Week 4!

Can you believe that the first month of school is already wrapping up??

Thank you so much to all of the parents who came out for Meet the Teacher night last Tuesday. It was great to be able to meet those of you who I hadn't met yet, and thanks to all for coming out and showing support.

This week in literacy, students continued to work on their Daily 5, which included a piece of writing about a summer vacation memory.  This coming week's daily 5 words (included in the "Plan de Devoirs") are all high-frequency grade 3 words, beginning with the letter A.  We also did a vote on our next read aloud book, and the majority of the students wanted the second book in the series about "Mademoiselle Charlotte", so we have begun reading that together. 

We started playing handball in Phys. Ed. this week, with basic rules to begin and then I had the students create new rules once we had played for a little while. These rules were based on elements of the game that they felt could be improved (i.e. Boys cannot only pass to boys!), to help ensure fair play.    

On Thursday morning, we had our Terry Fox run which was a huge success!  The students loved it (and so did I!) and they were all very proud of their efforts. Pledge forms and donations can still be brought in all of this week.  Also, for those students who are on the cross-country team, permission forms for the big meet were sent home Friday.  The meet will take place on the morning of October 16th.

On Friday, I handed out a blue homework folder to every student so hopefully those folders made it home! :)  In it, you will find a "Plan de Devoirs" that outlines the homework for that week, as well as a booklet of math exercises, called "Rapido".  Please try to have your child do 4 of these per week (4 columns), and please keep track of how long it takes them to do each one.  As they become more familiar with the exercises, their times will decrease, and this will help improve their skill for future lessons as well as boost your child's confidence in math.  This week, there is also a Module 1 review sheet that should be completed.  Our first math test (Module 1) is coming up this Friday, October 4th, and we will also be reviewing in class.  The homework plan will be for each Friday-Friday. The blue folder will go home with your child on the Friday and will be expected to return back to school the following Friday so I can give them the new "Plan de Devoirs" for the following week.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  

A permission form also went home on Friday for the "Swim to Survive" program at Dovercourt Pool.  We will be going at the end of October and beginning of November for 3 swimming sessions. There is no cost to you and it will teach your child basic swimming skills in case they were ever to find themselves in a risky situation in the water. 

Like always, feel free to email me if you have any further questions! (alyssa.macmilan@ocdsb.ca) 

I hope you are enjoying this gorgeous weekend weather!  

Week 3!

Fall is in the air! :)

Last week during our literacy block, we started working on a mini writing project about summer holiday memories.  The graphic organizer we are using divides the writing process into a few different steps, and most of the students are done drawing their sketches and writing key words about the summer holiday memory they have chosen to focus on.  We will be continuing to work on this assignment this week.  We also started right into the Daily 5 last week as well (see "Week 2" for more information), and the students worked independently on their daily 5 assignments. One component of the Daily 5 is word study, and students will be given 10-12 words that they will focus on learning for the week. We will be doing a Dictée each Friday with these words as well.  

In Social Studies, we are working on mapping/globe skills, specifically discussing legends and symbols on maps, and some differences between rural and urban communities. 

In Math, we are still in Module 1 (it is a long one!) and we have been looking at base 10 numbers (i.e. How many Hundreds, Tens, and Units does the number 457 have? What about the number 38?), and we have also been continuing to look at patterns.  Tomorrow, we will be looking at patterns/skip counting in number grids bigger than 100 (i.e. Counting from 744 to 769 by 5s), and I am assuming that will be a challenging concept for some.  We will do as much practice as possible in class. The grids will be provided on the sheets of independent work.

We had a special "fitness week" last week at Woodroffe, in which different fitness instructors came to teach our students during the physical education blocks.  On Wednesday, we played Gaelic football (a mix between soccer and handball), on Thursday we danced (which was very fun for all the students as the instructor incorporated music from Star Wars!), and on Friday we played basketball.  The students really seemed to enjoy these 3 days of Phys. Ed. 

Thursday morning this week is the Terry Fox run, from 9-10 a.m.  Please encourage your child to come to school dressed in Woodroffe's school colours (blue and green)!  Pledge forms have gone home, and any child who brings back the form completely filled out will be entered into a draw to win a free bike! I believe the forms are due October 4th. 

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night is "Meet the Teacher" and it will be happening right here in portable 7 from 6:30-7:00 or 7:00-7:30.  Please choose the time that best suits your schedule.   If you are interested in purchasing a pack of newspaper compost bin liners that the grade 3s have worked hard to create, please bring some change with you.  I believe it will be $5 to purchase a pack of 10.  Again, these are being sold to fundraise for a clean water project in India.  

Hope to see you tomorrow night! :) 

Week 2!

Week 2 has come and gone! 

Just a quick reminder...

It would be much appreciated if you could please initial your child's agenda each night, even if nothing is written there. It is helpful for me to know that you are staying current with it so I can send a note in the agenda, if I need to communicate with you for any reason.  Thank you! 

Now, a few updates about what we have been up to in Portable 7! 

Last Friday, we were invited on to Madame Natalie's class to watch "La Mystérieuse Mademoiselle C" with her students, so this week we used that book as our read aloud. The vocabulary is a bit complex in some parts for many of the grade 3s, but they seem to be interested and getting the gist of the book because they were able to see the "big picture" when we watched the film.  The rich vocabulary of the book is helpful for the grade 3s to hear aloud, and we have discussed many new words together. 

