Photos from another busy week

Medical Leave

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone has a restful and fun Spring Break, as tomorrow is the first day of spring!  Some of you may not be aware that I am having abdominal surgery and will be taking 5-6 weeks off to heal, recover, and be back to work healthy and happily. This is all news to me, and am handling new information daily as it comes. If anything, patience, being present, and appreciating our class has been so helpful and a reminder of my own good fortune. My intentions are to work until April 1 (the Monday we return from Spring Break), at which point Jens (Heather's guest teacher from her maternity leave this fall and Jeremy's student teacher from last year), will take over for me. I plan to return in mid-May, barring any complications. 

Jens will be in the classroom tomorrow for a short time during student-led conferences, going over lesson plans, routines, and students. As a class, we are collaboratively writing a "What You Need to Know to Teach and Learn Successfully in our Classroom" pamphlet for Jens, and anyone else!. I am confident that he will do a stellar job while I am away, and he taught all of this curriculum last year.

Of course, if he has any questions he has Jeremy and Heather, too! 

During my absence I plan to check my email, if you have any questions you can contact me. Regarding daily classroom needs/questions/etc. please contact Jens at jenskh1984@gmail.com, who is already very knowledgeable about your children and their specific needs, and a great friend of mine.

Thank you so much for your support,

Catie

Student Led Conferences

              Hello Families,

I look forward to seeing all of you that can make it tomorrow from 3:30- on. Your student is so proud of the work they have done this year and are looking forward to sharing it with you. 

Are there any families that plan on coming after 6:00 or 6:30? I am just trying to get a handle on my schedule, and if no one is planning on it, I'll lock up the room around 6:00.

                                                              Adult Guide for Student-Led Conferences

·     Your student is in charge. This is not a parent-teacher conference. I am happy to schedule an appointment with you should you have something you would like to discuss.

·     Let the student be in charge (help only if your child gets stuck).

·     Listen attentively.

·     Keep it positive and celebrate accomplishments.

·     Ask questions: What did you learn? What did you like about this activity? Why are you proud of this work? Tell me more about…

·     Give appreciations: I really like…You have gotten better at…I noticed…I’m impressed with…I especially like how you…It looks like you did your best because…

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Math

The students have been working on learning strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.  They have easily memorized the rules for 0 and 1.  We developed strategies for multiplying by 2 (doubling), 3 (doubling plus one more group), 4 (doubling twice), 5 (the minute hand on a clock), 6 (minute hand plus one more group), and 10 (counting by tens which they find pretty easy).  Next week, we’ll take a break from multiplication and division to start our unit on fractions. The reason for jumping into this, unfortunately, is due to the upcoming state math test.  A large portion of the test’s questions deal with fractions, and I want to make sure that the students are prepared for this.  We will probably take the state math test in about a month.

Writer’s Workshop

Thanks to so many of you for attending our Poetry Slam - it was great!  This week, they have been wrapping up their poetry anthologies, personal page for our class poetry book, and experimenting with Dog Tag Poetry (look for your students poem in the hallway on your way to student led conferences).

Reader’s Workshop

This week, we refocused on identifying “iPick” books.  I’ve noticed a number of students choosing books that were not “just right” during silent reading time.  Students are tempted to choose books that are too difficult, too easy, or simply because of the cool pictures in them.  We’ll continue focusing on this during this week. See the graphic I created based on the class criteria, and each student now has their own new bookmark, copyright 2013!

Portland Study

You may have  heard about the “mysterious” messages that we received and decoded this week.  This led to the class learning about Portland’s various land forms and creating a class-made map of Portland’s geography.  We’ll finish the map this week and see where things go from here.

Student-Led Conferences

Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 20th for student-led conferences.  These conferences are an opportunity for your child to lead you through their current studies, reflect on progress, and set goals for the spring.  Keep in mind that this is not a time to conference with me - if you would like to do that, please contact me to set up a time to meet. It is "Open House" style, and you may come and conference with your child any time between 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

Ask Your Third Grader...

How did it feel to read your poem at the Poetry Slam?  Why do you think poetry is important?

Tell me about pentominoes.

What is geography?  What are some of the Portland land forms you know of?  How were they formed?

Important Things Coming Up...

March 20 - Late Opening

March 20 - Student Led Conferences 3:30-7:30

March 23-31 - Spring Break

Thanks for sending such creative and collaborative students to school each day,

Catie

Waste Reduction School Wide Winners and Field Study CANCELATION

Hello lovely families,

I heard that our classroom won the school wide waste reduction challenge with only .6 ounces of garbage for the whole of February-how impressive! CONGRATULATIONS! Apparently Ben and Jerry's is donating a small ice cream social for our classroom next Friday afternoon. I have a feeling Call Me Maybe and Give Love may make an appearance as well.

Last, I am just going to go ahead and cancel the field study for this month-it is just too much to coordinate drivers for the alternate date, and it will be solid to just get back into our regular routine with the 25 of us (plus Oshi on Thursday and Fridays, our Lewis and Clark intern).

Thanks again for your support regarding my absence. I should know more next week about treatment plans, but for now, I am rejoicing in returning to work.

Remember, celebrate (rejoice) each and every day. Please share the blog with your student!

Best,

Catie

Mill Ends Park makes the news

Oh no! Apparently is has already been replaced, but wanted to share this news with you all.

Only Tree in the World's Tiniest City Park Stolen-from OPB

Looking forward to returning to school on Monday! Have a lovely weekend.

Best,

Catie

Poetry Slam Cleanup

Check out our first video! Again, Jamyelese took some great documentation of our clean up after the poetry slam. These videos are just another example of the kind, responsible, fun loving community in our room. At first, it looks like pure chaos, but settle into the videos, and watch the care.

Photos from the Poetry Slam-Thanks Jamyelese

poetic, proud, and pajama'd

(catch that, students?) a_____________

What is poetry?

refreshing and relaxing

Looks like secrets, but is actually an impromptu whole class game of telephone (student initiated!)

It was either Call Me Maybe, or Give Love, but we danced and cleaned in less than 2 songs, safely too!

Thank You

No words needed.

Photos from our busy last week!!

Students have been reciting chosen poems from memory-it's been lovely.

First Annual Third Grade Book Swap was a roaring success! Ask your students which new titles they picked up! Almost everyone in Jeremy and our class participated, and our classroom libraries benefitted, too!

Weekly Update-Catie's Class

Math

Our focus this week in math was to begin memorizing and internalizing single digit multiplication problems.  The students created their own multiplication table to help us remember the products created by two factors.  They also solved and wrote their own multiplication and division story problems.

Writer’s Workshop

This week the students will create their poetry anthologies. using the books they made in Art with Mia.  Our poetry unit will be wrapping up at the end of this week.

Reader’s Workshop

This week we began reading Chasing Vermeer together.  We discussed the first images, challenging passages, asked questions, and learned new vocabulary.

Columbia Children’s Arboretum

This Wednesday is our next trip to the Columbia Children’s Arboretum.  Please make sure that your child has:

- rain-proof jacket
- comfortable shoes that can get wet/muddy
- backpack
- sack lunch


Ask Your Third Grader...
What was your story problem? What was the one you solved? How did you check your answer?
What is multiplication?  What is division?  How are they related?

What information do you know in Chasing Vermeer? What do you predict/suspect?

Important Things Coming Up...

March 6 - Columbia Children’s Arboretum Field Study
March 20 - Student Led Conferences 3:30-7:30

Thanks for sending such poetic students to school each day,

Catie