We had another great week full of a variety of learning activities - both indoors and out!

On Tuesday, we went on a community walk to the Inukshuk Park with Mrs. Burch's class. We made observations of changes in the neighbourhood as people begin to welcome summer weather to their homes. Many people have started to garden and we noted lots of flowers, bird feeders, and lawn furniture being put out on porches! At the park, spiders and mosquitoes were noted and we could hear the constant chirping of birds. It is nice to see the neighbourhood coming to life with the warmer temperatures!

We enjoyed observing changes in our four ducklings this week as well as they grew and became more animated. We had the opportunity to observe them many times in the classrooms and out in the open area as they explored an enclosure, swam in a small pool, and had the freedom of a larger space - the open area/hallway outside our class. Our buddies joined us today to enjoy our feathered-friends. The ducklings are returning to the farm tomorrow and we were sad to say goodbye today. This has been an incredible experience. Being able to wait patiently for close to a month for the eggs to incubate, witnessing the pipping and hatching of one of our ducklings, and observing the changes in their size and abilities over the past two weeks has been a fantastic learning experience.

As our year begins to wind down, we are reviewing much of what we have learned in Math and Language Arts. This week, we reviewed fact families with addition and subtraction as well as representing numbers using multiple means - tallies, equations, base ten blocks, etc. Our phonics focus was on words ending in y. We learned that when a three letter word ends with a y the y makes the sound of a long i and when it has more than 3 letters the y makes the sound of a long e. We have also been working to identify characters, setting, problem and beginning, middle, and end in different stories. We have started planning our own stories through the use of a Roll and Write story activity. We will complete this work next week.

Shoeboxes Needed! :)

Next week, we will start an animal research project. Students will be using a program called Pebble Go! to learn about an animal of their choice. Each student will need a shoebox to create a diorama of their animal's habitat - forest, marsh, mountainous environment, etc. Please have your child bring in a box by next Friday, They can bring it in earlier as well. Please ensure their name is printed on the lid of the box. If you have an extra box to send, it would also be appreciated.  

Gym will be held outside all of next week as long as it's not raining. Please ensure your child has outdoor shoes suitable for running as Mr. van Sluys is doing Track and Field activities with the students. 

Other school news!

On Thursday June 20, the Grade Three students at our school will be hosting a Global Citizenship fundraiser in support of the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, which supports newly arrived immigrants and refugees. They will be selling various student handmade items for $2. There will also be lemonade and fudge bites available for purchase. If you would like your child to participate, please send money with them and we will help them select their items to purchase. Thank you for all of your support! - The Grade Three Team

It has been great to see all of the students walking or riding to school on Thursdays (and other days of the week).  Every Thursday is a Walk or Ride day, and we are encouraging all students to get to school in an active way.  We are doing this because it is: good for the environment, good for our bodies, and it's fun!  - Mr. van Sluys