Multiplication

We are beginning to learn the concept of multiplication. The most important idea is that when you are multiplying, there must be equal groups. That means each group should have the same number of objects in them. The children brainstormed things that usually come in groups: 2 hands on a person, 5 fingers on a hand, 8 legs on an octopus... Over vacation you can have fun telling simple multiplication stories using objects like these that usually come in groups.

For example:

There are four cars in the driveway. Each car has 4 wheels. How many wheels in all?

Remind your third grader that there are equal groups because all 4 cars have 4 wheels. Some children will be able to find the answer mentally, others may skip count by 4s to find the answer, others may benefit from drawing a picture to show all the wheels. Regardless of process, the children should understand that they are finding 4 x 4 or 4 groups of 4.

We'll spend lots of time practicing in the new year!

Thank you!

Thanks to all who were able to attend our poetry reading! We had a wonderful time putting it together for you. Mr. Claus videotaped it. I hope to post the recording over vacation.

P.S.

Due to parking issues, and for the safety of our arriving students, please do not arrive for our poetry reading before 8:45.

Thanks for your consideration.

Continent Postcards

Don't be surprised if you receive a postcard from a country far away! As part of our study of continents, the children have researched a country of their choice. They have learned about the climate, landmarks, landforms, location, agriculture and animals. Currently, they are writing a "postcard" to you, sharing information from at least 3 of these topics.

We hope you learn a lot from their writing! Ask your child which country they chose to research.

Reminder - Poetry Reading

We hope you are able to come and enjoy your children's original poetry.

Where? Room 221
When? December 22, 9:00

At the conclusion, the children can show you around their classroom and you can enjoy refreshments together.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

Problem of the Week

How Fast Does Your Heart Beat?

If you started counting your heartbeats at midnight on January 1, 2010, when would you count the millionth beat? What about the billionth beat?

Poetry Reading

I hope you got the invite, but just in case...

Please join us on
Tuesday, December 22
@9:00

To hear your children read
their original poems

Siblings invited

Yes and...

Wouldn't it be great if your third grader would agree with you all the time? Well, we can't make that happen, but you can play a game together during which they pretend to agree with you... We've played during morning meeting. It's lots of fun, and it helps children develop elaboration skills.

You can play in pairs or small groups. The first player makes a statement. It could be as simple as, "It's going to rain tomorrow." The next player adds to that statement by saying, "Yes and..." For example, player two might say, "Yes and I am excited to wear my new raincoat." The next player might say, "Yes and that raincoat looks really nice on you." And so on...

A few children got stuck. This came up especially when another child spoke about a topic they didn't know much about. I suggested that children use their background knowledge to come up with a response. If they can find something to connect with, they should be able to come up with a "Yes, and..." For example, one child said, "The Celtics have the best record in the NBA." His partner didn't know very much about basketball, so she struggled to come up with a response. She might think back in her mind to find what she does know about the Celtics. She might have said, "Yes, and they will win while wearing their green uniforms."

Have fun with this game. You might even try playing it at the dinner table! :o)

Elapsed Time

Elapsed Time:

Elapsed time is the amount of time that has passed. In third grade, children are expected to solve problems involving elapsed time, but it can be very tricky for them. Fortunately, we have learned a trick! The children have learned to make a T chart. You put the starting time at the top of the chart. You count the hours by ones and the minutes by fives. When you get to the ending time, you should have the accurate answer. Ask your third grader to show you tonight!

For example:

Start time - 12:35, End time - 3:15

12:35, 1:35, 2:35 -That's 3 hours.

2:35, 2:40, 2:45, 2:50, 2:55, 3:00, 3:05, 3:10, 3:15 -That's 40 minutes

Answer - 3 hours, 40 minutes

(*It all looks nicer on a T chart but I lacked the technological skills to put one on this page. Sorry!)

Reflection Letter

Hopefully you will see a difference in your child's reflection letter this week. Most children have included a paragraph at the beginning of their letter that responds to your letter from last week. They were challenged to answer your questions or carry on the "conversation" that you may have started.

If at all possible, please take the time to respond to your child's letter each week. It means a lot to them. They love seeing how interested you are in their learning.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Thank you!

Dear parents,

This small note could never do justice for how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to work with your children over the past three months. I could not have asked for a better group of students to assist in making my practicum experience so meaningful and memorable. Their enthusiasm for learning, willingness to accept challenges and endless quest to further their knowledge inspired me every day to become a better teacher, and for that I am forever grateful.

I, much like your own children, am extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from one of the best teachers the Needham school district has to offer. I observed many elementary school teachers throughout my undergraduate career, yet I have never encountered a teacher as enthusiastic and devoted to their students as Melanie is. Your children are so lucky to have such an incredible teacher; she wants nothing but the best for them and will do whatever it takes to help them succeed. The growth I've achieved over the past few months can be largely attributed to Melanie and her incredible ability to teach and inspire. Much like what she does with your children every day, she pushed me to become the best teacher I could be.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your amazing children with me. Many years from now I will look back and still remember the nineteen students who were with me at the beginning of my journey and helped me to realize just how much I love teaching. Room 221 will always have a special place in my heart. :o)

Meaghan

Reading Aloud

Please read aloud to your children! I know they are third graders and can read independently, but they can still get so much from you reading to them. Some of the many benefits are:

*inspires writing
*expands vocabulary
*boosts comprehension
*increases achievement
*improves listening skills
*builds general knowledge
*encourages visual imagery
*broadens knowledge of genre
*reveals different writing styles
*fosters curiosity and imagination
*reveals different language patterns
*promotes motivation to read and learn
*extends knowledge of literary elements

Don't be afraid to share your THINKING as you read aloud!
You might say:

*I'm wondering...
*I predict.... because...
*If I were ________ (character's name) I would have...
*I liked the part when...

It's mostly just important to share the kind of thinking you do when you are reading on your own. You are a fantastic model for your children!

Happy reading! :o)

Probability Fun

Today we did a fun exploration with spinners to explore probability. Each table was divide into two teams. Team #1 got a point if the spinner landed on the purple, yellow, or red color. Team #2 got a point if the spinner landed on the orange, green, or blue color. Each team got to spin the spinner 20 times. After both teams spun 20 times, the students observed their tallies. They noticed that their scores were very similar.

Next, the students played another game only this time, team #1 got a point if the spinner landed on the color purple, and team #2 got a point if the spinner landed on yellow, red, blue, green, or orange. Unfortunately for team #1, they quickly learned that the probability of them having more tallies than team #2 was highly unlikely.

Through these two spinner games, the children were able to grasp the concept that the probability of them receiving a point in game #1 was likely, where as the probability of team #1 getting a point in game #2, was not very likely at all. It was a fun activity and an exciting way for the children to further explore probability!

New FCA - weekend adventure

You may have noticed the new FCA on your third grader's homework tonight. The new challenge for Room 221 authors is to vary their sentence beginnings. Put simply, their sentences should not begin with the same word again and again. Often in personal narrative writing children begin their sentences with I... I... I... or And... And... And... Miss Winters gave the children a chart to write down the first word of each sentence so they can check to be sure their using different words each time (or most times anyway. :o)

Our Classroom... the globe?

If you were to have looked in Room 221 this afternoon, you might have been a little confused. Your first question may have been something like, "Why is there masking tape across the floor?” We are currently learning about the four different hemispheres of the globe (northeastern, southeastern, northwestern, and southwestern), and in order to help us master these four hemispheres, we have divided our very own room. We have the “equator” separating the northern half of our room from the southern, and the “prime meridian” separating the eastern half of the class from the western half. We have many fun activities planned to help your children master the different spheres and eventually, be able to identify the different spheres that continents can be found in!

