Update on Learning From Home (3/26)

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to give you an update on learning from home! We had a meeting with administration and the third grade team is working to compile resources for you that will be sent out for the next two weeks. Our goal is to provide a more structured schedule of activities for each day keeping in mind a balance of technology and non-technology related activities. Everything is optional. Again, this work will not be graded and we understand that some days it will be easier to complete than others with your families schedule. If your child is frustrated or having difficulty completing the activities on their own, please do not hesitate to reach out. We do not want this to become an additional stress on your family during this time! We are working to gather useful resources and keeping in mind balancing technology and other options for learning and getting outside! We are looking to provide a variety of resources and tasks that use creativity outside of technology. This is a learning curve for all and I appreciate all you are doing at home and your flexibility!

We will be incorporating whole class Zoom check-ins so we can get together as a class and with 3W! This will also allow us time to show kids the new activities for the upcoming weeks. Our first one is planned for Monday (3/30) at 10 am. We will send you the link to the meeting! We are going to attempt to record the meeting so anyone not able to join will be able to watch it!

Please let me know if you have any questions and I am looking forward to seeing the kids faces! Stay healthy!

Best wishes,

Jen

Update (3/8)

Hello 3N Families!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and was able to get outside a little!

Here is an update of what has been happening in our classroom!

• We have been planning and publishing narrative stories with a focus on having a beginning middle and end. This past week we published and put together our books!
• We are wrapping up our immigration unit with a performance task. Students are pretending they are immigrating to the United States either in the past or present and creating 2 journal entries about why they are immigrating, their feelings, and their voyage over and what life is like once they are here. This task is demonstrating their understanding of why people move, different perspectives, and having empathy for others!
• In math we continued our fractions unit by learning about fractions greater than one and comparing fractions using fraction tiles.
• In choose love, we continued to talk about forgiveness. We focused on how we can be forgiving with ourselves and positive affirmations we can say to ourselves when we are feeling upset, angry, or sad.
• Coming up this week: we will launch research clubs, finish our immigration performance task, work with fractions on a number line, and prepare for immigration day!

Immigration day is this Friday. Thank you to those who have offered to volunteer! Please arrive and head straight to cafe around 9 am, the kids will be down around 9:30 and it ends around 10:30. Parents who are not volunteering are welcome to join and observe in the cafeteria. For other information, please look here.

I have sent the sign up for parent conferences. Please sign up here. The conferences are student led, so please make sure your child attends with you. Closer to the date, I will send out a google form with questions so I can best prepare for our conference. This form will also ask you if you would like time to talk without your child present (we will do 10 minutes with the kids and 10 without). Please reach out if you have any questions.

Important Dates:

• Tuesday, March 10th - No School (Teacher in Service)
• Friday, March 13th - Immigration Day
• Thursday, March 19th - Global Play Day
• Friday, March 20th - Early Release
• Thursday, April 2nd - Early Release (Conferences)
• Thursday, April 9th - Early Release (Conferences)

Weekly Update 1/27-1/31

Happy Friday 3N Families!

We have all been fighting to stay healthy in 3N! We are taking extra care to clean, wash our hands, and use hand sanitizer.

Here is a peak into our week:

Literacy

• We have been reading Because of Winn Dixie as a class and thinking/discussing about Opal as a character. There has been a lot of deep thinking going on! These readers are growing!
• We thought about what lessons the characters learn in stories and how we can apply it to our own life.
• We wrote a narrative response about how Opal changed and what lessons she has learned in Because of Winn Dixie. We used a learning progression to set a goal and do our best writing response.
• We did a book tasting to sample book club options and chose our book clubs! Our first book club meeting will be on Monday. If students aren't able to finish their reading in class, they may bring the book home to do their club's assigned reading.

Immigration

• We have learned about why people immigrated to America in the past, what the journey was like over, and have learned about Ellis Island and the process they went through once they got here. We have also learned about the hardships and challenges they faced once they were here.
• Mr. Leavis came to talk to us about his experience immigrating from Australia! The kids had many questions to ask him!

Math

• We have continued multiplication bootcamp! This week we focused on our 3s, 4s, and 6s. Next week we will wrap up with 7s, 8s, and 9s. We are really encouraging kids to practice their facts at home because it really does help! If you need ideas of how to practice, I am happy to provide some ideas!

Classroom Donations:

• Its that time of year where we are flying through cleaning wipes! We would love to restock if possible!
• Our class LOVES play time in the morning and when there is time throughout the day to play games. If you have any games, legos, etc. your family is no longer using, we would love to add it to our game cabinet!

I hope you all have a happy and healthy weekend!!

Weekly Update 1/21-1/24

Hello!

We have had a busy short week this week!

Literacy

• We have learned how stories are shaped like mountains and the plot is the series of events in a story.
• We thought about problems our characters face and how they react. We thought about how this shows us what type of person they are and how they can help us solve problems in our own life.
• We discussed how other characters influence the main character. We also thought about this in our own life and mapped out the people that influence us.

Social Studies

• We started immigration!
• This week we learned why people immigrated to America a long time ago and what their journey was like coming over.
• Lots of kids have come in excited to share what they are learning about their family heritage and history!

Math

• In math, we completed a show what we know about addition and subtraction. Kids created their own word problems and solved them to demonstrate their understanding of addition and subtraction.
• We have launched multiplication boot camp to help kids get fluent with their math facts! This week we started with 2s, 5s, and 10s. Kids have worked to make flashcards to practice, etc. Many kids are practicing at home and it really shows! They are getting so much faster at their facts!
• Next week we will focus on 3, 4, 6, and 7.

In choose love, we started to talk about forgiveness and how it can help ourselves to forgive.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Weekly Update 1/6 - 1/10

Hello!

We are finally settling back into our routine after our winter break! We have refreshed our memories on our expectations, routines, and classroom behaviors.

Here is a peek into our week!

Literacy:

• We have launched into our Character Study unit. We are discussing character feelings, traits, and noticing how characters in stories are just like us.
• We are reading aloud Because of Winn Dixie to practice thinking about characters deeply.
• We have also been working in literacy centers on spelling, practicing editing, and started a new way to write stories on a website called StoryJumper!

Math:

• We have learned how to solve addition and subtraction problems within 1,000 using the expanded form method. This allows students to deeply understand the place value concepts with regrouping rather than just "carrying a one." Some have even challenged themselves to practice this with numbers in the 1,000s!
• Next week we will practice these concepts by solving addition and subtraction word problems.

Science:

• We reviewed what we have learned from forces and motion before vacation and designed inquiry experiments of our own to test.
• Today we will be reviewing our data and results and creating a poster to share with the rest of the class about what we learned.

Choose Love:

• We are continuing to talk about gratitude. This week we made a list of what we are thankful for in school. The students decided a way to show someone in school they are thankful for them was to make cards. So they selected someone and made a card to show their gratitude.

Upcoming:

• January 17th early release at 11:50
• January 20th no school

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly Update 12/9 - 12/13

Hello!

Here is a look into what we have been doing this week in our class!

• Publishing our nonfiction books on people and animals - they are coming out amazing!
• Solving addition using a number line strategy
• Read books about forces and motion
• Tested what happens when two objects collide
• Choose Love started gratitude
• Wrote what we are thankful for

Questions to ask your child:

• What have you learned about writing nonfiction?
• What has been your favorite part of publishing your nonfiction book?
• What have you learned about forces and motion?
• How did you test what happens when objects collide?
• What are you thankful for?
• How do you use a number line to add?

Upcoming:

• Friday December 20th - Writer's Cafe Winter Celebration
• see attached sign up for food and information
• Food Sign Up





• Friday December 20th - Book Swap

Writer's Cafe Celebration! Friday, December 20th

Sign Up Sheet for Food