RAD Day!

Today we had RAD Day! - Taylor
At RAD Day we played soccer, basketball, four-square, and tetherball. - Joey
We have 15 marbles for our Mystery Motivator. We got marbles because we were good listeners today. - Sydney
We need to get 20 marbles, and then we get a surprise! - Lexi
Our group wrote down a lot of number sentences in 10 minutes. - Ava
Mr. H. explained 4 to the power of 4 to us because one of the students had that in their number sentence. Almost no one understood what that meant, so that's why he explained it. - Robyn
We read to ourselves for 15 minutes. We were really quiet! - Braylin

We had a great end to our day today, as we were outside in the afternoon for RAD (Recess Activity Day). We do this at Radisson a few times a year, to refamiliarize students with the equipment/games available to them for recess games in fall, winter, and spring. Also, we work on the ideals of Fair Play, which include respecting the rules, respecting the officials and their decisions, respecting your opponents, making sure everyone gets a chance to play, being an active participant, and maintaining your self-control. It was wonderful to see the fun the students were having, while being able to spend a breezy, sunny September afternoon outside, and getting a good workout. The perfect end to a busy week...

First day away from the class

Today was a different type of work day for me, as I wasn't in the classroom. I spent the day at a PD session with other Grade 3 teachers from our school division. Getting out of the building and meeting with colleagues from other schools can be a fantastic experience, as the exchange of ideas can often lead to trying new things - this blog is evidence of that, after a conversation I had last spring with a colleague about how she was blogging in her Early Years classroom (thanks, Erin!). I only hope that I have been able to contribute as much to these discussions with my colleagues throughout the years as I have taken away from them...

While I'm out of the classroom on numerous occasions each year, it's a little strange when it's the first time. I always wonder how my class will have gotten on without me, but these thoughts tend to rattle around in my brain a little more than usual during the first PD session or meeting of the year. I look forward to getting back into the classroom tomorrow, and reading what I'm sure will be a glowing report left for me by the very capable substitute who spent the day teaching in room 18! I'm looking forward to seeing all of my students tomorrow morning!

Math rules!

We all put a math sentence on the board. - Joey
Our number of the day today was six. - Cam H.
We played the Power of Ten game with a partner. - Jenna
The math card game we played was almost like the game 'War'. - Robyn
Today is Braylin's birthday! - Tyler
We had Gym and Health for the first time with our new teacher Ms. Beach. - Cam H. and Taylor
We played 'Ultimate Chicken' in Gym. - Gal
This week, we started Magic Object Cleanup at the end of the day, after Agendas. Whoever finds the mystery piece of garbage gets to pick a prize from the prize bin. - Marcus

I love teaching Mathematics - it's probably my favourite subject to teach (just edging out Science)! One of the reasons I love teaching Math is that there are almost always multiple ways to get the correct answer, meaning that everyone, no matter their proficiency, can succeed. One of the ways I get to see this on a regular basis is when students share their number sentences (or 'equations') with the class. As part of the Number of the Day exercises that the students complete on a daily basis, they have to come up with a minimum of five number sentences that end in (or 'equal') our Number of the Day. When it is time to share, they each have to add one sentence to the board, and it has to be different from any of the number sentences already shared. As the year progresses, it is so exciting to see the growth in EVERY student's Math skills, as they share their increasingly complex number sentences, and learn from each other! Check out this photo - not too shabby for the first day of sharing number sentences in Grade 3:

Just another Tuesday...

Lots going on in and around room 18 today (just like every day!) - here are some highlights that the students wanted write about:

There is a big pile of wood chips on the basketball court. I think they are going to use them for the new playstructure. - Gal
We went to Music for the second time. - Kaynen
We had our first Social Studies class. We learned about rights and responsibilities. - Sydney
We got to use the SmartBoard in Math this morning. - Braylin
We read a new book for CAFE. - Jenna
We got two more marbles. - Joey

The new play structure is almost done!

Well, after one last blast of summer on the weekend (and a very disappointing loss by the Blue Bombers!), it was back to work today for our first five-day school week of the year. Here are a few things that the students thought we should mention on our blog today:

The new play structure is almost built! - Jenna
We are getting a new gym teacher. Her name is Ms. Beach. - Cam H.
We had our first Grade 3 Choir period today. - Kaynen

We got to meet our school's new Phys. Ed. teacher today - her name is Ms. Beach. She is going to be teaching at Radisson for the next few months, while Ms. Hanna is away. We are going to miss Ms. Hanna, but Ms. Beach seems really nice, so we are looking forward to having her as our teacher!

We are all very excited about the new play structure being built at our school. We have one of the best views of the construction in the whole school, because it's happening right in front of our classroom windows. It is going up quickly, and it should probably be ready by the end of the week - yay!

The Third Day Of School

We had a fire drill this morning. The bell was really loud, and it made us jump! - Jacell and Cam H.

We had Math this morning, and worked on our Number of the Day books. Today we worked on them by ourselves. - Markus

We started reading on our own for the Daily 5 today. It was really quiet and calm in the class, and it was a lot of fun. - Dasia

We got to do Art today! We got to draw something really fun we did in the summer, and we wrote about it, too. - Robyn

Phys. Ed. was awesome! - Joey

We had another great day at school - it's hard to believe that the first (albeit short) week is over already. We had an action packed day, complete with Math, Reading, Art, Phys. Ed., and a fire drill! Over the last couple of days, we've talked about the three ways to read a book (read the words, read and talk about the pictures, retell a previously-read book) - we practiced these skills with the book 'Peg and the Whale'. We also talked about how to read to yourself independently, and why all of these things are important for becoming a better reader. After a fire drill caused us to pause our learning for a few minutes, the students started practicing their read-to-self skills. I was so impressed with the great job everybody did - you could have heard a pin drop in the room! It's going to make it so much easier for everybody in the class to improve their reading (and enjoy it more!), and for me to work with students one-on-one or in small groups, if the students can keep creating a calm and quiet environment like they did this morning. We're going to be working at building our stamina in reading independently over the next few weeks, in order to achieve this. I'm so proud of the students in Room 18 - keep it up!

Excitement on the playground

It was the second day of school today, and we had a lot of excitement revolving around happenings out on the playground. Here's a recap, in the students' words:

We finally got our recess equipment bag from Ms. Hanna today. It has a soccer ball, a four-squre ball, a basketball, frisbees, and skipping ropes inside. Recess is a lot more fun now that we have stuff to play with. - Gal

Today was a great day. We had a lot of fun outside. We got to use the slide on the wooden play structure one last time. - Alexandra

We are getting a new play structure. The old play strucure was made of wood and was really old. Today they took the old one down. There were a lot of wasps in it, and one of them stung Joey. We are excited to get the new one! - Tyler

Here are some pictures of the workers tearing down the old structure: