On Friday, we celebrated Grandparents Day by inviting them into our classroom to join in the fun. We started our morning with our usual Flex time where they got to enjoy various activities. Some unstructured activities included playing cards, reading, building using KEVA blocks, or showing off some of the work we are proud of on our iPads. Then we gathered in our Community Circle, as we do each day, to share a memory or what makes our grandparents special. After that, we had a movement break by doing 75 jumping jacks. It was great to see some grandparents join in our physical activity! Next, students interviewed their grandparents to learn more about them before they dove into an app called ChatterPix to shared their life tip: the one lesson you wish to share with our youth. This app allowed them to take a picture of an inanimate object (a puppet in this case) and draw a mouth so it looked like a speaking animal. We had an opportunity to share all of their work before grandparents left us. There were some great tips so I hope they will take some to heart! Students also had an opportunity for Ms. Lewis to take a special picture of grandparents with grandchildren. Soon, there will be a display of these images on the bulletin board across from the Library. Thank you to all of the grandparents who joined us! What a special event to celebrate a special bond. If you received an update on how their morning went with us, please feel free to post a comment on our blog. I would love to hear what they thought!
Last Thursday, Jocelyn, a special guest speaker from Vancity, visited to help us develop our financial literacy by teaching us about the history of money. She defined what money is, the evolution from barter and trade to modern currency, Canada’s different forms of currency, what money is made of and the features included to prevent counterfeiting, and some fun facts regarding Canadian currency. Jocelyn ended with a story called One Cent Two Cent Old Cent New Cent by Dr. Seuss. They each received a tin can to take home to save money.
For PE, we have been learning basketball skills. We started with ball handling skills to get to know the ball and the feeling of it in our hands. Then we learned how to dribble. Last class, we learned and practiced the different kinds of passing. I used to play basketball in high school so it’s been fun to practice my skills again. There is something to be said for muscle memory!
We have seen our little buddies more often lately because we have been creating samples of kind acts using a new app called Sock Puppets [FREE to purchase on an iPad]. They worked on their storyboards together and then recorded their projects. These will be showcased at our Pink Shirt Day assembly next Wednesday afternoon! I have so loved watching them be such patient leaders when working with their little buddy and I have enjoyed witnessing the fun they are having together.
On Monday, we welcome back Ms. Grewal, our student teacher. She will be with us for the next four weeks. During her absence, she has been attending classes at SFU where she has been learning and working hard on her lesson plans. She will begin to teach some lessons next week.
Things to look forward to next week:
Mon. Feb. 24: A new student joins our class, Brentwood Park Talent Show, and Ms. Grewal returns
Tues. Feb. 25: Ice skating at Burnaby Lake Arena – Thank you to our volunteer drivers!
Wed. Feb. 26: Pink Shirt Day and assembly – Wear pink!
Fri. Feb. 28: District Pro-D day – School not in session
We hope you thoroughly enjoyed your Family Day long weekend! I enjoyed a nice dinner with my family and my very first adventure in an escape room. There were many challenging tasks but it was a great way for our family to spend time together working as a team. We had great fun because the puzzles were creative and really made us think critically!
Today, we enjoyed our second session of ice skating. Thanks to our parent volunteers who made it possible. Last week, we had our first session with lessons. The instructors were impressed with our skaters overall saying that they were quick learners. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing a bit of my passion for ringette with interested skaters! I also really enjoyed playing some hockey when one of the students asked me to join their team because they needed some help catching up. Playing hockey was my first ice sport!
Looking for more opportunities to skate as a family? Last weekend, my family and I thoroughly enjoyed skating together in North Vancouver by the Quay. If you are not aware, they have an outdoor covered skating rink at the Shipyards where you can skate for free (provided you have your own skates). They are open daily from 12 – 7 pm until March 1. On February 24-26, they also have free skate rentals from 5 – 7 pm. Click here to learn more! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.
We are writers and critical thinkers. Last week, I forgot to mention that I tweeted out something I had percolating in my mind about what our brains do and how we think critically as we write:
Created this graphic to make the writing thought process more explicit. Wanted students to periodically stop and review writing by re-reading and thinking with purpose before writing more. Does it make sense? How can I make my message clearer or writing better? Writing isn’t ever “finished”. Thoughts?
