December News
Ms. Brokenshire's Grade 3 Class
Season's Greetings!
We are working on an author study of children's author and illustrator, Jan Brett. This writer is known for her gorgeous artwork and her lovely stories, especially her Christmas and winter-themed ones. In this literature study, we are focusing on comparing and contrasting stories (particularly different versions of the same plot), writing story summaries (rather than retelling; ask your child to explain the difference), and exploring how authors come up with their story ideas.
Guided reading groups are underway, and it is great to have the chance to meet with small groups of students who are reading the same book so that we can have in-depth conversations about characters, plot, and author's purpose. This month we are learning what it means to make inferences while reading. Ask your child about this high-level reading strategy!
As writers, we have been practicing expressing our personal opinions in writing, and the students all agree that with a few good sentence frames and some meaningful signal words, their writing is becoming much more organized, descriptive, and fluent when read aloud. This is our goal, and it is so exciting to see the students recognize their growth in this area.
In math, Mr. Singh is wrapping up his unit on fractions, and we are doing some work with 3-dimensional solids in geometry. Of course, we are continuing to develop many concepts in our Daily Math booklets, such as 3-digit place value, 2-digit addition and subtraction strategies (including mental math), and problem solving. We have also discovered how much fun it is to practice basic facts through an online game called Kahoot. HUGE EXCITEMENT whenever we do this activity!
Mr. Singh has also been teaching lessons from our hearing and sound unit in science, and soon it will be time to build some musical instruments! I will wait to do this activity until after Christmas, though, so watch for more news on this in the New Year.
Speaking of Mr. Singh, he will soon be finished his practicum with us. His last day is next Wednesday, December 16th. It has been absolutely wonderful to have him with us, and we are going to find it hard to let him go! But what a great experience for him to get to begin his teaching career with such an amazing group of kids. Be proud of your little people; they have been excellent "teacher trainers". :)
Believe it or not, even with all of this learning going on, we are still managing to have a lot of Christmas fun! We have a few fun art projects on the go, we've got our Festival of Trees mini-tree to decorate, and we have a rockin' song ready for the Christmas concert. 'Tis the season!
No Gym? No Problem!
Classroom Christmas Plans
Thank You!
Portfolio Walks
Happy Holidays!
Upcoming Dates
December 14 - Grade 3 Christmas Concert @ 6:30 pm
December 18 - Grade 3 Christmas swim @ 12:45; last day of classes
January 4 - Classes resume
January 22 - Staff collaboration day; no school for students
Contact Info
Email: lorelie.brokenshire@wolfcreek.ab.ca
Location: 5424 50th Street, Lacombe, AB, Canada
Phone: 403.782.8726 (4172)
Twitter: @3_brok