Weekly Updates 1/25- 1/29

NEWS/EVENTS

• Today Caitlin Johnson, our fabulous spring intern from Teacher's College, joined our classroom! Caitlin will be with us four days a week during literacy blocks, and will be joining us for reading and writing minilessons, small groups, book clubs, and more. We are thrilled to have her with us.
• Next Friday from 8:50-9:35 the third grade Science Fair is taking place. Families of participating students are invited to attend.
• On February 5th Family Friday is taking place!
• We are in the process of planning a field trip to the Central Park Zoo for the week of 2/9. Our visit is to support and enrich research in animal book clubs. For the trip we will be looking for 5-6 chaperones (one per book club) so we can move about the zoo with greater ease. Once final paperwork is approved a trip slip will go home as soon as possible.
• Spelling tests will be passed back on Tuesdays from now on. Students will glue old tests in Word Study notebooks.

HOMEWORK

Monday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, write words in categories in word study notebook, Group Math HW

Tuesday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Have spelling test signed, Group Math HW

Wednesday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Word Study Menu Option, Group Math HW

Thursday- Read and jot for 30 minutes, Glue words into categories in purple word study notebook and study for spelling test, Group Math HW

Friday- Reading Response, Group Math HW

CURRICULUM

Reading- Now that students have been researching animals in their research book clubs, they are compiling notes and growing ideas about their observations. 

Writing- After analyzing mentor texts of opinion based writing, students are generating their own possible claims by considering problems and solutions that could make the world around them a better place. We will draw on strategies from Baby Literary Essays to develop and craft our speeches (reasons with supporting evidence).

Math- Students have been learning about using the distributive property as a strategy to calculate area for quadrilaterals and other composite shapes.

Social Studies- We plan to visit two more Nigeria centers this week (statistics, maps, comparing and contrasting, artifacts, photographs, video clips of student life). Students are learning how to categorize notes into sections.

Weekly Updates 1/19-1/22

NEWS/EVENTS

• A big thanks to all that could make it to our Circle in the Square performances! A special thanks to Amy, Rachel, and Sofia for joining us as chaperones. The kids worked hard, and their plays were amazing.
• Young artist fliers were sent home last Friday.
• The Third Grade science fair is taking place Friday January 29th from 8:50-9:35 (open to participating student families)
• Our next Family Friday will take place Friday February 5th.

HOMEWORK

Word Study Groups:

• Humble: Sort 5
• Determined: Sort 29
• Ambitious: Sort 28

Tuesday- Write new word sorts in Word Study Notebook, Math Group HW, Read and jot for 30 minutes

Wednesday- Finish publishing Baby Literary Essays (if not finished already)

Thursday- Glue word sorts, study for spelling test, Math Group HW, Read and jot for 30 minutes

Friday- Math Group HW, reading response

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week we are launching a new reading unit- Research Book Clubs! Throughout this unit students will cycle through two research clubs learning about and studying specific animals. Tomorrow we are launching new reading partnerships and clubs.

Writing- Towards the end of last week students used a variety of checklists and tools to revise and edit their selected Literary Essays for publishing. Today they were given 50 minutes to start the publishing process, and are asked to complete publishing Wednesday night. Later this week we are starting our next writing unit- "Changing the World." We are writing speeches to address changes needed!

Math- Students are continuing to learn strategies for calculating area such as tiling, the length x width= area formula, and using the distributive property to decompose/partition rectangles into smaller partial products and add them together.

Social Studies- This month (and until our February break) we are doing a case study of Nigeria, and are exploring how the culture, land, and economy impact life in Nigeria. We will cycle through centers focusing on reading, comparing/contrasting, studying artifacts, examining maps, and analyzing statistics.

Weekly Updates 1/4-1/8

Happy New Year Families of 3-509!

NEWS/EVENTS

• Next week we are traveling to Circle in the Square to see all student plays performed! 3-509 is visiting on Monday January 11th, and we our plays will be performed from 12-2. All parents are welcome to come to the theatre to see performances. If you are interested in chaperoning please indicate this on the permission slip sent home today.
• If you still haven't had the opportunity to type student plays we have an additional two more days. Your help with this is incredibly appreciated!!! Please email me ASAP if you are unable to type for some reason. 
• Our African Dance residency is starting this week.

HOMEWORK

Word Study Groups:

• Humble- Sort 3
• Determined- Sort 27
• Ambitious- Sort 26

Monday: Write word sorts in Word Study Notebooks, Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math Group HW

Tuesday: Select a menu option from Word Study NB, Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math Group HW, Last day to bring typed Circle Plays

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math Group HW

Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, Math Group HW, Study for spelling test

Friday: First reading response, Math HW (Sending another email about this later this week)

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week students are continuing to design reading plans with book clubs and are using a variety of "talk tools" to get their conversations moving. We are also using story mountains as a way to predict and anticipate ways our stories might go.

Writing- After creating a variety of "flash drafts" students are selecting their favorites to take through the revision and editing process. This week we are introducing an "opinion writing" checklist as a tool to help narrow down specific parts of essays to zoom into and change. We are also using phrases to connect ideas such as "for instance," or "for example."

Math- Today we launched the start of our next math unit- Multiplication and Area. Throughout this unit students will learn how to calculate area in square units, decompose irregular shapes to determine area, and find the perimeter of objects (sometimes missing the length/width of dimensions).

Social Studies- To accompany our African Dance residency, students will learn about the culture, land, and economy of Nigeria. Students will visit a variety of centers and continue to practice their jotting skills.