Math: Problem of the Week

Each Sunday night, I plan to post a new Problem of the Week.I hope it offers your family an opportunity to work together to solve a fun and challenging math problem. It's important to emphasize that this challenge is not necessarily designed for your child to solve on their own, this is something to work on together!

*Please note, this is not a mandatory activity, but something your family may choose to participate in.

Challenge #1

On Thanksgiving Thursday Carissa ate some cranberries. The next day she couldn't stop thinking about how good the cranberries were and ate seven more cranberries than she had eaten on Thursday. Each day after that she ate seven more cranberries than the day before. By the following Wednesday night she had eaten a total of 161 cranberries for the whole week.

How many cranberries did Carissa eat on Thanksgiving Thursday?

Extra: Since Carissa would probably get sick eating so many cranberries, let's pretend. If she were to continue this pattern, each day eating seven more cranberries than the day before, on which day would she eat 499 cranberries for her daily total?

Helping Your Child with Math

There's a lot you can do to create a math-friendly atmosphere at home. For starters you can display a positive attitude towards mathematics - even if you find it difficulty or unpleasant, or think you were never good at it.

A math educator, lecturer, and workshop leader says, "One of the most significant things parents can do is to help their children understand the normalcy and the value of struggle in mathematics... Learning math ultimately comes down to one thing: the ability, and choice, to put one's brain around a problem -- to stare past the confusion, and struggle forward rather than flee." People who struggle with math assume they just don't get it and never will. Those who do not struggle believe their success is the result of ability, but then may lose their confidence the first time they hit a stumbling block. You can help your child expect, cope with, and work through the mathematical difficulties and frustrations they encounter.

You can also explore math together as a family. Just like you read to your child each night, you can find ways to include everyone in the family, without focusing on the stressful parts - speed and memorization. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Your child can practice rounding at the grocery store. If you are trying to keep track of the running total you can ask them to round each item to the nearest dollar. If an item costs $6.27, your child can figure out that rounds to $6.00

If your child is ready for more of a challenge they can do the rounding, and keep the running total in their head.

2. Your child can help you figure out the cost of your items after you apply your coupons. Give the amount of the item and show them the coupon. They can estimate the cost.

3. Challenge your third grader to track the number of minutes they spend watching television, reading, doing homework or eating. They can graph their data and compare the results on different days.

4. Play 20 questions with numbers. Think of a number - you can adjust the number based on your child's skill level. Ask your child to figure out your number by asking questions that can be answered with yes or no. For example, a child might ask, "Is your number odd?"

5. Play with math in the car. Challenge your child to find license plates whose digits add up to a certain number. Or you can skip over the letters and read all the digits as a large number. If the license plate read, '6G1 T43' the number would be 6,143.

6. Challenge your child with math riddles. For example:

I have 6 coins in my pocket. They are worth 30 cents. What coins might I have?

Again, you can adjust this game based on your child's skill level.

Have fun with math! :o)

Miss Winters - Part 2

Miss Winters will be the lead teacher again this week. Although I will miss working with your children, I will again take the opportunity to observe some other teachers and catch up on those things on my list that I never get to do.

I will be in the building and meeting with my scheduled conferences. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any comments or questions. :o)

Thanksgiving

We went on an awesome website this morning that you may 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

The Room 221 community also discussed what Thanksgiving means to different people. Although I encouraged children to celebrate and enjoy their own traditions with family, I also asked them to pause and remember that not all people celebrate Thanksgiving. Some families who are relatively new to this country do not choose to celebrate the holiday. In addition, many Native Americans don't choose to celebrate Thanksgiving because they consider it a Day of Mourning.

Whatever you choose to do tomorrow, I hope you enjoy time with your family.

Are Third Graders Getting Enough Sleep?

Third graders in Room 221 read an article from Time for Kids about sleep today. We learned that many children do not get enough sleep because they are so busy or because they do stimulating things like watching television before going to bed. The article said that school age kids should get 9 - 10 1/2 hours sleep per night so that their brains are able to function at an optimum level. Children who get less sleep tend to have issues with memory and concentration.

Your children will continue their thinking about sleep by creating a line graph showing their own sleep habits. Each school night they will pay attention to the time they go to bed (lights out, covers up) so they can plot it on their line graph. We will look at the results in a few weeks and reflect on what we notice.

Please do your part by helping your child to get to bed at a reasonable time!

Short Week

Due to the holiday there will not be spelling words, weekly math or a reflection journal this week. We will resume our usual schedule on Monday, November 30.

I am also happy to report that I will be teaching again this week. Although I enjoyed getting so much accomplished last week (and Meaghan did a FANTASTIC job), I MISSED teaching! I look forward to working with the kids this week. :o)

The Reasons for Seasons!

Today Room 221 began to learn about the cause for the different seasons we experience year after year. With help from the book The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons, we learned that the seasons change depending on the Earth's relation to the sun. To help us understand better, we pretended a flashlight was the sun and used a globe to see the different positions of the Earth depending on the season. Be sure to ask your children why it is so cold in the Winter and so warm in the Summer!

Publishing!

Room 221 authors are publishing their first story! The authors learned how important it is to do a final edit of their writing to make it easier for the reader to read. For 15-20 minutes, Room 221 was buzzing as third grade writers read their stories out loud to themselves and marked checks where they found mistakes in capitalization, punctuation and spelling. When they finished finding the mistakes, children went back through their writing and fixed them all up. The children spent 45minutes in the computer lab typing their carefully edited pieces into the computer.

We will keep an anthology of the stories in the classroom for all to read. We will also send home a copy of your child's story so they can share it at home!

MCAS Prep

It's really here! The time for MCAS prep has begun. Most of the preparation we do for MCAS is solid teaching and learning of the third grade curriculum and meeting the needs of your children. However, I also think it is important for your children to learn how to take a standardized test. Taking a standardized test is indeed a skill, and not one that comes naturally. Therefore, Reading Workshop on Fridays will now include instruction on test taking strategies.

The first strategy we learned was reading the questions first. If the children read the questions before they read the text, they will be better prepared to recognize the information they need as they read the text. Ask your child how they felt about yesterday's practice. We used a sample from an actual MCAS test!

Reflection Journals

You probably noticed that your child's Reflection Journal did not come home this week. Sorry about that! Our day was jam packed yesterday trying to fit in every piece of learning. I promise we will complete our letters to you MOST weeks!

Take Over Week

Next week Miss Winters will be the lead teacher in the classroom. She has been working hard, learning about your children,and practicing her teaching skills. She is well prepared to teach your children next week. The school routines will be the same.

Although I will be in the building most of the time, I will not be in the classroom during the school day. However, I will be checking in before and after school each day. therefore able to answer any communication you may send. I will, of course, return to teaching on Monday, November 23. However, Miss Winter's second take over week will begin on Monday, November 30. Unfortunately, her last day with us will be Tuesday, December 8.

As always, don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have.

Weekly Math

This week you may have noticed an extra homework assignment. We have begun assigning Weekly Math. Weekly Math will be assigned on Monday and should be returned no later than Friday. The problems are review of the content we have studied in math so far this year. Please help your child to plan their working time carefully so that they are not completing the entire assignment on Thursday night.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Spelling Rules

Have you ever wondered why the 'p' is doubled when you spell the word skipping? Now you can ask your third grader!

Skip is considered a 1-1-1 word because it has 1 syllable, 1 vowel and 1 consonant after the vowel. If you add a vowel suffix (a suffix that starts with a vowel) to a 1-1-1 word, you usually double the final consonant. For example, the word run is a 1-1-1 word. If you want to add 'ing,' a vowel suffix, you know you need to double the 'n,' the final consonant. However, stick is not a 1-1-1 word because the vowel is followed by 2 consonants. Therefore when you add 'ing,' a vowel suffix, you do not double the final consonant.

Look at your child's spelling list and ask them to identify the words that double the final consonant, as well as the words that don't. They should be able to recognize when the base word is a 1-1-1 word.

