Four Day Week Lowdown

There will be no school on Friday for elementary students, but we'll still be having spelling and learning tons during this four day week.

Reading:  This week during reading, book clubs will continue to meet and discuss literature.  We will be focusing on asking "Thick Questions" about our readings.  We have addressed "Questioning" during our reading throughout the year.  Questioning is used to keep students engaged and thinking about their reading, but now it's time to expand on our knowledge.

Thick questions are questions that cannot be answered with just a yes or no.  Thick questions often address larger concepts and big ideas in the reading.  The answers to these types of questions cannot be found in the text, they come from one's mind.  This is a big step for us.  Students have been answering thick questions with our Junior Great Books activities, but it's a different skill set to come up with the questions.  We will be working on this skill this week and next.

Writing:  We will continue working on poetry.  We have been loving writing poems inspired by many famous poets!  We also have been incorporating Sharon Creech's Love that Dog as well.  The book is written from the point of view of a boy, Jack,who is journaling about his dislike of poetry.  Through his study of famous poems brought to him from his teacher, he finds his own poetic voice.  We're loving this story and have enjoyed comparing our poems and thoughts with Jack's.

Math:  We have delved into our study of fractions!  This can be a tricky concept for some, but our class is really enjoying learning about parts of a whole.  Last week we learned to name the parts of the fraction.  We learned that the denominator represents the total number of equal parts and right above it is the numerator that represents the part of the whole that we're discussing.  We explored fractions with shapes.  This week we are going to learn about number line fractions and equivalent fractions.

Theme:  We are "rockin' on" with our geology unit.  Last week we were on a quest for calcite!  We had  four rock samples and had to figure out which rocks had the mineral calcite in them.  Calcite is the most common mineral found in rocks and it fizzes when it comes in contact with vinegar.  Through a short series of explorations, we were able to determine which rocks had calcite.  It was a ton of fun and with all that vinegar, our classroom smelled like salad dressing all week long!

This week we will begin making volcanoes!  We will be working with the whole third grade in groups of four!  Since it's a short week, we'll probably only get through the creating part.  The eruptions will have to wait until next week!

Lastly, we were fortunate enough to have Mountain Roots come and teach us all about nutrition last week.  They taught us how to read food labels and make healthy choices and they taught us how to cook!  We kicked off our Wednesday by making yummy crepes!  They were nutritious and delicious.  We learned so much and had such a great time.  Mountain Roots will return this week for a final lesson about food and the media.

 It was amazing.  I mean, look at Jen's face!

Thank you so much for reading!