Dear Grade Three Parents,

On Friday, students worked on different parts for a thank you card for Mr. Mike who did our fish presentation last week. Ask me if I sponged rocks, painted the water, made root feeder plants, other plants, drew fish on tin foil, coloured the letters, decorated the cover or made shrimp.

After representing two-digit addition through drawing base ten blocks (ten rods and one units) and pulling apart numbers into expanded form (For example, 43 = 40 + 3) before adding them together, students practiced remembering the steps using the traditional algorithm. 

Step 1: Stack them so that the tens and ones are organized neatly on top of each other. It doesn't matter the order of the addends, unlike when we are doing subtraction.

Step 2: Add the ones column.

Step 3: Add the tens place.

Step 4: Don't forget the equals line when stacking, rather than the = symbol.

Step 5: Write your answer.

Mr. Newton announced that today was the last week for basketball so we took turns playing a game.

For writing, we reviewed our See, Think, Wonder thinking routine.

We practiced using the above picture.

Ask me what observations I made about this picture, what I think is happening in this picture and what questions I wondered about.

For cursive writing, we have finished the rockin' round letters (a, d, c, g, q) and we are starting the climb and slide letters.  The letters this week are i and u.

Reminders:

• Our field trip is TOMORROW.  Please make sure your child is dressed to be outside walking for half of the time and that they have a packed lunch.  Students must be on time to school or they will be joining the other grade 3 classes if the bus has left. Having extra clothing (particularly socks) would be helpful for any that get wet or slip by accident while outside.
• There are many items being sent to the lost and found by the gym.  It is recommended that you label your child's belongings so they can easily be returned when lost.
• Please make sure the green communication folder stays in your child's backpack so that notices can be sent back and forth safely.
• Report cards will be available for parents to view online on Jan. 30.
• A notice about Papa Johns pizza night has been sent home.  Pizza night is Feb. 5 and you can get a discount if you use the code provided.

From the Grade Threes