Happy spelling!

T-Rex

Last week we did a fun investigation of the Tyrannosaurus Rex! We had four spools of yarn; each spool represented a different measurement of the T-Rex. We looked at the size of the T-Rex's head, the length of it's arm, it's height, and it's length. Going out into the hallway, we one at a time investigated each spool to see how many third graders it would take laying down to represent the different measurements. Through our investigation we found it took one and a half third graders to represent size of a T-Rex's head and one third grader to represent the length of the T-Rex's arm. We were shocked to see it took ten third graders to show the height of a T-Rex and eighteen third graders to show the length! It was a very fun experience and it definitely gave the students a better perspective on the size of dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Project

Today your child will bring home a description of a dinosaur project. The project is due on November 20. The children can choose from one of 4 projects. There are FCAs (Focus Correction Areas) for each choice. These delineate exactly what we are looking for from these projects. Please take some time to review this project with your child. They should begin thinking about which project they would like to do.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

No Spelling Words This Week

The children will not be taking a spelling test this Friday. The concepts and skills we are learning this week in Fundations will be reflected in their spelling list for next week.

Weekend Adventures FCAs

Although there is no school tomorrow, the children do have their typical Monday homework tonight. They should write a paragraph describing one thing they did this weekend.

I thought it might be helpful if I was more specific with all of you about their FCAs (focus correction areas):

1. Small moment - The children should write about a small moment in time. It could 10 minutes, or even 3 minutes of their day. They should not write about their entire day, or even an hour. For example, jumping in the leaves is a small moment. Fall clean up day is not. We call the big topic (not a small moment) a "watermelon."

2. Hook/topic sentence - The children have been learning that the beginning of their writing should "hook" the reader so that they want to read more. However, their paragraph should also include a topic sentence towards the beginning of their paragraphs. (A topic sentence needs to be within the first few sentences, but doesn't necessarily have to be first.)

For example, if I'm writing a paragraph about jumping in the leaves, my topic sentence might be: 'I was having fun with my girls jumping in the leaves.' However, the first sentence of my paragraph could be a hook like, 'The leaves flew in the air and floated down all over my body.' The hook makes the reader want to read more. The topic sentence makes it clear to the reader what the paragraph is about.

In the actual paragraph it would read, 'The leaves flew in the air and floated down all over my body. I was having fun with my girls jumping in the leaves.'

3. PN (Proper Nouns) - The children have learned that the first letter of every proper noun should be capitalized. Therefore I will be looking for capital letters at the beginnings of names, months, days, streets, etc...


I hope this clarifies things for you. I don't expect you to correct your third grader's paragraph, or help them make it "perfect." However, I thought knowing the FCAs might assist you in supporting your child if he/she needs it.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any comments or concerns.

Raised to the Rafters!

We had an exciting ceremony in Room 221 yesterday morning. We tried to make it similar to when a Bruins players gets his number retired. Two FCAs (focus correction areas) were officially "retired". That means that they are now posted high upon the wall under Have-Tos. These are FCAs that will no longer be posted on our papers, but will always be expected of the children. They should be automatic by this point of third grade. The "retired" FCAs now include:

*Words posted on a chart, on the wall, on the paper, or in a (relevant) book should be spelled correctly
*Neatness and Presentation
*Capitals and Punctuation (The kids have a special symbol for this. I can't figure out how to post it, but the kids can show you.)


P.S. Special thanks to Mr. Claus for figuring out how to pull the sentence strips all the way up the wall. I made a big deal to the kids about how we were going to do this, without really figuring out how I would make it work. Mr. Claus saved the day!

Collecting New Seed Ideas

Many children have completed their first "official" drafts of personal narrative writing. Yesterday, I taught children a new strategy for generating ideas for writing. When writers think of turning points in their lives, they often create very powerful stories. So I encouraged children to think of the firsts and lasts in their lives and list them in the back of their notebook. Then they can always refer to that list when they are thinking of something to write about.

Talk to your child about their firsts and lasts. Encourage them to write any new ideas in their writing notebook. Here's a list to get you started:

*The first time you did something that was hard for you (like riding a bike without training wheels).
*The first time you did something really important to you (like losing a tooth).
*The first time you did something you now do every day (like going to school or seeing your baby brother).
*The last time you did something important to you (like walking with your parent to school - instead of by yourself).
*The last time you saw someone important to you (like a friend who moved, or a loved one who passed).

Halloween Party

Thanks so much to Kathy Lesanto and Misti Perkins, our room parents, and all the parent volunteers for organizing such an incredible Halloween celebration for the kids! There was pumpkin decorating, caramel apples, Halloween Bingo, Pin the Leg on the Spider, and a search through "rat guts" for prizes. There was even trick or treating! Happy Halloween! :o)

Stereotypes

This morning third graders were given a true/false quiz. They were asked to answer the following:

Mechanics are boys.
Nurses are girls
Doctors are boys.
Football players are boys.
Ballet dancers are girls.

Their responses were fantastic! I asked them to complete the "quiz" the best they could and be sure to raise their questions and concerns during our discussion.

The discussion was quite animated. Many children had very strong feelings about the statements made. The most challenging to get over were - Nurses are girls and doctors are boys. Football players are boys was also particularly challenging. Some children had difficulty being convinced otherwise. It is hard for children to understand that something can be true if it's something they have not seen or experienced themselves.

The point of this experience of course was to introduce the children to the concept of stereotypes. A stereotype is when we make an assumption about a person based on the group they belong to - in this case 'boys' or 'girls.' We will have more conversations about stereotypes. You can have some interesting conversations about this with your child at home. :o)

Halloween

As you have probably heard from our wonderful room parents, this Halloween we will have a party but will not wear costumes to school. Instead it will be silly hat day. Your children may wear their silliest hats (I'll even allow wigs) but no other costume items. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

Happy Halloween!

Characters

How well do you know the characters that you read about? Third graders are learning that readers think about the characters in their stories. Authors reveal information about characters through what the characters say or do. We have been challenging third graders to identify these characteristics as they read. We expect third graders to provide evidence from the text to support their thinking. For example, we have read "Babushka's Doll" by, Patricia Polacco. Room 221 readers have noticed that the main character, Natasha, is very selfish. We asked them what happened in the text that makes them think that? The children were able to identify events in the text that showed Natasha being selfish.

This afternoon we continued our conversation about characters. Third grade readers learned that characters can change in a story. A character may be different at the end of the story than they were at the beginning. We can use Natasha from "Babushka's Doll" as an example again. Although Natasha was very selfish at the beginning, by the end she became kinder and more patient. (Again the children can support this with evidence from the text - things the character says or does in the story.) The children were also able to identify the cause of the change. In this case, the cause of the change was the grandmother's doll that came to life and acted even worse than Natasha. Natasha got a taste of her own medicine and therefore began to change.

Talk about the characters in the books your read with your third grader. Identify the characteristics and show the evidence you used to figure it out. Ask your third grade reader to describe another character. Together discuss how the characters have changed through the story. Happy reading!

Math Review

We are in a round of math review preparing for our first benchmark assessment. The major skills to be assessed are:

place value
comparing numbers
ordering numbers
rounding to the nearest 10
rounding to the nearest 100
estimating sums
estimating differences
addition with 2 digit numbers
addition with 3 digit numbers
subtraction with 2 digit numbers
subtraction with 3 digit numbers

These skills will continue to be practiced throughout the year. We will continue to meet individually and in small groups with any child that needs support. Ask your third grader to show you what they can do! They are mathematicians!

