Happy Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah!

Yesterday I taught the kiddos all about Hanukkah and some fun traditions associated with the Festival of Lights. The best part about teaching the kids about Hanukkah was the dreidel game! We even invited 3 Shillington over to play the game with us! Below I've included some pictures and the dreidel meanings in case your kiddo wants to make a drediel and teach you at home!


First we got into groups of three. Each group had one dreidel. Each player in the group had ten counters to use (our gelt).



Kids then took turns spinning the dreidel. Her are the symbols.



If the kiddo spun Gimel: "Gimme all the gelt (counters) I win!"
If a kiddo spun Hay: "Hey! I get half!"
If a kiddo spun Shin: "Shin, shin put one in!"
If a kiddo spun Nun: "Nun-you get none! Nothing happens!"

We had a blast. Our poor secretary called down on the speaker to my room while both classes were playing yesterday and we didn't notice. It was so loud! However the kids were on task and having fun. We were making memories!

Increasing patterns

We have had a lot of fun building and creating increasing patterns. This kiddos wanted me to post a picture of what I let them do last Friday-DRAW ON THEIR DESK! This is normally a big taboo and most of the kiddos were very hesitant. Now they beg for increasing pattern work because they know they can use a whiteboard marker to help organize their thinking on their desk.

The best part? We cleaned up the desks so well our lovely custodian had no clue!

Have a TREE-mendous Christmas!

3 Shillington and 3 Creamer were in charge of decorating the large bulletin board in the lobby-check out pictures of our display below!

Kindness, Respect and Diversity Week

This week at Fairvale is Kindness Week! The kiddos have been busy catching their classmates doing something kind. Check out some of the things our kiddos were caught doing JUST today! 

Hour of Code

Today we started coding. What is coding? Coding is what makes it possible for us to create computer software, apps and websites. Your browser, your OS, the apps on your phone, Facebook, and this website – they’re all made with code. Today we practised coding. 
Visit  code.org  and have your kiddo show you some of the cool coding games we played today. The Minecraft coding game was a huge hit. Let me just say-I felt like a hero today. They were so pleased that I let them play Minecraft IN SCHOOL! 

Next week we plan on participating in the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. It is a great opportunity to get kiddos interested in computer science. 

Math Jeopardy

Since last week was the crazy week before Halloween I knew I needed to do something exciting in math to keep the attention of the kiddos. So we played comparing numbers Jeopardy. Our E.A. Mrs. Robertson and I had quite a few chuckles over how into it the kids were. Please find below a video of the kids playing-I pieced it together poorly so my apologies in advance!

Spooky Reading

Last week I asked that each child bring in a flashlight. Thanks to many sweet families we had more than enough flashlights for our kids to do some spooky flashlight reading. We turned off all of the lights during read to self and read in the dark. On Monday we will read to someone in the dark with our flashlights. The kids loved it! Flashlights will be sent home Monday night! Check out the video below to see the kids in action.

Social Studies

Mrs. Shillington and I have started Social Studies with our kiddos. We will be learning about New Brunswick. I wish I had of taped the reaction from the class when they saw the Social Studies sign on our class schedule. THEY FREAKED! When I gave them the books about New Brunswick they were so excited! Here are a few things that we heard.....

"We live in New Brunswick!"

 "Wow look at the maps!"

"Terry Fox is on page 95!"

"Look at those weird rock things!" (referring to Hopewell Rocks)

"Oh my gosh I've been to that place!"


You would think we gave them the moon! There were shrieks people! Mrs. Shillington and I had a good chuckle about their reactions and we hope that the attitude about Social Studies lasts all year!

Since the student books are non-fiction we introduced Social Studies by sending the kids on a text feature hunt. They had to look for captions, diagrams, glossaries etc. Here are a couple pictures below!

Little Buddies/Big Buddies

On Friday our class is the Big Buddy class to 1 McNeill. The kids were very surprised to learn that they were no longer little buddies but considered the big buddies this year. Mrs. McNeill and I take turns hosting the kids in our rooms. This week it was our class' turn to host the little buddies so they came to our classroom. They kids played a getting to know you game and read some books. Our class was so sweet and loved helping the little buddies read. We have a really sweet bunch of kiddos!

Class Mission

Our class has set long term goals for the year and we have now come up with our class mission. I explain to our kids that the class mission is our promise to one another. Have a look below at our promises!

