Wow!   It's hard to believe that we have already completed three weeks of Trimester 2 and now ready for Winter Break!   The kids have been working so hard and are starting to get deep into the routines of being 3rd grade learners.   

Today all students were able to participate in our All School Holiday Sing.   In the afternoon, our class was able to gather in the Commons to eat holiday cookies while listening to several stories read by our administrators.  

I hope that you have a wonderful, safe, and restful holiday season and Winter Break with your families!   I look forward to continuing to work with your child in 2014!  :)  See you all back on Monday, January 5th.    


Here's what has been happening in our class:

Literacy Time:

Over the past month, we have been working with the literacy strategies of monitoring our inner voices to focus our thinking when we read.  We have also been learning how to fully comprehend what we read through a text by stopping, thinking, and reacting to what we read.   In addition, students have been exploring and noticing the various text features when they are reading non-fiction books. Individually the students have been practicing how to track their non-fiction thinking with their guided reading books..  

Grammar:

The students have been working with distinguishing between common and proper nouns, the rules of making a noun plural, and present and past-tense verbs.  

Writing:

Our class just completed our Personal Narrative Unit in writing this past week.  During Writer's Express (WEX) time, we continued to work hard learning about the important elements to include in a personal narrative. Together, our mini-lessons have focused on writing our paragraphs in a more logical and organized manner. In addition, we continued to make sure that our work focused on a single moment in time. Our lessons also stressed the importance of having a logical structure that focused on one event, utilized strong verbs, had good sensory detail, and had proper sentence mechanics in our writing.  

This week, the students picked a final piece from all of their daily writing that they wanted to perfect and enhance.   As a result, the students typed their pieces into Googledocs. Afterwards, they conferenced with me for suggestions of corrections and enhancements.  

Math:

The students just finished Unit 4 in math that focused on introducing multiplication and division fact strategies, using arrays to demonstrate the meaning of multiplication, working with multiplication and division word problems, determining the area of rectangular shapes, and collecting data to discuss the topic of probability and chance. This week the students had fun practicing their multiplication facts by creating multiplication array cities.   

The students have been doing a spectacular job of practicing their math facts on Xtramath.org! I have certainly noticed quite a difference with quicker recall and memorization of their facts because of this practice.   I appreciate all of you parents making sure that they are practicing their facts at least 3 sessions a week.  Our goal is to have all students have their addition and subtraction facts mastered by the end of February so that they can begin to memorize their multiplication and division facts.  Your student is welcome to practice their facts over Winter Break, but please know it is not a requirement.

Social Studies:
Our class just completed our Chicago Unit with Mrs. Cerniglia and Mrs. Kleist in the LMC.   The students were able to be involved with center time activities that included higher order thinking skills that involved analyzing Chicago photographs and videos, comparing Chicago historical texts and statistics, and listening to old time Chicago songs.

Currently, in the classroom, our class is getting our exhibition displays ready to show at our 3rd Grade Westgate World's Fair.  Information was sent home last week.  We hope that you and your families can join us in the Commons on January 15th from 6:30-7:30 pm.  We cannot wait to see you all there!   

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all of our parent classroom volunteers!

• We would like to thank Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Corwin, Mrs. Kuhn, and Mrs. Wengronowitz for coming in during months of November and December to help conduct our Reader's Theater groups..  
• I also greatly appreciate Mrs. Leu, Mrs. Owen, Mrs. Wengronowitz, and Mr. Stahr for for coming in to do all of our copying over the past month.
• Thank you Mrs. Georg and Nathan's grandmother for conducting a wonderful Art Appreciation lesson on mosaics for the students. 

Thank You Lieutenant Colonel Corwin!

We certainly appreciate Mr. Corwin (Victoria's dad) for coming into our classroom on Veterans Day to share his experiences of serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marines Corps.  Mr. Corwin served in the Marines for 28 years!   We thank Mr. Corwin and all other military veterans for their service to our country.  

