Hello there!
We have been busy this week! 

We are continuing to discuss classroom routines and expectations for behavior. We are discussing the problems with interruptions and disruptions, we are focusing on how to be kind and caring, and we are always talking about how to stay safe and keep others safe as well.  As a group, we really enjoy playing games and having fun together, but we are continuously talking about how important it is to be able to move quickly from silly to serious when necessary. We are learning!

We have completed some pre-assessments (which I call surveys) in both reading and writing, and those have given me some great information as we move into our first units.  Our first writing unit is a narrative unit, and the students will be writing stories from their own lives or realistic fiction stories based on their own lives. Yesterday we spent a lot of time discussing all of the stages of the writing process, and I emphasized that REVISION is the part we spend the most time on. This is hard for young writers who think they are finished once they write their first draft!  For now, we are working on collecting ideas for our stories before we begin to draft.

We started our first reading unit today. It is called Character Study and is all about getting to know our characters. In third and fourth grade, we move from retelling to having IDEAS about our characters. These ideas start with identifying character traits, then moving onto understanding how our characters change throughout the story. By the end of the unit, we hope to be able to interpret lessons our characters learned (and that we have learned as readers as well.) This is tough work, but we will get there!

Our multiplication units continue. Third graders are learning that doubling a factor doubles the product. They are using hundreds charts to skip count by various numbers to understand that multiplying means equal groups (or "jumps" on a hundreds chart.) 4th graders are examining factors of 100, trying to decide if 200, 300, 400, etc. have the same factors.  They seem excited about this work!

Finally, we are still working with our marble tracks (bumper coasters) to learn about stored energy and energy transfer during science. I am hoping to finish this unit up by next week so we can get into learning about maps and the geography of Vermont.

Please look carefully in the Thursday folder coming home today since there is a Parent Conference Sign Up sheet in there. Let me know if you have any questions about conferences or if none of the times listed work for you. We will find a time to meet!

This week, we learned a few new words for you to all have fun with at home: rigid, massive, defiant and ignorant.

Next week's sharing theme is "something you lost and then found."

I hope you all enjoy the weekend.