Weekly Update

Writing Workshop
We have begun our Informational Writing Unit.  Students have chosen a topic, in which they feel they are an expert.  We will teach a new lesson each day for the rest of the unit to help students complete their draft booklet.  So far they have created a Table of Contents, Headings, and Subtopic Webs.  We will turn the subtopic webs into sentences and work on writing paragraphs this week!

Math
We have started Unit 3.  This unit covers several different concepts, including capacity, measurement, telling time, and reading/creating various graphs.  So far we have reviewed how to use a ruler and have practiced measuring to the nearest quarter inch.  We have also reviewed the following measurements of liquid volume: ounce, cup, pint, quart, and gallon.  We will be solving many word problems with some of these new vocabulary words in them.  Below are two visuals which can be helpful for students to understand capacity equivalencies. 

Science
Our new science unit is Light & Heat.  We have discussed different examples of light sources and examples of things that do not produce their own light, such as the moon.  Ask your child to see his/her Keynote slides he/she created about light sources on his/her iPad.  We read an article about the great inventor, Thomas Edison and learned that light travels in a straight path.  This concept also helped us understand where to find a shadow depending on where the sun is.  For example, if the sun is in front of you, your shadow will be behind you because light travels in a straight line.  We also had some fun creating our own shadow puppets.

Weekly Update

Weekly Update for the week of November 16-November 20

 

Writing Workshop:

If we want our 3rd grade writers to do something well, it helps to both tell them and show them what we expect.  Therefore, last week the students were immersed in analyzing nonfiction mentor texts in our classroom.  We can showcase a writing skill or structure by using mentor texts--and this will inspire our young writers to then go off and put it in their own writing. After a lot of observations, charting and discussing...our writers generated the following ideas...

 

We were proud of the effort put forth by each partnership.  The lists generated above will be used throughout our nonfiction unit and will be visual reminders as to what good writers put in their informational books.  Below are a few partnerships hard at work...

 

Yousif and David

 

 

Brooke and Madison

 

Sarah and Dimitri

Marc D and Keegan

 

 

Reading Workshop:

Last week in reading, we began our nonfiction unit. We learned that readers preview the text before reading by paying attention to text features to tap prior knowledge.  When we activate our background knowledge, we are connecting what we already know to the content being studied.

We also practiced pausing and paraphrasing information by putting it into our own words to strengthen our comprehension before reading on.  Lastly, we learned that readers locate the main idea by looking at the first and last sentence of a paragraph.  This is a skill that is extremely important and will be used throughout their reading lives.   

 

Daniella reading at IDR time.

 

Ryan reading at IDR time.

 

Keegan and Madison are involved in a strategy group  during IDR time.  Here you can see them building words with the long e vowel pattern.  This will help them transfer word study patterns into their writing and also help them recognize long e words in their just right books.

 

Mathematics: 

 

Last week we began Unit 3 in math.  Before the first lesson, the students did a Chalk Talk visible thinking routine.  The #1 rule to this is no talking--you talk with the chalk/writing utensil.  This allows every student to have a voice and an opportunity to share his/her thinking.  The students shared what they knew about measurement---

This group is activating their background knowledge of measurement.

 

Here you can see a group listing the units of measurement that they know.

The group above is writing down jobs that use measurement

This group is writing down things that need to be measured.

 

Next, the students measured with nonstandard and standard units.  They had to measure and draw line segments to the nearest inch, half inch and fourth inch.  We then measured lengths to the nearest quarter inch and graphed the data on a line plot. 

 

Social Studies:

Last week, we started our region tour of the Northeast.  The students shared their travel interviews and shared any souvenirs from that region.  Both A.J. and Eden-Grace shared interesting mementos that ignited some excitement for what we will learn about in the upcoming weeks!  Thank you families for returning the travel log page--we will do this for each region that we study so if you have souvenirs from other regions, we'd love for you to send them in at the designated time!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Happy Veteran's Day

Reading Workshop
We wrapped up Unit 2 last week.  We learned readers know that secondary characters often teach the main characters something.  We discussed how Opal (the main character from Because of Winn-Dixie) learned to love what she had in her life and let go of what she no longer had from the secondary character, Gloria Dump.  Students also learned readers can expect to learn alongside their characters.  For example, we discussed how Opal learned to not be so quick to make judgments about people but to get to know people first.  We decided this was a good lesson in our own lives.  At the end of the week, students completed the Visible Thinking activity 4 C's.  This culminating activity helped students share their thinking about the challenges, concepts, connections, and changes from Because of Winn-Dixie.

