Mr. Zhang's Grade 3s

  Hello Parents, Yes I know I haven't posted for a while with pictures but here it all is! Math - We have been working on graphing bar graphs and line plots. They also had a quiz on it this week. I have sent home some practice sheets they can do over the break. If you do any of the sheets, please do not throw them away as I have to pay them their punches. Writing - We have been working on event stories. They have been typing their good copies this week and the ones who finished early have been having fun with winter themed mad libs. Reading - For reading, last week we worked on the bossy r and this week we worked on the long a sounds. We have also been doing some reading comprehension as a class about Greek mythology. We have only done one passage about Zeus; when we come back we will continue this. Social Studies - We have been learning about Peru's culture, geography, daily life, and how it is different than ours. When we come back, we will do a bit more work with Peru especi...

 Sorry for not posting on Friday this week. There will be no pictures this week because we started many things but no final products. Which means this coming week's blog will be loaded; so be on the look out for that! Math - We started graphing. We talked, analyzed, and created some bar graphs as well as some line plots. We will be continuing this next week as well. English - We have officially finished our personal walking stories (stories that are about our favourite...). We have begun to write about our event stories. Event stories are stories that take place within a day's time, are real, featuring you, and has no problems. We talked about how to plan for an event story and did a few examples as a class. The class also learned about transition words and how they help our stories move along. In this coming week, we will be diving deeper about how to add details and stretching our moments! Social Studies - The grade 3s have officially started Peru! So far, we have only talked...

  ELA - For our writing, we wrote about the best part of me (last week). This week we focused on our last walking story which was about seasons. Students picked one season, and described it using their 5 senses as well as emotions towards that season. We really emphasized descriptive words we could use for each of our 5 senses as well as similes. Math - This week in math, we did addition. The two strategies we went over was expanding/breaking the numbers a part then adding each place value with each other. For example, 456 + 345, we broke each number down (400 50 6 and 300 40 5) then added the hundreds with hundreds, tens with tens, ones with ones (400 + 300, 50 + 40, 6 + 5) then smashed them all together. (700 + 90 + 11 = 801). The main hurdle for this method is understanding that 400 + 300 is just 4 + 3 but adding the two zeros/hundreds as well as knowing addition facts under 20 really well. The second method was stacking, this is the way that most of us have been taught in schoo...

  Math - this week we kept working on our count bys. The grade 3s also got their first math quiz from me.  Writing - this week's writing was inspired by the book "The Best Part of Me". Students chose their favourite body part and wrote about it. They have typed their good version up and I will have pictures of the bulletin next week! Science - we started on the rocks and minerals unit. Students learned about the layers of Earth as well as properties of rocks and minerals. Next week we will be doing the hardness test as well as creating and observing soil. Art - students made their own bookmarks to keep. They designed it with a book or reading related phrase. Reminders 1. Library is on Tuesday, if your student bring books home, please remind them to bring them back on Tuesday if they want to exchange a book. 2. I did not send homework home this week as it was a little hectic. This coming week I will start sending bits of homework again so please remind them to bring their ...

Because on Friday this week it is Remembrance Day, we did a lot of work around it. English - We focused on poems; what does poetry look, sound, and feel like? As well as what does poetry make you feel? We did an acrostic poem as well as a limerick about Remembrance Day. Math - We did some decreasing patterns in a T-table as well as started our count by work. We have only worked on our count bys of 2, 3, 4, 5. I have been sending a bit of homework back, so please look out for a black folder if you have not yet seen it! Social Studies - We finished up India by writing a letter to send home to our friends and parents as if we really did travel to India. These will come home next week when they are finished copying their good copy. We also learned about quality of life; how to measure quality of life. Reminders 1. Please keep encouraging your students to read! Even if it is just 15-20 minutes a day. They can definitely handle it as we do 30 minutes of independent quiet reading each day! 2....

Because next week is remembrance day, we made some poppies to design the gym for our remembrance day assembly. Every student made a quarter of a poppy, and when put together, we get a rather unique looking complete poppy. For writing, this week, we worked on our "Friends Wanted" posters. Students wrote about what they look for a in a friend such as personalities and hobbies. They also wrote about why they themselves are a good friend as well as a bonus they would like their friend to have. We planned, drafted, revised, and finished a final copy to share with the other grade 3 class. To continue with our theme of India for social studies. We made Menhdi art together. Students traced, cut out, and designed their hand. We have also started talking about quality of life, and students have started making a quality of life poster so look out for that next week! For math, we talked about patterns, specifically using t-tables. If you look at your student's black folder (home work...

  After students did math with the pumpkins, I had students design their pumpkins for me to carve. Here are some designs students came up with.