Now that we are settled into our routines, it's time to dive into our curriculum units. Please read below for a glimpse of our learning this week.
Writing: This week we'll begin writing personal narratives. We'll brainstorm ideas by thinking of people, places, and objects that spark a memory. Additionally, we'll create a heart map of favorites, special events, memories, etc. Students will choose small moments to write about in their writing notebook. I'll read mentor texts to serve as models of quality personal narratives throughout the week. Reading: During reading, we'll read fiction books and continue to build our reading lives by learning how to share/talk about books with a partner, how to monitor comprehension and check for understanding, and read with expression to stay engaged. Last week we learned that readers stop, think, and jot. We'll continue to learn how readers think about and respond to texts. I will be conducting beginning of the year reading assessments this week. Math: Last week we learned there are different types of data displays including pictographs, bar graphs, frequency tables, and dot plots. This week students will collect data and create various graphs to represent their data. We'll also interpret and summarize data displays with different keys/scales. Students will solve one and two-step problems using categorical data represented in frequency tables, pictographs, bar graphs, and dot plots. Science: We'll dive into our first unit on matter this week. First, we'll review the states of matter as we describe and classify matter as solids, liquids, or gases. Then we'll learn that matter can be classified and measured by physical properties including mass, states of matter, temperature, magnetism, texture, and the ability to sink and float. Our young scientists will explore these properties throughout the week through investigations that require students to test and record properties. Upcoming Events Tuesday, August 28-3rd Grade Parent Information Night at 6:30 (meet in the cafeteria) Monday, September 3-Labor Day, No School Monday, October 8-Parent Teacher Conferences (a sign up sheet will be sent out soon)
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We had a fabulous first full week of school! We are settling into our daily routines and regular academic schedule. I am really enjoying getting to know the kiddos! See below for photos and highlights of our week. Math Bingo Friend Finder We started the week with another getting to know you activity called Math Bingo. Students solved simple equations to determine information to find such as...Find someone who has 4-1 siblings. Shopping for Books for Reading Workshop After learning about our class library and expectations for reading workshop time, students looked for books from our classroom library to place in their book box. Theses book boxes will be used throughout the year to hold books the kiddos will read during independent reading time. Everyone was very excited to find great books and start reading. I can tell we have lots of readers in our class! Saving Fred This is one of my favorite team building activities. Students worked in groups to save Fred, a gummy worm whose boat, (cup), capsized. Fred's life preserver, (a gummy Lifesaver), was under the boat. The challenge is to turn the boat over, retrieve the life preserver, place the life preserver on Fred, and place Fred inside the boat. The catch...you can't touch anything with your hands, only paper clips. This is such a fun challenge and a great way to practice the skill of working together. Every group was successful in saving Fred! Library Orientation We learned all about the library and expectations for checking out books from our librarian Mrs. Kuperzstoch. Then we played a Kahoot game to test our knowledge about what we learned. After that we got to check out books! So exciting to browse the library and find favorite books! Decorating Writing Notebooks It was great to see all the photos the kiddos brought in to personalize their notebooks. Everyone worked really hard to make their notebook inspirational and decorative! These notebooks will hold lots of stories and thinking collected throughout the year. Writing Time Now that our notebooks are decorated and covered with packing tape, (thanks to a few volunteers), we are ready to write. Our first writing of the year is a friend wanted ad. This is another way to get to know each other. Typically, our writers will have choice about their topic within the genre we are studying. I like the Friend Wanted ads because we discuss what makes a good friend and how to be a good friend before writing. We will create Google Drawings of our ads to display. Marshmallow Challenge This is another favorite team building activity. For this challenge, we partnered with Miss. Boldt's class and Miss Bae's class. Teams worked together to build the tallest structure out of spaghetti noodles that will support a marshmallow on top. The only supplies allowed are a yard of tape, a yard of string, and 20 noodles. The kiddos quickly realized it is harder than it seems, however, everyone used perseverance and kept trying up until