Dinosaur Time Line

This afternoon we got to enjoy the beautiful afternoon with some time on the playground. We all lined up on the edge of the basketball court. We wanted to better understand how long dinosaurs roamed the Earth. We imagined we were standing 250 millions years ago at the beginning of the Triassic Period. The children took one step for every million years to get to 208 million years ago walking toward the baseball diamond. This is when the Triassic Period ends (after 42 million years) and the Jurassic Period begins. The children took one step for every million years to get to 144 million years ago. This was when the Jurassic Period ends (after 64 million years) and the Cretaceous Period begins. Finally, they took one step for every million years to get to 65 million years ago. This is when the dinosaurs became extinct, therefore the Cretaceous Period ends (after 79 million years).

The children were blown away thinking about how long dinosaurs really existed. They were especially amazed by the fact that humans have only been on earth for about 10,000 years. It became even clearer to them when Steven said, "Hey, if one step equals 1 million years, then humans are only a little tiny part of that step!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Bike Rodeo

I forgot to remind your students this afternoon that the Bike Rodeo is tomorrow! Please be sure your child brings his/her bike and helmet to the gymnasium. They can be dropped off this afternoon or tomorrow morning. This is an exciting third grade milestone.

Science Center Visit

Mrs. Katz from the Science Center came to Room 221 with some extra special guests this morning. She brought a gecko, a bearded dragon and two doves. The children enthusiastically did scientific observations of one or two of the animals. The children shared what they noticed and Mrs. Katz charted the information on a table. We will use the table to compare characteristics of reptiles, birds and finally dinosaurs to see why scientists think they are linked through evolution. It will lead to many interesting discoveries I'm sure!

Sorry it has been so long...

If your child hasn't let you know, today was my first day back. I was in bed for 5 days with a virus that kept me down. I was very happy to be back working with your hard working students today. Thanks for sharing them! :o)Melanie

Writing About Math

It's important that children are able to explain their thinking through writing. This has been particularly difficult for most children, especially in math. Yesterday, we had a practice session. I showed them a terrific answer. Then I modeled how I would write a terrific answer. Next, we wrote a terrific answer together. Finally, the children worked individually to write a terrific answer.

At the conclusion of the lesson, the children were asked to share the strategies that worked for them as they explained their thinking. I will post the following list in the classroom for them to use as a reference:

*Solve the problem (before you explain it)

*Write as you solve (do a step, write about it, do a step, write about it...)

*Use the math vocabulary (math word wall will help)

*Use examples

You may want to hold onto these strategies. The children may find them helpful as they are doing their math homework.

Fundations - Unit 1

Our spelling program follows the phonics concepts and skills taught in the Fundations program. Your children have been working with Fundations since kindergarten. We began Unit 1 this week.

The review concepts for the first unit are:
• closed syllable
This syllable has only one vowel and that vowel is followed by one or more consonants. (ex. at, itch, scram) The vowel sound is always short.
• spelling of the /k/ sound
Rule: At the end of one syllable words, ck is used immediately after short vowels
(sick). If there is another consonant after the short vowel, you only use the k (milk). The letter c is most often used at the beginning of the word and the letter k is most often used at the end of the word.
•glued sounds (am, an, ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk)
•exceptions to the closed syllable (The vowel in these syllables has a long sound.) ild,ind, old, olt, ost.

The new concepts for the first unit are:
• tch sounds like /ch/ and is used in spelling after a short vowel (catch)
• homophones:
week 1: know, no
week 2: which, witch

We are started week 1 Tuesday. Your child's spelling words reflect the new concept of -tch and the review concept of /k/. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Columbus Day - a little late...

Most of you are probably aware of the year 1492. The year Columbus sailed the ocean blue on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The voyage when Columbus "discovered" America.

You may not have heard the story from the Native American point of view. Ms. Winters and I read "Encounter" by, Jane Yolen to the class - a piece of historical fiction that tells the Columbus story from the voice of a young Taino (Native American) boy. From that point of view, Columbus came to the America's and "discovered" a land that had been inhabited for thousands of years. He claimed that inhabited land for Spain.

Ms. Winters and I did a role play Tuesday morning. She was sitting beside the group searching through MY pocketbook. The conversation went something like this:

Mrs. S: What are you doing with my pocketbook?
Ms. W: This isn't your pocketbook. I discovered it just a little while ago.
Mrs. S: Discovered it? You couldn't discover that! It belonged to me. I had it first.
Ms. W: But I found it and I want to keep it...

Apparently Ms. Winters and I are talented actresses, because many of the children thought the conversation was for real. I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces as we argued back and forth.

The kids got it though. They said, "You can't discover something that already belonged to someone else!" This in fact is true. Columbus did not truly "discover" America. From another point of view however, Columbus did introduce the New World to Europeans. Certainly a kind of discovery.

Talk to your child about Columbus. Talk about the story that you learned originally and how your thoughts have changed. Talk about how stories change depending upon the point of view.

Happy Talking!

Fossils

Have you ever imagined yourself as a paleontologist? Digging up dinosaurs bones from deep beneath the ground? Most of your children have. They are very excited as we begin our dinosaur unit. Yesterday many fossils (and replicas) were spread throughout the room. The children acted as true scientists as they drew observational sketches and took notes about what they drew. At the end of the session, we held a scientific meeting. The scientists shared their findings and made theories about what they noticed.

Today, we learned that a fossil is the "preserved remains of plant or animal life." Miss Winters read part of Aliki's book, "Fossils Tell of Long Ago." Finally the children created their own "amber fossils." We went outside to find artifacts. We mixed gelatin with warm water and placed the artifact inside. The "fossils" will harden over the weekend and the children will be excited to show you Tuesday.

P.S. The children know that it takes much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much longer for a real fossil to be formed. :o)

Electric Pencil Sharpener

We are in desparate need of a new one! Perhaps you have an extra at home you are willing to donate? Perhaps you are heading to Staples and you would like to chip in with another family to buy us a new one? Our hands are getting tired! Thanks for considering.:o)

Media

Due to many Monday holidays this year, Mrs. Mullin has kindly invited us to the library this Friday afternoon to trade books. Please remind your third grader to bring in their books if they would like to get new ones.

As a reminder...

I thought people might be interested in reading (or rereading) how our poems and self portraits came to me. Here are the previous blog entries:

I am From... poems

Self portraits

I am From...

The self portraits and the poems have finally come together! Thank you to Mrs. Martell for recording the children's voices and putting poem, portrait and voice together on this website for you to enjoy!

I am From...

Spelling Program

Our spelling program has officially begun. Today children brought home a list of words. This week, the words came from three places. Five of the words are words they chose from a list we provided. They are all words that follow the spelling rule we are teaching this week. The other five words come from an individualized list. Every day for two weeks the children took a pre-assessment of "trick words". (Most words on the list do not follow phonetic patterns or rules.) The words they were not able to spell correctly were placed on a list called "Words to Learn".

Some children did very well on the pre-assessment and therefore had very few words on their "Words to Learn" sheet. They were provided with challenge words to choose from. Children will continue to be challenged as spellers at their level next week as we begin choosing 2 words from our writing. These will be words the children identify as being misspelled. They will find the correct spelling and focus on that spelling for the week.

As we've discussed before, all children have strengths and struggles. The children have individualized lists so they can choose words that are "just right" for them. The words should be ones they are close to knowing. (They can't spell them accurately, but their spellings are only off by a few letters.)

We teach children that we should spell correctly out of respect for their readers. "Dictionary" spelling is much easier to read than invented spelling. We want readers to easily read and understand what we're trying to say. Please be sure that your child studies 5-10 minutes each night to help them improve their spelling.

Rounding

This morning we began learning how to round numbers to the nearest ten. The children began to understand that sometimes you need to count with precise accuracy, but other times you can make an estimate. In situations that require only an estimate we round numbers. We looked at a number line so we could visibly see which multiples of 10 (the numbers you count when counting by 10) other numbers are closest too. I directly taught the children that numbers with 5 in the ones place always round up.

