Brief update

Hello parents, just a bried update as to what has been happening in 3/4I recently....

Math - Students have been continuing their work in math centres.  The focus lately has been addition with money.  From there we will transition to adding and subtracting numbers up to 10,000.  Students have been getting more and more comfortable with place value and basic addition, as well as collaborative work while working in their small groups.  

Social studies - We have moved from Canadian geography to Canadian government.  Just this week, students were asked to have a quick conversation with their parents and bring in 5 words that had something to do with the government.  From these words, we had a great conversation about the role of the Canadian government and the ways in which we use various government services.  We will be doing a little more work on the levels of government, as well as what it means to be Canadian before we leave social studies for a month of so.  Following our study of the Canadian government, we will be exploring animal habitats in science.  

FLA - We have officially starting our lit blocks, where students get the chance to work in groups of 4-7 students with a teacher or educational assistant.  This allows the adults to target level specific reading skills and vocabulary with the students and to work in a smaller group setting than the regular classroom.  To compliment the French reading that they will be doing in these groups, students will also be working on a dictée list regularly.  In each of their duotangs you will find a dictée notebook.  This is meant to stay in the agenda so that it can be used both at home and at school.  Regular review of the spelling words/phrases is encouraged.  These words will be used for dictée tests every couple of weeks.  They will also be used in classroom writing activities.  The first dictée test will be November 15th.  Each student has 8 words and 4 phrases to practice spelling.  

ELA - We have just finished our read aloud project - Out of My Mind.  Be sure to ask the kids what they thought of it!  We will be starting a culminating activity for the book where students will be pulling together many of the things that they learned about Melody.  I can't wait to see how the project turns out!  

Words their way - Students have now brought home their second set of words, meaning that they will receive a third set next week.  They can review these words at home in preparation for the Words their way review quiz in a few weeks.  

As always, any questions....feel free to ask!