Last WeekI was so proud of all that we accomplished last week. Students are really doing a wonderful job learning our routines and expectations. I am enjoying getting to know each student and quickly learning the best ways to instruct them. This week we really played around with doing math in a more "workshop" model. This model is providing the students with focused, small group instruction, allowing them to use manipulatives to investigate, and providing them with time to practice independently. Students unanimously agreed that they are enjoying this instruction more than the traditional whole group lesson. I will be out on Tuesday attending a conference that is focused on teaching math in a workshop. I look forward to applying these new ideas in our classroom. Team OliviaOlivia's walk is quickly approaching and I want to be sure we know who is coming! I know the online sign-up is pretty confusing. I double checked about registering without making a donation and I was told that that is totally fine! If you would rather not go through the process of registration but would like to donate, please follow the link in the previous post. If you would like to attend the event to donate your support, that is wonderful too! All are welcome! Please take a moment and email me if you plan to attend the walk at 11:00am on Saturday, October 3rd at Davenport University's track. Later in the week I will email with details about where to meet if you plan to attend. Thank you for showing your support to both Olivia and all of those with Muscular Dystrophy. HomeworkWe are finally settling into a pattern with our homework. Each week I will send a new math homework page home. This homework page is due on Thursday. Students who do not turn in their homework will complete it during free choice time on Friday. Any additional math that comes home will have a note on it if it needs to be completed. Sometimes we are unable to finish all of the problems on a worksheet during class time. These workbook pages that come home unfinished can be used as extra practice unless there is a note indicating something different. Math fact practice should happen each night. We will be adding to our piles as we go, working on a set of facts at a time and continuing to review those that we know. Students will be tested every week on their facts. Once a month we will have a larger (5min, 100 problem) test that will continue to guide the students in their fluency. Once all facts are mastered, the student will begin division. Spelling words will come home for the first time this week. This week we will have only one list. Eventually there will be multiple lists of words that are leveled to help meet the needs of each student. Please practice spelling words each night. Reading will continue to be for 20min. each night and 40min (total) over the weekend. This reading is so important to helping students to grow! Students are asked to bring their good fit book back and forth between home and school. Book ClubOur first book club is next week! We will be meeting on Thursday, October 8th from 6-7pm in our classroom. We were reading Third Grade Angels. If you plan to attend, please email me!
Reminders: PE - Wednesday Can Drive - all week!! Turn in your cans! Homecoming & HEF fun-fest - Friday (Mr.Field in the dunk tank @ 5:15) Family Book Club- October 8th @ 6pm.
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Students will be coming home with math facts to study each night. It is important that students study these each night, as they will be tested each week. These facts are essential to the rest of our curriculum.
Students will begin learning their math facts by focusing on their 5s. Students will test at the end of the week on their multiplied by 5 facts. If they are unable to pass with a 90% or higher, they will be continuing with the same facts for the next week. If students pass their test they will be adding new facts into their baggies. These stacks of facts will grow, but it is so important that students continue to practice all of the facts that they master. Students are expected to know these facts in a "snap," so encourage them to speed up as they get more comfortable with the facts. If facts are lost, students will stay in from recess to rewrite their facts on new cards. It is important that these facts come back and forth between school and home since we will be practicing these with our learning buddies daily as well. On October 3rd at 11:00am, at Davenport University, a wonderful event will be held to support research for Muscular Dystrophy. Our very own Olivia will be attending this event and we would love to be able to support her during her victory lap! Activities for all ages will be taking place throughout the event so please feel free to bring the whole family! If you are interested in joining Team Olivia, please click on this link and follow the directions bellow. I look forward to being able to wrap Olivia up in love and support as she makes her victory lap around the track.
Click join team Click join as a new participant Type in “Team Olivia” in the team name box In the team company box, scroll down until you find Park Elementary School Continue to follow the prompts If you are unable to attend but would still like to donate to the team, please click on this link to make a contribution. I am looking forward to this wonderful event! I will send more details about time and location as we approach the date. Last week was a big week for us! We got our curriculum up and running and are really settling into third grade. One big thing that we are working on is building up our third grade responsibilities. We will be working hard on remembering our daily routines, including filling out our agendas. If you happen to notice that your child has not filled our their agenda, even though it is usually predictable, leave it blank and encourage them to remember the following day. This procedure is part of our morning routine and is listed on the board each morning. We are continuing our work on routines and students are really starting to get the hang of it! Team Olivia - Walk for Olivia on October 3As October approaches, so does a wonderful event called the MDA Muscle Walk of Grand Rapids. This event takes place on October 3rd at 11:00 at Davenport University. This event is special to us because it gives us the chance to support Olivia, one of our classmates. This walk is filled with activities for all ages. The walk portion is more of a victory lap that all can participate in. I would love for us to be able to walk beside Olivia and show her just how very much we care for her! If you are able to join me on Team Olivia, please visit this link Team Olivia's and click the Join Our Team button. We do have a fundraising goal, but please only donate if you feel you are able! I am looking forward to this awesome event and hope to see you there! Curriculum UpdateMath- This week we will continue to work on multiplication. We will also be diving into division as well.
Grammar- This week we will be starting our new grammar program. Students will be working on exploring grammar within written sentences. We will be learning about parts of speech, punctuation, and more this way! Watch for the quiz to come home on Friday! Writing- Writing this week we will be focusing on choosing our stories and beginning the drafting process. Students will be working on this story over the next few weeks. Social Studies- We will continue our work on the Core Democratic Values this week. We will also be having a little additional fun on Monday as we talk like pirates and learn a little bit about pirates. Reading- This week I will be beginning reading tests. Students will be learning about how to blog about their reading as well as how to write notebook entires. Reminders: * Picture day - Tuesday! * PE day - Tuesday & Friday * Olivia's Walk - October 3, 11:00 @ Davenport It is hard to believe that week 1 is already finished and we are on to week 2! It is always amazing how fast we all adjust and how quickly our class becomes a family. Last week we spent time forming wonderful bonds with each other. Below you will see some pictures from our Save Fred activity, a cup stacking challenge, and a heart building challenge. This group proved that they are up for a challenge this year and handled every task given without any disagreements. They were able to listen to each other and try new things as they went along. I am very impressed with the teamwork of this group! Please remember to let me know if you plan to attend our Family Book Club. More information is available under the Family Book Club tab (above). It is a wonderful way to encourage reading at home and celebrate together! Curriculum UpdateMath: We had our first official math lesson last week, Friday. We will be starting off with a unit on multiplication. Since we are using workbooks this year, classwork will come home on Fridays when we remove them from the workbooks. We will be starting this week by learning our 5s, learning that multiplication is equal groups, and learning about arrays.
Grammar: This week we will be working on nouns. We will be learning what a noun is as well as the difference between a common and proper noun. Writing: We will be beginning our first unit on Personal Narrative this week. Students will be thinking of new story ideas and focusing on how to keep their story a seed. Social Studies: This week we will begin discussing the Core Democratic Values. Students will be investigating these values over the next two weeks. Reading: Our focus this week will be on setting up our reading workshop for success. We will be discussing how to pick a good fit book, how to use our reading journals, having meaningful conversation with peers about reading, and more. Reminders: PE Days - Monday & Thursday Picture Day - Sept.22
What a wonderful open house! It was so much fun finally being able to put all the names with the correct faces. I think this year is going to be truly wonderful. I have so many new ideas and fun activities for this group!
Please enjoy the slide show below to learn a little bit more about our classroom. Due to technical difficulties, it was unavailable at open house! |
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