Happy Holidays

As we approach the holiday season I want to take time to share my gratitude toward each of you! I feel so fortunate to work in such a wonderful school community full of thoughtful and supportive parents and hard-working and sweet students. It truly makes me love my job and enjoy coming to work each and every day. I hope all of you have a wonderful and relaxing time spent with loved ones. I am looking forward to spending time with my family, celebrating my husband’s birthday, and watching the Seahawks beat the Niners! J Happy Thanksgiving!


MATH: Unit 3 has sure been jam packed with lots of new concepts and skills for our class to learn! Students have done a great job with measuring length, mass, and capacity. We also spent quite a bit of work on telling time using an analog clock, adding and subtracting time, and finding elapsed time! This, I have discovered, is a very hard concept for a lot of our kiddos! With the use of several different strategies on paper, using number lines, or using mini analog clocks, kids are starting to get the hang of solving word problems related to time. At home please continue to have conversations about time with your child! It would be a great idea to refer to the analog clock often, as well as ask questions related to time passed doing specific activities. For example: If it is 5:20 when your child starts math homework, they finish the math homework at 5:47, and still need to read for 20 minutes, a good question might be, “what time will it be when you are finished with your reading homework?” or, “how long did you spend on your math and reading homework together?” Thanks so much for your help with this skill! The more practice they have and real life connections they can make with time, the stronger they will understand the concept.

 
Next up: Reading, analyzing, and creating horizontal and vertical bar graphs and line plots!

 
READING: We have been busy working on our CAFÉ skills in reading! I have been so impressed with the kids’ excitement for reading during the Daily 5. Students are doing an excellent job balancing their daily 5 choices throughout the week. I have especially been enjoying watching their growth and improvement in the ‘respond to reading’ choice. This involves responding to one of two questions about the chapter book they are reading independently in the classroom. Students are asked to give a complete answer, share evidence from the text, and come up with a connection, quote, or prediction to support their answer. They are doing a great job! In December students will be practicing all of the CAFÉ strategies we have learned so far and participate in a whole class literature circle reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. Students will be making predictions and inferences, identifying cause and effect and sequence of events, and practicing vocabulary and fluency skills while reading this fun book.

 

*Side Note: Recently we have been discussing the importance of reading books from different genres! While third graders really seem to love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series here at school, they have been encouraged to branch out and explore new authors, series, and genres! Ask your child about the books they have explored in our classroom. If you would like recommendations for books to read at home, please contact me!


WRITING: This month our class will begin to practice procedural writing by writing a descriptive and festive 5 paragraph piece on ‘How to Eat a Candy Cane’. Students will focus on their five senses and descriptive word choice while writing an opening, closing, and three detailed paragraphs on their opinion of the BEST method in eating this sweet treat! They even get to munch on a candy cane of their own to discover their unique methods, as well as pay close attention to what the candy cane looks, smells, tastes, feels, and sounds like! Keep a look out for these in our third grade hallway.


SOCIAL STUDIES: It seems simple to us as adults, but understanding where we live on planet earth is a very abstract thought for kids. It's not easy for kids to visualize that we live on a continent, in a country, in a state, in a city, and in a community within that city. We've been observing maps, learning the location of the continents, oceans and regions of the United States. Anytime you go on a trip, it would be great for kids to look at a map or globe to find out where they are going - which continent, which state, which city - using these terms. They could even use the compass rose to determine the direction you will travel.

In December each child will go in depth to learn more about a particular state of choice and write a state report. We'll learn about Washington state together, and then each child will choose a state of interest! It should be fun!


SCIENCE: We finally finished up our Motion and Matter unit and I have to say, the kids had a blast! I have been so impressed watching them carry out investigations to make different discoveries about magnetism, motion, and mixtures. The science notebooks share great evidence of student learning and understanding the big ideas from the different investigations.

Next trimester students will participate in more STEM investigations, and will also be learning more about metric measurement!


Other News...

 Report Cards: Report cards will be sent home with your child on Friday, December 5^th. Remember, this year we are using a new report card program for sharing student progress. Because we just met in the beginning of November, the report cards should be pretty predictable. FYI: The new common core standards are related to where students should be at the END of third grade. Please do not be discouraged if you see a 2 on your child’s report. This simply means they are approaching where they should be at the end of the year, and are likely on a good track. Thanks for taking this into consideration when viewing your child’s report. As always, let me know if you have any questions.

 
Winter Wish Drive: If you can, please stop by the foyer and check out the Winter Wish Drive wall. Mittens are posted with items needed by families this season.

 
Weather Report: It's cold out there! Please make sure your child wears a coat and if you can do it, hat and mittens.

 

Art Imagination:  Thank you to Britta Knapman for taking on the role of Art Imagination and Auction Project volunteer this year. The kids had a fun time making and framing festive prints with metal, as well as creating different designs of their own! It is such a fun time for kids to have these creative art opportunities in the classroom setting each month.

Toy Maker: Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming Toy Maker experience on Friday, December 19th! Permission slips will be sent home on Monday, December 1st. Toy Maker Rick Hartman will be here to help students create toys related to our Motion and Matter science unit!

 

November News

Happy November! I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween! The kids sure had a fun time dressing up in their costumes and playing some exciting and creative games in the classroom at our party! Thanks again to Tanya, Heather, and Ali for organizing such a fun party! Despite the new ‘no food rule’, the kids really had a positive attitude and had a great time. I especially loved seeing all of the creative costume choices!

I spent my Halloween weekend passing out candy to trick or treaters in our new neighborhood, going on a hike with my husband and dog, and will be cheering on the Seahawks at the game tomorrow! I hope everyone remembered to set your clocks back this weekend for Daylight Savings. I’m looking forward to catching up with each family at conferences this week.

 

A quick note: as the weather continues to get colder, please remember to send your child to school with a coat!

MATH: I can’t believe we are finally through the multiplication and division units! The kids did an awesome job building fluency with these facts. I’m looking forward to celebrating all of their hard work this Friday as we have our math multiplication party! Please remember to pack a special treat with your child on Friday, November 7^th for them to enjoy during our short movie.

In Unit 3, students will begin to look at Measurement, Time, and Graphs. The first big idea of this unit involves students focusing on customary and metric units of length. They will also solve word problems that involve liquid, volume, and mass. Next, we will take a look at telling time to the minute, quarter hour, half hour, and hour. Students will also practice finding elapsed time and solving word problems involving time. In the last part of our unit, our class will draw and analyze bar graphs, pictographs, and line plots. Please refer to your child’s homework and remembering each night to find out the specific skill that was learned that day. The remembering side does a great job re-visiting concepts already learned this year.

SCIENCE: I have to say, I have had such a fun time learning and teaching the new science unit, Motion and Matter. The kids really have shown a strong understanding of how magnets and forces work. Last week we spent a lot of time studying the patterns of an objects motion. They have done a fabulous job recording data, drawing diagrams, and answering focus questions in their science notebooks. In investigation 3, students will tackle an engineering challenge in which they will design a cart that can roll the farthest. They will measure the distance their structure can roll in centimeters and meters. Stay tuned for pictures of students constructing and testing their systems next week!

WRITING: The class has worked really hard on this personal narrative writing unit. Specifically, we have spent our time focusing on how to narrow a special memory down to a small, specific moment. Kids have worked on adding detail to help the reader better visualize their moment. After publishing two, we will spend the next week or two analyzing our writing pieces and focusing on more goal areas. We will look at specifics such as using strong leads and strong words and details, using dialogue effectively, and creating a clear ending. In November students will write one last personal narrative on a special small moment of their choice as their writing assessment. I am proud of the progress they have made and love how excited they are about writing!

READING: Our class continues to do a lovely job during our reading block each day. On Mondays, students are introduced to a new CAFÉ skill through the use of a children’s book. I just love children’s books and think they are so great for teaching life lessons and skills such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, making inferences, identifying story elements…and the list goes on! On Tuesdays we continue to focus on the skill within our Journeys textbook. The skill(s) are touched throughout the week in the whole and small group settings in a variety of literature.

Independently our third graders are doing a great job showing responsibility for their Daily 5 ‘must do’ weekly list. I enjoy reading with kids each day and observing their growth in comprehension, accurate reading, fluency, and expanding vocabulary.

Please continue to ensure your child reads at home each night! The big thing I am encouraging is reading and sticking with just right CHAPTER BOOKS. I am encouraging the kids to explore new genres and books that they have not read before.  Please let me know if you have questions about appropriate book choices for your child.

UPCOMING DATES TO KNOW:

November 4^th: Picture Retake Day

November 10^th & 11^th: NO SCHOOL: Professional Development Day and Veterans Day

November 21^st: Reflections Projects Due

November 27^th & 28^th: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! NO SCHOOL

Fun in Room 208!

