October is Here! 10/3/18


        There is a lot going on in our third grade classroom!  I am really getting to know each and every student and making some amazing connections and building trust and safety within the classroom.  The students seem to be enjoying our days together, so much so that they have asked to come in on the weekends and today I had an afternoon workshop and some cried when I left:( This makes my heart so happy and they really do make me feel loved. 

Our literacy time each day runs about 90 minutes long with a snack and exercise in between.  This week we read The Trial of Cardigan Jones. A story of a moose that is wrongly accused of a crime....eating a pie!  He is brought to trial and found not guilty. The students really enjoyed learning about the courtroom and how trials work. We learned about witnesses, lawyers, and innocence when we read our connecting informational text, In The Court Room.  Your child may come home and ask  if you have ever been called to jury duty! They are curious:) During this Unit we also have been working on the VCE rule and different types of sentences.  Each student met in small reading groups where we read leveled texts. These fantasy texts paralleled our anchor text through humor while reviewing important vocabulary and demonstrating the process of a trial in the courtroom.  We will wrap up our Unit and 6 day cycle this Thursday and Friday. Tuesday students will receive their new spelling lists and we will begin a new story and 6 day cycle.

We wrapped up our first unit in math and students have been working on their chapter review test and open response. We will begin Unit 2 on Tuesday and a family letter went home today reviewing skills that we will focus on during this unit.  Multiplication and division have been introduced and we will continue to build upon the students' basic understanding. Students can start practicing x2's, 5's, and 10's at home. 

Our first PBL unit has helped us to understand what a community is, how communities work together, and how we, as individuals, can contribute to a community with unique skills we may possess.  We are wrapping up this unit by creating our own  Community slide show, interviewing a community member from our school, and taking a visit to our local food pantry.  We will learn how the food pantry helps our community and skills needed to work at the facility. A permission slip and more info will come home about this walking field trip.

Our next Science unit will focus on the Earth with some emphasis on Space and the planets. The students always enjoy this unit and we have many hands on experiences and experiments. I will need some volunteers during this unit!

Our first classroom party will be sometime during the last week of October. When going through the Open House paperwork I did not see a lot of interest in being a room parent. I usually have 2 parents that are able to plan and organize parties throughout the year which is a HUGE help to me. If you have any interest in planning and organizing our classroom Halloween party please let me know. It would be very much appreciated!

Thank you for sharing your cherubs with me each day! I am honored each day to be part of their learning experience:) 

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