Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week
Yousif was our amazing all-star last week.  The class laughed out loud at the story told about Yousif in his parent letter.  Students also enjoyed the pictures Yousif shared and the items in his sharing sack.  Yousif read aloud Pete the Cat and enjoyed a special lunch with his dad during his time as our class All-Star.

Valentine's Day
Students enjoyed pizza and bottles of water from our Classroom Party fund.  Thank you to Mrs. Frisen and Mrs. Clarke for delivering the pizza and serving it to the students.  Students then enjoyed passing out their Valentines and reading their cards.

Research Workshop
For our next unit, Reading and Writing Workshops will be combined as Research Workshop.  Last week students were immersed in nonfiction texts.  We reviewed the importance of nonfiction text features, and students enjoyed reading and sharing new facts they learned.  Students picked a text which interested them and chose a chapter to read.  Then they practiced creating a subtopic web and taking notes.  Finally they turned their notes into a paragraph using a paragraph map.  All of the steps students went through were to prep them for the research they will be doing this coming week on their country.  

Math
We are continuing our study of fractions.  This past week, students learned how to locate fractions less than and greater than one on a number line.  They also compared unit fractions using fraction bars and number lines.  Students can use the following rules when comparing fractions: 1. When two fractions have the same numerator, the fraction with the lesser denominator is the greater fraction.  2. When two fractions have the same numerator, the fraction with the greater denominator is the lesser fraction.

Science
We have begun our Structures of Life unit.  In our first investigation students went on a seed search while taking a closer look at a variety of fruits.  Students were introduced to the term property.  Students were asked to identify properties of the various seeds, including size, shape, color, texture, smell, and other features.  Each group took a closer look at seeds inside of an apple, pear, pomegranate, Chinese bittermelon, ugli fruit, kiwano melon, passion fruit, papaya, starfruit, and kiwi. 

In the next investigation, groups worked together to set up their mini-sprouters.  The mini-sprouters were created from a plastic container and coffee filter.  Students have placed bean, pea, popcorn, and sunflower seeds in their mini-sprouters and have been watering them.  We are keeping a close eye on them to see if they will grow.  We also set up a class sprouter, which has many seeds that have begun to grow.  

The final investigation was a two-day investigation.  Groups worked together on day one to measure the weight of five dry lima bean seeds.  Then they soaked the beans in water.  On day two, students   weighed their soaked bean seeds to discover the beans had absorbed water and weighed more.  Then students carefully opened the beans to examine the structures found inside.  Students were introduced to the seed coat, cotyledons, and embryo.  You can check out your child's Structures of Life Digital Notebook on his/her iPad saved in Keynote.

Mark tries to find seeds in his piece of starfruit.

Audrey is showing off the pile of seeds she found in her piece of papaya.

Madison is pulling seeds out of her piece of bittermelon.

David is searching for seeds in this piece of ugli fruit.

Daniella is working on the slides of her science journal in Keynote.

AJ is making sure her group's scale is balanced.

Our class sprouter is full of growing seeds!

Students took a close look at parts of a seed: seed coat, cotyledons, and embryo.

Typing Practice
Students have saved two websites to their iPad home screen: www.typing.com and www.keybr.com.  Your child can practice his/her typing skills using either of these websites.  Your child should place his/her iPad flat on a table and have both hands on his/her keyboard while practicing.  Every Friday morning in class your child will practice his/her typing skills using a keyboard, which plugs into the iPad.  Below are a couple pictures of students practicing in class.

Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week:

We didn't have an all-star this week.  This gave us more time to finish our mystery read-aloud book A - Z Mysteries Detective Camp.  Many of the students said that they had a copy of the book at their house and we reading it at home as well!

Writing:

In writing, the students learned 5 different ways to write an effective lead to hook the reader: a talking lead, sound effect lead, action lead, snapshot lead and a question lead.  In cooperative writing partnerships, the third graders took their claim (from the persuasive maps that they worked on last week) and wrote each type of lead.  Then, they selected the one that they felt was their best, most convincing lead to use when drafting their persuasive essay. 

