Hello Families!
I hope you all enjoyed your Snow Day yesterday! Oein and I were pretty bummed that it wasn't snowy enough to build a snowman and it was too soggy to stay out for long! Oh well, at least we were able to rest up for one extra day!
Last week the kids took the Unit 5 Math Assessment. From those assessments it was very clear that some students really understood the decimal/fraction concept and some were still working through it. This was made apparent by the computation problems, as well as the two written response areas. This is an area that will come up throughout the year in their math journals.
Also last week, we began exploring line segments, rays, lines, parallel and intersecting lines in Unit 6. Today our District Math Assessments were delivered and the third grade teachers agreed that we would have the students complete the D.M.A. first, before moving on in Unit 6. Many students finished the assessment today and I'm sure the others will finish by tomorrow. When that is complete we shall continue to conquer geometry!!
I was very excited to bring in my copies of The Mystery at Eagle Harbor and The Secret of Bete Grise Bay that I had ordered for the class! We began with the introduction and chapter 1 on Friday, and today we read chapters 2 and 3. It's already getting juicy!! There is a mysterious woman with green eyes who always seems to know where are characters are and a slinky black cat that is following them! Hhhhhmmmm....
We are still plowing through our essays! We are working on those nice, detailed support paragraphs that really bring out why we have the opinion we do. Some students find they are struggling with giving examples, but when I suggest they use events and examples from their own life and experiences, that seems to give them a jump start!
We are moving along nicely here in room 204 : )
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Week of 1/14-1/18
Happy Friday, Families!
Each day was filled with lots of hard work! The students and I have both earned our three-day weekend! Way to go, Rockstars!
Reading:
We finished our class read-aloud, The Clue at Copper Harbor, and boy did we LOVE it!! We kept track of who the detectives were, what were the mysteries we were trying to solve, what clues did we have, who were the suspects, etc. We had so much fun talking about possible outcomes and who we thought was the guiltiest member of our suspect list! The most exciting part is when we learned that this book is one in a trilogy! I was happy to report to the kids today that I ordered our copies of The Mystery at Eagle Harbor and The Secret of Bete Grise Bay. Not only are these great mystery books, but they are even more special because they are based in our very own state of Michigan!
Writing:
This week we continued our work in personal essays by organizing our opinion statements and getting the first sentences of our two support paragraphs ready. These two sentences are referred to as "Parallel Structures". We organized this writing in the boxes and bullets visual organizer. Next week we will transition our opinion statement into our opening paragraph and from there transition our parallel structures into two support paragraphs! Here we go!
Math:
Today the students worked on their Unit 5 review and will be using it and a few other pages to help prepare themselves for the Unit 5 test on Tuesday. The test will be assessing areas such as place value, comparing big numbers (into the ten thousands), revisiting ballpark estimates, perimeter and area, and reading, writing, and comparing decimals and fractions. Along with the computation, your child will be answering an Open Response and Essay question. There is an example on the last page of their review. On it should be notes your child took when we talked about what was expected in a "5-point" answer. Things that should be included in their essay answers are examples, complete sentences, and an explanation of their thought process. Specifically to the problem on the review, I was looking for mention of place value (whole numbers ending in "s" and decimals ending in "ths"), whole numbers versus part of a number, and decimal point versus non-decimal numbers. I also showed the kids that they could make a T-chart showing the differences between whole numbers and decimals.
Any help you could provide your child as they prepared would be greatly appreciated! : )
Reminders:
*Please remember there is no school on Monday the 21st as we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Also Friday the 25th is a half day!
Enjoy the three day weekend!!
Each day was filled with lots of hard work! The students and I have both earned our three-day weekend! Way to go, Rockstars!
Reading:
We finished our class read-aloud, The Clue at Copper Harbor, and boy did we LOVE it!! We kept track of who the detectives were, what were the mysteries we were trying to solve, what clues did we have, who were the suspects, etc. We had so much fun talking about possible outcomes and who we thought was the guiltiest member of our suspect list! The most exciting part is when we learned that this book is one in a trilogy! I was happy to report to the kids today that I ordered our copies of The Mystery at Eagle Harbor and The Secret of Bete Grise Bay. Not only are these great mystery books, but they are even more special because they are based in our very own state of Michigan!
