Little Red

Last week we began studying the comprehension skill of compare and contrast, or making text-to-text connections to explain how two stories are alike and different. As you can imagine, this is a very real skill that we unconsciously use every day. In fact, tomorrow in math we will be comparing and contrasting the attributes of solid shapes (how are a rectangular prism and a triangular prism alike and different, or how are a cylinder and a sphere alike and different)! LOVE when skills overlap into other subjects and "real life!" Anyway...last week the story in our reading book was Lon Po Po, which is the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!!! After reading Lon Po Po we read a few versions of Little Red Riding Hood to find similarities and differences. This version is my absolute favorite!!! Little Red lives on the prairie (how appropriate since we live right smack in the middle of one), and always wears her red hooded sweatshirt while out riding her bike. One very hot day she asks to bring her grandma muffins (Grandma gets very crabby when it's hot), and the rest I won't spoil!!! Let's just saw there are no woodcutters and the wolf doesn't die in this version...he gets put to work instead! At the very end of the story is the recipe for Grandma's super secret muffins, which all the kids begged me to copy for them. Since this weekend is supposed to be ridiculously cold, it might be a great Saturday activity while you're all stuck inside! I'll type the recipe below, just promise that if you make a batch that you'll send in one for me! :)

Grandma's Wheat Berry Muffins

Makes about 12.

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (Grandma's secret ingredient)

First turn on the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, butter, sugar, and almond extract. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add that to the egg mixture and stir just until combined. Gently stir in the blueberries and the secret ingredient after making sure there are no wolves lurking about. Fill oiled muffin tins 3/4 full, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. These muffins taste best when shared.

1 more thing -------- cooking with your kids is one of the best ways for them to practice and master the skills of measuring and fractions, not to mention it's a TON of fun!!! If you haven't already discovered my Pinterest board, I have a zillion recipes pinned. Maybe you can also find something new and yummy to cook with your kids for dinner this weekend!!!

What we did today!

Third graders don't do anything wild and crazy (since we learned to count to 100 long ago...in first grade), but we definitely have some things to brag about from today! This morning's math lesson was Explorations, which are three activities that students rotate between. I'll explain each activity below in the captions.

Exploration A: Exploring Congruent Shapes

Shapes that are congruent are the SAME SHAPE & SAME SIZE. Two squares are congruent if they are the same size. When one square is larger than the other they are called similar. In our first exploration students cut out 6 shapes and matched up the congruent pairs. Then they used pattern blocks to cover each shape and create additional congruent shapes.

Exploration B: Creating an 8-point Design

Students used a straight edge to connect 8 vertices with line segments to create a beautiful design. We are working on coloring these so you can see all the interior sections better.

Exploration C: Designing Base-Ten Block Decimals

Students laid out a design using base-ten blocks (the yellow rods and cubes you see on the table), transferred that design to their journals, and then determined the corresponding decimal to represent the shaded portion of their grid. I was absolutely amazed at the creativity shown in this!!!

"Before I'm 100" Bucket List

Oh, did we have fun with this! Probably the most fun was Caleb's explanation to the class that a "Bucket List" is a list of things you want to do before you die (or "kick the bucket"). Boy did we get a laugh out of the phrase!!! I SO enjoyed hearing what everyone wants to do before they get to be 100. Some of the lists included sky diving, visiting Hawaii, getting married and having kids, being a professional football player, having a ton of pets (including penguins)... My bucket list includes living on a lake, traveling to Hawaii, and writing a children's book. I'm sure your kiddos would love to hear what's on your list!!!

100th Day

Ready or not, here it comes!

February Calendar

The February calendar is up and running under the calendar tab! Please check it out at your convenience!!!

Watch soon for information on Valentine's Day and the goings-on that will take place!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Morning Meeting

There's a wonderful new beginning to your child's school day! It's called Morning Meeting, and it's a great way to build community, set a positive tone, increase excitement about learning, and improve academic and social skills.

Morning Meeting usually takes between 15-20 minutes. First thing each morning (after normal morning routines like lunch count, turning in homework, etc.), the students and I gather in a circle. We begin by greeting each other. Every day, your child hears his or her name spoken by a classmate in a friendly and cheerful manner. How great to feel welcome!!!

Next, a few students will share some interesting news followed by a conversation with the class. This helps students listen carefully, think about what they hear, formulate good questions, and learn about each other. When children share, they have a chance to feel that their ideas are valued and that the other children care. After sharing, there will be an activity for the whole class. We might sing or recite a poem or play a math game. The activity time helps the class feel united as a group, reinforces academic skills, and helps the children learn how to cooperate and solve problems.

Finally, we read the news and announcements chart, which helps students think about the day ahead. Sometimes, I use this time to review and practice a reading, punctuation, or math skill.

Every day, Morning Meeting lets children know that school is a safe place where all children's feelings and ideas are important. We'd love to have you visit Morning Meeting. Just send me a quick email to arrange a good time. We'd love to share with you about why we're so excited about this start to our day!

Half-way already?!

Sending home mid-terms yesterday means that we are half through the school year already. Yikes! Where did the time go?! We have accomplished so many things already, yet we still have SO much more to learn and experience together. Looking ahead to the coming months brings many exciting opportunities, too!

This past week was our mid-year benchmarking, which interrupted many of our normal activities and lessons. I am looking forward to studying the data more in depth this week with our collaboration team to celebrate successes of our students and evaluate different options for further improving instruction. Every year I teach I continue to learn more and more!!!

