I think we are finally settling into our regular daily schedule now that we have learned the routines and procedures. We are ready for a full week of learning! See below for what is happening in our classroom this week. Reading: Last week we learned about metacognition-such a big word! We learned that readers think about their reading, not just go on auto-pilot and read the words. Also, we learned that readers stop & think about the text. This week we'll begin leaving tracks of our thinking, (recording our thinking), something we'll do all year. We'll form reading partnerships so that every reader will have someone to share their thinking with, (that's when those tracks of thinking really come in handy). Students will also learn about strategies readers use when meaning breaks down. Of course, every day students will spend time reading independently. Writing: This week we'll continue to learn strategies for generating ideas which students will use to write personal narratives. Some of the strategies include thinking of an object to spark a memory, best/worst list, and using a heart map, (these are always a hit-be sure to ask your child what they included on their heart map later in the week). Science: Last week students read and watched video clips about famous scientists. They worked with partners to read trading cards and wrote a few interesting facts about that scientist. We didn't have time to share, so I'll make time for that tomorrow. We'll wrap this short unit up by learning about some science careers, and then dive into our next unit-Energy! Students will explore some objects at school and determine the type of energy the object uses. Also, students will conduct investigations about sound and light this week. For one of our investigations we'll need flashlights so if you have a flashlight your child could bring in, please have them bring it on Thursday. Math: This week we'll wrap up our unit on multiplying by 5's & 10's. So far the kiddos have used arrays, equal groups, strip diagrams, and pictures/models to represent multiplication. We'll add "making jumps on a number line" to our list of strategies. I have been amazed at the math work I have seen so far. I gave the students a multi-step problem to solve and they jumped right in and used their strategies efficiently to solve the problem. What a great group of mathematicians! We have more problems to solve this week in addition to some multiplication games to play to help with fact fluency. A note about fact fluency...While it is important for students to learn math facts with automaticity, it is even more important for them to gain conceptual knowledge of what multiplication means and what an equation represents. That is why we act out math problems, use math tools, draw representations, and use strategies to solve problems instead of just learning math facts. We'll talk a bit more about this tomorrow night at Parent Night. Making arrays with cubes to multiply. Making equal groups to multiply. Making a model with cubes to solve a multiplication problem. Exploring science tools! Decorating writing notebooks.
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |