This week we continued working on our literary essays. Each student is writing an essay based on a character (or a comparison of two characters) in a fiction book he or she is reading.

Here are the steps we follow to write the essay:

1. Make a claim: Give a BIG, BOLD opinion about your character.

2. List reasons for your opinion: INTRODUCE your evidence.

3. Give evidence to support your reason: EXPLAIN your evidence with quotes from the book, examples of something the character does or says.

4. Write a conclusion: RESTATE your opinion and give your reader something to think about.

We've started Reading Clubs!!

This week we moved from lessons on getting to know a character as a friend, and moved into ways to follow a character's journey. Students were paired up with others in class to read the same book so that they can follow a character's journey through Club Talks.

This week the students focused on designing their own experiments to answer questions they have about water. They are learning that all good scientists start with a question. Then they make a prediction. Next, they plan and carry out a a fair experiment with more than one trial. In the end, they collect and evaluate their data and communicate their results.

This week's experiments investigated the following water topics and focus questions.

This week we've been exploring thankfulness. Science has proven that having an attitude of gratitude can bring more joy into our lives.

Each morning in our Circle Time, 3B students have been sharing what or who they are thankful for and the reasons for this thankfulness. It has been incredible to hear the thoughtfulness behind everything that has been listed, and I've created one more video to highlight some of the answers the students have shared.

On Tuesday, we also enjoyed an amazing meal of delicious food from all around the world. All of grade 3 gathered for lunch to feast on foods from Japan, Thailand, Korea, America, and Poland. We ate outdoors on beautifully decorated tables and sat with our friends and family. There are a few photos from the day, but not many because eating and talking with people was more important.

This week we began a new Science unit. Our first investigation involved observing water on different surfaces. Students were given four different surfaces - waxed paper, writing paper, aluminium foil, and a paper towel. On each surface, students dropped water from eye-droppers and observed what happened.

The focus question we answered was: What happens when water falls on different surfaces?

Co Oanh led our class in a culture study this week. Students prepared a special art project for the upcoming Teacher's Day in Vietnam. The class reflected on some of the teachers in their life whom they love. Then each student chose an image to decorate with dried beans. These finished creations will be used as covers to cards of thanks for a special teacher.

informational Writing celebration

Finishing our Information Books

We are in the final two days of finishing our Informational Writing unit.

This week, students celebrated their finished books by reading to Concordia's eighth grade class (see slideshow above). They also began writing mini-books on one of the world's countries. You might see this mini-book in progress if your child brings it home to finish the publication of it this weekend.

The week was about reading non-fiction like a narrative. Since last week, we've been diving into biographies and reading them like we do a narrative text.

Here are some of the BIG ideas we covered.

1. Summarizing Narrative Non-fiction

2. Reading biographies through a different lens to learn about time period

3. Studying characters' choices to learn lessons

Parents, do you know what a screencast* is?

Well, your child does! Read on to find out....

This week in Social Studies we finished our first unit with two projects.

The first project was a Google Slideshow to share what we learned about wants and needs. We answered these two questions:

1. What is the difference between wants and needs?

2. How do our wants and needs affect others and our environment?

The second project was a Google map which each student created on a country of choice. On each map, the student had to include:

1. The capital city

2. Two places of interest (landmarks)

3. Information about the country's climate

4. Information about the country's natural resources

Once the map was created with pins and pictures and text, each child screencasted themselves talking about and explaining their map. In the screencast, the students had to explain...

... where the country is located.

... the geography of the country (climate, natural resources, and physical features).

... how the geography affects the people who live there.

*A screencast is a fancy term for a video screen capture. A person can film himself giving a tutorial (lesson) about what the viewer is seeing on the computer screen.