3/4G April Newsletter

Important Dates to Remember

April 4th – Rainbow Dress up Day /Early Dismissal 2:20 p.m.

April 9th- Class Pictures

April 10th- Art Walk 5-7 p.m.

April 15th –deadline to order May hot lunch

April 18th- Bake Sale $0.50

April 20th - No School- Professional Development Day

April 25th- Popcorn Sale/Pitch in Week- School yard clean up

THANK YOU!!!

I would like to thank all the parents who attended a student-

led conference with their son or daughter. I hope you

enjoyed participating in a few activities with your child.

INFORMATION

Extra Clothes

As the snow begins to melt we experience a lot of students

coming in wet/muddy from the water after recess. It would

be helpful if you could send in an extra pair of socks and

pants for your child that they can keep in their locker for

such incidents.

School supplies/headphones/shoes

Some students have run out of school supplies. Please check

with your child to see what they may need. Please check with

them if they require new laces or new shoes as many have

grown out of them and/ or are starting to get holes in them.

Please make sure their headphones are still at school/working as we

use them on a regular basis.

The following is an overview of the main areas we will focus on

throughout April.

Language Arts:

We will be working on the daily 5 program and continuing to

add more CAFÉ strategies to our board this month to

improve our comprehension, accuracy, fluency and expanding

our vocabulary. In our phonics books we will be working on

bossy r words and prefixes. The grade 4’s will also be

working on poetry writing and reading this month. The grade

3’s will be finishing up their fairy tales unit.

Reading:

We will be starting a novel study in mid-April. The students

will be reading different novels based on their reading levels.

Some of the novels will include Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and

the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. We

will be working on several activities based on the books while

working on our comprehension, word study and reading skills.

Writing Students will continue working on the six traits of writing and this

month we will be working on word choice. We will be working on

changing boring words, adding powerful verbs, using clues to

figure out the meaning of words based on the context and

adding sensory details.

Math

This month the grade 3’s will be starting with a short unit on Fractions.

Students will find equal parts of a whole, use fractions to describe

parts of a whole, represent fractions of a whole using concrete

materials, pictures, and symbols and compare fractions with the same

denominators. Then we will be working on Multiplication & Division.

They will be working on modelling multiplication and division up to 5 x 5,

finding strategies to multiply and divide up to 5 x 5 and posing and

solving story problems involving multiplication and division.

The grade 4’s will begin April by working on long division which we

started before spring break. Then our next unit will be Fractions

and Decimals. The students will be modeling, comparing and ordering

fractions and mixed numbers, exploring and modeling tenths and

hundredths as decimals, comparing and ordering decimals, adding

and subtracting decimals and adding and subtracting money.

Science

Our new unit in grade 3 is Rocks and Minerals. Students will learn about

materials found on Earth’s surface—rocks,

minerals and soil. By closely examining sample

rocks, students discover similarities and

differences and explore these, using simple

tests and tools. Students learn that each kind

of rock has a set of characteristics and that

these characteristics can be used in classifying and identifying

rocks. In studies of soil, students discover that the component

materials include rock fragments and remains of living things, and

that different soils have different compositions. Students learn that

the characteristics of rock and soil are important to their use within

the community.

The grade 4’s will be working on our new unit Waste in our

World. Students learn about wastes produced through natural

processes and human technology. In studying natural systems,

students learn that all plants, animals and other living things are made

up of materials that are recycled through the environment again

and again. In studying human consumption and wastes, students

identify wastes produced within their community and learn the

methods used for disposal. They learn that some waste

materials are biodegradable, that some are reusable, and that

others are toxic. They learn that personal action in reducing,

reusing and recycling materials can help decrease the waste we

accumulate.

Social Studies

We are on to our next country of study in grade 3…. Tunisia! This

month we will look at where is Tunisia located, the quality of life in

Tunisia, their customs, traditions and celebrations, the services

they have and the how people work together in Tunisia.

In grade 4 we will be working on the fur trade and early settlement of

Alberta. We will be looking at why was the fur trade important and

what made early settlers want to come to what is now Alberta?

WEBSITES to use for extra practice

Spelling City- a great website to practice spelling words

http://www.spellingcity.com/galenza

The Black Gold Engaging Students website

http://engagingstudents.blackgold.ca/

Students can then click on ECS/Div 1 and then choose from

Science 3, Social 3, Math 3 or Language Arts 3. The grade 4’s

would select Div II.

www.storybird.com Writing stories, poems and math problems

https://xtramath.org/#/home/index-Practicing basic facts

The students are familiar with each of these. There are excellent

math games; science activities, social projects, as well as great listen

to reading websites, spelling and writing activities.

Students are reminded to READ, READ, READ!

(Be sure to record the minutes read in their agendas ☺)

Ms. Galenza

Jersey Day!

Building our Leprechaun traps with our 1/2J Buddies

Practicing the art of oral storytelling