You can practice rounding to the nearest 10 at home! Ask your child to round 67 to the nearest 10. (67 rounds up to 70.) Or try 21. (21 rounds down to 20.)

We'll be rounding to the nearest 100 next week.

Reflection Notebook

Every Friday students will brainstorm a list of the activities and lessons we learned throughout the week. I will chart their ideas on a graphic organizer, which will be sent home with the journals on Friday. I encourage you to ask your child about what we have been learning in school to reinforce his or her understanding. Students will use these ideas to write a letter home each week about one or two of their favorite lessons. In third grade, this takes a LOT of practice! We work on our letter writing skills for the entire school year. Please read and respond to these letters if possible. Students look forward to hearing from you and it is a great way to model writing a friendly letter, which is a component of the 3rd grade curriculum. The journal also provides an opportunity for you to see your child’s writing progress throughout the year.

P.S. The reflection notebooks should have come home in your child's backpack this afternoon. You didn't receive the graphic organizer because we were having many technical difficulties at Eliot. We'll try again for that next week. :o)

New Dictionaries!

Thank you so much to the Needham Rotary Club and former Eliot principal Mrs. Miriam Kronish! This morning each student received his/her very own dictionary - inscribed with their name in calligraphy. The looks on the children's faces were priceless. Each child was truly excited and many kids chose to read them during Reading Workshop this afternoon. We love words! :o)

Place Value

We continue to have fun with place value! Lately we have focused on comparing numbers. It is important to understand place value when you are figuring out which number is greater. Room 221 mathematicians know that numbers with more digits are larger numbers. They also know that to compare numbers with the same amount of digits you must compare each digit starting with the one of greater value. For example, to compare 2,871 and 2,832 you must first look at the thousands place. Both digits have a value of 2,000. So next we go to the hundreds place. Both digits have a value of 800. So finally, we go to the tens place. One digit has a value of 70 and the other has a value of 30. Therefore 2,871 is greater than 2,832.

We played a great game at Morning Meeting that you can play at home. It's called "Pico, Ferme, Nada." One player thinks of a three digit number (although you can play with as many digits as you'd like). The other player(s) try to guess what the number is. The player who chooses the number tells the guessers if they are right using the words pico, ferme, nada.

Pico means that the digit is in the number and it's in the right place.
Ferme means that the digit is in the number, but it's in a different place (therefore having a different value).
Nada means that the digit is not in the number at all.

For example, the person thinking of the number comes up with 784. They don't tell the other players. The other players start guessing. Perhaps they guess 743.

7 is pico because it's in the right place.
4 is ferme because it's in the number, but in the wrong place.
3 is nada because it's not in the number at all.

The players then use their reasoning skills to make a new guess.

I know this sounds a little complicated, but the kids know how to play. Let them teach you! It's lots of fun. ;o)

Assignment Notebooks

Yesterday was an exciting day in third grade! The children received their assignment notebooks. This is a big jump in terms of their responsibility. Each day, children should fill out their assignment notebook with that day's assignment. (It will be posted on the smartboard for them to copy.) When they return home in the afternoon, they should open to the correct page (it will be marked with a sticky note so it's easy to keep track). They should read their assignment notebook before completing any homework.

We also talked about being responsible about returning the assignment notebook each day. I suggested to the kids that they should put their assignment notebook in their backpack immediately after completing their homework. At the same time, they should put their homework back in their folder and their folder in their backpack. That way, the next morning they will be ready to go!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the assignment notebook.

Addition Flashcards

Thanks to Dan for noticing a mistake on the +5 flashcards. One of them reads
5 + 9 = 15 and it should say 5 + 9 = 14. Please correct it on your set and I will be sure they go home correctly next time.

P.S. We are a little off schedule with our timed quizzes. Our next one is scheduled for Friday. There will be another quiz on Monday. The goal is to have them on Mondays and Thursdays. Hopefully we will get into a regular routine soon. Thanks for your patience! :o)

Tuesdays Homework: Weekend Paragraph

On Tuesday night your child will be asked to complete his/her first homework at home. The assignment will be to write a paragraph about one thing they did over the weekend. The paragraph will have 3 FCAs. Although I do expect children to complete their homework with a large degree of independence, and they do understand the concepts and expectations, I thought it might be helpful if I explained the expectations to you. This week's FCAs will be:

Topic sentence
3 Specific details (related to the topic sentence)
Capitalization and punctuation

A topic sentence is one of the first sentences of a paragraph. It should let the reader know what the paragraph is about. I'm challenging the students to create details that are specific and help the writing come alive. For example, a child can write, "We were excited." But the details becomes more specific when the child writes, "We jumped up and down, screaming and clapping our hands."


Reminder, I expect written homework to take no more than 30 minutes. If your child is feeling overly frustrated, or the homework is taking an extensive amount of time, please let me know. I don't want homework to become a battle or a miserable experience for students or parents.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Feedback: Focus Correction Areas

I try to give student's feedback about the work they do. Feedback helps students to see what they are doing well and what they need to work on. When an assignment has FCAs (focus corrections areas)attached to it,I will give feedback specifically on the FCAs. I will look at the work for each FCA separately. Depending on the work I see, I will give the student a check, check plus or check minus.

For example, on last week's paragraph assignment the FCAs were:
Topic sentence
3 Specific details
Capitals and punctuation (shown with a symbol the student's understand)

In order to give students appropriate feedback, I read each paragraph three times.

First I read to see if it has a topic sentence. If it does, it gets a check. If it is an incredible topic sentence, it gets a check plus. If the paragraph does not have a topic sentence, it gets a check minus.

Second, I read for specific details. If the piece has 3 specific details, it gets a check. If it has more than 3 precise, and very interesting details, it gets a check plus. If the details are very general or there are less than 3, it gets a check minus.

This process continues for each FCA. (I usually give only 3.)

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Weekly Words

Each day a member of the Room 221 community is the "Word Wizard." The Word Wizard collects new words that he/she hears when the class is in a lesson, listening to a story, or having a discussion. At the end of the day, many of the words are shared. They are then put in our word jar. (Ask your child about the chapter book "Donovan's Word Jar" by, Monalisa Degross. We just finished reading it! :o)

Every week or two the class will vote on one or two words to highlight. They will be placed in large letters on the wall for all children to see. We will challenge ourselves to use the highlighted words whenever possible. This will make the words part of our standard vocabulary.

I plan to post on the blog each time we choose new words so you can try using the words at home!I will post the third grade definitions that we came up with. This weeks words are:

askew - off to the side, crooked

conflict - a problem

Timed Quizzes

The children will bring home their corrected math quizzes today. In order to move to the next quiz they need to have no more than 2 problems wrong. In addition, they need to finish the quiz within a certain time. (I don't tell them what the time is, because that tends to stress them out. :o(

In your child's folder you should find their corrected quiz, as well as a new set of flashcards. If they received only 2+ flashcards, they need to study for the same quiz again. However, if they received 2+ and 3+ flashcards, they are studying for the next quiz. I have emphasized to the children that I don't want them to worry, I just want them to study hard.

The next quiz will be given tomorrow morning. (Normally they will have 2 days to study in between. This week and next week will be tight. Sorry for any inconvenience.)

As always, don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Needham Youth Services Book Group

Book Club Invites
3rd Grade Girls
and Parents
 
In October, the Needham Youth Services (formerly Needham Youth Commission) will present a dinner-time section of Books & Bridges: the Parent-Child Book Club.  Parents and 3rd grade girls are invited to join us for this 2-session program focusing on Sable by Karen Hesse.  Meetings are from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays October 1st and 15th and dinner and refreshments will be served.  This is a wonderful opportunity for parents and girls to share the exciting world of reading and group discussion with others.  Each parent-daughter pair will receive one copy of Sable during the first meeting.  There is a $10 fee per pair for this program, waived in the event of financial need.  To learn more please visit our website at [ http://www.needhamma.gov/youth/booksandbridges ]www.needhamma.gov/youth/booksandbridges
 
Registration forms are available at the Needham Youth Services office or online at [ http://www.needhamma.gov/youth/brochure/2009/fall ]www.needhamma.gov/youth/brochure/2009/fall

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that our special education teaching assistant Mr. Keaney has a new teaching opportunity ahead of him in another district. Mr. Keaney is a smart, hard working, excellent teacher. This is a wonderful opportunity for him, and his new district will be lucky to have him.

