Narrative Stories

Over the past few weeks, our writing focus has been on narrative writing. Students read a variety of stories and learned the features of narratives. Their assignment was to come up with their own adventure stories. They planned their ideas, developed their topic and came up with drafts of their work. They followed a checklist and had to ensure that their adventure stories had key must haves such as: problem and solution, characters, setting, details, describing words, linking words and character dialog with quotation marks. Students self assessed their work and had to follow the feedback from the teacher and their peers. We revised and edited to help our friends produce their best work.

Please head over to our class KidBlog account and leave us some comments or feedback on what you think of their hard work. They are very eager to share their amazing stories globally and can't wait to see comments on their hard work.

https://kidblog.org/class/MrsCiampa/posts

Hour of Code

This week students participated in the #HourofCode. Students had the chance to participate in a variety of computer science activities online and using robots in our school. Students are expert programmers with the robot Dash. They had so much fun applying their knowledge of forces in science and coded Dash to move in a variety of positions and locations. We also had the chance to plan purposeful activities with Dash when we were challenged to design a maze for Dash to navigate through. Students used a variety of tools in their attempt to get Dash to move in the correct direction. They learned through much trial and error how to slow Dash down, pick up speed at the right time and change location to be successful. It was a tough challenge, but many students persevered to accomplish their goal.

Students also programmed their own games on the Coding website code.org. Students loved programming on many of the sites including Minecraft, Google logo, Flappy Game, Star Wars, Box Island so so much more. Students were challenged to apply their knowledge of forces in science as well as their math skills in movement. It was a great week of collaboration, critical thinking and communication. We reflected on this engaging week by writing a retell paragraph using details from the struggles and the exciting adventures we had with coding. Ask your child to share what they wrote about and what they liked best.


Students are encouraged to keep coding at home and use our KidBlog platform to continue to share what they are learning, what obstacles they face and what new discovery they are making while coding on their platform of choice.

We wrapped up our week of #hourofcode by reflecting on our code learning. We wrote about what we learned and what we liked best. Ask your child about what they wrote. #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/dHRyDeZHYI

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 8 December 2017

Our elf Tallulah challenged our class to design a maze for Dash to go through. Students creativily designed mazes with tools in our room. A fun #hourofcode today. #ontariocodes pic.twitter.com/yftBqUSoby

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 6 December 2017

More examples of hour of code in grade 3. pic.twitter.com/gTjORa2U5H

— St Emily School (@StEmilySchool) 5 December 2017

Even with internet issues we persevered and completed an #hourofcode. Students worked through a few coding stations today and LEGO challenges too. #ontariocodes #stem #ocsbdl pic.twitter.com/l229xj2g9P

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 5 December 2017

Happy coding week! We got distracted from our math lesson by this awesome #Google coding game. #hourofcode #OntarioCodes pic.twitter.com/6lJc4KKvuF

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 5 December 2017

Problem solving when Dash won't follow the code. pic.twitter.com/JUScj68wWM

— St Emily School (@StEmilySchool) 1 December 2017

Students put their Forces in science learning into practice today. We programmed Dash using @WonderWorkshop apps. Ask your child what they had Dash do and what they learned. #stem #ocsbdl #ontariocodes pic.twitter.com/98Ps4DLgCq

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 1 December 2017

Grade 3 Ciampa codes Dash to move pic.twitter.com/XAvKGtriOD

— St Emily School (@StEmilySchool) 1 December 2017

We continue to experiment with the @WonderWorkshop apps to program and code our little Dashes. #stem #ocsbdl Ask your child what they learned on the Blockly app today. pic.twitter.com/ooimzXySci

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 29 November 2017

Students experimented with @WonderWorkshop today. We had fun teaching Dot how to move in different directions. #stem #ocsbDL pic.twitter.com/Myxe2mzm4V

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 23 November 2017

Kidblog Available for Student Blogging

We are excited and eager to begin our student blogging journey! For the past week students have been setting up their Kidblog accounts and using the platform to blog about their interests, experiences and participate in discussions. Now that all students have had the chance to create their accounts and navigate the site, we invite them to use the Blog for their creative writing endeavors. Remember to follow the Blogging Etiquette guidelines found HERE. A blogging contract was sent home with your child today. Please read, sign and send back the bottom of the form to ensure that all students and families understand our blogging rules and guidelines. Our goal is to promote thoughtful discussions and provide a platform for students to safely write for pleasure and for a global audience. Digital citizenship is important to us and students understand the 5 P's for a positive digital footprint.
Remember: the purpose for blogging is to read, write and respond. We encourage students to respond positively and appropriately. We are also promoting thoughtful discussions and dialogue.

