Photos from another busy week

No big deal, just swinging from the ceiling!

A picnic table in the way of a possible football play area required some serious efficient teamwork!

Placed on the risers!

Math groups hard at work on their Multiples chart today!

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Math

This week we wrapped up our unit on geometry with a post-assessment (exactly the same as the pre-assessment given in December).  You should be happy to know that every child in the class made large gains in their understanding of geometry concepts and their application.  We are now beginning our study of multiplication and division.  It is important for kids to start seeing multiplication simply as repeated addition - not some foreign and difficult concept.  We started working on the basics next week and gradually move into more challenging work as the need arises.

Writer’s Workshop

This past week, we learned about imagery, and wrote personification poems and Paint Chip Poetry poems-they're turning out beautiful. Have you ever noticed the juicy names of paint chips?  The kids have been writing some truly inspiring poetry.  We’ve also talked about how to use these techniques in their other writing.

Reader’s Workshop

This week, we have focused on expanding our vocabularies.  We’ve been harvesting words from our read aloud, looking up definitions, identifying synonyms/antonyms, and practiced using them in sentences.  I’m encouraging students to use these new words in their writing and everyday language. We're still reading Zorgamazoo, and making so many connections to the real world (ask your student about Tedium Steam!)

Portland - A Musical

We are down to our last four rehearsals for the musical.  Starting next week, no scripts (except for those of the narrators) will be allowed on stage.  Several kids still do not have their parts memorized.  PLEASE work with your child on this - even if it is for only 10 minutes per day. Narrators should have their parts mostly memorized so that they can maintain eye contact with the audience.  Make sure that your calendars are marked for Friday, Feb. 22nd at 6:30 pm for the big performance.  Expect e-mails from Rhonda Baker (Josie’s mom) regarding costumes and other musical related things in the coming weeks.

Ask Your Third Grader...

What do you think multiplication is?  What about division?

What did your small group make a growing pattern of? What number did you skip count by, and how far in the pattern did you get?

What is imagery? What paint chips did you choose? What is your paint chip poem about?

Tell me about your science inquiry project.

How are you feeling about the musical?  What would you still like to work on?

Important Things Coming Up...

Feb. 1st - Teacher Planning Day (no school)

Feb. 4-15 SES Read-a-thon

Feb. 8th - No School (SES only)

Feb. 18th - President's Day (no school)

Feb. 20th - Late Opening (school starts at 10:40 am)

Feb. 22nd - Portland - A Musical (9:30 am performance for school and 6:30 pm performance for families)

Thanks for sending such creative students to school each day,

Catie

Homework (Math and Spelling Practice)

Hello Families,

I just wanted to make sure that your student had communicated with you regarding the math homework attached to the weekly notebook homework- each student should be completing it and turning it in on Monday (they know this, but only about half are turning math homework in). The OAKS Math test is challenging, and I want them to be prepared as possible-it also helps connect you all with what we are doing in class. 

Second, we have begun weekly spelling tests based on spelling patterns. Learning words by learning word patterns (especially with beginnings and endings) is a meaningful and lasting way to become a better speller! I do not want students to lose their voice in fear of spelling words wrong, but I do want to push them a bit more to do their best spelling. They learn and write the words three times on Monday morning for Warm Up, take them home, and should practice any tricky words nightly. They also work through 4 pages of activities related to putting together and taking apart the words, rhyming, identifying correct spelling, etc.

There are 15 regular words and 5 bonus (the bonus are optional). The test will be each Friday morning right before our Morning Meeting. Students are grading their own work and correcting their mistakes, further reinforcing their knowledge of spelling patterns. It is their responsibility to bring home and practice the words, but if they ask for support, please support them in whatever way is helpful. Third grade is a lot about increasing responsibility and independence, while also knowing when it is helpful to ask for support. They should also be showing you their test (that they graded) on Friday afternoons.

I will post the words on Monday, as I realize some spellers are not getting through writing 45 words down (though they will keep practicing, and look for their words on Monday afternoons with new Homework).

The words this week are focused on endings, -ing, -er, -ied, and -ed. 

using

getting 

easiest

swimming

heavier

greatest

pleased

emptied

leaving

worried

strangest

freezing

funniest

angrier

shopped

Bonus:

included

occurred

supplying

scarier

happiest

Thanks and best,

Catie

Photos from another busy week!

Learning knots with Jack in our indoor Field Study

Food caching lesson with Ginny. What obstacles do squirrels face for survival in the winter? Only one of ours survived!

