April News

A Happy Spring to all of our 3A families!  For a couple of weeks, I thought we were going to bypass spring and move right into summer but the cool days are back and students are reminded to layer appropriately for the cool mornings and warm afternoons.

Congratulations to our students of the month for March.  These students were recognized for their "fairness."   Shazam!

I would also like to congratulate our chess players who represented 3A at the annual Chess Challenge.  I am so pleased that our grade three students are getting involved in the extracurricular activities being offered at Talbot Trail.

Math:  In April. we will be moving on to Measurement and covering the concepts of area and perimeter.

I am finding that many of our classmates do not know their math facts or are having difficulty with basic addition and subtraction.  Students should be reviewing their multiplication facts daily by writing them out, using flashcards or playing math games on the computer.  Many students had difficulty with division because they did not know their multiplication.  Students are also encouraged to mentally add money amounts by counting money or change.  We have already covered this unit, but a quick review has shown that some students still struggle or have forgotten this concept.

Social Studies:  Our mapping unit is coming to an end.  Students will be completing a unit project where they will have to design their own pirate map.  We will then move on to a unit about Pioneer Times.

Science:  The students enjoyed their field trip to see the Lorax and we will continue to learn about the environment and the different ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Our annual Earth Day assembly will take place on Thursday, April 19 at 1:05 p.m.  Our class will be singing two songs and presenting a music video to Jack Johnson's song, "3R's."  We hope to see you at the assembly.

Students may click on this link to practise singing the theme song from the Lorax:

Let It Grow

Language Arts:

The students enjoyed the novel, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulaine."  Have a look at the video below to see some of the activities the students participated in during their novel study.  This video will be part of the Board's Artsmart website.  Artsmart is a website with sample lessons for educators.

Edward Tulaine Project

This month, we will be reading, writing and reciting poetry.

Students have submitted their first narrative on the Storybird website.  I encourage students to continue writing more stories on their own and commenting on others' stories.  We have had a discussion about Internet "citizenship" and students are well aware that they need to write and comment appropriately when they are online.

Students have been gathering research from a variety of data bases and non-fiction resources for their speeches.  We will now be working on writing and practising our speeches.  My goal is to start presenting the speeches by Monday, April 23.

In preparation for the upcoming EQAO tests in June, we will continue to read a variety of non-fiction texts and practise answering opening response questions.  Please visit this website if you wish to download practice questions or view past tests.

EQAO practise tests

In mid-May, you will receive more information about afterschool practise sessions to help students further prepare for the test.  When answering questions, students are encouraged to:

1.  Restate the question.
2.  Use evidence or proof from the text.
3.  Give an opinion or make a connection by using their own schema or background information.

This is the format that we have been using to write in our Reading Response books so students should be very familiar with the criteria.

The school year is flying by and as always, please feel free to contact me or write a note in the agenda if you have any questions or concerns.  Enjoy the spring days!

Mrs. Allison