Refreshed and Ready to Roll!

I hope you all had a fun-filled February break!  We had a great start to our week and I am looking forward to continued awesomeness!

We started our day talking about why we make the choices that we make.  We discussed what motivates us to do our homework, help out our classmates, and to do our best work.  This led to a great discussion about The Six Levels of Thinking which is based off of Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development.  For more explanation of the levels, please click on the link below the photo.  The link will take you to the Prezi presentation I created to facilitate the discussion.

Six Levels of Thinking Presentation

We discussed each level of thinking and the characteristics of a Level 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 thinker.  This expanded to a  discussion characters in our read aloud and what level thinker we thought they were and why.  We rounded out the discussion with thinking about what level each of us are currently at, and what level we would strive to work toward.  In our class, we have talked a lot about being leaders in our own lives and having a choice about what kind of person we want to be.  We will continue to discuss these levels and how we can work toward being the best we can be.

Our discussion of level 6 thinkers lead us perfectly into a discussion of Martin Luther King Jr. and the fact that February is Black History Month.  This week, we acknowledge Black History Month by learning about poet Maya Angelou and using her poem Life Doesn't Frighten Me as our fluency poem.

Students participated in our first session of Book Clubs today.  All students will now be apart of a small-group book club in our class.  Book Clubs will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays each week.  During these meetings, we will discuss our literature and our assignments.  I absolutely love seeing students huddled in groups excitedly discussing literature!  During the beginning of this process, students are taught not only how to complete their book club assignments effectively, but how to communicate and actively listen to their peers in book club discussions.  These skills are explicitly taught so students know exactly what is expected of them.  I will be sending home more information about book clubs this week.

Speaking of discussing literature,  Junior Great Books are underway!  Students will be bringing home their second reading this Wednesday along with an assignment.  Due to TCAPs, we will be moving our discussion from the original 9:40-10:40 time to 10:50-11:20 on Thursday.  Feel free to join us if you'd like!

In writing, we are just getting into the heart of our realistic fiction pieces.  I am so impressed with our students' writing so far.  They have done a marvelous job pulling techniques taught in our mini lessons and from what we've noticed from published authors and implementing them into their own writing.  We will be finishing up our rough drafts this week and start moving through the writing process next week.

Math:  What did the acorn say when it grew up?  Geometry.  Get it?  Gee, I'm a tree?  Okay.  I won't quit my day job.  But that is what we'll be studying in math this week, geometry.  For many, this is a nice break from computation (although we still will have a small amount of daily practice).  Students will begin with lines, rays, and line segments, parallel and intersecting lines, and move into angles and turns by the end of the week.

As you may have heard, we will be starting TCAPs this week on Wednesday and Thursday 9:00-10:30.  Please see the note I sent home for more info.

Before this blog turns into a novel, I will wrap it up with a few dates to remember.  Please know that I will send home more information about all of these events, this is just a heads up.

Next Tuesday, we begin our Nordic Ski Program.  Our class will go on Tuesday afternoons for three weeks from 12:30-3:00.  We will be walking to and from the Nordic Center and skis, poles, and boots will be provided.  So we will be participating on March 4, 11, and 18.

Writing TCAPs will be Tuesday March 11 and Wednesday March 12 from 9:00-10:30 and Math TCAPs will be Tuesday March 18 and Wednesday March 19 from 9:00-10:30.  

Lastly, since it is the middle of the year, I decided to cancel spelling this week in order to reassess. Spelling will resume next week.

Thanks so much for reading.  As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

-Melissa

Valentine's Day & Powder & Break! Oh my!

