Thanks to our fabulous coaches, Field Day was loads of fun! The kiddos enjoyed playing games and hanging out together. Also, everyone really LOVED our treat from Kona Ice!
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Our three day week went by in a blink! Can you believe it is only three weeks until spring break? That means the Economics Fair is coming up soon. Don't forget, it's Tuesday, March 12th. I hope your child is working hard on their product.
This week all of 3rd grade will take a STAAR Ready test in math and reading. The math test will be given Monday and the reading on Tuesday. This will give students a chance to see what STAAR will be like so they can be better prepared in May. I'll use the data from these assessments to guide instruction and plan small groups to reteach concepts as needed. Please read below for more details about the upcoming week. Writing: This week we will begin researching a conservation topic for our project based learning, (PBL). We'll learn how to take research notes and how to synthesis information gleaned from reading. Reading: We'll continue reading informational texts, (mostly related to our PBL) as we identify cause and effect relationships, determine importance,synthesize, and make inferences. Math: After working with multiplicative comparisons for a few days, we'll take the unit assessment. The test will include geometry concepts, (2D shapes, 3D shapes, and area), in addition to the multiplication/division fact concepts learned in this unit. Then, we'll dive back into fractions! This new fraction unit will involve comparing fractions and equivalent fractions. Science: It's time to wrap up our unit on weather. Last week we made anemometers and wind vanes and went outside to collect data. There was very little wind so we are going to try again on Monday, (many of the anemometers barely moved). We'll also review weather concepts before taking the unit assessment on Tuesday. Then we'll begin our next unit on space. In this unit, we'll learn about the solar system and the relationship between the earth, moon, and sun. Social Studies: Our focus this week will be on supply and demand as well as advertising techniques. Upcoming Events February 28: Spring Pictures (Class and individual) March 13: Economics Fair March 29: Field Trip, (our date has changed from the 25th to the 29th) Exploring Weather Tools-Anemometers & Wind Vanes After learning about weather tools meteorologist use to collect data, we built anemometers and wind vanes to measure wind speed and wind direction. Unfortunately, there was very little wind and only a few anemometers worked, so we'll try it again next week. These young scientists really enjoyed making their weather tools though! Modeling Multiplication and Division Students solved problems using an online tool called Thinking Blocks to model various multiplication and division situations using bars & strip diagrams. This is a great website for the kiddos to use at home. Career Day!!! We enjoyed learning about the job of a sheriff and firefighter during Career Day. It was especially fun looking inside the sheriff's car and the fire engine. Counting Collections It's been a while since we counted collections of objects during math so it was great to see my mathematicians incorporating multiplication in their counts. As always, partners begin by estimating the number of items in their collection before organizing the objects. After organizing, they revise their estimate and then count. Students record their method of counting on a recording sheet. I added new collections that would encourage multiplication and adding larger amounts such as dots on dominoes, number of sides of 2D shapes, and the number of holes in buttons. I loved seeing all of the strategies they used. Art Enrichment
This was our last round of enrichment groups. My art group worked on creating light and shadows with chalk. I think their artwork turned out great! The next few weeks we'll stay with our class for some PBL activities. We have a three day week packed with learning plus some special activities for Education Go Get It Week including Career Day on Friday. We are scheduled for two guest speakers that will showcase their career. See below for more details about our learning.