MATH: Students are flying through these multiplication and division facts! This week we are finally learning the last of our multiplication numbers, 7’s and 8’s! We discovered that since we have already learned all of the other multiplications, 7x7, 7x8, and 8x8 are really the only ones left to discover! The class has come up with great strategies for multiplying and dividing. Some of these include using count bys with fingers, making equal shares drawings, and drawing arrays. Students have also come up with a strategy of breaking one number apart and multiplying in 2 steps. For example: if we are trying to find the answer to 8x6, we can break the 8 up into two parts (4 and 4), and solve it by adding 8x4 +8x4. All are great strategies; however, practicing fluency each and every night is extremely important for students! Please quiz your child to help with these fast facts. Multiplication.com is also a great website for them to get some extra practice. Another idea: ask your child about Multiplication War! This game can be used with a deck of cards and the kids love it! In the coming weeks we will continue to work on multiplication and division word problems, understanding square numbers, and solving two step story problems.

READING: I have been so impressed watching students continue to grow as readers in the whole group, small group, and independent setting. The kids are doing a great job making Daily 5 choices and working hard to manage their time and get everything done on their ‘must do’ list. Last week we added one more component to Daily 5, respond to reading. After seeing examples modeled and practicing on their own, students helped develop a rubric for writing a thoughtful reading response. It has been fun reading their responses about the chapter books they are reading independently. As always, we continue to learn new CAFÉ strategies that we practice in the whole group, small group, and independently. This week we are looking at questioning strategies before, during, and after reading. In the coming weeks we will learn more about text and graphic features in fiction and non-fiction books, and have more practice on making inferences within a text.

WRITING: Our class is continuing to focus on personal narrative writing. We talked about how to zoom in on a specific moment (a seed topic) as opposed to writing about a big moment (watermelon topic). After completing their first narratives, students shared with the class. We talked about what we are proud of as writers with this first writing piece. After listening to other students’ narratives, kids focused in on a goal that they wanted to work on for their next piece. As a class the goals chosen were: using descriptive language, writing sentences that flow easily, using bold and detailed words, improving punctuation/conventions, engaging the reader, and developing characters. I was impressed that they came up with these goals all on their own after listening to each other’s writing! Kids signed up for the goal(s) that were most appropriate for them. I can’t wait to teach mini-lessons on each topic and see the improvement each child makes on their next writing piece. Up next: more personal narratives…kids will be writing about ‘silly secrets of third graders’!

SCIENCE: This week we finally started our new science unit, Motion and Matter! To begin, students began investigating magnets and their interaction. Students explored with paper clips and magnets and developed some great questions to explore throughout the unit. A few of the questions included: How many metals can magnets stick to? How do magnets stick on our desk when paper clips are on them? Why do the paper clips stay together after we take them off of the magnet? When you put two magnets together, how come it feels like air is between the magnets and they won’t connect?

Throughout this investigation students will continue to learn about the attraction between magnets and paper clips while thinking about our class focus question: What happens when magnets interact with other magnets and paper clips? Kids will develop a model that explains the interaction between the magnets and the paper clips. Take a look at our classroom photo tab to view kids exploring these interactions! They had a fun time.

SOCIAL STUDIES: While we are exploring in science, the class will take a short break from Social Studies. When we return, kids will learn about the regions in the United States, and compare and contrast 2 regions.

UPCOMING DATES:

Don’t forget to sign up for a conference! Conferences will be held the week of November 3^rd. I’m looking forward to meeting with you all.

 

October News!

I can’t believe we’ve been in school for a month already! I have had the best time getting to know my students personally and academically. I have to say…this class is amazing! They are so sweet, respectful, and really love to learn! They are all so unique and fun in their own way. I love the start of a new school year!

Thanks to everyone who was able to participate (or volunteer) at our school Walk-A-Thon. It was a HUGE success! The kids absolutely loved having Blitz, the Seahawks mascot there to cheer them on. The third grade teachers enjoyed it as well J.

 

I’m looking forward to spending more time getting to know your kiddos over the next month and speaking with you all individually at conferences. If you have not signed up for a conference, please do! Let me know if you have any issues with Sign Up Genius. It is a super helpful website that makes scheduling so easy!

READING: Daily 5 Workshop is up and running! After spending weeks getting familiar with the different parts of the Daily 5 (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work, and work on writing) the kids are beginning to make their weekly ‘choices’ and start rotations as I work with guided reading groups. Each day is going better and better. The class is really taking on the responsibility of independently getting their work done, and ensuring that they complete all appropriate tasks within the week. Next week I will introduce one more component, respond to reading, where kids will thoughtfully respond to the text that they are currently reading. Students will use evidence and make connections within the text to support their thinking.

Along with Daily 5, we still are introducing new CAFÉ (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, expanded vocabulary) strategies that will help all third graders become great readers! This group is so fun to read with. They are already so excited about the variety of texts they have been exposed to in the last month. I love seeing their love for reading!

WRITING: Personal Narratives- This week we began talking more about personal narrative writing. Students were asked to think of a small moment in their life to write about. After reading a book called ‘Salt Hands’ we decided the moment should be 10 minutes or less in order for the reader to really get enough specific detail about the event. Instead of writing about a “watermelon topic” (ex: trip to Disneyland), kids were asked to narrow in on a “seed topic” (ex: riding on Splash Mountain). Students brainstormed detailed words by thinking about the 5 senses and also discussed ways to ‘hook the reader’ at the beginning of the writing piece. They are turning out so good! We can’t wait to revise, edit, and publish. Look for our small moment writing pieces hanging in the hallway in the next couple of weeks! We will continue various personal narrative writing topics throughout the remainder of the trimester.

MATH: Multiplication continued! The kids are doing an amazing job with their multiplication and division fluency. We have been using multiplication.com to help with our fast facts. With each fact that is passed, the kids get to put a part of a colored ice cream cone on the wall. Once all the facts are passed…we celebrate with ice cream sundaes!

Next week we will take the Unit 1 assessment. This assessment covers multiplication and division facts and story problems with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. Unit 2 deals with similar concepts with 6, 7, and 8. Please continue to quiz your child on these facts at home!

SOCIAL STUDIES: Over the past month, the kids have learned about the hemispheres, oceans, continents, countries, states, and communities. We also read about landmarks around the United States and learned which direction (N, S, E, W, NE, SE, NW, SW) these places are from us! Next, kids will learn about the physical geography, natural resources, and climate of our community, and 3 other communities in the United States. Kids will also learn about the US regions and will choose 2 regions to compare and contrast physical features, resources, and climate.

SCIENCE: Motion and Matter. I am really looking forward to starting this new science unit. We are the first group to pilot the program in Bellevue! The motion and matter module provides third graders with physical sciences core ideas dealing with forces and interactions, matter and its interactions, and engineering and design. Magnetism and gravity are the forces students explore. Throughout the investigations students will collect data, answer questions, and define problems in order to develop solutions. Stay tuned for more information once we dive into this new curriculum!

Welcome to Third Grade!

WOW! What a fun 2 weeks it has been getting to know my new students. We have been very busy so far in third grade with building our classroom community and diving into the third grade curriculum! I look forward to meeting/seeing you all on Curriculum Night on Wednesday, September 17th at 6:00. This blog will serve as a way for you to stay connected with our classroom this year! I hope you enjoy all of the pictures, websites, and updates to come in third grade.

READING: At the beginning of the year, third graders begin exploring the classroom library, learning how to choose IPICK (just right) books, and practice becoming independent literacy learners  through Daily 5 choices. These choices include reading to self, reading to someone, working on writing, responding to reading, and word work practice. In the next few weeks, students will become independent in these tasks and have several responsibilities to complete each week during their literacy block. Over the past two weeks, our class has also read several books that teach skills related to Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary (CAFE). We will continue to learn new skills and add strategies to our reading board that will help us become better readers in third grade.
This week students will complete the STAR reading test for me to gain a better understanding of their reading strengths. I will also continue to conference with students and begin forming small groups for reading. Please take a look at your child's READING LOG. This is designed as a book mark and should be filled out each night so that I can stay up to date with what your child is reading at home!

WRITING: In the fall trimester, students will be focusing on narrative writing pieces. We started with a small snapshot writing piece about each student. The kids wrote three paragraphs all about them that include something they love, activities they especially enjoy doing, and the best thing about them! They have turned out really great and will be hanging in our hallway at the end of the week. We will turn these published writing pieces into a book so that others can learn more about the students in room 208!

MATH: Throughout Unit 1, students will be learning about multiplication and division. They will learn to use a variety of strategies to solve multiplication equations and word problems, and also learn how multiplication and division are related to one another. To end, students will be solving two-step word problems that involve the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Please ensure that your child is practicing their multiplication and division fluency at home each night! See their homework calendar and 'study plan' for more details in numbers to practice.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Our Community, and Beyond! In Unit 1 students explore where we live in the world. Students start big with vocabulary including hemisphere, equator, and prime meridian, and will begin talking about the continents, countries, states, and communities. This tends to be a difficult concept for third graders. Please try to also use this vocabulary at home when talking about vacations, places you've been, where you were born, etc! It is very helpful.

SCIENCE: This trimester we are piloting a new science kit that we are really excited about! The title of the unit is Motion and Matter and includes tons of hands on activities that engage students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities. More details on this unit to come in the next few weeks!

DATES TO KNOW:
September 17th: Curriculum Night
September 26th: Walk-A-Thon
September 29th: Picture Day