2023-2024 Gr. Three Harris

The students were so enjoying this game called- Run and Scream as we celebrated National Indigenous People's Day. This is a fun example of a traditional indigenous game that was played to see who has the best stamina. In this game the c hildren would line up, take a big breath, and start running fast while screaming until they ran out of breath . The spot where they had to draw their next breath was marked. With each turn, they tried to better their own distance and pass the marks of others.  They had such a kick out of it that they have asked me several times to post the short video on our blog!!!  Have a great summer everyone:) and thank you for all of your support this year. We had a fantastic time!!! Kindest regards, Sabine Harris   

This will be my last entry for the grade 3 class of 2023/2024! We have had an amazing June filled with great explorations and time outside. I would first like to say a big thank you to the parents who made our day prior to National Indigenous People's Day such a wonderful success. The students had a fantastic time exploring St. Patrick Island Park and participating in many hands-on learning tasks outside in nature. We were so proud of the stamina they had to do such a lovely long walk.  Our math year ended, reviewing past lessons and exploring translations.  In the first part of this unit, we performed, identified, and described translations on a grid, including simple maps. We also identified reflections and rotations of simple shapes and connected reflections to symmetry. In an integrated art activity, we also demonstrated how a shape can be translated to create lovely visual patterns.  Our math year ended, reviewing past lessons and exploring translations.  In the...

 Our last unit in Math returns to Geometry and Transformations. In this unit, we are performing, identifying, and describing translations on a grind, including simple maps. We are also learning to identify reflections and rotations of simple shapes and connect reflections to symmetry. As part of this unit, I thought it would be a great connection to the art of printmaking.  Printmaking is one of the fine arts (including painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture) that involves making a “master plate,” which you can then use to make multiple images printed in reverse. There are so many ways to print; it’s almost endless! Potatoes and veggie printing, linoleum printing, bubble wrap printing,  yarn printing… basically any object can be used to print with. Styrofoam printing is really one of the simplest ways to teach printmaking for kids. The students did a great job creating a design and then transferring it to a Styrofoam plate. They enjoyed the process, and I know I would ...

  In class this week, we began to understand the art of persuasion and the art of persuasive writing. We looked at several stories that helped us see characters trying to persuade someone for something important to them. "I Wanna Iguana" by Karen Kaufman Orloff and David Catrow is a great example. This story is a series of letters between a mother and son. In his letters, the son tries to convince his mom to let him get a pet iguana. In her letters, she makes counter-arguments against his reasons for getting an iguana. Some arguments are good, and some aren't as good. But, in the end, Alex's reasons prevail, and he gets his iguana. We discussed what the word "persuade" means, and as a class, we brainstormed topics that we could write a persuasive argument. Here are some examples:  -Being allowed to get a puppy - Extending our recess time -Staying up 15 minutes later in the evening -Getting a new set of golf clubs -Having a swimming pool built in your backyar...

This week and last, we  revisited  our unit on Data analysis . We  spent time reviewing how to read and interpret information presented  in the form of  pictographs, bar graphs,  line graphs, and line plots . We  learned how to analyze the data presented in the graphs to solve one- and two-step word problems . We  discovered how to use multiplication skills to find the numbers represented on these scaled graphs . As  a class, we collected data about a topic that interested us and created our bar graphs . In  the following week, we will compare all four types of graphs and solve story word problems with the information on the charts.  Our fraction unit is also coming to a close this week. In our unit, we started with paper folding . We  began learning what a unit fraction is and learned the denominator in a fraction is the number of equal parts in the whole  and  the numerator is the number of shaded or selec...

In Science this week  we  started our new Unit on Mattter. We are beginning to discover that everyday materials around us generally fit into one of three categories: solid, liquid, and gas. Along with plasma, these three categories represent the different possible states of matter. A table is solid, while the air we breathe is a gas. Some materials can even transition between the  different  states. For example, water can exist as a solid (ice), a liquid (water), or a gas (steam or vapour).  On Friday, we had a fun lesson that explored the properties of  “ oobleck ”  – a simple mixture of cornstarch and water. Oobleck is unique because it can behave as  both  a solid and a liquid. We discovered that Oobleck acts like a liquid when  poured,  but like a solid when a force  is acting  on it. You can grab it  and  then it will ooze out of your hands. Oobleck gets its name from Dr.  Seuss...

  A big "Thank you" to our dedicated volunteers who joined us on our excursion to Weaselhead Park. Despite the unfavourable weather, the students did amazing and it was a wonderful morning exploring another fantastic natural area in Calgary. As we continue to participate in these great field studies, the students have begun to develop wonderful reflective and scientific journaling skills. Our discussions after our excursion are fantastic and the effort they are making to represent their learning is a great indicator of the educational value of our trips.  This week in Math, we have started our money unit. In this unit we will learn how to count money, including coins and bills. We will learn the relationships among coins, including the penny. Although the penny is no longer used in Canada, the value of the penny as one cent is still important as the base value of all the other coins. We will count money amounts involving coins starting with the larger value, and we will learn...

  This week in Math, we have started our money unit. In this unit we will learn how to count money, including coins and bills. We will learn the relationships among coins, including the penny. Although the penny is no longer used in Canada, the value of the penny as one cent is still important as the base value of all the other coins. We will count money amounts involving coins starting with the larger value, and we will learn to represent money amounts using the least number of coins. Once we have familiarized ourselves with coins we will learn how to make change by counting to the nearest multiple of ten and then counting up to the nearest dollar.  In literacy, we had lots of fun using the short wordless animation film "Snack Attack" to create our short stories. The video tells the story of an old lady and her intention to eat some snacks (cookies). The short movie touch on a sequence of quite compelling themes: Understanding elderly people. Judging someone based on their a...

