make sense.  Other children were working on their heart map of things they know and love and can write about.

Friends homework due tomorrow

Terry Fox run Friday - bring a toonie for Terry

"Where do authors get their ideas?"

"Where do authors get their ideas?" was the question that was asked this afternoon to begin our discussion.  Brainstorming we came up with: imagination, facts they know, books they've read, their own life, nature, movies, T.V.  We then read, "Ralph Tells a Story" and although his teacher insists there are stories everywhere, Ralph cannot think of any to write, until he stands up in from of the class and tells them about the inch worm he played with in the park.  We found out that stories best come form our heart, the things we know best.  We talked about a sign the teacher had in the classroom that said, "Stories happen to those who tell them."  Everyone is now creating a heart map of things they know a lot about that they could write stories about.

SPLAT.  A great interactive hundreds chart that allowed us to look at, create and talk about patterns in 100.  We created some patterns on our own and wrote about them.  This work will continue into next week.

Great excitement in the room today as we began handwriting.  Everyone looks forward to this grade 3 right of passage and we are well under way!!

See you tonight!

No school tomorrow

Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians

Today we talked about the 5 Finger Rule for finding 'just right' books and then we practiced.  We read, "Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians" where Goldie Socks used the five finger rule to see if her book was too hard.  She started with a closed fist.  When she came to a word she couldn't read, she put up one finger.  All five fingers went up while reading the first page of the book, so she knew that book was too hard for her.  She tried another book that was too easy.  Then she found a book that was just right.  We are looking for books to read that are just right for us.  Please help your child to use the five finger rule at home when they are reading.  Remember that we are reading for 20 minutes by ourselves every night and 10 minutes to someone else.

We went to the Learning Commons today to get ourselves new reading material.  Your child should have new books to read with you tonight.  Wednesday's will always be our book exchange day.

Ask your child how many words they were able to make when we played 'Rush' this afternoon.

Friday September 29th is our annual Terry Fox run.  It will immediately follow our Pillars of Care assembly (approximately 9:30am).  Everyone is welcome.  We are collecting Toonies for Terry from Monday September 25th to Friday September 29th.  You can also go to:  http://www.terryfox.ca/BeddingtonHeights  to donate online.  Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather and wearing appropriate shoes to run (running shoes).  Thank you for your support.

Book orders due tomorrow

Meet the Teacher night tomorrow

No school Friday

Stepping Stones

We are currently working on our hallway display for you to see on Thursday evening when you come for 'Meet The Teacher'.  We have been tasked with creating a display around the Beddington Heights Pillars of Care.  We have been reading books about people who make a difference in the lives of others.  Today we read 'Steeping Stones' a story about Rama and her family who were forced to flee their once peaceful home to escape the civil war in Syria and make their way to Europe.  She was so happy to be welcomed by people who smiled, offered food and toys.  These people did some little things that made a big difference to Rama.  We are all thinking about the question 'How can you make a difference?'  Check out our hallway Thursday night when you come for Meet The Teacher.

We used 'Stepping Stones' to answer the question "When do we use capital letters in writing?"  We brainstormed together and came up with; at the start of a sentence, using I, proper nouns, and titles of books.  All of which are grade expectations so we used these rules to begin writing a poem about our friends.  'Friends' follows the pattern of a poem we read yesterday by Jessica Crum.  Everyone has a copy of her poem and we looked at it for patterns and capital letters.

Meet the Teacher Thursday September 21 - please sign up on the school website.

Book orders due Thursday September 21

No school Friday September 22

"Why do people read?"

"Why do people read?" is the question we explored today.  There seems to be many other things to do with our time.  So, why read?  Our discussion included; to fill out forms in the office, to become a better reader, to get a job, it is fun!  In the story "How Rocket Learned to Read" Rocket is a new student and he discovers the excitement of listening to stories and then wants to be able to read him self so he learns the sounds of each letter in the alphabet!  Reading is our job here at school and we are all striving towards that goal.

Raising readers with the help of Scholastic book orders.
Scholastic book orders went home today in our blue 'important papers envelope.'  We oohed and awed over the books.  We talked about what we wanted and we talked about why we read books😍  Scholastic is a great way to put books into the hands of children.  To become better readers we must read.  When you purchase books from Scholastic for your child they provide books for our classroom.  A literate classroom needs to have over 1000 titles in it so your help is appreciated.  Book orders are due Thursday September 21 and can be paid for in cash, cheque and on-line at Scholastic Canada.

What is language arts?

"What is language arts?" was the question we discussed today while we read, "Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't).  We discovered that in grade 3 language arts means reading, writing, listening, speaking and representing!  And, although the little character in the story was "as stubborn as a wart" none of us are :)  

We had our first visit with Mrs. Paolini in the Learning Commons this morning.  Grade 3's can take 2 books each week.  Our visiting day with Mrs. Paolini is Wednesday BUT if your child is finished with their book before library day they are welcome to go and get new books during our afternoon quiet reading time.  Your child should be reading 20 minutes a day at home to themselves and 10 minutes to someone else.  They know in order to become a better reader they must practice.  A hockey player doesn't just show up on game day.  The must practice.  Practice, practice practice.

Meet the teacher night Thursday September 21

September Relationships

For me, September is all about building relationships, establishing trust, creating a working environment and getting to know children as readers and learners.  September is for teaching children what it is that good readers do, setting tone and establishing expectations, procedures and engaging and motivating children to want to learn to read.  Learning to read is our business!  With well-written stories that have interesting plots, playing with words and exploring a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry and rhymes.  I will be helping your child to access what they already know and make connections to something new.
Today we talked about why we read to a partner and what this classroom looks like when we are reading to a partner.  We wrote it all up in a nice T chart and then practiced.  For our first time everything went really well.

Ask your child how they went about saving Fred.  What problems did their group encounter and how did they solve the problem?

Meet the Teacher Night September 21

First Week Back

Welcome back to school!

My name is Laurie Anderson and I have been teaching at Beddington Heights for many years.  I am looking forward to getting to know your child this year.  This week we spent a great deal of our time creating our classroom culture.  We started with getting to know each other through stories and activities.  I am trying to build a culture of community where children hold each other accountable for behaviors, learning, respect and kindness.  Many team challenges have occurred this week that lead to conversations about being a leader not a boss.  We are all excited about the benefits of team work.

Student packages (brown envelopes) have gone home for updating and should be back at school next week.  It is important that you and your child have had a look at our student handbook posted on the school website.

Please ensure that your child's name is on everything that comes to school.  Lunch kits, shoes, water bottles and hoodies accumulate in the coatroom and appear to never belong to anyone.  
Feel free to contact me at anytime.  Email is best (and can be found on the school website) but a phone call works too!  I am looking forward to metin you on September 21 at the open house.
Have a great weekend.