Writing:
This week we continued our work in personal essays by organizing our opinion statements and getting the first sentences of our two support paragraphs ready. These two sentences are referred to as "Parallel Structures". We organized this writing in the boxes and bullets visual organizer. Next week we will transition our opinion statement into our opening paragraph and from there transition our parallel structures into two support paragraphs! Here we go!
Math:
Today the students worked on their Unit 5 review and will be using it and a few other pages to help prepare themselves for the Unit 5 test on Tuesday. The test will be assessing areas such as place value, comparing big numbers (into the ten thousands), revisiting ballpark estimates, perimeter and area, and reading, writing, and comparing decimals and fractions. Along with the computation, your child will be answering an Open Response and Essay question. There is an example on the last page of their review. On it should be notes your child took when we talked about what was expected in a "5-point" answer. Things that should be included in their essay answers are examples, complete sentences, and an explanation of their thought process. Specifically to the problem on the review, I was looking for mention of place value (whole numbers ending in "s" and decimals ending in "ths"), whole numbers versus part of a number, and decimal point versus non-decimal numbers. I also showed the kids that they could make a T-chart showing the differences between whole numbers and decimals.
Any help you could provide your child as they prepared would be greatly appreciated! : )
Reminders:
*Please remember there is no school on Monday the 21st as we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Also Friday the 25th is a half day!
Enjoy the three day weekend!!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Week of 1/7-1/11/13
Happy Friday!
We had a very busy week, full of new beginnings, new units, and renewed energy! Here are the highlights of what we focused on this week:
Math
The main focus in math this week was learning about decimal place value, more specifically the tenths and hundredths place. Our Everyday Math curriculum had us using base-10 blocks so that these decimals and fractions could be something concrete to learn about and the students could actually see what 1/10 looks like and what 1/100 looks like. We manipulated the blocks, made exchanges, and began comparing decimals in the tenths and hundredths place. This is a skill we began together this week and is still very new to the kids!
*If you are looking for a fun, new game to play at home, we have learned a new card game called Number Top-it. All you need is a deck of cards and a homemade game mat. We traced a card seven times, all lined up next to each other. After tracing, we labeled above each outline "ones, tens, hundreds" etc. until we reached "millions". When it is their turn, a player gets to pick up seven cards, one at a time, and place them on the game mat in any of the place value slots. The goal is to make the smallest number! The excitement comes with not knowing what the next card your picking up is going to be!
Reading
We began our mystery unit this week and couldn't be more excited! Together we are reading The Clue at Copper Harbor by M.C. Tillson. It is about a brother and sister working together to solve a mystery in Michigan's own Copper Harbor. All week we have been discussing how to begin reading a mystery (reading the title, synopsis, and chapter titles), what to do during the reading (mark important clues and events with a post-it, pay attention to small details, go back and reread) and having many discussions about questions we have, what the mysteries are, who are our suspects, and what clues have we gotten so far. The kids are having a blast trying to figure out the mystery before our detectives do!
Writing
We continued the process of essay writing by learning about opinion statements. We talked about how an opinion statement consists of a "big idea" and our opinion about it. I made a poster for the kids reminding them about what an opinion statement is and possible statement openers like, "I think kids should...", "I believe that everyone needs to...", or "I realize that people must..." I had the students create their own opinion statements by either using big ideas we have previously discussed in class or by coming up with one of their own. I was very impressed with the opinion statements your children were able to come up with; most used their own ideas. The kids also practiced writing an opinion paragraph based on how they felt about exercising.
The next step in our essay process will be continuing to practice opinion statements and introducing "parallel structures" or words and phrases used to help link their evidence to their opinion statement. We will use a visual aid called "Boxes and Bullets" to help the students to organize their opinion statement (in the box) and their evidence (next to the bullets).
Reminders
We had a very busy week, full of new beginnings, new units, and renewed energy! Here are the highlights of what we focused on this week:
Math
The main focus in math this week was learning about decimal place value, more specifically the tenths and hundredths place. Our Everyday Math curriculum had us using base-10 blocks so that these decimals and fractions could be something concrete to learn about and the students could actually see what 1/10 looks like and what 1/100 looks like. We manipulated the blocks, made exchanges, and began comparing decimals in the tenths and hundredths place. This is a skill we began together this week and is still very new to the kids!
*If you are looking for a fun, new game to play at home, we have learned a new card game called Number Top-it. All you need is a deck of cards and a homemade game mat. We traced a card seven times, all lined up next to each other. After tracing, we labeled above each outline "ones, tens, hundreds" etc. until we reached "millions". When it is their turn, a player gets to pick up seven cards, one at a time, and place them on the game mat in any of the place value slots. The goal is to make the smallest number! The excitement comes with not knowing what the next card your picking up is going to be!
Reading
We began our mystery unit this week and couldn't be more excited! Together we are reading The Clue at Copper Harbor by M.C. Tillson. It is about a brother and sister working together to solve a mystery in Michigan's own Copper Harbor. All week we have been discussing how to begin reading a mystery (reading the title, synopsis, and chapter titles), what to do during the reading (mark important clues and events with a post-it, pay attention to small details, go back and reread) and having many discussions about questions we have, what the mysteries are, who are our suspects, and what clues have we gotten so far. The kids are having a blast trying to figure out the mystery before our detectives do!
Writing
We continued the process of essay writing by learning about opinion statements. We talked about how an opinion statement consists of a "big idea" and our opinion about it. I made a poster for the kids reminding them about what an opinion statement is and possible statement openers like, "I think kids should...", "I believe that everyone needs to...", or "I realize that people must..." I had the students create their own opinion statements by either using big ideas we have previously discussed in class or by coming up with one of their own. I was very impressed with the opinion statements your children were able to come up with; most used their own ideas. The kids also practiced writing an opinion paragraph based on how they felt about exercising.
The next step in our essay process will be continuing to practice opinion statements and introducing "parallel structures" or words and phrases used to help link their evidence to their opinion statement. We will use a visual aid called "Boxes and Bullets" to help the students to organize their opinion statement (in the box) and their evidence (next to the bullets).
Reminders
- Please have your child continue to bring in snow pants, boots, hats and gloves for outdoor recess! Even on almost snow-less days like today, their gear protects them from puddles and mud! : )
- This coming Monday, January 14th, the third grade is hosting our after school bake sale! If you would like to donate individually wrapped baked goods, please send them in with your child on Monday morning and we will make sure they get to where they need to go! Thank you in advance!
Friday, January 4, 2013
Happy New Year!!
Hello Families!!
It was so nice to see everyone and share stories about what we did over our winter break!
During these last two days, we spent time reviewing what we know about essays (centered around a big idea, evidence used to support big idea) and worked on the difference between fact and opinion. We will use these skills as we move into creating our own essays based on personal opinions!
In reading, I let the kids know that we would be starting our mystery unit on Monday! I showed them a few examples of mystery series we have available in the classroom and let them know I would be getting more of a variety from the school library as well.
In math we continued our work with place value and took a close look at numbers into the millions!
I look forward to many new beginnings on Monday!
Have a great weekend : )
It was so nice to see everyone and share stories about what we did over our winter break!
During these last two days, we spent time reviewing what we know about essays (centered around a big idea, evidence used to support big idea) and worked on the difference between fact and opinion. We will use these skills as we move into creating our own essays based on personal opinions!
In reading, I let the kids know that we would be starting our mystery unit on Monday! I showed them a few examples of mystery series we have available in the classroom and let them know I would be getting more of a variety from the school library as well.
In math we continued our work with place value and took a close look at numbers into the millions!
I look forward to many new beginnings on Monday!
Have a great weekend : )
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