Writing: We are diving into a new unit on informational texts which includes research. This week we'll learn how to paraphrase information in preparation for taking notes while researching. Also, we'll work on revising and editing skills using a passage with multiple choice answers, (similar to the revising and editing portion of the 4th grade Staar test). Reading: We'll also prepare for researching during reading. As we read informational texts we'll learn how to determine importance, find key details, and activate background knowledge. If time, we'll also work on paraphrasing/note taking during reading.. Math: This week we'll continue to use the build up strategy for the sixes facts and solve one and two-step problems involving multiplication and division using strategies including pictorial models, arrays, area models, equal groups and properties of operations. Additionally, we'll learn about multiplicative comparisons within tables and use strip diagrams to make comparisons involving multiplication. Now that we have learned all of the multiplication facts, students should begin to recall facts up to 10 by 10 with automaticity and recall the corresponding division facts. Your child should be practicing their facts each week at home. Science: We'll continue learning about weather patterns this week as we observe our daily weather and compare it to other places. Also, we'll build anemometers, (we didn't have time last week), and use them to collect data about wind speed. Upcoming Events February 20-Chick fil-A Spirit Night at 5:00 March 12-Third Grade Economics Fair Making Multiplication Arrays and Solving Problems My mathematicians really grasped the build down strategy for the nines facts after making arrays to show how you can build down from the tens fact. For example, if 10 x 7 = 70 than 9 x 7 is one less group of 7. Throughout the week we also worked on solving multiplication and division problems. Noticing and Wondering about Weather Data I created a slideshow of various weather data displays for the kiddos to notice and wonder about. These scientists noticed symbols, letters. temperatures, weather comparisons and a whole lot more. As we discussed the data, we discovered that meteorologists measure and record much more than just the temperature and precipitation. This was a great way to get the kiddos thinking about weather data and sparking some curiosity. Valentine's Day Math We estimated the number of heart gobstoppers in a box, (including a too low and too high estimate). After recording our estimates on a number line, the kiddos opened their boxes and counted. We collected the class data and recorded it on a dot plot-good way to review. Then we used the hearts to make arrays and record the matching equations. Also, we solved some valentine math review problems that were posted around the room. Valentine's Day Party Everyone had so much fun exchanging cards and goodies! I loved seeing all of their creative boxes. I hope I captured all of them in a photo-it can be challenging to remember who I took photos of when the kiddos are moving all around the room. Our party was great too! Thanks for all of the donations and volunteers who helped make our party a success! My Art Enrichment Group I just snapped a few photos of the kiddos from our class that are in the art enrichment group. They were creating collages with tissue paper and various materials. They are such a creative bunch! Hope you are keeping warm on this rainy, chilly weekend. Please read below to find out what is happening in our classroom this week.
Writing: Our fiction stories are mostly complete. We are working on strong endings and adding sensory images as well as editing. This week we will revise and edit a bit more before writing our final copies. Then, we'll spend a few days writing a personal narrative as a mid-year assessment. Before we begin writing, I'll review the qualities of good personal narratives. This will be for a daily grade. Reading: We are starting a new unit on informational texts which will include research. During this unit, we'll focus on reading and learning more about conservation as part of our PBL. Students will read a variety of informational texts during independent reading time before beginning research. As we read informational texts this week, we'll review text features, work on making inferences, and determine importance. Students will respond to texts by recording their thinking including questions and reactions to the text. Math: We'll continue to represent and solve multiplication and division problems as we learn the build up and build down strategies for the sixes and nines facts. Also, we'll work on making estimations for a special valentine math activity. Science: This week we'll observe weather patterns in Austin and compare them to another city in Texas. Also, we'll explore weather tools and learn how they are used to gather data about weather. We'll even make a weather tool! Social Studies: We'll continue learning about Economics while playing a fun bidding game to learn about supply & demand. Also, we'll learn about spending and saving. Upcoming Events February 14: Valentine's Day Party 1:30 February 18-19: No School for Students February 20: Chick fil-A Spirit Night February 22: Career Fair (Part of Education Go Get It Week) Exploring 3D Shapes My mathematicians were building all kinds of 3D shapes while identifying the vertices, edges, and faces. Loads of fun! Guest Speaker Landon's mom taught us all about the Chinese New Year. Everyone was interested in learning more! The kiddos especially liked the Chinese Zodiac and the story explaining the traditions of Chinese New Year. Reading Scripts for Reader's Theater Students chose between two traditional literature plays and then practiced parts with their group. Polygon Game on Desmos This game is played like the classic game Guess Who but with shapes. The computer paired students and they had to guess the shape their partner chose by asking yes/no questions. We discovered that the questions needed to be about specific attributes in order to narrow the choices quickly. What a fun way to review shapes and wrap up the unit! Finding Sensory Images We were reading like writers during writing workshop. Partners found examples of sensory language in a traditional tale and then revised their fiction stories to include sensory images. Reader's Theater Each group performed their reader's theater for the class. Both were traditional tales that had 4-5 characters. I was very impressed with their expression, smooth reading, and character voices! The kiddos LOVED reading their parts in front of the class, (well, most of them). Coding Dash with Kinder Buddies We had a blast making Dash move around the common area with our buddies! |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |