Hello All,
We have made it to the end of our first trimester! Despite the ice day and the excitement over vacation, we have continued working in math, reading, writing and science. 4th graders have started their 10,000 chart and 3rd graders are learning to use number lines to subtract. Everyone is planning chapter headings for their upcoming expert books. In reading we have discussed how non-fiction books are structured and how to stop and jot our thoughts about main ideas and supporting details after each chunk of text. And in science, we went on a fun website called Energy Hog today and learned all about what appliances in our homes use the most energy and how to be wise consumers. Much of this will need to be reviewed after vacation, but we certainly haven't been idle!
It was lovely to see so many of you at our Scholastic Book Fair and our Thanksgiving Lunch. I'm sorry I didn't get to chat with more of you -- a half hour lunch for that many people goes by fast! I know some of you bought books for the classroom library. Thank you so much for your generosity!
Thank you also for your continued support of our bread baking project. To date we have earned $115 to donate to 350.org. We are doing our small part to save the planet, and learning to bake and eating yummy bread at the same time! I can always use more bread flour, butter, eggs, and yeast if you would like to help, but please don't feel pressured!
Report cards will be coming home the Monday after vacation. Please remember that these are just a snapshot of what skills and concepts your child has mastered at this time of the year. We are all continuing to grow, mature, learn, and change as the year progresses. I hope you will be in touch if anything about the report card confuses you, but there shouldn't be any surprises! This is a wonderful class of students who love to learn.
I hope you all have a restful holiday and get to spend time with the people you love. I will miss the class and look forward to seeing them in December.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 22, 2019
Friday, November 15, 2019
Friday comes so quickly!
This week we continued to work on adding and subtracting in math. Third graders are learning how to combine hundreds and how to combine tens to make hundreds. The strategies they are learning will prepare them well for regrouping when they learn the algorithms next year. Today we made a chart of various addition strategies including a number line, adding by place value, and keeping one number whole and adding on. They rocked at their math work today! Fourth graders have mastered the addition algorithm but aren't fluent with the subtraction one quite yet, particularly across a middle zero. They will all get it with a little more practice next week!
With the snow day and the delayed opening, we didn't have much time to explore our new writing unit yet, but we will dig into it more next week. So far all we have done is "rehearse" by telling about something we feel we are experts in. We will start planning and writing next week. Our non-fiction reading unit is under way, and the things students are noticing about non-fiction books as they read will help them when they write. So far, we have discussed text features and the difference between narrative and expository non-fiction. They are loving the books I have borrowed from BRMS by Peter Menzel -- Hungry Planet and Material World. Ask them to tell you about those. To go along with the topics in those books, I showed them the website Dollar Street today, and they were fascinated by the images comparing homes, toilets, beds, toothbrushes, etc. around the world. Check it out!
Finally, we are starting to learn about renewable versus nonrenewable energy sources. So far we have learned what the terms mean, but we will get further into which energy sources are fossil fuels and which are renewable next week. I love this unit because it really helps the students understand how they can be activists in their own way!
Two new vocabulary words this week: sullen and contemplating. I hope you can slip these into your everyday conversations!
We have decided not to go the Essex Hydro Dam after all. Between the upcoming holiday, getting a bus, arranging the field trip with Green Mountain Power, and finding dates that work for all 4 classes, it seems like an impossible task. By the time we make it happen, the unit will be over! We will take a virtual tour of a hydro dam instead, and I think it will be far less disruptive.
That's the week. I hope you all enjoy the weekend!
This week we continued to work on adding and subtracting in math. Third graders are learning how to combine hundreds and how to combine tens to make hundreds. The strategies they are learning will prepare them well for regrouping when they learn the algorithms next year. Today we made a chart of various addition strategies including a number line, adding by place value, and keeping one number whole and adding on. They rocked at their math work today! Fourth graders have mastered the addition algorithm but aren't fluent with the subtraction one quite yet, particularly across a middle zero. They will all get it with a little more practice next week!
With the snow day and the delayed opening, we didn't have much time to explore our new writing unit yet, but we will dig into it more next week. So far all we have done is "rehearse" by telling about something we feel we are experts in. We will start planning and writing next week. Our non-fiction reading unit is under way, and the things students are noticing about non-fiction books as they read will help them when they write. So far, we have discussed text features and the difference between narrative and expository non-fiction. They are loving the books I have borrowed from BRMS by Peter Menzel -- Hungry Planet and Material World. Ask them to tell you about those. To go along with the topics in those books, I showed them the website Dollar Street today, and they were fascinated by the images comparing homes, toilets, beds, toothbrushes, etc. around the world. Check it out!
Finally, we are starting to learn about renewable versus nonrenewable energy sources. So far we have learned what the terms mean, but we will get further into which energy sources are fossil fuels and which are renewable next week. I love this unit because it really helps the students understand how they can be activists in their own way!
Two new vocabulary words this week: sullen and contemplating. I hope you can slip these into your everyday conversations!
We have decided not to go the Essex Hydro Dam after all. Between the upcoming holiday, getting a bus, arranging the field trip with Green Mountain Power, and finding dates that work for all 4 classes, it seems like an impossible task. By the time we make it happen, the unit will be over! We will take a virtual tour of a hydro dam instead, and I think it will be far less disruptive.
