Week 17

Wishing you all a restful holiday!

OUR FOREST FRIDAY CHRISTMAS TREE

Week 16

Our third grade otters worked hard to stay focused and productive this week, even with the fast approaching vacation!  In math we worked on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100.  We are subtracting larger numbers on the number line.  Subtraction with regrouping has just been introduced.  In writing workshop students learned about what makes a good conclusion: connecting back to your introduction, explaining why your topic matters and leaving your reader with something to think about.  During reading this week, students chose a non fiction book of their choice and are learning to write an informative summary focusing on the main idea and details and leaving out unimportant information.  Our week will end in the forest with an outside ornament-making workshop.

Week 15

What a busy and wonderful week!  Thank you so much for coming to support your child last night at our winter concert.  The children beamed with pride as they sang their hears out!  On Monday we had Susan Shimko from Ava gallery come in for the morning.  She taught the children about the famous flood of 1927.  The children created beautiful pieces illustrating their understanding of the event.  On Wednesday we spent time with the 2nd Graders to learn more about butterflies.  Thursday's field trip to Circus Mechanics was a huge success.  Our 3rd grade otters were amazed by the show.  They did an incredible job as respectful audience members!  We look forward to two solid weeks more of focused leaning!

Week 14

What a busy week!  We started off with our gingerbread extravaganza.  Our 3rd grade Otters used teamwork to create a unique gingerbread house.  This project seemed to kick off our holiday spirit!
In math we worked hard to strengthen our understanding of multiplication through number puzzles, math games and patterns in the multiplication table.  In reader's workshop students are becoming experts in non fiction topics.  They are reading various interesting articles and teaching their partner about the main idea and supporting details.  In writer's workshop our non fiction teaching books continue to grow.  Students are writing more chapters and thinking about what makes a good introduction.  We ended out week in the forest with more team building activities and exploration in the snow. 

Week 13

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Week 12

Winter has arrived and our third grade otters thoroughly embraced the new season with enthusiasm and wonderment!  It was awesome that our crew was properly prepared to enjoy the elements (thank you!)  Even though it was a short week, we made each moment count!  In reading we continue to work on grasping the main idea in non fiction articles and think about the details that support the main idea.  Students continue to work in small groups to practice this task.  The engagement with this group during reading has been extraordinary!  In writing students continue to work on their non fiction teaching books.  They solidified their table of contents and learned about different structures of writing: cause and effect, problem-solution, main idea and supporting details. In math students continue to strengthen their understanding of multiplication.  The forest has turned into a wonderland with endless opportunities!  Students exhibited GREAT teamwork as they helped each other with shelters, invented new games, made snow sculptures and learned about fire safety.

Questions to spark conversation:
-What did you learn from the non fiction articles you read this week?
-What did you do during forest Friday?  How was it different?  What did you do in the circle?
-What non fiction teaching book are you writing?
-What multiplication problem did you and your partner work on during your skip counting exercise?

Week 10 & 11

These have been VERY busy, full days!  Thank you so much for coming in to school to learn more about your child's progress.  It's so exciting to think about how far they have come since the beginning of the year!
Last week we published our small moment narratives.  We broke into small groups with Mrs. Raney's class and with the support of our writing partners, read our stories to our group. Within our class we had a publishing party with special snacks.  We set up a book museum and students walked around enjoying classmate's writing pieces and crafted thoughtful comments. This week we moved on to non fiction writing.  Students came up with a topic they are experts in and have begun to write everything they know about their topic.  We are in the process of writing our table of contents and thinking of a logical sequence for our books.
In reader's workshop we have begun to focus on non fiction.  We are noticing different text features in our books and using these as a way to get our minds ready for the reading that will be done.  Toward the end of the week, partners read non fiction articles together and wrote about the main idea and examples that went with the main idea.  This is a tricky task that our 3rd graders took on with confidence!
In math we have moved on to multiplication.  During number corner students are using the equation height x length to figure out the area of arrays on our calendar.  We are also starting to learn about fractions (1/8, 1/4, 1/2.)

Questions to spark conversation:
-What did you do in the forest with the Growing Change teachers?
-What are you writing your non fiction book about?
-Can you find any arrays around the house?  What is the area of those arrays?

