Fish Dissection Photos

Here are a few photos of our visit from Andy with the Estuary Partnership last month.

We did not dissect these guys but aren't they cute?!

Welcome to December!

Hello Dear Parents of 3rd Graders! I apologize for how long it has been since my last post. November was a busy but short month in terms of teaching days. I really enjoyed getting to connect with you all last week and discuss the progress your children are making at school. I hope everyone had lovely vacations with their families. I was able to enjoy my first American Thanksgiving in three years! It was delicious. 

Here is what we have going on this month:

Literacy: We are wrapping up our Personal Narrative Unit and will have an Author's Tea/ Publishing Party this Friday afternoon (please let me know if you are interested in being a part of this event). We will also be wrapping up our read aloud book The One and Only Ivan this week before moving on to our study of Native American Folktales. Students will continue to build stamina by reading for at least 20 minutes on their own every day (we also have two to three volunteers reading with first graders every day). Starting next week they will be working in small groups to read and discuss the message of the short Native American folktales and present them to the class. 

Math: We have wrapped up our unit on Place Value and multiple digit addition and subtraction and have moved on to Two and Three-Dimensional Geometry. Before our break from school we read a story called The Greedy Triangle and practiced drawing and thinking about where we see shapes in our everyday world. This week we will be creating our own tangram sets and working with geoboards to continue to build geometric vocabulary and a deeper understanding of geometric concepts. 

Social Studies/Science: We had a fabulous time at the Lelooska Cultural Center on November 20th. We weren't able to take pictures of the actual performance itself but we heard a variety of folktales were told in front of the campfire and were then reenacted with dancing, singing, and colorful masks. We then had some time to explore the artifacts in their museum before heading to Lake Merwin Park for lunch and a group photo ( see below). Students will be bringing in their Gifts of Nature next week for our in class potlatch and gift exchange. We will continue our study of local indigenous cultures through the reading and discussing of folktales in the coming weeks. As of now it does not look like the Tribal Heritage Night will be happening this year.

Our Salmon Fry continue to thrive! We have only had a few casualties thus far and one minor "crisis" which ended up not being a big deal after all. We will be learning more about the salmon life cycle and anatomy in the next two weeks before we say farewell to the salmon and release them to their natural habitat on Thursday, December 11th. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Education Department will be coming in on Tuesday December 9th to lead an activity on Salmon Dissection, it should be very informative and slightly smelly and gross. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Homework for the Week of November 3rd

Homework has changed a bit in third grade. We will now have daily Spelling work with a "quiz" on Fridays and a Reading Response due the following Monday of each week as well as a Math game/worksheet.

Spelling Homework

Week of November 3rd, 2014

Week 1: Short Vowel Sounds

When there is one vowel in a word, either at the beginning or between two consonants, it usually has the short vowel sound.

Monday: Write each word five times in your spelling notebook

Tuesday: Use each of your spelling words in a sentence

Wednesday: Write each of your spelling words as a word triangle

Ex:      c

        ca

        cas

      cash

Thursday: Have an adult quiz you for "test" on Friday.

List of Spelling Words: 

(Students were asked to choose 8-12 of these words to study)

grass                          smell                     will            fox

fact                            hands                   camp         summer

plus                            can't                    else            well

Sunday                      spins                    drops         think

kitten                           fish                        

Challenge Words:

acknowledge

endless

upstairs

absolutely

Chinook

indigenous

particular

fashion

Reading Response 

Week of November 3rd, 2014

In your Homework Journal write one full page about what you are reading at home. If you are reading a chapter book please write a summary of the plot, characters and setting. If you are reading a non-fiction book, write at least two facts from your book. Do you read to yourself or with an adult or older sibling or both? 

Due: Monday, November 10th

Math: Home Connection 8: Play An Hour Or Bust with family member. Worksheet that goes along with it is due Monday, November 8th.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any comments or questions about this.

Thanks! 

Eagle Creek Photos

Friday's trip to Eagle Creek was a smashing success! We were able to see quite a few salmon who have made it back from their journey to the ocean. We spent some time examining their habitat before lunch. Then we participated in nature stations before our tour at the Cascade Fish Hatchery. Thanks to all the parent chaperones (& Mr. Nick) who helped make the day run smoothly. And a special thanks to Erin and Casey for these awesome photos!

Writing in nature journals.

Learning how to use binoculars for a bit of bird-watching (Thanks to Mrs. Fisher for letting us borrow her supplies!)

