February 1, 2016

A new month has begun! It's a busy one: Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and Memorial Day.

This morning's assembly was a great one, especially for one particular Terrific Third Grader - Grace. She is this week's DISK Angel of the Week!  Congratulations, Grace! She was nominated for being a super helper for anyone that needs assistance, including her fellow classmates and Mr. Y. She shows great leadership skills and is someone her classmates can always look up to. Good work, Grace!



After Assembly, we reviewed last week's quiz in Social Studies. Please return the quiz after you finish any corrections. We then continued to learn about USA government and who can help make decisions in the legislative branch.

In Math, we completed the chapter quiz in division.

For Reading, we worked on our stamina. Today, the students earned the chance to choose any of three Daily 5 activities: Read to Self, Read to Someone, or Work on Writing. They did very well with working independently today. We also searched for facts and opinions in the Journeys story, Jump.

The students continued their Conservation Poster Project for Science during our ECA time.



HOMEWORK: can be handed in tomorrow or Wednesday
1) Work on Writing - students chose a topic and must write a minimum of 7 sentences
2) English workbook p. 84

NOTICES:
IMPORTANT:  FIELD TRIP! Please have your child arrive by 8:15am, as the bus will leave at 8:30am.
Please bring your National Health Insurance card for the Field Trip tomorrow. Also, please bring a healthy snack if you wish, and perhaps a hat as we may be outside for some parts in the day.
 
Happy Monday!

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 29, 2016

Last day of school for January, 2016. We are nearing the Year of the Monkey.

This morning we shared our plans for the weekend, followed by a spelling test. We then spent the rest of the time completing our cards/letters to our Pen Pals. The kids had some good questions for our Canadian friends. Ms. Easterling took the letters to the post office, and they shall be received in about 10 days.




In Math, we learned the special rules for dividing when 0 or 1 are used. We used the marbles for a hands-on connection with the math.

The grade 2's and 3's look like they're ready to go for the Chinese New Year Dance performance.

HOMEWORK:
1) Math p. 72
2) Science p. 261-262
3) Reading Logs - just a reminder to help your child with filling out the Reading Logs throughout the week.

New Spelling Words: animal, quietly, snail, exact, Thursday, coupon, paddle, toddler, earth, equal, visit, rescue, factor, daughter, January, gather

NEXT WEEK:

Monday - Math quiz on division
Tuesday - Field Trip
Wednesday - Science quiz
Thursday - Chinese New Year performance rehearsal
Friday - Chinese New Year activity in the morning, and performance in the afternoon. The performance starts at 2pm sharp.

Have an excellent weekend!  I believe the weather will be more enjoyable that last weekend.

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 28, 2016

Today, on this much warmer day, the Terrific Third Graders built their Read to Someone stamina, and answered comprehension questions.

We identified reason plants need soil in Science, and discussed composting.

For Math, we used different ways to divide by 10, and practice more problem solving.

We continued to build our stamina in Reading and Phonics, and then worked on our pen pal letters.

HOMEWORK:
1) Spelling Test
2) Math p. 71
3) Science p. 277-278

NOTICES:
1) Math quiz on division on Monday.
2) Field Trip on Tuesday - we will be gone the whole day, and lunch is included.
3) PE day tomorrow, please wear casual uniforms.

Have a wonderful evening!

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 27, 2016

Welcome to mid-week!

Wednesday's are always super busy in the home room. Here's what the Terrific Third Graders did today:

• Language Arts - learned the strategy of flipping the vowel sound on words when reading. We then did one round of Daily 5.
• Science - observed different types of soil and tried to guess what the soil was

 

• Math - decided what operation to use (multiplication or division) in problems, and also practiced ways to divide by 5.
• Reading - Began to write a draft response to our Pen Pals. We hope to send them out this week.
• Social Studies - wrote the chapter quiz
• ECA - use the computer room to research for our conservation posters

HOMEWORK:
1) Math p. 68
2) Students can pick 8 spelling words and choose to complete either a Vocabulary story, or Picture Dictionary.

NOTICES:
- Our Chinese New Year performance will be next Friday, February 5th at 2pm. Parents, please come and watch your child(ren) perform if you are available.
- The Field Trip is next Tuesday (thank you for returning the permission forms so promptly)

 Have a splendid evening.

Mr. Y

Jan. 26, 2016

Today was a lot warmer, inside and outside the classroom.

A Daily 5 rotation was the first on the agenda this morning. Students chose to Read to Self, or Work on Writing.