It is a work in progress. Here is Version 1, which is what I shared with students originally:
So before they write, they think about what they want to write using a variety of pre-writing strategies like talking, drawing, and brainstorming, etc. After they write a bit, if there is a natural pause in their writing or after a few ideas are recorded, they are asked to read over what they wrote so far, asking themselves reflectively, “Does it make sense? How can I make my message clearer?” Then they revise and make changes to improve what they already wrote before going back to thinking about what they want to write next so the cycle begins again. With young writers, I have noticed they often just write and continue writing without reviewing what they already wrote; there is little reflection and revision as they write unless they are encouraged to do so. I truly believe that when writers naturally follow this cycle, what they are trying to communicate becomes more clear and concise. I thought that creating a visual like this infographic makes their thought process as they write more explicit and develops critical thinking skills at the same time.
After some feedback and more thought, here is version 2:
It was interesting to listen to student’s thoughts about it. Since then, it has been great to hear them refer to what their brains should be doing as they think and compose.
Once they feel their writing is “complete” then they are asked to read it over three times before I conference with them. They are asked, “DYRIO?” = Did You Read It Over? Each time they read it over is with a specific purpose:
Read it like a reader. You are someone else reading it for the first time. Does it make sense?
Read it again as an editor looking for errors in conventions like capitals, punctuation, and spelling.
Read it a third time as a revision expert. What words can I change to make my writing sound better? For example, my word choice so instead of saying “eating” I could use “gobbled it up” or if I have used “said” numerous times, I might use “screamed, hollered, yelled, cried” instead or add an adverb phrase like, “she cried with big tears streaming down her face.”
I shared these concepts at one of the sessions where I am teaching other teachers how to use technology to enhance student writing and some informed me that they went back to their classrooms and introduced these concepts to their students the next day! It has been so satisfying to see the improvements in everyone’s writing since the beginning of the year. Communication skills are so important to develop and communicating through writing is just a piece of it.
How you can support at home: When your child writes, encourage them to think critically as a writer: Think. Write. Stop. Read it over. Reflect. Revise before thinking and writing some more.
Please feel free to write a comment to this post to share your thoughts. I know I will continue to tweak this graphic after more feedback and reflection and would love to hear from you. Thank you.
I apologize for no post last week but you will find information from last week here too. Last week, I was preparing for my presentation for one of my District workshops named Using Technology to Enhance Student Writing and then I was focussed on writing report cards. I have always enjoyed this time of year because I have an opportunity to really sit down and reflect on how your child has improved and what the next steps will be moving forward. While it does take many hours to write overall, it’s a rewarding time to see how much growth has taken place in a few month’s time. I also appreciate the way we share student’s progress here at Brentwood Park, in particular, because of how it is strength-based and how it honours student voice. Reports will be going home next Friday, February 14th.
On Monday, January 27th, we celebrated Family Literacy Day wearing our pajamas to school. We started the day with a quick game of trivia. Then before lunch, we played a few games of animal BINGO with Mr. Ricker announcing the animals over the PA system for the whole school to play. We thought some of the animal sounds were hard to guess! After lunch, it was our turn to read on the mats in the gym. It was great to see some parents come to join us! For the remainder of the week, students were encouraged to participate in any kind of literacy with their family in the evenings. Literacy does not just mean reading. There are different kinds of literacy: math, financial, media, health, physical, and yes, even digital literacy that you can share with your children. We are well on our way with our Home Literacy Club. Some students have now read over 125 days! Please continue to encourage your child to participate. If you need a new form, please let me know. Happy to send a new one home!
Last week, we had the great pleasure to meet our student teacher from SFU, Ms. Grewal. She spent the week getting to know us and observing other teachers in the school. She is back at SFU now but will be returning on February 24 to stay with us for four consecutive weeks (with spring break in between). During this time, she will be teaching a lesson a day leading up to teaching two consecutive half or full days just before spring break. It will be a blessing for our students to have two teachers in the room to support them! Should you have any questions, please contact me.
