Mrs. Swanson's Curious Thirds

  💗 Pink Shirt Day: Choosing Kindness Every Day 💗 In our Grade 3 classroom, we are learning that kindness is not just a word — it is a powerful, positive choice we make daily, bravely, and intentionally . On Pink Shirt Day, we proudly stand together against bullying and promise to act gently, respectfully, and compassionately toward one another. Students thoughtfully reflected on the question: “What does kindness mean to me?” They shared that kindness means helping others cheerfully , speaking politely , including everyone willingly , forgiving gracefully , and caring for others deeply . They described kindness as being a supportive friend , a welcoming classmate , and a responsible citizen in our classroom community. Our bulletin board shines beautifully with a background painted in colours that represent kindness. Students carefully and creatively chose soft pinks for love , calm blues for peace , bright yellows for happiness , and gentle purples for empathy . Each colour wa...

  What Did Students Do this Week? Over the past two weeks, our Grade 3 students have been celebrating the Olympics through meaningful cross-curricular learning activities. It has been an exciting way to connect current events to students’ literacy and math skills! In Language Arts, students practiced their reading comprehension skills by reading Olympic-themed texts and answering questions that focused on identifying key details, making connections, and understanding main ideas. They worked hard to support their answers using evidence from the text. Students also completed small research projects on different countries and Olympic athletes. They practiced identifying important facts, pulling out key information, and recording their learning in an organized way.  Our writing activities focused on using adjectives and adverbs to make descriptions more detailed and engaging. Students wrote about athletes and events, working to make their sentences exciting. In Math, students ...

We hope you have a wonderful long weekend celebrating family! We will see your child back at school on Tuesday, February 17th. What Did Students Do This Week? This week, students explored the concept of time. Through mini-lessons and hands-on math stations, they practiced reading and setting times on both analog and digital clocks. They also explored a.m. and p.m, as well as telling time with a 24-hour clock.  Math (Time) Learning Outcomes I can look at relationships between seconds, minutes, and hours I can tell time using analog and digital clocks I can relate minutes past the hour to minutes until the next hour (e.g. It is 6:45 pm or quarter to 7:00 pm)  I can describe time of day as a.m. or p.m. within a 12-hour day I can express time of day using the 24 hour time Possible Questions to Ask Your Child What is the difference between a.m. and p.m.? How many minutes are in an hour? How many seconds are in a minute? If it is 4:45 p.m., how else would you say this time? What tim...

  🌍 Science: Exploring the Layers of the Earth This week in Grade 3, students began learning about Earth’s systems and how the layers of the Earth tell a story about our planet’s past. Students used visual journals to draw, label, and explain the four layers of the Earth, helping them organize their ideas and show their understanding. They also created hands-on clay models to build the layers in 3D, giving them a concrete way to see how each layer fits together inside the Earth. 📘 Alberta Grade 3 Science Outcomes This learning connects to the Earth Systems unit, including: Earth’s surface contains layers formed over long periods of time The history of Earth’s surface can be explained by examining its layers Layers of Earth hold information about the past  Student Learning Goals: “I Can” Statements ✔️ I can name the layers of the Earth. ✔️ I can describe how the layers fit together. ✔️ I can explain how Earth’s layers tell us about the past.  Ask Your Child  What ar...