Weekly Updates 10/26-10/30

NEWS/EVENTS

• Our Parent Teacher Conference sign up is live! Please visit www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0F4BABAB2AA6FA7-parent2  to schedule an appointment.
• This Wednesday we are traveling to Circle in the Square to see Little Red Riding Hood to get a taste for the Theater experience. Student plays will be performed in January on the same stage!
• Come join us this Thursday October 29th for Literacy/Math night from 6:00-7:30. The third grade teachers are posting presentations on third grade math strategies, the writing process, and the reader's notebook.
• Friday is Family Friday! This week we are looking for ways to find the main idea in a nonfiction text. 
• Next Tuesday 11/3 is a non- attendance day for students (Election Day).
• Next Thursday 11/5 is a half day. Dismissal is at 11:50 sharp. We will have third grade play practice all morning- book bags are not necessary that day.

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week students are exploring different ways that they can locate the main idea in a text. Students are also trying out different jotting structures to capture the main idea.

Writing- Last Friday we launched our next writing unit- informational writing! Students have selected a nonfiction topic and have started to develop a table of contents covering all subcategories of their expertise. Then, they write long within that sub-topic.

Math- Tomorrow all math groups are taking the post assessment for unit #1. On Thursday we are launching the next unit- multiplication and division of times tables 0-9.

Social Studies- This week we are exploring different ways to take notes about various landforms that exist in the United States.

Weekly Updates 10/19-10/23

NEWS/EVENTS

• Next week we are visiting Circle in the Square for a performance! Please keep your eyes open for a trip slip in the upcoming days.
• Next Thursday October 29th is Literacy/Math night for the upper grades. Please come visit to learn more about our curriculum!
• Next Friday October 30th is Family Friday.
• All Narrative published pieces are due this Friday. I gave students an hour of class time today to get started. I would like them to finish publishing as part of their homework throughout the week. (publishing= taking all final edits and revision to white lined paper. Published work is done in pencil).

HOMEWORK

• Monday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, math hw assigned by math teacher, published writing is due Friday.
• Tuesday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, math hw assigned by math teacher, published writing is due Friday.
• Wednesday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, math hw assigned by math teacher, published writing is due Friday.
• Thursday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, math hw assigned by math teacher, published writing is due Friday.
• Friday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, math hw assigned by math teacher, published writing is due Friday.

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are launching our next unit- Reading to Learn! This nonfiction reading unit focuses on determining main idea and studying different text structures.

Writing: Today students started to publish their narratives. Final published work is due Friday. We are launching informational writing tomorrow! We will start by studying student mentor pieces.

Math: We will wrap up our first unit this week reviewing strategies for solving multi-step problems and calculating elapsed time. Students will engage in review centers and will take the post assessment Friday or Monday.

Social Studies: We will wrap up our first Social Studies unit, exploring maps, by participating in a map reading performance task. Later in the week we are launching United States centers.

Weekly Updates 10/12-10/16

NEWS/EVENTS

• IMPORTANT: This Wednesday October 14th is the rescheduled date for our trip to Stoneledge Farm. Please drop students off to PS 11 no later than 7:45 am. We are aiming for an 8:00 am departure. We are expected back at PS 11 at 5:00 pm. Please make sure that all individuals arriving for pick-up are on blue cards. Students that attend afterschool until 6:00 will be dismissed to afterschool.
• This week we are officially starting our residency with Circle in the Square! We will meet with actors every Tuesday and Thursday.
• We have another field trip over the horizon on October 27th- we are visiting Circle in the Square. Keep your eyes open for permission slips this week.
• On Thursday October 29th grades 3-5 teachers are hosting Literacy/Math night. Please come to learn more about our curriculum.
• 3-509's picture day is scheduled for this Thursday, October 15th at 10:20 am.

CURRICULUM

Reading: Now that students are assigned to the right "Just Right" books after weeks of running record assessments, we are spending the last few days of our first reading unit thinking about author's purpose and deeper questions that texts trigger. By the end of this week we will start jotting in reading notebooks!

Writing: This week we are walking through the revision and editing portions of the writing process. Students will use checklists and meet with partners to discuss their writing. We will start publishing their narrative pieces by the end of the week.

Math: This week math groups are continuing to review regrouping (especially while subtracting and across zeroes). Groups will also start to investigate multistep word problems, and will use bar modeling as a strategy to identify operations needed in a given problem.

Social Studies: This week we are launching our next Social Studies Unit- the United States. Students will visit centers featuring artifacts, maps, readings, sounds, and photographs that capture our own country.

Weekly Updates 10/5-10/9

NEWS/EVENTS

• Our rescheduled trip to the farm is Wednesday October 14th. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Ms. Bouchard. We still have room for one more chaperone.
• Next week we start our residency with Circle in the Square!
• Our class newsletter for October is up on the PS 11 website.
• We are starting differentiated math groups tomorrow!
• We are asking students to make sure that they are jotting in addition to reading each night. For now, we are using post-its to do this. At the end of next week we are introducing reading notebooks!
  

Homework:

Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes.

Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Math HW assigned by math group.

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Math HW assigned by math group.

Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Math HW assigned by math group.

Friday: Read and jot for 30 minutes. Math HW assigned by math group.

CURRICULUM:

Reading: This week we are moving into bend three of our current reading unit, which focuses on ways to challenge more complicated texts. We will study context clues and figurative language to determine meaning.

Writing: This week we are learning sophisticated ways to revise and organize our writing by paragraphing, integrating different types of details, and using various forms of punctuation (including punctuating dialogue).

Math: Starting tomorrow students will be switching to differentiated math groups. Ms. Lampf, Ms. Mackenzie, and I studied student preassessment data and grouped students by areas of needs. This week all groups will explore regrouping.

Social Studies: This is our last week of map review. We are studying different types of maps and how they are used.