Mrs. Swanson's Curious Thirds

  🚀 Our Journey to Mars: Reading, Thinking, and Making Connections Over the past few weeks, our Grade 3 class has been on an exciting learning journey—one that took us all the way to Mars ! 🌌 Through reading, writing, watching, and discussing, students have been strengthening their reading and thinking skills while exploring real-world science and technology. 📖 Our Class Novel: A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga As a class, we have begun reading " A Rover’s Story" , a novel told from the point of view of a Mars rover named Resilience . Students learned how authors use thoughts, feelings, and experiences to help readers connect to a character—even when that character is a machine. Students recorded their thinking in reading response notebooks , using: 🖍️ Pictures ✏️ Words and key vocabulary 📝 Complete sentences This allowed students to choose the best way to show their understanding and explain their ideas. 🧠 Building Vocabulary Throughout the novel, students focused on ...

  Winter Field Study at Fish Creek Park 🌲❄️ This week, our Grade 3 students participated in a winter field study to Fish Creek Park , where learning took place outdoors and in connection with the land. Students were engaged, curious, and excited to observe how nature changes during the winter season. Students began by finding their own sit spots —a quiet place to sit, observe, and listen. From these sit spots, students noticed winter details such as snow-covered trees, animal tracks, frozen water, and the sounds around them. This time encouraged students to slow down, focus their attention, and be present in their surroundings. Thank you to our parent volunteers that walked with us to Fish Creek! Students then completed a Medicine Wheel reflection , thinking about their experience through four interconnected areas: Body – How did my body feel while being outside in winter? Mind – What did I notice, learn, or wonder? Heart – How did being in nature make me feel? Spirit – How di...