Big News... A Playground is Coming to ACC

• The big news item of the week is that ACC students will have a new playground built on June 2nd, of THIS YEAR!! Everyone is so excited! The announcement was made at the assembly on Friday, where each child was given a t-shirt to be part of the build team. The next step is to get Volunteers signed up, we are looking for at least 200 volunteers to sign up on the website below. We need everyone`s help for everything from the construction to handing out water. So before you forget click on the link: http://ltbkbordencarleton.blogspot.com/  (Click on Voluneter Now on the right hand side of the screen)
• Our ACC Seadog Mascot FINALLY has a name. It is Surge the Seadog!
• On Friday, the students presented their animal slide shows. As you can tell from the slide show print outs that went home on Thursday night, they were extremely high quality with lots of detailed facts on the animal they selected. I was very impressed, and they really seemed to enjoy the whole process.
• This week we will be working on the 3 times tables and the students will put on their scientist hats as they will work through a number of experiments at different magnet centers.
•  On Friday, Parent Teacher Interview Slips were sent home for the upcoming Interviews. Please return those slips as soon as possible. (If you have a child in another grade the times are automatically connected.)

Winter Carnival Week

Thank you to all the Parents who brought in treats and lunch to the staff this past week. The teachers were beyond spoiled and it is so nice to work in a community where there is so much parent support.  The students were not left out this week either they too were spoiled with Valentines treats. Thank you to Madison,Rachel, Cole, Keaton, Koraleigh & Maggie for taking in treats to share with the class. There was so much came in we had to spread it out over a couple of days.

This weeks Events:


Monday                      No School
Tuesday                      Beach Day
Wednesday                 Crazy Hair Day/Pajama Day
Thursday                    Neon Day/ Crazy Sock Day
Friday                         ACC Spirit Day (ACC Clothing or Blue& Gold Colors)
                                    Skate is cancelled

Happy Islander Day Everyone!

Valentine's Week

• Our Biggest hope for the upcoming week is to have everyone back to their healthy selves. Over the past 2-3 weeks we might have had one day in which we had our whole team together.
• Everyone has caught right on to the 0,1 & 2 tables. They are very enthusiastic about them. This week we will be starting the 4 times tables. A great game site to reinforce this new skill is: http://www.multiplication.com/games Most of the games are terrific at this point because you can select for the games to only include the tables we have covered, therefore the children don't get frustrated with a question we have yet to work on. (We often take 5 minutes at the beginning or end of Math class to play these on the Smart Board)
• We have finished our novel and are doing some concluding activities to go with it. Our big project this week will be to as a class create a Descriptive Report on the Lynx (from the story) from which we will create  a slide show presentation using Power Point. Then the students will work in pairs to research another animal and create their own Power Point to present to the class on the Smart Board.
• We will have a Valentine Exchange on Tuesday and the Candy Grams that were purchased last week will be delivered on that day as well.
• The week of February 20th, is ACC's Winter Carnival Week, so each day there is a Dress Up theme, each particular day is not set yet but the themes will be: Beach Day, PJ/Crazy Hair Day, Neon/Crazy Sock Day, Spirit Day (ACC Clothing or our school colors Blue and Gold.)
• There will also be a Skate on the morning of February 24th, any parents who are free and willing to come join us are welcome.
• Thank You to Ryley and his Family for the Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes.

The Second Half of Grade 3 Begins

• Monday is Food/Drink order day for the month of February
• Book Orders are due Friday
• This week we will wrap up our novel study on Strange Lake Adventure
• We started Multiplication on Thursday and the children are catching onto it very quickly. It is one of my favorite parts of math to teach, I think because it is something brand new and exciting to them.
• This week we had two exciting visitors come in to read to our class. On Monday, Rachel Reeves read, Too Much Stuff and on Friday Sandra Coughlin, read us a special short story that she used to read to her children when they were little. Thank you very much ladies for coming in and sharing your love of reading. The kids loved having you in, especially Lilly and Emma.
• Thank you again to Koraleigh and Tammy for the Cookies, we could really get used to your treat of the week.
• A good website I recommended to the kids this week for practicing Speller Words is:  http://www.spellingcity.com/   It is interactive and has lots of fun games.

It's Half Time!

It is hard to imagine but this week marks the half way point for Grade 3!

