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

Friday, November 9, 2012

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Math

This week we continued working on place value. We especially focused on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and using rounding to help us make estimations. Estimating is challenging for 3rd graders! They really want an exact answer. It’s helpful to support this at home by asking them to give a rough estimate. When you think about, as adults, we do far more estimation than exact calculation - it’s an important skill to have.

Writer’s Workshop

This week we read some personal narratives, learned what personal narratives are, and began working on some graphic organizers to help us organize our stories. The students will be writing personal narratives from the perspective of their Chinook characters. The kids are doing a great job of taking their own experiences and adapting them to their characters. It will be fun to see how these narratives turn out.

Reader’s Workshop

This week we started practicing summarizing our reading and differentiating this from simply retelling the whole story. We’ll continue with this skill next week. We also practiced empathizing with the characters to make a stronger connection with the story and help our understanding.

Chinook

This week the Chinook villagers went on a plant gathering mission in order to prepare for the winter ahead. They did a fantastic job and learned a lot about native plants in the process. Thanks to Bonnie and Jamyelese and all of the Feast suppliers.

Salmon

Our salmon are now in the alevin stage, which means that they have hatched, but they still carry around their egg sac on their bellies. This egg sac provides all the nutrients they need at this point. Gradually these egg sacs will shrink and disappear. Once their gone, our salmon will need to be released so that they can find their own food. Right now we’re estimating that they will need to be released around the time we return from Thanksgiving break. I’ll keep you updated.

Chief Lelooska

The tickets should be arriving this week. I will e-mail you on the day I send them home so that you can check your child’s backpack. I will give them out along with the order form you filled out. Remember to mark your calendar for Saturday, Nov. 24th at 7 pm if you ordered tickets!

Ask Your Third Grader...

What is a personal narrative?

What is your personal narrative going to be about?

Tell me about the plant gathering your tribe did?

What did you learn about native plants this week?

Tell me about your experience “angling” at Columbia Children’s Arboretum?

Important Things Coming Up...

Nov. 12 - Veteran's Day Observed (No School)

Nov. 19-20 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (No School)

Nov. 21-23 Thanksgiving Break (No School)

Nov. 24 - Chief Lelooska Performance (7 pm)

Thanks for sending such persistent and supportive students to school each day, (ask about the challenges of angling!)

Catie

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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.