Week 9

There was an amazing amount of positive energy in 3U this week!  Students really came together to celebrate our classroom and school community during our unity day festivities!  We played a fun "game show" about what it means to be a bystander or an upstander.  

Our personal narratives are almost ready to be published!  Students worked with great enthusiasm to follow the revision-editing process and type up their first piece in Google Classroom.  In math we launched unit 2 on multiplication.  We are beginning to understand that multiplication is repeated addition.  In reading we are learning to retell with an emphasis on the big parts of the story and using this information to help predict what might happen next. In Science we our first summative on the "Power of Flower." 

QUESTIONS TO SPARK CONVERSATION

• How can you be an upstander?
• What are characteristics of various trees you see in the forest?
• What is happening in our read aloud, "Stone Fox?"
• What is your personal classroom goal?

Week 8

The weeks seem to be moving quickly now!  Third graders were excited to find signs of the changing season outside at recess.  Our unit on recycling culminated this week with an on-demand informational writing piece.  It was thrilling to watch the class as they crafted their passionate opinion pieces, illustrating all they have learned!  In math we worked through solving multi-step double (and triple!) digit story problems with more confidence.  At the end of the week, students took an end of unit assessment.  Our focus in reading workshop this week was using the strategies of envisioning (making a movie in our minds of what is happening in the story) making predictions.  Students are getting more practice in writing a summary after they finish a book (making sure to include: characters, setting, problem and solution.)  Our week ended in the forest with a group of Dartmouth student teachers from "Growing Change."

Questions to spark conversation:
-What was the focus during our time in the forest this week?
-Where are you in the writing process (making revisions, working on a lead, typing up final draft?)
-What was special about Friday's reading workshop?
-What happened in lodges this week?

Week 7

The highlight of our week was the "summer day" we spent at Riverview Orchard.  Students explored in small groups and conducted an apple investigation.  This inquiry included describing the traits of an apple, drawing a diagram and graphing the number of seeds.  The time went by way too quickly!  Back at school we are finishing up our unit on recycling and getting ready to write our first informational piece using 2 different sources.  Our focus in reading this week has shifted to comprehension.  We are learning to stop as we read and ask ourselves, "Who are the characters in this part?  What just happened?  Does this fit with something that already happened, or is this new?"  In math this week we worked on figuring out multi-step story problems.

Questions to spark conversation:

-What happened on your field trip?  Did you make any new discoveries?

-Why do some pumpkins grow to be SO big?

-What do I need to show when solving a story problem?

-What happened during forest Friday?

Week 6

We persevered through a rainy week with enthusiasm!  The structure of our math block has become smooth and purposeful.  Students rotate from one activity to the next in small groups.  The focus this week was adding double digit numbers using a number line.  We learned a new game called, "Frog Jump."  The time during our reader's workshop seems to fly by as our readers are so focused on their books.  Partners and small groups are reading the same book, responding to questions in their reader's notebook and having discussions together about big ideas in the story.  In writing workshop this week our writers choose their favorite small moment story to write a "flash draft (they start with a good lead and write as much as they can without stopping.)  Before beginning flash drafts, students rehearsed what they wanted to say with a partner.  Finally, our class created recycling posters to enter into a contest that Casella is holding.  The winners will be chosen this spring to have their pictures featured in the 2020 Casella calendar.

Questions to spark conversations:
-Why are crab apples different than apples that come from the store?
-Where are we going on our next field trip?
-What is the small moment story that you worked on this week?
-What makes a good lead?

Week Five: Third Grade Otters

It's amazing to think that September is nearly gone! It's been a busy week. In writing our
small moment narrative stories continue to grow. This week we worked on crafting a beginning
that introduced our characters and set the scene for our stories. We are trying to tell our stories
bit by bit, stretching out a small moment into a longer story. In math students work to add and
subtract larger numbers on a number line and looked for patterns on the subtraction table. Students
learned a new game called, "Target 20." In reader's workshop reading logs were introduced as a
way to keep track of what we are reading and to set goals for ourselves. For our all school reward
we painted rocks to spread kindness throughout the school. Our class was full of clever, creative
ideas! Finally in science, we explored the question, "Why do plants make fruit?" There were some
surprises as we investigated this topic!

Questions to spark conversation:
-How can you spread kindness?
-What are some examples of scientific fruit?
-What books do you have in your book bin?
-What is the small moment piece that you worked on this week?