Writing Workshop
Students completed their first piece of published writing.  They wrote their final published personal narrative in a book and included illustrations.  We will be able to share these published stories with you at conferences.  As students finished their published narratives, they had an opportunity to do some free writing.  They wrote about creating a new Sesame Street character and invented a new candy bar.

Math
We finished Unit 2.  At this point students have learned all of the basic multiplication facts.  Please continue to practice these at home.  If your child knows his/her basic facts, word problems will be much easier to solve!  Students took the Unit 2 test.  Please look for your child's score to be uploaded to FreshGrade by tomorrow.  We will begin Unit 3 tomorrow as well, which focuses on measurement.

Updates for November 2-6, 2015

Wow! What an amazing week we had in room 13!

All-Star of the Week: Dimitri

Dimitri was our awesome all-star this week.  The class loved learning more about him as he brought in some very special items in his sharing sack.  Their favorite was a little monkey he got when he visited his cousins in New Jersey that he bought in a shop at Ellis Island.  Dimitri also enjoyed a special lunch with his mom on Tuesday and he loved reading his favorite book, The Good, The Bad and the Krabby, a Sponge Bob book on Friday. 

 

Writing:

We started the week off by writing our favorite Hill school October memory.  These were turned into a class book.  Many of the students enjoyed reading these when they finished their morning work.

Also in writing, we have been focusing on revising and editing our draft booklets.  Once that was completed, we shifted into the publishing phase of the writing process.  Below you will see students copying their draft booklets in their neatest handwriting for their final drafts which will include a title page and colored illustrations.  Look for these at Conference Night coming up!

Student Council Elections:

We could not be more proud of our 3rd grade students for the effort and time they put into their speeches and campaign posters.  All students were confident, prepared, excited and ready to share with their classmates why they should be elected as a Hill School Student Council Member for the 2015-2016 school year. 

David and Madison were elected for the role this year but as we explained to the class...we were so proud of each candidates' effort.  The speeches were thoughtful, practical, purposeful and inspiring! 

We were also very impressed with those candidates who were not elected this year that they handled it with grace and dignity. Everyone congratulated and cheered David and Madison on as they venture into a leadership role within our school.

Meet the Candidates:

Sean, Jordan, Marc D, David, Ryan and Yousif

Not pictured: Mark Y.

Back Row: A.J., Madison, Keegan, Hannah, Maia C, and Mackenzie

Front Row: Daniella, Samantha, Eden-Grace, Audrey and Maya P.

The Winning Speeches:

Time to Vote:

The students entered the voting booth to fill out their ballots.

After all the ballots were counted, David and Madison were recognized as our Hill School Student Council Representatives for the 2015-216 School Year.  Congratulations to David, Madison and ALL of the candidates!  

Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week
Sean was our Awesome All-Star last week!  The class loved learning more about him through his items in his sharing sack and his pictures.  The stuffed animal in the picture below is just like one Sean gave his baby brother, Evan.  Sean is a proud big brother!  Sean also enjoyed a special lunch from McDonald's with his grandma on Thursday.  He received many compliments from his classmates in his special compliment book on Friday.

Writing Workshop

Students have been working hard in their draft booklets to edit their personal narratives to make them the best they can be.  They have learned several elaboration skills, such as, adding dialogue, telling the inside of the story (their thoughts and feelings), show don't tell (use actions to describe rather than words), choosing strong verbs, and more.  Students also completed a two-page checklist to help them discover what improvements they might still be able to make to their narratives.

Math

We have continued to work on solving word problems.  Students have learned steps for solving word problems.  Each child has the bookmark pictured below to help him/her solve a word problem he/she may be stuck on.  Please continue to practice math fact fluency at home.  Children who know their facts quickly have an easier time solving the word problems.  Also, check out the video of solving unknown number puzzles in a separate post below if your child is still struggling with this.

Science
The most recent concepts we have worked on in class are contract and expand.  Students have learned water expands when it is frozen.  We tested this out through an investigation in which we filled syringes with 40 ml of water.  Then we placed the syringes in the freezer.  The next day we discovered the syringes read between 43 ml and 45 ml...therefore, the water expanded.  Once the syringes melted, the ice contracted, leaving the amount of water back down to 40 ml.  This week we are learning about evaporation and condensation.  There will be a study guide uploaded to Quizlet on your child's iPad by the end of this week for the science test on water, which will be given Wednesday, November 11.

Halloween Fun