Busy Short Week!

Last week has been extremely busy.  We are loving our new read aloud, Jack Plank, by Natalie Babbitt.  Jack is an out of work pirate trying to find work.  He is living in Mrs. Delfresno's boarding house and each night he sits down at the table and explains why is not able to take a certain job.  We have been discussing good reading strategies during our read aloud time, such as monitoring and fixing up, slowing down and reading with accuracy, and looking for interesting words. 

In math, we worked on multiplication and looking for patterns as we learn our facts.  There are trick and patterns and strategies galore!  All products of 9 add up to 9!  9 X 2 = 18 ( 1 + 8= 9)  5 X 9 = 45 (4 + 5 = 9)  9 X 12 = 108  (1 + 0 + 8 = 9)  Wow!  The tens are super easy to learn as all multiples of 10 end in zero!  That means all multiple of 10 are equal and so are multiples of 2!  So cool!  

The Common Core details 8 Standards for Mathematical practice. Here they are! 

"Huh?" you ask!  As do many third graders!  

So instead we look at them in third grade friendly language.  

MP.7 (Mathematical Practice 7) says that "We look for and make use of structure."  As third graders we prefer....

These kid friendly "I can ..." statements are located in our classroom and we reference them often.  Yes, we can see patterns in multiplication!  

In reading we are working on our Daily 5.  Each day we have five choices of activities to choose from as we work.  Guided reading, when students read with me (not actually a choice), independent reading, read with someone else, listen to reading (RazKids), write about reading, and word work. We are doing a great job getting this up in running in Room 102.  I have started to meet with reading groups and the kids are enjoying the choice time as well.  

Grammar... We are still working on using correct capitalization and punctuation.  We have completed mini lessons on common and proper nouns, the four types of sentences, and writing a complete

sentence.  Please remind your child that a complete sentence is a complete thought.  We will continue to review this at school. We have worked on identifying the subject and predicate in a sentence. This work will continue this week. 

Open Circle:  Our school uses the Open Circle social competency curriculum developed by Pamela Seigle.  This program is part of Wellesley College's Wellesley Center for Women.  It was designed to help proactively develop children's skills for recognizing and managing emotion, empathy, positive relationships, and problem solving.  It uses a common vocabulary that we use in our school for expectations of student behavior.  We are doing Open Circle in our class each Thursday. The lessons we have addressed to date have been identifying Double D behaviors (those that are dangerous and destructive), dealing with annoying behaviors, non-verbal signals, and listening skills.  Ask your child about any of these topics!  

an example of not so good listening..

an example of excellent listening (and looking!) 

Finally, we had a great trip to Plimoth Plantation!  Thank you to our 5 chaperones who joined us: Mr. Ryan, Mrs. Ameden, Mrs. Whiting, Mr. Cira, and Mrs. Ravech.  Check out the pictures we took.  

Meeting some of the Pilgrims. 

... standing at Plymouth Harbor

...walking around the village

... Indian corn drying out of doors

... groups posing for pictures

.. asking questions is a great way to learn!

...looking at a musket

...the blacksmith explains his trade

Hobbamock's homesite

...lunch with friends

...hammocks aboard the Mayflower II

...feeding the livestock

LUNCH! 

I'm so hungry! 

... a native mishoon

Field trips make me hungry! 

...armor for the militia

Land ho!  

...looking at Plimoth Rock!

Life in 1624...

Third grade classes were visited on Wednesday by "interpreters" from Plimoth Plantation to see what life was like for the people we call the pilgrims.  Students heard about their reasons for leaving England and their move to Holland. We learned about the deal they make with the English businessmen to obtain another ship for their journey. One of their ships, the Speedwell, was leaky and could not make the voyage. Cold, seasick, and crowded, the 102 passengers traveled for 66 days across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Mayflower. The didn't go to their original destination of Hudson's River in New Amsterdam as they were behind schedule. Instead the reached the shores of what we call Cape Cod and found an area to their liking with fresh streams and a shallow harbor. Check out the pictures of our classmates in clothing from 1624. Our visitor, Elizabeth Howland, showed us the proper way to greet one another. 

Inquiring Minds Wanted to Know...

A padlet is an app that lets you share your thoughts created on many different devices to one place. Today we discussed what we THINK we know about the pilgrims and then we brainstormed what we wanted to learn. 

News from Room 102 ... 9/27/15

We are still waiting for our first full week of school.  Luckily, it arrives this week!  We have been very busy in class.  Here is some of what we have been working on in Room 102! 

