Week of September 12, 2025
Home Reading Challenge
We kicked off our week by launching our Home Reading Challenge in partnership with Laser City! Each student has brought home a reading sheet with 10 slots on each side. The goal is simple: read every day and record it on the sheet.
On September 30, please return the completed reading page. From those submitted, I will randomly select 5 students to win a free game of laser tag. This challenge will continue each month throughout the school year.
If your child’s page is not selected for the laser tag prize, they will still get to choose a reward from my classroom prize bucket—so everyone who participates is a winner!
The expectation is that students read for at least 20 minutes each day. What this looks like may vary for each child, and that’s okay. Thank you for supporting your child’s reading journey!
We learned the word REPRESENTATION and did a little class art project where we hoped all students would feel welcomed and accepted in our class.
Literacy:
Vocabulary:
Novel/Reading:
We continued reading our novel How to Be Cool in the 3rd Grade. This week, students practiced making text-to-self connections. You can ask your child what connections they made to the story!
At first, many students found this concept tricky. Some thought they needed to have had the exact same experience as the main character in order to make a connection. To help, we spent time in our class library noticing connections to different books—sometimes even before reading the first page!
Encourage your child to look for connections to the books they are reading at home as well.
Writing:
- We read an anchor text called My Unbelievable Summer to kick off our writing for the year. Inspired by the story, students used their creativity to write about their own silly, over-the-top, and unbelievable summer adventures. Ask your child what they came up with—you’re sure to hear something fun!
- We started our first Friday Letter today! Inside the Friday Letter book, you’ll find a note from me on the front cover. Each week, your child will write you a friendly letter about what we’ve been learning in class. This is a wonderful way to hear directly from them and spark conversations beyond the usual “What did you learn today?” Please be sure to write back—students absolutely love hearing from you! Their favourite responses are when you share connections between what they’re learning now and what you learned at their age. Thank you for supporting your child in this year-long journey.
Phonics:
- Our daily phonics warm-ups are an essential part of building strong foundational literacy skills. These routines include practicing rhyming words, identifying beginning and ending sounds, segmenting syllables, and reviewing UFLI skills previously introduced in Kindergarten through Grade 2. While the specific activities change each week, phonics will remain a consistent focus throughout the year to support students’ reading and writing development.
Grammar:
- Our first grammar focus of the year is nouns. Ask your child to explain what a noun is and challenge them to spot nouns at home, in the car, or out in the community!
Math:
We have begun our unit on time. To start, we reviewed the calendar and discussed how dates can be written in both words and numbers. Ask your child if they can show you today’s date numerically!
We also explored the difference between a.m. and p.m., practiced identifying and comparing digital and analog clocks, and created our own analog clocks. These clocks will be used throughout the unit to help reinforce our learning.
- We practiced subtraction facts daily this week. These skills can be challenging for students, which is why regular practice is so important. Please continue to support your child at home by reviewing both addition and subtraction facts to help them build automaticity and confidence.
Social Studies:
- We began our social studies unit by learning about all the elements that a map contains.
- We created a class map!
- Created a compass rose
- We went on a community walk looking for landmarks around McKenzie Towne School. We then came back and made a map of our school community.
Science:
- We started learning about the scientific process
- We read the story "If I built a School"
- Students used the scientific method to design their own classroom with as much creativity as possible.
Orange Shirt Day Assembly
On Friday, September 26, the grade 3 students will be leading the Orange Shirt Day assembly. Please feel free to join us for this important event to honour the experiences of children who attended residential schools. More details to follow.
