Oops, Wok Box lunch

Dear parents,

Friday's lunch is Wok Box, not Pizza! :) my memory is failing me. 

Cheers, 

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Spelling words Dec. 2-6

Dear parents,

Our Spelling words for next week are past tense of final y words. They are: played, stayed, sprayed, swayed, obeyed, enjoyed, cried, fried, dried, tried, pried, carried, hurried, studied, and worried. The bonus words are mezzanine and observation. 

Our Theme Reading for next week is about sunken treasure ships. Our words are: pirate, treasure, trade, divers, wreck, crew, sailboats, masts, sailors, and cargo. Please go over the meaning of these words with your child. 

I took a photo of our assembled skyscraper. It did remain standing for about 30 seconds before it caved in! Needless to say, it ended up in recycling this weekend! The students learned a lot about I-beam construction while doing this building project. 

We have early dismissal for parent teacher conferences this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 2:00 PM.  Please make alternate arrangements to pick up your child at this earlier time. 

We have Pizza Day for hot lunch on Friday! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Fun friendships and fitness

Dear parents,

The children continued their research on skyscrapers. They are really getting the idea about working together cooperatively and not being controlling and/or bossy. This isn't easy!! I tell the children that adults often find this hard to do. 

We had another great fitness class! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

PS:  We have our spelling test tomorrow as Friday is a Professional Day. 

Researching skyscrapers

Dear parents,

Miss Gardiner was in to visit us today. She did an enquiry based lesson on skyscrapers. The children worked in cooperative working groups to research a skyscraper and to create a poster. 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Geometry fun!

Dear parents,

We had fun using 2-D pattern blocks (squares, triangles, diamonds, and trapezoids) to create interesting shapes. I think, without doubt, that Maya was our pattern block champion! Enjoy the photos. 

Tomorrow is Booster Juice treat day if you ordered it through Munch-a-lunch. Yeah!! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Technology Fundraising Drive

Dear parents,

This is a video presentation prepared by Mr. Rick Chan to assist with the PAC tech fundraising drive.  Please help us out if you are able.

With thanks,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Building a toy that rolls...well, sort of rolls!

Dear parents,

The children worked in cooperative groups to build a toy that rolled. They all did well. 

Enjoy these fun photos!

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Spelling words for the week of Nov. 25-28

Dear parents,

Our spelling words for next week are words with an "ed" ending. Our words are: asked, talked, walked, shouted, planted, closed, lived, used, smiled, teased, saved, chased, hiked, tied, and waded. Our bonus words are facade and reinforcement.

Our theme reading for next week is all about clay animation. See if you can google this and find examples of this on You Tube. Our words are develop, motion, effect, arrange, commercial, television, figures, create, support, and mold. Please go over the meaning of these words with your child.

Next week, we have early dismissal on Wednesday, November 27th for staff collegial meeting time. Please make plans to pick your child up at 2:00 PM. 

On Friday, November 29th, we have a Professional Day, so children will not attend school. 

We had a fun time playing four corner soccer in gym today. 

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Outside of the skyscraper

Dear parents,

We had an interesting time applying the outside face to our skyscraper today. The children designed very creative facades to the internal structure that had been built using I-beams. 

Our class is a very creative bunch! 

What a wacky guy!

Dear parents,

We had a wonderful author visit from Richard, "the guy with the glasses and weird hair" today. He was incredibly funny! All I can say is I'm glad I didn't have to teach this guy as a child in Grade 3!! His mouth never stopped, and I'm sure his brain was going faster than his mouth was. I'm sure the budding writers in our class felt encouraged to write books of their own. 

We had an energetic time in fitness. Thanks to Miss Duncan and her class for setting it up for us after the author visit.

We started a new unit in Math today studying Geometry. We studied points or vertices and line segments. Tomorrow, we will look at the relationship between the number of vertices and their connecting line segments in a closed geometric figure.

It took three intermediate teachers half a lunch hour to come up with the formula. We'll see if any of our young minds can do it! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

More building!

Dear parents,

Sorry, I forgot to send home the notice I talked about yesterday. I'll do my best to remember tomorrow.

The children worked in table groups to each build a level of our skyscraper today. While some still find it challenging to work in a group, most are getting the idea. 

Overall, our math test went well today. Some review of rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 may take place in the next few weeks, just to make sure they have these concepts firmly in place. 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Head Lice

Dear parents,

It has come to our attention that head lice is circulating among our Grade 3's. We have fitness together every Wednesday, so it makes sense for each Grade 3 parent to be vigilant and check their child's head for lice. We'll be sending home information regarding treatment for lice with the children tomorrow. 

