New Blog Address

My Blog Address has changed to the following link:

http://mrstoombs.blogspot.ca/

This is It!

• This is it Everybody - only 2 days left of Grade 3! I still can't believe how incredibly fast this year flew by. That just shows what a wonderful year it was. Thank you to all of you terrific parents for your support throughout the year, you are just as much a part of Team Toombs as I am. Be sure if you haven't already to check out your child's scrap book and poetry booklet that were sent home on Thursday. They are full of some beautiful and creative pieces of work that the students have done throughout the year.
• A HUGE Thank You to Madison, Ashton, Noah and their families for the delicious end of the year snacks - they were all a big hit. I had a great chuckle when over half the class asked Noah for his Mom's Cinnabon recipe. (That is a first in Grade 3.)
• Another Huge Thank you to Monica, Ann Marie, Kellie and Tanya for spending the day with the kids at Shining Waters. From the look on everyone's faces it was a great time had by all. And I can't believe how lucky we were to miss those Thundershowers that started about 2 hours after we left. 
• Tomorrow we will be emptying out our desks, so yes you'll probably see a very full back pack tomorrow night. We are also going to be watching the movie Charlotte's Web and putting on our presentations for the Kindergartens. 
• On Tuesday, there is going to be a ton of action and ACC School Spirit filling the school grounds. A special thank you to Mrs.Bryanton for organizing "A Minute To Win It" Competition for all the students. There will also be a Talent Show and lunch will be provided, so students just need a snack for the day. What a fantastic way to end a fantastic year!

Have a great summer making 

new special memories!

Final Full Week!

• Permission Slips will be going home this week for our trip to Shining Waters on Friday. And are you ready for it .... with no cost for parents! The Home and School and the School Funds are going to cover the cost for the students. That is the first time that has ever happened in all my years at ACC, so that tells me that the Home and School is doing an amazing job of raising money for our students. If students would like to buy a treat on the day of the trip at the canteen they can, but they are expected to take a packed lunch as too much time is wasted waiting in line for food. The students should have a bathing suit, towel, change of clothes, hat, comfortable shoes and sunblock for the day.
• A big thank you to Monica Winn, Tanya Coles, and Ann Marie/Wayne Pickering for agreeing to come chaperon the field trip. If one more parent could make it please let me know. (That would just make the groups a little smaller.)
• At the first of the year I assigned Ashton, Noah and Madison to The End of Year Celebration Snacks with a date of this Friday. Since that is the day of the trip we decided to have them on Thursday instead, and if that does not work that is fine.
• There will be no homework this week with the exception of possibly a little Math for those not finished after plenty of class time.

A Very Happy Father's Day to all of you amazing Dads out there and to all the men who play a special role in the children's lives. The kids put a lot of  care and thought into your present this year.

I am sure you will like it.

Only 12 Days Left!!!

• A Very Happy Birthday on Tuesday to Ashton! Have a great day!
• If anyone is interested in being a chaperon for Shining Waters it would be great to have a least one or two more parents come with us. Please let me know if you can make it.
• We are starting to review all of our Math outcomes this week, this will be helpful to the students as they will be having Math Assessments in the fall. I will get them to empty their blue Math duo tangs on Monday so when they go home in 2 weeks they will only hold their reviews. That will be helpful to know any areas that would be beneficial to practice with your child over the summer. The review questions would be quite similar to what they would be asked on the assessment. 
• Most exciting for parents -  there are only 11 more days of lunches to pack (there is always a barbecue on the last day). And only 4 more nights of homework! (However, I do HIGHLY recommend having your child continue to read over summer.) We can do it we're almost at the finish line. 

June is here Already?