Fall Scene-artwork

I snapped a quick picture on my way out the door Friday of some of our kiddos' artwork. This is our Autumn scene using pastels. Hopefully this puts you all in the mood for Fall! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Roots of Empathy

We have started Roots of Empathy in our class! Once a month our kiddos will visit with Baby Ezra and his mom April. We will discuss how babies learn and grow in their first year. We have many "baby experts" in class who love to share their experiences and ideas. The kids are very excited to see Ezra again-ask your kiddo what we did with Ezra at his first visit!

Our sweet Roots of Empathy baby!

Math-Numbers to 500

In Math we are working on building, counting and comparing numbers up to 500. Last week kids were given a large collection of objects, told to estimate how big their collection was and then count their collections. We had a fantastic discussion about numbers bigger than 100 and how to write them. Many kiddos were adding a zero to their numbers when writing numbers larger than 100. For example some kiddos were writing 118 as 1018-we had a great discussion about this in class.

We discussed counting our large collection by 5's and 10's. Many partners grouped their collections into groups of ten as many kids' collections had more than 200 objects in it!

Learning about Soil

The first Science unit we are covering in Gr. 3 is about soil. Over the last few days the kids have been digging around in soil, looking at it through magnifying glasses and sharing our observations. We've sorted through soil and looked at the organic matter (leaves, bugs, twigs etc.). We had a lot of squeals when we happened upon some beetles and ants.

Today kiddos started learning about sand, silt and clay-the particles that make up soil. Sand, silt and clay refer to the size of the particles found in soil. Sand is the largest, then silt and then clay. Today we dug around in soil looking to see if we could find some sand, silt or clay particles. It was messy and fun-they way Science should be!

Picture Day

Picture Day tomorrow!

Math Game Scoot

This month in Math one of the things we will be working on is skip counting  (up to the number 100 for now). On Friday students played many fun skip counting games where they counted by 5's and 10's forward and backward. Rather than having kids do traditional practise sheets at their desk Mrs. Shillington and I have the kids occasionally go on a Scavenger Hunt or "Scoot". The kids played a skip counting "Scoot" on Friday. "Scoot" involves kids moving around the room answering questions or solving problems. We had cards placed around the classroom and in the hallway. On each card we had a skip counting pattern and the kids had to figure out the number that was to come next in the pattern. They loved walking around the classroom and using the clipboards to hold their answer sheets. We had almost 40 kids walking around the hallway and in the classrooms all at once but you would never know it. They were so quiet and focused on solving the problems. It was wonderful! "Scoot" will definitely be played often!

Check out below for some pictures of the kiddos playing "Scoot"!

Parent Survey

Parents of 3 Creamer,

Today for homework students had one or two items to complete depending on what forms they had passed in. One item-the parent survey- never made it home today. In the rush of celebrating achievements and organizing the newest bus list I forgot to send it home. I just found it under the huge stacks of papers on my desk :) I apologize and it will be sent  home tomorrow.

Also please be advised that I will be adding a homework section to this blog. I am just working out some bugs. Thanks!

Ashley Daley Creamer

Welcome to Grade 3!

Welcome to Mrs. Daley-Creamer’s Grade 3 class blog!  I am so excited to meet my new students and to welcome back some familiar faces! Actually quite a few familiar faces. I recognize most of the names from my Gr. 2 Math group! I also have two kiddos from my Gr. 2 class from last year coming along for the ride with me this year!  And let me just say I am very excited that I get to keep them for another year! We are going to have an excellent year together and I am looking forward to working with my students and their families.

I would like to take this time to introduce myself.  My name is Mrs. Ashley Daley-Creamer and I will be your child’s grade 3 teacher for the 2015-2016 school year. I have been teaching in the district for quite a few years now and I am very familiar with the grade 3 curriculum as the majority of my teaching experience has been at the K-3 level. I've taught Gr. 2 for the last four years and I am very excited to get back to teaching Gr. 3. I graduated with degrees in Arts and Education from the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

I am from Quispamsis and I love living in the Kennebecasis Valley. I live with my husband Matthew and our naughty dog Dingo. He is a basenji and has more energy than a room full of third graders! I love telling stories about Dingo's shenanigans to my class.

My learning philosophy is that each child is unique, and each child learns in a different way. I believe in hands-on experiences, learning creatively and learning though play. My two favorite things to teach are Math and Writing. I hope my students like those two things because we will be doing A LOT of both!

 I am a firm believer in open communication between home and school as it is necessary for maximum school success.  During my time with your child, I will communicate with you as much as possible.  Students will have a homework folder in which I will put any notes or reminders.  This folder is to be returned each day and you may also use it to send me any notes as well.  If there are ever any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to email me ashley.daley@nbed.nb.ca. I can also be reached through the school at (506)847-6206 or you can send me a note in your child's homework folder.I am really looking forward to getting to know you and your child!

