October Review and Reflections

                                          
As we approach October, we can reflect on a wonderful start to the school year! Students have adjusted well into grade three, openly welcoming the increased expectations of the new grade.

Recap on Parent/Teacher Interviews - Parent Support Strategies Included

A huge thank you to everyone for making the time to participate in Parent/Teacher Interviews. It proved to be a valuable time to establish goals and share about your amazing children. It is going to be such an incredible year!

 Q & A - A couple very common themes also came out of the interviews. 

How can parents support the reading and writing goals from home?

The expectation is that every day students should be reading for approximately 20 minutes at home. I strongly encourage that at least three of those times are with an adult who can support the decoding of unfamiliar words as well as support developing comprehension.

As all students are working on developing their writing as well as reading, I spoke about the importance of supporting writing growth through your nightly Home Reading Program. Brainstorming of ideas and sequential development of story plot are two main areas students at the grade three level develop. As you ask questions after reading, you provide valuable opportunities for students to work on these areas, even though there is no paper or pencil involved. Asking questions such as; Would you of solved the problem the same way as the main character did? or How would you of written the ending of this book? allows for students to engage higher level thinking skills in creating and developing answers. They are able to compare and contrast ideas, as well as share ideas in a sequential order. These skills take practice and what better way to share the love of reading with your child!

You will notice that in your child's plastic Communication Bag, I have included a one page double-sided sheet of questions and questioning techniques to help support you to engage in meaningful comprehension questioning during Home Reading. If you require further support, please don't hesitate to contact me.

My Child Loves to Express Themselves Through Art

Great news - our whole class loves expressing themselves in artistic ways! I too have a passion for artistic expression and am very excited planning our art direction for the year!

Below is a list of some optional items you may send in for your child's use at school that you might have around the house. Rest assured appropriate alternate paper/canvas will be provided and I have a few extra paint shirts if you chose not to send in optional items. In the past some families have also chosen to send in extras marked as a donation.

Optional Items to bring - Clearly marked with Sharpie (if you don't have one I can do this for you).

- 4 canvases (5x7, 8x10 or combo/Dollarstore or Michaels types)

- foldable table top easel (only table top as I can't store anything bigger - only if you have one already)

- old paint t-shirt (one/two sizes bigger than they are currently)

This Week - 

Tuesday - Senior Choir at lunch time
Wednesday - Special extended Art session (bring a canvas if you are able to)
Thursday - Pond Visit - Dress for the weather!

Thank you for your continued support! As always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me directly at ejmacqueen@cbe.ab.ca and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

Mrs. MacQueen

Terry Fox Run - Toonies for Terry

Toonies for Terry 

Auburn Bay School will be participating in the Terry Fox Run on Wednesday, September 25th. As we lead up to our run, classes will be working towards increasing their stamina in Phys. Ed while fundraising money for cancer research. Please bring in Toonies for Terry to your classroom teacher as we spread cancer awareness.

On the day of the run, it is important that students wear appropriate outside shoes for walking/running along with dressing appropriately for the weather that day. Parents are welcome to join us for this event out on the soccer field at 1:45 PM on Wednesday, September 25th. The Terry Fox Run will last approximately 15 minutes and students will line up with their homeroom teacher to go back inside for the remainder of the afternoon when we have finished. We kindly ask parents to wait outside while this is happening and to pick up your child from their normal dismissal spot.

Gathering Places

We started today with brainstorming some initial ideas around what we think gathering places are. We now ask you to brainstorm with your child some gathering places that your family visits or has visited in the past.  There is a half sheet of paper in your child's folder that you can use to write down gathering places ideas.  Please jot down as many ideas as you can think of and return it in your child's folder tomorrow. 

Responses to It's BEARly a Problem...... STEM Challenge

• I liked that everybody’s idea was different. - Leopold
• I’m surprised that the guy in the video lost $10,000. -Malea
• I liked building with my entire group. -Jessica
• I liked everything, we got to share what we did and what we created to keep the bears away. -Raine
• I liked how the guy made the bears taste test the honey. -Kendall
• I liked planning the design. -Kate
• I thought it was really fun when we got to build our plan. -Sienna
• I was surprised that bees are also nutrients for the bears. -Aisha
• I was surprised that bears could wreck the bee hives if they didn’t have electric fences. -Samuel
• I liked building. -Dedza
• I didn’t know that bears could dig. Samantha

• That we used materials in the Learning Commons to do this. - Bhavleen
• That bears could take off metal boxes. - Allie
• I liked building the idea you made. -Alex
• I liked building. -Wyatt
• I liked when we got to draw the little ideas, put them together and then pick one. -Gabe
• What surprised me was that bears could dig. -Brayden
• I didn’t know that bears where scared of electric fences and that they stole honey. -Jayden
• I didn’t know they were scared of electric fences.-Taven
• I didn’t know that bears could break brick. -Blake
• I was surprised that he lost $10,000 to the bears. -Olivia
• That losing $10,000 was surprising because he tried everything but it didn’t work.-Ana

Senior Choir

Any interested students in joining Senior Choir (grade 3 and 4) are welcomed to fill out the form below and return to school.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fLlMWBQH5f7QjaU6WYowQD1RnhL7YgHG

September 2019 Sept. 3 - First Day of School - Meet at the back of the school near the playground! Sept. 5 - Open House form 5-6 pm Sept. 19 - Thursday Noon Dismissal Parent-teacher Conferences from 4-7 pm Sept. 20 - PT Conferences form 8am -12 pm

This year, students in Mrs. MacQueen's grade three class will have the weeklong experience of attending Library School located in Calgary's downtown. Everyday, students will board a bus at 8:15 and return for the end of the day dismissal (Friday noon dismissal). Volunteers will be necessary to execute this experience. Please make sure you are up to date with security clearance and volunteer orientation in order to participate. You will want to ensure this at the beginning of the school year in order to have everything ready to go for this field trip. ​ For more information on this amazing experience, click on the link below. cbe.ab.ca/ccom/Pages/Home.aspx

Welcome to Grade 3!