October/November Classroom Snapshot of Events

Here's what has been happening in our classroom:

Reading:

Throughout whole group CAFE strategy lessons, our class has been working with the comprehension strategies of  determining the author's purpose for writing (to persuade, inform, or entertain the reader); learning how to generate questions when we read; and learning how to summarize a passage.   Additionally, we have been learning how to be more accurate and fluent readers by reviewing the various strategies of  being a voracious reader; learning how to read appropriate level texts that are a good fit; and being able to cross-check what we read for understanding or to skip a word we don't know and come back to it or substitute another word that makes sense.    

We also have been having mini-lessons about how the students can monitor our own comprehension when they read.   Together, the students are learning how to "follow their inner conversation"  and "notice when they lose their way" when they read independently.    As the result, the student have been learning how to listen to the voice in their head when they read and stopping to "fix-up" problems when their comprehension breaks down.

During our extended vocabulary time, the students have been working with homographs. These are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings. Additionally, the students have also been using the website called Dictionary.com to learn how to find the various definitions of words having multiple meanings.  

The students are beginning to settle into the routines and practices of guided reading groups.  I have placed your child in a group and provided them with an appropriate books that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Our guided reading time involves assigning students chapters to read independently and meeting several times a week with me to work on comprehension, fluency, and extended vocabulary skills.    Afterwards, they can complete one of their Weekly 5 assigned activities.  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 scheduled 60 minute literacy period, they may be asked to finish it that night for homework.

Grammar:

Over the past month, the students have been working on determining the difference between finding the subject and predicate in a sentence. We also have been learning the proper way to combine two sentences that are alike by using a comma and the words "but" or "and" to make one compound sentence. Additionally, we have been working on learning how to capitalize proper nouns and the rules for making words plural.  

During literacy time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Feel free to lick on these links to view and play the web site games at home: Rags to Riches , Compound Sentences, Rats, and The Plural Girls.  

Spelling:

I appreciate all of the hard work that each student gives to spelling each evening. 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. The nightly spelling sorts and activities will help your student to reach this goal.

Writing:

Throughout Writer's Express (WEX) time, our class continues to work hard learning about the important elements to include in a personal narrative. Together, our mini-lessons have been focusing on writing our paragraphs in a more logical and organized manner. In addition, we are continuing to make sure that our work focuses on a single moment in time. Our lessons have been stressing the importance of utilizing strong verbs, good sensory detail, and proper sentence mechanics in our writing.

During conference time, parents will be able to view all of our stories in our WEX binder. Parents will also get to read our first published personal narrative that we just finished writing,  revising, conferencing, and editing last week in a program called Googledocs.  

Math:

In October, our class completed Unit 2 in math that involved adding and subtracting whole numbers. The students have been working hard learning about fact families, extensions of addition and subtraction facts, two and three digit addition and subtraction problems, "What's My Rule?" problems, parts-and-total number stories, and comparision number stories.   We will wrap up Unit 3 this week that involves learning about both the U.S. Customary and metric forms of measurement.  Our final test on Unit 3 will be on Tuesday.  

A BIG THANKS goes out to all of the parents that helped your child to start an Xtramath.org account.   Everyone did a great job with logging into the program and settling into the routine of practicing their math facts.   I appreciate all of the help and assistance with making sure your child completes at least three rounds of math practice a week.  

Social Studies:

Our class just finished up learning about the history and landmarks in Chicago.   We still will continue to work on extended enrichment activities twice a week in the LMC with Mrs. Kleist and Mrs. Cerniglia that focus on Chicago and Illinois.  

Currently, the students have been put into research groups to work on our "Weekend in Chicago" podcasts.   Within their group, their job is to research and plan a weekend in the Windy City.    Through the research, the groups are taking notes on attractions and activities they want to visit,  restaurants they want to eat in, and finding a hotel they want to stay in. (Please click here to view the websites that the students are researching from.)  After they have researched and planned their weekend, their group will be creating a podcast to share with the rest of the class about their fun-filled weekend.   Once our podcasts are finished, we will post them on our webpage for all to view.   

A BIG THANK YOU goes to all of our parent classroom volunteers You are all amazing!

We would like to thank Mrs. Tiedge for setting up our fantastic Sign-Up Genius volunteer lists.  

