March 2016 - Classroom Notes
- Skating cancelled for rest of year - Due to warmer weather and deteriorating ice conditions, skating will be cancelled for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, we did not have much luck with the weather this winter, but we still had fun while it lasted. Thank you to all parent volunteers who assisted us on skating days. Very much appreciated!
- Field Trip to Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm - Just a reminder that our class will be joining the other primary classes at St. Gregory's for an exciting field trip. Please ensure that your child is dressed for the weather. Although we are having a pancake lunch, students will need to bring enough snacks for the entire day. We are not allowed to bring outside food onto the premises; however, we will try to eat snacks on the bus. With the wet weather, it is advisable for students to bring an extra pair of socks/mittens in their backpack. Looking forward to all the exciting activities!
- Math homework this week - I have sent a note home regarding this week's homework before the March Break. We will have a Math test on Wednesday, March 9th, so please read through the parent note that was sent home on Monday, March 07. Regular Spelling homework will continue after the March Break.
- Homework reminders - Just a reminder that I do encourage students to balance their weekly reading between Raz-Kids and chapter books/print material. As well, I consider reading on Raz-Kids to be part of weekly homework. Students should be reading for 15 minutes daily at home in order to improve reading fluency and attain grade 3 reading expectations. Also, students can login to Math apps/programs for extra practice, such as Mathletics and Dreambox. Student login information can be found at the front of their agenda. Please let me know if you experience difficulty logging into any of these apps.
- March Break - No school from March 14 - 18.
Always Learning in Grade 3
In Math, grade 3's have been learning about perimeter and area through a variety of tasks and hands-on activities. Students have been very engaged in creating a robot using area and perimeter. We have just started multiplication and we will begin investigating 2-D shapes and 3-D figures in Geometry.
In Writing, students are writing and revising their adventure stories. During shared writing, our class wrote an amazing adventure story that inspired others to create their own original story. In Reading, we are focusing on inferring (reading between the lines) to improve our understanding of texts.
In Science, we are finishing up our unit on forces. Students have investigated magnetism, gravity, muscular force and buoyancy through a variety of experiments. This week we will look at electrostatic force and friction.
Thank you to all who have contributed to our Lenten project by donating money to various school-wide activities. As Easter approaches, we will continue to focus on scriptural readings and the spiritual meaning of Lent.
Wishing you a safe and memorable March Break!
Mr. Blais
