Student Blogger: “Grade 3 Descriptive Writing”

Oct01
2012 3 Comments

Written by lcameron

In LA right now we are doing descriptive writing. We are writing about are favorite seasons and what we see, hear, touch, feel, smell in your favorite season. Mrs. Cameron showed us how to put our ideas into a organizer and then we created a paragraph from them.

Then we learned how to edit our writing by using a dictionary to fix spelling. We also looked for uppercase letters and periods and making sure we had juicy words. Finally, we did our good copy.

I think it was kind of easy because I write a lot at home but I did not know how to edit writing by using a dictionary but it was kind of easy to figure out for me.I did not even know how to use a dictionary and find words, but know I do and all my words are spelled correctly.

We have six boxes and we have to draw what we wrote about but only our senses. Then we have to color them.

By: Cameron

Posted in Blogger of the Week, Language Arts

Welcome to our Grade 3 Class!

Sep12
2012 3 Comments

Written by lcameron

Hello! Welcome to the start of another exciting school year at Forest Green! We are Mrs. Lesley Cameron (left in above photo) and Ms. Sheena Hobbins (right) and we’re so pleased to be team-teaching a great group of Grade 3′s this year!

We are excited to be working together and modeling for our students what collaboration truly looks like, as we will team-teach most subjects. While we have some other tidbits in our assignments, we will be together most of the time in the classroom. Our hope is that this will prove to be a very exciting and fun year, fueled by a love and passion for learning!

A quote that I enjoy and believe it aligns so closely with our goals as a division is “A teacher’s purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.” – Author Unknown

As we embark on this new year, we will continue to work hard and move forward, as “PSD will be guided by a vision that captures the importance of exploration, creativity and imagination for all learners in the Division. The future-focused mission speaks to the importance of preparing, engaging, and inspiring our students to be their best in a quickly changing global community.” (Parkland School Division website)

This is going to be a great year with our amazing grade 3 students and the great family we have at Forest Green School!

Thank you for visiting our classroom blog and we hope to use this as a strong communication tool with our parents and school community. Please feel free to leave a comment on any blog post and we will do our very best to reply!

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Classroom Information, Collaboration

Our Visit to Ronald McDonald House Northern Alberta

Jun18
2012 2 Comments

Written by lcameron

With the support of Barb and Eric Livingstone and our local McDonald’s restaurant, the Grade 3′s at Forest Green School had the incredible opportunity to visit Ronald McDonald House Northern Alberta on Friday, June 15th. Ronald McDonald House provides a comfortable, warm, and welcoming home away from home for families when they have a sick child who is receiving treatments and are hospitalized in Edmonton hospitals. The House allows sick kids to have exactly what they need… their families.

In Grade 3 Social Studies, students learn about being good global citizens and helping others in any way we can. All year, the Grade 3′s have been demonstrating leadership through their Kids Helping Kids Program. Students, staff, families, and community members collected metal pull tabs in support of Ronald McDonald House. Maple Leaf Metals melts down the tabs and all of the proceeds from the metal goes directly to the House. It was absolutely astonishing how many pull tabs were collected over the past 8 months!

Our morning field trip began at 8:50 am, where we all hopped on a bus and headed to the House in Edmonton. Ronald McDonald was awaiting our arrival, where we weighed the pull tabs. Forest Green School collected an unbelievable 71.2 kg (156.4 lbs) of pull tabs!!! That’s A LOT of pull tabs I am SO proud of our school!

From there, we enjoyed a magic show from Ronald McDonald along with some families of the House! It was a lot of fun! Then, all students went on a tour and spent time baking and making a craft for the families of the House.

It was a very touching, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Many interacted with siblings of families currently living at the House. It was great to have conversations with staff members of the House, as well as a nice visit with a thankful Mom. Coming from Saskatchewan, RMHNA is their current home and she expressed to me how much both her and her son enjoyed the visit and thanked us for a fun morning. Some of the stories are very positive and encouraging, while others bring sadness and heartache.

I am so proud to be supporting an amazing facility in our city and look forward to the leadership of next year’s Grade 3′s in our Kids Helping Kids Program. Many thanks to Jen, Martin, Alan, Kyle, Kaitlyn, and all of the wonderful staff at the House for welcoming us into the House and accommodating our activities.

Check out the video below for some pictures of our morning:

We feel so fortunate to have had this experience! Grade 3′s, what was your favourite part of the morning at Ronald McDonald House? Why is this such an important cause that we are helping through our Kids Helping Kids Program?

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Collaboration, Connections, Social Studies

Grade 3 Musicians!

May02
2012 21 Comments

Written by lcameron

In our Hearing and Sound unit, students completed a home project with a parent where they needed to construct a musical instrument. The criteria were:

- My instrument is securely put together.
- I can make 2 or more different sounds with my instrument.
- I used materials found from home.
- I can demonstrate how my instrument works and show understanding of pitch.
- I completed my reflection with detail.

Check out our instruments below:

Making Musical Instruments! on PhotoPeach

I was very impressed with the instruments that were created and presented to our class! We had everything from guitars to panpipes to drums to maracas! Great job, Grade 3′s. What was the most difficult thing about constructing your instrument? Was anything really easy?

I’m very proud of you!
~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Collaboration, Science

We Can Multiply!

