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!  :)

October/November Classroom Snapshot

Wow!   It's hard to believe that we are well into Trimester 2 and are now ready for Thanksgiving Break!   The kids have been working so hard and are starting to get deep into the routines of being 3rd grade learners. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences and I hope that you have a wonderful, safe, and restful holiday with your families!   

Here's what has been happening in our class:

Literacy Time:
We just completed a literacy unit of study of nonfiction.  Our mini-lessons and interactive read alouds involved the following concepts, skills, and strategies:

• Reading a variety types on nonfiction books (reference, literacy nonfiction, and biography)
• Identifying common nonfiction text features and use them to sort information and find answers to questions
• Using comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading to monitor and deepen comprehension
• Using textual evidence to support thinking about nonfiction reading in both conversation and writing
• Inferring an author's purpose or viewpoint
• Summarizing and synthesizing information to determine important ideas
• Analyzing the impact of the author's language choice on the meaning and tone of text
• Synthesizing and comparing information across texts and in various formats
• Determining meaningful goals for enhancing the reading of nonfiction

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/Grammar:

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 grammar time, we have been focusing on the concepts of irregular and plural nouns, singular possessive nouns, and using action verbs in our writing.   

Math:

We just wrapped up Unit 3  involved learning about both the U.S. Customary and metric forms of measurement.   Currently in Unit 4,  we will focus on introducing multiplication and division fact strategies, using arrays to demonstrate the meaning of multiplication, work with multiplication and division word problems, determine the area of rectangular shapes, and collect data to discuss the topic of probability and chance. 

Science:

Our unit on habitats studied closely at how a habitat meets the survival needs of individual organisms and how physical and behavioral characteristics help organisms survive in their habitat.  Students concluded the unit by learning about the biomes around the world. The class was divided into a biome group that was in charge of researching the location, weather, plants, and animals located in their biome. Afterwards, the group learned how to make a webpage and posted their findings for the rest of the class to learn about.  Please click here to see our final webpage products: http://hynekbiomeresearch.weebly.com/

Social Studies:

The 3rd and 3-4 classes are busy preparing hosting our Chicago's World's Fair in December.  The classes are responsible for showcasing the north, south, west, and downtown neighborhoods of the city at the fair.   Our class in in charge of representing the neighborhoods on the west side of the city that involve Humboldt Park, West Town, Little Village, Pilsen, West Loop, and Little Italy and University Village.  Currently, students have been divided into groups researching, planning, and creating how they will represent their neighborhood at the event.  

Our World's Fair will be taking place on Tuesday, December 15th from 6:15-7:30 pm for all 3rd and 3-4 families to attend.  More information will be coming home from our teams soon.  

Biome Research Project Webpages

Did you know that there are many different kinds of biomes all around the world? Click on this link to learn more about some of the major biomes that members in our class have researched and discovered.  

Weekend in Chicago Podcasts

Over the past couple of weeks, the students were put into research groups to work on our "Weekend in Chicago" podcasts.   Within their group, their job was to become a travel agent by researching and planning a weekend for a family to spend in the Windy City.    

Through the research, the groups learned how to take notes on attractions and activities they wanted their family to visit,  suggested restaurants for them to eat at, and provided overnight accommodations for them to stay in. (Please click here to view the websites that the students used to research from.)  

After the students researched and planned their weekend, their group created a podcast in our LMC Production studio with Mrs. Seisser to try and promote their touring itinerary.

Please click on this link to view our final podcast shows:
http://hynekclass.weebly.com/a-weekend-in-chicago-podcasts.html