Updates May 22-May 26

EVENTS AND NEWS

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Please read this week's post carefully, as it details some of the important dates quickly approaching as the end of the year draws closer.

• This Tuesday May 23rd our class is visiting the Scholastic book fair.
• On Wednesday May 24th from 6:15-7:30 poetry night is taking place. Come see some samples of student poems, as well as a poetry reading from our very own Ari Lulla, this year's class selected class poet.
• Family Friday for grades 3-5 is taking place on Friday June 9th. On this date families will be invited to visit student enrichment classes to get a closer look at what students have been engaging in as part of the enrichment experience over the past 10 weeks.
• We have two end of the year trips approaching in June. On Wednesday June 14th we are going to the Central Park Zoo as a culminating activity to support all of the animal research students have done within their Animal Research Clubs. We are looking for 5 chaperones and we already have more than 8 volunteers. I will do a drawing and will first consider parents/families that have never had the chance to chaperone this year. I will announce those selected by the end of the week. If you already paid for an adult ticket and you were not selected I will be sure to send the refund back in a sealed envelope. We are also visiting the Chelsea Piers Water Park the week of June 22- a trip slip regarding this trip will be sent home by the end of the week.
• Student portfolios will be sent home this upcoming Friday so that families can see some of the most recent student work and progress.
• In the upcoming weeks I will be participating in a few planning days to plan with the third grade team for the 2017-2018 school year. I always let our students know when these days are taking place, as substitutes are in the room.  

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week we are wrapping up student research clubs now that students have worked in book clubs to learn about two different animals. After exploring text structures, jotting notes, and growing ideas, students are engaging in comparative work to further analyze similarities and differences. Our next and last unit starting the week after is reading about Countries Around the World.

Writing- After engaging in the process of authoring a research club created "Animal Book," about first animals researched, students developed a draft of a second book independently about the second animals researched. Students have been working on elaborating using facts, examples, statistics, and quotations, and have experimented with different structures to organize their information. We have spent the past few days using the informational and editing checklists to revise and edit student work, and this week students are publishing their final versions. Our next and last writing unit of the year is creating Fairy Tale Adaptations.

Math- A week and a half ago we launched our next math unit- Data Collection and graphing. As part of this unit students in both my math class and Mrs. Mackenzie's math class will engage in cycles of data collection. First students will develop a question and consider question structure as well as the purpose/meaning behind the question. Then, the will develop a data collection tool that will then be used to poll peers. Students will create graphs to represent the data- bar graphs, pictographs, and line plots. Then, they observe the data and state what the data shows. Finally, they draw conclusions based on what they see. We are going to revisit using Google Classroom as a platform to do some of this work. Students are learning how to use Google Forms as a tool to quickly and efficiently collect data.

Social Studies- For the next few weeks we are learning about China and will be using China as a "mentor country" in our upcoming "Countries Around the World" reading unit. As part of this unit students will learn about how the land, culture, economy, and history impact the country of China. Each week students will visit several centers to explore China in depth, and will participate in read alouds and minilectures about the country.