Happy Blogging! 

kidblog.org/class/MrsCiampa/posts

Open House Parent Conferences

A huge thank you to all parents who were able to join us today at our school's Open House breakfast. We had so many wonderful families join us in our gym this morning. Families had the chance to enjoy a healthy breakfast together with their children. We also got to watch the dance teams led by Mrs. Vela. They blew us away with their amazing talent! After the breakfast, we went to our classrooms and invited our parents to join us.

We held mini parent conferences to show our parents some of our expertise in our room. Many students got to show off their amazing work on our Google Docs and Google Slides. There were other students who wanted to teach their parents how to scan QR Codes to read their narrative stories that we created. It was neat to see the students teach their parents how to scan a QR Code, and then how to write a comment through the link on their cover pages.

Students also wrote blog posts and comments together with their parents and taught them how to navigate the KidBlog site. It is so great to see the student's expertise in action. We also had students talk about their experiences with the Open House with their parents on our Padlet below. Please feel free to add more of your thinking! 

We are so thankful to have supportive families in our community who joined us today. Thank you to all of our thoughtful parents who came to feast with us and to learn more about their children's learning. It really brought a huge smile to our class' faces. 

To view the blog posts created by students today during the Parent conferences, please head on over to our class Kidblog accounts. 

Created with Padlet

Open House and Lorax Persuasive Writing

We have been working on Persuasive Writing in our room for the past few weeks. Students are learning how to convince someone to do something important to them. We need to make sure we are polite and we use kind words when we are trying to persuade. Our reasons have to be valid and have to be as convincing as possible.

We completed a Lorax persuasive task during Earth Week. We read the story and wondered as a class why the Once-ler was so determined to cut down the trees and take so much life away. We researched many reasons why trees are important to our life and to the life of other things in nature. We learned how to research and how to find reasons that made sense to our writing topic. Students used Google Slides to compile their research and then referenced the Slides while writing their persuasive letters to the Once-ler. Have a look at our research below:

 

Last week we completed another persuasive task. This time the topic was Open House. Students chose to either persuade the students of Assumption to buy books at the Book Fair or to persuade their parents to join us at our Open House breakfast. Students had to use transition words to help them compose their persuasive letters. Their good copy was typed on Google Docs where many students got to use Google Read and Write to help them edit their work. Ask your child to explain to you how it helped them with their writing. We also shared our final draft on an iPad app called Chatterpix. Students loved experimenting with this app. We posted all of their completed Chatterpix creations on their KidBlog accounts. Please visit our KidBlog accounts to leave a comment on their writing. They loved creating them and are excited to see they are available on YouTube!

Literacy Centers This Week

This week students became more independent as they explored their interests during our Literacy Centers. Students are getting the opportunity to chose a center that they are interested in and practising a skill or an activity that we are doing in class. Many students mailed letters to Santa this week. They went to the Writing Center to write a friendly letter to Santa telling him what they want for Christmas. They learned how to address an envelope so that he receives it in the North Pole. We are hoping to receive a reply back before we go for holidays. 

Using Tagul, a few students in our room created Word Collages. They are interested in making pretty collages with words that describe Christmas.  A few friends used the Tech Club to work with some Grade 4 friends to create Christmas Word Collages for our upcoming Birthday  Party for Baby Jesus.

Our elf Tallulah kept us busy with many silly antics this week. The students love coming into the classroom each day to find her hiding somewhere in our room. Tallulah inspires our students at the Word Center. We played a making words game using letters in her name. We are writing letters to her and imagining what it would be like if we had an elf of our own. Students got to design their own elf and write about what they would do if they were an elf. 

We help our friends with questions about their KidBlog accounts

Finally, students are really enjoying being experts at using KidBlog. We are blogging from home and during our Literacy Center time. Students are learning how to navigate the website. They are creating blog posts and sharing them with their friends. We are also learning about the comments feature. This week, many students wondered how to comment on a friend's blog. We are currently teaching our friends how to comment and how to write an appropriate response to a friend's post. I am encouraging students to offer effective feedback with a follow-up question. The follow-up questions are meant to encourage more dialogue and authentic conversations. We will continue to work on this in the new year. 

Thank you to all families who blog from home with their child! It is wonderful to see your child excited to blog..and also for you to write together AND comment on your child's writing. This is wonderful for their learning!!

Tallulah made us laugh this week. 

We learn about Christmas eve and we have a class elf her name is Tallulah.DS. CC

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) December 11, 2015

😇 Today I had so much fun learning about Tagul at Tech Club. By: EB

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) December 11, 2015

KidBlog!

https://kidblog.org/class/MrsCiampa/posts

Great news! Over the past few weeks we have been writing on our Student Blogs. We are using the KidBlog website for our student blogging. You can find a link to our Class Kidblog on the magnet that you received at the start of the year.

Today, a Blogging Etiquette contract was sent home. Students and families are welcome to blog and write together for homework each night. It is very important that you read over the Blogging rules and guidelines before posting. We are encouraging our students to post kind messages that support and follow digital citizenship guidelines. Students understand that they are in charge of their own digital footprint. We never post anything inappropriate. We are using avatars for safety purposes. And, we encourage students to have conversations on their blogs through the comments section.

Over the next few months we will continue to focus on blogging to increase our writing interest, practice the skills we learn in class and focus on promoting conversation skills. We hope you follow our blogging adventures!!

Homework Question: March 22-26

Welcome back to school! I hope you all enjoyed a restful March Break holiday. 

This week our vocabulary focus is on contraction words. What are contraction words? They are words with an apostrophe that take the place of letters. Contractions are a shorter way to say two words. For instance: he is becomes: he's. Follow this quick link to see how we can change two words into a contraction word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvjpoNKhnZA

For Homework This Week:
1. Students can play this contractions word game:
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/contractions/pick-the-correct-contraction.html
2. After playing this game, students will need to demonstrate their understanding of how to change two words into a contraction word.
3. Make a list of words that you changed into contraction words. (he is = he's)
4. Comment on a friend's blog to see what words they come up with.

5SC This Week: In the Jungle

This week our class participated in another 5 Sentence Challenge. Our prompt this this was 3 words: In the Jungle...Students had to write 5 sentences using only this writing prompt. https://fivesc.net/2015/03/05/prompt-6-3-2/#gf_23

As a class we began with a brainstorm session. We explored what jungles look...feel...and sound like. We used a shared Google Doc to come up with some details before beginning our writing. Have a look at what our shared brainstorm looked like:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YEyl2gi80_dRe-Yg-5eLB_HHN-VSvZ2uac2ZEP9jeFo/edit?usp=sharing  This activity helped us to write our rough drafts. It gave us the opportunity to work with a partner and come up with ideas together.

Please follow the link to our class KidBlogs to view what we all wrote about! Since this is a Global Writing Project, we have already received comments from student bloggers from all over the world! This week the students took some time to read and respond to some of the comments we've received on our Blogs. We've also commented on blogs from students around the world who wrote about the jungle. It is pretty amazing to see the reach this amazing project has. We are communicating with students in Australia, Thailand, the USA and more!

Students are encouraged to post and comment on our KidBlogs over the March Break! They are also welcome to continue commenting on other jungle blogs from around the world: https://fivesc.net/2015/03/05/prompt-6-3-2/#gf_23

HAVE A WONDERFUL MARCH BREAK!

Kindness Week

This week we celebrated Kindness Week. As a school and as a class, we took the time this week to highlight the acts of kindness that we do on a regular basis. We also took the time to talk about the things that we can do or say to spread a little more kindness. As a class we helped our school to reach 300 random acts of kindness. For many days, we learned that we were the kindest class in the school. We were very proud of that honour.

