Another update

** Posted earlier tonight, please read the below post as well - for grade 3 parents!**

This past week, our class has been using pedometers (still working on that term, you might be hearing about the "thermometers" they've been wearing) during the day to measure the number of footsteps they've been taking each day. It's been a terrific way to talk about numbers and to get the children moving - sometimes a little too much! I can't tell you how funny it is to watch a child take quick little steps to get from point A to point B or to have them quickly running on the spot! Next week, we will be working with the calculators to figure out how many steps they've taken in total, how many their table group has taken, and how many our CLASS has taken as a whole! We are also going to use the data to create some graphs. I haven't decided how long we will continue to use the pedometers, but it's definitely making them a little more aware of how much walking they do throughout the day. So far, none of them have hit the 14K step mark - this is apparently how many steps active children should be taking daily! 

In Writing, we've been talking about reviews - how good reviews include a recount of the book without giving away the ending, an opinion and a rating of the book. They are currently writing a short review which will be for homework if it's not complete tomorrow. This is due for Thursday as we will begin to type up our reviews on the laptops on Thursday afternoon.

We've begun to talk about Questioning and it's importance as a reader. We read the story "the Rough Faced Girl" (First Nations folk tale that is sort of like Cinderella) - lots of terrific questions generated from this story. We did a lot of modelling and discussion around the questions we could ask before, during and after reading. I was really glad to hear that some of them figured out that when we ask the question "what was the author's message?" helped them to deepen their understanding because the hidden message was "beauty comes from within".

We spent an entire afternoon on Science and Socials today. It was a good work session. The grade 4's have started their unit on light and sound - they were talking about artificial vs. natural light and did a quick picture sort. They are going to be having a chapter (very short chapter!) review next week and a quiz will follow soon thereafter. 

The 4's also learned about where names of places around BC and Canada came from. They learned about a place in BC called Namu. Namu's named originated from an orca. They completed a page in their duotangs about people names. There were a few that did not finish, their work was sent home and is due tomorrow as the sheet was worked on together with Mrs. Rosychuk.

The grade 3's had their Heritage projects introduced today. We went through the package that was sent home and talked about what was expected. They were given examples of each component, so hopefully they can explain it to you! They all seemed to be pretty excited about it - heard some comments like "this is going to be so cool!" and "ooo.. I'm going to ask my Gram!"

The 3's also began an experiment on testing the strength of three kinds of pillars. They got so excited testing the cylindrical pillars that the 4's began to wonder what was up. I think one group was able to stack 14 textbooks on top of their cardboard pillar before it toppled over. Triangular and rectangular pillars have not yet had a chance to be in the spotlight!

I've attached a poster from our school counsellor, Mrs. Switzer. Just for anyone who may be interested. Feel free to pass the message along to any other parents you know!