A big thank you to all of our volunteers who joined us for Aggie Days this week. The students had a wonderful time learning all about the agricultural climate in Alberta and gaining an appreciation for the hard work that it takes behind the scene to provide food for us to eat.  In Math this week was to learn how to skip count to divide. We discovered how to skip count on a number line, skip count using our fingers and that we can divide by sharing the total number of items and the number of times in each set.  To use a number line we considered, what number is being divided? (20) How can you tell from the picture? (20 is where the arrows end) What number are we dividing by?(4) How can you tell? (4 is the size of the jump) So, what is the answer to 20 ÷ 4? (5) How can you tell from the picture? (the number of arrows)    We also discovered that skip counting can be performed by  keeping track of the number of times you skip count, using fingers. For example when s...

  During the last two weeks in Science we have been discussing forces and that a force is something that can cause movement.  We explored a series of pictures in which there were many actions occurring.  After examining the pictures, and looking at all of the forces, the stud ents discussed the question "What exactly is a force?"    A block was placed on a desk, and a question posed:  "How can we move this block without it leaving the desk?"  We discussed many options, and concluded that in each case we were either pushing or pulling the block (or a tool touching the block) to make it move.  We read about using pushes and pulls to move (or attempt to move) objects, and then looked back at the picture from out previous lesson.    Through a variety of centers we learned to label the forces as being "gravity", "buoyancy", "friction", "muscular”, “magnetic” or “wind”.  I have attached a video that represents our learning.     ...

  Character Development   This week in health class we continued to explore the qualties that help us develop resilience by learning about our brain and how incredible it is. We discussed that our brain helps us to experience the world through our senses, feelings and actions. We agreed how wonderful this is but, sometimes our brains can cause use some challenges when we get super angry, frustrated  or anxious. When this happens, we are not at our best and these types of emotions can intensify and cause us to temporarily lose control of our actions. We call this “flipping our lid” We discussed that this is perfectly normal and helps to keep us safe from danger, but when we have these strong emotions, we are not always in danger resulting in us acting without thinking. Consequently this results in us getting more upset.    We took the time to learn that there are three main parts of the brain using a hand model and that these parts are involved when we have big e...

Over the last three week we have been learning about multiplication. In our unit we learned to look at patterns in multiplication and how to use these patterns to retain number facts. When we can see patterns in numbers it helps us to develop our fluency in multiples within 100. When a child is fluent in his or her multiplication tables he or she can spend their mental effort on problem-solving and higher-level thinking rather than recalling facts or skip counting to multiply. We have reviewed odd and even numbers, and adding a sequence of numbers to model multiplication with repeated addition, skip counting, and objects in equal-sized groups. We also covered the concept of a commutative property of multiplication through the use of arrays (4x3 is the same as 3x4 ). In google classroom you will also find links to help you support your child with the use of doubles when multiplying by 2,4,8 and 3,6 as well as a fun strategy for multiplying by 9’s.       In Language Arts we...

 How to be an UPSTANDER This week as we focused on Pink Shirt day we used the time to gain a better understanding of what a bully is, and how to address bullying if we experience it or witness others being treated unkindly. We learned that everyone has a role to play to build healthy relationships and how to create an environment that helps to prevent bullying in our classroom, school and greater community. Many times the word bullying is also used inappropriately and we discussed the Alberta Education definition for bullying which is "a conscious and deliberate, repeated and cruel activity that is done with the intent to harm and/or threat of aggression. Bullying can be verbal, social, physical or cyber-bullying. Being bullied is not considered a normal part of growing up." We also discussed how the word repeated in our definition is an important indicator of someone who is a bully verses someone who is just being mean and making a bad choice. We used the video Be an Upstand...

  One of our students brought in a lovely book about Ruby Bridges, to help us extend our learning with regards to Black History Month. The students were wonderfully attentive and engaged when we discussed the importance of recognizing Black History Month.  It has opened a lot of doors for further exploration and conversation regarding our past and the importance of showing acceptance, tolerance, kindness and appreciation for all. Last week we completed our learning task as it relates to writing our autobiography. We have now directed our focus towards writing a biography. As a class we learned about Ruby Bridges and together learned the first steps required to gather information and organizing it into a proper sequence required for a biography.   Today we learned about Viola Desmond and why she has earned her place on our Canadian 10 dollar bill. For the rest of the week, we will continue to research other significant and impactful men and women who deserve to be honoured...

  "We have been learning about how the Ozobots work and the coding. Coding means you are giving it commands by drawing some colours on a line. The codes give commands like go really fast, spin or zig zag. We were learning about Fairy Tales and what makes and then we had to recreate and write a fairy tale in our own words.  Then we made a storyboard and then we drew a map with codes and the setting and characters. The coding was a bit tricky because for some of them I could not get it correct. The ozobot became a character in my story. It was the Little Red Riding-hood and I made the Ozobot go nitro boost when it went through  the forest and a 30 second stop when it got near the wolf. " Grade 3 Student Room 8

 Telus Sparks Field Trip On Tuesday, we had a wonderful day at Telus Sparks. A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers who joined us and made our trip possible. Our day was filled with everything related to technology, from learning how to code a Lego set that we built to watching a robot dog do its tricks and then discovering all of the amazing gifts that Leonardo Di Vinci contributed to our world. The students had a terrific time, and we came away with so many wonderful new discoveries. This trip was designed to be a springboard for our new Computer Science Unit. In this unit, we will foster our problem-solving and scientific inquiry by learning to apply creativity and designing skills to develop computational thinking.  Once we return to class from a field trip, we will often take the time to reflect on our experience and create a page in our journal. The following three statements are used to help guide our thinking.  I observed....... ( using your observational ski...