The bad news is that Thursday will be Mr. Keaney's last day in Room 221. He will be missed. We shared this information with the children this morning. They are sad, but encouraged that we can write letters and emails to him.

A new teaching assistant will begin working in the classroom soon. Fortunately, Miss Winters continues to work with us, so there will always be two of us in the classroom, even during the interim.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

The Colors of Us

Yesterday, Room 221 listened to "The Colors of Us" by, Karen Katz. It's a story of a young girl's walk through her neighborhood as she notices the beautiful and unique shades of each person's skin. She returns home to mix white, black, red and yellow paint to recreate each skin tone and paint portraits of her friends. As we discussed the book, our understanding of the theme (what the author wants us to learn or understand after reading) evolved. At first children thought the theme is that it is okay to have different skin colors. But as the conversation evolved and grew, we realized that it is to celebrate the beauty of each person's unique shade.

221 artists also mixed paint to find their own, unique skin color. They painted the shade onto a plain piece of paper which they will use next week to cut out their face and create their self portrait in collage. We will notice and celebrate the difference of each one. We will hang them in our classroom with our "I am from... poems." Finally, Mrs. Martell will take photographs of each and post them to the web for you all to enjoy.

Stay tuned...

Place Value

We've been having fun with place value! When we study place value we are learning that the place a digit has in a number affects its value. For example, 7 has a different value in 27 than it does in 72. In 27 the 7 is worth 7. However, in 72, the 7 is worth 70. This is a very important concept for children to understand as we move into more sophisticated math concepts.

This morning we practiced writing numbers in expanded form. Expanded form shows the value of each digit. For example, the expanded form of 273 = 200 + 70 + 3. The expanded form of 791 = 700 + 90 + 1.

We also learned a new math challenge called Digit Deal. To play Digit Deal well, you need to understand the concept of place value. You can play Digit Deal together or independently. The players should choose 3 digits from a deck of cards. (You can make one of the face cards stand for 0.) The players should use only their 3 cards to make the:

Largest possible number, smallest possible number, the number closest to 500, the largest even number, the smallest odd number, the even number closest to 400 and the odd number closest to 300.

If your child is looking for more of a challenge, the game can be played with 4 digits or even 5. Just change some of the kinds of numbers you are looking for. Have fun! :o)

Addition Flashcards

Whoops! The flashcards came home in the children's folders today. Initially they were supposed to be accompanied by a letter with a complete explanation. That didn't work out, so I was going to explain it to the children, and then send the letter home tomorrow. I'm just now realizing that I didn't explain the flashcards to the children today. Therefore, they will have little idea what to do with them.

I will rectify the situation tomorrow by sending home the letter AND explaining them to the kids. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Website

Please take a peek at our classroom website. I hope the resources there will be helpful during your child's third grade experience.



Many of you have asked if the classroom needs anything. Our website has a page for a wish list, but I've copied it here in case you are interested. (Please do not feel obligated.)

*Baby wipes (to help keep our classroom clean)


*Antibacterial Cleanser - Purell (to help keep our hands clean and our bodies healthy)


*Plants & Flowers (to help keep our classroom beautiful)


*Rocking Chair


*Subscriptions to kids magazines - SI for Kids, National Geographic

I am From... Poems

Proud poets in 221 have begun "I am from..." poems. These poems will give children the chance to share who they are. We all have different experiences, memories, and traditions that make us who we are. Each person's is different. It can depend on our culture, our religion, the color of our skin, where we grew up, or just the personalities of our family members. Ask your child about their poem. Ask them to share about their experience trying to think of what to share. You can even share your own special memories from your own childhood. Maybe even challenge yourself to write a poem.

This morning we got ready to brainstorm what might go in our own poems. I shared with the children the kinds of things that might go in my poem. We thought about: items found around our homes, items found in our yards, items found in the neighborhoods, names of special relatives, sayings, or names of special foods and dishes. Tomorrow, the kids thought of other important special things that don't fall into these categories. Finally, we will turn our brainstorms into poems. We will add significant and precise details, and pay attention to sound and feeling. Soon they will be hung on the closet doors attached to the unique self portraits we will create.

President Obama's Speech

At long last we were able to watch President Obama's speech today. I found it quite inspiring. At the end of the video, I asked the children to respond to the following question in their Learning Logs: What was the most important thing President Obama said in his speech? There were many different responses, but all seemed to take something away. Ask your child to share their thoughts with you.

Curriculum Night

Thank you so much to all who were able to join us last night. It was truly a pleasure meeting and working with all of you. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have. I look forward to a wonderful year together.

Take Advantage of this Opportunity from Needham Youth Services!

Book Club Invites 3rd Grade Girls and Parents
 
Needham Youth Services will present a dinner-time section of Books & Bridges: the Parent-Child Book Club. 

Parents and 3rd grade girls are invited to join us for this 2-session program focusing on Sable by Karen Hesse. 

Meetings are from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays October 1st and 15th.  

To register or for more information please view our Fall/Winter brochure at www.needhamma.gov/youth/brochure/2009/fall

The First Six Weeks

We will be spending a lot of time during the first six weeks of school spelling out expectations, articulating rules and establishing predictable structures.

1. The children are participating in Guided Discoveries. In a guided discovery children discuss, explore and practice the use of classroom materials so that they can take care of the materials and each other. They role play what we can do when something goes wrong, or when another child wants to share.

2. The children have chosen one of their hopes and dreams for Third Grade. Each child will share their dream with the rest of the community. We will use these hopes and dreams as the basis for classroom rules. The discussion will begin with the question - “What rules do we need to have in our classroom so that everyone is able to fulfill their hopes and dreams this year?”

3. We are practicing, practicing, practicing all of the expectations. We practice lining up quietly, using quiet voices while working and even hanging up our backpacks in the cubbies. (**So far so good! The children have been fantastic and respectful. We are constantly amazed by them.)

4. We are teaching recess. This may sound strange to you, but it's very important. The purpose of recess is for all children to have fun. We have been playing games together as a community. We model and practice what it looks like to be sure everyone has fun and is safe.

5. Most importantly, we are getting to know one another. We are all special and unique and we have begun sharing small pieces of ourselves with one another

***We put a strong focus on all of these activities so that we can move toward an
orderly, cooperative and stimulating learning environment where children feel ownership and safety.

President Obama's Speech

Unfortunately we were unable to view President Obama's speech today due to a scheduling conflict. I do plan to show and discuss the speech tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Please ask your child to share their thinking with you.

Math Curse

Are you a Jon Scieszka fan? He is a fabulous children's author with a quirky sense of humor. This morning we finished his picture book "Math Curse." The main character feels cursed when her teacher informs her that everything can be seen as a math problem! Suddenly there is math everywhere and she doesn't know what to do!

"Math Curse" is a fantastic book to read together with your child. There are many math challenges to enjoy. The level of the math varies so there is something for almost everyone. For example, the children might be challenged with a simple math word problem, or to recognize the Fibonacci Sequence. Check it out! You won't be disappointed.

P.S. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith also worked together to create "Science Curse." I'm sure you'll love it.

Welcome to Third Grade!

We have successfully completed two days together! I have to tell you that your children are amazing! They have been working very hard to learn our routines and expectations. They have been incredibly respectful.

