Busy Bees!

The class is working very hard at mastering their typing skills! We have been practicing using appropriate posture and remembering to keep our fingers on the home row keys at all times. Please remind your child of this when you see them typing at home!

We are wrapping up our unit on the water cycle. The students were reading through a text about the water cycle, fresh water on Earth, and the clouds. They read the articles with a partner and used sticky notes to mark things they found that were interesting, that they learned, and finally things they still had a question about.

Happy 100th Day of School!

Wow how the year has flown by! It is most definitely hard to believe we are at the 100th day of school!

As a little celebration today, the class took time throughout the day to think of 100 words that they know. I was so impressed with how quickly they came up with them and that many wanted to keep writing words they knew!

Our big activity today was a bucket list. Each of your children came up with 10 things they would like to do in their lives before they turn 100. It was so awesome to see the goals that your children have! They are going to do great things! Earlier in the week I had taken their pictures in the aging booth. This simulates how they could look with wrinkles. Boy did the kids get a kick out of that! I even took my picture as well to make them feel better! What cute looking 100 year old people we will be!

Ask your child about their bucket list! These will be hanging in the hallway!

Informational Writing Pieces

Click the link below in order to view your child's informational writing. They worked very hard on these, and I know will be very proud to show you!

Informational Writing Folder

Persuasive Third Graders

We began a new unit in writing. Our focus is persuasive writing. We began our unit with a fun, quick speech writing activity. As a class, we brainstormed a thesis statement. Our thesis statement is that 3rd grade students should be able to give the announcements over the loudspeaker in the morning before school. The class did a great job brainstorming why we should be able to do this. They each took our statement and then added their own reasons and examples. Their goal was to be as persuasive as they could! They had to keep in mind that the audience they were writing this for was Dr. Gagnon. They had to think of the reasons that would be most convincing for her! I am attaching a few videos that are snippets of the speeches they gave in class! The last video is our whole class reciting what we wrote together. Being persuasive is a very challenging task, but I was very proud of the reasons and speeches they came up with!

Enjoy!

Getting in the Holiday Spirit!

The class has been working so hard to prepare for our Winter Concert. For those of you who were not able to join in the fun this morning, here are a few snap shots! The seats were packed. It is so wonderful to see such support coming from all of you! I am so proud of each and every one of your children!

Informational Texts Galore!

In both reading and writing, our class has been studying informational texts. We have studied many mentor texts for what makes something an informational text. Informational texts are more than just text features. There are a variety of structures that informational writers used. We have been practicing, adding information, and revising! Now, the class is learning how to use google classroom. I have sent them each an assignment, google doc, and they are in the process of typing up their informational texts. We will then be adding in text features, such as: photographs, tables, charts, and diagrams. Your child is able to show you their typed text online! 

All you need to do is:

1. Go to Dickinson's website and click for students

2. Click the link for google classroom

3. Your child needs to sign in using their google login and password in their planner

4. You will see Buss 14-15, click that

5. Then your child can click informational text

6. Last step is to click the document that says Informational Text- Their name

In reading, we have also been busy studying informational texts. Students have used this time as research for their writing. But we have also been looking at other types of informational texts with our Time for Kids articles. The class has been partnering up to analyze informational texts and discuss text features and how they help with the understanding of the text. These have been very exciting units for the class!                           

Time Flies When You're Having Fun and Learning Alot!

Word Study

A huge component of our word study program is recognizing patterns in words. Every time we dive into a new sort, we sort the words into their categories and come up with a pattern statement that goes with those words. This helps us to be able to internalize the patterns and find other words that can also fit that pattern.

Math

We are in module 4 and have been spending most of our time looking at 4 digit numbers and being able to represent them in various ways. We have also been comparing and contrasting them and using a number line as a helpful tool to do just that. Now we are beginning our exploration of fractions and how different fractions can be represented in a variety of ways. 

Reading and Writing

In reading and writing we have moved onto our informational units of study. We are focusing on the strategies that good informational readers and writers use. We have been studying the structure of informational texts. We have looked at sequential structure (information given in order, like animals growing up), descriptive structure (describing something), compare and contrast structure (looking at 2 different things and their similarities and differences), and cause and effect structure (when something happens because of something else). We have also been working on using the text features to grow our ideas and help us talk about the text. Your child is busy creating their own informational text about a topic that they chose and that they know a lot about. 

Minerals

We are nearing the end of our rocks and minerals unit. We have done many field tests in order to describe our minerals. We did tests to figure out the minerals luster, magnetism, hardness, shape, and streak color (just to name a few). Then the class had to try to identify which mineral they thought it was by having another read off those attributes. The class learned a lot from this. They came to the conclusion that Geologists and Scientists need to be very descriptive. We are now looking at descriptions written by Geologists of the various minerals and seeing if they can match them to the clues they found for the minerals.