Learning, stretching, growing

We have been working hard this week!

In reading, we continue to read and analyze the classic novel, Anne of Green Gables. We have been looking carefully at what the characters say, do, and think in order to learn more about their personalities.

In writing, students have worked diligently to publish their fiction stories! This week, this involved finishing their rough drafts, sharing their stories with a friend and getting feedback, and completing a self-assessment rubric and reflecting on their work. Students were asked to think about what they liked about their story, what they learned about writing, what they could add or change about their story in order to make it better, and how they can improve as a writer.

In math, we continue to learn about multiplication and practice our facts. Students now are working on committing the 2's and 3's facts to memory. Each night, they will bring home their self-made flashcards to practice. Please help your child with this! It is important to internalize these facts for more efficient computational work. We also spent a lot of time focusing on "model drawing" as a way to solve math word problems. Each child has the model drawing steps in their math folder and should use them from now on when completing word problems.

In social studies, we continue to learn about Japan. In integrated groups, children have been exploring the asian continent and making maps of Japan. In addition, we have been working with Mr. Felix and Mrs. Donahue to learn about iMovie, which we will use for our culminating research projects. News Flash: On Wednesday, February 9th, the third grade will take a field trip to the Boston Children's Museum. There, we will visit a traditional Japanese home and practice a traditional Japanese art.

In SBS news, we have begun working during our Buddy time on ROBOTICS! This is a lego-computer programming program. The kids are really excited! Ask your child about it.

Upcoming Dates and Events

Wednesday, 2/9: Field Trip to The Boston Children's Museum

Friday, 2/11: Pasta Supper @ 5:30

Friday, 2/18: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for kids)

Monday, 2/21: Presidents' Day (No School)

Monday, 3/14: Spring Break begins (Classes resume on 3/28)

Be well!

Writing Fiction

This week SBS 3rd graders have been immersed in the planning of their fiction stories. Each student developed a main character, thinking carefully about the character's physical characteristics, personality traits, wish, and problem. Once this character development was complete, children mapped their story using a "story mountain" board. This was comprised of five scenes, including the problem, turning point, and resolution. It is inspiring to see the investment each child has in their story and the excitement with which they are greeting this work. At the end of the week, children met with writing partners to share their work. In these partnerships, they were asked to share one compliment, one question, and one suggestion they had about their partner's story. This collaboration helped to strengthen each students' ideas before we move on to the next stage of the writing process.

Another exciting aspect of our work this week has been the exploration of multiplication facts.

We have begun with the 2's table. Students made the connection that you can count by 2's in order to use the 2's facts. We made fact cards and students worked together to begin committing them to memory.

In technology this week, we continued learning about, and experimenting with, iMovie. This tool will be used to create movies about our Japanese research next month.

Upcoming Dates and Events

Monday, 1/17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (No School)

Tuesday, 1/18: Sub Day!

Friday, 2/11: Pasta Supper @ 5:30

Friday, 2/18: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for kids)

Monday, 2/21: Presidents' Day (No School)

Monday, 3/14: Spring Break begins (Classes resume on 3/28)

Have a wonderful, long weekend!

Welcome Back

After a lovely two weeks off for winter break, it was nice to see everyone in the classroom again. Children shared fantastic stories about their adventures during the break; it sounds like a good time was had by all! My family and I enjoyed both relaxation (it was so nice to stay in our pajamas for a good part of the morning!) and adventure. We got our first ski/snowboarding trip of the season in and I am so excited by the fact that we are all now able to ski and ride down the mountain together as a family!

This week we got back in to the swing of our routines and started some new curricular pieces. The kids are VERY pleased to begin learning about multiplication and division. We have started by exploring the concept of both, and their relationship to each other. Early work with multiplication and division involves much work with manipulatives. Distinguishing between the operational signs (+, -, x, etc.) is also an important first step. This week, students learned how to represent multiplication problems in various ways, including the drawing of arrays. We utilized simulated real life events, such as sharing cookies for snack, to understand the idea that division is really making equal groups out of a larger number.

In both reading and writing workshops, we are exploring fiction. We read The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and analyzed the main character, Princess Elizabeth. Students learned that when they read a story we can make inferences about a character by paying attention to what that character does and says. Similarly, when we are writing, we must plan our characters mindfully, giving our readers clues about our character's traits by writing about their actions and planning dialogue carefully. Students began to develop a fictional character to give them practice with this.

This week we started a more targeted sight work spelling program. Each week, students will receive a personalized list of sight words that they need to memorize. Each day for morning work, children will do an activity involving these words. On Friday, they will be quizzed on their words. Any "passed" words will be highlighted in a personal dictionary and will be expected to be spelled correctly in their writing. Any words that have not been "passed" will remain on a child's spelling list for the following week.

Upcoming Dates

Monday, 1/17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (No School)

Friday, 2/11: Pasta Supper @ 5:30

Friday, 2/18: Parent/Teacher Conferences (No School for kids)

Monday, 2/21: Presidents' Day (No School)

Monday, 3/14: Spring Break begins (Classes resume on 3/28)

Have a wonderful weekend!