We worked on division last week! Division works the opposite way of multiplication and starts with a group of things that need to be divided into groups.  We played several games last week that worked on multiplication fluency practice.  We have games called "Toss and Talk" that require students to play with partners and talk about their thinking.  At the same time, they are solving problems such as What is... 4 groups of 5 or 3 X 4? Math homework has been coming back in and students are doing great work.  You will notice that I am sending home things to be corrected when students have not followed the directions. This program is new for all of us this year.  I am hoping to start good math practices by making sure students are reading directions carefully and answering ALL parts of the question.  Assessments we will be using, whether it be MCAS or PARCC, are moving toward answering problems with more than one step and problems with more than one answer. Hang in there!  As we continue to practice, it will become easier and more automatic.  In the meantime, please remind your child to read the directions and the problems carefully.  

We did our first 2 letters in cursive!  

In social studies, we are reading and learning about the Native American tribe, the Wampanoags.  We have seen how their lives followed the seasons, in the way they dressed, where they lived, animals they hunted, and their chores.  They also had a strong relationship with the land and nature. They believed that the land should be respected. They thanked the animals they killed and gave thanks for the food they planted.  We went on a "virtual field trip" of the Wampanoag homesite and are looking forward to visiting it at Plimoth Plantation in a few weeks. 

In reading, we are building up to start The Daily Five.  The Daily Five has students working on five different choices during our

reading time:  reading to self, reading to someone else, word work, listening to reading, and writing.  We have been working on the routines for all five and will start to put them all together this week. 

In writing workshop, we are starting our personal narratives.  The people, places, and events that students brainstormed are our jumping point for getting started.  Upcoming mini lessons will work on using dialogue in our writing, adding interesting details, and getting to the heart of our story.  

Stay tuned... for MORE LEARNING!  

Also don't forget to check out my twitter page for daily updates of our #180daysofawesome!

Artifact Sharing

Sharing artifact bags at the beginning of the school year is fun, but a little scary.  

As we start to teach social studies, we discuss that you can learn about history in many ways.  You can ask an expert, research a topic, read a book, visit a museum, or study artifacts.  Students were asked to collect 4-5 items from home to help us learn more about them.

Today, on our 6th day of school, students stood in front of their peers and shared some "artifacts" that helped us learn more about them.  It was a little lesson on public speaking.  We reviewed speaking to your audience, talking in a clear voice, and courteously asking questions and commenting on presentations. 

Interestingly, we have several:

• rock collectors
• hockey, soccer, and baseball lovers
• dancers
• readers
• Lego lovers
• animal enthusiasts 

Check us out!  

What's Going on in Room 102 in Grade 3?

Well... back to school usually makes me think "fall".  But, boy are we in "summer" mode.  

We are doing our best to beat the heat.  Our class is off to a great start.  We have been spending a lot of time on structure and routines.  Where do things get handed in?  How do we walk in line? Where do I put my math workbook?  When is lunch?

We have read many great books to start the year.  Some of them are my favs.   Officer Buckle and Gloria

The  Old Woman Who Named Things

We also started a class read aloud called Muggie Maggie.   Maggie Schultz is a third grader who DOESN'T want to learn cursive writing!  But will she?

During our independent reading time we are trying to build our reading stamina or reading "muscles". We are discussing and working on strategies like choosing "Just Right" books, checking for understanding, and backing up and rereading when things don't make sense.  

We are completing some spelling assessments.  We started some grammar review today and discussed common and proper nouns. We are taking breaks to get water and sharpening pencils repeatedly to stand in front of the fan!  

We started with our NEW math program today.  It includes some technology pieces as well. The students were excited to jump right into learning multiplication on Day 4! We discussed multiplication as an operation that gives the total number when you join EQUAL groups.  We practiced writing addition and multiplication equations to solve real world problems. 

 Hey!  Check me out! 

 I am one smart symbol.  

3 X 8.... "I say 3 times eight OR 3 groups of 8"

I can be written as an addition equation 8 + 8 + 8 = 24 or 
a multiplication equation 3 X 8 = 24.  


Homework also has started. We are doing lessons on filling in planners and a lot of review of morning routines.  

We also started learning about history as we read the first lesson in Massachusetts, Our Home.  We found that you can learn about history in many ways. You can look at artifacts, read a book, research or "Google it!" as the third graders shared, and we can visit a museum or ask an expert. 

Students were asked today to prepare in their own artifact bags so we can learn more about them and their personal history.  


Keep checking back on the classroom blog to find out what else we are doing and learning. You can also follow me on Twitter @ewatsonroom102

I hope to see you next week at our PIN Night!