Math: We are about halfway through our unit on multiplication and division patterns and concepts. This week we are seeing what strategies we can use to solve a variety of word problems involving a game store. It is really informative to see students' work and have them talk the class through how they solved the problem. Some strategies used were grouping (as seen in the Loops and Groups game that was homework a couple weeks ago), repeated addition, tally marks, and drawing a picture. Students will continue working on a variety of multiplication and division story problems before getting a chance to write their own problem later this week.
Reading: We finished up
Tales from the Odyssey Part 1 by Mary Pope Osborne last week. She left us with a cliffhanger and there was much enthusiasm to continue onto the second (and final) book in the series. Will Odysseus ever return to his homeland and his beloved wife and son? What dangers and perils await him as he continues his seemingly never-ending journey home? We will find out as we continue reading this fantastical and gripping tale.
We have also been focusing on reading non-fiction in class. Students have been reading articles on Newsela.com and answering some of the quiz questions that are included on the website. The website offers the same article at a range of reading levels and covers a wide-range of current event topics happening all over the country and all over the world. We have also started reading Scholastic News in the classroom every other week. We will be starting this week's edition about Rosa Parks tomorrow.
Writing: In January we were lucky enough to have a dear friend of mine visit our classroom for a poetry workshop. Francesca has been writing poetry and leading workshops all over the country and was happy to come and share some of her prompts and ideas with our very curious and engaged third graders. Students also got to practice writing found word poems after we read the powerful book
Martin's Big Words to celebrate and learn more about the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will be starting a research project in conjunction with our rocks and minerals unit after our field trip to the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals next Wednesday.
Science: This week we have officially kicked of our unit on Rocks and Minerals. Students have been brainstorming what we think we know and what we want to learn about rocks and getting to explore a variety of rocks with our senses, write down our observations and practice sorting our rock collections in different ways. We will continue to learn about how rocks are formed and how they are categorized before moving on to minerals next week.
Wapato: Our next trip to Wapato will be on
Thursday, February 19th. We will be continuing our routines of sit-spots and sharing, as well as writing some nature inspired haikus and doing some observations related to our work with rocks and minerals in the classroom.
Our
Winter Music concert is happening
Wednesday, February 4th, at 6pm at the
Scappoose High School.
Talent Show: Our school wide talent show is happening on
Friday, February 27th, at 6pm. Third graders are invited to audition for me in class during recess anytime between now and February 21st. Their act should be 3 minutes or less. Students can perform on their own or with a group of friends. If your act includes music, you will need to provide a CD or flash drive with your song for the talent show.
As always, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about anything mentioned above. Thanks!
