Back to School...September 2018

Well, we have been busy in Room 102!  

Welcome to our classroom blog. I am a little late getting started this year. 

It is Day 8 of school and we have really been working hard. Here are some of the highlights of our first 8 days. 


We started the year with some GET TO KNOW YOU activities. Some of these included:

• Find Someone Who... 

Students looked for classmates who... read more than 10 books, went to the movies, have a summer birthday, like artichokes! 

• Two Truths and a Fib - Some of these facts were tricky!  We listened as our peers read their three sentences aloud and we tried to decipher which one was the FIB! 

• Artifact Bags:  Students shared their artifacts with their table mates and will next write about the items they shared! 
  

We read a book called How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague. In the story, Wallace Bleff stands and tells his class about his summer vacation and how he was captured by cowboys on his trip out west to visit his aunt. 

We then wrote about our summer vacation.... one part with an actual event and one part using our imagination. They were very creative! 

I read aloud every day to the class and we have enjoyed some picture books together. Some other fan favorites were: 

Charlie writes an ad in the paper looking for an owner. He is looking for someone under 12, who wears glasses, and lives in the city. But as the letters start coming in, Charlie continues to revise his checklist. Perhaps his perfect owner is closer than he thinks!

We then wrote a checklist for GOOD STUDENTS. We came up with some excellent criteria!  You can check these out on the bulletin board outside our classroom!   

This story is all about GIRL POWER. The princess learns that she doesn't need a prince to rescue her. She can rescue the prince! 

We started our first chapter book Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary today. Maggie is a third grader who is not so sure she wants to learn cursive writing. Well, we do!  We started today with the letter "i"!  

In Math, we have been doing some review of concepts... like addition, subtraction and place value. We have played some fun math games with partners. 

Abby and Lydia tackle place value! 

We have started a math WORD WALL for new vocabulary terms that we learn. On our wall already are words like factor, product, fact family, standard form, and expanded form. 

Multiplication is now underway and we are learning about the symbol "X" - as meaning "times" or "groups of". We are working on repeated addition and multiplication sentences to solve problems. 

This picture shows us 3 groups of 4 apples. 

repeated addition:    4 + 4 + 4 = 12

multiplication:    3 X 4 = 12   (3 groups of 4) 

We also read about HISTORY close to home in a text book called Massachusetts, Our Home. Students were excited to learn about many of our state symbols. Ask your child to share our state dog, muffin, and insect!  

STEM Challenges... Each Friday we have been doing a STEM challenge. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include Physical Science, Life Science, Earth/Space Science, and Engineering Design for Grades K to 12. Our triad (Mrs. Watson, Mrs. Sheehan, & Mr. Kuehl) have decided to kick off the year with weekly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) challenges to encourage classmates to work together and problem solve. Hopefully, you have heard a little about what we have been doing!  Our first week teams had to design and build the longest paper chain using limited supplies and time. 

Check out these amazing paper chains! 

Last week teams were asked to build the tallest free standing tower of cups. Each team was given 50 cups and 15 minutes! Team work and patience were KEY to this challenge!  It took VERY STEADY HANDS! 

Hard at work!

and the WINNERS were! 

Be sure to follow us on Twitter!  Each day I will share a new post about what is going on in Room 102!  Thanks for checking in!  

Summer Musings!

When August comes, I feel this magnetic pull back to school and to Room 102. I start thinking about my classroom and setting it up. My reading changes from "beach" books to educational resources. Plans and ideas float through my head... even if I am at the beach or watching a movie. 

Today is August 13th. I have been up early and made a run to Target to search out a few things for my classroom and I am going to put my summer "Back to School letter" in the mailbox. Then I am headed to school to start some work on my classroom.  It is a rainy day so it is a good day to be working on my room... setting up chairs and painting bulletin boards. I hope you are all enjoying the final weeks of summer. I am thinking about our school year and I look forward to seeing you all on August 29th!  

Massachusetts V.I.P. Museum

The Massachusetts V.I.P. Museum opened today only from 9:00 to 9:45.
Admission was free!
Students did a wonderful job sharing all they learned. And boy, did they look good too!

