Hi Families!
Quick notes to know:
- 8/27 Picture day- Please send your child in their picture day outfit and send a change of non-dress clothes as we will be learning outdoors in the afternoon (after pictures are taken)
- 8/30/19 Early Release Teacher In-Service
- 9/2/19 No School – Labor day
- 9/3/19 School Bus Practice
- 9/6 & 9/11 NWEA testing for 3rd and 4th
- 9/9-9/13/19 Attendance Week- look for more details to come
- 9/9/19 Hearing and Vision screening
- 9/10 Curriculum Night 6:00-7:00 (for parents)
- 9/12/19 Lockdown Drill
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- Welcome to Classroom 18! We have had a wonderful week getting to know each other and learning.
- This year, your student will be learning academics, as well as, progressing toward independence and self-reliance. Every day your student is responsible for writing down his or her assignments, reminders, events, and more in their agenda. This exercise is to help them learn how to organize themselves and set themselves up for success in years to come. It is a very important part of our day! Students are asked to use their agenda as a checklist at home to ensure homework is done and they are ready for the next day of learning. Please take a moment daily to look over their entries and sign the bottom of that day. Many of our families have already started this routine this week, we really appreciate it! Thank you!
- Please remember to put your number placard in your windshield during carpool. It is very important numbers are visible as you pull into the school to ensure a smooth and efficient carpool. Thank you for your help!
- By now, you probably have noticed I request 20 minutes of nightly reading; typically a book of choice unless otherwise noted. Please have your student write in the title of the book(s) they read. Also, we are recommending 5 minutes of nightly math fact practice (games, apps, flashcards, etc.). There will also be daily spelling homework, once spelling has been rolled out for the year.
- Attendance/spirit week will be 9/9-9/16. Our class will be voting on the themes they would like for room 18 to celebrate spirit week. Look for more details to come.
NEXT WEEK:
Reading and Writing,
Last week, we discussed what our classroom should look like and how to treat each other as classmates. Students contributed their ideas in a brainstorm session. Then we made a permanent list of “Room 18 Class Rules,” as authored by room 18 students. Each student really helped generate wonderful ideas and had a hand in developing their classroom community. Be sure to check it out on curriculum night!
This week, we created charts and discussed the reasons how to best “read to self” and how to select best fit books during daily 5 sessions. We learned the reasons why these activities help us as readers to learn and grow. In the next 2 weeks, we will continue to review these charts and skills. Then, we will create and discuss a chart for how and why students should independently (following a lesson) “work on writing” “listen to reading” and “read to others” during daily 5 centers.
This week we also read the book, “A Bad Case of the Stripes” by David Shannon. We focused on what the character emotions were and the author’s theme. Also, we expanded our vocabulary by using context clues to understand the meaning behind some of the wonderful words featured in this book.
Next week, students will wrap up “A Bad Case of Stripes” with a discussion about cause and effect that took place within the plot. We will also learn the difference between character traits and emotions. Then we will read a Wayside School chapter called, “Mark Miller” and a book by Patricia Polacco called, “Thank You, Mr. Falker.” While reading these, we will focus on comprehension skills, such as re-reading text we don’t understand, asking ourselves questions as a reader and making personal connections to text. We will also be comparing the three texts read to one another to analyze for similarities. This unit will extend over the next three weeks.
All students will be working on cursive writing typing and a program called ixl this year. Once typing and ixl have been introduced, I will write your child’s typing log in and ixl log in into the front of the agenda for use at home as well.
3rd grade Math,
Welcome to third grade math! Last week, we started our math class by creating some guidelines on what our community of learners will look like this year. We also spent time getting to know each other as learners. We created a glyph to represent our learning styles and then sorted these as a class. We learned we all have things in common with our classmates, as well as differences. As a whole class, we created a bar graph to represent some of our glyph data. This is hanging in the hallway, be sure to check it out on curriculum night!
We are currently in unit 1 of Bridges math which will last for approximately 4 weeks. Unit 1 focuses on addition and subtraction skills, focusing on fluently adding and subtracting within 100 and then within 1000 using strategies based on place value. Additionally, properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction will be explored. Students will also be working on word problems solving for addition and subtraction problems. Students will also use a number rack to visualize quantities and assist them in mental math during whole group discussions. Also, students will focus on how to express their mathematical reasoning.
Our math curriculum, Bridges, has “Student Books” (SB), “Number Corner” (NC) books and “Home Connection” (HC) books for each child. The Home Connection book is a homework book and will come home each time homework is assigned. On occasion, the Student Book or Number Corner book may come home if in class assignments are not completed during class time. Students will be writing their math homework assignments in their agendas daily. Please be sure to check their agenda and sign nightly. On nights that homework is not assigned students are encouraged/sometimes assigned to spend 15 minutes on ixl.com (using the log in that will be provided soon) to work on concepts they need help with or that mirror what we are learning in class. Most students really enjoy working on ixl.com and it helps to reinforce math skills.
4th grade math,
Welcome to 4th grade math! Please see Mrs. Ottaviani’s website for 4th grade math information and updates.
Science/Social Studies,
This week we learned all about the scientific method. Students participated in multiple experiments that focused on observing, making predictions, recording data and more! Students really seemed to enjoy the experiments of saving Fred, mystery boxes and dancing raisins. Be sure to ask your student all about these!
Next week, we will begin a social studies unit on economics. This unit will span several weeks. Students will be working on learning economic terms such as needs, wants, goods, services, consumer, producer, scarcity, budget, and others. The students will learn to how these terms apply to real life situations. Students will work on lessons to learn concepts such as saving, and what goods and services are locally produced.
This week, we also completed our first session of phenology. Ms. Naomi was a guest teacher to introduce new students to the concept of phenology. This coming week, we will find our solo spots for the rest of the year. It is sure to be exciting!
I hope you have a wonderful week!
