3rd Grade Leader in Me Assembly

Without a doubt, we are so proud of all of the hard work and efforts that our 3rd Graders put into developing, practicing, and performing with our Leader in Me Assembly in front of the entire student body!    Please click on this link to view their spectacular performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku3ALB0-tkA

February/March Classroom Snapshot of Events

February and March have proven to be busy times in Room 212!   How is it possible that we only have about two weeks left until Spring Break?  

Here's a little snapshot of what we've been covering in class:

Having a blast at our Valentine's Day Party!

         

Sharing our Leader in Me leadership binders with guests visiting our school.  

   

 Using Bee Bots to learn about various landforms.

Literacy:

Throughout the past two month we've been learning and exploring about the fiction genre that includes traditional folktales, fables, realistic fiction, biographies, and mysteries.  We've been working on the reading comprehension strategies of chronological and sequential text structure, determining basic story elements, comparing and contrasting one text to another text, using our schema, determining importance of events, making inferences, visualizing, finding word meaning, and identifying the mood and tone of a story when we read.  Moreover, we have also been learning about comprehensive test taking strategies and comparing and contrasting one text to another text.

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 a 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. Additionally, students have been working on writing both an opinionated and informational paragraph.  

We've been learning that every paragraph needs to include a topic sentence, at least three supporting details, and a concluding sentence.  We're also learning how to add transition words to each of our supporting sentences to make our paragraph flow together. 

Learning how to use the "comments" section on our Googledocs to provide
peer feedback about our informational paragraphs.

Math:

Our class just completed Unit 6 that involved geometry.   The students learned about lines, segments, rays, and parallel and intersecting lines.  Additionally, we were able to explore various concepts involving triangles, quadrangles, polygons, angles and turns, and symmetry.

We are now starting to dive into Unit 7 that focuses on multiplication and division facts, strategies, and concepts.   Using a pre-test, your student has been placed into a differentiated math workshop group for math lessons and activities.   

Science:

Last week, we were able to start a new Forces in Action unit.   Throughout this unit we will explore and examine forces, gravity, and motion.  Students will also have the opportunity to learn, test, and design magnetic forces and devices.  

Testing various objects to determine if a magnetic force will go through it.

Experimenting with motion size and direction.

Exploring various ways to make our car move.

Valentine's Day Party

Our class will be celebrating our Valentine’s Day Party during the last hour of the day on Tuesday, February 14^th. Our Room Reps have a fun party planned for us.

 All of the students are welcome to bring in Valentine cards for the class. District policy states that the cards however cannot contain any type of food related item, candy, etc.   Pencils, erasers, and trinkets though are allowed to be attached. 

If your child chooses to bring in cards however, they must bring in a card for everyone in the class.  We have 19 students.  A class list went home for you to help your child with addressing the envelopes.  (If your child will be absent on the day of the party, they are welcome to bring in their cards ahead of time. I’ll be sure to pass them out to their classmates.)

We will be making our Valentine mailboxes at school.   Your student does not need to make it at home or bring in a box.   I have all of the supplies.

 Thank you so much for helping to make our Valentine’s Party a success!

Winter Wonderland Celebration Friday!

Wow!   It's hard to believe that well on our way into Trimester 2 and now almost 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.   

This week will be full of lots of fun activities leading up to our break.  On Friday, students will have the opportunity to participate our Winter Wonderland Celebration throughout the day. In the morning, we will participate in our All School Holiday Sing.  During the afternoon, classes will gather in the Commons to listen to various holiday stories read aloud from our office staff.   In addition, we will also enjoy watching the movie "The Polar Express" in our classroom.  

Throughout the day, students are encouraged to wear their comfy winter pajamas and/or holiday sweaters.   Due to our new district policy, cookies will now not be able to be served during our Winter Wonderland Celebration.  As a result, students are encouraged to bring a healthy snack to eat during the story reading time in the afternoon.  (Because our class generally has their snack in the morning, please pack two healthy snacks to eat that day.)

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 2017!  :)  See you all back on Tuesday, January 3rd.    

October/November Classroom Snapshot

Wow!   It's hard to believe that we are well into Trimester 2, Halloween has passed, and we 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!   See you back at school next Monday, November 28th.

Here's what has been happening in our class:

Dr. Bein enjoyed reading a Thanksgiving story to our class.

Literacy Time:
We're currently in the middle of our 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.

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. 

Social Studies:

Wow!   What a blast we all had at our World's Fair!   The students had such a spectacular time showing you their personalized learning about the Westside of Chicago and did such a fantastic job on stage!   We appreciate all of those that came out to support our event.   Please click here to view a slide show of the evening.  

To conclude our Chicago Unit, the students had a blast getting into groups, role playing as travel agents, and creating a weekend itinerary for someone interested in visiting our beautiful city.   Please click here to view our "Weekend in Chicago" podcasts.

Science:

This week we just started to dive into our unit on the Solar System.   Through experimentation and class lessons, the students will learn about what causes day and night, the Earth's rotation and revolution, the moon's phases, and constellations.  We will also do some research projects on each of the nine planets.   

On Monday your student came home with a classroom assignment to plot the moon each evening for the next month.   Thank you for their help to monitor that this sheet is filled out each evening.   It is due on Friday, December 16th.   

Garrison's dad, Lieutenant Colonel Corwin came in to visit with the 3rd Graders on Veteran's Day.

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

Math Workshop and Math Enrichment Homework

Starting next week, math time in our class will be structured a little bit differently.  I'll now be 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 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 five or less on their pretest, they are given challenge Homelinks that they can use in lieu of their regular Homelink pages.     Challenge packets will be sent home today to those that missed five or less.  Please don't worry if your child didn't qualify for the challenge packet for Unit 2 today!   Every time we start a new unit, students will take a pretest regarding that unit and will have a new opportunity to possibly work on the challenge packets.  At the same time, based off of the results of the pre-test, students may also qualify for a different math workshop group too.  

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!  :)