the last second. Math is Visual and Creative Throughout the week, we learned some norms/ideas about math that will help learners tackle math throughout the year with a growth mindset. Some of the important ideas include: struggle is good, mistakes grow your brain, understanding not speed is important, math is visual/creative, brains can grow and change, and mathematicians believe in themselves. We worked on number dot images and found creative ways to "see" patterns in the number representations. Also looked for patterns in a growing pattern and found different ways to "see" the pattern growing. As we worked, we realized that there is more than one way to represent and see the visuals, thus understanding that mathematicians think of math in different ways. Additionally, we talked about how good mathematicians know how to represent math visually. 100 Faces In math, we used cuisenaire rods to create faces worth 100. Students worked with a partner calculating the value of the rods used to make their face. This is a great way to practice addition as well as working together. I took photos of the faces they made so we can look back at them to double check if the value is 100. Everyone enjoyed the challenge and being creative! Playing Save Twenty This is a great math game to practice a bit of strategy while calculating mentally. The goal is to get 20 or as close to 20 on each round without going over using 5 dice. It was tons of fun! Me Museums I loved reading about their favorites, special events, hobbies, favorite books, families, etc! It was so much fun viewing the displays and finding out more about each other. Everyone wrote a few interesting facts about some of their classmates as they went on our gallery walk. Thank you so much for helping your child prepare for their museum! Noticing and Wondering about Graphs/Data Displays Notice and wonder is a routine we will use often this year. It is a great way to engage students, allow for individual thinking, make mathematical connections, and to help solidify understanding of concepts. Often, students will notice more about math when they see an image and think rather than having a teacher tell them what to notice/do. For this notice and wonder, my mathematicians rotated to different images of data displays and recorded what they noticed/wondered. I asked them to think about the connection between the images and the math concepts represented. Then, I gave students a chance to discuss the images in small groups. Everyone noticed the images were all various types of graphs. Our first math unit is off to a great start! Our first and second day of school were great! Everything went smoothly as planned. We enjoyed meeting new friends and getting to know each other. I usually take photos each week to capture our learning experiences. Below are pictures from the first two days of school with a brief explanations about each activity. Enjoy! Getting to Know You Games One of the first things we did on the first day was introduce ourselves with a routine called Hands Up, Pair Up. The kiddos mingled around until I said stop. Then they paired up with someone to share their name and something about them. Then we played a game where you have to find a friend who did a particular activity during the summer such as flying on a plane or playing an instrument. The goal was to find a different friend for each of the 10 different activities of the find a friend page. This was a great way to learn names and meet new classmates! Exploring Math Tools Since we will use a variety of math tools throughout the year, I wanted to give the kiddos an opportunity to explore some of the tools. I challenged them to think of ways the tools could be used for math. I was impressed with some of the structures and designs they created! Students rotated to different tools with a group, so it was a good way to get to know each other too. First Day Feelings in Emojis On the first day we created a graph about how we were feeling after reading the book First Day Jitters. The next day, we wrote about our first day feelings using 2-3 emojis. I enjoyed reading about their worries, excitement, and other emotions about starting third grade. Note, just click on the image in a slideshow to view in a larger display format. Minute Math Challenges Everyone enjoyed some minute math activities such as predicting and counting how many jumping jacks you can do in a minute or how many times you can write your name in a minute. Our favorite was finding out how many times you can bounce & catch a ball in a minute! Yank It and Tilt A Cup Team Building Challenge We partnered with Mrs. Lipe's class for two cup challenges. It was soooo much fun! The kiddos discovered the challenges weren't as easy as they looked, but everyone kept trying. What a great way to finish our 2nd day of the new school year! I am so excited to meet everyone of Monday at Open House or Family Night. If you ordered supplies, they will be in the classroom. Otherwise, you may bring supplies with you and help your child get a few things ready. I look forward to working with you this year!
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |