Photos from our busy week

Repel or Absorb?

Sit spot and observation

Shelter building

Research for Helen on Chinook homes, clothing, food, and lifestyle

Catie's Weekly Update

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 continued working on subtraction strategies for numbers under 20 (ie 16-7=, 14-8=, etc).  The goal is for the kids to become “fluent” with these sorts of problems so that they don’t need to write them out, use manipulatives, or count on their fingers.  If you have flash cards, it would be a good idea to practice these at home with the goal being speedy, mental calculations.  If you don’t have flash cards you can find printable ones all over the internet.  Next week we’ll work on story problems and data.

Writer’s Workshop

This week we learned about the writing process (ideas, drafting, revising, editing, publishing).Next week we’ll focus on drafting our ideas after students choose one idea to bring through the entire process.  We will also focus on the characteristics of a good story, such as a problem that needs to be resolved.

Reader’s Workshop

This week we focused on the comprehension strategy of visualization.  Visualization is when we create an image or “movie” in our heads as we read.  Good readers are able to visualize the action of a story as well as descriptive passages.  Third graders tend to skip over descriptive passages, so we practiced drawing images of descriptive passages from our read aloud.  Eventually we will begin applying these strategies to their independent reading books.

Chinook

This week the students received a mysterious e-mail from a woman named Helen Tracker who is creating a museum exhibit about Portland’s first people.  She knows that we study the history of Portland quite well here at Sunnyside, so she’s recruiting the students’ help.  The kids looked at maps and read books about who lived here long before the settlers.  Their research yielded a ton of information!  I was quite impressed.  We will e-mail Helen about what we found in order to see how this “story” progresses :)

Columbia Children’s Arboretum

We had a fantastic first visit to the Columbia Children’s Arboretum on Wednesday.  The students learned about the importance of shelter in the wild.  They learned about what materials repel and absorb water.  They also learned about insulation.  They worked amazingly well to build shelters from rope, tarps, and natural materials - seriously impressive!  We also established “sit spots” where the kids could quietly observe nature and journal about it.  Thank you so much to all the volunteers. If you would like to visit the site with your child on a weekend, please use Google maps to look up "10040 NE 6th Dr" - please don't use the directions from Portland Parks & Rec - it's incorrect.

Ask Your Student…

Here are some great conversation starters that you can try with your child to get them talking about what we’re doing in room 200:

- Which problems are easier for you: addition or subtraction?  Why?  How are they connected?

- What makes a good story?

- What is visualization?

- What did you learn about the Chinook?

Important Things Coming Up...

Oct. 2 - Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge Field Study

Oct. 12 - State In-Service Day (no school)

Thanks for sending such wild place-loving students to school each day,

Catie

Catie's Weekly Update

Hello families,

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 soon 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 something new. We had a busy week, see pictures in the last post, and read below for details.

Math

This week we focused on strategies for addition and subtraction problems using numbers less than 20. We generated a list of strategies (facts) to help us become more efficient with our addition and subtraction- for example, "any number minus itself always equals zero." This was review for many of the students, but I want to make sure these concepts are clear before we move into more complicated ideas. We also began Workplaces this week. Workplaces are like last years, where the students self select math stations, involving activities and games to help review, practice, and reinforce what has been taught. I have also started giving a logic problem for "Logic Friday", our morning warm up, to increase kids attention to details (especially in directions) and exercise that important part of their math brain. They are also really fun. Our first Home Connection (optional math homework, usually practice of an activity or game we have learned/played in class) will go home with homework on Monday. This is optional, it is great practice, especially when absent, going on a trip, or if you are looking for a new family game/activity. 

Writer's Workshop

This week in writing we focused on developing ideas. We made heart maps (of things that we love) and also maps of places that are special to them or where they have lots of memories. They will use these "Buried Story" maps to get great ideas for writing. Next week we'll continue developing ideas and choosing one idea to take through the writing process.

Reader's Workshop

This week we have focused on the comprehension strategy of prediction. I always tell the students that reading is thinking...it's not just sounding out words. Throughout the year, we will learn and reinforce strategies that get us thinking about our books. Making predictions based on what we know is one way to do this. "I think ________ will happen because_________." We practiced this skill with our new read aloud novel, Alvin Ho, by Lenore Look. The class is enjoying this story about a boy who has a lot of fears... including his ultimate fear: school.

Grains

This was a big week for grains. We tasted 8 different grains on Tuesday and wrote our observations about their taste, texture, and appearance. On Thursday the students threshed, winnowed, and ground our grains into flour. Today, we made blueberry muffins using a little of our homemade flour (the flous we made was pretty coarse, so we won't be using a lot of it!) Ask your students how much flour our class of 23 made, and how much work they put into it! In the coming weeks, we will be replanting our grain garden with some of the seeds they harvested.

Columbia Children's Arboretum

Next week if our first visit to our field study site, the Columbia Children's Arboretum. The arboretum is a hidden place in upper Northeast Portland. Its 28 acres are tucked away amid industrial lands and warehouses. Our first visit will involve getting to know the land, learning about shelter, finding a "sit spot", and playing some outdoor games. Right now, the weather forecast looks great- low 70's and dry. Please keep in mind that it might be cool when we first arrive, so help your student dress appropriately. We will be doing some hiking, so comfortable shoes are a must. If you volunteered to help with our field studies and have not yet contacted me to confirm, please do so ASAP. We are a little short on drivers at this point. Thanks!

Back to School Forms

Thank you for returning most of the back to school forms promptly. There are still a few missing medical and walking field trip forms. Please get this into me as soon as possible, your student knows where to put it, in the box labeled "Papers for Catie". I will e-mail the folks with missing forms this weekend. Also, please get the Field Study permission slips back to me no later than Tuesday, September 25th. I cannot take students who do not have medical forms/permission slips on our field study. Thank you.

Classroom Needs

Wow, thanks for the abundance of dry, storable, healthy snacks for our class these past couple of days, our snack bin is overflowing! 

Here are some items we'll be needing soon. You may send them up with your child any time next week:

-Shoeboxes (with removable lids)

-Paper towel tubes

-Wine corks

-Rocks, sticks, moss, bark, and other forest detritus (these would be fun things to collect with your student)

Also, I would really like for my desk to become a standing desk, so if anyone is particularly handy with building or has access to scrap wood (I don't even know where to start!) I'd greatly appreciate any support-please send me an email!

Ask Your Student. . . 

Here are some conversation started that you can try with your student to get them talking about what we're doing in room 200:

-Why is predicting an important reading skill?

-Tell me about Alvin Ho

-What is threshing and winnowing?

-How did musical rehearsal go?

-How are grains turned into food?

Important dates:

Sept. 22- Autumnal Equinox

Sept. 26-Field Study at Columbia Children's Arboretum

Oct 2-Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge Field Study

Thanks for sending such enthusiastic students to school each day,

Catie

Photos from our busy week

Weekly update to come. . .

Grain tasting!

8 different grains: ask your student!

a full plate!

Second step in grain stations: winnowing

more winnowing!

taking a break from winnowing to act like a farmer

Grinding

Our first musical rehearsal with Mr. Nelson

Extended student absences, illnesses, and trips

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.


This policy is also posted at the bottom of the blog for your reference!

Catie's Weekly Newsletter-September 14, 2012

Hello families, 

If you subscribe to the blog, you will get an e-mail update any time I post anything new.   Thank you to the great turn-out on Thursday night - all but five students had family members there!  If you weren’t able to come and have questions, please feel free to e-mail me. I have packets ready for students to take home for those who were unable to make it.

Math

Last week we focused on growing patterns.  The students were familiar with repeating patterns (ie ABC, ABC....), but a continually growing pattern of tiles and blocks was new for them.  Below is an example of one of the patterns we did in class:

Practicing with these kinds of patterns helps students begin to think algebraically as each arrangement grows by steady increments.  Next week, we’ll work on addition and subtraction strategies that will build speed and fluency.

Writer’s Workshop

We began our Writer’s Workshop this week by designing our “Ideal Writing Spaces.”  The kids sketched and described the space in which they could do their best writing.  They chose places as diverse as the hammock in their backyard, a tree house, a field of flowers, and their own bedroom.  I ask them to imagine that they are in this space at the start of each workshop.  We also began to generate a topic list of things they care about. Next week we’ll continue focusing on developing places they can “mine” for writing ideas.

Reader’s Workshop

Reading this week was primarily focused on developing a consistent silent reading routine and finding “just right” books.  I also introduced reading logs and next week will begin teaching reading strategies that they will practice with their independent reading books.

Grains

We began harvesting grains from our grain garden with Steph this week.  We also read about grains, looked at them with jeweler’s loupes, and tasted some.  Next week will be a big grain week.  We’ll finish harvesting them, we’ll do some more grain tasting, we’ll thresh, winnow, and grind our grains, and we’ll do some baking.  Please see my “Parent Help” section below for more on this.

Volunteering

My room parent (Bonnie) and I will put together a volunteer list next week.  If you signed up to volunteer for any of the things on the survey, we’ll be contacting you shortly to get started.  Those of you that volunteered to drive/chaperone our Site Monitoring trips (thank you!) I will be contacting you separately early in the week.  Our first trip will be on Wednesday, Sept. 26th.

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:

- How did your class decide how to narrow down your class agreements (aka rules) to just five things?
- What is a grain?
- What are you reading?

Parent/Family Help

1.  Grain-based food:  On Tuesday, we are going to have a class “Grain Tasting.”  This is an opportunity for the kids to taste a variety of foods made with different grains.  Examples of the grains we’ve learned about are wheat, oats, millet, quinoa, corn, rye, rice, and spelt.  If you would like to donate a grain-based food (either homemade or store bought) for this event, please contact me ASAP.  I will make and purchase whatever we still need at that point.

2.  Grain Stations: On Thursday from 2:00-2:45PM, we are going to thresh, winnow, and grind our grains into flour.  It is always helpful to have one other adult help me out with these stations.  Let me know if you can help by e-mailing me.

Important Things Coming Up...

Sept. 19 - Late Opening (school starts at 10:40 AM)
Sept. 20 - Individual Picture Day (9:00 AM)
Sept. 22 - Autumn Equinox
Sept. 26 - First trip to Columbia Children’s Arboretum

Thanks for sending such curious students to school each day,

Catie

Needs and wants!

Hey all,

I'm just getting ready for our week and looking ahead, and these are things that we need:

-Egg cartons 

-Six shoe boxes for longhouses (thought I'd ask since you may still have your back to school boxes!)

-Paper towel tubes

We'd also love:

-A floor plant for some ambiance
-High interest, third grade appropriate chapter books that your student may be finished with and want to lend/donate to our class library
-More snack, dried fruit and cracker like things

Thanks so much, and looking forward to the week ahead.

Art, PE, and Library times

Hello all,

Here are our Art, PE, and Library days/times.  Please make sure that your child is wearing appropriate shoes (closed toe, supportive, good traction) on PE days.

Art: Tuesdays 10:40-11:30
PE: Monday 10:40-11:30
Library: Mondays 10:00-10:25 (starting 9/17)

I will hand out our complete schedule at Back to School Night on Thursday.

Hello all!

Wow, are we sure lucky. Our class is already forming the foundation for a strong, caring, and inclusive community. I can already tell that we will have a fantastic year together. This week we practiced learning names, played get to know you games, discovered all of the nooks and crannies of our classroom (Room 200!), began our self-portraits, practiced silent reading, filled out reading surveys and a math assessment, and shared at our class meetings. This has been a very productive and busy three days (and, we enjoyed popsicles together on Friday afternoon!)

This blog is a tool I use to communicate with you, ask for help/materials, display pictures of your children doing amazing things, post links that would interest/support your kids, and update you on upcoming events.  I try to add new posts at least once a week.  I will send an e-mail newsletter starting next week that will remind you to check the blog regularly.  Please feel free to comment on blog posts and give me feedback.  Also, next week I am going to send out a blog permission slip that explains how the blog is used. If you do not want your child's photo to appear on the blog (note: I will never put captions on the photos to name kids), you can let me know on that form.

Have a fantastic weekend, and thank you for sending such excited students to school each day!

Catie

Introduction to third grade:

Third grade is an exciting year full of learning, challenge, and fun.  Our main theme in 3rd grade is Portland, our home and city.  Over the course of the year we’ll study the First People of Portland, native plants/animals, salmon, geology, post-white-settlement Portland, Portland geography, and modern Portland.  A big highlight of this year is “Portland: A Musical.”  This musical production is an annual tradition here at Sunnyside that is fun, hard work, and an amazing learning experience.  Your children will fall in love and be very knowledgeable about this city by the end of the year.

Weaved in and out of this Portland theme are a Reader’s Workshop that focuses on teaching students to become focused, independent, and diverse readers and a Writer’s Workshop that teaches students to write effectively in a variety of genres.  Our Bridges Math program will hone students’ skills in addition/subtraction and introduce multiplication, division, fractions, and geometry.

In addition to these academic skills, third grade will continue to focus on social and community-building skills.  We will build these skills through Morning Meetings, sharing, games, reflection, and gratitude.  As a school and a third grade team, we feel that we are not just educating children, but citizens.

I will go into more detail about our curriculum, answer questions, and present volunteering opportunities at our Back to School Night on Thursday, September 13th at  6:00 pm.  I hope to see you there!

For class updates, please bookmark and check our class blog, catieandclass.blogspot.com. The best way to contact me is e-mail, at ckgriesdorn@gmail.com.

A little about me. . .

This will be my third full year teaching at Sunnyside, though I did my student teaching with Eric (1/2) and was a long term substitute the following year for both Eric and Rebecca. I taught Kindergarten the past two years and am looking forward to seeing those students around school, as well as excited for this transition to third grade! I currently live in SE Portland (right near school), and have a five year old Golden Retriever named Kuma. I love to be outside, biking, hiking, snowboarding, and especially swimming. I had an amazing summer backpacking for 35 days in the Wind River Range in Wyoming (on a NOLS Instructor Course), traveling across the country to Boston and Florida, and a fantastic road trip with my partner Lisa from Denver back to Portland. I feel refreshed and excited to integrate my passions for social justice and outdoor education into the classroom this year. I hope that y'all had a nice summer as well, and look forward to getting to know you.

Welcome to Third Grade!

The school year is right around the corner, so I wanted to introduce you all to the class blog. I will use this blog as a primary communication tool with families of my students. I will use this blog to post upcoming events, links to resources, weekly newsletters, photos, student entries, and homework. Please feel free to post comments/questions to any entries that I make. Third grade is such a fantastic year of growth and discovery. I look forward to getting to know you and your children this year!