November 24th - 27th

What did students do this week?

This week in grade three, students continued exploring one of our big Social Studies themes: Where do we live and what makes Alberta unique? We used maps, songs, loose parts, and hands-on inquiry to help students learn about our place in the world.

Alberta has six major physical regions and we explored each one:

1. Rocky Mountain Region

Found in western Alberta, this area has tall mountains, snowy peaks, deep valleys, and famous national parks like Banff and Jasper.

2. Foothills Region

Located just east of the mountains, the foothills have rolling hills, forests, and many natural resources.

3. Grasslands Region

Southern Alberta is home to wide open prairies, sunny skies, farms, and prairie wildlife like pronghorns.

4. Parkland Region

A mix of forests and grasslands, this region has fertile soil, lakes, and wildlife. Many communities live near or within parkland areas.

5. Boreal Forest Region

Northern Alberta is covered in thick forest, wetlands, lakes, and rivers. Wildlife such as moose, wolves, and beavers live here.

6. Canadian Shield Region (in the far northeast)

A very small part of Alberta touches the Canadian Shield, an area of ancient, rocky land. It has thin soil, many lakes, and unique wildlife.

** Hands-On Learning Highlights **

* Loose Parts Mapping

Students used rocks, fabric, LEGO, sticks, gems, and other materials to create loose parts maps of Alberta’s regions.

* Alberta and Canada Songs

We listened to and learned songs that helped us remember the provinces, oceans, and Alberta’s regions. Music made reviewing geography fun and memorable!

* Student Map-Making

Students created their own maps including:

-Title

-Alberta’s six physical regions

-legend with symbols

Social Studies Outcomes - (I can...):

• use geographic tools to ask questions about the world and Canada

• identify Canada's provinces, territories, and capital cities

• identify and locate Alberta on a map

• distinguish the different physical regions

• describe natural features, plants, and animals of each region

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• Can you show me where Alberta is on a map of Canada?
• Which oceans surround Canada?
• Which physical region is Calgary in?

• Tell me about your loose parts map.

• What materials did you use in your loose parts map?

• Which song did you enjoy the most?

• What is a legend?

Photos

 November 17th - 21st

Please check in with your child about their Parent Communication Duotang. These were sent home on Thursday. They show you a snapshot of your child's work so you can see their learning. There is also a spot for you to make a comment. Please comment and send the duotang back to school with your child.

What did students do this week?

This week, our class explored how animals can be grouped by what they eat. They learned that carnivores eat mostly meat, herbivores eat only plants, and omnivores eat both plants and meat. Knowing what an animal eats helps us understand how it survives and where it fits in a food chain.

They also learned that every food chain has producers, consumers, and decomposers. Producers are plants that make their own food using sunlight. Consumers are animals that eat plants or other animals. Decomposers, like mushrooms and worms, break down dead plants and animals and return nutrients to the soil.

To help us understand all of this, we looked at diagrams, examined animal skulls to compare different types of teeth, watched videos, played games, researched, and read stories about animals. These activities helped students see how each living thing gets energy and how they all connect in a food chain.

By the end of the week, students practiced classifying animals (consumers) as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores, and placed them in simple food chains with producers and decomposers.

Science Outcomes - (I can...):

• I can represent various food chains in local environments.

• I can classify animals in a food chain as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• What is a food chain?

• What is a producer? Can you give me an example of a producer?

• What is a consumer? What are the three types of consumers?

• Can you draw me an example of a local food chain and explain it to me?

November 3rd - 7th

What did students do this week?

This week in grade three, we have been reviewing “What is a sentence?”

The students discovered that a complete sentence needs three important parts:

• a subject – who or what the sentence is about (a person, place, or thing)

• a verb – what the subject is doing (predicate or action)

• a complete thought

For example:

The dog ran across the yard.

“The dog” is the subject, and “ran” is the verb. It is also a complete thought.

We practiced building complete sentences together, fixing sentence fragments, and writing our own creative examples.

We also noticed how authors use complete sentences to make their writing clear and interesting!

English Language Arts and Literacy Outcomes - (I can...):

• I can understand how sentences work together to create meaning.

• I can use correct sentence structure to communicate ideas clearly.

• I can revise and edit my writing for complete sentences.

• I can express ideas in complete sentences when I speak and write.

Possible Questions to Ask Your Child:

• What three things does a complete sentence need?

• Is this a complete or incomplete sentence: "Ran all the way home." If it is incomplete, what is it missing?

• Can you write me an example of a complete sentence? Can you show me the three parts?