December
12
December
12
Grinch Day
Today was Grinch Day! We celebrated with all things green and grinchy. Many students came to school in their finest and Grinchiest accessories including green eyeshadow, green leg warmers, Cindy Loo Who hair, Grinchy socks, and more!
We started the day with a Grinchy I Spy activity to get us warmed up. Then we moved into some grinch math playing a game called “Less or More”. Next, we listened to the classic song “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” from 1966 sung by legendary Thurl Ravenscroft (who was also the voice of Tony the Tiger, by the way). We really enjoyed the delicious lyrics! What’s your favourite lyric from the song?
We drew a Grinch face (either mean or nice) and made it into a headband. They looked so great! Next, We logged into our Google drive and clicked on some grinchy links Mrs. S sent to us. Finally, we watched the Grinch (at least part of it) and may have indulged in a Grinchy drink and treat.
Happy Grinch Day, everyone!
Stink! Stank! Stunk!
December
10
Christmas Kahoot!
December
9
St. Nicholas
Who was St. Nicholas? What was he known for? When did he live on earth?
These are all great questions. Last week, we learned a little bit about St. Nicholas including that he likely the real-life inspiration for the beloved Santa Claus.
Have a look at some facts about this interesting man.
Here are some facts we learned about his life:
- He was born in Asia Minor in what is now Turkey
- He is the patron saint of many things including fishermen, sailors, children, prisoners, and more!
- His parents died when he was young and he inherited a lot of money from them
- Nicolas was known to be very charitable
- Nicolas used his inheritance to help those in need
- He became a bishop when he was young
- Three gold coins are a primary symbol for St. Nicholas, representing the dowries he secretly provided for three poor girls, and are also the traditional sign for pawn shops
- He died on Dec. 6 AD 343 and so we celebrate his Feast Day on Dec.6
- He was buried in Bari, Italy
December
3
Advent
The word Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus which means “a coming”. It is a 4 week season leading up to Christmas and it is dedicated to the anticipation of Jesus’ birth.
This week, students brought home their Advent wreaths that we made in class.
In the season of Advent, we are reminded to be patient, think of others, and remember to truly be mindful of what the season is all about–Jesus. We can become consumed by the shopping, decorations, and so on, but our family, friends, and taking care of each other is also very important.
There is much symbolism within the wreath itself.
- the wreath is in the shape of a circle meaning that God’s love has no beginning and no end
- the evergreen boughs represent the hope for eternal life
- the candles show that Jesus is the light of the world
The Advent wreath is a countdown of sorts to Jesus’ birthday. The 3 purple candles and 1 pink candle represent the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week we will be lighting one more candle on our classroom wreath and will share in prayer and song together.
December
1
Crock a Doodle Do!!
Last Friday, Crock-a-Doodle came to our school and we got to design and create a pottery ornament for Christmas. We painted designs on our ornaments and now we await their return as they are getting put into the kiln to be fired. We will update this post with some pictures of the finished products! Stay tuned!
November
27
Books are Delicious
Today our classroom was transformed into a sort of literary cafe as students were invited to their very first BOOK TASTING event of the school year. A book tasting gives students the opportunity to sample some juicy reads in a short period of time and come away with a wish list of titles. It’s a great way to let young readers sample different authors, genres, and series. After all, books are a lot like food—you won’t know if you like something until you try it!
Chef Sully made an appearance, flying in from France. Students noted she looked a lot like her sisterly friend, Mrs. Sullivan. They even shop at the same clothing stores, apparently! Chef Sully even brought a wee little gift for each student–a little souvenir from Paris.
We ‘sampled’ several different genres of books including:
- Poetry
- Mystery
- Nonfiction
- Biography
See you next time, Chef Sully!
November
23
Our Personal Narratives
Our personal narratives are complete and boy are we proud! The students have worked through the entire writing process from generating ideas to drafting, to writing, editing, publishing.
A personal narrative is a true story about yourself.
We had stories written about:
- a Harry Potter ride
- planting lemon seeds with Dad
- getting lost at Walmart
- Getting trapped in the bathroom stall
- building sandcastles at the beach
We enjoyed reading each other’s stories and leaving some compliments as well. We visited Mrs. Potts’ class and shared our stories with them. Finally, we finished off with an author’s celebration with a few treats to enjoy.
Great job, Grade 3s! I’m so impressed and enjoyed guiding you on the writing process. Bravo!
November
18
Survey Says!
We’ve recently completed a math assignment as part of our recent Data unit where we had to ask a survey question of our classmates. Students came up with their own questions and asked things such as:
- What time do you go to bed?
- How many Christmas trees do you have in your home?
- How do you celebrate Remembrance Day?
- What is your favourite flower?
- What is your favourite holiday?
Students wandered around the class and asked their question and recorded the answers on a tally chart.
They have drawn their bar graphs and made sure to include all the important elements of a graph.
Finally, we looked at several of the graphs under the document camera and discussed some conclusions we can make based on the results.
What did we learn about our classmates?
November
13
We Remember
November 11 is a special day where we remember and honour the men and women who have served and sacrificed in wars both in the past and present.
War is an ugly thing. It is difficult to explain to children why humans fight in war. How does it all begin? How does it end and why does it continue even now?
A few years ago, Turkey Jay and I traveled to France and visited Normandy. We walked several of the beaches so famous from D-Day including Juno and Omaha beach where so many brave men met their fate. Even to this day, items from the war continue to wash ashore from WW2. We visited the Canadian and American cemeteries and paid our respects to the fallen soldiers.
We learned a little bit about D-Day and how Canadians were involved in coming to France, landing on Juno Beach to help fight the Nazis in occupied France.
What is D-Day?
D-Day was the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, during World War II, which marked the start of the campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied Western Europe. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history and involved a massive combined air, sea, and land assault on five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
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- map of the beaches where Americans, Canadians, and Brits landed
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- Mrs. S on Juno beach
This past week, we’ve been spending quality time using literature to help guide us through what Remembrance Day truly means. We enjoyed reading a gorgeous book called A Bear in War by Harry Endrulat and Stephanie Innes. It is told from the perspective of a teddy bear that belongs to a little girl named Aileen. Her dad goes off to war and she ends up mailing him the teddy bear to keep him company and remind him of home.
There are wonderful illustrations mixed with photographs of real life items as this is a true Canadian story! Students are always amazed that you can actually visit the real teddy bear at the National War Museum in Ottawa! Who wants to go?
We also read a very colourful book called The Peace Book by Todd Parr. In simple ways, it shares different ways that we can think about what peace is. We then brainstormed some of our own thoughts about what peace means and created our own class book.
We were also busy this week preparing for our Remembrance Day assembly in our school gym along side Ms. Myers’ class. Way to go, Grade 3s! You were so wonderful.
Have a look at some of our messages about peace. Enjoy!
