So Much to Learn

Starting a new school year is so busy.  Students have to learn names of their classmates, classroom rules and expectations, where to turn in homework, where to sit at lunch, new special schedules, and how to navigate their way around the classroom.  It isn't always easy.  But this group is doing a great job.  I have complimented many times this week.  

So What Have We Been Doing?   A lot!  

Twice a week for Morning Work, I ask students to answer questions in a response journal.  Questions range in topic to questions about themselves to thoughts about school, to characters we are reading about during read aloud.  I start the year asking personal questions so that we can learn more about one another.  After writing, we have a time to share. I encourage everyone to share and talk about our classroom as being a safe learning environment.  This week, we wrote about our bedrooms and where we fall in our family order. We have 12 oldest children, 2 middles, 8 youngest, and one only child.  Be sure to check out your child's journal at Parent Information Night.  They are delightful! 

In math, we are learning how to navigate station work so we can get our MATH WORKSHOP up and running.  Students are working in pairs, independently, and eventually with me in small groups.  We are working on new skills such a multiplication and reviewing skills such as place value and addition and subtraction within 20.  

We played Circles and Stars as we started multiplication! 

This week we reviewed rounding to the nearest 10 using 2 digit and 3 digit numbers. We are also learning new math vocabulary words and adding them to a bulletin board in the class. Some of these words include:

• factor
• product                              
• rows versus columns
• sum
• repeated addition

For reading, we are working on 20 Days to Independent Reading (a routine recommended by reading gurus Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell). Each day we discuss a new aspect of reading, such as the set up of our classroom library or how to choose books. Then there is time for students to read independently with books of their own choosing. This week I have been modeling "Reading is Thinking".  I have shared books aloud and STOPPED as I read and modeled what I was thinking about as I read.  I asked students to then do the same with their own reading.  We call this STOP and JOT.

 

It is my intent to create "Good Readers".  I use this phrase ALL THE TIME.  I love to share books and read aloud to students.  This week we started our first chapter book read aloud.  It is called All About Sam.  The author is Lois Lowry. I have read this book or a counter part, Attaboy, Sam for years and both of them are always a hit.  The class is loving this book.  Ask your child about Sam and the "pipes". It will definitely elicit more than a one word answer!  

Sam Krupnick is a baby when this book starts.
But he is growing up and getting into all kinds of mischief.  

Our social studies units in third grade are exciting.  I refer to them as the 3 Ps.... Pilgrims, Puritans, and Patriots.  We will start learning about the pilgrims shortly. But before that we are talking about WHAT history it and why we learn about it.  We use the book below as a resource. 

With this non-fiction book we toured the table of contents, found the glossary, and reviewed the first few pages which include information about our state.  These included our state flag, our state song (who knew?) and other state symbols.  We looked at some of our state symbols.  

Did you know...

• our state beverage is cranberry juice?  
• we have a state muffin?  (corn!)
• the right whale is our state mammal?

Ask your child to tell you our state dog, cat, insect, or flower!  

One way to LEARN about history is by reading. Another is ask an expert.  We can also visit a museum or look at ARTIFACTS! 

This leads to our class ARTIFACT BAGS.  Each student was asked to bring in 5 items that will help us get to know them.  We shared these on Friday afternoon.  

Chase shares a picture of he and his cousins! 

So what did we learn?  

• Andrew likes karate.
• Henry plays baseball.
• Owen collects "stuffies".
• Caroline C. does gymnastics!
• Catherine has a sister named Caroline.
• Taylor has a very cute dog. 
• Eily LOVES horses! 
• Cameron has a younger brother. 
• Sienna was a very cute baby! 
• Grace loves Cape Cod.
• Ellie likes to read. 
• Caroline H. has a sister named Catherine! 
• Bella is a good skater. 
• Ava loves frogs! 
• Kendall loves fashion!
• John likes penguins!  
• Jaxon had a picture of his cousin, his sister, and himself. 
• Chase shared his great grandfather's badge.
• Athena's brother did not like his picture taken!
• Cooper likes legos!
• Bren has 3 brothers! 
• Lottie likes ballet.
• Rizwan likes baseball. 
• Mrs. Watson loves teaching! 

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