I update this blog often so please be sure to check in. Please be sure to check out the site links along the side of the page. These sites are all very fun and geared towards children in grade 3.

I hope to see you all at Fairvale's Annual Back to School BBQ taking place on September 2nd at 6 pm. Please drop by the classroom, say hello, leave any school supplies, and grab a bite to eat!

Ashley Daley-Creamer

Beat Boxing

The kids tried out beat boxing in music class last Friday. Mrs. Russell, our very creative music teacher, sent me the finished results. They are pretty cool videos. Check them out below!

Sugar Bush

Yesterday we went to the sugar bush. Here are some pictures that a sweet chaperon took for us!

Writing Around the Room

The kids love writing...especially when they get to choose their own comfy spots. I am completely OK with this-it gets them all to write longer!

The Sea Dogs Came to Visit

Hi all!

I hope everyone is relaxed and refreshed after a very well deserved March break. The kiddos were ready to get right down to business yesterday! It was so great seeing them all again.

Before our March break the Sea Dogs came to visit our class. We had two players come during our literacy block and read to our students. The kids love being read to. Normally they have so many questions about the book but instead they had so many questions about the Sea Dogs! We had a brief question and answer session with the two hockey players before it was time for them to be off. The hockey kiddos sure had a lot of questions about what they need to do to be a Sea Dog! Maybe there are some professional hockey players in the class! I'll go watch them when they go pro-as long as they aren't a Montreal Canadian! :)

100 Day

Friday was 100 Day and unfortunately I "wasn't there". I stayed home, watched T.V.  and ate bonbons all day instead of teach the class (this I what I told the kiddos). Ms. Lulu Inabelle was our 100 year old guest teacher that day. And from the looks of the pictures the kiddos weren't there either...they sent in their great grandparents to school instead!

I told the kiddos t give me their best "Senior" face! What goofballs!

"Everyone pretend you are happy to see the grandkids!"

I told everyone to give me their best "angry grandparent" look. I must say I've seen all of these looks from my own grandma who really is named Lulu Inabelle!

Our hallway looked like the geriatric section of the hospital. We had quite a few seniors with canes, one with a really bad hump on their back, a few old folks with mustaches and one skeleton. The skeleton told us he didn't quite make it to his 100th birthday but wanted to celebrate with us all the same.

In the morning we wrote about what it would be like for students in 100 years, read 100 day books, started a challenge to read 100 books before March break and collected 100 words. During Math we did four stations. For You and Your World we talked about the changes that happen to someone as they turn from a child into an adult and then into a senior (newsflash-all the kids think they will have lots of nose hair and lose their teeth when they are seniors). We then made pictures of ourselves at 100 for Art class. Our brain breaks were centered around 100 day. I gave the kids 100 seconds to do as many jumps, stand-sits, etc as they could!

It was a fantastic day!

Music Class Song

The kiddos came back from Music class today very excited. They got to beat on drums and learn a beautiful song that originated from a Native American tribe.  They told me that they wanted to sing this song for me. They almost had me in tears (quite a feat) when they told me the meaning behind the song. Ask your kiddo tonight what it means!

Colour Mixing

This week in Art class students were given the opportunity to mix red, blue and white to make new colours and shades. The kids really enjoyed this and we will definitely be experimenting with colour mixing again!

Beebots-Coding

As many of you know back in December our class participated in the Hour of Code where our kiddos practiced how to write computer programs. Mr. Robichaud visited our class again this week for a follow up on our coding lesson. The time he brought us robots. Students were expected to use what they had learned during our coding lesson to program a Beebot to move to specific block on a grid. Students played a little game in groups of two. One student was the programmer of the Beebot and the other student had to tell their partner where they wanted the Beebot to move on the grid. Please watch the video below to see the kids explaining the game to me.

 

Miss. Julie and Africa

All year long we love to celebrate diversity here at FES. Miss. Julie, one of the new student interns at our school, came to our class to talk about her experience growing up in Africa. Students were taught about customs and traditions that Miss. Julie holds dear. Unfortunately I was in an important meeting and missed the presentation. However, our kiddos had a lot to say about the presentation. Ask them what they were taught over dinner or while driving to activities this week!

Luckily I snapped a picture of Miss. Julie as I was leaving for my meeting-isn't her dress beautiful?

Doubles + 1

Hello Families of 2 Creamer,

In class we have been working on the strategy of doubles + 1. I've had a few enquiries about this strategy so I'm attaching a video below that teaches the strategy exactly how it is being taught in class. Enjoy!

Important Notice!!!

IXL has been renewed! The kiddos should be able to access their accounts!