I would also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Stahr, Mrs. Leu (Esquivel), Mrs. Owen, and Mrs. Wengronowitz for coming in this past month to make copies for our class.    There's still a lot spots available to come on in to help copy during the months of January through May.   If you're interesting in volunteering, please click on this Sign-Up Genius link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fabad2ea5f58-copy

We were able to have two successful Reader Theater sessions. This is where the students are put into a small group with a parent and are asked to read aloud from a short play script. We certainly appreciate Mrs. Kuhn, Mrs. Stahr, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Corwin, and Mrs. Butler for coming in to assist and monitor each of our groups!  

Our class was also able to experience our first Art Appreciation last month.   We would like to thank Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Georg for conducting a wonderful art lesson about Chicago architecture.   

We also would personally like to thank Mrs. Kuhn for taking time out of her busy schedule to take inventory on our Science boxes that just arrived!

Thank You Mr. Valathur!

We would like to thank Mr. Valathur (Srimathi's dad), for coming into our classroom to give such a fantastic presentation and teach us all about the Indian holiday of Diwali.    We learned so much and had a great time!  Enjoy some of the pictures from our event.

Parent Teacher Conference Sign-Up

Information from the office regarding signing up for Parent/Teacher Conferences:

Westgate will be using SignUp Genius as an electronic way to schedule Parent/Teacher Conferences for November 24th and November 25th. Families without access to the internet or a computer should contact your child’s teacher.

On Monday, November 3rd at 10:00AM, all parents registered on SchoolMessenger will receive an electronic message with homeroom teacher’s link to SignUpGenius. Parent will need this link to use SingUpGenius for conferences. Parents will need to follow the Parent/Teacher Conference SignUpGenius info sheet (electronic sheet located in the Friday Packet and sent electronically through SchoolMessenger.)

Art Appreciation

We would like to thank Mrs. Butler for coming in to plan and conduct a spectacular Art Appreciation lesson last week! In addition, we thank Mrs. Georg for coming in to assist.

 The students had fun learning about different types of architectural structures that are all around downtown Chicago.   Afterwards, the students were given a bag of various materials and were asked to create a specific structure out of the supplies given to them.  Enjoy the pictures from our event.

Information Regarding Halloween Festivities

We are planning our annual Halloween extravaganza for the afternoon of Friday, October 31st. Students will be in costume (in the afternoon) to celebrate the special day! Teachers and parents are planning a fun afternoon of games and activities! Although most children take part in the costume parade and parties, their participation is completely voluntary. As you are planning your child’s costume, please remember we are a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school. Students remaining in school during lunch should plan on costumes with limited make-up accessories. We are requesting your cooperation in selecting school-appropriate costumes that avoid violence, sharp objects, weapons, unnecessary gore, etc. At the discretion of the principal, students with inappropriate costumes will not be able to participate in the parade. If you are unsure of the appropriateness of your child’s costume, please contact the office.

The costume parade will start at 1:45 PM (please note lunch changes below for Halloween). Weather permitting; the parade will begin outside on the sidewalk. Students in grades 1st and 2nd will exit the building using the Primary Doors and line up on the sidewalk along Dwyer Street. Students in kindergarten and 3rd grade will exit the building using the Main Doors and line up on the sidewalk in front of school. Students in grade 4th through 5th will exit the Grove Street door and line up on the sidewalk along Grove Street west of Dwyer Street. The office team will lead the parade and students will parade in the following order: Kindergarten, 3rd , 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th grades.

The parade will walk north on the west side of Dwyer Street to Sigwalt, and then return to Westgate walking south on the east side of Dwyer Street. Parents are welcome to line the parade route outside along Dwyer Street. (Students will exit the Primary Door, Main Door, and Grove Street Door. The entire school will meet on the southwest corner of Grove Street and Dwyer Street.) The parade will be cancelled due to rain or the route will be reduced due to extreme cold weather. A SchoolMessenger will be sent out to Westgate families at 12:00PM announcing either the cancellation of the parade or the reduction of the parade route.