Apr20
2012 18 Comments

Written by lcameron

My grade 3 mathematicians have a few new strategies and skills in their tool kit… they are learning all about multiplication! This year, we look critically about what multiplication actually means and different strategies to represent it in order to solve and create story problems up to 5 x 5.

I absolutely LOVE teaching this unit because it’s a brand-new concept for students in their grade 3 year. It has been my experience that they feel so empowered and excited when we learn how to multiply numbers! We started with looking at equal groups, which is what multiplying really means, repeated addition, arrays, and related multiplication sentences.

Grade 3′s, which strategies do you like to use when you’re multiplying? Can you tell me about the x 1 rule? How about the x 0 rule?

Happy Multiplying! I look forward to the next half of this unit, as we move into division next week.

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Math

Pysanky Experience!

Apr12
2012 1 Comment

Written by lcameron

On Tuesday, April 4, our class engaged in a traditional art form to celebrate Easter called Pysanky. We learned all about the tools needed to decorate a raw egg, including a kistka, wax, lit candle, and the coloured dyes. The class learned about the symbols used in pysanky and their traditional meanings. We planned the design and colour of the eggs well, which made the actual art project much easier.

Check out some pictures from our morning!
Pysanky Morning! on PhotoPeach

Thank you again to our fabulous parent volunteers who made this project a huge success! It was important to have small groups and an adult with each group, helping the students. So thank you for your time and commitment to our educational experiences!

Grade 3′s, what was the hardest thing about your pysanka egg? What did you find easy? Did you enjoy this experience? Why or why not?

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Art, Connections

Story Sharing

Apr04
2012 Leave a Comment

Written by lcameron

Once again, we are diving into the exciting world of narrative writing in Language Arts. Today, I had the students work in small groups of three to create one story. Hmm, this could be quite the challenge with many different ideas, but only one story. The students had the following criteria for the activity:

- Each member contributes to the story
- Each member can only write 3 words at a time
- The person writing decides if the sentence is complete
- The person writing is responsible to add in required punctuation and capital letters

It worked out great!! Students were engaged and excited to participate equally with group members. Good job, Grade 3′s!

Grade 3′s, did you enjoy this writing activity? Why or why not? Was there anything you found challenging about it?

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Collaboration, Language Arts

More Help Needed for Pysanky…

Mar31
2012 1 Comment

Written by lcameron

I hope everyone has had an AMAZING Spring Break!!

With Easter right around the corner next weekend, I am very excited to do Pysanky with the class on Tuesday morning. With our study of communities around the world (and Ukraine being one of them!), we will be decorating Easter eggs in the traditional Ukrainian style.

This is an art project that requires a great deal of care, small groups, and parent help. It is important to have small group ratios, as we use candles, beeswax, dyes, etc. I still require about 3 more helpers, so if you’re able to help on Tuesday morning from 9-12, please let me know. If we don’t have enough assistance, we won’t be able to engage in Pysanky. Also, I have asked the students to bring in newspaper to cover the desks if you have some extra around the house. Please leave me a comment or send me an email

Thank you in advance for anyone able to make it! I’m looking forward to this special experience with the kids!

~Mrs. Cameron

Posted in Art, Classroom Information

Blogger of the Week: “The Trees, The Trees, The Truffula Trees!”

Mar19
2012 3 Comments

Written by lcameron

Mrs. Cameron read us a book and it was called The Lorax. After she read us the book we had to do a reader response to the book and it asked questions like What does it say about the environment? and What the book is about. We had to answer another question and the question was Why do the colors change troughout the book? After we did our reader response, we made truffula trees and we each got to make two trees. We also made one with a grade 4/5 student. They taught us how to do the finger knitting. There were three colors and they are purple, blue and rainbow. I made my first tree purple and rainbow and I made second tree blue and rainbow I also made one at home and it was pink and purple. After we made our trees Mrs Cameron took a picture of us and our truffula trees. I liked the activity because I like Dr. Seuss and I learned about a new form of art and working with fabric!

Here is a picture of me with my truffula tree:

This is a picture of my entire class holding their truffula trees!

By Kaylyn

Posted in Art, Blogger of the Week, Language Arts

Stony Plain Councillor Guest Speaker!

Mar15
2012 3 Comments

Written by lcameron

On Tuesday, March 13, Mrs. Judy Bennett, a member of the Town of Stony Plain’s Council, came to the grade three classes Forest Green School. Mrs. Bennett spent half an hour in Miss Heward’s classroom and then came to our classroom to share her thoughts and answer some questions about our current topic in Social Studies. Mrs. Bennett holds a very special place in my heart, as I have known her for many years. She was MY grade three teacher and an amazing teacher!

We were learning about how communities work together. This topic included what makes a good leader, how leaders are chosen, how councils work, and the importance of communities working together. Mrs. Bennett brought great insight and examples into the classroom about how our own Town Council works and makes important decisions as a group that affect the residents of our Town. She spoke about her roles and responsibilities as a Council Member, how the Council supports the Mayor (or Deputy Mayor) and also explained our connection with our twinned town of Shikaoi, Japan.

The students generated some powerful questions to ask Mrs. Bennett at the conclusion of her presentation. They came up with some great questions and I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed her visit and truly learned a lot! Thank you very much, Mrs. Bennett!!