Check out our video!

MA VIP 2018

It's MAY!

IMPORTANT DATES!    

• May 8 & 9th -  MCAS
• May 11th - 1/2 day
• May 14th - V.I.P. Notes due!
• May 14th - Start of Wheelock Reads Week
• May 15th - Suzy Kline visits Grade 3
• May 25th - Massachusetts V.I.P. Museum open to all visitors from 9:00 to 9:45!  Admission is free! 
• May 28th - No school
• May 31st - Field Day!
• June 5th - Mr. Grenham (Dale Street principal) speaks to Grade 3 students
• June 7th - Wheelock Night of the Arts
• June 8th - Tie Dye Day! 
• June 14th - Flag Day - wear red, white and blue
• June 15th - Transition Day
• June 18th - last day of school (1/2 day)

Well, on Friday we hit day 150!  That means that there are 30 days of school left. To be honest, I love this time of year. The weather is nicer... finally, and there is so much going on. I also really like what we learning about right now. 

We just completed our maps of Massachusetts. They look awesome!  Students also learned about the New England states and capitals and were tested on their locations on a map. Tricky spelling on some of those states!  

We also are learning about the events leading up to the American Revolution. The Pilgrims, the Puritans, and now the PATRIOTS!  No, not the football team.  

The original Patriots... the men and women who began the United States. 

We also discussed that there are 2 sides to EVERY story and that we needed to see history through different lenses. As an example, we discussed the Loyalists and the Patriots. The Loyalists were colonists who wanted the taxes to end, but did not want to start a new country. They wanted to remain LOYAL to the King. The Patriots, fed up with the taxes and the King's authority, wanted liberty at any cost. 

This week we read about and discussed historical events including, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. We then watched a Schoolhouse Rock video called "No More Kings".  You are all younger than me, however, you may recall the Schoolhouse Rock segments that were on television. I LOVED them as a kid. And once the songs are in my head, forget it!  They are there all day. The link to the video is below if you want to watch it. It is very cute. 

NO MORE KINGS - Schoolhouse Rock

And there have been some great visitors to our school recently. First, the Bay Colony Educators. Tim and Carol are amazing and do a terrific presentation to all third graders about colonial life in 1750. They are dressed in time period clothing and discuss clothing, chores, education, chores, games, chores, and rules. YES... chores. Third graders are really surprised to learn that children worked REALLY hard in colonial times. There was time to play, BUT it was nothing like life in 2018. 

This past week we also went to see Mark Rothstein, a Guiness Book of World Record Champion Jump Roper!  His message is perfect for students at Wheelock School. He talks about getting exercise to stay healthy and keep your heart strong. He also speaks about respect, integrity, and teamwork. The students LOVE him and can't wait to go back and participate in a workshop with him after the show. This is only for third grade students so they were psyched!  After he visits, jump roping at recess is HUGE! 

Congratulations to our own Ryan F. who had an amazing 54 ONE LEGGED ATOMIC JUMPS! 

What else?  Well, we just finished a read aloud called Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan. It is the story of an unlikely friendship between two fifth grade boys, Joe and Ravi. Ravi has recently moved to New Jersey from India. Joe is a student who spends time outside of the classroom in a resource room because he has auditory processing disorder, which sometimes makes it hard for him to learn. Both boys are subjected to bullying by a popular boy in the class. The story is told chapter by chapter alternating between the two boys. It was a nice way to learn more about Indian culture and also about how students learn differently. The message tells us... there is more about people than meets the eye. 

In MATH we have been working a lot with fractions! 

We started with discussing, "What is a fraction?" It could be a shoe size, a measurement when cooking, or how much of the pizza you ate. We then looked at fractions as a part of a number line and on a ruler. 

We have looked at equivalent fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers. 

As always we continue to review concepts we have already reviewed such as expanded form, rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or $1.00, addition and subtraction with regrouping, graphing, elapsed time, etc.  Our math brains are hard at work! 

