A Couple Reminders:

• Next Wednesday is hat day or crazy hair day so bring your dollar for share life and wear your crazy hat or crazy hair.
• Every Friday there will be popcorn for sale, so if you would like to buy a bag bring in your toonie.
• Bring in a picture of your mom for our mother's day art project.
• We will be starting our dance unit in gym class just as we talked about today, so make sure your group brings in your favourite CD with the song you will be using.
• Bring in your favourite object that we will be measuring in math class.

COMPOSTING

  Over the past couple of weeks we have been discussing soils in the environment, and the impact it has on society. We have also been talking about ways in which humans can enhance positive effects as well as lessen or prevent the harmful effects.

Recall:

Poor soil affects a plant’s ability to take up the nutrients it needs and the quality of nutrients that are passed to humans.

Now, we will be investigating the process of composting and answering questions like:

·         What is composting?

·         Where does composting happen naturally?

·         What are some good things about composting?

Also boys and girls, how does making our own class composter sound?? While we are researching our answers to composting questions we will also need to know:

·         What things should not go into a composter?

·         What “ingredients” do we need to start a class composter?

Over time, after our class composter has been set up we will be investigating the process of composting and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Here's a composting game to help you practice and see what should be put into a compost and what should not.
Click on this composting for kids website to help you learn more about composting !

Boys and Girls,


Now that we have finished our unit on multiplication and our multiplication madness is complete, we will be starting a unit on measurement. I would just like to say congratulations to all that participated in our multiplication madness, you are times table experts!

What I want from you all for Monday, is for you to write down an object or something that you believe is one centimetre long, something else that is one metre long, and lastly something that is one kilometre long. Throughout this unit we will be using our estimating skills to measure and record length, height, and distance, using centimetres, metres, and kilometres. We will also be using a ruler to draw items, given specific lengths in centimetres.

We will discuss the difference between centimetres, metres and kilometres and rank them from smallest to biggest, so get your thinking caps on and try to rank them yourself. We will also be answering questions like "which is the best estimate for the length of a penut?" - a centimetre, a metre, or a kilometre?

This measurement website is a really good way to get prepared for class on Monday, try it out and see how many you get correct. Here's another useful website that will help you start using your measurement skills - help put the fish in the correct fish tank!

Homework that should be completed every day or every week includes:

-          Signature from parents in agenda every night

(Parents this is so that you can keep track of
 your child’s homework and anything that needs to be signed will be put into the agena as well. Also, if you ever want to notify me of anything, instead of calling, feel free to write notes here.)

-          Snuggle Up

( Parents you will be receiving a letter about this program that we have going on. In case you do not already know from last year, Snuggle Up is a reading program, every night your child can snuggle up and read with you and all I ask is that you write in their booklet which book they are reading and how long they read with you for. You will also be receiving the booklet that needs to be filled out each night.)

-          3 Words a Week

(Students this has been explained to you in class, and parents I have mentioned it in a below post under homework resources. I will be posting 1 word a week and at the end of the week your child must have found 3 synonyms for my word, as well as come up with 3 sentences for those words.)

Students when this has all been completed feel free to browse the below links. These are educational as well as fun for all of you so enjoy!



PBS Kids

Family Channel Games

Educational Review Games

TVO Kids Games

Science Power - Parts of a Plant

Boys and Girls

As promised, I have posted a picture of a plant and it's different parts including the pistil, stamen, sepal, and petal. If you recall what we looked at in class today, we were identifying the major parts of a plant and describing how each part contributes to the plants survival.
For example:

The Roots - soak up food and water for the plant

The Stem - carries water and food to the rest of the plant

The Leaves - make food for the plant with help from the sun;

The flowers - grow fruit and seeds for new plants

We also looked at the basic needs of plants which include air, water, light, warmth and space. After we have researched and read some more about plant survival we will be taking care of our own class plant that each of you will have a chance to help maintain throughout the year. 

See you in class tomorrow, bring your thinking caps because we will be brainstorming the conditions that may harm plant survival!

Parents click this science link to see the handout that the students worked on today in class.
Students there are more plant websites to visit at the top of the page, so feel free to look through them and play the games!



Students, please feel free to view this video about the different parts of a plant and some interesting information about them! Enjoy!