• What a wonderful weekend it was! The Abby On Event was a HUGE success. A very big thank you to Sharon Kamperman for all of her hard work and dedication to our Students and the children that will be sponsored in Peru. The students also worked hard and it was great for you all to support their efforts. 
• This past Wednesday we had Bethany Dawson and her friend Cecilia present the I am a Thumbody Program to the grade threes. The program focuses on having good mental health by valuing themselves and treating others with respect.The two ladies will return this Tuesday to wrap up the program.
• On Wednesday we also had some UPEI Science Students put on some neat science experiments for all the students in the school. It really engaged them and got them interested in science.   
• Tomorrow is our final milk and pizza order day. It is also Grill Cheese order day.
• Last week we started work on Fractions, Story Writing and Reader's Theater. We also read up to the end of chapter 9 in Charlotte's Web and planted beans, tomatoes, and cosmos. As we take care of the plants we are going to keep a Plant Journal on their progress. 
• There are only 17 days to go but still lots to keep us busy right till the end of Third Grade.
• Also, I have only had one parent volunteer for Shining Waters, so if you are interested we'd love to have you.

Final Week of May

• Time to celebrate this weekend as we have our Assessments complete!!! Everyone had another fabulous week and defiantly gave them 100% of their best effort. I am VERY VERY PROUD of them all!!! 
• THANK YOU to Colby's Mom who took in the tastiest Double Chocolate Cookies I have ever had to celebrate completing our assessments. They were a great treat and terrific way to celebrate!
• Today a different food order form was sent home for Wednesday's Lunch. To support Tim Horton's Camp Day, the children can order a hot dog  fries, juice and tidbits for $3.00. All orders are due on Monday and there will be no Home and School Lunch this Wednesday.
• For our end of year trip we are headed to Shining Waters on Friday, June 21st, with a rain date of Monday, June 24th. If anyone is available on those dates and would like to join us please email me or send in a note. 
• There are still a handful of people left to pay their School Supply Fee for next year. If you could send that in whenever you can that would be greatly appreciated.   
• We started our final class novel of the year this week. We are already 3 Chapters into Charlotte's Web. It is always a favorite, so I am sure you will be hearing about what is happening with Fern, Wilbur and Charlotte over the next few weeks. We will mainly be reading it in school, as it can be a challenging read to do independently. Some nights the children might choose to re-read a chapter we have done in school or they can be reading something different of their choosing.
• Today we also started work on Reader's Theater. We did "Click Clack Moo" together as a class and next week we will be dividing into two groups to do "The 3 Billy Goats Gruff" and "Chicken Little". So I am sure you will be seeing the scripts around home as we are planning to present them later in June to our Kindergarten Buddies. 
• This week we will be wrapping up our unit on Data Management  all the students seem to really have enjoyed it and love surveying each other. The only Math Outcomes we have left to cover are Fractions (Which are pretty basic in Grade 3). Then for the last  2 weeks of the year we will be doing a Cumulative Review of as many outcomes as possible that we have covered through out the school year.
• All this talk of getting close to the end makes me so sad. I LOVE Summer, but I really hate saying Good-Bye to "my kids". I have gotten so attached to them that it is hard to let them move on. I have a pretty special bunch this year who I am amazed at how much they have grown and matured throughout the year. The last couple of weeks there have been a number of times when someone as had a "Remember when..." story from earlier in the year and it seems like we have been together for a lot longer than eight and a half months. 

Enjoy the Long Weekend

• Well obviously the biggest part of our week last week was the Assessments and I could not be prouder of how much attention and effort the students have put into them. If they keep that up next week everyone will have accomplished their goal of displaying all of their best work.
• This coming week the Assessments will follow the same format as this past week with the students doing their Writing Assessment on Wednesday morning and their 2 Reading Comprehension Assessments on Thursday.
• A huge Thank You to Krista Murphy who took in muffins, fruit and juice on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings to fuel the kids bodies and minds right before they did their assessments. Everything was delicious and very much appreciated. 
• There will be No School Monday due to the holiday. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your Families.

