Classroom Update: October 29, 2016

This week was packed with lots of fun activities in Room 227!

We have begun an integrated reading and social studies unit on the election. We are using literary concepts and themes to understand the election process. Students nominated potential candidates to the "Informational" and "Narrative" political parties. Then, we narrowed down our field of candidates through a series of caucuses and primaries. Our final two candidates are Tom Brady (from Tom Brady: Football Superstar by Matt Scheff) and Harry Potter (from the Harry Potter series). We discussed how politicians use persuasive images and words to convince people to support them. We made campaign posters to persuade classmates and people around the school to vote for our preferred candidates.

In math this week, we practiced rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. Our student teacher Ms. Stanizzi led a fun lesson where students "rounded up" balloon animals to the nearest benchmark number. We've now concluded our unit on rounding, addition, and subtraction; however, we'll continue to revisit these concepts throughout the year. Next up: multiplication!

In science, we are learning about patterns of motion. We are studying how objects move and the forces that act upon them. We made paper airplanes and drew force diagrams to describe all of the forces at work when a plane is in flight. We'll be engineering paper airplane designs to maximize the distance that they can travel.

Classroom Update: October 21, 2016

In Science, we are continuing our study of magnetism. This week, we did explorations of magnetic fields and forces. 

In Math, we continue to practice addition and subtraction strategies for three-digit numbers. This week, our focus was on communicating mathematical reasoning.Today we played a game of “Musical Math” to practice telling different partners how we solved a problem. Ask your child how he or she liked this activity!

In Writing, students continue to develop their personal narrative writing. Some students have begun typing their stories on iPads or desktops, building keyboarding skills. 

We have begun an integrated Social Studies and Reading mini-unit on the presidential election. This week, we read about the election process and students wrote about what they would do if they were in charge of the country. Next week, students will start staging a mock election campaign for literary characters. 

Classroom Update: October 14, 2016

We accomplished many things during this short week!

In Math, we continued to gain practice with addition and subtraction strategies. This week, we applied these strategies to three-digit numbers.

In Reading, we began writing reading responses. Writing about literature is a skill that we will be developing throughout the year.

We began a new Science unit on magnetism. Today we did some exploratory activities to learn about magnetic forces. 

And in Writing, students continued drafting their personal narrative stories. 

Have a great weekend!

Classroom Update: October 7, 2016

Below, you will find an update on our learning from the week. 

In Word Study, we practiced different ways to study this week's words. Each week, students are assigned a pair of homophones and a list of words that fit a particular spelling pattern. This week's homophones are "scene" and "seen," while the spelling pattern of the week is words ending in "ch." We completed a variety of activities to practice these words including...

...Building words with magnets....

....An activity called "Roll a Word"...

....The "Swatting Game"....

...And activities on the website Spelling City.

In Reading, we continue to build the skill of finding evidence. This week, we read a passage about Benjamin Franklin and looked for evidence to support the statement, "Benjamin Franklin had many talents." Ask your child about one of Franklin's many careers!

In Writing, our student teacher Ms. Stanizzi gave students strategies for writing effective beginnings to stories. Some of the strategies include asking a question, describing actions, using dialogue, or using a sound word. Students applied these strategies to their own narrative writing.

In Math, we introduced a new tool called Xtra Math. This is a website where students can practice their basic addition and subtraction facts. Later in the year, we will use it as a tool to memorize multiplication and division facts. Right now in math, we are working on refining and strengthening our strategies for solving addition and subtraction strategies.

Addition Strategies

Subtraction Strategies

In Social Studies, we are wrapping up our unit on local geography and map skills. We reviewed the facts that we learned this unit by playing a game of jeopardy today.

Classroom Update: October 7, 2016

Here's an update on our learning from this week. :)

In Word Study, we practiced different ways to study this week's words. Each week, students are assigned a pair of homophones and a list of words that fit a particular spelling pattern. This week's homophones are "scene" and "seen." This week's spelling pattern was words ending in "ch." We completed a variety of activities to practice these words including...

Building words with magnets....

An activity called "Roll a Word"...

The "Swatting Game"....

And activities on the website Spelling City.

In Reading, we continue to build the skill of finding evidence. This week, we read a passage about Benjamin Franklin and looked for evidence to support the statement "Benjamin Franklin had many talents." Ask your child about one of Franklin's many careers!

In Writing, our student teacher Ms. Stanizzi gave students strategies for writing effective beginnings to stories. Some of the strategies include asking a question, describing actions, using dialogue, or using a sound word. Students applied these strategies to their own narrative writing.

In Math, we introduced a new tool called Xtra Math. This is a website where students can practice their basic addition and subtraction facts. Later in the year, we will use it as a tool to memorize multiplication and division facts. Right now in math, we are working on refining and strengthening our strategies for solving addition and subtraction strategies.

Addition Strategies

Subtraction Strategies

In Social Studies, we are wrapping up our unit on local geography and map skills. We reviewed the facts that we learned this unit by playing a game of jeopardy today.

Classroom Update: October 3, 2016

It was so nice meeting many of you Thursday evening at Curriculum Night! Below, you will find updates on what we are studying across the curriculum. 

In social studies, we learned about Arlington landmarks including Old Schwamb Mill, the Robbins Library, the Jason Russell House, the Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum, and the Minuteman Bikeway. Students chose one of these noteworthy places, and made a postcard telling interesting facts about it.

In reading, we continue to practice foundational reading skills including building independent reading stamina, finding textual evidence, and writing summaries. We are maintaining reading logs to keep track of the books that we are reading.

In math, we are practicing rounding to the nearest ten and hundred. We continue to strengthen our understandings of addition and subtraction strategies. This week, we introduced a new math tool called TenMarks. TenMarks is an engaging and motivating math program that incorporates all major third grade math topics.

In writing, students continue to draft their personal narrative pieces, incorporating the strategy of "showing, not telling." I'm enjoying reading each of their creative stories!