End of the First Full Week

 Our first full week back was filled with new experiences as we began our first unit of the year, under the transdisciplinary theme, Sharing the Planet with an inquiry into Ecosystems! Students began by working in groups sorting out pictures of various plants, animals, and environments. They had to give labels or names to the different groups of pictures and explain their reasoning. Some of the initial groups that they came up with were animals, plants, insects, sea creatures, and places. Others sorted things according to where they live or according to size. Then they were asked to try to sort the same pictures into different groups. Finally, they were asked to organize the pictures in ways that showed the different connections by drawing arrows, labeling the connections and the relationships between the different photos. In doing so, the students started to identify some of the important concepts that we will be looking at in this unit such as food chains, habitats, and prey and predators.

 

We watched a BrainPop video and did some reading in a Seesaw activity to discover the meaning of the word: ecosystem. 

In language, we began looking at character traits to help us understand characters better. Students also described themselves using adjectives and character traits in a Seesaw activity. 

Students were given access to their Kids A-Z and a Prodigy math accounts and began reading stories and solving math problems online. They were so excited to have these new accounts and constantly requested them. I happily told them that they could use them at home as well! (They can log into both by logging into their school email accounts and then choosing the "Log in with Google" option.

Grade 3 had their first PE lessons with their new teacher this week! Mr. Brabant! We began the year by playing some fun cooperative games to encourage their teamwork and social skills. 

In art, with Mr. Lubin, students were drawing pictures of life under the sea.

In music, students sang songs in different languages including Happy Birthday to a couple of students who had their birthday during the summer holiday. 

Finally, thank you to everyone who joined the Parents' Night meeting. I'm proud to announce that Leon and Linke's moms have volunteered to be our class reps for Grade 3. Thank you!