Taking notes on the salmons' habitat.

Salmon in action!

Checking out the salmon after we first arrived.

More habitat study.

Third graders had lots of thoughtful and insightful questions for our friend Neil at the hatchery. 

Cathlapotle Plankhouse Photos

Here are a few photos from our trip to the Cathlapotle Plankhouse field trip last Tuesday. Thanks to Nicole for taking the photos! 

Nature Walk

Entering the plankhouse

Front of the Plankhouse: This plank house is a replica of a traditional Chinookan plankhouse. The Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge collaborated with local Chinook Indians to build the plank house and it is still used by tribe members for ceremonies and events today. 

Class Photo :)

The traditional way of entering the plankhouse as a visitor is backwards. This shows the people inside the plankhouse that you were entering in peace. 

Highlights of Last Week

'Twas a busy (& short) week in 3rd grade. On Tuesday we had our schoolwide Jog-a-Thon. We ran our hearts out in an effort to "bridge the gap" and raise money for our school.

 

On Thursday we had our first expedition to Wapato Park. We got to know the park a bit and students had some time in their "sit spots" to quietly observe, sketch and journal about what they were seeing, smelling, hearing and feeling. Then we spent some time sharing in small groups before it was time to head back to school. 

What's Been Going on in 3rd Grade

Hello Dear Parents. I can hardly believe it is October already. Here is an overview of what has been going on in third grade. 

Math:  We have wrapped up our first unit in the Bridges curriculum, "Computation, Algebraic Thinking and Probability" and have started Unit Two: Place Value Structures and Multi-Digit Computation. Unit One was a lot of review from what they learned in second grade, i.e. different strategies for basic addition (up to 20) and subtraction. We also worked a lot on noticing patterns and developing language to discuss what is going on in a pattern. As most of you saw at Open House, our Number Corner calendar for the month of September was all about different tools of measurement (length, weight, etc). This month we will be working with base ten pieces to help us in computing math problems with larger numbers. We will also be working on expanded notation (100 + 50 + 2 = 152) and writing numbers in words. 

Reading: This group never ceases to amaze me with their enthusiasm and drive for reading! We have wrapped up our first read aloud book, Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, and will be starting The One and Only Ivan later on this week (which is a 2014 Battle of the Books book). Students are getting into the routine of writing a letter to me in their reading journals once a week. These letters give them an opportunity to write about what they are reading and as well as ask me any questions about what they are confused about in their book and answer the questions I ask them. We owe Mr. Asa a huge thank you for leaving so many great books behind for our classroom library, it warms my teaching heart when I look around the room during D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time and every single student is reading a book they are interested in from our library.

Writing: September was all about getting down the routine for writers workshop. We practiced brainstorming what to write about and sketching out a story to help us think about what we are writing like it is "a movie in our minds". Students are developing an understanding of the different phases of the writing process and most have been able to bring at least one piece of writing to final draft. This month we will zoom in on the qualities of narrative writing and be practicing writing true stories about our lives before moving on to imaginative narratives next month. I love reading their stories and getting a glimpse into their lives outside of school. 

Science:  We had our first walk about on school grounds yesterday to get us ready for our first trip to Wapato this Thursday. Students had their thoughtfully decorated nature journals in hand as we took advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having and walked over the "forrest" near the grange. Students found a sit spot and spent about 10 minutes observing and writing about what they were seeing, smelling and hearing. We will be doing this same routine pretty much every time we go to Wapato, and will start off our field study this week by doing the Wapato Loop to get a feel for the park as a whole. 

Social Studies:  As I mentioned in my post last week we are just kicking off our study of Native people from this area. We were delivered a box of "mysterious artifacts" and a letter from a local archeologist asking us who might have made these objects. We have determined that it was Native or indigenous folks from this area but now we have been asked by the same archeologist to determine who might have wrote them. We are gearing up for our trip to the Cathlapotle Plank House next Tuesday where we will get to see a replica of a Chinookian plank house. We will be constructing our own models of these plank houses in the coming weeks as well. 

Also, there have been some questions about homework and specifically spelling. We will be starting to work with specific spelling rules this week which will eventually be part of their weekly homework, but for now we will just be getting the routine down as a class. We are working towards having a cluster of spelling words to study each week, one reading response to write and a math P.O.W. (problem of the week) to solve as well.. Thank you for your patience as we learn these routines as a class! 

Have a great week!

Ms. Shannon