 

 

David and Yousif

 Maya and Maia

Marc and Alice

Jordan, Ryan and Levi

AJ and Eden

Ben and Hannah

Dimitri and Sarah

Audrey and Adrien

Jason and Mark

Brooke and Daniella

Reading:

We continued our Detective Clubs in reading workshop. Students were assigned chapters to read as well as dates to meet to discuss what was happening in their mystery books.  Students discussed any new suspects, clues that they picked up on when reading and shared predictions about how the mystery might be solved. 

Eden adding clues to her case file.

Levi reading his assigned chapters.

Detective Club Meeting: Small-Group Work

Math:

In math, the students reviewed multi-digit addition and subtraction.  They used their knowledge of addition to help problem solve with subtraction.  Proof drawings continue to be helpful in computational accuracy--when students stack the numbers vertically, they're not always recognizing when to ungroup and when not to.  You can see in the photos below, students sharing their proof drawings and problem solving methodologies.

Yousif solved an "anytime problem" to warm up our mathematical minds before a lesson.

Daniella solved an "anytime problem" to warm up our mathematical minds before a lesson.

David is showing the class how math mountains can help us recognize the relationship between addition and subtraction.  The students also learned that math vocabulary is also important to know!

Maya is making a proof drawing.  Here you can see that she recognized that she needed to ungroup.  She has crossed out a hundred and made 10 ten-sticks. 

Hannah is making a proof drawing for 653 - 438 = ?

She realized she needed to ungroup.  She crossed out one ten stick and made 10 ones.  Then she is crossing out 438 to get her answer of 215.

Eden made a proof drawing for 750 - 559 = ?

She crossed out a hundred to make 10 ten sticks.  She crossed out one ten stick to make 10 ones.  Then she took away 559. She was left with 1 hundred, 9 ten sticks and 1 one = 191.

Social Studies:
In social studies, the students continued their region tour of the Southeast.  My parents randomly sent me photos of their visit to the Kennedy Space Center (they live in Celebration, Fl) the day after I taught that stop from our textbook so the students were able to see a number of photos and videos from that stop that were not in the book (see below).  Next, they did a Visible Thinking routine called "Step Inside" where they wrote to explain what life was like from the astronaut's point of view.

Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week:
Mackenzie was our fabulous All-Star last week!  She enjoyed a special lunch with her mom on Friday.  The class loved hearing her favorite book, Frederick, by Leo Lionni.  We also liked learning more about Mackenzie as she shared her photos and items from her sharing sack.  Mackenzie enjoyed a special poem from her mom too.

Reading Workshop:
We continued our mystery unit last week with students meeting in their detective clubs to discuss the chapters they are reading. We modeled for students how to keep track of important clues and possible suspects (see examples below). Supporting their claims with evidence is extremely important when recording ideas in their detective case file and when sharing their ideas during the detective club discussions.

Writing Workshop:
Students have continued to be immersed in our new writing genre--persuasive essays.  They have written flash drafts about various topics they feel strongly about.  After choosing a strong example, students completed another persuasive map, which includes a thesis statement or claim and three reasons or evidence.  If students could not come up with more than one reason to support their claim, they knew they would need to pick a different claim.  Students also conducted surveys to include as evidence to support their claim.

Math:
Last week we focused on multi-digit subtraction.  Once again, students learned to create a proof drawing first so that they were able to understand the concept of "ungrouping."  We spent lots of time practicing the traditional method of ungrouping from right to left and then practiced subtracting across zeros.  We will continue to practice three-digit addition and subtraction this week.  Right now we are planning for our Unit Test to be Tuesday, February 9.

Skate World:
It was good to see some students from our classroom (and a few extras) enjoy the Skate World party!

Michigan Science Center Field Trip:
Students enjoyed visiting the Michigan Science Center.  Our field trip started on the top floor of the museum where we explored the current traveling exhibit--Toytopia.  Next we saw a Junior Astronomer show in the Planetarium where we learned more about the sun, moon, and stars.  Then we went for a "ride" and got a little wet as we learned more about engineers in the Toyota 4D Theatre.  After lunch we visited the DTE Sparks Theatre where AJ had a "hair raising" experience.  The last show we caught was the Chrysler Science Stage Show where students learned some experiments they could try at home.  Students also had time to explore the many exhibits throughout the center.  You can check out photos from the trip in the slideshow below or click HERE to see the photos individually.