January 26th - 29th

What Did Students Do This Week

This week, our class spent time celebrating the importance of community. We talked about how a classroom is a place where everyone belongs and helps each other grow. As part of our conversation, we said a heartfelt farewell to a beloved teacher, Mrs. Braun, and we also warmly welcomed a new teacher, Miss Herget, into our grade three community. We are all grateful for the time we had with Mrs. Braun and wish her the best on her next adventure! We will miss her and also look forward to working with Miss Herget.

Students shared their feelings and memories by working together to create a class book for Mrs. Braun. Each child and/or class added a page with kind messages, drawings, and favorite moments. This helped us practice writing skills while also expressing gratitude and appreciation.

We also celebrated by playing community-building games that encouraged teamwork, laughter, and cooperation. These activities reminded us how important positive relationships are in making our classroom a supportive and collaborative place.

It was a meaningful week filled with reflection, kindness, and connection. Our students showed that they understand community is about caring for one another and working together.

Wellness Outcomes

I understand that personal well-being is supported through positive relationships built on communication, collaboration, empathy, and respect.

What Did Students Do This Week

Our Journey to Mars: Reading, Thinking, and Making Connections

Over the past few weeks, the grade threes have been on an exciting learning journey—one that took us all the way to Mars! Through reading, writing, watching, and discussing, students have been strengthening their reading and thinking skills while exploring real-world science and technology.

Our Class Novel: A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

As a class, we began reading A Rover’s Story, a novel told from the point of view of a Mars Rover named Resilience. Students learned how authors use thoughts, feelings, and experiences to help readers connect to a character—even when that character is a machine.

Students recorded their thinking in reading response notebooks, using:

• Pictures
  
  

• Words and key vocabulary
  
  

• Complete sentences

Building Vocabulary

Throughout the novel, students focused on learning and using new vocabulary, especially words connected to space, exploration, and emotions. Students practiced using these words in discussions and in their written responses to better explain their thinking.

Connecting Fiction to Real Life

To deepen our understanding, students watched a video by Mark Rober. The video was about the real Perseverance Rover landing on Mars. This helped students build background knowledge and see how real scientists and engineers explore space.

Making Connections and Inferences

Students compared the fictional story (A Rover’s Story) with the true story of Perseverance. They discussed:

• How the rover in the novel and the real rover were similar
  
  

• How they were different
  
  

• Which parts of the story were realistic and which were imagined
  
  

Students used their background knowledge, asked questions, and made inferences to better understand both texts.

Alberta Grade 3 English Language Arts Outcomes

This learning connects directly to the Alberta Grade 3 English Language Arts Program of Studies, including:

Reading and Viewing

• 2.1 Use Strategies and Cues
  
  

• Use prior knowledge, personal experiences, and connections to make meaning from texts
  
  

• Use questioning and connections to construct meaning
  
  

• 2.2 Respond to Texts
  
  

• Make connections between texts and personal experiences
  
  

• Make connections among texts, ideas, and information from different sources
  
  

• Connect texts to events and ideas in the world
  
  

Writing and Representing

• 2.3 Understand Forms, Elements, and Techniques
  
  

• Organize ideas using pictures, words, and sentences to communicate meaning
  
  

Oral Language

• 1.1 Discover and Explore
  
  

• Share ideas, listen to others, and build understanding through discussion
  
  

Student Learning Goals: “I Can” Statements

Students have been working toward the following Grade 3 learning goals:

✔️ I can make connections between a text and my personal feelings, experiences, or background knowledge.

✔️ I can make connections between different parts of one text or between two texts.

✔️ I can make connections between texts and ideas about past, present, or future world events.

✔️ I can make inferences by making connections.

✔️ I can make inferences by asking questions before, during, and after reading.

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• Summarize what has happened in the story so far.

• What connections did you make to your prior knowledge while reading A Rover’s Story?
  
  

• How is the story similar to the real Perseverance mission?
  
  

• What questions did you ask to help you understand the story better?

Photos

** Thank you very much to our parent volunteers who joined us on our walking field trip to Fish Creek. We appreciate your time! **

What Did Students Do This Week?

This week, our grade three students participated in a winter field study to Fish Creek Park, where learning took place outdoors and in connection with the land. Students were engaged, curious, and excited to observe how nature changes during the winter season.

Students began by finding their own sit spots—a quiet place to sit, observe, and listen. From these sit spots, students noticed winter details such as snow-covered trees, animal tracks, frozen water, and the sounds around them. This time encouraged students to slow down, focus their attention, and be present in their surroundings.

Students then completed a Medicine Wheel reflection, thinking about their experience through four interconnected areas:

• Body – How did my body feel while being outside in winter?

• Mind – What did I notice, learn, or wonder?

• Heart – How did being in nature make me feel?

• Spirit – How did I feel connected to the land and this place?

Back in the classroom, students used their Medicine Wheel reflections to support their writing. They wrote five complete sentences, focusing on using:

• capital letters at the beginning of sentences

• correct punctuation at the end

• adjectives and adverbs to add detail and clarity

Using a shared outdoor experience helped students generate ideas and strengthen their sentence-writing skills. We will continue to build on this learning as students begin to combine sentences into paragraph writing, focusing on a clear topic and supporting details.

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Possible Questions to Ask Your Child

To extend learning and encourage reflection, families might ask:

• Where was your sit spot, and why did you choose it?

• What did you notice in nature that surprised you?

• How did your body feel being outside in the winter?

• What did you write about for your mind, heart, or spirit on the Medicine Wheel?

• What adjectives or adverbs did you use to make your writing more interesting?

• How did your outdoor experience help you think of ideas for writing?

• What do you think will be different when you start writing paragraphs?

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Alberta Grade 3 Curriculum Connections

English Language Arts & Literacy

• Students create and share written texts to communicate ideas, observations, and experiences connected to real-world learning.

• Students apply writing conventions (capitalization, punctuation, grammar) to produce complete sentences.

• Students use descriptive language, including adjectives and adverbs, to add detail and clarity.

• Students progress from sentence writing toward paragraph writing, organizing ideas around a shared topic.

Social Studies

• Students develop a sense of place by engaging with local land and natural spaces.

• Students explore relationships with the land and reflect on how people connect to and care for the environment.

• Students engage in learning that honours Indigenous perspectives, including the Medicine Wheel as a holistic way of understanding learning.

Science

• Students observe and describe seasonal changes in their local environment.

• Students use their senses to make observations and ask questions about living things during winter.

Health & Wellness

• Students reflect on their physical, emotional, and mental well-being during outdoor learning experiences.

• Students practice mindfulness by noticing how time outdoors impacts their bodies and feelings.