That's the week. I hope you all enjoy the weekend!
Friday, November 8, 2019
Happy Snowy Friday!
Last week's storm threw us all for a loop! I hope you all managed to stay dry.
We've had another busy few weeks. We have been finishing up units and starting new ones. We finished our Vermont Geography unit -- and celebrated by making candy maps. Most of the kids have done a really wonderful job learning where many of Vermont's geographic features are located. They also learned about how Vermont's geography has made it possible for various industries/businesses to flourish here. They learned about the difference between human, natural and capital resources, paying attention mostly to the natural resources we have here in our beautiful state. This week, we moved on to learning about how humans use natural resources for energy. We will be learning about coal, wind, solar, hydro, and others. The main concepts in this unit are that some natural resources are renewable and others are not, and that no matter which we use, there are consequences for our plant. Not a cheery topic, but one kids can learn about and then use to make good choices.
Our new math units focus on addition and subtraction. Third graders are learning to conceptualize what 1,000 looks like and they are understanding magnitude of large numbers and place value. They are learning new strategies to put tens together to make hundreds, and ones together to make tens. This work sets them up well for 4th grade units next year, when they will need to learn regrouping so they can add and subtract more efficiently. Fourth graders are learning similar skills, but they are conceptualizing 10,000! They are learning how to use regrouping ("carrying and borrowing") when they add and subtract using the algorithm that we all used when we were in school (MANY years ago for me....) They love the efficiency of the algorithm now that they can understand what it means when they put those little marks in each place value column!
We also finished up our narrative reading and narrative writing units! The students should have brought home their writing pieces -- and yesterday they completed an "on-demand" assessment piece to show me all they have learned. I will be scoring these soon, and the scores will appear on report cards. Next we launch our informational writing unit. The kids will be writing "expert" books, and learning to organize their information in a variety of ways. This is the unit I love the most -- huge growth happens as they begin to use paragraphs and think of other ways to separate the parts of their books. We will also read informational books at the same time, giving us lots of mentor texts to use as examples in our own writing.
Today I learned about a wonderful website that I want to share with you. Here is the link: https://www.ryanandcraig.com/read-alouds This is a website where Randy and Craig, two funny and engaging men, read books out loud. Like teachers, they stop and think out loud during the read aloud, engaging listeners and making them think. This is a wonderful way to get your reluctant readers to be involved with stories! I highly recommend checking it out. There are MANY books on the website, all read aloud by these 2 funny guys. Who wouldn't love that?
Okay, that is all for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend -- the crazy holiday season is almost upon us!
Last week's storm threw us all for a loop! I hope you all managed to stay dry.
We've had another busy few weeks. We have been finishing up units and starting new ones. We finished our Vermont Geography unit -- and celebrated by making candy maps. Most of the kids have done a really wonderful job learning where many of Vermont's geographic features are located. They also learned about how Vermont's geography has made it possible for various industries/businesses to flourish here. They learned about the difference between human, natural and capital resources, paying attention mostly to the natural resources we have here in our beautiful state. This week, we moved on to learning about how humans use natural resources for energy. We will be learning about coal, wind, solar, hydro, and others. The main concepts in this unit are that some natural resources are renewable and others are not, and that no matter which we use, there are consequences for our plant. Not a cheery topic, but one kids can learn about and then use to make good choices.
Our new math units focus on addition and subtraction. Third graders are learning to conceptualize what 1,000 looks like and they are understanding magnitude of large numbers and place value. They are learning new strategies to put tens together to make hundreds, and ones together to make tens. This work sets them up well for 4th grade units next year, when they will need to learn regrouping so they can add and subtract more efficiently. Fourth graders are learning similar skills, but they are conceptualizing 10,000! They are learning how to use regrouping ("carrying and borrowing") when they add and subtract using the algorithm that we all used when we were in school (MANY years ago for me....) They love the efficiency of the algorithm now that they can understand what it means when they put those little marks in each place value column!
We also finished up our narrative reading and narrative writing units! The students should have brought home their writing pieces -- and yesterday they completed an "on-demand" assessment piece to show me all they have learned. I will be scoring these soon, and the scores will appear on report cards. Next we launch our informational writing unit. The kids will be writing "expert" books, and learning to organize their information in a variety of ways. This is the unit I love the most -- huge growth happens as they begin to use paragraphs and think of other ways to separate the parts of their books. We will also read informational books at the same time, giving us lots of mentor texts to use as examples in our own writing.
Today I learned about a wonderful website that I want to share with you. Here is the link: https://www.ryanandcraig.com/read-alouds This is a website where Randy and Craig, two funny and engaging men, read books out loud. Like teachers, they stop and think out loud during the read aloud, engaging listeners and making them think. This is a wonderful way to get your reluctant readers to be involved with stories! I highly recommend checking it out. There are MANY books on the website, all read aloud by these 2 funny guys. Who wouldn't love that?
Okay, that is all for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend -- the crazy holiday season is almost upon us!
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