This morning we had a "person" scavenger hunt. The children walked around the room looking for people that fit a certain description. For example, they were challenged to find someone who ate toast for breakfast this morning. They also tried to find someone who was born in another state. Through this activity they were able to learn that we are very similar in some ways, but very different in others. Ask your child what they learned about a new friend.

Our math activity this morning was lots of fun! We learned that math is actually a science of patterns. The children were able to find patterns in their names when they plotted them on a grid. Some children finished early and were able to predict what pattern their last name might create. Look for their finished products hanging in our classroom on Curriculum Night.

Museum of Science

Thanks so much to Vinny's mom, Zara's mom, and Roxie's mom for accompanying us on our field trip yesterday! We couldn't have done it without them. The kids had a blast and learned so much!

Ask your children about the Electricity Show, the dinosaur exhibit, or the "scientific" playground.

Geometric Town

Room 221 mathematicians are building their cooperative skills, their measurement skills and their geometry skills while they create their own unique town. Partners have been given a list of guidelines to follow as they draw roads, buildings, and other important parts of a community.

For example:

Draw three parallel roads at least 12 inches long and name them. The names can be real or made up (for example: Eliot Road or Needham Street.) Use a ruler to draw the lines to your roads. Make sure that all the roads have the same width - no greater than 4 inches wide.

Ask your child to describe their town to you. Encourage them to use geometric vocabulary like: perpendicular, intersecting, triangle, hexagon, square, rectangle, octagon, trapezoid, pentagon, and perimeter.

Pen Pals

Our pen pals from Mitchell came to visit today! We had a wonderful time together. The morning started with a greeting, share and activity. The pals enjoyed snack together. As Mrs. Camelio and I watched them, it seemed as if these new friends had really been friends forever. Mrs. Camelio brought a wonderful art project. The children chose half a picture and the children used their understanding of symmetry to complete it with their partner. Finally, many children chose a board game to enjoy together.

Ask your child what they learned about their pen pal today. We will mail our final letters to Mitchell next week. Hopefully, the kids can continue writing over the summer!

Thank you

The children were very excited to share their poetry with you this morning. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to join us. Thank you especially to Wendy, Paula and Lani for making sure that we were well fed. :o)

Thank you Mr. Curry!

A huge thanks to Niamh's dad who came to our classroom and talked about Nutrition and Fitness. This is always an important message for us to hear. The children learned which foods are "Go" - that you can eat lots of, which foods are "Slow" - that you can eat a moderate amount of, and which foods are "Whoa!" - that you can eat only on occasion.

Elapsed Time

Elapsed Time:

Elapsed time is the amount of time that has passed. In third grade, children are expected to solve problems involving elapsed time, but it can be very tricky for them. Fortunately, we have learned a trick! The children have learned to make a T chart. (Look for one in their folders this afternoon.) You put the starting time at the top of the chart. You count the hours by ones and the minutes by fives. When you get to the ending time, you should have the accurate answer. Ask your third grader to show you tonight!

For example:

Start time - 12:35, End time - 3:15

12:35, 1:35, 2:35 -That's 3 hours.

2:35, 2:40, 2:45, 2:50, 2:55, 3:00, 3:05, 3:10, 3:15 -That's 40 minutes

Answer - 3 hours, 40 minutes

(*It all looks nicer on a T chart but I lacked the technological skills to put one on this page. Sorry!)

Reminder! Poetry Reading

Just a reminder that our Poetry Reading/Parent Coffee will be held tomorrow morning, Thursday, May 28 at 9:00. We hope to see you there!

Poetry Reading/Parent Coffee

Please disregard the letter stating that the poetry reading will be this Friday, May 22. The Poetry Reading will be rescheduled for Thursday, May 28 at 9:00. I'm sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may cause.

I hope to see you next Thursday! :o)

Book Signing by Megan McDonald

I received this from a parent. The kids were excited about it!

Hi First through Third Grade Eliot Teachers,



I just wanted to pass along that the author of the Judy Moody and Stink books, Megan McDonald, will be in Wellesley this Saturday, May 16th. A “Meet the Author” with reading and autographs is open to the public and will take place at 2:00 p.m. in the gym of Hunnewell Elementary at 28 Cameron Street in Wellesley. Following, there will be a “Judy Moody Party” at the Wellesley Free Public Library at 530 Washington Street at 3:00 p.m. where Megan McDonald will also do a book signing.



Happy Reading!

No Spelling Next Week

Due to limited homework nights (due to the religious holiday), and no school on Friday (due to the other religious holiday), there will be no spelling words assigned next week. We plan to go back to our normal word study schedule on April 13.

MCAS Tomorrow!

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our first official MCAS test. I have asked the children to go to bed by 8:00 tonight. They should also eat a nutritious breakfast so that their bodies are ready to work hard and persevere.

Although some children are still feeling nervous, most children are excited to begin. Please remind your children that they are smart and we just want them to work hard and try their best.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Potato Hill Poetry

Thanks so much to the PTC for bringing third grade Potato Hill Poetry! Mr. Andrew Green was a pleasure to work with in our classroom. He shared many of his wonderful poems with us. As he shared, he talked about many important techniques and strategies writers can use to create powerful poetry.

*Think about how words sound together
*Use alliteration
*Share what's in your heart
*Write a "puzzle poem" filled with clues about an ordinary object
*Write about a small pleasure
*Get inspired by something
*Write a poem as a note to someone
*Include the 5 senses
*Write about small moments
*Give the reader the news - the 5Ws
*Name the world

The children were given ample time to create their own poems. Mr. Green honored their poems by reading them aloud himself. Ask your child to tell you about theirs.

Room 221 will continue our study of poetry by reading, reading and reading more poetry. Finally as we finish our feature articles, we will jump into writing our own poems every day!

Thanks again to Mr. Green at Potato Hill Poetry and the PTC for bringing him to us.

Fractions

Our class has started a unit on fractions, called Fair Shares. Your child will be using fractions to make "fair shares" of things like paper "brownies" and pattern block "cookies." By working with these materials, your child will learn about how "wholes" come apart into fractions, and fractions fit together as wholes. We'll talk about which of two shares is larger, and which fractions are really the same (for example, 1/3 is the same as 2/6). Here are some ways that you can help at home:

*When your family really is sharing food, talk about "fair shares" and help your child name fractions. If you want to split the pizza among five people, how can you split it fairly. How much does each person get?

*Cooking is another great way to learn about fractions. How can we measure 3/4 cup? Look together at how the fractions appear on a measuring cup. Doubling recipes, or cutting them in half, can help your child understand how to make new numbers with fractions.

*Throughout the unit, look over your child's math homework. Ask about the fraction work the class is doing, and encourage your child to explain some of the problems to you.

You may be surprised that your child won't be learning step-by-step procedures for working with fractions. Many adults remember the "invert and multiply" rule they learned for dividing fractions, but few can explain how and why this works. Your children will learn the hows and whys -- and, hopefully, will become much more comfortable using fractions.

Nonfiction

We are diving into nonfiction during Reading and Writing Workshops! Nonfiction is lots of fun! We love it because children love reading and learning about topics of their choice.

In Writing Workshop, Mr. Kerr is teaching us to write feature articles. Each child has chosen the topic that they want to research and then write about. It was exciting to see inquisitive brains at work as children developed questions they want to learn about. Finally, they turned those questions into subtopics. Subtopics are the smaller topics within the larger one that researchers want to focus on in their article.

As many researchers began taking notes today, Mr. Kerr taught us about plagiarism. It's important that children learn not to copy exact sentences from their research. Mr. Kerr taught children to pull out "fact fragments" - the most important words from a sentence that contain the chunk of meaning. This is a skill the children will be developing for years to come.

Ask your child to tell you about their research topic. I'm sure they will have lots to share!

United States

Our unit on the United States is coming to a close. We hope you enjoyed our State Fair. We certainly enjoyed preparing it for you. I was very impressed with the children's creativity and knowledge about their state.

