Week of November 21-22

Hello 3rd Grade Families!

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday with your families. Last week was very short, but sweet.  Here's a recap of our two days in the classroom.

LITERACY

I took the two days outside our normal literacy routine to try something new with the students.  In order to help encourage students to think carefully while they read, we did an activity I called "Post-it Notes Make You Smart."  

Each student received a stack of post-it notes. 
While we read several short excerpts from our Reading Street Curriculum, we practiced using the post-it notes to showcase our 
thinking while reading.   

Each student created a post-it note chart 

like the one pictured, in order to learn and practice the various reading strategies.

The reading passages were brief, so we began by focusing on a different strategy for each passage.  We practiced recording our questions, comments, predictions, connections, and our reactions on post-its.  We used a symbol to show the meaning of each strategy we were practicing, and discussed why the strategy helps us comprehend what we're reading.  

This forced interaction with the text helps them engage more deeply with what they are reading, and helps make the shift from being a passive reader, to an active reader.

We had wonderful conversations, and the students practiced a valuable tool that will help each of them interact more deeply with what they are reading and improve reading comprehension.  Feel free to try this strategy at home with your child.  

WRITING

Students have been working hard planning out their first informational article.  

They spent Monday and Tuesday filling out their writing planners once they had their main idea web complete. 
       
I modeled the process of moving the topic and main ideas to the writing planner, and then think about the supporting details to include.

  
I started out with a list of keywords or phrases that relate to my main idea - what is yoga?

Then I introduced the concept of elaborating.  Too often, students create short and simple sentences from their details list. To avoid this, I showed them how I included more information about the detail in parentheses.  

                                           

This gives them plenty of information to refer to, 

to help them practice writing more complex sentences, while at the same time teaching their topic in a thorough manner.   

Some students even began working on their rough drafts.

MATH

On Monday and Tuesday we explored vocabulary relating to 
naming polygons.  

We then took a closer look at quadrilaterals, four-sided shapes, as there are many different classifications of quadrilaterals.

The students have been developing a strong understanding of these concepts so far, and are able to apply what they're learning when asked to describe any given shape.  

After taking notes on the attributes of the various quadrilaterals, we played Geometry Bingo to help reinforce the new information.  In order to identify a shape on the bingo card, I would read off an attribute of the shape and the students would have to identify which shape I am describing.  For example, "a shape with 4 congruent sides, but no right angles."

SCIENCE

In Science we continued to explore some of the science content and vocabulary before beginning our experiments with Matter.  

On Monday we read a short article titled 

"Why Does Matter Matter?" 

located in our Changes Science Journal.

          

We naturally practiced what we learned about using post-it notes to help us think while reading.

Then we spent time learning a little bit about the 

periodic table of elements.

I found a kid-friendly version of the periodic table that included a states of matter legend, making it super easy for us to identify which elements were solids, liquids, and gases.   

This version also included little illustrations of common objects made from each element.  As you can imagine, great discussions ensued!

Next week, we will discuss and illustrate the various changes of state and then begin our experiments.  

IMPORTANT REQUEST

I have been informed that all of our art projects will be photographed and printed on cards for our auction art project this year.  Unfortunately, I sent our fall tree silhouettes home the other week before learning this.  If possible, please return it to school so it can be photographed for the auction art project. 

THANK YOU!