Quick note on the mid-terms --- Please disregard the "Spring" label on top. I must have been dreaming of warmer weather when I typed that heading, because it's clearly cold and blustery outside as I'm typing this post. Does anyone else have that problem? Also, after recording reading grades on everyone's mid-term I was very concerned about reading grades being unusually (and shockingly) low. After investigating further in the gradebook I realized that our Author's Purpose quiz had been entered as the default'; 10 point quiz instead of 4, AND it was included in the final grade (which I hadn't intended). Oops! If you were watching PowerSchool I apologize for the unnecessary anxiety! Needless to say, after correcting it I had to change everyone's reading grades and felt MUCH better! Moment of panic avoided!!! Phew!!!

On Friday we started working on two classroom goals: 1 - clean room, and 2 - be ready. Every week we will start with 10 points for everyday of the week (ie: next week is a 4 day week, so we'll start with 40 points). Anytime I clean up unnecessary items or we aren't ready when expected we lose a point, and anytime students are going above and beyond we gain a point. At the end of the week if we have remaining points we've earned class reward time. We started Friday morning and the class was all-in! Students were working together well, encouraging one another, and paying attention to time management as we transitioned throughout the day. It was great!

I encouraged everyone to find some creative ways to be active INdoors over the weekend due to the cold temperatures. I promised to post a link to a Zumba class that I found online. I haven't watched it all the way through, but the video is from Hull College and appears to be led by a college student. Josiah loves to watch and dance around in our living room at home. The man who leads it is quite the dancer, and it's a great workout! Here's the link to YouTube!

Last, but not least, here are a few pictures of the illustrations students created to go along with the story One Small Place in a Tree!

Quick Reminders & Updates!

Math Assessment --- tomorrow! Covering Unit 5 study of decimals!

Writing publishing --- Watch your email and the blog (in the next day or two) for information on publishing stories from writers workshop at home!

Mid-terms --- Reports will come home next Friday! Watch your child's Home Folder!!!

Next math unit --- Unit 6 will be Geometry (my personal favorite)! We will be studying different kinds of triangles, lines / line segments, and angles and constructing these from straws and twist ties!!!

No school Jan 21!!!

Conference Slips --- These were sent home on Wednesday and should be returned ASAP!!!!! I look forward to visiting with you in a few weeks regarding your child's progress!

Writing conferences --- Last week we began conferences in writing, and we are loving it! Every day in Writers Workshop I  meet one-on-one with 3-4 students to read their most recent draft to provide a praise (what they're doing well) and a prompt (what to work on in their next draft). I am SO impressed by the drafts that students have shared with me so far!!!

Young Author's project --- We are currently working on a Young Author's Writing Contest project with Mrs. Bonham. On Monday and Tuesday we read several fairy tales and discussed what features make a book a fairy tale. Beginning yesterday students began planning the components of their own fairy tales, and today we began writing. The ideas are popping and the creative juices are flowing! I can't wait to share them with you!!!

Even though I personally have a little touch of spring fever (every year it seems to hit earlier and earlier), it's still very cold outside during recess (gotta love that ND wind!)...please continue sending snow pants, gloves, hats, etc!!!

Book orders are due on MONDAY!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!!!!

January Book Orders

Thank you to Caiden for staying after school today to separate book orders and put them in mailboxes!!! Lucky (grades 2-3), Amazing History, and Click (technology) will be coming home tomorrow, and SeeSaw (grades K-1) and Arrow (grades 4-6) are available online!

Due date will be Monday, January 14th, instead of Friday, January 11th!!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Rockin Day!

Wow! What a improvement today! Total 180 from Wednesday!!! I was so impressed by the way students listened to and followed directions quickly, the way students completed their work, and the positive attitudes. We'll just call Wednesday our "holiday hangover" day. :)

Here's a look at what we are jumping back into this week!

Math: Decimals! Yikes, that's brand new! Although, we are seeing the light turn on for many and are really getting a great grasp on things. Right now we are studying tenths and hundredths, which we often relate to dimes and pennies.

Writing: Building the paragraph. This is a huge skill for 3rd graders that works on taking our current stories and "beefing" them up a little.

Science: Magnetism! So far we have learned the magnets possess a special property of attraction, called magnetism. We've also learned that magnets attract only two kinds of metals: _____ and _____ (ask your child to fill in those blanks!). One of the most exciting discoveries has been that iron can take on induced magnetism from being in contact with a magnet, and it can become a temporary magnet itself! By sticking a nail to our magnet, the nail was then able to pick up a paperclip (even though the nail itself is not normally magnetic), and when we gently removed the magnet the paperclip stayed stuck to the nail! Next investigation...how do we measure the force of attraction between two magnets?

Social Studies: Moving on to Unit 3 and learning about how people affect a community. The students have already had some VERY interesting conversations with Mrs. Farkas in only 1 day.

Reading: We are moving transitioning several of our reading groups into a "Book Club" format, which means students will spend more time reading on their own and then regroup to discuss or respond to their story.

Quick reminders:

1. Fargo Force reading calendars for December need to be returned ASAP! January calendars and Fargo Force Calendars were in mailboxes today!
2. Snow gear needs to come to school every day. :-) It's cold out!!!

Homework!

Well, we have homework tonight! Students have been assigned to finish reading One Small Place in a Tree (p. 421-422) and answer the questions on p. 423. These questions need to be answered in complete sentences and written after the 6 vocabulary definitions we recorded today in class. I'll leave it up to your child to explain why our work wasn't completed in class this afternoon...

Thanks for your support at home!!!