Geography

Social Studies

This week we began our Social Studies curriculum with the entire third grade. On Monday we discussed the question: "What is geography?" Students discussed what they know about the word geography and what they want to know. Your children are filled with lots of good questions and observations! To find out what they know about the world's continents and oceans, students were asked to filled out a blank world map. This exercise was difficult for many. As teachers we assured them that it was simply to help us understand what they can already identify so that we can tailor our teaching. On Friday, we all viewed a large map of the world and discussed the differences between and the definitions of towns, states, countries, and continents. It will be very interesting to give the children the same blank map at the end of the year and see what they have learned about continent and ocean placement.

FIELD TRIP-- On Friday, October 15th the third grade will visit the Lloyd Center in South Dartmouth to learn about and participate in a program entitled "Mysterious Monarch Migration: Tagging Monarch Butterflies." This program allows students to participate in an on going research project by assisting Lloyd Center staff in catching and tagging Monarch butterflies. The students will be introduced to Monarch Butterfly biology and migration patterns, before heading out to catch and tag these beautiful insects.

The data acquired while tagging will be contributed to Monarch Watch, an international

organization dedicated to conducting Monarch research. Students can follow the migration patterns of the butterflies on the Monarch Watch web site.

Reading and Writing

Our Making Meaning reading selections this week have been Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera B. Williams and Have You Seen Bugs? by Joanne Oppenheim. Both of these mentor texts have helped us to practice the reading comprehension strategy of visualizing. Students are learning how to pay attention to writing and to utilize detail words to paint a picture in their mind of a setting, event, or character.

For writing this week we used two texts by Tomie DePaola, Things Will Never Be the Same and Oliver Button is a Sissy to help us understand how authors get ideas for their writing. Students have added a list of "small moments from my life" to their writing idea section of their writing idea journals and are beginning to flesh some of them out as starts to writing pieces.

Math

In Math we continue to explore place value to the hundreds. We have utilized many different tools for representing the ones, tens, and hundreds place including base-ten blocks, number disks, and money. In addition, children are learning different ways to write and represent numbers such as through numerals, words, expanded form, and pictures. This week we have also been practicing our addition and subtraction facts.

Constellations

On Monday we had our first Constellations of the year. One Monday a month, students in grades K-6 get together in multi-age groups to meet, share, and engage in activities and discussions. This "family" grouping is a wonderful way for students throughout the school to get to know each other and establish cross-grade connections. Ask your child about their Constellations experience!

Dates to Remember

Saturday, October 2: Founder's Day

Monday, October 11: Columbus Day (No School)

Friday, October 22: Parent-Teacher Conferences (No School)

Peace Day

What a wonderfully full week we have had! In addition to getting several curricular routines off the ground, we had many special activities this week.

PEACE DAY

On Tuesday, September 21st, the whole Lower Division put aside our regular schedule to celebrate International Peace Day. After sharing our Peace Pledge with the other classes, we headed outside to form a peace symbol with the rest of the school. It was amazing to see all our bodies come together to represent such an important concept! Then, we went to the side field and flew the kites that we had constructed earlier in the week.

Our class pledge involves assisting Haitian students with attending L'Ecole Soleil. This is the same school we learned about last year. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help your child with this pledge.

ROPES COURSE

We spent Monday and Wednesday mornings out on the Ropes course participating in group challenges and cooperative games with the entire 3rd Grade. I was so proud of how well the groups worked together to be successful at the tasks at hand. These mornings helped us to understand the importance of good, respectful, and positive communication.

SALLY BORDEN ALL SCHOOL MEETING

On Monday, all of the SBS grades came together to connect as a community at our first weekly SBS All School Meeting! Each grade has its own responsibility as part of running the meeting. Our 3rd grade responsibility is to lead the group in a movement activity. This week we had everybody huffing and puffing as we sang and moved to the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." Ask your child to describe this activity!

CURRICULAR NEWS

This week we spent a good deal of time talking and learning about choosing "Just Right" books for independent reading. I began conferencing with students and establishing the importance of this routine. We also continued adding ideas to our "writing ideas" section of our writing journals, as well as writing about people in our lives. In Math, students reviewed place value and comparing numbers, using tools for computation such as a hundreds board, and learning some math games.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Tuesday 9/28: PIZZA DAY

Wednesday 9/29: PHOTO DAY

Saturday 10/2: BICENTENNIAL FESTIVAL

Finally, THANK YOU to all of you who were able to attend Parents' Night! I loved seeing you all and discussing our curriculum, as well as your wonderful children!

Fondly,

Lee

Welcome!

Welcome to our SBS Third Grade class blog! This will be the venue I use to communicate curricular news and updates, dates to remember, and to share the wonderful learning that your children are doing.

NEWS

This week has been spent getting used to our classroom routines, reconnecting with each other, and doing curricular assessments. One main curricular focus this week has been on the introduction of Peace Day, which we will celebrate as a school on Tuesday, September 21st. All lower division classes have read the story The Three Questions by Jon Muth, and we used this as a jumping off point to discuss the concept of peace. Come read the walls of our classroom to check out some of the wonderful thinking your children have been doing about this very important topic.

This week we also talked about our Hopes and Dreams for the school year and made new Learning Circles to think about how we have grown as learners and what we need to focus on this year. I will again be asking you all to design your own learning circles at Parents' Night to share with your children!

Looking Ahead

Next week, the whole Third Grade will head out to the Ropes course for two mornings of cooperative games and activities. These are scheduled to take place on Monday and Wednesday. Please be sure to send your child to school dressed properly. (Closed toe shoes that tie, long pants and sleeves, etc.) Please make sure your child applies insect repellent before they come to school.

Dates to Remember

Tuesday 9/21: PEACE DAY

Thursday 9/23: LOWER DIVISION PARENTS' NIGHT

Tuesday 9/28: PIZZA DAY

Wednesday 9/29: PHOTO DAY

Saturday 10/2: BICENTENNIAL FESTIVAL