Literacy Assessment Week

•  The students will write their Writing Assessment on Wednesday morning of this week and they will have 2 Reading Comprehension Assessments on Thursday. It would be wonderful if everyone could write them on those days, but if they are sick they will write them when they return to school. Remember there will be no homework this week.
• A Very Happy Birthday to Claire, who turns 9 Tomorrow! I hope you have a wonderful day!
• A Very Happy Mother's Day to all of you Outstanding Moms. Your children love you so much and it is obvious that they get lots of love and support from You.I hope everyone had a chance to visit the Journal Pioneer Website to see the Mother's Day entries. Also keep an eye out for Saturday's Journal, as some might appear in it. Unfortunately, Jeanna's letter did not get submitted so I have added her note about Ann Marie to the end of this post.

I have the most perfect mom in the world. She loves me so so much and I love her just as much- maybe a little bit more. She cares about me so much I can't tell you how thankful I am to have her as a mom! My mom has one goal... and that's to make me better and help me at whatever I love to do. My mom is really sweet she's like half cake or ice cream, or something and then half human. My point is I love my mom and no one can change that!

By  Jeanna

Music Festival Week

• Sorry for no post last week, but my family and I were hit with that Plague of a Flu that many of you also experienced first hand. Hopefully we have all seen the last of that one!
• The Music Festival is Monday morning at the Trinity United Church in Summerside. I know many of you like to attend and it is always hard to give an exact time on when they will preform. The information I have says 9:20 am, but from past experiences it could be later than that.
• I was OVER JOYED this week with the students' writing. They are really going that extra mile to impress me with their description and detail in their work. I had tears in my eyes when many of them shared their Favorite Place write ups. 
• Our Literacy Assessments are fast approaching, as they start a week from Wednesday. There was an information Pamphlet sent out on Thursday and if you have any other questions regarding them please call or email me. This week the only homework I will assign is each night there will be a short one page story from their grey folders and on the back their will be 5 Multiply Choice Questions for them to answer based on their understanding of the text. I really encourage everyone to watch your child do these "independently" and then discuss their answers with them once they are done to double check they selected the best answers. If you noticed that they have missed the main idea of the story please encourage them to reread it and really think about the story.This will be great practice for the Reading Comprehension Assessments and will also be a good indicator for you how your child is doing independently. Then I will not assign any homework for the 2 week period of Assessments.The best thing they can do before an Assessment is get a good nights sleep and a great breakfast to start the day.
• Division is going awesome! Since the students had such a great grasp on Multiplication, division seems to be a snap for most of them.
• Monday is Drink and Food Order Day.
• If you go to the following website http://www.journalpioneer.com/FlyingPage/4774/Mothers-Day-Contest and click on view entries some of you Moms will have a nice surprise. Currently their are 48 entries there, unfortunately you have to click on a bunch to find yours. But right now Grade 3's Amherst Cove entries start on the 2nd page and if you go to the 6th one with a Title: Mom and Public Name: T Stretch and from there on you will find some very sweet messages. Claire and Jeanna's Mom's are the only ones I couldn't see yet- so hopefully they will be there soon. The Journal is also going to print some of them in next Saturday's paper. The kids are so excited for you to see them!

4 Day Week

• A huge Congratulations to our Remembrance Day Poster Contest Winners!

       1st Place- Colby
       2nd Place - Noah
       3rd Place - Ashton

• Monday is Photo Day.
• Wednesday, Paxton Cole, this year's Easter Seal's Ambassador will visit ACC. I can't wait to see the grand total of the money that has been collected over the past few Fridays. Every dollar is going to such a great cause. 
• Friday there is No School for the Students due to a PD Day.

Come On Spring ... We're Waiting

• We wrapped up our Measurement Unit last week and are moving into working with Polygons and 3D Shapes this week in Math. Their Math test will be sent home on Monday to be signed and to go over with you.
• This week I am planning to send home the students grey Comprehension duo tangs for parents to look through. We have been working on these over the past few months and many of the examples at the front we did together. Now we are at the point where the students should be able to independently read through a passage and answer the questions on their own. However, many of them are still struggling with doing these independently. We will continue to work on these at school but with you seeing some of the types of questions that they are struggling with, perhaps you could also help them by asking similar type questions with their nightly reading. It's hard to believe but Assessments are only a month a way.
• The Spring Photos were rescheduled until Monday, April 22nd. So, if you are interested in having your child's done please return the pose sheet.

Full 5 Day Week

• Finally a full 5 day week - it's been awhile. We have a lot going on as usual. We have begun our Agriculture Unit in Science, and right now we are focusing on plants and soils. This week in Math we will cover measuring in kg and g. In writing we are continuing to work on our persuasive writing. And over the next few weeks we will be doing a few more independent short reading passage with follow up comprehension questions to better prepare the children for the up coming Grade 3 Assessments.
• This Wednesday is Heritage Fair Day. The grade 3s do not participate  but I always get them to look carefully at how the older students have done their projects, as they will be involved in the next Heritage Fair. It is open to the public starting at 1:30 pm.
• Friday is Spring Photo Day. I assume that a pose/ background sheet will be sent home this week, but I have not seen one yet.
• The school grounds are very muddy and many grade 3s feel they do not need to wear their snow pants, so it would be a great idea to have an extra pair of pants and socks in their school bags in case someone happens to slip - which happens everyday. 

April is Here!

• I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter Weekend with your Families! 
• Thank you to Ethan & Kirstin for taking in Easter treats on Thursday. They were delicious.
• Last week we started working on Persuasive Writing, which is one of my favorites because you really get to see the students' critical and evaluative skills come through in their writing. They also really enjoy having  the opportunity to express their opinions and feel that they are valued. Our goal on any topic is to have 3 strong arguments to support your case.(Just in case you hear lots of great reasoning for why something should happen at your house... it's my fault! - Sorry!)
• I am SO IMPRESSED with how fabulous the students have caught onto the Multiplication strategies. Most students have all the answers in under 3 seconds. We will continue to incorporate those facts into our lesson as we work on our Measurement Unit.
• Food/Drink orders are due tomorrow.
• The Winter Bus is done for the year.
• Since everyone had a chance to see our class book, The Best Parts of Grade 3, you all know how much Kirstin appreciated her lungs. I am so happy to share with anyone that has not heard that Kirstin's family got the best Easter gift of all this year, as her Nan received her lung transplant!! We are all so HAPPY for you Kirstin! 

5 Days Until March Break

• Thank you to all the parents for taking the time to come in and discuss your child's progress with me. I have to say that I am just as proud as you all are of how much the children are growing and improving over this school year.
• Anyone who did not pay the $35.00 School Supply Fee for next year's school supplies, can send it in anytime with your child.
• This week we will learn and focus on the 3 & 5 Times Strategies for Multiplication.
• Noah, please know that Everyone is thinking about you and we are counting the days until you are back at ACC. It's not the same without your smile brightening up the classroom.
• Have a Wonderful March Break Week with your Families! The students certainly are deserving of a break and hopefully they will come back on Monday, March 25th, recharged and ready to complete the final term of Grade 3!

Report Card Week

• This past week we started Our Research Reports. Students were able to pick any topic they wanted to learn more about. So far we have gathered resources, and started to take notes from those resources. From those notes the students will create a Non-fiction Report on their topic and finally create a Slide show presentation that they will present to the class before March Break. They will all be teaching each other and myself about lots of new things.
• We started Multiplying this week. The main focus for students to understand at this point is that we are working with equal groups. So with Multiplication with think:

                   3 groups of 4

                   Picture:    OOOO            OOOO              OOOO

                   Repeated Addition:  4 + 4 + 4 = 12

                   Multiplication Sentence:   the # of groups   x   the # in each group = Total #
                                                                      3 x 4 = 12   

• We have also learned the Multiplication Rules for:

                x0 - Answer is always zero
                   x1 - Answer is always the other number
                 x2 - Answer is always double the other number

• Next week we will do:

                  x4 - Answer is always double - double the other number
                            i.e. 4 x 5 =  Think: 5+5 = 10 and 10+10 = 20

• I know I skipped 3s we will do those after the 4s and then the 10s and 5s. They will learn the strategies for the 6, 7, 8, 9s in Grade 4. (Although we don't have to, most years I do cover the 8 & 9s because they are quick and easy.)
• Thank You for sending back the Parent Teacher Interviews Slips so quickly. I look forward to meeting with everyone next Thursday and Friday.
• Report Cards will be sent home Tuesday.
• There is No School Friday for students due to the interviews.
• A big Thank You to Claire and her Family for treating us all to cupcakes on Monday for National Cupcake Day in support of the Humane Society. They were a delicious treat supporting a great cause.

A Very Happy Birthday to Noah who turned 9 today! I hope you enjoyed your special day! We were extra spoiled this week because Noah's Family also sent in Cupcakes today to celebrate his Birthday.

 An awesome week for yummy treats!

Another Very Special Birthday tomorrow. Madison catches up to Noah and she turns 9 too! (And she is a very patient girl as she tells me she is waiting until this summer to celebrate with a pool party.)

Farewell February

• We finished our novel this past week and will be doing some follow up activities associated with it.
• We had a Math test on Friday and will begin our Unit on Multiplication and Division this week.
• On Wednesday the teachers will be getting together to set up times for the Parent Teacher Interviews for Thursday, March 7th after school and during the day of Friday, March 8th. If you would like me to arrange a specific time please email me or send in a note. Otherwise, I will go with a time similar to the last set of interviews.
• Friday is the most comfy day of the year ... PJ Day.
• Our whole team has been thinking a lot about Ethan this past week. We miss you and hope you are back to feeling like your regular "Cheetah"  self very soon!

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Quianna, who turned 9 yesterday.
I hope your day was very special!

Happy Islander Day

• Last week was a very busy week filled with lots of fun for Winter Carnival and Valentine's Day.
• Thank you very much for the treats that were sent in for our Valentine's Celebration and for Teacher Appreciation Week. 
• A Very Happy Birthday tomorrow to Lydia who turns 9. She reminded me that she was born during the famous winter storm known as White Juan. She shares her day with my youngest son Max who turns 5. He created his own storm that day by arriving 10 weeks early.
• Our deepest sympathies to Matthew and Kirstin on the passing of their Grandfathers. We are all thinking of you and I know your whole team is here for you.

Winter Carnival Week

• I was so proud of the Students on Friday when they made their presentation to the Kindergartens. Our Book Buddies loved them. It was so sweet to see them so excited and hugging their Big Buddy.
• We were very entertained on Wednesday when we had Claire's Nanny Noonan come read to the class. She had the class on the edge of their seats while she read, Little Red Riding Hood.
• This week is Winter Carnival Week:

            -Monday & Thursday the students will have special activities at Lunch Hour
            -Monday & Tuesday Candy Grams are for Sale for $0.50
            -Wednesday is Blue & Gold Day (School Spirit Day)
            -Friday is Red & White Day (Flag Day)

• We will have a Valentine's Exchange on Thursday and we have 3 families signed up to take in a little treat.
• We are flying through our novel as we are already halfway through it. (With this weekend's weather the students should relate a little more to what the Savela children are experiencing.) This week we will be wrapping up our unit on Addition and Subtraction. They are so excited about starting Multiplication very soon. We are also continuing to learn and discover new information on Magnetism.

Please Don't See Your Shadow Mr.Groundhog!

• We had a very special visitor this week when Colby's Nanny Faye came to read to the class. The students really enjoyed her visit and she and I were extremely impressed at how respectful the students were. We are looking forward to having Claire's Nanny come read to us this coming Wednesday.
• We are already four chapters into our Novel and the students are really starting to connect with the characters and plot of Strange Lake Adventure. I love to see them so engaged and upset when the chapters are over. I am also hearing that some of you parents are hooked into the story too, which is also great to hear.
• This week we put the finishing touches on our class book, The Best Parts of Grade 3. We have started to send the book home with one student each night. We hope that you enjoy it and be sure to read who they dedicated the book to, it will melt your heart. (We are still missing a picture for the front cover, as we have been waiting for a day when everyone is at school to get a new class picture.)
• This week we will presenting our slide shows to our Book Buddies, so students will be practicing their presentations at home from their printed handouts.Our little buddies are going to be so excited to see our Smart board lit up with information and pictures of themselves.
• This Monday is Drink and Food Order Day.

It's Half Time

• It is hard to imagine but this week marks the half way point of grade three. This year is passing by so quickly!
• Over the past couple of weeks the students have been working hard on learning strategies for 2 digit subtraction and this week we will move onto 3 digit problems. We have been also really focusing a lot on problem solving and I am witnessing great improvements on student's ability to work through a problem and decide how to reach the answer.
• This week we will start our first class novel called, Strange Lake Adventure. I do apologize in advance for the condition of some of the books. The book has been out of print for many years, but each year the children love the story so much, that they forget about the fact that it does not look new. We will be reading a majority of this book in class, however, for home reading I would like them to re-read the chapter we read that school day to improve their fluency and develop a deeper understanding of the text. Some chapters are longer that others, so as long as they read for at least 15 minutes that is fine.
• We are also starting a new Science Unit on Magnetism. It is usually a favorite in which the students become Scientists and make their own hypothesis and conduct experiments to test out their thinking. 
•  There is no School this Friday due to a Professional Development Day for Teachers.

Family Literacy Week

     This Friday is Family Literacy Day and last year I invited any family members who would like to come in and share one of their favorite books with the class to do so. We had a Mom, a Dad and a Grandmother come last year and the kids LOVED it! So once again this year I would like to invite anyone who would like to come into our class to read to do so. Friday is the official Family Literacy Day, however, I am at an In service that day. So anytime this week besides Friday or next week we would love to have anyone who is interested to come visit us and share a book.
     The students will also be doing Book Talks this week on their own favorite book and share them with the class.

Winter Warm Up

• What a beautiful Winter Week we had. It was wonderful for the kids to get back outside during Recesses and enjoy making snow forts and sliding.
• As you know in Health we have been discussing making Healthy Choices with our eating and activity habits. It is really exciting to see how the children have been really conscious about making good choices for themselves. It is recommended that children get at least one hour of physical activity a day so we thought it would be neat to chart our activities for the remainder of the month of January to see how close we are to the target. It is not a contest it is just for fun to see how active we really are. On days that the students do not have Phys.Ed we plan to go to the gym for 15 mins to contribute to our recommended hour of physical activity each day.
• In the Newsletter that just went home and in one of our Health books one lunch suggestion was to make mini pizzas using English Muffins as they can incorporate all four food groups from Canada's Food Guide. So as a class we decided to use those suggestions and have a Pizza Party for lunch on Monday. So Great News Parents.... on Monday you only need to pack a snack for your child's lunch and we are making our own lunches.
• For anyone interested our book order is due Tuesday.
• Also, last week I forgot to send out a HUGE Thank You to Ethan's Dad, Cory who transported all the Grade 3's Skates and Helmets to & from the rink when we went Skating before Christmas. It was very thoughtful and really lighten everyone's load.

Happy Birthday to Keagan who turned 9 on Thursday!



Happy 2013 Everyone!

• I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with your families. It is such a special time of year. I really want to Thank Everyone for the special messages and gifts that you sent in for me. They were very kind and appreciated. 
• A big Thank You to Lydia, Claire, Quianna, Matthew and Jeanna for taking in Christmas Treats for the class. They were all very sweet and delicious. 
• Even though it's hard to say goodbye to the holidays it sure is nice to come back to work with such an awesome group of kids. I was so excited to see them all yesterday and many of them even looked like  they grew up over the 2 weeks.
• This Monday is Food & Drink Order Day for the month of January.
• In Math we are starting to concentrate on Subtraction, so focusing on basic facts at home would be very beneficial.  Under Helpful Website there is a site with tons of subtraction games to make practicing a little more fun. 

Happy Be-Lated Birthday to Colton. 

I hope you have a great Party tomorrow!