Weekly Updates 2/1-2/5

NEWS/EVENTS

• This Friday is Family Friday! Our focus this week is area. We are asking families to help students create floor plans. It will be a lot of fun, and students will have the opportunity to practice the many strategies they have learned for calculating area and perimeter.
• Next Friday we are going to the Central Park Zoo as a culminating activity for our research book club unit. the cost of this trip is $5.00 for students and $10.50 for chaperones. Please indicate on the field trip slip if you are interested in joining us! Slips and fees are due Tuesday, but will be accepted through Friday morning.
• There is no school next Monday 2/8 due to the observance of Chinese New Year.
• The annual box top collection fundraiser is taking place. Students should place box tops on the provided sheet, and should be either glued or taped into place at home.
• This year I am participating in a Digital Literacy specialty group at Teachers College, and I am excited to try some new tech related ideas with the kids. Please take a moment to fill out a 30 second survey about student access to technology at home. This will help me with my planning!
• February break is the week of 2/13-2/21.
• Our African Dance performance will be our "Family Friday" event for February. The performance is on Thursday 2/25 at 8:50 am.

HOMEWORK

Monday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, categorize new words in Word Study notebook, math group HW, practice African Dance 2 times

          Humble: Sort 7

          Determined: Sort 31

          Ambitious: Sort 30

Tuesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, have parents sign spelling test from last week, math group HW, practice African Dance 2 times

Wednesday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, select a word study menu option, math group HW, practice African Dance 2 times

Thursday: Read and jot for 30 minutes, glue words into categories in purple word study workbook and study for spelling test, math hw from regular classroom teacher, practice African Dance 2 times

Friday: Reading response and math group HW

CURRICULUM

Reading- This week students will dive into the second bend of our research book club nonfiction unit. Within this cycle students will apply what they know about researching to another animal topic, but this time with more independence. Students are still practicing book club strategies using a variety of "talk tools" to get the conversation going.

Writing- After selecting a "seed idea" (an opinion claim to be taken through the writing process) students will work on organizing and categorizing information. They will continue to integrate word choice to evoke emotion from readers.

Math- With only a little over a week left in our multiplication and area unit, over the next days student will understand how to tackle word problems asking for perimeter and area, and will plan how to solve problems where composite shapes miss certain dimensions. Students will cycle through review centers to work on areas of weakness.

Social Studies- This week we will explore some of the multimodal feature of interactive texts (hyperlinks, infographics, images, video) as we continue to rotate through centers focusing on Nigeria. We are starting to discuss how resources often lead to economic and political tension in an area (how oil impacts the region, among other resources).

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.

Weekly Updates 12/14-12/18

NEWS/EVENTS

• This Family Friday classes 3-509, 3-510, and 3-505 are hosting a Wax Museum! 
  
• If you are traveling before the start of vacation, please email Ms. Bouchard
• Our class is traveling to Circle in the Square to see student performances on January 11th from 12-2. More details to come- all parents are invited!
• We are asking parents to type plays one more time. It would amazing if plays could be typed sometime between December 17th and January 4th. More specifics to come this week.
• Portfolios with recent student work will be sent home on Monday December 21st.

CURRIUCULUM

Reading- This week students will be introduced to new character in a series book clubs. Students will work with these clubs to get to know their characters, study their actions and dialogue, and grow ideas.

Writing- At the end of last week we launched our next writing unit- Baby Literary Essays. We started with flash draft "bootcamp," which involves brainstorming ideas about a text, picking the strongest idea, finding evidence from the text to support it, then rehearse it out loud. After rehearsal students head back to develop a "flash" draft, which is a fast way to get their ideas on paper. More revisions will follow later in the unit. You will notice that this work will creep into reading notebooking as we start to prepare for the development of reading responses.

Math- We are wrapping up our Multiplication/Division unit this week! We are exploring mass and volume word problems using multiplication and division, and will visit centers to review concepts to prepare for the post assessment, which will take place Monday the 21st. Students leaving early for break will make alternative post-assessment arrangements.

Social Studies- We will wrap up United States centers by 12/23.

Word Study Changes

Hi Everyone!

Because of the high number of absences this week we are making some changes to our nightly homework.

We still need to make up last week's spelling test, so I am moving that to Friday. We will start the newest word study sorts next week. The most important assignments that need to be finished are the Biography Wax Museum Posters, and the publishing of informational writing books. So in lieu of word study homework have the kids work on these!

Many thanks for your ongoing support!

Weekly Updates 12/7-12/11

NEWS/UPDATES

• There is a terrible bug going around and we have many students absent this week. If you child is out, please do not worry about missed work. I am keeping track of what has been missed, and once they are well I will meet with each student to catch them up! Rest is the most important thing!
• There is a Curriculum Connection tomorrow from 8-8:45 about the Reading Notebook across grades 3-5.
• Our Family Friday is next Friday December 18th, and classes 509, 510, and 504 are hosting a Wax Museum! An invitation will follow shortly.

HOMEWORK

Monday: Work on biography project in lieu of nightly jotting for 30 minutes, work in finishing publishing informational writing book (if not already complete), Math Property Word Problem Practice

Tuesday: Work on biography project in lieu of nightly jotting for 30 minutes, work in finishing publishing informational writing book (if not already complete), Math Word Problem Practice

Wednesday: Work on biography project in lieu of nightly jotting for 30 minutes, work in finishing publishing informational writing book (if not already complete), Math group HW, sort new words in notebook

Humble: Sort 3

Determined: Sort 27

Ambitious: Sort 25

Thursday: Work on biography project in lieu of nightly jotting for 30 minutes, work in finishing publishing informational writing book (if not already complete), Math group HW, Word Study Menu Option

Friday: Work on biography project in lieu of nightly jotting for 30 minutes, work in finishing publishing informational writing book (if not already complete), Math group HW

CURRICULUM

Reading-This week we are launching our next reading unit- Character Studies! This week students are meeting with new partners and book clubs to identify character traits and examine problems characters face (when reading books in a series).

Writing- This week we are launching our new writing unit- Baby Literary Essays. Today we took the on demand assessment, and throughout the week we will study student mentor pieces and rubrics to better understand the structure.

Math- This week math groups are doing final reviews of the commutative, associative, and distributive properties, in addition to word problem work around multiplication and division. Later in the week we are exploring units of measurement when used in multiplication/division  scenarios.

Social Studies- We are still in the midst of our unit focusing on the culture, land, and economy of the United States.