Speaking of MATH, we have our MATH MCAS this week. Students have been practicing with both paper/pencil tests and we did two sessions in the computer lab with online practice. We reviewed how to use an online ruler, explaining answers for open response questions, and best test taking strategies. The test will be on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Please make sure your child arrives on time to school. 

Victory Garden - Third graders made their last school visit to the Victory Garden last week. They carried buckets of mulch, prepared the hoses for irrigation, and enjoyed some time outside. They eagerly completed these tasks... which leads me to believe you have some very capable yard help this spring!  

I love carrying mulch!

This is great exercise! 

Straightening out the lines! 

Planting seeds! 

Oh, I am so good at this! 

Olympic soccer player and champion mulcher! 

Thank you Mrs. Wilson! 

Kindness Rocks Project - Thanks to our Medfield PTO for the Kindness Rocks Project. Each Wheelock classroom was given a book. All grade 3 classrooms received a book called Only One You by Linda Kranz. It tells the story of a mother and father fish sharing their words of wisdom with their son. We then read about the Kindness Rocks Project. Here is a link to learn more about it! Kindness Rocks Project

You go, Isabella! 

That smile! 

Great advice! 

A little more about ACADEMICS! 

We are working hard on our persuasive writing pieces. Students chose their topic. We looked at transition words in sample letters. 

We have carefully looked at our choices and decided if they were worthwhile topics. As an example, Lexi wants her own room! However, upon reflection, she realizes it is not a worthwhile topic as there is not space in her house for her to do that. Isabella also realized that a trip to Hawaii may not be in the cards right now as she has several younger siblings and this may not be the best time for travel!  

Once we were ready with our topics we needed to come up with our ideas or STRONG reasons. We looked at lists of persuasive words and highlighted them in the samples we read in class. Then we tried it with our own topics. Students completed their introduction paragraphs and we will continue on next week! 

Catching up on a Snow Day!

Happy Snow Day!

We are currently reading, A Cricket in Times Square.  This class loves read alouds.  Mario Bellini and his parents own a struggling newsstand in the station. Mario hears a strange sound for New York, a cricket chirping. Written in 1960 this is STILL a timeless treasure. Students are loving the adventures of Chester, Tucker, and Harry. 

MATH    

In math, we have been working with fractions. We have reviewed fractions on a number line and fractions of a set or a whole.  We are using manipulatives such as a fraction tiles, rulers, and pattern blocks to look at fraction parts, equivalent fractions, and fractions greater than one. 

Mal works on equivalent fractions with fraction strips.  

We also made fraction sundaes last week. Students chose ice cream flavors and wrote fractions for the sundaes they created. 

We continue to do spiral review each week and look at concepts such as addition and subtraction with regrouping, perimeter and area, elapsed time, graphs, multiplication, and word problems. 


ELA

We have been working in Book Groups. There are four different books we are reading right now. Groups read, discuss, and answer questions about the books they are reading. 

 

We are also working on some MCAS practice. MCAS - stands for Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. This year we are doing MCAS 2.0 online version. We have been working on paper/pencil versions of the ELA test and have also started working on an online version of the test as well.  In order to be more comfortable with the computer format, we have been working together to choose best answers, practicing how to write a response, and also working on getting more familiar with using the Chromebook keyboard.   

Chromebook practice! 

On Monday we started learning about the Puritans. Ten years after the arrival of the Pilgrims, this second group of English settlers arrived. Students will discuss the reasons these settlers came and similarities and differences between the two groups. 

We started our discussion using the text, Massachusetts Our Home as we read.  We will also look at other texts that focus on life in colonial times. 

This week are finishing up our nonfiction books. Students have been working hard on writing the chapters of their text. We will finish by writing a conclusion chapter this week and put together our final drafts. We have books about Ancient Greeks, soccer, dogs, ballet, and more!  I will share these with you at our conferences this month. 

Word Study groups have been busy with word sorts. Our four word study groups sort words, alphabetize, find meanings, and separate the words into syllables. This week we went to the Computer Lab to work on typing word study sentences. We changed fonts, used italics, different text colors, and underlined our word study words. Students enjoyed the challenge of working on these sentences.