Telling Time

Do you have digital clocks all over your house so your third grader will know what time it is? You don't have to anymore! The children are becoming time experts. Most children can tell time to the minute!
Here are some tricky parts you can practice together:

1. When it is half past the hour (30 minutes past), the hour hand is half way to the next hour. (Often children will see that it's 3:30 when the hour hand hasn't reached the 3 yet.)

2. The kids are really good at saying it's 9:45, or 10:50. But when I ask how many minutes until _______. It get's trickier. We are learning that it's 10 minutes before 11:00 when it's 10:50. You can practice counting how many minutes until ________ at home.

Happy time telling!

Little Red Schoolhouse

Third grade historians learned the "special identity" they will use when we travel back in time to 1850 at the Little Red Schoolhouse. Ask them to share their name and age. Some of the were even able to find their house!

Click here to see the schoolhouse role fro 1850.

***P.S. If you haven't sent in your permission slip for the field trip, please do so as soon as possible.

Special Guests

High School seniors, Mulin and Liz, came to third grade this afternoon to teach us! They are in the Advanced Placement Biology Class at Needham High School. As part of their class, they were asked to create and teach a lesson to younger students. They taught us all about animal adaptations. The children watched a wonderful presentation that showed various kinds of adaptations that help animals survive. Ask your child to share an example of one with you!

At the end, the children were invited to make their own animal using Model Magic. They could even decide what kind of adaptation that animal would have. You will be able to see your child's creation on Tuesday.

Enjoy the long weekend! :o)

Geometry Vocabulary

Geometry is a unit filled with vocabulary! It all comes at once, so it can be challenging for children to remember all the different words and meanings.

Ask your mathematician about these words:

polygon
quadrilateral
rectangle
square
triangle
pentagon

prism
rectangular prism
triangular prism
pyramid
cylinder
sphere
cone

vertex
edge
face

parallel
perpendicular
symmetry
congruent

You can even sort these words together!

Not sure what some of the words mean yourself? Click here for a wonderful, illustrated math dictionary.

Eve Bunting

We learned that Eve Bunting writes two different kinds of books. Some of her books are very sad and serious, and other books are more light and funny. Ask your third grade reader to give you an example of each!

Author Study

Third grade readers began an author study of Eve Bunting today. She is a prolific author who has been writing for children for many years. Each child has been challenged to read at least 2 of her picture books this week. We will look for similarities and differences, and learn from her techniques as a writer.

Click here to learn more about her.

Three Dimensional Shapes

Have you ever built a 3 dimensional solid? Your third grader did today. They cut out templates, folded and taped. They made rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, and pyramids. We are learning to identify and count the number of faces, edges and vertices (corners) each shape has.

Have you ever played "Headbands?" In this game one player wears a picture or a word on their head so they can't see it. The player tries to figure out what the word or picture is by asking the other players yes or no questions. We played today using geometrical terms. Try playing it with your family. It's lots of fun! :o)

Think Math for Parents

I have added a link to the side of the blog. It brings you directly to a support page for Think Math. I find the site a little overwhelming at first glance. However, if you are looking for a specific topic, just look at the column all the way over to the left. You can choose Algebra, Geometry, Number Sense - anything that your child may be working on.

Click here to go to the site directly.

Making Maps of Needham

A special thanks to our PTC for bringing "The Map Lady" to third graders today!

Room 221 cartographers (map makers) followed directions carefully. They measured and drew in the boundaries of Needham. Did you know that The Charles River separates Needham from other towns in several places? The children also drew in lakes, brooks, and many hills. Do you know the name of the highest hill in Needham? Your third grader does! Remind them that it's the "four-ring hill."

Tomorrow we will add a title, compass rose, map key and map scale. Finally, we will label all of the hills, lakes and brooks.

We'll be hanging the children's creations outside the pod for all to see.

Extra Help

I will be holding extra help sessions this week on Tuesday morning (7:50-8:20)and Thursday afternoon (2:35-3:05). In order to best meet the needs of each child I have chosen to focus on subtraction with regrouping this week. If your child needs or would like some extra practice in this area they are welcome to attend either or both days.

 I am happy to see as many children who are interested. I only ask that you notify me to let me know that your child is coming.

Preparation for Little Red School House

We need your help! Our trip the school house (the one that I neglected to mention takes place on Tuesday, June 5 :o) requires some preparation. Please send to school any extra brown shopping bags you might have.

I am also looking for a few volunteers to put together our "copy books." This only requires some folding and "sewing" with yarn. This can be done at your own home and in your own time. Full instructions will be provided.

Please let me know if you are available to help! :o)

Visit to the School House

As some of you know, third graders visit The Little Red School House as part of our study of the history of Needham. We need several chaperones for this visit, but all chaperones need to be CORId. If you are interested in joining us, please be sure that you have a CORI through Needham Public Schools within the last three years. If you're not sure, contact Susan Rains (781-455-0452) in the office. She can check it out for you.

Please let me know if you are interested! :o)

History of Needham

Ask your third grader:

Why did the settlers from Northern Dedham want to separate and make their own town?

In what year did Needham officially become a town?

Where was the first town center located?

What was the first kind of school used to teach children in Needham?

Why did the colonists want to fight against the British?

Where did the colonists from Needham hide the guns they used to fight against the British?

Thank you so much to Mrs. Martell for taking us on a fabulous tour of Needham! We saw in person so many sites that we have learned about, and so many sites that we are getting ready to learn about!

