Three generations of Anastasi women (my maiden name) making cookies in my kitchen...so fun!
(Ignore the date on the picture...I may be great at blogging...not so much with photography!)
I bet many of you and your families are enjoying family traditions this month...I am SO looking forward to learning about your different family and cultural traditions next week. We are spending a good part of Monday sharing our cultural projects...and I can't wait to hear and see what the children have to share! One reminder...the rubric I will use to score the projects was included in the project papers...use it when having your child practice what they plan to share.
Our week was busy and fun...
Math
We continue to work on multiplication...I am so proud of all of the kids...I can say with confidence that every child in my class can multiply a two digit number by a one digit number (a fourth grade indicator)! Hip hip hooray! The group of kids that had already mastered this indicator have been diligently working on problem solving and extension activities. This group will work on multiplying a two digit number by another two digit number on Monday and Tuesday. We will continue with this unit the first week we return from break.
Social Studies
We are wrapping up our Peoples of the Nation and World unit...we have done some very higher level thinking activities with this unit. One of my favorites was watching two short videos...one about a child living in Italy and one about a child living in South Africa. The students took notes and then each child took a file card and cut it in thirds. They were to write different facts about each child focusing on the indicator...food, education, recreation, clothing, etc. We then sat around three different hoola hoops (yes, I said hoola hoops) and showed the intersection of three children...an Italian child, a South African child, and a child from the US. Even though the kids had written specific facts about a specific child...now they had to think about what part of the triple venn diagram the fact went into. The kids were amazed at how many times their facts went into the intersecting circles...for instance..."eats pasta and pizza" was written for the Italian child circle, but could certainly go into the intersection of the Italian child and the US child. We found that the South African child had more facts that ONLY went into the South African child circle than the other two...and we found that we have a lot in common with people all over the world. The conversations were wonderful! We will complete another triple venn diagram on Monday using a child from Lapland (most northern part of Finland), a child from China, and a child from the US. I look forward to this activity!!
Science
We begin a brand new third grade unit upon our return from winter break...Rocks, Soil, and Fossils. The third grade team was trained on this unit this summer and we are all excited about it! Any of you parents out there have anything you know about this unit that you'd like to come in and share with us?! Let me know if you are an expert in this area...we'd love to tap your knowledge!
Language Arts...
We're wrapping up the poetry unit...we've discussed similes, metaphors, the mood and tone of a poem...the kids brought their favorite lyrics to school...because a song is a poem, you know! They looked for elements of poetry and analyzed their favorite song...there was a lot of humming and singing during that lesson! :-)
Each child has finished their biography...they have all peer conferenced and I will have met with all of them by the end of Tuesday. They will be bringing their biographies home over break...if you could have them practice the reading of their biography, it would be SO helpful! We will spend the first week back in the cafeteria practicing our Wax Museum and preparing for YOU, the parents to come and see all of their hard work! Here is the schedule...we hope you can join us!
Wax Museum
Hall of Presidents and First Ladies
Dress Rehearsal
Thursday, January 8, 2009
9:15 am and 1:30 pm
for 1st and 2nd grade magnet classes
and the other third grade classes
(bring costume/artifact to school in a bag)
Parent Presentation
Friday, January 9, 2009
9:15 am
UES cafeteria
(approximately one hour in length)
We hope you will be able to join us! Please email me if you have any questions.
Have a great weekend!
