Thank You Parents!

Hi Parents,

My sincere gratitude goes out to the classroom Parents, students, and PTA for making Teacher's Appreciation Week so special to me!  The spectacularly decorated school,  fantastic basket full of healthy fruits and food,  class gift cards to Lou Malnati's and Starbucks, the adorable class book full of student and parent notes, the amazing coffee and treats delivered to my door, the deliciously prepared luncheon from parents, and even a massage for all of  the teachers have all have touched me throughout the week.  

I tell people all the time how blessed I am to be a part of such a special school community.   All of the support that is given make my job so easy and wonderful to come to every day! I certainly have appreciated how all of the sweet gestures, positive emails and personally touching conversations that have been given throughout the year.   None of this job could be completed without any of you.   Just know that you are all incredible!

Certainly, words cannot capture how fortunate I am to have such wonderful parents and students.   I did a few years ago however, come across this poem that summarizes how this job could not be done without all of you parents being a special part of your child's life.   So, I leave you with this poem and thank you for being an intricate part of your child's education.............

Partners (Author unknown)

I dreamed I stood in a studio,

And watched two sculptors there.
The clay they used was a child's mind,
And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher; the tools used,
Were books and music and art.
One, a parent with guiding hands,
A gentle and loving heart.

Day after day the teacher toiled,
With a touch both deft and skilled.
The parent labored side by side,
And all the values filled.

And when at last their task was done,
They looked at what they'd wrought.
The beautiful shape of the precious child,
Could neither be sold nor bought.

And each agreed it would have failed,
If one had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school,
And behind the teacher, home.

Fondly,
Donna :)

Classroom Snapshot of Events

Welcome back!  I hope that everyone has a fantastic Spring Break with your families full of rest and relaxation!  Here is a snapshot of what has been happening in our class:

Literacy:

Our class just finished a poetry unit that focused on the structural elements of poetry, the importance of sound in poems, sensory details in poems, the big idea hidden inside of a poem, and feelings evoked from reading various poems.  At the end of the unit, students created their own Haiku and shape poems.  During Grammar time, the students have been working with action verbs that involve present-tense, past-tense, and future-tense concepts.  In addition, we've been studying irregular verbs, verbs of being, linking verbs, and verbs using contractions.  

Writing:

The students have just completed Unit 2 in our WEX Program entitled "Response to Literature".  At the beginning of the unit, together we read the book called Charlotte's Web.  Using excerpts from the book, students learned how to find evidence, analyze, and write about  character traits of the main characters in our book.  We also had fun writing about particular moments in time that the characters in the book had to endure and compared them to our own personal lives and situations.  Throughout the lessons, the students continued to concentrate on the concepts of focus, details, and sentence mechanics.

In collaboration with our Solar System Unit, students learned also how to write persuasive   paragraphs.   The students have been learning how to compose a persuasive paragraph using the "OREO Method":

O= Stating an opinion of persuasion

R= Providing reasons in our research to support our opinion

E= Citing specific examples to give support to our reasons

O= Forming a conclusion that reinforces our opinion

Currently, the students are working on writing an informational paragraph that includes a topic sentence, supporting details, elaborations of our details, and a concluding sentence.  We're also learning how to add transition words to make our sentences flow better.  

Math:

Our class just completed Unit 7 that focused on multiplication and division facts, strategies, and concepts.   It is important for your child to continue to practice their multiplication and division facts online at home. Using a pre-test, your student will continue to be placed into a differentiated math workshop group for math lessons and activities.   

Science:

Throughout this past trimester, students explored the Solar System.   Through experimentation and class lessons, the students learned about what causes day and night, the Earth's rotation and revolution, the moon's phases, and constellations.  

Our unit concluded with students being put into research groups to explore a planet and write a persuasive speech for Solar Awards.  Click on this website link to view the planet winners!

2016 Solar Award Winners

All of the 3rd Grade students had a blast walking down the red carpet attending the Solar Awards!   Our guest emcee Mr. Walton came in to reveal the winning planets of our persuasive speeches.  Enjoy the pictures of our winning planets by clicking here on our classroom website link.

You've Heard of the Oscars...........Now Get Ready for the Solars!

All of the third grade classes have been participating in a month long Solar System research project.   At the beginning stages, each student was put into a specific planet group based off of their interest.   Using websites and books, each planet group researched information about their planet and posted their notes into Googledocs.   

Afterwards, each planet group chose two Solar Award Categories that they felt their planet could win. The Solar Award Categories are:

• Strangest Atmosphere

• Wildest Temperature/Weather

• Best Name

• Most Earth-like Planet

• Most Interesting Moons

• Scariest Planet

• Most Beautiful Planet

• Most Unique Planet

Once the categories were chosen, each planet group had to write a persuasive paragraph that proved why their planet should win that specific category award.  All paragraphs will be submitted to an award selection committee.  

Next week, together with the entire third grade, students will be divided into specific selection committees that gathered in the Commons.   (Ex.:  The Strangest Atmosphere Committee).   Each committee is responsible for reading the persuasive paragraphs and narrowing down each category to the top three planets that they feel deserve to win that specific category based off of the evidence that was given to them.   

Back in the classroom, the top three persuasive speeches from the third grade classes for each category will be read aloud.   After the speeches are read, the students will vote online into a program called Survey Monkey for the planet they believe deserves to win.   All of the third grade votes will be tallied. 

For the last part of the project, the students will walk down the red carpet in the Commons for the Solars Award Ceremony on Thursday where the winners will be revealed by our guest emcee, Mr. Walton.

Valentine's Party Information

Our Valentine Party will be on Fri., Feb. 12^th.  The class has voted to have an ice-cream party! Please click on this link for items that you can volunteer to bring to the party:  http://goo.gl/f2DmBD

Just a heads-up for you early bird shoppers that district policy now states that all Valentine cards must be non-edible.  Sorry, any type of food related treats cannot be attached to the Valentine’s. Also, treat bags will not be allowed to be sent home, per district policy.

Way to go Room 212!

For the second week in a row, our class has read the MOST total minutes for the entire school for our Read-a-Thon!  Already, our class has read over 19,000 hours!  Wow!  Amazing!  As a result, we get to keep the winning bear in our classroom again this week.

The round #3 (and last) turn in date is this Thursday, January 14th.

Starting in January, math time in our class will be structured a little bit differently.  I'll now be incorporating Unit 5 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 where groups are differentiated.

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 will 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 will work on reinforcement skills if I feel they can use more practice in an area, while others will work on enrichment skills if I believe that they can 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!  :)