We spent time writing about kindness in different ways. One of our big goals is to show better sportsmanship both at recess and in gym. We have been working on how to play fair, how to show respect to our teammates and how to make sure we have fun when playing games together. We made a checklist together and decided that this is what we will work on. The students are recognizing how to show good sportsmanship. They are encouraging their friends when playing games. I am very proud of their efforts to show good sportsmanship - great work friends! Some students even blogged about it. Showing good sportsmanship is a wonderful example of kindness.

We are looking for comments on our blogs...please feel free to add a comment to students who blogged about sportsmanship this week!

Blog Posts About Sportsmanship:
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/1e77f3c8-95fe-4bfd-8147-ae824fd7e6a1/spotsmanship/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/ed3a68a5-b5d4-4f65-b47c-e40e6a70cbe0/sportsmanship/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/ec68fc0a-15e5-4da6-832f-30c395de574d/sportmanship/

We received a delightful surprise in school on Friday. Rabbi Bulka and the organizers of Kindness Week came to our school to acknowledge the kindness of our school! They shared with us that they came to give 3 kindness awards to students at our school. One of the big surprises was that they were awarding a student in OUR CLASS an award for their kindness.

We are so proud and honoured to say that our friend Naisha received the Kindness Award. She is always respectful towards others. She offers her help to any student that needs it. Naisha helps her friends in class and at school. She cares a lot for her friends and is always there for them when they need her. We learn so much from Naisha each day and feel proud that she is in our classroom. Thank you for showing us how to be a caring, sharing and kind friend!!

Below are some blog posts that student's created about kindness this week. We are looking for comments on our Student Blogs. Please feel free to add a comment on a kindness blog post below! The Kid President video below was a huge hit for students in class this week!

Blog Posts About Kindness:
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/337201dc-6133-4745-a135-88e53fc10350/kindness-award/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/e9e0ea3d-be3b-44c3-918e-ac30311b71cc/kindss/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/eaa1bea7-f654-4ebd-bed6-07f4e745145b/kind/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/ec68fc0a-15e5-4da6-832f-30c395de574d/kindness-week/
http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/50a016d8-9775-4543-a137-4f7e938186ae/kindness-video/

SM shares how to show kindness and good sportsmanship! #kindottawa pic.twitter.com/IER47ud6JB
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

 bt: can sorw soptsmanship by not bragging and shake your opponents hand whan the game is over #kindottawa

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

WN good sportsmanship is,to share with someone and help someone with ANY thing #kindottawa
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

FF says: I showed grit by hinding the soccer ball into the net then I saket hands aftter the game. #kindottawa
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

WN good sportsmanship is,to shake your opponents hand after ANY game #kindottawa
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

sm says:you can show spotsmanship when you don 't give up and don't bragging play fair .
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) February 19, 2015

5 Sentence Challenge!

Students working on peer editing their rough draft of the 5SC!

This week we began a new global project venture. This time it is a Blogging Project known as the "5 Sentence Challenge." This is a global project that challenges student writers to blog about a particular topic using a sentence or picture prompt. This project is available to student bloggers all over the world. We are exciting to begin taking part in it!

This week the prompt focused on a beautiful picture. We brainstormed as a class what we could write about and focused on the details inside of the picture. Students had great ideas to share. We started with a rough draft. Our goal was to be creative, write at least 5 sentences and use our writing checklists to help keep us on track.
Students worked in partners to edit one another's work. They used the editing checklist as their guide. Once rough copies were complete, students wrote their good copies on their KidBlogs!

As a class we have been working on giving effective feedback in the comments we write on the Blogs. I took sample comments from their KidBlogs and together we created a Bump It Up Wall. The bump it up comments will serve as a guide for students to work towards adding more detail in their comments and giving students something to reply back to. This will help to encourage deeper conversations on our Blogs!

The exciting part of this 5 Sentence Challenge is that all students around the world who are participating in this project can read and comment on OUR stories! They are posted and ready for any student to comment on. Students in our class are encouraged to view what other students blogged about the picture. All students and schools participating can be found by following this link: https://fivesc.net/2015/02/05/prompt-8-3-2-2/#gf_22 Students can click on any student's Blog link and comment away!! Remember to bump up your comment with extra details and a question!