We moved into learning about the different types of soil layers and why soil is important in Science.

For Math, we used marbles along with a couple other ways to divide by 2.

The other half of the Daily 5 rotation took place in Reading and Phonics.

For Social Studies, we tried to vote for President of the grade 3 class for a day. It was a tie! The tie-breaker was another tie! The third tie-breaker had Reila as the winner!  The rest of the class was then divided into senators and representatives that tried to pass a new law for the classroom. It was up to the President to decide if she should make it a new law or not.

For ECA - the students made their rough plan for the posters they are making for Science. They will be promoting conservation and making a poster for either Recycling, Reusing, or Reducing.

HOMEWORK:
1) Math p. 67
2) Word Work - Bananagram worksheet (an option in the Daily 5 Word Work) - please fill into the squares your spelling words. Each word has to connect with one other letter or more from another word.
Example:

				M	A	S	K
				O		U
			J	U	M	P
	C			S		P
H	O	U	S	E		E
	U				B	R	O	W	N
	R
	T	R	E	E	T	O	P

NOTICES:
- Social Studies Quiz tomorrow
- PE day tomorrow, please wear appropriate uniform

Have a nice evening, and enjoy that big, bright, shiny thing in the sky!

Mr. Y

Jan. 25, 2016

BBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Although this would be a beautiful winter day in Canada,  I don't think wearing 3 shirts, a jacket, toque, thick socks, and gloves all day is comfortable teaching attire.



We managed to get through the chilly day. The classroom was warmer than it was outside. After Assembly, we described the basic structure of government and completed some review work in the workbook.
In Math, we used arrays to relate multiplication and division.
For Reading and Phonics, we built our Read to Someone stamina and discussed the story "Jump!" in our Journeys text.
ECA was dedicated to making a campaign speech to run for class President (just for fun). We heard the speeches from the President-want-to-bes and will vote tomorrow in Social.




HOMEWORK:
1) Social workbook p. 22-23
2) Journeys p. 149
3) 20 jumping jacks anytime you feel cold

NOTICES
* Social Studies quiz on Wednesday that covers Chapter 3 (p. 73-98). *

That's all for today. Stay warm. Have a good evening.

Mr. Yaremcold

Jan. 22, 2016

It's the day after Thursday......

We began the day by sharing our weekend plans, followed by a spelling test. We then learned about proper nouns and abbreviations.

In Science, we began promoting conservation. After reviewing the 3 R's, we broke into groups and began planning our poster project on conservation.

Math consisted on using repeated subtraction to find quotients.

HOMEWORK:
1) Math p. 65
2) Book review - please answer the questions on the worksheet using more than one sentence. If you haven't finished a book, then please answer the questions on what you have read so far.
3) Reading Log

New Spelling Words:

crayon, friend, itchy, mansion, rooster, kitchen, protect, conserve, rooting, athlete, competitor, entire, public works, property, sales tax, divide

NOTICES:
- just a friendly reminder to hand in the permission forms on Monday for the field trip

Have a great weekend, and STAY WARM!!

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 21, 2016

Choices, choices, choices!

That's what the students got today in Daily 5 as we are nearing the end of routine and skill building. The students got to choose whether to Read to Self or Work on Writing today in Language Arts and Reading and Phonics classes today. It was great to see them work independently, just as we have been practicing in this new semester. Great work kids! We are on our way to having the other options added to our choices really soon.

In Science, we continued to learn about natural resources and distinguish between renewable and nonrenewable resources. We also discussed the effects of pollution and how to conserve resources.

In Math, we reviewed the quiz, and then began the new unit on Division.

HOMEWORK:
1) Math p. 64
2) Begin reading a book (if you aren't now), as the weekend homework will consist of doing a Book Review
3) Spelling test tomorrow


NOTICES:
- the Field Trip permission slip has been sent home today, please return by Monday. The Field Trip is scheduled for February 2nd and should be a great, cultural experience
- Pizza Party tomorrow - reward for great classroom behavior
- PE class tomorrow - please wear your casual uniforms


Have a wonderful Thursday evening!

Mr. Y

Jan. 20, 2016

Welcome to the mid-week.

It was a busy day today, and we began with building our Work on Writing stamina, and did a group chat about setting goals in the Daily 5.

Science consisted of reviewing the quiz from last week, and beginning the new Unit on People and Resources. We explored the different kinds of natural resources and worked in small groups to share how they use those resources everyday.

There was no Math today as it was switched with Art class.

