Friday, February 26, 2010.

HANDWRITING
Today we brainstormed "en" words that say "n" such as end and then. The students chose three "en" words and wrote them out three times and then wrote the date once.

FRENCH
We added notes about the hippo, the bear, the giraffe, and the bison to our duotangs.

MATH
We continued work on page 119 using three digit subtraction.

OLYMPIC FUN DAY
Our Olympic Fun afternoon kicked off after our TeleMiracle hot dog lunch. The students were divided into teams of six with each team representing one of nineteen different countries. We met in the gym and sang O Canada before taking the Athlete's Pledge. Next students headed outside for our own Torch Relay led by Mrs. Maljan, our mayor. Then it was off to the events, which included biathlon, luge, bobsledding, curling, sledge hockey, and a break for hot chocolate and cookies. The afternoon wrapped up with a draw for TeleMiracle prizes and a rousing U.P.S. cheer.
Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the end of the real Olympics from Vancouver!

Thursday, February 25, 2010.

HANDWRITING
Today the students brainstormed "ef" words that say "f" such as effort and chef. The students then chose three "ef" words to write out three times and wrote the date once.

MATH
We continued ot work on page 119 using three digit subtraction methods.
Students explored a new strategy which works if all the digits being subtracted are smaller than those from which they are subtracted.

Example:

583 - 262 =

500 - 200 = 300
80 - 60 = 20
3 - 2 = 1

300 + 20 + 1 = 321

COMPUTERS
The students went to the World Maths Day website and logged in. They got to design their own avatar and then played Math games with students form around the world. World Maths Day is next week on March 3rd. The students took their logins and passwords home so they can practice at home.

OLYMPIC FUN DAY TOMORROW
Remember tomorrow is our Olympic Fun Day in the afternoon. Bring your skipants. We're also having our hot dog lunch for TeleMiracle.

Wedndesday, February 24, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed words with an "el" that says "l" such as elephant and bell. The students chose three "el" words to write three times each and wrote the date once.

FRENCH
We reviewed our colours in French and started learning about some zoo animals. Today we discussed the colour, size, and one distinguishing feature of the elelphant, tiger, zebra, and lion. The students also got time to colour pictures of these animals in their duotangs.

SCIENCE
Today we started our unit on matter. The students, in groups, were given word cards and asked to sort them in a way that made sense. Eventually we discovered that all of the items could fit into a category of either a gas, a liquid or a solid.

SHOW & SHARE
Today we saw some more books on space, some spaceship modles, and some drawings.

Tomorrow is a Spelling Test so remember to study your words.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "es" words that say "s" such as guess and best. The students chose three "es" words to write three times each and the date once.

MATH
We went over yesterday's problems and worked with a partner to figure ot a method for subtracting three digit numbers.

One Method involves counting on.
For Example:

402-128

128 --> 130 --> 200 --> 400 --> 402
2 + 70 + 200 + 2
274

So,
402-128 = 274

A second Method involves using hundreds, tnes, and one blocks. In this method you sometimes need to borrow a ten to give more ones or to borrow a hunder to give more tens.

A third Method involves counting backwards.
For example:

402-128

402 --> 400 --> 200 --> 130 --> 128
2 + 200 + 70 + 2

So
402-128 = 274

SCIENCE
We did a pre-test on Matter. We used the laptops and took the pre-test using Survey Monkey.

SHOW & SHARE
Today everyone shared pictures they had drawn of the Solar System or planets. Megan also made a model of the Earth out of paper and tape.

Monday, February 22, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "em" words that said "m" such as empty and temperature. The students then wrote three "em" words three times each and the date once.

FRENCH
We are starting a new unit on Zoo animals. Today the students reviewed all the colours and how they are spelled in French.

MATH
Today we did a review sheet to practice solving adding and subtracting in word problems.

COMPUTER
We worked on sending e-mails and attaching a picture in the e-mail.

SHOW and SHARE
Our topic for this week is the Solar System. Students shared books about space and pictures they had drawn of the solar system and various planets. It was out of this world.

Friday, February 12, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed words with a "y" that makes the sound in words such as "your" or "yawn." Then the students chose three "y" words to write three times and the date once.

MATH
We played the Tic-Tac-Toe game to practice adding two digit numbers.

AFTERNOON
We went skating with the grade one and two students. We walked to the rink and skated for almost an hour before walking back to school. On the way back we saw an Inushuk someone had made in their front yard. The Inukshuk is the symbol for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. This Inukshuk has a Saskatchewan Roughriders emblem on its chest.

Back at the school we handed out our valentine cards and filled up our Stegosaurus mailboxes. Next everyone opened their valentines. Finally we had treats and watched a video about Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day. Then it was time to pack up and head home,

Next week there is no school as it is Winter Break and Teachers' Convention. Have a happy Family Day everyone!

Thursday, February 11, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "y" words that say "long e" such as candy and happy. We wrote three "y" which say "long e" words three times and the date once.

SCIENCE
We wrote our Science test on the Solar System. Then we worked on a Valentine's booklet.

MATH
We worked on page 115 using the Mental Math strategies we practiced yesterday.

LIBRARY
Everyone got stocked up on books for the break.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed words that end in "y" that makes a "long i" sound such as why and Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you picked short words under 4 letters you wrote 5 words three times and if you chose longer words then you wrote three words three times. For both you wrote the date once.

MATH
We did the Explore activity on p-114 and figured out different ways to use mental math to subtract two-digit numbers. There are four different ways which may be used.

(1) Use a "friendly" number.

73 - 48 =
You can think 73 - 50 = 23 because 50 is friendlier than 48.
Then you need to add the difference between 50 & 48, which is 50 - 48 = 2, to your answer.

So 23 + 2 = 25

Therefore 73 - 28 = 25.

(2) You can count up to the number.

85 - 57 =
You start with 57 and add 3 to get to 60 and then you add 20 to get to 80 and then you add 5 to get to 85 or 57 + 3 = 60 + 20 = 80 + 5 = 85.

So 3 + 20 + 5 = 28

Therefore 85 - 57 = 28

(3) Use doubles.

63 - 30 =
You know that 30 + 30 = 60 and 3 more equals 63 so 30 + 3 = 33

Therefore 63 - 30 = 33

(4) Match the ones.

76 - 38 =
It is easier to do 76 - 36 = 40 and then since there is a difference of 2 between 38 and 36 so you subtract that 40 - 2 = 38.

Therefore 76 - 38 = 38

Then we started page 115.

COMPUTERS
We wrote a five sentence paragraph about our favourite planet and posted it to our blogs at Class Blogmeister.

DANCE
We practiced our solar system facts by showing the rotation and revolution of the Earth and moon around each other and the sun. We also lined up the Earth, sun, and moon in order to show a solar and a lunar eclipse. Then we had a race to see who could act out each planet and move across the gym. Our Solar System Science test is tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

ASSEMBLY
We had a short assembly so no handwriting today. We did some silent reading.

FRENCH
We wrote our quiz on the Winter Olympic sports.

MATH
We practiced strategies for 2 digit subtraction on the SmartBoard using tens and ones blocks and borrowing from the tens as needed.

SCIENCE
We re-watched the BrainPop on eclipses and did the quiz.

SHOW & SHARE
The class shared a red monster truck, a heart picture made with yarn, two red truck pictures, and told about a special red rock with garnets in it.

Monday, February 8, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "oy" words such as Lloydminster and enjoy today. We chose three to write three times and wrote the date once.

FRENCH
We reviewed the Winter Olympic sports in French for our quiz tomorrow.

figure skating - le patinage artistique
speed skating - le patinage de vitesse
luge - la luge
bodsledding - le bobsleigh
hockey - l'hockey
curling - le curling
snowboarding - le surf des neiges
downhil skiing - le ski alpin
cross-country skiing - le ski de fond
ski jumping - le aut en ski
free-style skiing - le ski style libre
biathlon - le biathlon

MATH
We did a review sheet on estimating and solving 2-digit subtraction questions.

SCIENCE
We completed a review sheet to use for studying for our test on Thursday on the Solar System.

Friday, February 5, 2010.

COMPUTERS
We went to our blogs at Class Blogmeister. Everyone wrote a paragraph about the Winter Olympics, which are starting on February 12th.

MATH
We did all our corrections on page 112 and silent read. The grade threes are trying to read 100 books. Each time they complete a book they may fill in a square on the poster. When all 100 squares are coloured in Scholastic will make a donation to the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.

FINE ARTS
We made Dinosaur Valentine Mailboxes in Fine Arts. We also enjoyed some birthday cupcakes.

Thursday, February 4, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "oi" words such as coin and noise. Write three "oi" words three times and the date once.

MATH
We spent the whole class working on page 112. Be careful to read the instructions as some questions need estimates and some just need to be solved. Show your startegies as often as possible.

