This month is flying by and it’s hard to believe that this week will be the last one before winter break. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our 3rd grade tradition, which is the Pancake Breakfast. It will be held on Friday, 12/19, at 9:00 a.m. A blue flyer went home this past week with the details. We look forward to seeing you all there!
In reading, we focused on the essential question, “How can one person change the way you think?” Students listened to a short historical fiction story about Roberto Clemente and how he made a difference in Kiesha and Kyle’s life. Students also read a short story on their own called Jane’s Discovery. It was about how Abe Lincoln helped a girl named Jane to want to learn how to read. We also read Finding Lincoln. All stories fell under the genre of historical fiction. Can your child tell you what makes a story historical fiction? We also discussed cause and effect.
A letter also went home this week in regards to our book opinion/review that we will be starting after our winter break. Students need to pick out a just right book for themselves and also to turn in the bottom of the yellow sheet to let me know what book he/she will be reading. We also talked about planning out our reading so that we don’t wait until the last minute to read. I hope the students have been able to find a book that they are excited about reading and that the reading has begun or will be beginning soon. A think mark page also went home. Students should jot things down on the think marks as they read. If they need more, feel free to make more or I have some at school as well. We will be doing our book opinion/review writing at school, but they do need to come back to school having read their book after break. I hope the students are getting excited about this project and about being able to share their thoughts with their classmates soon. We will not have a home learning log over break. We are almost done with our narrative writing about our Thanksgiving break. Most of the students are in the final editing part where we are looking at word choices, varying sentence lengths, etc… It sounds like everyone had a restful, yummy, food filled holiday!
Thank you so much for the parent interviews and family crests that were turned in. We are looking forward to learning more about each of your families this week. I loved the time and care that each of your children put into creating these wonderful family crests! These will be on display on each child’s locker so stop by and take a look on your way to the Pancake Breakfast on Friday. A packet also went home about researching the communities that each of you live in. This will be due back, Friday, 1/9, the week we come back from break. I’ve shown the students how to go onto some village websites that we have linked to our 3rd grade webpage under social studies. Using the notes that your child takes from his/her research, students will be turning those into paragraphs to tell others about their community. Students will then draft a writing piece that we will be sending off to relatives/friends from near and far in the hopes that the recipient will write us back. We will be sending home an envelope for you to address to your child's future recipient after break so start thinking about who to ask! The more your child is able to understand what he/she wrote down from his/her research at home, the easier it will be when we go back to use these fact fragments for our writing.
This week our third and fourth grade students participated in an Hour of Code, an annual international event held the second week of December. The Hour of Code was developed to encourage students to try coding, part of the field of computer science. During the week, third and fourth graders explored the possible purposes of coding. Students used code to solve puzzles on code.org with engaging characters on, such as Angry Birds and Elsa from Frozen. On Google’s website www.madewithcode.com, students utilized programming to design lighting displays, create avatars, and write music. What did our students think about coding? “It feels awesome to be able to program things.” “It’s very exciting and fun!” Students are encouraged to continue coding with the resources at http://tech103.weebly.com/.
Reminders:
1. Home Learning Log 12/18
2. Spelling Test 12/18
3. Complete reading book of choice by 1/5
4. Community Research due 1/9
In reading, we focused on the essential question, “How can one person change the way you think?” Students listened to a short historical fiction story about Roberto Clemente and how he made a difference in Kiesha and Kyle’s life. Students also read a short story on their own called Jane’s Discovery. It was about how Abe Lincoln helped a girl named Jane to want to learn how to read. We also read Finding Lincoln. All stories fell under the genre of historical fiction. Can your child tell you what makes a story historical fiction? We also discussed cause and effect.
A letter also went home this week in regards to our book opinion/review that we will be starting after our winter break. Students need to pick out a just right book for themselves and also to turn in the bottom of the yellow sheet to let me know what book he/she will be reading. We also talked about planning out our reading so that we don’t wait until the last minute to read. I hope the students have been able to find a book that they are excited about reading and that the reading has begun or will be beginning soon. A think mark page also went home. Students should jot things down on the think marks as they read. If they need more, feel free to make more or I have some at school as well. We will be doing our book opinion/review writing at school, but they do need to come back to school having read their book after break. I hope the students are getting excited about this project and about being able to share their thoughts with their classmates soon. We will not have a home learning log over break. We are almost done with our narrative writing about our Thanksgiving break. Most of the students are in the final editing part where we are looking at word choices, varying sentence lengths, etc… It sounds like everyone had a restful, yummy, food filled holiday!
Thank you so much for the parent interviews and family crests that were turned in. We are looking forward to learning more about each of your families this week. I loved the time and care that each of your children put into creating these wonderful family crests! These will be on display on each child’s locker so stop by and take a look on your way to the Pancake Breakfast on Friday. A packet also went home about researching the communities that each of you live in. This will be due back, Friday, 1/9, the week we come back from break. I’ve shown the students how to go onto some village websites that we have linked to our 3rd grade webpage under social studies. Using the notes that your child takes from his/her research, students will be turning those into paragraphs to tell others about their community. Students will then draft a writing piece that we will be sending off to relatives/friends from near and far in the hopes that the recipient will write us back. We will be sending home an envelope for you to address to your child's future recipient after break so start thinking about who to ask! The more your child is able to understand what he/she wrote down from his/her research at home, the easier it will be when we go back to use these fact fragments for our writing.
This week our third and fourth grade students participated in an Hour of Code, an annual international event held the second week of December. The Hour of Code was developed to encourage students to try coding, part of the field of computer science. During the week, third and fourth graders explored the possible purposes of coding. Students used code to solve puzzles on code.org with engaging characters on, such as Angry Birds and Elsa from Frozen. On Google’s website www.madewithcode.com, students utilized programming to design lighting displays, create avatars, and write music. What did our students think about coding? “It feels awesome to be able to program things.” “It’s very exciting and fun!” Students are encouraged to continue coding with the resources at http://tech103.weebly.com/.
Reminders:
1. Home Learning Log 12/18
2. Spelling Test 12/18
3. Complete reading book of choice by 1/5
4. Community Research due 1/9