Helpful Homework Resources

Boys and Girls and Parents,

As I have stated today in class I will be assigning homework regularly throughout the year. Parents you are encouraged to work with your child if and when they are in need of assistance. However the following homework link  is a helpful homework resource that will help my students throughout the year on their homework, as well as give them extra practice when needed. I encourage each and every one of you to browse the above link as it deals with the different units of math that we will be working on throughout the school year. The website can help you, boys and girls, get extra help and practice in math so that when you come to class you will be one step ahead! Parents you may want to guide your child through the website at first so that they become familiar with it.

Also another resource link that is extremely useful is the thesaurus.  Each week I will be posting a word in the classroom and your homework for that week will be to explore the thesaurus and find 3 words that you could use instead of the posted word. For example, if I post the word "good" I expect you all to come up with words like wonderful, super, or excellent. The reason for this is so that when I read your work, I will be excited and amazed at the new words you have learned. I will not be accepting work that includes boring words such as "good," I will expect to see the new words or synonyms that you have learned. In case any one has forgotten a synonym is a word that means the same. Every week I will add a synonym to our synonym chart so that the whole class can see them. Every week along with the synonyms, you will be coming up with sentences for your new words. Parents please look over these sentences with your child to make sure that they are using the word correctly. I will go over this ongoing task with you all in class for clarification.

This last resource link  is for parents. It includes a printable homework completion chart, homework checklists for parents, and helpful homework tips from other kids. The website also includes homework help like how to study for multiplication quizzes, 10 ways to help your kids do well in math and the list goes on. I find that this website is very useful for parents and I highly suggest for you all to check it out and give it a try!

I hope you enjoy these websites and I encourage you to use them as much as possible!

Multiplication Madness

Hello again class,

I just wanted to post something that may help you to remember your multiplication tables. Since our math multiplying competition is slowly approaching, I encourage you to practice your multiplication tables as much as possible! This math link  will allow you to practice online. Now, in case you are having some difficulty while you are practicing at home, click here for a step by step video that will help guide you while you are becomming experts at home!

For Your Information Parents:

We will be having a math multiplying competition starting May 1st in the classroom. The competition is to help my students become comfortable and to become experts at their multiplication tables. I will be asking for participants to stand up and recite a set of times tables from the 1 times tables to the 7 times tables. Every day I will be asking for whoever feels confident enough to recite them in front of the class until they have completed them all. So for example if I were going to say my 7 x tables, I would start 7 x 1 is 7, 7 x 2 is 14, 7 x 3 is 21 and so on and so forth. Since the curriculum states that students should be able to multiply up until 7 x 7, that is all I will be asking for, however they are more than welcome to go all the way up to 12 if they would like to. Please encourage and work with your children so that they can participate in the competition, become experts and win prizes!

A warm welcome to students, parents and guardians

Firstly, I would just like to give a warm welcome and hello to my grade 3’s and parents! My name is Ms.Pimentel and I am very excited to have the pleasure to work with all of you during this upcoming year. I am eager to share my knowledge and life experiences with you, and cannot wait to accompany you in achieving and exceeding your goals. Together we will take a stroll into a journey of knowledge and I hope to have some fun while doing so. I want to state a couple of important rules that I have in my classroom that applies to each and every one of you and perhaps your parents can help implement these at home as well:

1.  If in doubt, ASK!    

2.  Respect your neighbour and everyone around you.

3.  Always try your BEST!

4.  If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.

5.  Never say you can’t do something.

Just to get you excited and thinking about the year, I have outlined below a couple of major topics we will be covering throughout our grade 3 year!

-          We will be reading a variety of books i.e. chapter books, adventure stories, diaries, and letters as well as comics and magazine articles.

-          We will start learning our multiplication tables – I will post one on here so that you can practice

-          We will be learning about the early settlements in upper Canada and urban and rural communities

-          We will be learning about the growth and changes in plants; forces and movement and much more

Parents, you are encouraged to inquire about what your child has learned throughout the day, as well as reviewing their homework with them and asking questions. I will be sending a portfolio home for signature at the end of each unit with tests and assignments that had been completed. Please do not hesitate to contact me at school with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the year.

Lastly, I look forward to the year with all of you, and encourage students and parents to visit this site frequently as I will be posting some homework, educational links and resources that may assist students with their work as well as fun activities relative to the curriculum. I hope you enjoy the year and I look forward to meeting all of you. 

Always remember  “If you can dream it – you can do it!” – Walt Disney