Ask your child what they learned about:

**town cemetery
Native Americans
Sabrena Lake
First Eliot School
Little Red School House
Dog Corner
**Baker Estate
Echo Bridge
Hemlock Gorge
Town Center
First Parish Church

**You may want to learn more about these with your child. We weren't able to get out at the cemetery, and there's really so much to see there. Click here to take a virtual tour.

William Emerson Baker was a fascinating citizen of Needham. He has a very unique history, but we're unable to learn lots about him during our unit. Click here to see a slide show about him and the "amusement park" he created right here in Needham.

Click here to see pictures of the children at Hemlock Gorge. You may want to take your family there to explore.

Mr. Thomas Teaches Harmonica

Thanks so much to Mr. Rod Thomas for sharing his talents with Room 221 today! He read "Lentil" by Robert McCloskey. This is a tale of a boy who loves to play the harmonica. In fact, he helps solve a problem in his town by playing his harmonica. Turns out "Lentil" is a story that changed Mr. Thomas' life when he was a boy. It inspired him to play the harmonica himself.

Mr. Thomas actually played his harmonica for us! He showed us how to inhale and exhale to play different pitches. He even took a harmonica apart to show us the inside. We saw the reeds and the comb.

Ask your children what they liked best about playing harmonica. Click here to see some pictures.

Travis Roy

Hopefully your child told you all about our visit from Travis Roy. Travis Roy came to Eliot on Friday to teach us about his life, and his life with a disability. He ended up inspiring so many of us.

 As you may know, Mr. Roy sustained a terrible injury during his very first game as a hockey player at Boston University. Since then, he has been paralyzed from the neck down, with the exception of some movement in his right arm.

Mr. Roy shared a tremendous amount with his young audience. But there were two ideas I hope your children walked away with.

 1. Set goals and work hard to reach them.
           Mr. Roy told us about a list of goals he made when we was 15. One of them was to play hockey at the college level. Although he was devastated by his injury, both he and his father were proud of the fact that he made one of his dreams come true.

 2. Do not treat people with disabilities as if they are invisible.
          Mr. Roy shared a story of a time after his accident when he was eating lunch in a B.U. cafeteria. He sat at an empty table, eating alone. Everyone walked by him as if he wasn't there. I know I was taught as a child not to stare at people who seemed different to me. Although it is not polite to stare, I want kids to know that it's okay (and kind) to say hello. I want them to know that people with disabilities are not scary. They are people, just like you and I.

The Travis Roy Foundation raises money to support others who have spinal cord injuries. They also raise money to find a cure for such injuries. You can learn more at their website.

Extra Help

I will be holding extra help sessions this week on Tuesday morning (7:50-8:20)and Thursday afternoon (2:35-3:05). In order to best meet the needs of each child I have chosen to focus on fractions this week. If your child needs or would like some extra practice in this area they are welcome to attend either or both days.

 I am happy to see as many children who are interested. I only ask that you notify me to let me know that your child is coming.

Making Right Angles

Right angles are everywhere! They're on your stairs, on the tiles of your floor, the corners of your ceiling. Everywhere you look you'll find a right angle. Third grade mathematicians began studying geometry today. They used straws and glue to create quadrilaterals with different numbers of right angles. Ask your third grader how many right angles they could not create in a quadrilateral.

Click here to see third graders at work.

MCAS Week!

As many of you know, the Math MCAS begins next week. The children took a brief practice test today. It was  very short, and simply gave the children an exposure to the experience.

The actual test will be administered on Monday, May 7 and Wednesday, May 9 at 9:00am. The test is created to take about 60 minutes. Some children will be done sooner, and others will take longer. The test is untimed, so the children can take as long as they need.

I am asking all students to be in bed by 8:00 the nights before the test. Please help your children follow this guideline. In addition, all children should eat a healthy breakfast before coming to school each test day.

The children are welcome to bring in an extra healthy snack if they would like to eat before the test begins. They will be encouraged to eat lightly so they don't become sleepy from overeating. After all children have completed the test, they will also be able to eat snack and relax for a short time. The children will get extra recess each test morning in order to run off any extra steam.

Next week will look different in terms of homework. Written homework will not be assigned. In addition, the timed quizzes will not be given on Tuesday and Friday. Your children should continue to read (or be read to) for at least 20 minutes each night.

Most importantly, I do not want your children to feel stressed about MCAS. It is important that they know we believe they will do well. Please encourage them to work hard and do their best. However, also remind them that no matter how they do on MCAS, we know they are smart children!


Thanks for your cooperation. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

History of Needham

Today we continued our story of Needham.

Ask your third grader why many settlers left Watertown.

Ask your third grader where those settlers went after they left Watertown.

Ask your third grader how settlers purchased some of the land that is now Needham.

Fiction Writing

Thank you so much to Mrs. Anne Nydam for visiting third grade this afternoon! If you don't know, Mrs. Nydam is a published author and illustrator. (Her children are in fourth grade here at Eliot.) You can check out her work at her website http://www.nydamprints.com/.

221 have begun a unit focused on writing fiction. Mrs. Nydam shared many of the strategies and techniques she uses as a writer of fiction. Here's some of what our third grade writers learned:

*Every story needs a problem and solution
*Write stories like the ones you like to read
*Show don't tell - Don't say 'big,' describe how it's big
*Notice and pay attention to everything. Record or save the ideas you find most interesting
*Name your characters
*Put yourself in the character's place - think about what it was like when you felt that way...
*Notice problems in your own life. You might use one for a story

You can see Mrs. Nydam and her work this weekend at Needham Open Studios! If you do, be sure to tell her that your child enjoyed her visit to third grade!

Happy writing!