Kenneth D. Taylor, Grade 3 - Ms. Hargreaves

Continuing on our illustration journey for our Why stories also known as pourquoi stories: A  pourquoi  story (" pourquoi " means "why" in French), also known as an origin story,  pourquoi tale  or an etiological  tale , is a fictional narrative that explains why something is the way it is, for example why a snake has no legs, or why a tiger has stripes. Many legends and folk  tales  are  pourquoi  stories. We explored watercolor painting this afternoon.   We learned about the horizon line and how adjusting it in your painting you can alter the perspective of your view.   We also discovered that it is important to use less paint and more water and that blending colors adds depth and detail.  We are expanding our background knowledge about the landscape and habitats in and around Calgary.  This expands our concept of identity and how we interact with our environment.   In art, the  horizon line  (also c...

Here is a slideshow of our abstract art inspired by Alex Janvier's technique.  These are our first attempt at this style to illustrate the stories we have been working on.

Spelling Test on Thursday, February 3rd.  Lessons 51-55 Book Fair for our class on Thursday Feb. 3rd Student-Led Conferences - Thursday 3:30-7:30 p.m. Student-Led Conferences - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Feb. 10th - Grand Opening Ceremony at 1:00 p.m. Feb 16th & 17th Teachers Convention - No School • Feb 20th Family Day – No School  • Feb 22nd Fun Lunch

The spelling test for these words will be on Thursday, because we have student led conferences this week and so no classes on Friday.  Here is a link to Quizlet to practice some of the words: https://quizlet.com/_31u7mp  

Collaborate to create was our focus today.  We returned to our oral stories to explain events in Nature.  What a great job you did collaborating with partners to write another Why story.  We are really working on using our speaking skills to plan out and rehearse the stories before writing them.  Your actions and voices were very impressive.  Here is a video for you to have a look at one groups story: To expand our artistic skills and to illustrate our stories we continued to practice our line drawing skills.  Have a look and see what you think.   We are experimenting with different types of paper by upcycling and recycling.     Ambassador is a concept that we are exploring at Kenneth D. Taylor school. We are constantly connecting the idea of identity and ambassadors together.   Today we brainstormed what we thought an ambassador represents.  Here is a wordle.  See if you can tell  the top qualit...

From Grand Conversations in the morning  to abstract art using Alex Janvier's style this afternoon.  Story was our pathway and the paintbrush and our voices were the tools to take exciting new journeys.  Here are some photos for you to see the mindful exploration of wonderful stories. Grand Conversations  look at the mindful focus We went into the project center this afternoon to prototype our abstract representations for our why stories/legends.  This is a creative space.  We really cooperated and collaborated with each other to create and evaluate our work.  First we painted and then some of us shared our stories out loud holding up the paintings to see if we had captured the elements of our legends.  Check out the photos. Here are a couple of videos of people sharing their stories:  

As you know reading and writing are interconnected .  The words we read in rich texts cause us to visualize, make connections, ask questions and then make inferences to build our background knowledge.  Understanding new words (vocabulary) in text is very important to build our reading comprehension. If we build our vocabulary through reading we can practice using these words in our writing which will spark visualization, connecting, questions and inferences.   Today we used a new thinking tool (graphic organizer) called an Alphabet organizer.  It helps us to collect an recycle  new words we have learned in all curriculum areas.  Here is a picture of this organizer: This is a tool you can use at home to practice all of the rich vocabulary we have learned so far this year.  For example, where would you put the words:  activist, ambassador, aboriginal?  That's right, in the A box.  Now, you can discuss how these words are connected. ...

We are continuing on with our stories to explain how things in nature came to be.  To help us with our illustrations for these oral stories we are investigating an Aboriginal artist called Alex Janvier.  Here is link to his website for you to learn more about this inspirational man.   http://www.alexjanvier.com/ His technique is abstract and he uses bright and symbolic colours to represent nature. What do you see when you look at this painting?  Try using the thinking routine,  See, Think and Wonder.   Inspired by Janvier's style we began some sketching in our design thinking journals to plan out our illustrations.  Here are some photos of our work on Monday:   This morning we worked on a web to connect our understanding and connections to Alex Janvier.  Here is a photo of our web and all of the connections to our understanding of identity, values, and culture. 

 Important Dates for  February, 2017:  Feb 2nd & 3rd  Student-Led Conferences  - Please don't forget to book a time slot.  We are excited to share our learning with you.   • Feb 10th Grand Opening Ceremony (1:00 pm) • Feb 16th & 17th Teachers’/Support Staff Convention • Feb 20th Family Day – No School 😀 • Feb 22nd Fun Lunch

This week's words are for Lesson's 46-50 we are almost at the half way point for our spelling lessons! What patterns do you see in these words?  What symbols would you draw for them. Which words can you connect together and why? Here is a link to Quizlet if you want to practice them.   https://quizlet.com/_30qixl

Oral storytelling is really important so that people's culture is never lost.  As you have been following on the blog,  we have been studying the legends of several indigenous (first people) groups in the Canada.  Using our  background knowledge about legends and first nations we have decided to write our own.  We are practicing first by telling the story and practicing it through speaking.  After all, we first learned how to speak, before we learned how to write.  This is a strong and powerful strategy for story writing, to rehearse it by speaking it out loud with a partner or in a group.   So we decided to get together with Ms. Pearson's class and practice telling legends to partners.  It was really powerful when we sat in a large story circle to share a couple of these stories.   If we closed our eyes we could have been sitting out on the prairies (grasslands)  listening to stories about how things in nature came to be. Her...

Our Wondering Question for today was:  If you could have a grand conversation with anyone from the past, who would you pick and why?   Hmmm.  Ask your parents who would they like to have a conversation with? Today was an exciting day, we finally got our new coat hooks in the classroom.  It is exciting to have all of coats together in one space.  Another bonus is that we get shelves to put out all of the wonderful global picture books we have been reading.  Here's a photo:   We also had a surprise fire drill today. Talk to your parents about how it went.  Review how we are working on a calm and  silent travel from the classroom through the hallway to exit the school, paying attention outside while waiting for me to take attendance and silently waiting for the signal to  return inside the school.  Our goal is travel through the hallways in a respectful and mindful manner.   Look at the creativity that has been happen...

Tuesday, Jan. 17th - Popcorn Day - Bring your $2.00 , if you want to buy some. Wednesday, Jan. 18th - Popcorn Day  Here's a math problem for you:   How many bags can I buy with $10.00? Thursday Jan.  19 -- Learning Commons @ 8:10 a.m.  - Don't Forget your Library Books. Friday, Jan. 20 - Early Dismissal - school is over at 11:30 -- don't bring your lunch.     Other Important Dates for February, 2017:  Feb 2nd & 3rd Student-Led Conferences • Feb 10th Grand Opening Ceremony (1:00 pm) • Feb 16th & 17th Teachers’/Support Staff Convention • Feb 20th Family Day – No School 😀 • Feb 22nd Fun Lunch

We have been working on number of the day this week.  It is a great strategy for expanding our understanding of number sense.  Here is an example of what it can look like.  It gives students a way to practice multiple ways to work with a particular number.  A new number is picked everyday.   You can practice this at home with your parents.  Another category to add to this when you talk at home about numbers is:  Where in the world would  I find this number of things?      For example I might find 615 students in a middle school.  Or 615 dollars in my bank account.  Or 615 paintings in a gallery or 615 cattle on a ranch.   We have also been challenging ourselves to understand how  fractions and division are connected .  Below is a picture of how we can divide the number 368 in half.  Or, another way to look at is 368 divided by 2:  You can see that we have modeled how to divide this numbe...