We had a fabulous first week of school! I hope your child informed you about some of the fun activities we did to build community. Did you hear about Saving Fred? The Cup Challenge? The Marshmallow Challenge? If not, ask your child to tell you all about it. These were our big activities to make the first week fun while allowing time for students to get to know each other and work as a team. I was so impressed with how the students collaborated, shared ideas, and cooperated during each challenge. I have pictures that I'll post on our class website as soon as I have all the permission forms returned. Thank you for helping your child prepare their "Me" bags, allowing them to bring their favorite book, and for sending in decorations & photos for our writers notebooks. I enjoyed listening to each student share their favorite book and their "Me" bags. It's a great way for the kiddos to connect with others and it provides me with valuable information about each student that I can use when helping students find just right books or when they need ideas for writing. Plus, I love hearing about their passions, reading lives, and interests. Each week I'll send an email that includes highlights/news from the previous week and information about the upcoming week. This will also be posted on the class website, usually with a few photos from the week. So...here is a glimpse of what we are doing this week: Writing: We will be begin our writing workshop this week and start our first unit on personal narratives. Students will generate ideas, create a heart map, and begin writing personal narratives. Reading: This week we'll focus on routines for reading workshop, building reading stamina, setting reading goals, and choosing just right books. Of course, students will be reading! Science: We'll learn about science safety and answer the question What is a scientist? Math: I am so excited to dig into math! Our first unit is on place value, rounding/estimating, and addition/subtraction. Our focus this week will be on place value and rounding/estimating. Social Studies: Our class will create our social contract this week. Highlights from our first week!On the first day of school students explored math tools and brainstormed ways each tool could be used for math. I can tell the kiddos know a lot about math. Of course, it would be hard to explore the tools without a little time to build, make designs, etc. Exploring Math Tools Saving Fred In this team building activity, students had to work together to rescue Fred, (a gummy worm), from a capsized boat, (a cup), and then get Fred into a life preserver, (a gummy lifesaver) using only paper clips for tools. Everyone cooperated, used teamwork, and as a result, each group was able to save Fred! The Cup Challenge!! We did this team building activity with 2 other classes. Students had to stack the cups using only the rubberbands. Questions Around the Room-A Get to Know You Activity The Marshmallow Challenge Students worked in teams along with 3 other 3rd grade classes to build the largest tower using only spaghetti and tape and string. And, the tower had to hold a marshmallow on top without falling over. All this in 18 minutes! Decorating our Writing Notebooks
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It was great to meet everyone at Open House. Thank you for helping your child get off to a good start. I am looking forward to a great year of learning together!
Please remember to send a healthy snack and a water bottle to school each day. We have a late lunch so we will have snack after specials at 9:40. Also, we have a late afternoon recess which means it will be hot! The kiddos will need to stay hydrated and since there is only one pair of water fountains upstairs, it is very helpful if each student has a water bottle in the classroom. Also, please be sure your child knows how they are getting home on the first day of school as well as the remainder of the week. |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |