Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Have you heard our podcast?

The third graders interviewed Mrs. Gloria Greis from the Historical Society. We wanted to share what we learned with you. Click here to listen.

Schoolhouse

We traveled back in time today! We had a great time being students (and teachers) in the year 1850.

Here's what the day looked like:

*Opening - Children bowed or curtsied to the teacher. We said The Pledge of Allegiance and sang America. We reviewed the rules of the school and the thought for the day. When Miss Sullivan did roll call we answered "present."

*Reading - Each group had different books. They were assigned stories to read, spelling and vocabulary to memorize. Groups were called one at a time to stand with the teacher at the front of the room for a lesson.

*Recitations - Each child stood and recited a the spelling of a word they had memorized.

*Elocution - We learned the importance of speaking in front of a group with a loud, clear speaking voice. Several children recited two verses of a poem they had memorized.

*Lunch/Recess - Children sat on the porch and enjoyed their lunches. They were given time to play in the yard out front.

*Math - Children used slates and chalk to complete math problems from the board. They showed the problems to the adults in the room to be checked.

*Penmanship - Children used quills and ink to write in their copybook. They could practice making letters, writing their name, or copying passages.

*Spelling Bee - The day ended with a spelling bee. The girls were on one side and the boys on the other of course!


Thanks to Mrs. McConchie and Mrs. Garf for making the copy books!
Thanks to Mrs. McConchie, Mr. Peljovich and Mrs. Zagranitchny for chaperoning our trip!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Another Important Note

I asked the children not to wear sneakers to the schoolhouse. (If possible - sneakers weren't invented in 1850. Don't panic, if all your child owns is sneakers - they should wear the sneakers.)

As you may know, we have p.e. on Tuesdays. If your child is wearing dress shoes or boots to the schoolhouse, please ask them to put sneakers in their backpacks so they can participate in gym. Thanks!

Stereotypes and Native Americans

Our thinking about stereotypes has continued the past two weeks as we apply our understandings to Native Americans.

Consider the following:

"In 1963 President John F. Kennedy said, "for a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians are the least understood and the most misunderstood of us all." Regrettably, this statement is as true today as it was more than forty years ago. Many negative stereotypes persist."
Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee) writes in "Do All Native Americans Live in Tipis?"

Check out this link for more:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2007/10/do-all-indians-live-in-tipis.html

What was true in 1963 continues to be true today. Our society is filled with stereotypical images of Native Americans. There are so many sports teams, movies, and cartoons that keep people misinformed. At the beginning of our lesson Wednesday morning, I asked children to draw a picture of a Native American. Sure enough, just about every child drew a person with feathers in their hair. Although the children were certainly not trying to be mean or disrespectful, they were recreating the stereotype that they have learned throughout their lives.

Some third graders were shocked to hear that Native Americans still live today. It was also shocking for many to hear that Native Americans today don't wear feathers in their hair, (although some wear special costumes for pow-wows and special celebrations) and don't live in tipis. As a matter of fact, historically, Native Americans did not all live in tipis and didn't all wear feathers. Each Native American tribe was (and is) unique with it's own customs and culture.

Continue this conversation at home. Talk about the images of Native Americans that you see. Ask children to talk about if they are stereotypical. You can even do a google search. Just type in Native Americans and click images. There are many rich conversations to be had!

Thanksgiving Website

I know Thanksgiving has passed, but we went on an awesome website Wednesday I thought you might want to check out. Do you want to know the truths and myths about Thanksgiving? Plymouth Plantation has created a website to teach you the truth about Pilgrims and Native Americans. So much of what we know is based on ONE letter about "the first Thanksgiving" written by a Pilgrim in 1621. The children learned that this primary source gives us some answers, but also leaves historians with many questions. Let your third grader share the rest of what they've learned at:

http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html

Have fun! :o)

IMPORTANT

I am looking forward to our trip to the schoolhouse tomorrow! Please remember to send your child to school wearing 1850s clothes and carrying an 1850s lunch. Thanks so much for your support! :o)Melanie

Fundations - Unit 3

This week we will review previous concepts and learn to write some more cursive letters.

The review Concepts for the third unit are:

• vowel-consonant-e syllable ( v_e syllable)
If the syllable has a vowel, followed by a consonant or digraph, than an e,
the first vowel is long and the e is silent. ex. -- cape, home

• reading and spelling 2 syllable words with a silent e (v_e) syllable and closed syllables. ex-- invite

• spelling rule: Use the letter “k” to represent the /k/ sound in a silent e word ex--like
Use the letters “ck” to represent the /k/ sound at the end of a one syllable short vowel word. ex--lick

The new concepts for the third unit are:

• 2 o’clock cursive letters: c a o These all start on the grass line and move up to the plane line to the 2 o’clock position.

• Homophones (Sound alike words):
week 1: plain plane

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Aunt Minerva

We played a new game at Morning Meeting yesterday. The kids thought it might be fun to play in the car/plane if people are traveling for the holiday. It's also just a fun game to play when you have a few extra minutes together. :o)

The person who begins the activity decides on a category such as "hot" but does not tell anyone else. Instead s/he gives several examples to demonstrate the category by telling things that Aunt Minerva likes and doesn't like. For example, if the category is "hot", s/he might say, "Aunt Minerva likes Florida but doesn't like Alaska. Aunt Minerva likes heavy down quilts but doesn't like thin sheets. Aunt Minerva likes soup but doesn't like ice cream." The other players try to figure out the category.
*taken from: "The Morning Meeting Book" by, Roxanne Kriete

Sunday, November 18, 2007

School House Field Trip

Hopefully you have received (then signed and returned) a permission slip for our upcoming field trip. If not, please return it as soon as possible. We will be preparing for our trip in class on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we could use some help from home.