February break is just a week away!  I am amazed at how fast this year is flying by!  Here's what we'll be up to this week in Melissa's class:

Reading Workshop:  

We've been working on reading responses through our literature circle jobs.  Literature circles (or book clubs) will begin after break, but we decided to practice the jobs (Connector, Illustrator, Discussion Director, Word Wizard, and Literary Luminary) with our self-selected texts.  This week, we will expand on our learning with the introduction of Junior Great Books.  We will read one story from JGB each Tuesday in class.  Students will read the story again at home Tuesday night and will have a written homework assignment starting after break.  On Wednesday, students will participate in a discussion where they will share their insights and interpretations. This is called Shared Inquiry.  Shared Inquiry is a way that students can achieve a thorough understanding through discussion.  Books will come home this Tuesday along with a note with further explanation.

Writing Workshop:  The time has finally come for fiction writing, realistic fiction that is!  This is challenging work and it is not taken lightly.  We have been studying published realistic fiction to see how the pros do it.  We have learned so much from our class read aloud Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

This book is not only shaping the way we think about realistic fiction, it is changing the way we see the world and ourselves in it.  Pretty powerful stuff huh?  Our explorations didn't stop there.  We also delved into many realistic fiction books by one of our favorite authors, Patricia Polacco.

Here's some things we learned:

We have worked hard to take what we've learned and apply it in our own writing.  Last week, we created believable characters with interesting problems.  This week we will begin to draft our pieces starting with amazing leads!

Math:  We are plugging away on our unit on fractions and decimals.  This unit can be challenging, but we have been enjoying the idea of breaking chocolate bars into tenths and hundredths!  We will continue work with decimals this week as we wrap up this unit.  After break, we will be moving on to geometry.  

This week we have our last ski day on Thursday and of course Valentine's Day on Friday.  I have included Valentine's Day information with this week's homework plan.  Progress reports will be coming home on Tuesday!  

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Melissa

Short and Sweet

Four days on, four days off, and four days on again!

I hope that you all enjoyed your four day weekend!  Teachers had very productive days in our classrooms on both Friday and Monday. We were able to spend time on report cards and lesson plans for the next coming weeks.

This week in Melissa's class is short and sweet as was last week.  Here's what we'll be up to:

Reading Workshop:  Students will spend this short week with the comprehension strategy of connecting.  There are three types of connections that can be made while reading.  There are personal connections, connections with other books and connections with things in the outside world.  When students make a conscious association with something that they have personally experienced, read or heard about, it becomes easier for them to relate to the text and to understand what is happening.  Connecting with the text will most likely lead to greater interest in the text as well.

Writing Workshop:  Recently students were introduced to the Six Traits of Writing.  The traits include Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Word Choice, and Conventions.  We had great fun creating posters and presenting each trait to the class.  We have also been practicing each trait through focused paragraphed writing.  This week we will wrap up our Six Trait focus, but we will refer back to it consistently throughout our next unit; Realistic Fiction.

Here are our posters.  They are also hanging above our cubbies since it's kind of hard to appreciate them in these teeny tiny pictures!

Math:  We just wrapped up our unit on the basics of multiplication and division and we are now moving on to place value in whole numbers and decimals.  We will be extending on previous lessons on the base-ten place value system to whole numbers through millions and to decimals through thousandths.  In third grade, we like to really emphasize the "ths" in decimals as it helps us remember that if there is a "ths" it means that it's a decimal.  Plus, it makes us laugh to remind each other to "say it don't spray it!"

Science:  We just began exploring the states of matter.  Last week, we learned what matter was and what the three states of matter are; solid, liquid and gas.  We sorted everyday objects into appropriate states based on their properties.  This week we will expand on our learning by discussing mass and volume.

Ski program has been fantastic and I'm looking forward to another incredible day on the hill on Thursday!

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

Time sure flies when you're having fun!  I had a skiing-filled break and after the freezing of myself and the NFL and the High Lift today (can you believe that!  I'm glad I got one Headwall run in before they shut it down), I am ready to head back to school!  I hope you all are feeling thawed, rested and ready too!

Before we get into it, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for making our feast a success and for your kind and generous holiday gifts.  I so appreciate you and all of your support!  Thank You!

Here's what we'll be up to this week:

Reading Workshop:  Over the next couple weeks, the focus of our reading workshop will be comprehension strategies.  This week, we will be focusing on are asking questions.

Questions are at the heart of teaching and learning.  Posing questions allows us to seek out information, solve problems, and extend our understanding.  They propel us to read on and to do further research.  I want to teach our students that instead of demanding answers all the time, they need to ask thoughtful and insightful questions.  In order to develop critical, analytical readers, we must teach them to think about and question what they read.  Asking questions enriches the reading experience and leads to deeper understanding.

We will begin the week learning to ask questions as we read.  Students will ask questions as they read and understand that good readers question the text, stop and notice when their questions are answered, and recognize that not all of our questions are answered.

As the week continues, we will learn how to ask questions to gain information and how to ask questions to expand our thinking.

Writing Workshop:  This unit in writing is all about the Six Traits of Writing.  Six Traits of Writing is a systematic and analytical approach for learning about writing one part at a time.  By focusing on only one trait at a time, a writer can break down a complex activity like writing and make it more manageable.  With practice, writers can then learn to be more critical of their own work and can make improvements in the quality of their writing. 

The Six Traits of Writing are: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions.  

This week students will be introduced to all six traits.  Students will work in groups of threes and learn about one specific trait.  Students will become "experts" on their trait and create a poster and a presentation for their other classmates on their particular trait.  We will round out the week focusing on Ideas.  

Throughout this unit, we will look at mentor texts that highlight one or two of the traits.  We will discuss the traits, read the texts, and discuss what they thought the author did really well.  Then students write pieces inspired by these wonderful texts.  

Math:  We will begin the week with some review of subtraction methods.  Students will reacquaint themselves with both the count-up method, which is totally different than how you and I learned math, but it is a lot of fun. Yes, I just said that a subtraction algorithm is fun!  They will also practice the traditional method of subtraction as well.  As the week goes on, we will be plugging away on our multiplication and division unit and rolling our numbers.

Theme:  We will spend some time wrapping up our unit on France.  Students will reflect on what they learned, what went well, and what could've been better. Our next theme will be revealed shortly, but I will tell you that it is a science theme!

Well, that's a lot of information for now.  Just a few things to remember:

-Ski program starts Thursday January 16th for 3rd grade.  We will be skiing for the second half of the day every Thursday for 5 weeks!  Yahoo!!!  If you haven't paid yet, please pay as soon as possible.  If you have not paid by the second week of the program, you child will not be allowed to ski until you do.

- No school for elementary students (not sure about secondary, sorry) on Friday January 17 and Monday January 20.  Enjoy that 4-day weekend!

Thanks again for reading.  Please let me know if this blog is helpful to you or if there is anything you would like me to add or omit.  Your feedback really would mean a lot to me.  

Thank you!

Last Week of 2013

Bonjour!

Our last week before 2013 is going to be a busy one!  

Since our students are so busy with memorizing their parts for our holiday program and for our presentation on France, there will be minimal homework this week.  

They may need some assistance in their homework assignment on Wednesday.  I have asked the students to write a goodbye letter to Wren as she will be leaving for the rest of the school year after break.  She and her family will be in Florida for the remainder of the school year.  We are excited for her, but we will miss her terribly.  The letters are meant to be a surprise to Wren, so let's keep it on the down low.  

In Writing Workshop/Social Studies we will be finishing up on our final drafts and adding details on our poster boards.  We are so excited to show you what we've learned.  There will be a parent presentation on Friday at 2:00 followed by a multicultural feast with all 2nd and 3rd grade classes in the MPR that will last until the end of the day.  

Speaking of the feast, we've had a lot of people offer to bring cups, cutlery, and plates, which we so appreciate.  However, we definitely need some food!  So far we have yule log, crepes and some french bread coming our way.  As a class, we are planning on making truffles to bring and would love if you could bring something too.  I know that we are all extra busy this time of year and I totally understand if not everyone can bring a dish. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or even traditional French.  Here's a few ideas:  

• potatoes au gratin
• croissants
• quiche
• potato salad
• nicoise salad
• cheese plate
• French toast sticks
• easy beef bourguignon

There are a bunch of easy recipes on the food network website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/french/index.html

In all other academic areas, we will be reviewing and reinforcing skills and concepts that we have learned so far.  I find it's best not to introduce new concepts right before our two week break.  

Thanks again for all that you do.  Have a fantastic Holiday Break!   I'll see you out on the hill!

  

Last Two Weeks of 2013!

We are on a sleigh ride to Christmas Break people!  Wow!  Time is just racing by!

Here's what we're up to in Melissa's Third Grade!

Math:  We are plugging along with multiplication and division.  We are learning how to roll our eights and continue practicing with our threes, fours, and sixes.  We just started to learn strategies to help us solve basic division problems and have even dabbled with remainders!

Readers Workshop:  This week readers workshop is divided into two parts; nonfiction reading and fiction reading.

In our nonfiction reading, students will continue to monitor their comprehension and synthesize the information their reading about their french topic.  Many students are doing this independently while others require a bit more support.  Many of us don't have much background knowledge to draw from, so this information is all new.  We are learning so much and having a great time!  Many of us are making plans to visit France ourselves someday!

Fiction reading is focused on continued practice of the skills we have acquired so far this school year.  We are choosing books that are just right, committing to a book from start to finish, and making sure to we are paying attention to what we read, not just skimming over the words.  We make mental movies in our mind and monitor our comprehension.  When our mental movie gets blurry, we stop, ask questions, reread and read on!  We rock!

Writers Workshop:  It's all about France for the next two weeks.  Students are finishing up on their topic paragraphs and are moving on to writing introductions and conclusions. We are hoping to get everyone going on their poster board by Wednesday this week.  We are planning to present our amazing posters next week. I will send home some information later this week about days and times.

Speaking of days and times, here is a list of upcoming events:

This week:
Tuesday December 10:  Health Fair
Friday December 13:  Book Buddy Day  Wear your pajamas, bring your favorite stuffy/pillow to snuggle and read with your kindergarten buddy!

Ski Forms for Ski Program:  They will be coming home today.   Please get them back ASAP!  They are due back by December 18th at the latest!  The cost is $85 per student.  Payments are due by January 10th.

Next week:

Holiday Program!!

The 3rd and 4th grade holiday program is on Thursday December 19 at 5:30 p.m.  Students need to report our classroom at 5:15.  Prepare to have your mind blown!

Thanks for reading!

Vive la France!

Welcome back everyone!  I hope your break was filled with family, friends, food, and pow!  I sure had fun making laps on lower Ruby Chief  this weekend!

Anyway, our study of France is underway.  This week we will be spending time breaking down our individual topics into two-three subtopics to research.  We've done pretty well with this so far, but we could always use a little bit of help.  If you are available to help us, we would love it!  We'll be doing our research daily from 12:00-1:00 and would love any help we can get.  The more the merrier!

This week we are just on a mad hunt for facts about our topics.  We are learning how to take notes and will be focusing on putting facts into our own words and eventually into paragraph form.  Our final product will be a poster board that will look a bit like this:

This poster board will combine what we have learned in our study of nonfiction texts and what we've learned about France.  It's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun.

Spelling is all new this week!  We are no longer doing spelling sorts.  Please read the note I sent home today for more info.

Math this week will continue with our focus on measurement, area, and perimeter.  We plan to wrap this unit up by the end of the week.  We also are just learning how to roll our fours!  We are so awesome!

France is all the rage in our writing and of course our social studies time as well.  This week we will be learning about the geography of France, the French Flag and may even get into a little bit of government if we have time.

I think that's all for now.  Thank you so much for reading!