Science ... yeah!

We began our unit on PLANTS & POLLINATION today.  The children worked in pairs to create a KWL chart - what they KNOW, what they WANT to know and at the end of the unit they will fill in what they LEARNED.  Over the next few days, we will observe dry beans and then soak them over a night or two and observe what happens.  We discussed what it means to be a scientist and what a good observation looks like.  We watched a video on Making Observations

Next week, we will discuss the parts of a seed and their functions.  

We continue to work with partners.  Working with a partner makes the task easier to do and it's so much for more fun! 

WOW!  I am not sure what I need to teach -- the kids KNOW so much already!

2 brains are better than 1! 

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Happy Birthday Jackson!  We continue to celebrate October birthdays ... there are so many of them!  Jackson brought in delicious Halloween cupcakes to share with the class -- it was a good thing he did ... after the children's introduction to Raz-Kids - they deserved a sweet treat!  I just hope Jackson's appetite was not ruined for his birthday dinner at Hanna! 

RAZ-KIDS!

I am pleased to announce each one of your children is officially registered on RAZ-KIDS!  Tomorrow, your children will visit the computer lab where they will be guided through raz-kids with the help of Mrs. Steil, AIS Reading teacher, and myself on how to navigate their individual program.  Each and every parent has been granted access to monitor their child's progress.  You should have received an email with a user name & password.  If not, please contact me.  Your children  have access to hundreds of short text eBooks (literature & non-fiction).  Your child can read and listen to books on Raz-Kids and even record themselves reading to monitor their own reading fluency. Afterwards they can take a quiz to check for comprehension & understanding.  There are many neat features which I hope you and child will navigate through together, such as learning new vocabulary (click on bold text words in the book).  Please know however this reading program is NOT in place of reading chapter books.  Raz-kids is meant to enhance their reading, not replace their reading of good old fashion hand-held books.  Please email or call me with any questions/concerns.   I am really excited about this reading adventure your children and I will be taking together! 

Headings & Partner Reading

Today we continued our unit on non-fiction.  Non-fiction is the most fun to read but definitely the most difficult to read.  Today we looked at different headings in TFK & wrote about what we thought the text might be about just based on the heading.  We learned that thinking about the heading forces us to focus on what the article is about.  As readers, the heading helps us to learn about what we will be reading about. 

Jack is hard at work writing about the different headings!

We have also continued to practice partner reading.  Maire & Emma certainly have the hang of it!

Ella & Melanie are partner reading about hemispheres using their Studies Weekly!

EEKK!  Elbow-Elbow-Knee-Knee!  George & Michael are the picture perfect partner readers! 

Latitude & Longitude ... Oh My!

Today we continued our study of maps & globes.  We looked at the globe and learned about the imaginary lines of latitude & longitude.  Your children were provided with guided notes.  These notes had spaces to fill in the blank with the correct word or phrases.  They used a newspaper called Studies Weekly to help our learning of these new social studies concepts.  We will continue to use Studies Weekly throughout the year.  This reading also ties into learning the non-fiction text features.  We have learned about titles, subheadings, caption & labels and how they help us as readers.  They did a remarkable job with this!

The kids found the International Date Line most fascinating -- especially when they asked me the day & times in different cities & countries around the world.  Thank goodness for the iphone! 

If you don't get the chance to see 3M's display of peace rocks -- here they are!  We have Einsteins and Picasso's in our class! 

Chorus of Singers!

We read, we write, we learn, we sing ... but we are still working on listening! 

Enrichment!

At the start of every new math unit, your child will receive an ENRICHMENT packet.  This can be found in the "enrichment" section of your child's math binder.  Completing this packet, is NOT something your child must complete or is required to complete, rather they have the option of completing it when and if they ever want to.  Enrichment is meant to give you and your child extra opportunities to pratice concepts learned at a deeper level.

National Day of Peace!

Today we celebrated National Day of Peace!  Not only did we make peace rocks in Art with Mrs. Sieme (which will be on display through Monday in the hallway near the lounge) but we gathered outside on the field and made a peace sign with our whole school!  Thank you so much to Mrs. Sieme, Mrs. Young & Mrs. Platek for facilitating such an important day!  Oh yeah, did you also know that sky blue represents the color of peace? 

Writer's Workshop

Skipping lines when drafting makes the editing process easier.

Jeevan could write all day! 

Jack couldn't wait to show me how much he wrote!  That is just ONE PARAGRAPH of his five paragraph personal narrative! WOW!  Go Jack!

A planning page helps the writer to focus on what he/she wants to write. 

Today we discussed the importance of using a planning page when drafting any writing piece.  The students of 3M used a personal narrative planning page to draft their 3 main details of their writing.  Most students were excited to share how easy drafting was when they made a plan first!  I had so many students proud to show me how much they were able to write! 

Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella celebrated her 8th birthday today!  She had a busy week of exciting events ... her aunts from out of town surprised her & went with her to get her ears pierced and her little sisters birthday was yesterday!  A lot of celebrating was going on on the Traynor Household! 

Mmm ... delicious cupcakes and funny Mad Libs were part of the celebration!

Ella's brave mom completing TWO Mad Libs with the class ... let's just say some kids were crying because they were laughing so hard! 

Tomorrow will be our second day in STAR LAB!  Remember to wear socks.  Today we learned & read about the fall constellations!  So many of your children already knew some of the Greek Myths, especially about Medusa & Perseus.  We also discussed the ideas of reward & punishment in myths.  I have a feeling that your children will be gazing out into the night sky pointing out the constellations in no time! 

We have settled into a "reading zone!"  Students continue to pick out "just right" books & read ... read ... read! 

Welcome to our classroom blog!  I am so excited to share this new way to communicate and allow you to be a part of 3M from home, work and even from your phone at your child's soccer game (or while waiting in the car for the game to be over because it's too cold to be outside).  We have had an amazing start to the school year.  Your children are fantastic and I just know this will be the best school year yet!  We continue to settle into a routine and add something new to our schedule each week.  My goal is to make you feel like you are part of the classroom from the comfort of wherever you are!  Almost every day you can expect reminders, updates, pictures and information about what we have going on in 3M.  Please feel free to leave comments on our blog that can be shared with the students (they will be so excited about this).   Thank you again for your patience.  ENJOY!

Our first day in STAR LAB! "This is AWESOME!" ~every 3rd grade student