Week Three

Hello!

I hope you are all having a great weekend!  

The students of 3D had an important assignment for this weekend.  

They were to tell you, their families, about what has been happening in our class this week.  This is not just to keep you informed, it is a way for them to develop their memory skills and practice articulating ideas they want to share.  

Please ask them questions about what has been happening in class and reinforce that they need to be specific so that you have a clear understanding of what they did and learned.  

Challenge them to see if they can explain why they think we did those activities as a class. You can use the images from this blog or our Twitter posts to help prompt their memories.

I am hoping that they have shared with you that one of our big goals for this year is to become metacognitive learners..."we think about our thinking" so that we can show others how our brains work, make connections and generate ideas. 

 
Please keep checking the agenda and Twitter as we have a number of important activities and events coming up this week.

• Terry Fox Walk (Sept.30th)
• Open House (Sept. 29th)
• Eldorado Excellence Assembly (Sept. 30th)

Looking forward to another great week!

Week Two

Hello, the first two weeks have flown by!  

We have been busy building our 3D community, getting to know each other, as well as, beginning our journey through the exciting and challenging Grade 3 Ontario Curriculum.

Some highlights of our first two weeks include:  saving wormy from the high seas, puzzle challenges, playing various math games (e.g., race to 100, "Tens", who am I, etc.) and of course our on-going O.R.E.O. challenge.  

We have also been establishing our reading and math routines.  

You are encouraged to ask your child about these events and all the various parts of our day.  

Remember you can also follow us on Twitter for up to date visuals, to go with our challenges. 

Safety Stuff

If you have not already done so, please send both indoor and outdoor shoes for your child.  Indoor shoes are essential in order to keep our classroom and school clean.  

I realize that most of you are aware of our NO NUTS policy within Peel, but it is important to keep this in mind when packing your child’s lunches as we have students with allergies in our class this year.  Nuts can sneak in to snacks such as granola bars, sometimes without us realizing it.  Checking ingredients at home would be appreciated.  Sharing of food is not encouraged.  Healthy snacks are also encouraged and there is now a new government guideline which supports healthy snacks in schools and shows how it helps our children to be more successful.  Please ensure your student has a healthy snack everyday for their morning snack.  Some examples of healthy snacks include, fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, or crackers and cheese.

Another note about food, although we love to celebrate birthdays at school, it is important to remember that bringing food in for these celebrations could be dangerous and/or exclude some of the students in our class.  If you would like to send something in instead of food feel free to send in a small token for the students such as a pencil, eraser or highlighter. 

Other Stuff      

Although the school provides most materials needed for classroom use, certain things are “eaten up” more quickly and need to be replenished more often.  It would be greatly appreciated if you could kindly provide a box of tissue for the class.  Other supplies that are helpful for students to have include extra pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a glue stick.  To help with cleanliness and to help stop the spread of germs in our portable please send unscented hand sanitizer to keep in your child's desk.  Also, please send a water bottle with your child and they can then refill it as necessary throughout the day.   

From time to time, I might also ask for other recycled materials from home which can be used for art, science, or other classroom activities.  

Have a great week!

Ms. Sparling

Welcome to 3D, Portable 4!

Welcome to a brand new school year.

This year promises to be an exciting and eventful year filled with awesome learning, great new friends and amazing discoveries. I have taught with Peel (and beyond) for many years and am very excited to have joined the wonderful community that is Eldorado P.S.!  Grade three is an important year for students and I love having the opportunity to be part of the learning that happens during it!  

Open communication will be one of the keys to creating a successful learning partnership this year, and on that note there are a number of important pieces of information I would like to give you right away to get the year started.

1. Indoor Shoes:  Indoor shoes are VERY important!  We live and learn both inside and outside. That means that the playground dirt easily makes its way into our learning space.  We often use the floor and carpet area to spread out to do collaborative work and we want to keep the space dust and dirt free!  Please send indoor shoes if you have not done so already.  Thank you.

2. Hand Sanitizer/Wet Wipes:  We are a collaborative group of learners in our class (or we will be soon enough!) which means that we share MANY supplies and learning tools.  This sharing, unfortunately, means that we also share germs.  Being inside the school, we would have had access to washrooms with soap and water for frequent hand washing.  This is not the case outside. Therefore, I am asking students to ensure that they have hand sanitizer/wet wipes in their backpack or lunchbag so that they can wash their hands prior to eating anything.  This will help to keep the germs and sicknesses at bay.  ***Please ensure that these are unscented products as we do have class members with chemical sensitivities. Thanks for your cooperation in these health matters.

2b. LUNCH: There are a lot of wasps outside at this time of year and they, too, make their way into our learning space--who can blame them, it is a great place to be!  Therefore, please do not send sugary snacks and drinks in your child's lunch.  Water is the best source of hydration!

3.  BLOG: This blog will be updated weekly with a class update or newsletter as one way that you can be aware of what we are doing in the classroom.  Please check back weekly to stay informed about our learning.  This blog is a great way to know what your child is doing at school. Bookmark this blog address for easy access!

4. Other communication:

a)Your child will have his/her own digital portfolio set up where we will put in pieces so that you can see the work that your child is producing in the classroom. You will have access to view and comment on your child's digital portfolio from home.  Please remember to stay positive in your comments to your child about his/her posted work.   This will come via the app SEESAW!  Stay tuned and I will let you know when this is fully set up.

b) TWITTER: We have a fledgling twitter account for our classroom.  This will be another way to get updates about what we are doing.  Please follow us at:    @MsSparlingpdsb

c) AGENDA: Your child's agenda is a very important form of communication between home and school.  This agenda is checked daily by me so you can always leave notes (e.g., concerns, questions, messages to call you, etc.).  Please try not to leave messages on voicemail as that is not checked frequently. We are a busy learning environment and I prefer to spend my time with students engaged in meaningful learning and tend not to check voicemail often.  If you would like me to call you, leave a note in the agenda and I will call you within the day.  Please sign the agenda daily so that I know you are receiving the important updates from school that we write there.

This is a good start for some important start up information for the year.  More information will come in the days and weeks ahead.  I look forward to working with you and your child this year to help him/her reach his/her full potential.

Here’s to an exciting year of learning!

Ms. Sparling

Adapted from: Mrs. Cooke’s Blogspot