International Children's Week Division Stations Noticing & Wondering in Math Students were given images, (one per table), showing the strategy of doubling for 2s, 4s, and 8s facts. They recorded what they noticed and wondered, (without talking), as they rotated from one image to the next. On the last rotation I asked students to think about any connections they noticed between the images at each table. I heard lots of "Aha", or "Oh, it's doubling" all around the room. After our noticing/wondering, I asked them to prove something they noticed. The math thinking and talking that the students shared as they were proving their theory was amazing! And the best part...the students discovered the doubling strategy on their own and EVEYONE was engaged. Natural Resources Investigation Students observed common objects, grouped them based on the material it was made from such as paper or plastic, and then determined what natural resource was used to make the object.. What We Are Learning Week of November 30-December 4Reading: This week we will explore the world of nonfiction texts. Students will identify text features and learn how to use them effectively to enhance comprehension of expository texts. Also, we'll learn to identify main idea/details and various text structures.
Writing: We'll dive into our PBL research. Students will read articles and websites about their focus PBL topic and begin taking notefacts, (an organizational form of note taking). Math: We are wrapping up our unit on multiplication and division. Our unit test will be on Tuesday. The test will cover connecting division to multiplication using the 2s, 4s, 5s, and 10s facts, and multiplying 0s, 1s, and 8s facts. We'll review in class on Monday. Science: We'll continue learning about natural resources on Monday and Tuesday, before beginning our next unit on soil. For our unit on soil, each student will need a soil sample. Details will be coming soon. Social Studies: This week we'll continue learning about our government.
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Our biggest highlight was learning about Japan from guest speakers. They taught us about the culture of Japan and what it's like to go to school in Japan. We saw pictures of a school that Sota, from Mrs. Lipe's class, attended last year. He showed us his backpack from Japan as well as his textbooks. Also, the presenters demonstrated how to say the Japanese alphabet, and they even showed us how to write our names in Japanese! Everyone had a chance to practice writing their name which was very exciting. Then, we all made an origami cup! I hope the cups made it home. I know many of the kiddos were wondering if the cup would actually work. We have been enjoying reading and writing poetry the past few weeks. I could spend another month on poetry, but it is time to move on. Fortunately, we have been able to squeeze in a little time to share some our poems with the class. (I only took a few photos-didn't think about it until the last minute) Eslot of Fridays! We have started another round interest groups. Another highlight of the week was our author visit! We were so excited to hear all about the planning and work that was involved with publishing Sky Jumpers. The author was not only informative, but also entertaining. And... she reminded us all to work with our strengths-one of the ideas that sparked the creation of the main character. I didn't get a picture of the author, but you can find one on the library website. I did get a photo, (below), of a replica of the city where the story takes place created by some of the girls in our class during recess. So cool! What We are Learning Week of Nov. 16-20This week is International Children's Week! We have an assembly Monday morning to kick off the week. In class, we will continue learning about our country, Japan. .
Another big event this week is the Scholastic Book Fair! On Tuesday, our class will preview the book fair, and then on Wednesday it will be open for sales. It will also be open Thursday night during International Children's Festival Night. Can we squeeze any more into our busy week? Of course! See below for what we will be learning this week. Writing: We'll start a new unit on expository writing which will include research for our PBL. This week we will compare expository to narrative writing, write descriptive paragraphs, and learn more about sensory images. We actual have some poetry to finish up too. Reading: We will also begin a unit on expository text in reading. Our focus this week will be on text features and main idea. Students will read nonfiction texts during independent reading time, (at least part of the time). Science: Students will explore items from nature and determine how they are used as resources. Also, we'll take a virtual tour of a temperate forest and a rain forest as part of our PBL and science unit. As we explore the forest, students will identify natural resources and gain an understanding of why forests are important and why we need to conserve natural resources. Social Studies: Learning about Japan! There will be no spelling this week due to the upcoming break and our extra activities for ICF. Last week went by so quickly and we were busy, busy, busy! On Monday we completed our Littlebits project. Students worked with their partner to make the animal move and/or light up and read a script they wrote from the point of view of their animal while I video taped. Friday we had a spirit assembly and we watched the coaches get covered in silly string by the top 2 classes from the fundraiser. We were the 3rd class, so we just missed it! However, I was told our class had the most participation from parents, so thank you all for your donations. We also enjoyed Kona Ice and extra recess Friday! Littlebits Gallery Walk and Presentation Mrs. Stowe and Mrs. McFerron visited our classroom to do a gallery walk and listen to our Littlebits Project presentations. They were very impressed with the creativity and hard work that went in to creating the animals, writing the scripts, and the most challenging part-figuring out how to use the electronic blocks to make the animals move. Finding Perimeter of Figures Students had to walk the perimeter of figures on the floor as part of an exploration of perimeter. Exploring and Separating Mixtures This week will also be busy as we have some extra events planned. On Monday we will go to the library for a lesson on using research resources. We'll be researching our country for International Children's Week soon and we'll start research for our PBL too. On Tuesday, we are participating in a live streaming event with a poet. Wednesday will be the school wide Veterans assembly where we will honor veterans from our school and across the country. Then on Thursday, we'll be heading to the library again for our author visit. We are very excited to meet the author of Skyjumpers since we are reading the book in class, (as a read aloud). And of course, we have lots of learning that will be taking place in the classroom. See below for details. Writing: Students will continue writing poetry this week. We'll focus on sensory images and figurative language as we wrap up our unit. Later in the week, students will write a poem based on observations of an object from nature. Each student may bring an item from home or from their yard. Reading: We are wrapping up our poetry unit this week and beginning a unit on expository texts. Students will read nonfiction books and articles and learn about main idea, determining importance, and synthesizing. Math: On Monday we will finish our unit on time intervals and perimeter. We'll review for our unit test which will be on Tuesday. Then we'll start our next unit: Connecting Multiplication and Division. The focus of this unit is on understanding the relationship between multiplication and division. Students will have numerous opportunities to develop conceptual understanding of division. Science: We'll review mixtures and changing states of matter on Monday to prepare for the unit test which we'll take Tuesday. It's a short test, so we'll also begin our next unit on natural resources Tuesday as well. This is one of my favorite units since it includes conservation! Of course, this is a great connection to our PBL. Social Studies: Our focus this week is on government. We'll take a photo tour of the White House and learn the basic roles of our national government. Upcoming EventsWednesday (11/11)
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |