Chicago Wendella Boat Trip

What a beautiful day and a blast we had on our Wendella Boat Trip!   We would like to thank our chaperones Mr. Birenbaum, Mrs. Groark, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Hickey, Mrs. Galvan, and Mrs. Marchetti for helping our class by chaperoning!  Enjoy the pictures from our successful trip!

Wendella Boat Field Trip on Friday!

     

     This Friday, September 28th is our Wendella Boat trip around Chicago.   We will be taking the boat along the Chicago River and the coast of Lake Michigan.  

THE BUS WILL LEAVE WESTGATE AT EXACTLY 9:20 am, so please make sure that your student is on time for school.   We need to leave on time in order to make it for our boat’s departure time. We certainly don’t want to “miss the boat.”

We are hoping that the weather is nice and sunny on Friday.   If so, please make sure that your child applies sunscreen prior to leaving home.   Please also keep in mind that the students sit outside on the upper deck for the tour.   Because the upper deck is not enclosed, it is recommended that your child is dressed appropriately!   We suggest dressing in layers, including wearing warm jackets and socks.  (Remember, the wind chill on the boat is a lot colder than being on land!).   In addition, if it happens to rain, the boat tour still goes on.   Be sure to bring an umbrella and wear lots of waterproof clothing if there’s a chance of rain occurring.  

Please don’t forget to bring a sack lunch and drink in a disposable bag with your name labeled on the front if you did not pre-order a lunch last week.   Everything will be thrown away on the boat when we are finished.

The following people in our class pre-ordered a lunch and do not need to bring their own sack lunch to school:   Jack, Jeff, Libby, and David

Students do not need to bring any money because there is not any shopping available to them on the boat.   In addition, we would prefer for students to not bring any cameras for fear of the disappointment that would occur if they got lost.    Teachers will be bringing a camera to take photos of the sights, class photos, and group shots of all of us.    We will be sure to post pictures for you.

We are looking forward to a fun day and thanks for your help in making this a successful trip!

Classroom Snapshot For September

Third Grade Celebrates Crazy Hair Day!  

The  Rolling Meadows Football Team Reads to Our Class!

(Pictured below:  Matt Campbell (Mikey Campbell's brother) with our class.

Here's what else has been happening in our classroom:

Literacy:

Our class has really been taking off with our CAFE Literacy Program that focuses on important  reading strategies that we should  be implementing everyday in our reading.  Together, our class has been reading various stories where we analyze how to find the story structure of a book that involves discussing the genre, characters, plot, setting, problem, and solution of a book.  Additionally, through our discussions and independent reading assignments, the students have been working on the reading strategies of summarizing the important events in a story and attempting to find the main idea and details of a story.  Moreover, we have been talking about the importance of pausing in our reading every once and a while to check for understanding of what we have read and remembering to back up and reread a passage when we do not comprehend what it says.

Throughout the past two weeks.  I've also been individually assessing your child in the areas of fluency and comprehension. Because each of the assessments are taking longer than anticipated (about 30 minutes per child), we will not be starting individual guided reading groups until the first week of October.  In the meantime, the students are utilizing this testing time working on various reading strategies and Weekly 5 routines. 

Through the reading benchmarking assessments, I will be able to place your child in a guided reading group and provide them with an appropriate novel that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Guided reading time involves assigning students chapters to read independently, having them answer comprehension questions about their book, and meeting with their group for a novel group discussion. Throughout the year, your child may be moved to a different guided reading group depending on their needs. If your child has a difficult time finishing their guided reading assignment during the schedule 60 minute guided reading period, they will be asked to finish it that night for homework.

Writing:

Our class is really starting to get used to the format and routines our new WEX Writing Program. Over the past couple of weeks we have been learning about the writing concept of focus. Throughout our lessons, the students have been learning that when we focus on one moment, setting, sound, or object in our writing, it results in more interesting words, unique perspectives, and surprising fun-to-read details.

Additionally, the students have also been working hard making sure that they are "showing details" in their writing. Showing is the skill of using precise observations, descriptive details, and expressive language to demonstrate emotion, create images, and present evidence within our writing. The students have been learning the difference between telling the reader what is happening in their writing versus "showing" the reader. For example, instead of telling the reader "I was cold", the students have learned that they can better show how the person is feeling by saying, "I was shivering outside on my front porch as I zipped up my coat". Thus, we are learning how to write details in our work that are more precise and authentic to the reader.

Spelling:

A big thanks goes out to all of the parents that are working with their student on spelling each evening with our "Words Their Way" Program!   Please continue to make sure that they are sorting their words correctly into their various spelling categories. The goal of our spelling program is for the students to learn and retain the spelling rules and word patterns for future use in their writing and not to just memorize the words for the test and forget them by the next week.   The nightly spelling sorts and activities will help your student to reach this goal.

Grammar:

Over the past several weeks, the students have been working on determining if a sentence is considered complete and when they should use a period or an exclamation mark in their sentences. We also have been discussing how in order for a sentence to be considered a complete sentence, it must always contain a subject. Throughout literacy time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Feel free to on these links to view and play the web site games at home: Sentence Clubhouse, Penguins on Ice, and What's the Subject? 

Math:

The students just finished up with Unit 1 that reviewed some of the concepts that they learned already in 2nd grade. Our lessons  involved analyzing data and plotting it into various kinds of graphs, finding equivalent names for a given number, discussing the concept of chance, learning how to utilize our new calculators, and counting money. 

Science:

Throughout the entire year, our class will be studying about the Solar System and observing the changes in the sky throughout the fall, winter, and spring months.    Over the past two weeks, the students have been observing and recording the sun's daily pattern.   Through our observations and discussions are discovering what makes daytime and nighttime, noticing that the sun's position changes throughout the day, realizing that shadows change during the day as the relative position of the sun in the sky changes, and recording how the sun appears to travel in an arc every day.  

Social Studies:

The class has been having a fun time learning all about Chicago.   Together, we have been discussing about the meaning of the parts of the Chicago flag and learned about the first settlers that moved into the Chicago area.   In addition, the students have been divided into research groups to learn more about events that happened in Chicago's history involving Fort Dearborn, the Chicago River, the Chicago Fire, the Century of Progress, and the Chicago World's Fair.   Throughout research time, the students log into an Edmodo account.    Once on the page, an assignment is posted for them to complete with their group to learn more about a topic.   (Usually the assignments involve reading a webpage, watching a short movie, or watching a slideshow about the subject they are researching that day).   Afterwards, the student groups post a few sentences in Edmodo about what they have read. Together as a whole group, we discuss our findings.     Feel free to view their postings by going to:   www.Edmodo.com.    Once on the site, your child can log into their account to show you their postings!  

We're excited to go on our Wendella Boat ride field trip next Friday, September 28th.   More information about the trip will be sent home to you early next week.  

Picture Day is Tuesday!

As a reminder, our school pictures will be taken on Tuesday morning. If you're planning on ordering class pictures, please try to turn your order form and money on Monday.

Religious Holiday Homework Exemption

I would like to try and respect any religious holidays that your family may practice. If your child participates in the religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah on Monday, they are excused from having to complete any type of homework assignments that evening.

This same rule goes into effect for any other type of religious holidays that are practiced throughout the year. Sometimes I may not be aware of all of the religious holidays that are practiced by individual students in our classroom, so please let me know in an email or note if your student needs to be excused from an assignment.

Please also let me know if your religion may require your student to fast that day. Together, we can certainly come up with an alternative supervised location for them to spend their lunch period so that they do not have to feel uncomfortable of being around other children that are eating.

I appreciate your help with this!

Sincerely,

Donna Hynek