In Reading and Phonics we discussed Coaching tips when Reading to Someone, and then built Read to Someone stamina.

The students were introduced to the three branches of government in Social Studies. We watched a Brainpop video to help explain the differences among them.

In ECA, we went out to our house gardens and checked out the progress. We got to pick some lettuce, wash it very well, and enjoy the fresh vegetable.





HOMEWORK:
1) Social workbook p. 19
2) Picture Dictionary - please choose the other spelling words not used in your vocabulary story, and draw a picture with a sentence accompanying it.
3) Reading Log

NOTICES:
1) The Terrific Third Graders achieved their goal of getting a positive behavior of 95% or higher by getting exactly 95% in quarter 2. So as promised, they earn a pizza party. This time pizza will be from Costco. The Pizza Party will be on Friday.

Have a nice evening!

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 19, 2016

Good day everyone!

What a fun day we all had! It began with Mass, and the Terrific Third Graders did a fantastic job sponsoring the Mass and reading all their special parts.

 






Following the Mass we had a pleasant surprise as we opened an envelope with letters from our Canadian pen pals. Everyone shared their letters with the class.



Then it was time to enjoy a wonderful spread of food. The Grade 2 and 3 class were responsible for bringing the main dishes and did a fantastic job. Thank you for bringing your delicious dish. It provided the energy we needed for the Sports Day afternoon.

Each House team was divided into 2 groups and had the opportunity to compete in 8 different events. The groups had ten minutes at each station which consisted of bowling, 3 legged race, sponge relay, basketball drum shooting, parachute game, soccer hoop shooting, frisbee golf, and obstacle course. Students were encouraged to work together as teams, show team spirit, and of course- show sportsmanship. Great job to all students that participated and did their best.

 



In the end, Team Yellow took the big trophy and are the new champions of Sports Day.



Team Blue took the trophy for showing the best Team Spirit.

 

Team Red won the best Teamwork trophy.

Finally, Team Green won the trophy for showing the best Sportsmanship.

Congratulations to all the teams and all students for playing very fair, playing nicely, showing a lot of team spirit, and teamwork, and of course having a lot of fun.

It was definitely a great day for everyone!

Have a great evening.

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 18, 2016

Happy Monday!

This morning we talked about the election on the weekend and Taiwan's government in Social Studies, as well as identified government services.

In Math, the students completed a quiz in multiplication.

Reading and Phonics consisted of building Read to Self stamina.

HOMEWORK:
1) Journeys p. 145
2) Vocabulary story - please choose 8 spelling words and use them in sentences to make a short story. You can choose any topic you want.
3) Reading Log

NOTICES:

• Family Day Lunch and Sports Day tomorrow - please remember to bring in food for the potluck. Wear your uniform to school as we have Mass in the morning, and then we will change into our casual sports uniform and Sports Day t-shirts after mass. Remember to bring appropriate shoes.

Have a wonderful evening, and look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the lunch.

Mr. Yaremchuk

Jan. 15, 2016

Some students said it felt like exam week with our 2 quizzes in the morning.

Our time in Language Arts was spent on a spelling test, sharing our weekend plans, and continuing to build our Read to Self stamina.
Science was a quiz that had 2 parts to it: a written part and a hands-on aspect where the students had to make landforms with PlayDoh and label them correctly.
Math was a review game for the quiz on Monday, as well as practicing a couple more multi-step problems.

HOMEWORK:
1) Work on Writing - students chose a topic to write about. Please double space, and include anywhere from 7-15 sentences. Please look at the rubric to get familiar with what will be used in grading your writing.
2) Cursive worksheet
3) Reading Log - great job this week with your Reading Logs.
4) Math quiz on Multiplication Monday 

NEW Spelling words:
lettuce, dandelion, await, abandon, boomerang, circle, danger, erode, journey, multiple, private, peanut, watermelon, appoint, volunteer, elect

NOTICES:
1) The Terrific Third Graders just barely achieved their Class Dojo goal of 95% positive points in quarter 2, which means they are rewarded with another pizza party. So, it will be time to reward them next week on either Thursday or Friday (to be decided early next week).

2) Family Day/Sports Day - this will be on Tuesday, and a reminder that Mass begins our day, followed by some team building exercises in our houses, and then the Family Day lunch will be from 11:15am - 12:45pm. Sports Day will then begin at 1pm, and parents are more than welcome to watch and cheer everyone on. Awards will be at 3:15pm.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Mr. Y