Christmas Cuties

The students showcased their talents at the Christmas concert!

I Am Canada Reader's Theatre

The students performed their I Am Canada reader's theatre to several classrooms today. Their performance was outstanding. It highlighted our work on fluency, particularly parasody.

 

Gastronomy Makerspace

We are chefs!
The students are creating treats for their parents for Christmas.
Looks delicious!

I loved the giggles and statements of, "I made it myself." The students felt a sense of pride and accomplishment.

We read to learn and procedural texts, such as recipes, show students that reading offers tangible results. Following step-by-step instructions to get to a finished result is an important reading skill, and using that skill to cook shows students that reading has very practical benefits.

PJ Day

Look at these cuties in their pjs.

Canada

Thank you for educators around the world who express interest in our classroom and our studies.

We have been studying our nation-  its land, its history, its symbols; and the location of Canada and its political regions. Our inquiry investigates how knowing our past influences our present.

To complement our study of Canada, we are studying historical fiction. Because historical fiction tends to start at a time of great historical tension, which almost inevitably means a time of change, readers who pay attention to the feelings that a setting engenders will probably be experiencing rising tension. In most historical fiction, the setting for the story is a place that is in the throes of great pressures. 

This unit, however, is not simply a unit on reading historical fiction. It is a unit on tackling complex texts. It is not simply to entice students to be swept up by the settings in their historical fiction novels. It is to help readers be more attentive to the tone and atmosphere in a setting and more alert to gathering tensions—to the winds of change. Artifacts of learning and learning tasks will be posted soon!

Beautiful Music

A beautiful gift from a talented student.

Remembrance Day

I was honoured and humbled to have my father and his colleague guest speak at my school today. The students learned about the intent and importance of Remembrance Day.

All the people I love in one room! So amazing!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Look at these cuties!

Pumpkin Observation and Carving Day!

Pumpkin Observation and Carving Day! The students were so excited to finally observe their pumpkin's attributes, carve the pumpkin, and eat pumpkin pie. Click on the image to view a slideshow which depicts the different stations and the fun day!

Rice Krispie Pumpkins

Another yummy pumpkin treat!
We decorated Rice Krispie balls to resemble jack-o'-lanterns with a KitKat bar and a green leaf ju-jube. Delicious!

Mystery Fruit

Mrs. Funk had a mystery for the grade three students to solve. What is this unusual fruit?

We investigated our science books and looked at our charts.
We looked closely at  the fruit - it was dark green and had a distinctive shape. The students noticed it looked like an acorn.

We researched acorn squash and found it looks like a winter squash and is a dark green. From the pictures, we knew this large squash was an acorn squash.

Great detective work!

Cheesy Pumpkins

More pumpkin fun today!

We spread Cheez Whiz on half of an English muffin to create a pumpkin.

The "cheesy" faces were created with chocolate chips.

Yummy!

Pumpkin Investigations

We started learning about pumpkins! The class resembles a pumpkin patch as each student brought a pumpkin for carving!

We started with a Venn Diagram charting the differences between apples and pumpkins.

The students were surprised to discover pumpkins are fruits! They belong to the Cucurbitaceae (koo-ker-bih-TAY-see-eye) family and include not only pumpkins, but also squash, zucchini, and gourds.

The students became scientists as they made detailed observations of the outside and inside of our class pumpkin! It is important to have a real pumpkin for students to touch and use as a model for their science notebook diagrams.

    

The life cycle of the pumpkin was illustrated using an interactive notebook supplied by Babbling Abby.

      

We explored picture books about pumpkins to discuss the elements of fiction: setting, characters, plot, problem and solution. We partner read to increase our reading fluency and to practice our comprehension skill of summarizing. 

The student are investigating nonfiction books and analyzing the difference between the text types. Informational books provide the reader with facts. The students read many information books and cited several interesting facts. Thank you to Clever Classroom for the helpful charts!

We are exploring text features of information books, including pictures, labels, captions, section headings, glossaries, and table of contents. As students start to craft their own informational text, we made a list of how section headings support understanding:

• Tell the reader what to expect in the upcoming section
• Hint at the main idea of the upcoming section
• Help the reader organize the article's ideas
• Provide a preview of what the article is leading up to
• Provide a transition between the last section and the next one, which has a new main idea

To add some fun, we used leaf rubbing plates to create a fall background. Then, we dipped pumpkin sponges in tempera paint to create a spooky picture.

 

The following are pumpkin themed books we enjoyed:

 

Too Many Pumpkins

 

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie

The Pumpkin Book

It's a Fruit, It's a Vegetable, It's a Pumpkin

Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden

From Seed to Pumpkin

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

Apples and Pumpkins

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

Handsome Jack: A Pumpkin Life Cycle Story

Pumpkins

How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?

 

Don't tell the students, but tomorrow we will be creating yummy pumpkin creations!