• We had an awesome celebration for Family Literacy Day on Friday. Many of the children brought in some of their favorite books to do a Book Talk on, and they took this roll on very seriously. On Monday there will be a draw for 2 Coles/Indigo Gift Cards for those students that did a book talk. I am sure you have all heard about our special guest that came in to read to us. Carmen Reeves did the best read of Green Eggs and Ham that I have ever seen. He had the students on the edge of their seats and so excited about the book and reading. He took it a step farther and taught them about syllables, auctioning, and trivia. Congrats to Emma A. for getting his trivia question correct.  Thank you again Carmen for coming in, it will definitely be one of the highlights of their grade 3 year (Especially Faith).
• Tomorrow we have Lilly's Step-Mom, Rachel coming in to read us a story. Which we are really looking forward to it. Any other parents who would like to come join our class to read, do a craft, or any special something please call or email me. Our door is always Open.
• I apologize in advance to parents about the Persuasive Cell Phone Letter. I am sure you know I don't think they should have cell phones. In fact, I told them if I were their parent I would say you are too young and they cost too much.  So, it was their job to use critical thinking and  provide counter-arguments to convince us otherwise. Many of them did provide REALLY good reasoning, which was the main point of the assignment.
• We are continuing to read Strange Lake, and at the end of many of the chapters the kids have that "OOHHH No, we can't stop there!" feeling.  Next week I'll have to post the Persuasive Letter  we wrote as a class to Gage Publishing Company, requesting that they put this book back into print, as you know our copies are in rough shape. These kids can be very persuasive so  I really hope that we receive some kind of response, and new books would be amazing.
• We are wrapping up our Addition and Subtraction Unit this week and will have a little  test to see where everyone is at independently with their strategies.
• We were also suppose to have a Speller Review Quiz on Friday, but when we were sent home early it was put off.  A few students admitted during the Spelling Bee that they had not went over the words at all, so  my plan is to continue our review this week and have the test  this Friday.
• There is no school on Wednesday, due to a P.D. Day for the teachers.

Thank you AGAIN to Koraleigh and her Mom for the sweet treats. You are spoiling us!

Last Week of January Already???

• Time is flying by, and I usually hear people say the January is the slowest month of the year. But the last 2 Fridays I said (and really meant) to the kids, "I can't believe it's Friday again Already!" And a bunch of them said the same. That is what happens when you are working with such a great team. I should also share that Mr.Martin, has even commented on this group saying, "They're the best!" 
• The kids are very excited about their first class novel (Strange Lake Adventure) and are really enjoying sharing it with someone at home. It is so wonderful to hear them connect with the characters and the story.
• The children's writing is really starting to take off. The details and feelings they are putting into their pieces are so exciting to read.
• I have started to explain to the children how I evaluate their work and how that relates to their report cards. For example if someone received a 2 (Approaching Expectations) on their work I really want them to understand what they did well and what they need to work on to get a 3 (Meeting Expectations). I am constantly encouraging them to give their best effort and go back and improve their work. Most of the students are really taking this seriously, in fact their responses are, "I don't want just a 3, I want a 4 (Exceeding Expectations)." Which is like gold to a teacher's ears.
• This Friday, January 27th is Family Literacy Day. If any parents or grandparents would like to come into our class and read one of their favorite books we would love to have you in. If Friday does not suit, it could be any day. The children would be so exciting to have a family member come into our class. If you are interested just give me a call or email.
• We do not have any new Spelling Words this week. We will have a review week. Thursday we will have a Spelling Bee and on Friday I will give them a little Quiz.
• For anyone who ordered Pizza or Garlic Fingers at the first of the month, this Friday is the day they will be served.

Thank You to Koraleigh and her Family for the Delicious Fruit Tray this week!

This Week in Grade 3

• Tomorrow we will start a class novel, Strange Lake Adventure. It is an older text, but the kids always love the story and even though no one in the story has an ipod or a cell phone the children in the story are very relatable. Unfortunately, they have not published any new copies of the book in a number of years so I ask that the children take extra good care of their book. We will be reading the novel mainly in class, however, as night time reading I ask that the children re-read the passages we read that day in school to improve fluency and get a deeper understanding of the story and characters. Many families in the past have share read the book at home(child reads a page, then parent reads a page) so they can enjoy and discuss the story together.  
• We have another quiet 5 day week this week at ACC.

Thank you to Colton and his Family for the Great Healthy Snack this week. Everyone loved the cheese and crackers.

Happy 2012 Everyone!

• I hope you all made lots of wonderful Christmas memories with your families. I can't believe how many of them were able to stay awake to Ring in 2012!
• A huge thank you for all the Christmas Wishes and gifts. They were all very thoughtful.
• We've got week one complete of the new year, and I believe the best week we've had so far this school year.
• We've started the year working on Voice in our Writing, Reviewing our addition and subtraction strategies before we begin multiplication in a few weeks. We are also working on all those tricky rules for making words plural, and most exciting and interesting we started our new Social Studies program on our Beautiful Prince Edward Island. They really enjoyed finding where we are on the globe in Google Earth.
• Next week is a full straight forward 5 day week, with lots of learning happening.
• Good Luck to Our 4 Hockey Girls in Moncton this weekend, I am sure you'll all have lots of fun and great stories to share.
• Happy Birthday this coming Tuesday to Colton! Enjoy your Special Day!
• Thank you to Koraleigh and Tammy for making their Yummy Brownie Pops for the Class this week. They were very popular.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

• Thank you to all the parents who put together the terrific costumes for your children for the concert they all looked wonderful and they did a great job at the rehearsal and I hear even better in the afternoon for you. That afternoon I was at my own son's very first concert, which as you know is such an exciting thing for a parent. 
• We still have 5 students to take in their gifts for our Christmas Gift Exchange. Please have those in on Monday or let me know ASAP if there is a problem in getting it in. (Thanks)
• Ms. Carver finished with our class yesterday. She did a great job teaching Math to the students over the last 3 weeks.
• I hope everyone has got a chance to see your child's Christmas Magazine entitled, Candy Cane. All of the information in it came directly from the students. They were very proud of their efforts yesterday when they were handed out.
• Happy Be-lated Birthday to Tanner & Faith! December is definitely their favorite month of the year. 

Have a Very Merry Christmas Everyone
and enjoy all the new Special Memories
you will make this year!

Last Full School Week of 2011

• Thanks to all the parents who have sent in ticket money, there are a few remaining out there and the draw is Thursday. So please send in money or unsold tickets as soon as possible.
• Don't forget to send in permission slips for the Sound of Music. Students should take a snack that they can easily put in their coat pocket to eat during the intermission. Then we are stopping at Burger King for lunch. The students can purchase a lunch or take their regular lunch there to eat. (I know a few students did that last week.)
• Thursday is our concert and as you know grade three is the Nativity scene. We have done this every year except last year when Mrs.Brennan  was on leave, and some how her tickle trunk of costumes has disappeared during her absence.Whatever you can do to help out here would be appreciated. You can be creative and might have something great for your child tucked away in a closet or attic. 
• Shepherds and Joesph could have bath robes & hand towel for their heads 
•  Angels can just wear white that day, there are still some old wings around
• Wise men maybe some old costume jewelery, I have found some new crowns for them.
• Inn Keeper could be wrapped up  in an old blanket (Like a shawl?)
• Mary I think is set with one of the student's blue bathrobes.

• This week the students can have an open reading week at home. They can read whatever they want, it would be a great opportunity to partner read some great Christmas stories with your child. We will not have any new words of the week, instead I would like them to review over their past words to ensure they remember them.
• Please send in all Student Christmas Exchange gifts by Thursday, and address them to the student your child picked, followed by 3 clues about your child, so the receiver can try to guess who picked their name. The clues could be something like: [1) I have 1 brother,  2) I play hockey 3) I live in Searletown] Let your child be creative and they can make it a challenge for the guesser. If there is any problem in getting the gift please let me know, as I want to ensure that everyone has a present under the tree for the last day when we open them.

The Best/Busiest Time of the Year

• Our Wyatt Heritage field trip is this Thursday. We will be gone for the morning and will be stopping at Wendy's for lunch. The students can take a packed lunch to eat there or can order from the menu. We will not be pre-ordering as we are going with the big kids (Grades4-6). Last year the grade 3s ordered on their own as well which was a great experience for them and they seemed to prefer it that way. Ms. Waite will be with them on the trip as I have an appointment that day.
• Grade 3 will play the Nativity scene in the Christmas concert, which requires us to be creative with some costumes. Next week Mrs.Brennan will be giving me a list of everyone's part and we'll have a better idea of who needs certain items. (For example: Angels should wear white)
• Monday is food order day for the month of December.
• This Friday is Pajama Day. Students are asked to stay comfy and cozy for the day and donate a Toonie for a Turkey.
• A huge thank you to all of you Parents doing so much for our school. There is a lot being asked of you and everyone is doing their part.  

Birthday Girl

Happy 9th Birthday to Madison! Enjoy your special day!