Traditionally, many students go home for lunch on Halloween to change into a costume. However, in recent years, more children remain at school for recess and lunch. To ensure all children will be able to go home and return for the Halloween parade at the same time, the lunch time for ALL grades will be from 12:30 -1:30PM as follows:

Grades 1-5: Lunch 12:30-1:00/ Recess 1:00-1:30PM

If your child is in grades 1-5, then please complete the portion on the next page and return it to your child’s teacher by Friday, October 24th.

Students leaving the school for lunch will use the following exits: Main Door (Door #1), Primary Door (Door #2), and 5th Grade Door (Door #16.) The Cab Doors (adjacent to the North Parking Lot, Door #13 ) will not be used for lunch dismissal.

Remember: Students leaving for lunch should not return to school prior to 1:30PM. Returning students should line up at the Main Entrance (Door #1.) There will be no supervision prior to 1:25PM. Students may not enter the building until 1:30PM

Children who stay at school for lunch will have the opportunity to change into their costumes during the lunch/recess hour. There will be limited adult assistance for costume preparations and it is advisable to keep the costume simple.

Special Note For Kindergartens…. All kindergarten students should come to school dressed in their costumes. AM classes will have their parties during their class time and will parade outside (weather permitting) around the Circle Drive during the morning class time. In the event of rain or inclement weather, the AM parade will be canceled. There will be no indoor parade accessible to parents. THE AM KINDERGARTEN PARADE CANCELLATION NOTICE WILL BE MADE BY 9:00AM THROUGH SCHOOLMESSENGER AND EXTERIOR PA SYSTEM. The PM Kindergarten children will join the all-school parade in the afternoon. The AM Kindergarten children are invited back at 1:45 PM to join in the all-school parade if they so desire. All AM Kindergarten children participating in the afternoon parade need to be accompanied by an adult. Please refer to homeroom Kindergarten letters for more information regarding Halloween festivities.

Global Read Aloud

Last week the students started to learn what it truly means to be global.   Today,  we read an online story called What Does It Mean To Be Global? by Rana DiOrio. Through reading the book we learned that being global is........

• .....being curious about other parts of the world.
• .....recognizing that your language is just one of thousands spoken on our Earth.
• .....listening to all different kinds of music.
• .....traveling to places near and far and appreciating how special they are.  
• .....trying all types of food.
• .....experiencing other traditions.  
• .....learning about other religions.
• .....respecting that others may have different values than you do.
• ....celebrating diversity in people.
• .....understanding how your actions affect another person's experience.
• .....living respectfully and peacefully with one another.
• .....opening your mind to new possibilities.
• .....being a citizen of the world.

Throughout the school year we will continue to integrate our curriculum with being global.  Our first step involves all of the third grade classes participating in the "Global Read Aloud Program" that runs from October 6th - November 14th.   Together, all of us will be reading aloud a book called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo to the students.   Each class then partners up with another third grade class across the nation that is also participating in the Global Read Aloud.  Together, the partnering classes plan various activities and literature discussions throughout the read aloud experience.

Our Global Read Aloud partner is Mrs. Hanson's Third Grade Class in Ottawa, Canada.  Last Friday, our class was able to meet with them via Skype.   The students had the opportunity to ask questions about each other's classrooms and learn more about our cultures.   Over the next month, we will continue to read aloud Edward Tulane to each of our classes.  Our class will also hook up with Mrs. Hanson's class via Edmodo to answer literature response questions.  

Please be sure to  have your student log into their Edmodo accounts at home to update you on our classroom experiences with our partnering class!   You can also learn more about Global Read Aloud through visiting this webpage:  http://www.globalreadaloud.com/p/faq.html

We would thank Mrs. Corwin, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Kuhn, and Mrs. Stahr for coming in this week to  conduct Reader's Theater groups.   The students were able to read scripts focusing on the history of Chicago.   

Edmodo Accounts

Yesterday, your child learned how to use a new online website called "Edmodo".  Throughout research time during Social Studies, 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!  All of your child's usernames and passwords for their online accounts have been stapled to the inside pocket of their Take Home folders.   

It's Math Workshop Time!

