Wax Museum Guidelines

Weekly Updates 11/30-12/4

NEWS/EVENTS

• Next Wednesday 12/9 there is a curriculum connection for parents about the Reader's Notebook. If you attended literacy night, the material will pretty much be the same. A flier was forwarded today!
• Our next Family Friday is taking place 12/18, and on this day we are hosting a wax museum exhibit for families! Each student has selected a subject and is researching that subject with the plan to represent him/her at the museum. A formal invitation will be emailed next week.

HOMEWORK

** For this week only, nightly jotting and reading should be geared towards biography subject research and planning.

Monday: Cut out new words for the week. (Humble= Sort #2, Determined = Sort #26, Ambitious = Sort #24), Work on biography research and jots for 30 minutes, Math HW (assigned from group)

Tuesday: Word Study Menu Option, Work on biography research and jots for 30 minutes, Math HW (assigned from group)

Wednesday: Word Study Menu Option, Work on biography research and jots for 30 minutes, Math HW (assigned from group)

Thursday: Glue words into purple workbook and study for spelling test, Work on biography research and jots for 30 minutes, Math HW (assigned from group)

Friday: Any biography projects that are not completed in class must be finalized at home by December 16th.

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week we are continuing to research our biography subjects for the upcoming wax museum and will continue to grow ideas using timelines as a way to reflect on how history impacted subjects.

Writing- This week we are publishing our informational writing books. Students are going through the process of selecting materials needed and taking last steps to achieve writing goals before the unit is over.

Math- This week groups are exploring the distributive property, as well as how knowledge of multiples of 10 and 100 can help solve trickier multiplication problems.

Weekly Updates 11/16-11/20

NEWS/EVENTS

• On Wednesday November 25th  the third grade is performing the Thanksgiving Play! Parents are invited to view the play at 9:30 am that morning!
• On Monday November 23rd we are going on a walking field trip to The Hudson Guild to perform the play for local senior citizens. We will leave at 12:45 and will depart from the security desk. Any parents interested in chaperoning are welcome to join us!
• Last week an important notice was sent home seeking parent help to type up Circle in the Square plays. Please return this form by Wednesday to indicate if you are able to help with this. Many thanks!

HOMEWORK

This week we are officially adding a word study portion to nightly assignments so students can practice words from their spelling lists. Spelling levels were determined based on an initial assessment at the beginning of the year. Please note, each night no more than ten minutes should be dedicated to word study.

Spelling Groups:

Humble: Sort 1

Ambitious: Sort 25

Determined: Sort 23

Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, complete math group HW, sort and write words in word study notebook.

Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, complete math group HW, select a word study menu option and complete in Word Study Notebook.

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, complete math group HW, select a word study menu option and complete in Word Study Notebook.

Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, complete math group HW, glue words in Purple Word Study Notebook

Friday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, complete math group HW, study for spelling test on Monday.

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we officially launched bend three in our Nonfiction Reading Unit. For the next two week we are shifting gears and using what we know about narrative work to understanding narrative nonfiction texts. Over the course of these two weeks students will research subjects and will eventually focus on one to develop a special project.

Writing: This week we are adding conclusions to our informational books and exploring different ways to add text features to enhance the information presented. We will start to create our actual books next week.

Math: This week we are exploring the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, and using properties (property of zero, commutative property, associative property) to help tackle problems.

Social Studies: We are working on note-taking and are rotating through a variety of US centers.

Weekly Updates 11/9-11/13

NEWS/EVENTS

• It has been so lovely meeting with families over the past week for Parent Teacher Conferences. I look forward to chatting with many of you in the week to come!
• An important video consent form is going home this week to support Ms. Schwartz's work in our reading and writing workshops. She has the opportunity to videotape a minilesson for teachers around the city to use to support reading/writing workshops. Please return this form by Friday. If I do not hear from you, your child will not participate.
• The Third Grade Thanksgiving Play is right around the corner! The show is open to parents on Wednesday November 25th at 9:00.

Homework

Monday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math group HW, Practice Play song 2 times (play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfZXTNoAL7g in background to help kids sing along)

Tuesday- Read and jot for 30 minutes tues/wed nights, Math group HW, Practice Play song 4 times (play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfZXTNoAL7g in background to help kids sing along)

Thursday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math group HW, Practice Play song 2 times (play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfZXTNoAL7g in background to help kids sing along)

Friday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math group HW, Practice Play song 2 times (play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfZXTNoAL7g in background to help kids sing along)

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week readers are starting to consider the author's perspective while reading nonfiction texts. They do this by looking for descriptive words, titles, or phrases that leak the writer's stance.

Writing- This week we are going to work on integrating expert terminology into our informational books, and will start to draft introductions and conclusions for our books. We will continue to balance facts and descriptions.

Math- This week mathematicians are exploring the different ways products are interpreted in a multiplication problem. We are creating a running list of strategies to use when calculating. 

Social Studies- We are visiting U.S. centers highlighting the land, culture, economy, and history of our country, and are continuing to work on our jots to support our thinking in the Social Studies notebook.

Weekly Updates 11/2-11/6

NEWS/EVENTS

• There is no school tomorrow (Election Day) and Thursday is a half day due to parent teacher conferences. Dismissal will begin slightly before 11:50 am.
• On the half day the third grade will be practicing for the Thanksgiving play all morning. Students should not bring backpacks to school Thursday.
• If you have not yet signed up for conferences please check out our sign up link at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4babab2aa6fa7-parent2
• Wednesday 3-509 is running the Farm Stand from 8:00-8:50! If students are interested in participating, they must be available during this time. Students taking the bus this morning might miss the opportunity, so please arrange alternative drop offs.
• A big thanks to all parents that came to Math/literacy night last week, and also to families that joined us for a special jotting activity during Family Friday. If you could not come to Math/Literacy night, you can access materials on the PS 11 website at http://ps11chelsea.org/3-5-curriculum-night/

HOMEWORK

Monday- Complete the "Making Groups" math activity and read and jot for 30 minutes

Wednesday- Complete "Arrays on the Farm" HW task for math group, read and jot for 30 minutes

Thursday- Complete the "What's My Product' assignment for math group, read and jot for 30 minutes

Friday- read and jot for 30 minutes both weekend days

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week students are starting to synthesize information as they read nonfiction texts by taking information from two sources and growing an idea from both.

Writing: This week students are working on drafting informational chapters by elaborating with a wide variety of options (facts, examples, quotes, descriptions).

Math: This week we are exploring the idea of creating equal groups within a given number, and representing those groups with arrays.