Pascale (a resource teacher at our school) has been coming in for 30 minutes each morning during our literacy block and she has been helping me introduce the Daily Five literacy program. In French, this is "Les 5 au Quotidien", and the goal of it is for the grade 3s to eventually be able to work independently on 5 different literacy elements throughout the week (Reading to Self, Reading to Another Student, Word Study, Writing Activity, Listening to a Text), which gives me a chance to do guided reading with smaller groups of students based on reading levels.  This approach to literacy is new to me, but many teachers at Woodroffe are using it in their classrooms with great success. 

In math, we have been continuing practicing skip counting (backwards and forwards) by 2s, 5s, and 10s, using hundreds charts ("grilles de 100") as well as number lines ("droites numériques").  Some students are quickly grasping these concepts while others are finding them more challenging.  All students would benefit from extra practice of this at home, especially when it comes to finding the patterns ("Trouve la suite"), i.e. noticing that when we count by 5s starting at 4, we count 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, 29..., and there is a pattern in the "units digit" of 4, 9, 4, 9, 4, 9... 

The students also worked at creating self-portrait crafts, using different colours of construction paper for different parts of their faces, and yarn for their hair, and we reviewed french vocabulary for parts of the face.  Everyone seemed to enjoy working on this activity, and they are now displayed on our wall if you are ever interested in checking them out!  I will leave them up for Meet the Teacher night, on September 24th. More details to come about that night. 

Thank you to all who have sent in newspaper, and to those parent volunteers who came in on Thursday to help with our project!  On Thursday afternoon, we spent an hour folding newspaper into origami compost bin liners, and it was a big success. The grade 3s loved this activity, and we will be doing it again at some point soon, so please continue to send in newspaper if you have any lying around. After folding and refolding different newspapers, we discovered that the Ottawa Citizen seems to work best!  For those who missed the note that was sent home, we are creating these compost bin liners to sell in packets, as part of a fundaiser for a clean water project in India (through the organization "Sopar"). 

I hope you are all having another wonderful weekend! 

The First Week!

Our first week is over, and what a week it has been!  I hope you are all enjoying a restful weekend with your families. 

We have enjoyed getting to know each other this week and have done many activities together to help with that process.  We also read a story called "Un Bon Point pour Zoé" (by: Peter Reynolds) about a young student who felt she had no artistic abilities.  When she was asked by her teacher to draw a picture on a piece of paper, she drew all that she knew how to draw - a dot.  Her teacher asked her to sign her work of art, and the next day when Zoé walked into the class, she saw that her teacher had framed her artwork on the wall.  I love this story because I believe it helps students to see that their abilities/strengths are all different, but all very valuable!  After reading this story, all of the students in our class drew their own "dots", which turned out very well.  

We have also done some math activities together as part of a review of grade 2 concepts.  On Friday, we looked at counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and we practiced counting by those intervals starting at different numbers (i.e. counting by 5s starting at 6... 6, 11, 16, 21, etc.) which proved to be a tricky concept for some (it is a new concept in grade 3).  This would be a good concept to practice at home, and it seemed to be helpful for the students to see the numbers visually on a hundreds chart, which you can print from here if you are interested: http://www.classroomjr.com/printable-number-charts/hundreds-chart/ 

We will be starting to use our agendas on Monday (for those who have paid) so if you have not yet sent in the $5 for the agendas, it would be very helpful if you could do that. 

If you need to contact me for any reason, my school email address is currently alyssa.macmilan@ocdsb.ca .  

Technically, that email address is incorrect, as my last name is supposed to have two "L"s in it, so I will see what I can do to change that.  For now, alyssa.macmilan@ocdsb.ca seems to be the email that is working. 

Thanks for your cooperation in filling out parent surveys for those who have done that.  For those who haven't yet, if you get a chance to fill them out, that would be great!  I have read several of them so far, and it is very helpful to get a bit more background information about the students in my class. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekends! 

Bienvenue en 3e année!

Here is a copy of the first day letter I will be sending home with my students on Tuesday, September 3rd:

September 3, 2013

Dear Parents/Guardians,

         Bienvenue à une nouvelle année scolaire!  As a new school year begins, it is my pleasure to welcome you and your child back to Woodroffe Avenue Public School.  I hope that everyone had a relaxing summer and feels refreshed for the year ahead.  I’m very happy to be teaching Grade 3 and it is my first year teaching at Woodroffe Avenue.  

         I look forward to meeting all of you in the near future.  I have attached a questionnaire for you to fill out and return at your convenience to better acquaint me with the academic and social strengths and needs of your child.  I would also like to know of any changes going on at home, which might affect your child’s behavior.  I will communicate with you by posting regular updates on our class blog and also through your child’s agenda, if needed.  Our class blog can be found by typing this URL in the address bar of your internet page: http://classedemadamealyssa.blogspot.com        

        More detailed information will be coming soon, but for now, I would ask that you would please ensure your child has a pair of indoor running shoes that can be kept at school.  I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of our “Nut-Free School” policy, as we have students in our school (and class) with severe allergies. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
         If you need to reach me, please do not hesitate to write a note in your child’s agenda or to contact me at the school (613-722-6585).  I am looking forward to a wonderful year!

Sincerely,               

Madame Alyssa (MacMillan)