Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I’m sure the beautiful weather got many of you outdoors! It’s hard to believe that it has been so hot already and it’s still only May!

Here’s a little recap of last week at school

-Outdoor Classroom Day! We spent day outside doing mostly what we do inside, with the exception of technology! Some of the kids loved it, some liked it and some would rather spend a shorter time outside (like we are doing for our 30 for 30). It. Was. Hot! Which was part of the reason some kids didn’t love it (and why some did)! It’s important for us to get outside regardless of the weather. We can’t spend 5 months inside because it’s too cold…or 3 months in br sure it’s too hot! We just need to adjust to the weather! On Tuesday we moved around to find shade, took a break inside for lunch and choir and made sure to drink plenty of fluids. The community clean up and seed planting seemed to be on the list of favourite activities. Thank you to the 3/4 team for taking on this outdoor adventure. A big thank you to the students who are self proclaimed “not outdoorsy people” for not only participating, but making the most of their day

-Our seeds are starting to sprout! Stay tuned via Seesaw to watch the growth process! As the kids notice changes they will snap a photo and label it with any important information and add it to their Seesaw portfolio. This is a great way to talk about this experiment at home!

-We have another growing experiment happening at school! This is also your Ask Me question for the weekend! Together we brainstormed different places to  grow plants in the room where the amount of sunlight would vary and provide different watering options for our pumpkin seeds. We have settled on 6 different ideas and now you need to make a prediction and comment what seeds you think will have the best growth (via the Seesaw post). We have charts up around the room to track the watering schedule and growth. This should be fun!!

-Our Book Clubs are almost over!! We will finish reading/making this week and then share our experiences and recommendations with the other groups. Groups that are making iMovie trailers will have their video posted to Seesaw as they are finished. What a fantastic app! The kids are doing a great job creating the trailers and making the connection that it’s actually the technology version of writing a book recommendation!

-Divide and Conquer! We are working through division, fractions and decimals right now! These are often the concepts that students “fear” the most…until we get going. Then they realize that we use these skills in our everyday lives and that knowing how to add/subtract/multiply and understanding place value all really help! However, some students are realizing that not having recall for the multiplication facts is affecting their speed for learning the basic facts for division. By now we should be able to recall the facts for 2 to 20, 5 to 50, 10 to 100, 3 to 30 and 4 to 40. The students may still be developing the answers for the remaining facts, but they should be able to determine them using a strategy they know. Take a few minutes each day to listen to your child skip count or do flashcards. It’s will help with their confidence 😊

What’s happening this week?!

-Family Life is starting! You all should have received a note to give you the heads up. Helen is working with the grade 4s and I will be working with the grade 3s. In grade 3 we will talk about personal safety and families. The grade 4s will learn about growth and development in changing bodies.

-We Belong Vertical Groups #3! Our final session will happen on Tuesday! The students will rotate to whichever activity they haven’t done yet. I believe our cluster will be going to the treaty activity.

-We will continue our daily edits, listen to Wishtree and post our May reading and writing samples. It will also be days 23-27 of our 30 for 30 challenge!!

-The 30 day environmental pledges should be completed by now. We will be checking in with the school and community to ask if they’ve completed their pledge and then take our posters down. We generated a lot of interest and many important conversations. Well done 123!!

That covers it for this week! I’m sad not to be ending this post with a #GoJetsGo but our team has a great season and we will be ready for a new run to the cup for 2019!

Until next time,

Danielle