Kenneth D. Taylor, Grade 3 - Ms. Hargreaves

We know how important symbols are in our world.  Symbols are universal.  For our spelling words we have been practicing drawing symbols to represent the words we are learning each week.  Here are some examples of the great symbols that have been created.  If you can draw a picture for a word you really know what it means.  Also, it helps you connect that picture to the letters and morphographs that make up the word.

Here are some dates to keep in mind for March: Mar 8th Fun Lunch  Mar 10th – Mar 22nd Inline Skating  Mar 17th Early Dismissal  Mar 22nd Last day of Classes / Movie Night  Mar 23rd & 24th PD Day Mar 27th – Apr 2nd Spring Break

Here are the words for this week:  Lessons 66-70.  The test will be on Friday.   Here is a link to quizlet so you can practice these words.   https://quizlet.com/_363t6m

Another wonderful day of learning in room 123.  We began exploring the power of strong verbs in our writing today.  Here is a link to a video we watched that demonstrates how verbs are the "engine of a sentence."   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzhChOZDGDU This is why we think you should add strong verbs to your writing: Here are some photos of us shopping for verbs from our brainstormed list to make six word verb stories about the animals in our pour quoi  stories. Here are some of the student stories.  They had to write a six word story about how their animal moves or sounds like.  The criteria was five verbs and the last word is the animal.  See if these stories make you visualize.    Charge, stomp, gallop, grind, snort, bison Dash, jog, chomp, click, clack, bison charge,stomp,galloping,rip,dash,Buffalo     Ideas: 1. Dash, howl, bound, chomp, stalk, coyote. 2.Slu...

What a great day we had today!  Pink Shirt Day was our first wondering task?  What is it?  Where did it come from?  Why pink?  We found out the story behind Pink Shirt Day here's a link to a video that tells the story:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjmf3I1_ZhU   These boys and the entire school in Nova Scotia demonstrated the power of activism.  Standing up for what is right!  They have become ambassadors for anti-bullying.   We also explored the website  https://pinkshirtday.brandalliance.com/  and discovered that the theme for this year is make nice.  This prompted us to write our own pledge for kindness today and everyday.  Did you know kindness is universal?  Meaning it is recognized everywhere in the world. Here is our pledge. I created it using an online app called ransom note generator  http://www.ransomizer.com/ We found out that the pink shirt is recognized internationally, which gav...

Nature and our bodies make and use energy.  Here is a text-text  science connection to the rock cycle and the energy that the sun provides for weathering, erosion  and the internal energy found at the earth's core. For our bodies today we tried a new daily energy routine, that will continue to  build our mindfulness and stamina for learning.  Here is a link in case you are interested in trying it at home.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gffKhttrRw4 We also work on the math problem I posted with an extra challenge t o collect 100 wheels and then 1000 .  We certainly persisted and came up with some good strategies.  This math problem helped us connect to background knowledge about fractions and money (quarters).  Practicing our mental math is important everyday.  We also made another connection back to cycles in science and how all of the wheels in this math problem are connected to the cycles in nature because they keep on g...

Here are some important dates for March: Mar 8 th Fun Lunch Mar 10 th – Mar 22 nd Inline Skating Mar 17 th Early Dismissal Mar 22 nd Last day of Classes / Movie Night Mar 23 rd & 24 th PD Day Mar 27 th – Apr 2 nd Spring Break 

Here is an open ended math problem you can work on at home with your parents to practice your critical thinking.  Don't forget to use as many strategies as you can.  Remember use your background knowledge.  How many operations could you use to solve this.  The great thing is there is more than one answer!  Want a challenge?  Change the number of wheels to 50 or 100.  How many different combinations can you make?

There is a change of plan for spelling this week .  Instead of having the test tomorrow, we have decided that since the list is a long one this week we would rather write the test next week on Tuesday for Lessons 55-60.

To celebrate Valentines Day,  we started the day with the question:  How are the HEART values, freedom and friendship connected? It's no surprise that we were able to come up with all kinds of connections back to our classroom learning.  We really tuned into freedom and child rights.  For example,  we had a text-text connection back to Malala and our right to education.  We are lucky to come to school everyday and learn in a safe and caring school.  We also connected to freedom of speech because several of the novels that groups are reading in grand conversations have a main idea that is connected to the right to speak up, to stand up for what you believe in.  And ... of course this connected us to activists and ambassadors. This afternoon we came back to our definition of values:  "the qualities we hold in our hearts that guide our actions."   This led us to build on the skill we learned last week: continuous line drawings. ...

Here are some dates to be aware of this week : We will be having our spelling test for lessons 56-60 on Wednesday, Feb. 15th because it is a short week. Teachers Convention is on Thursday and Friday (Feb 16 & 17th) - so no school for students. Family Day is on February 20 - no school for students. Fun Lunch - February 22 Upcoming Events for March : Mar 10th – Mar 22nd Inline Skating Mar 17th Early Dismissal   Mar 22nd Last day of Classes / Movie Night  Mar 23rd & 24th PD Day  Mar 27th – Apr 2nd Spring Break

This morning we  carried  on our exploration of symbols  and how they can represent thoughts so that everyone can understand.  Our latest artistic focus is:   One Line Drawing .    This technique requires critical thinking and creativity to communicate a vision.  Here are some examples from the artists duo: We are inspired by DFT: "DFT is a french creative duo based in Paris and Berlin. Specialized in graphic arts, we explore the concept of continuity through our continuous line artwork."  Here is a link to some of the work we looked very carefully at today and tried to copy just using our eyes and our pencils in our design journals:   https://www.behance.net/gallery/28382239/One-line-Animal-logos   Well today certainly was exciting.  We are all working hard to get ready for our grand opening on Friday.  So,  this afternoon the entire school polished off their acting skills for a surprise Lip dub. ...

Given all of the preparation for our Grand Opening Ceremony this week we are continuing with lessons 51-55.  The test will likely be on Thursday morning.  Thank you for continued support at home to help your child practice their spelling.

A reminder that tickets must be purchased on-line for both the dress rehearsal this week and the official opening ceremony on Friday at 1:00 p.m.  Here are the details: As our limited space will not allow for a general attendance we will have tickets available on-line for both the official ceremony and at the dress rehearsal on Thursday, February 9 th  at 1:00 pm as well. Each person attending the evening performance needs to have a ticket.  This includes all children who require a seat. Please be aware that due to limited space, strollers are not allowed in the gym. Ticket requests for the dress rehearsal and Grand Opening Ceremony will be available online through a web-based booking tool called  Eventbrite . To use this application, you will be required to give an active email account. To register and complete the ticket request process, please follow the steps below by the outlined dates. Steps to request tickets: Access the following internet link...

Feb 10th  Kenneth D. Taylor Grand Opening Ceremony  Feb 16th & 17th Teachers Convention  Feb 20th Family Day – No School  Feb 22nd Fun Lunch   Mar 10th – Mar 22nd Inline Skating  Mar 17th Early Dismissal  Mar 22nd Last day of Classes / Movie Night   Mar 23rd & 24th PD Day   Mar 27th – Apr 2nd Spring Break

I would like to thank all of you who came to our first student-led conferences at Kenneth D. Taylor school.  It was a huge success because of your commitment to sharing the learning journey.  I know your children were excited to share their work and to have you try out the strategies and thinking tools we use everyday.  I hope that your thinking was transformed and that you will stay tuned to the blog for further connections to the grade three curriculum. Sincerely,  Ms. Hargreaves