Words Have Power!

We read a book entitled, "The Word Collector" by Peter H. Reynolds about a boy named Jerome who collected many different types of words. He eagerly collected more and more of his favourite words. His collection grew so large that he began organizing the words into categories. He learned that... "the more words he knew, the more clearly he could share with the world what he was thinking, feeling and dreaming." One day Jerome decided to share his word collections with the world. This made him very happy!

The grade threes were inspired by Jerome to start their own word collection. 

                                         

                                           

                                         

Try listening to "The Word Collector" and starting a collection of your own.

https://encrypted-vtbn2.gstatic.com/video?q=tbn:ANd9GcSkG1QfpttP0OBnGwv3Y62Fu2M91K_kPG8ei5VRFiHIkmshb4r4

September Sunflowers

Integrating various subject areas into a set of lessons is an effective means of delivering curricular content. This year the grade threes will be engaged in a "Plant of the Month" activity. September's plant is the sunflower.

Students will:

• listen to and view a fiction book
• list facts gathered from a non-fiction book while learning about the life cycle of the sunflower
• create an image inspired by Vincent van Gogh's piece entitled, "Fourteen Sunflowers in a Vase"

After reading "The Sunflower Sword" by Mark Sperring and Miriam Latimer, students were engaged in a discussion of 

"Why do authors write fiction books?"   

Many insightful ideas were presented. In summary we agreed that Mark Sperring wanted us to learn about 

How an enemy can become a friend.

The following are representations from the book and from students lives.    

Welcome back to a new school year. We have just completed our first week. We were all happy to see one another after such a long absence. Along with the excitement comes worry of what this school year will bring. To help us to cope with these challenges, the grade threes have been reminded to... "Bee Growth Minded". Students learned that our words can change our thinking and that our thinking can guide our behavior choices. Let's all pollinate a positive mind set as we learn and grow together.