SCIENCE
We watched another BrainPop on the moon. One fact that was reinforced about the moon is that it doesn't make its own light but instead reflects the sun's light. We did a 5 question quick quiz.
Then we watched a BrainPop on eclipses. We learned that there are two main types of eclipses.
A SOLAR eclipse happens when the moon is between the sun and the Earth and the sun's light is blocked. A solar eclipse can make a bright sunny day as dark as night. Solar eclipses are rare. This is a picture of a solar eclipse that occurred in France in 1999. The picture is from Flick and was taken by Luc Viatour.


A LUNAR eclipse happens when the Earth is between the sun and the moon and the Earth's shadow makes the moon a dark red colour. Lunar eclipses are more common than solar eclipses. The following a picture of the sequence of a lunar eclipse that occurred in England in 2007. The picture is Flickr and was taken by Keith Marshall.


SHOW & SHARE
Our new theme is Valentine's Day or something red. Today we saw a red maple leaf picture, a red Swiss ballcap, and were told about a red hockey jersey, and that red was someone's third favourite colour. We also heard about a book called "Arthur's Valentine" by Marc Brown.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed words with an "le" which says "l" such as triangle and circle. Write three "le" words three times and the date once.

MATH

We reviewed subtraction methods such as the one below:


and this one:


from our "Math Makes Sense" textbook. Then we started work on page 112.

SCIENCE
We continued work on our Groundhog projects and listened to the next chapter of "Book One - The 39 Clues - The Maze of Bones" by Rick Riordan.

LIBRARY
Mrs. Greenwald read us a book about being unique called "Leon The Chameleon" and then we quickly took out new books.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed "tion" words which say "shun" such as invitation and attention. Write three "tion" words three times and the date once. Watch the February joins.

MATH
In partners the class did the Explore activity on page 110, which involved estimating and then sovling a 2 - digit number.

The class also discussed 3 strategies for solving 2 - digit subtraction.

Strategy 1

Use Base Ten Blocks:

54 - 36 =


54 5 ten blocks and 4 ones blocks

36 3 ten blocks and 6 ones blocks

Look at the ones blocks and since you can't do 4 - 6 you need to borrow from the tens.

Now you have

54 4 tens blocks and 14 ones blocks
36 3 tens blocks and 6 ones blocks

Now you can do 14 - 6 = 8 and you can do the tens blocks 4 - 3 = 1

So you have 1 tens block and 8 ones blocks or 18.

So 54 - 36 = 18.

Strategy 2

Use counting on to the larger number.

36 + 4 = 40 + 10 = 50 + 4 =54

So 4 + 10 + 4 = 18

54 - 36 = 18

Strategy 3
Use counting backward to the smaller number.

54 - 4 = 50 - 10 = 40 - 4 = 36

So 4 + 10 + 4 = 18

54 - 36 = 18

SCIENCE
We found out that the Groundhog saw its shadow so only two students predicted correctly that we'll have six more weeks of winter.
We read an article on Groundhog Day and answered questions about the story.
We coloured a groundhog and his hole and put together a picture of the groundhog, his hole, and the shadow he saw.

Monday, February 1, 2010.

HANDWRITING
We brainstormed words with a "ph" that says "f" such as elephant and alphabet. Choose three "ph" words to write three times and write the date once. Be careful how you join the "brua" in February.

FRENCH
We practiced the Winter Olympic Sports names in French.

MATH
We discussed how estimating answers should look for a question such as:
67
- 51

For example an EXCELLENT estimate would look like this:

67 --> 70
51 --> - 50
20 The estimate is 20.

a GOOD estimate would look like this:

7 - 5 = 2 --> 20

a SATISFACTORY estimate would look like this:

20

a HAVING DIFFICULTY estimate would look like this:

16

We continued to work on page 108.

SCIENCE
We watched a BrainPop on the moon and learned the following:
* The moon revolves around the Earth every 27.3 days.
* A lunar month is 29.5 days because the moon revolves around the Earth but the Earth is also turning.
* A lunar month is the time from one fullmoon until the next.
* The moon is 380,000 kilometers away from the Earth.
* The moon is made of igneous rock with a core of iron and sulfur.
* The moon's rocky crust is made up of plains and sea beds or marias.
* The moon's surface doesn't change because there is no atmosphere so there is no wind or other weather to move things around.
* The gravity on the moon is 1/6 th of Earth's gravity.
* The first man set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969.

We also predicted whether the Groundhog would see his shadow and predict that there will be six more weeks of winter or whether he wouldn't see his shadow and predict that spring will come more quickly.

SHOW AND SHARE
We heard about a pottery shard, a special mini hockey stick, and a Dinosaur book.