Please send in one (or more) brown grocery bags. We need these to make copybooks (the type of notebook that would have been used in 1850.) We also need volunteers to sew our copybooks together. Please let us know if you can provide any of the above materials, or if you are able to sew for us!

Thanks!

Activating Schema

Although you may not be aware of it, every time you read you use your schema. Schema is a fancy word for background knowledge. Proficient readers constantly use their schema to understand their reading.

Readers should activate their schema before they begin reading a new text. You might have schema about a particular author, genre, topic, or text feature. Getting ready to read by thinking about what you already know helps readers deepen their understanding of both non-fiction and fiction texts.

The next time you start a new book with your child, don't just jump in. Read the title carefully, notice the picture on the cover. Activate your schema for whatever you see or read. For example, when we read "Boundless Grace" by, Mary Hoffman on Friday, I immediately thought about my schema for that author and that character. Having read "Amazing Grace" I knew that Grace was a thoughtful, fun child. I also knew she loved stories and she loved to act them out. I know that Mary Hoffman writes realistic fiction. This information could help me understand the text as I read.

If you're about to read a story with a picture of a Halloween party on the cover, activate your prior knowledge of Halloween parties. You might expect children to be wearing costumes, bobbing for apples, or eating popcorn. This schema will help you understand more deeply.

Happy reading!

Ms. Kinetic

On Thursday, the children met Ms. Kinetic. I was out of the room when she came in, but according to Ms. Barry, Ms. Kinetic was in constant motion. She had representations of all sorts of energy all over her. Ms. Kinetic told the kids that she was constantly in motion and she's part of all forms of energy.

Ms. Kinetic also introduced the children to Ms. Potential. They didn't have much to tell me about Ms. Potential, except that she just sat there. She didn't make a move. They did mention however, that when Ms. Kinetic was getting ready to throw her, she magically became filled with potential energy.

Thanks to Ms. Kinetic for sharing her knowledge with us! Ask your child to explain kinetic and potential energy to you.

Energy

We HAVE lots of energy. But now, we're starting to KNOW lots about energy. Energy helps make the world go round. Energy helps us to move, grow, and change. We couldn't survive without energy.

There's a great acronym to help us remember 6 forms of energy:

SCREAM!

S-Sound
C-Chemical
R-Radiant
E-Electrical
A-Atomic
M-Mechanic

We're working through each forms, learning about each one. So far we've explored chemical and sound energy in depth. Ask your child to share what he/she knows about each.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Handwriting

We've learned 5 new letters over the past two weeks.

*r
Start at the grass line.
Glide up to the plane line.
Make half a swinging bridge.
Go back to the grass line and make a tail.

*s
Start at the grass line.
Glide up to the plane line.
Go straight down to the grass line, connect the lines.
Make a tail.

*t
Start at the grass line.
Glide way up to the sky line.
Trace back down to the grass line.
Make a tail.
Cross the t on the plane line.

*u
Start at the grass line.
Glide up to the plane line.
Trace down to the grass line, swing back up to the plane line.
Trace down to the grass line, make a tail.

*w
Start at the grass line
Glide up to the plane line.
Trace down to the grass line, swing back up to the plane line.
Trace down to the grass line, swing back up to the plane line.
Make a swinging bridge.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

The Murals are Awesome!

If you get a chance, come check out the murals hanging outside the third grade pod. The kids did a marvelous job! They even used labels to help teach passers by how things have changed for children.

Next, third graders will use our murals to teach even more. Each mural group will write a basic paragraph explaining their mural. Today they learned that a paragraph can be like a hamburger! (Bet you didn't know that! :o) The top bun is the topic sentence. The hamburger, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles are the details. The details support the topic sentence. (Because without the juicy details, your burger won't taste so great.) Finally, the bottom bun is the concluding sentence which wraps the paragraph up. Notice that without the top bun (topic sentence) and the bottom bun (concluding sentence) your burger (paragraph) would fall apart!

Ask your third grader about the paragraph they started today. Ask them to share their topic sentence and the details they included to support it.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Mural

As a culmination to our study of Needham history, each third grade class is creating a mural. Room 221 is creating a mural that shows how the lives of children have changed over the years. We have divided our mural into fourths. (Insert short lesson on fractions here. :o) Each section is focused on a different time period.

The first section is focused on Native American children. We chose to put them first because the Native Americans were in Needham first. The second section is focused on children who lived in Needham around 1711, the year it officially became a town. The third section is focused on children who lived in Needham around 1850. This is the year we will pretend it is when we visit the schoolhouse. The final section is focused on the children of today.

Ask your child which section of the mural they are working on. Ask them how the children in their group got along, and how they solved problems. Finally, ask your children how life in Needham has changed throughout history.

No Spelling This Week

We have soooooooooo much to catch up on this week, I chose not to introduce new spelling words. We will have word study during the school day, but we won't be having a test on Friday. We'll resume our regular schedule next week. Thanks for understanding! :o)

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Almost Forgot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow morning the Eliot School will march in our very own Red Sox parade! Wear your hats and t-shirts! If you're like me and you don't own Red Sox paraphernelia, just wear red, white and blue! Get ready to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!"