This week we focused on r-controlled vowels. Our focus words for daily shared reading were: dirt, shark, turn, and never.

We will continue to work with r-controlled vowels for the next couple of weeks. This week we did some word work specifically with words containing "ar'. We brainstormed a big list of words we already know that have this sound and then began looking for these words around our room and in books we have been reading. The students also played a roll and read game with a partner to practice reading many "ar" words. You may want to ask your child if they can tell you some of these words. You can ask them to tell you words that rhyme with jar, car, etc. We also call this letter combo the pirate letters since they say "Arrrrr!" :)

Here is a screenshot of the game should you want to print it/copy it onto another paper and play over the weekend.

As we continued to learn about what makes up urban, suburban, and rural communities, the students were challenged to sort pictures into each category. We learned, amongst other facts, that cities have more people and cars compared to suburban communities and that rural communities are surrounded by a lot of natural or farmed spaces and the homes are widely spread apart.

We enjoyed a visit by our school-appointed police constable, Constable Kruger - or Constable Mike, as the students called him. His wife, Mrs. Kruger, is one of our Grade 3 teachers! He spoke to the students about his role as a police officer and community helper. He talked to them about his uniform and the tools on his "just in case" tool belt. He also brought a fantastic activity for the kids to do to show how they can be great citizens and "fill other people's buckets" with kind acts. We hope to have him visit our class again before the end of the year.

We started to learn about length in Science this week as related to Properties of Matter. We did a lot of hunting in the room to find things that were shorter and longer than our arm and we began using these terms to compare classroom items. Next week, we will begin to focus on how different objects move. All of this work lends itself well to our writing and word work. We are beginning to build vocabulary!

In Math, we continued to practice identifying missing numbers in Fact Families as well as create equations with the 3 numbers of many different fact families. We also played a shapes Bingo game to review the names of all the 2D shapes.

Since we will not be at school on Thursday for our library time, we will go on Tuesday instead. Please ensure your child returns their book by that day. Thank you.

I put this blurb in last week's blog regarding Valentine's Day. In case you didn't see it, here it is again:

A note about Valentines Day 

Although we are still two weeks away from Valentines Day, I know many parents are purchasing cards for their child to give to friends at this time. As Teacher's Convention is on Feb.13 and 14th, we will pass out cards on Wednesday, Feb. 12th.

If your child would like to bring Valentines cards for their classmates, please have them sign the cards with their name only so that they can be handed out in an efficient manner. Please have your child bring a card for all their classmates as we do not want anyone to feel left out. We have 21 students (including your child) in the classroom. Please do not include any sweet treats to the cards. This is a CBE policy. Thank you for your cooperation. :)

Upcoming dates:

February 12                         Red Day - To Celebrate Valentine's Day

February 13 & 14                Teacher Convention - NO SCHOOL

February 17                         Family Day - NO SCHOOL