To view all stories that our class posted, please view our class blogs and check out our Blog Roll: http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/

New this week...Mr. Thomas is now blogging too!!

Homework This Week

This week we will begin completing homework on our KidBlog account. Each week, I will post a question, a wonder or an activity and students will need to post on their Blogs for homework.

We will be talking about taking care of ourselves during Health this week. Why do we need a good night's rest each night...and what can we do during the day to make sure that we are well rested? What can rest do for us to keep us healthy?

Students can compose a paragraph on their Blog to reply to this health question: http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/06550a79-65b9-4ce0-9c69-365d0a3daccd/january-12th-homework-question/

This KidBlog post is due Thursday January 15th!

Welcome to January and Newsletter

Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope everyone is well rested and ready to come back to school this week. Hard to believe we are now in 2015. I can't wait to hear about your Christmas holidays. Some students were blogging over the break...way to go friends! Please view our KidBlog website to view our blogs, to comment on a blog AND to post your own blog too! 

http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/

Follow the link below to view our January Newsletter. We have so many fun activities planned for January including our Scientists in the School Workshop AND a fun Math Day planned by the Grade 6 class. 

https://drive.google.com/a/ocsb.ca/file/d/0B_re1hqN_E-ATTB0ejBySnBRS1E/view?usp=sharing

Student Blogging

Our Blog Posting Criteria created by students!

Our students have begun blogging over the past few weeks. Students came up with a Blogging criteria where we determined what we could blog about. Students brainstormed ideas for our KidBlog posting criteria. This list will help our class to determine what we can blog about. Currently, students have blogged a few times while at school. We are learning how to navigate on our KidBlog accounts on iPads and Chromebooks. Some students are already experts and are helping friends to post on their blogs for the first time.

Students are also learning how to write meaningful comments. We are using comments to give descriptive feedback and to promote conversations. Students will continue to work on how that looks over the next few weeks.

Students are also using their Blogs to demonstrate their digital citizenship. We are careful about how we post. Students are beginning to edit their work before posting and are ensuring that what they post is kind and safe. We will continue to work on how that looks like. Students are eager to add their own avatar's to their Blogs too.

Students are encouraged to blog from home if they would like. They can view our Blog Post Criteria to determine what they might post. Students are also encouraged to read over our Blogging Etiquette guidelines. An etiquette contract will be sent home soon. In the next few weeks, student login information will also be sent home. Many students have already memorized their login password. Follow the link to view our blog page! http://kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/ 

Digital Citizenship

This past week was Digital Citizenship Week. Students learned about their digital footprint and how to be kind citizens online.

In our class, students are very comfortable with digital citizenship as we use many online tools on a daily basis. We already have a digital presence and students related their classroom experience to many of the videos and lessons we viewed this week.

As the week went on, students learned about the smart choices they should make while participating in online learning. We talked about the importance of keeping some personal information private and how we can show kindness in our online interactions. 

Students wrote paragraphs on how they can be good citizens. We also chatted and tweeted how we are safe and kind online. We decided to make posters to encourage others to make safe online choices and the importance of showing kindness in our interactions. We chatted about what kind of digital tools we use in our classroom as well as tools that students use at home. We hope that our posters inspire students in our school to make a positive digital footprint and to share their thinking and learning like we do!

After creating our posters, some students blogged about digital citizenship and what they learned about online safety this week.  We posted on our KidBlogs. Please follow the link to read about our learning from this week.  Our Student Blogs: KidBlog

Parents, for more information on how you can keep your child safe online, please visit Common Sense Media's website. Common Sense Media

HH:Today we learned to be a good citizens like helping other people who are hurt and who are crying

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 12, 2014

HH:we learned how to go online safety like never saying bad things

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 12, 2014

R.C .. good citizen is to help other people when someone needs support.

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 12, 2014

ES says: We've been learning to be careful online and if you see a pop-up, don't open it!

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2014

RC. BE KIND ON THE INTERNET

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 14, 2014

ES says: I am a good citizen when I don't give my information to bad games

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 14, 2014