There are several understandings and skills that I want the children to hang on to:

1. There are 50 states in our country.
2. Each state has a capital which is typically represented with a star on the map.
3. Washington D.C. (not state :o) is the nation's capital.
4. The states are organized into regions based on similar location, agriculture, landforms and climate.
5. Identify the general location of each region.
6. Identify one fact about each region.

The children will complete an assessment on Wednesday, but I am confident that most children have most of these understandings in place. You can discuss them at home when you discuss current events or the setting of a story you are reading together.

Factors and Multiples

As we learn more about multiplication, we have learned about factors and multiples. These are tricky concepts and children frequently get confused between each vocabulary word.

We learned:

Factors are the numbers that you multiply together to get a product (or multiple). For example, 4 and 5 are factors of 20 because 4 x 5 = 20. You can also think about factors with skip counting. If I can skip count by a number and land on another number, then the first number is a factor of the second. For example, I can skip count by 4 and land on 20 - 4, 8, 12, 16, 20. Therefore, 4 is a factor of 20.

Multiples are like the opposite of factors. Multiples are the answers you come up with when you multiply numbers. For example, 30 is a multiple of 6 because I can multiply 6 x 5 to get to 30. You can also think about multiples with skip counting. All the numbers I skip count by starting with a certain number are multiples of that number. For example, if I skip count by 6 - 6, 12, 18, 24, 30... All the numbers I skip count are multiples of 6.

Some children remember this way:

Factors (starts with f) come first (also starts with f). They are the smaller numbers that build up to multiples that come at the end (last - also ends with e).

***Most importantly, children should remember that skip counting is the same as multiplication! (And they've been doing that since kindergarten!!! :o) It is the same as multiplication because your adding equal groups each time you count up.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns. :o)Melanie

State Fair

Thanks to all who were able to attend our State Fair this morning! The children feel so proud of their hard work. We appreciate you sharing your enthusiasm with us.

We will continue our study of states after vacation. We will share the knowledge we have learned about our individual states with the rest of the community. We will take this knowledge and construct new knowledge that will help us better understand our entire country.

Thanks for your support! :o)Melanie

State Fair

Hopefully your children are busy at home preparing their dioramas and paragraphs for the State Fair. You may have noticed that I have been giving less written homework the last week or so to give your children more time to complete it. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

The children are working equally hard at school. While we are focusing in on one small aspect of their state at home, we are looking at the entire state at school. The children have completed research sheets to gain general information. We have practiced using a Table of Contents and an index to help them find this information. We have learned about agriculture and manufacturing. We have learned that states became parts of our nation at different times.

This information will be compiled and shared on a large display board that will represent each region at the state fair. They will be displayed along with the children's dioramas. Together the children will look carefully at their collective states and analyze why they are grouped together. Most importantly, we want children to understand that where people live in our country will affect how they live.

We hope you can make it to our state fair on Thursday, February 12 at 9:00 in the Miriam Kronish Performance Center.

Second Step - Unit II

Our class has started Unit II of the Second Step curriculum. It focuses on impulse control and problem solving. Impulse control means slowing down and thinking rather than doing the first thing that pops into your head. Problem solving is a strategy for dealing with problems we face with other people and as individuals. Calming-down techniques are taught to give your child the skills to compose him -- or herself so that a given problem can be solved more effectively.

Our class will learn and practice steps for calming down and solving problems. You can help by practicing these new skills at home with your child. For example, reinforcing calming-down skills at home may go something like this:

Your child comes in upset about her younger sibling playing with her new toy. You might say, "Wow! I can tell that you're upset. Try taking three deep breaths, then count backward slowly before deciding what to do."

After your child has calmed down, you might then help her practice the problem solving steps by saying, Now that you've calmed down, tell me what the problem is. What are some ideas that might solve it. Let's go through each of your possible solutions and ask, 'Is it safe? How might people feel about it? Is it fair? Will it work?' Now choose a solution and give it a try. If it works, great! If not, then try something else."

Copies of the posters Calming Yourself Down and How to Solve Problems went home in your child's folder today. We use these during Second Step lessons; feel free to post them at home.

In this unit, your child will also practice using such skills as apologizing, ignoring distractions, and dealing with peer pressure. With some lessons, I will send home the steps for certain skills so that your child can practice them at home. If your family uses different steps, please discuss this with your child and let me know. We do not consider the steps to be absolute rules; rather, they are guidelines for being safe and fair.

Please contact me if you have any questions about impulse control, problem-solving skills or the Second Step program.

Circles and Stars

Mathematicians in Room 221 learned a new math game today. It's very simple and helps children better understand the concept of multiplication.

You can play with two or more players. All you need is a die, paper and pencils. The goal is to get the highest product.

The first player rolls the die. The number that is rolled indicates the number of circles the player should draw. The same player rolls the die for a second time. This number indicates how many stars should be drawn in each circle. For example, if I roll a 6, I should draw 6 circles. If I roll a 4 on my next roll, I should draw 4 stars in each circle. Now I have 6 groups of 4 - in other words 6 X 4. Players can solve the multiplication sentence or simply count the stars to find the product.

Play continues with each player completing the same steps. After all players have had a turn, the player with the highest product wins.

The play can continue with as many rounds as you'd like.

The emphasis here is that multiplication is combining equal groups. It is also repeated addition (4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4).

*If your child is already skilled at multiplication, you can always play the game with larger numbers - just use two dice.

Have fun!

Things That Come in Groups

During the next few weeks, your child will be working on a mathematics unit about multiplication and division, called Things That Come in Groups.

Your child will be making lists of items that come grouped in different amounts-- things like 2 shoes in a pair, 7 days in a week, 12 eggs in a carton. Later the class will use these lists to write their own story problems.

Students will also work with the 100 chart, which shows the numbers from 1 through 100, organized in a systematic 10-by-10 grid. On this chart, your child will discover patterns in the multiples of a given number. We will also use arrays, or objects arranged in rows and columns to form rectangles of different shapes and dimensions. Students play games with Array Cards, learning to recognize the dimensions and the total number of small squares in each rectangle. The aim is a meaningful introduction to multiplication that helps students visualize what multiplication combinations "look" like.

Through our activities, students will be learning many multiplication pairs (or "facts"). Students will naturally learn many of these multiples through repeated use. They will practice counting by different multiples-- for example, by 3s (3,6,9,12...) - as one way of learning multiplication relationships. Students will be encouraged to visualize what these "facts" mean and what their relationships are -- for example, that 6 x 4 is four more than 5 x 4 or that 4 x 8 is double 2 x 8.

The emphasis of this unit is on understanding what multiplication and division mean. The children will be asked to make sense of different multiplication and division situations. They will develop their own ways for thinking and writing about these. Family members can help with many of the assignments during this unit. For example, you can help your child look for things that come in equal groups. You can take turns skip counting on the 100 chart with your child. And you can play the number games that your child brings home.

Serious Conversations

This morning we read Fly Away Home by, Eve Bunting. It's a story about a homeless man and his son who live in an airport. They try to go unnoticed so that they don't get kicked out. The children received the story very well - it's extremely well written. However, I think they were a little taken back about the family being homeless. They looked almost shocked as I read. You may want to reread the story as a family so you can discuss homelessness further.

P.S. Eve Bunting is a wonderful and prolific author. You might enjoy other books by her as well.

Amazing Grace

Thanks to a generous donation from the NEF (Many of you donated this holiday season -Thank you!), the PTC arranged for us to see Amazing Grace a performance honoring the life of Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was truly an inspiring performance that taught children about the incredible human being and the Civil Rights Movement for which he is known. Ask your child about it!

Ugh... It's been too long.

I promise to try and post more regularly. Does anyone know of a way to make the day longer?????????????????