Many of your students may have come home this week discussing how math in our class is now structured a little bit differently in our room.   I'm now incorporating Unit 2 of Everyday Math with a new model called "Math Workshop".   Some of you may have heard the term "Guided Math".   It is structured very similarly to the concept of Guided Reading that I utilize during literacy time.

Before a unit starts, your student is given a pre-test over the upcoming unit to determine concepts that your child already has mastered and ones that I need to reinforce with them.   Based off of the pre-test, I place your child in an appropriate guided math group with similar students working at their same ability level.   

The beginning of our math time starts off with a whole group "mini-lesson" that focuses on the math concepts for the day.   Afterwards, your student is placed with their guided math groups for more in-depth practice of the whole group skills.    Depending upon the group your child has been placed in, some students work on reinforcement skills if I felt they could use more practice in an area, while others work on enrichment skills if I believe that they could use an additional challenge in a particular area.

The groups rotate through stations utilizing the following stations:
1.  Meet With Teacher: Students work on journal pages with teacher involving reinforcement or enrichment skills.
2.  Math Fact Practice/ Math Boxes: Students work with a partner to practice their math facts or a review of what we've covered by working on individual Math Boxes.
3.  Supplemental Activity or Technology: Students are given group reinforcement or enrichment supplemental activities, Khanacademy.org, or other online game focusing on the topic at hand.

After each station, students are asked to reflect upon their time at each station.  Each day I look at their reflections and progress with their journal, Khan Academy, and/or supplemental activity to determine additional reinforcement or enrichment activities for the next session.   

Homework will still remain the same with the students having a Homelink page to complete.   If your student missed 5 or less on their pretest, they are given challenge Homelinks that they can use in lieu of their regular Homelink pages.       

From a teacher standpoint, this new model allows me to work more individually with students that are struggling with a particular concept.  While at the same time, it also provides more of a challenge for students that need enrichment activities in a particular area.   Hopefully this success will continue and we can utilize this model with upcoming units throughout the rest of the year!  :)

September Classroom Events

Here's a snapshot of our classroom events:

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. Guided Reading groups will start next week.  Over the past few weeks,  students have been 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 appropriate books that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Guided reading time involves assigning students chapters or pages 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 this week 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.  Please continue to make sure that your child completes at least three of the assigned homework activities and also have a parent signature on the form.  Each weekly homework packet is worth 5 points.  

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, What's the Subject?, and Rags to Riches.

Math:

The students will be finishing up with Unit 1 on Monday 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. 

Our Unit 1 Test will be on Wednesday next week.   On Tuesday, we will spend time reviewing the unit and a review sheet will go home that night for practice.  

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.   

Our students also continue to go the the LMC twice a week to work on enrichment activities with Mrs. Cerniglia and Mrs. Kleist.   The activities have involved map skills and landforms.  We're excited to go on our Wendella Boat ride field trip that has been scheduled for next Friday, September 26th.   More information about the trip will be sent home to you next week.  

Have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Social Studies Integrated Unit

The Third Grade Teachers will be collaborating with the ALF (Becky Kleist) and the LMC Director (Kristie Cerniglia) this year to teach our Social Studies curriculum.

Your children will have the opportunity to become researchers!  They will learn to think like detectives and write like investigative reporters.  They will search for the information themselves instead of having it taught explicitly to them.  They will collaborate, share their thinking, make connections in their learning, synthesize, analyze, and think critically about the world around them. This is differentiated, inquiry-based Social Studies instruction. All of our units will cover multiple Common Core Standards.

Elements:

Note Taking

Mini-lectures – Books, Videos, Maps

Centers with Task Cards – Maps, Images, Statistics, Nonfiction Reading, Media

Inquiry Groups

Research

Integration Includes:

Reading

Writing

Social Studies

Technology   

Research

Snack Time at Westgate

A Word From the Office About Fruits and Vegetables as Snacks…

The school continues to encourage fruits and vegetables as healthy snacks options. We cannot force any parent to abide by this request. Presently, there are over 40 students attending Westgate with life-threatening food allergies. As a diverse community, we encourage families to support each other. Fruits and vegetables can support both a balance diet and students with severe food allergies.