We have certainly been working hard on our reading and writing skills by learning about various strategies. In reading, we learned about making predictions and what makes a good one: how our ideas about the story would include thinking about the main characters, where the story takes place, what might the problem be, and possible solution. Then we discussed the clues that help us make these predictions (the title, pictures, headings, or something they have read before that reminds them of the book cover). Finally, we learned about various genres. We discovered that many have not even heard of the word genre before. I follow the teaching strategy: I do, we do, you do. What this means is that I model what making predictions looks like. Then we will do a prediction together. Next, students will have an opportunity to practice making predictions on their own, justifying their predictions with clues they see. If you are interested, click here to learn why making predictions is a good reading strategy to improve comprehension. How can you support your child at home? Before your child cracks open that new book from the book store or library, ask them to make a prediction and have a conversation about what clues they are using to make the prediction. Then watch their excitement when their prediction actually comes true or not!
In writing, we have been practicing writing summaries of stories. This is an important skill to be able to learn how to pull out the main points. Summarizing improves reading skills, critical thinking skills, and writing and editing skills as they draft their summary. I have already seen growth! How you can support your child at home: After your child reads a picture book or a chapter, ask your child to summarize what happened in 1-2 sentences to practice. You can model this as well during your conversations. When your child tells you a story about something that happened to them, for example, repeat what you heard happen but in one sentence and then make it explicit by informing them you just summarized their story! It’ll make them feel heard at the same time too!
Today, we read a story called Thanks for the Feedback, I Think by Julia Cook. It is about a boy who learns how to appropriately respond to positive and negative feedback. We learned that feedback is just information we can use to help us improve if we have a growth mindset. Click on the link above if you would like to watch the storybook read to you.
In Math, we dove into addition strategies to become more fluent at mental math. Most of us probably learned how to add by regrouping but now, there is a “new way” of adding two digits plus two digits. Click on the video to view. Please review at home as it will help build their confidence at school. This is one way we practice at school: Take a deck of cards to create random numbers. Flip over two cards for the first number (addend) and then another two cards for the second number (addend). Now this is your addition equation to solve! Then we add the two tens first before adding the ones. Finally, add those together just like in the video. Feel free to ask your child to show you.
Card games to support your child at home with math facts fluency (adding to 20)
(1) Addition War: Take a deck of playing cards and remove the Jack and King. The Queen represents a zero. Divide the deck evenly between partners. Players flip one card at the same time. Whoever calls out the sum first takes the cards. Variation: Each player flips over two cards from their evenly divided deck. Both players add their own two numbers together and compare; whoever has the larger number takes the cards to add to their own deck, like traditional war except compare the sum of both cards.
(2) Today, we played Doubles War to practice our doubles with playing cards. In partners, they took turns flipping over one card at a time (Ace to 10). Whoever calls out the doubled sum first takes the card. I so wish you could have been there to see their excitement and hear their enthusiasm. Many students were popping like popcorn, jumping off the ground, as they called out their sums in hopes of beating their partners. It was so much fun to witness their enjoyment!
(3) Go to my Symbaloo webmix and look at the bottom row. Here, you will find a number of Quizlet flashcards to practice the same math fluency strategies we practice in class like: making tens, doubles, doubles plus one, for example.
Quizlet is one of the top rated quiz websites for review. Try out other people’s quizzes shared in the community or create ones of your own! This site really helped my son practice his French vocabulary so it’s a website to keep in mind for your children in the future too.
Practice math fluency strategies (2 digit addition/subtraction)
We practiced the Adding Ten strategy. Partners took turns to flip over two cards and the first to call out the sum of 10 more gets to take the cards. For example, flip 52. First to call out 62 earns those cards. We also practiced Subtracting Tens the same way. I challenge you to play these games at home to support your child’s learning in math. Who would win? Have your child report back to me. Kids are often motivated to practice when it means they can beat their parents.
In Science, we have continued to learn about landforms, adding islands and plateaus. I am just so thrilled to know they have thoroughly enjoyed learning in this way. I can’t wait for them to share their projects with you during our Student Led Conferences coming up before Spring Break on March 12th. Save the date!
