Catie's Third Grade Class Blog: Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

If you haven’t checked it out yet, please take a look at the blog this week. For the first few weeks, I’ll send these newsletters out via e-mail, but eventually I’ll just post them to the blog. If you subscribe to the blog, you will get an e-mail update any time I post anything new.

Math

This week we worked on collecting and representing data. We did class surveys on favorite ice cream flavors and genres of books. Then we represented the data using pictographs and bar graphs. Next week, we’ll delve into place value.

Writer’s Workshop

This week the students all began drafting their choice writing pieces. We’ll take these pieces through the entire writing process: drafting, revising, editing, publishing. We’ll share these pieces at an Author’s Tea at the end of the month. Next week, we’ll focus on using descriptive words and sentences in our drafting.

Reader’s Workshop

This week we focused on making connections to the books we read. There are three kinds of connections: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. We also wrapped up our read aloud novel, Alvin Ho. This week we’ll explore Native Northwest myths. We’ll learn about the importance of myth and how every cultures uses them to explain truths in humans and nature.

Chinook

After our trip to the Cathlapotle longhouse on Tuesday, we began planning and constructing our own Chinook “village.” Each child is working with a small group to create a miniature replica of a longhouse. The longhouses will be graded based on historical accuracy, neatness, effort, and group work. The kids have been doing fantastic work so far. It will be great to see how these all turn out!

Ask Your Child…

Here are some great conversation starters that you can try with your child to get them talking about what we’re doing in room 203:

- What is a pictograph? What’s a bar graph? Which do you prefer to use to show data?
- Tell me about what you are drafting in writing
- Tell me about Alvin Ho. What was a connection that you made to the novel?
- What did you learn about Chinook longhouses during your visit to Cathlapotle?
- What is “ethnobotany”? What sort of ethnobotany did you practice at Cathlapotle?

Important Dates Coming Up...

Oct. 12 - State In-Service Day (no school)
Oct. 17 - Late Start (school starts at 10:45)
Oct. 20 - Harvest Fair

Thanks for sending such interested students to school each day,

Catie

No comments:

Post a Comment

If your child is absent due to an illness I am happy to provide an overview of the work they missed in class that day or for those days they are out sick. Inevitably there are times when trips need to happen during the school year and your student should be assured that although they are missing class time, I encourage them to embrace the learning opportunities outside the walls of our school. Parents often ask me for a packet to bring along to keep their child engaged in some learning and kept busy in a car or on a plane, but I don't assign "trip work" packets. Trips on their own have the potential to be rich learning experiences from airport or car, to destination and back. Instead I ask that students keep a journal, photo journal or scrapbook of their trip which could be shared with me upon their return to class. They are also welcome to share these with the class, but I don't require them to do so. Finding a secret spot and having a special little journal in hand in which to write and sketch what they see is infinitely more valuable to your child than me giving them a story prompt. If you do want your child to have some 3rd grade-level busy work during travel you could visit Learning Palace or a similar store to purchase 3rd grade skills workbooks. The following are some ideas for meaningful learning during trips:

Math:
Have your child use math, reading and writing skills as often as possible. Have them pay for things and count change or add up the coins received back, use maps, figure out elapsed time or the time an activity took to complete, compare prices of menu items, look for patterns in nature or architecture, estimate the time it will take to complete an activity, collect data of some kind and create a bar graph (cars vs. trucks on a five mile stretch of road or the kinds of people around you on the plane who order soda vs. juice for example), etc.

Writing:
Have them bring their writer's notebook or more fun, have them choose and buy a special little notebook just for the trip where they can sketch possible characters, special spots or images to use in future writing. Everyone and everything they see can be given new life as a character or setting in future writing. A little set of colored pencils or tiny watercolors to go along with it can make it more fun as well. Have your child write and mail a postcard or letter to our class (even if it arrives after they return). Our school's address is 3421 SE Salmon St., PDX 97214. Thank you notes for guest accommodations or for hotel operators is always fun, too.

Reading:
Trips can be made more fun if your child is taken to the library or to Powell's for a special trip book or two. Perhaps they could visit a local book store at your destination where they can choose a book to read or purchase for the time they are there or for the trip back. As time permits, be sure they read at least 30 minutes or more each day.

Science or Social Studies:
We study rocks and minerals in 3rd grade and it's always a joy for kids when we begin this unit in winter to bring in a special rock from a place they have visited during the year. We also learn about the first peoples who lived on this land long before white settlers came to what is now known as Portland. It can be interesting for kids to learn about other first peoples who lived in places you visit. Just learning a bit about the history of a new place with a city walking tour, nature hike, scenic route or collecting little souvenirs or scraps can be fun for your child as well.