Reflecting about the beauty in our class Thursday morning

Science Inquiry Groups hard at work on their research and procedure

End of Unit Geometry Assessment. Half of the class will finish on Monday. They are really putting all of that new vocabulary to use, especially in their shape sorting.

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Wow - what a week.  The flu has really done a number on Sunnyside in recent weeks. It’s hard to make progress with our curriculum (particularly math), but hopefully we’re getting it out of our system.  The real test is going to be whether we can stay healthy around the time of the musical!  Make sure your kids are getting lots of rest, eating plenty of vitamins, drinking LOTS of water, and washing hands frequently.

Math

This week, we worked on finding the area of a quadrilateral.  It’s important for the kids to at least understand the conceptual difference between area and perimeter.  These concepts can be reinforced at home by talking to your kids about measuring perimeter and area for home and yard projects.  We’ll begin our next unit on multiplication and division next week. Our challenge on Friday was to estimate and measure the area of our gray carpet in square units (4” squares, but the students know them only as square units). Then, a student wondered how many square units the area would be if we used our base ten unit pieces (one square inch!) With everyone’s brain spinning and on fire, Stella made the connection that if we could measure how many units fit on one side of the big square unit, we could multiply that area by that number. We did, and figured out that the area in base ten square units of our grey rug is 12,___ (I can’t remember the exact number, but maybe your student will). THAT is math in action!

Writer’s Workshop

We’re continuing our study of poetry, learning about personification and imagery. We are working hard to “think like poets”, to expand our ideas about place and use our senses and descriptive words in very specific ways.  It’s been a bit of a struggle to get them out of the “paragraph” mindset once they learned and practiced paragraphs with their personal narrative.

Reader’s Workshop

This week we have continued with our read aloud, Zorgamazoo.  The students are really enjoying the inventive wordplay and rhyme of this story.  We also have a rotating student assigned out as our dictionary person to look up new and unusual words (such as cantankerous, insidious, and tedium) as we’re reading. We are also continuing with “Non Fiction Fridays”, using highlighters to highlight important parts of the text, and rereading and circling the answer in the text when answering questions, and making sure to read EVERY multiple choice answer before you make your final decision.

Science

This week, we continued researching project ideas and creating testable questions. There are 6 groups, including a “What’s the moon’s orbit around the sun?”, “Will Gloop spit out a marble?”, and “Which color M&M will lose its color the fastest when put in water?” The students are vey excited about their inquiry and are working hard to nail down a good question, hypothesis (based on their background knowledge of the topic), and write a procedure in specific but also easy to understand terms.

Portland - A Musical

Our weekly musical rehearsals (Thursdays 10:30-11:30) are now including narrating, acting, and dancing parts.  It is absolutely vital that each child practice his/her parts as much as possible in coming weeks.  All kids (except narrators) are expected to have their parts fully memorized by the end of January.  Narrators should have their parts mostly memorized so that they can maintain eye contact with the audience.  Make sure that your calendars are marked for Friday, Feb. 22nd at 6:30 pm for the big performance.  Expect e-mails from Rhonda Baker (Josie’s mom) regarding costumes and other musical related things in the coming weeks.

Columbia Children’s Arboretum

Despite not actually going to the arboretum this week, the students had a knot-tying workshop with Jack Morby.  This continues our theme of outdoor living and survival.  Jack taught the students several different knots that can be used in a variety of situations.  We hope to use these knot-tying skills in the field at the arboretum.  I’ll let you know when that will happen as soon as possible. We also took a look at the third Leave No Trace Principle, which is Trash your Trash. The students discussed, drew, and wrote about what that principle looks like to them, and they also reflected on Ginny’s food caching lesson (they were all squirrels, look for the photos to come on the blog soon).

Ask Your Third Grader...

What is the difference between perimeter and area?

What sort of knots did you learn from Jack?  How can these knots be used?

What is “food caching”?  Where are some places that animals cache food?

How did you participate in problem solving in the classroom this weekend? Were you an active listener?

Important Things Coming Up...

Feb. 1st - Teacher Planning Day (no school)

Feb. 8th - No School (SES only)

Feb. 18th - President's Day (no school)

Feb. 20th - Late Opening (school starts at 10:40 am)

Feb. 22nd - Portland - A Musical (9:30 am performance for school and 6:30 pm performance for families)

Field Study- PLEASE READ

Hello all,

In light of the recent spate of illnesses (four students and one Jeremy plus six students in his class out sick alone today) and tomorrow's forecast of possible freezing rain, Jeremy, Ginny, and I made a joint decision to postpone our trip to the arboretum tomorrow. Jack Morby will still be coming to do a knot-tying workshop with the kids at 9:45 AM and then we will be doing a food caching activity with Ginny beforehand. We will teach the next Leave No Trace Principle and eat lunch all at school and continue on our day as usual.

We will try to schedule a half-day visit to the arboretum some time when the weather (and our health) is more promising.

Chaperones: We would still love to have your assistance for Jack's knot-tying activity and the food caching activity (2 would be perfect). We will probably be done with both of these by 11:00 AM.

I will contact you soon about a potential "make-up" trip to the arboretum before March.

Thanks for your flexibility, and please, take care of your bodies and those of your family,

Catie

Photos from another busy week!

Calendar's shocking surprises!

Hangin and playin around in PE

Singin' in the snow!

Our new friend and classmate

Rehearsing one last time before Laurelhurst Village. A bit nervous!

The walk. It was beautiful.

Laurelhurst Village. Our gift of service in honor of MLK Jr.

Just two friends holding hands at the end of our line.

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Math

This week, our geometry unit moved into learning about perimeter.  The kids got experience measuring the perimeter of quadrilaterals on paper and around the classroom.  You can reinforce this vocabulary and concept at home by referring to the perimeter of objects or rooms, or by including your child in home projects that require measurement. Several are still a little fuzzy about the concept of perimeter vs. area, which we will move into next week.

Writer’s Workshop

In poetry this week, we studied personification and continued defining what poetry is.  These techniques are useful in both poetry and prose.  The kids have really enjoyed exercising their creativity using these techniques in their poems. They are also creating beautiful concrete (shape) poems with something they have in common with their buddy.

Reader’s Workshop

This week, we continued to dive into Zorgamazoo, and I’ve again started some guided reading groups. We also read and talked a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. and other people we call “truth-tellers”.

Science

This week, we continued doing some short science inquiry experiments.  We also began planning for our final science inquiry for the unit.  The students had an opportunity to look through a variety of science books in order to choose a project that looks interesting.  Once they have found their project, they are to come up with a “testable question” for their project.  We’ll continue these projects over the next two weeks. Wow-their ideas are so diverse and interesting!

Portland - A Musical

Our weekly musical rehearsals (Thursdays 10:30-11:30) are now including narrating, acting, and dancing parts.  It is absolutely vital that each child practice his/her parts as much as possible in coming weeks.  All kids (except narrators) are expected to have their parts fully memorized by the end of January.  Narrators should have their parts mostly memorized so that they can maintain eye contact with the audience.  Make sure that your calendars are marked for Friday, Feb. 22nd at 6:30 pm for the big performance.  Expect e-mails from Rhonda Baker (Josie’s mom) regarding costumes and other musical related things in the coming weeks.

Columbia Children’s Arboretum

Our next trip to the arboretum is this Wednesday.  So far, I’ve only received half of the permission slips I sent out this week.  Please return your child’s permission slip this Tuesday so that we don’t run the risk of anyone not being able to attend the field study.  Please make sure your child brings the following on Wednesday:

* lunch

* backpack

* good walking shoes

* warm clothing (coat, hat, gloves)

Also, we will be leaving school later for this field study as our Fish and Wildlife expert Jack Morby will be demonstrating knot tying in our classroom. I will e-mail chaperones separately but please prepare your students for this. They can still bring all gear upstairs, but we will not be leaving immediately and will still start our day with Warm Up, Morning Circle, and Math.

MLK Jr. Service

The class chose 8 of our musical songs to preform at Laurelhurst Village on Friday. We made the walk safely in the crisp sunny air, and 8 of the students wrote up introductions to each of the songs. They spoke clearly, were flexible (especially with the wild stair alarm), and reflected thoughtfully. I will take photos of some of the responses and hopefully upload some of the video from their singing. I can definitely say it was by far my favorite teaching day this year- I was so proud of each and every one of them.

Ask Your Third Grader...

-What is perimeter?  How do you find the perimeter of an object?  When would people need to find the perimeter of something outside of school?

-Tell me what you know about Martin Luther King Jr.  Why do we celebrate a day for him?

-What is your group’s science inquiry project?

Important Things Coming Up...

Jan. 21st - Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no school)

Jan. 23rd - Columbia Children's Arboretum Field Study

Feb. 1st - Teacher Planning Day (no school)

Feb. 8th - No School (SES only)

Feb. 18th - President's Day (no school)

Feb. 20th - Late Opening (school starts at 10:40 am)

Feb. 22nd - Portland - A Musical (9:30 am performance for school and 6:30 pm performance for families)

Thanks for sending such shining students to school each day,

Catie