Ice skating next Wednesday, February 12th! We will leave school shortly after 9:00 am. Skating time starts at 9:30 am (1 hour). Click here to view field trip form for more information.
GRADE 3 PARENTS: Your child will need to bring a booster seat to school each time we go skating. This is the law and we cannot ask parent volunteer drivers to take children who do not have booster seats. We only have two students who would be exempt. Thank you.
To bring:
gloves, ice sport or ski helmet, long socks
skates (if your child owns a pair)
booster seat if your child is not yet 9 years old or 4’9″ tall (145 cm)
Thank you so very much to our volunteer drivers! We definitely cannot participate in these skating sessions without your help and support. We are so grateful to the parents of Ana, Eva, Kyle, Lauren, Isaac, Lucas C., Max, and Yunsoo!
Unfortunately, we are still short rides for 3 students on February 18 and March 3. I will be driving on all of our skating days too. If you can help out, please let me know. If you are not comfortable driving other students, even if you bring your own child to and from the rink, that will help too. Thank you.
Wow! What a show! We are Hip Hop stars! The kids have worked hard during their Hip Hop lessons with Flo Jo for the last two weeks, learning their dance moves and the routine. They enjoyed transforming their black shirts into skeletons! They had opportunities to watch themselves so they could self-reflect, receive feedback, and make changes to improve their personal performance. The Hip Hop Show is truly a memorable one year after year.
In Math, the grade 3’s continued to learn about linear measurement (mm, cm, m, km) and measuring capacity (mL, L). Next is measuring mass. Please feel free to review these concepts at home to reinforce learning. The grade 4’s reviewed polygons before learning about measuring the perimeter of polygons. They quickly created a new book using the Book Creator app to capture their understanding. Those that completed their books uploaded it to OneDrive so feel free to ask your child to login to view.
In Science, we have continued to learn about landforms. They seemed to really enjoy learning about glaciers and icebergs this week. Some asked if we will continue to learn about more landforms because they are really enjoying it! They have become more confident using the Explain Everything app too. I just love their enthusiasm and have enjoyed learning alongside them as I am creating my very own landforms project on my iPad too; I have learned so much about these landforms that I never knew before! In particular, I love it when someone has researched and found a unique fact and shared it with the class as they look for answers to their own inquiry questions. They certainly are getting better at asking and recording questions on their “I wonder” slide.
In Art, Mr. Baumann has continued to do guided drawings. They have worked on drawing a dog. See some of our examples from Ana, Anna, Tyson, and Yoyo. I love how even though Mr. Baumann walks them through, they all look creatively different!
We have some exciting news to share. Next Monday, we have a student teacher from SFU that will be spending time with us. Her name is Ms. Grewal. The main purpose of the week is to observe, get to know the students, and to learn about the daily operations of the school beyond the classroom. After the week, Ms. Grewal will return to SFU for three weeks and then come back for another four weeks total before and after spring break. Please feel free to ask should you have any questions.
Brentwood Park’s Talent Show will be on February 24. Anyone interested needs to sign up for auditions. This is a great opportunity to showcase creativity!
Last Thursday, Jocelyn, a special guest speaker from Vancity, visited to help us develop our financial literacy by teaching us about the history of money. She defined what money is, the evolution from barter and trade to modern currency, Canada’s different forms of currency, what money is made of and the features included to prevent counterfeiting, and some fun facts regarding Canadian currency. Jocelyn ended with a story called One Cent Two Cent Old Cent New Cent by Dr. Seuss. They each received a tin can to take home to save money.
For PE, we have been learning basketball skills. We started with ball handling skills to get to know the ball and the feeling of it in our hands. Then we learned how to dribble. Last class, we learned and practiced the different kinds of passing. I used to play basketball in high school so it’s been fun to practice my skills again. There is something to be said for muscle memory!
We have seen our little buddies more often lately because we have been creating samples of kind acts using a new app called Sock Puppets [FREE to purchase on an iPad]. They worked on their storyboards together and then recorded their projects. These will be showcased at our Pink Shirt Day assembly next Wednesday afternoon! I have so loved watching them be such patient leaders when working with their little buddy and I have enjoyed witnessing the fun they are having together.