Thanks for your assistance with this. 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Spelling words November 18-22

Dear parents,

Our spelling words for next week have double consonants in the middle of the word. They are: dollar, follow, gallon, swallow, butter, cotton, pretty, tomorrow, sorry, pepper, happen, ribbon, lesson, ladder, and dinner. Our bonus words are apprehended and fugitive. 

Our theme reading for next week is about the man responsible for the development of Disney theme parks and cartoons. We will be studying about Walt Disney. You may wish to research him with your child this weekend. Our words are characters, entertainment, cartoons, career, studio, enchanted, drawings, delighted, talent, and humour. Please go over the meaning of these words with your children. 

We had a great four corner soccer game today. 

We will have an author visit next Wednesday, November 20. Richard Scrimger will be in to talk with the children. 

Next Friday, November 22, we will have another hot lunch-pizza day.

Have a super weekend everyone. 

 

Intruder alert

B

Dear parents,

Our intruder alert has been postponed until next week. I'll let you know about it once we get a rescheduled date.

Please donate newspapers for our next week's building projects. North Shore news and assorted flyers would work out well for us. 

We made I-beams out if paper today. We will be using these to construct skyscrapers next week. I love our building unit. I think the children do too!

We have our weekly spelling test tomorrow. Our chapter two test in Math will be next Tuesday, November 19. 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Photo retakes

Dear parents,

We had a super Reading/Science lesson today, where we studied wind resistance. Have your child tell you about this. 

Tomorrow morning, we will have photo retakes. Solid colour tops seem to work best. 

We will be having an intruder alert practice drill tomorrow afternoon. We practice these in order to be prepared in the event of a real emergency. Remind your child that it is really important to not call out or answer questions that an intruder might make such as, "Is anybody in there? I need help!" We say NOTHING, and make NO NOISE! Thanks for your help with this. 

On Friday, we have Sushi Day for lunch! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

PS: please return Nutcracker Ballet permission forms with $10 as soon as you can. They are due this Friday. 

Spelling word

Dear parents,

I left out a word from our weekly spelling test. The last word should have been shall, instead of shell. 

Thanks,

Mrs. Gerri Karr

Spelling words Nov. 12-15

Dear parents, 

We had a very emotional day today! Our Remembrance Day assembly was beautiful. When we returned to the class we discussed the meaning behind some of the presentations. We had a full range of  emotions  resulting from this discussion. These ranged from complete empathy and sadness from some students who were crying because some young soldiers were not able to return to their families, to some students poking others with their poppies, upset because lunch hadn't started and they were hungry! Miss Gardiner and I realized that being an empathetic teacher means understanding a full range of these emotions! You may be asked about a variety of questions regarding wars and questions about how people can be so cruel to one another.   We can only hope that the world we be in better hands once we pass on this responsibility to our children. 

Back to regular news....our spelling words for next week (Nov. 12-15) are: pass, dress, guess, toss, across, press, unless, all, pull, full, roll, spell, shell, still, and shell. These are all words with double consonants. Consonants are letters of the alphabet other than a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. Bonus words are remembrance and empathy. 

Our theme reading for next week is based on another tall tale titled "How Spider Got a Thin Waist". Our words are; brilliant, simply, sparkled, feast, unusually, waist, custom, yams, squeezed, and refuse. Please go over the meaning of these words with your children. 

We are nearing the end of our second chapter in Math. We will be doing a review chapter quiz on Tuesday, followed by our chapter test next Thursday. 

We hope you will be able to attend local Remembrance Day ceremonies with your children on Monday. We are so very lucky to live in this country called Canada! 

PS: we had a lovely treat of a fresh fruit salad at lunch,

brought in by Nodin and his family. Thanks so much! 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr and Miss Debbie Gardiner

Yet more building

Dear parents,

The children are really getting into our building unit in Science. Miss Gardiner taught a lesson on bridge building today. Some truly wonderful bridges were built. 

She will be teaching a reading lesson tomorrow morning. We will, once again, be welcoming Mrs. Jane Mills, her Faculty Advisor from UBC, to our classroom. 

On Friday, we will be attending a Remembrance Day assembly in the gym. You are welcome to attend if you wish. Please send a toonie donation for a poppy on Friday. Please reinforce the need for quiet contemplation during the assembly. Neither Mr. Chan or I will be understanding of silly behaviour. 

Best wishes,

Mrs. Gerri Karr