new pictures, not so new lesson

Ok...so this lesson was done LAST week...but I have yet to meet a parent who doesn't like to see pictures of their kids...so better late than never, right?! I only wish I had one of everybody...but I took them the same day as the "Mr. Esko virtual field trip" so I knew I had covered everyone there...anyway...enjoy!

"How to...read my blog post...."

Yup, that's right...we're heavy into "How to" essays, so I thought I might write a "How to" essay myself....here goes...


Have you ever clicked on a blog and wondered, "Why should I bother reading this?" Well, I have and I'm here to tell you that you SHOULD read it and there is an art to reading a blog. Read on to find out the best way to peruse (like my word choice?) the blog of your choice!


Before you start reading, you need to be in front of a computer and you should try to have the room quiet. This will help with your concentration. You may also need your weekly calendar and possibly reading glasses, this of course depends on your age!! It's very important to make sure you have an uninterrupted five minutes so that you can read from beginning to end. This will make your reading more enjoyable and informative. It may be helpful to have a pillow, too. Wondering why? Read on to find out.


Now that you have all of your materials, it's time to get started. First, read the title of the blog post to get an idea of what the blog will be about. Often my blog title includes the word "Friday" since it is the end of the week and I am giving a summary of the way the students spent their days in my classroom. Secondly, you should peruse the sub headings. For instance, to find out what we did in Language Arts this week, you would read the sub heading "Language Arts" which is always in blue. What order you read the sub headings is your choice...maybe you enjoy math the most, then by all means, go straight to that section! But don't forget to make sure to cover all the sub headings! After reading all of the subheadings and their information, check to see if I have included an important dates section. Take out your calendar and mark all of the dates on it right away...this is extremely important. You wouldn't want your child to show up on picture day in his/her pajamas or on pajama day in his or her "picture" clothes! Last, but not least, always read the last sentence. That is the place where I try to send a personal message to all of you because you are important to my students, therefore you are important to me. Oh yeah, and the pillow...it has two uses. You can put it over your mouth to stifle your laughter when I am hilarious, or you can use it to nap if the blog is a little wordy and you get tired. :-)


Reading blogs can be informative, but can also be fun. I hope this information helps you enjoy reading our blog for many months to come!


There you have it...I plan to show this to the kids on Monday to use as a model. They have become very good at using the Six Traits rubric to score writing pieces...against my better judgement, I will let them score my piece!


Language Arts
I'm guessing you've got a good handle on what we've been focusing on in writing! This week in our novel unit we have been focusing on identifying the conflict and resolution. This is a difficult concept for some...finding the solution that matches the problem. We've also been working hard on becoming excellent discussion participants...my class is full of kids who love to share their thoughts...these same kids are not always willing to listen to each other's thoughts...and furthermore, they are not always willing to accept questions from their peers about their own thoughts...is this making any sense? Anyway...we're working on being able to alter our thoughts based on other people's thoughts and ideas...sounds easy, but its really not!


Math
We finished our mode, mean, median unit with some tough problem solving..."Which is a more accurate average: the mean or the median?" The answer to this question depends totally on the data...but the kids have become very successful in figuring this out. We are also working on a new math investigation..."How does the weight of 1/2 an apple change as days pass?" We are making predictions and verifying them using scales and standard units of measurement.


Science
We have wrapped up fossils...we are moving into soils.

Personal Body Safety
For four of the five days this week we have had lessons on personal body safety. Your children have been extremely mature and have asked excellent questions. We have discussed safe touches, unsafe touches, and unwanted touches. They have been introduced to new vocabulary: victim, sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, and have been taught the difference between an OK secret and a not OK secret. The students created a Trusted Adult Directory so they know they have more than one person to turn to with a question or concern. At the end of each lesson the students are given a file card to jot down a question that they are wondering about...even if the kids do not have a question, I require them to write something down...this way, all questions are confidential since everyone has dropped one in the box. Again, I have been extremely impressed with their maturity handling this subject.

Other News
We went to the high school on Tuesday to see "Bye, Bye Birdie"...what a treat! We spent some time when we returned to school talking about all of the different jobs required for a successful production...it will be wonderful common ground for our plays unit.

Last, but not least...our own Allie Majadly was one of three third graders at UES that represented our school last Friday at the Frederick County History Bee! She was one of over 120 students in the county that participated in Round One, and she did sooo well, she made it to Round Two. Only 40 kids made it to the second round!! This round included a lot of information that third graders had not learned yet, so the second round was her last round...we are VERY PROUD of her!! CONGRATULATIONS, ALLIE!!

Important Dates:
March 29 Have novel finished for book report
April 2 - 5 No School
April 12 Book Report due/presentation to class
April 22 Math Night

Have a wonderful weekend! Let's hope the warmer weather returns soon!

Sorry it's so late...

When I tell you I spent 10 hours on baseball fields yesterday, I am not exaggerating...welcome to my Spring! Both of my boys play travel baseball and Kate and I watch A LOT of games...my husband coaches, so its a family affair. Luckily it was beautiful weather, so it was a fun weekend to be outdoors.

As to last week...let me do a REALLY quick summary...

Language Arts
We held discussion groups last week. The topic was conflict/resolution. First, each child read the chapter independently. Then they each had to record what they believed was the conflict/resolution of the chapter. They met with their groups and each person had to share their thoughts, and then the group was instructed to discuss. I was very impressed with the kids' abilities to have organized discussions. They were allowed to change their minds, or add to their original ideas during the discussion. Lots of kids erased and rewrote as they participated...which to me was an excellent sign of being good listeners and discussion participants. However, during this process, it became evident that some kids are rushing through their reading and were not having strong comprehension of the plot. I am hoping to see some honest committment to comprehension this week!

We have finished the instruction of all cursive letters and will begin to use cursive handwriting on a more consistent basis. If you notice your child has particular difficulty with certain letters, use the link on my sidebar and go to Zaner Bloser...they make creating a practice worksheet very easy for users...I showed the kids how to make one, so you can always ask your child for help!

Math
Last week we focused on statistics...finding the mean, mode, median, and range of data. Each child worked in a group collecting data, organizing the data, calculating the data, and then presenting the data to the class. As we studied each group's poster we were able to clear up some confusion when it comes to finding the median...EVERY piece of data must be listed to find the median...I think they are more confident in this now. The kids also took a division test on Friday...testing their ability to estimate, long divide, and solve word problems.

Science
We spent a lot of time with fossils this week. Along with our virtual field trip, the kids read about fossils, watched video clips about fossils, and made mold and cast fossils. This fossil making lesson was a definite favorite...we used seashells to creat a mold cassil in clay, and then used plaster of paris to create the cast fossil inside the mold. I have some great pictures that I will try to load up in the next day or two.

REMINDERS:
Class pictures are TOMORROW.
Field Trip to Urbana High School is Tuesday to view Bye Bye Birdie.

I hope you and your family were able to spend time outside this weekend. Have a great week!

Our Virtual Field Trip

Today we were fortunate to go spend the morning with Mr. Esko. He treated us to a virtual field trip to Purse State Park...on the Potomac River...the kids were introduced to a lot of new vocabulary: paleozoic, mesozoic, cenozoic, megalodon (a shark...ask your child how long it was), and so much more. The kids got to dig in the sand as they would have if we had actually visited there...they discovered fossils...and then spent a long time sorting them based on their similarities and differences. Mr. Esko shared the name of each fossil and where it was found...we were all just hanging on his every word. We spent and hour and 1/2 in Mr. Esko's room and time flew as we traveled with him. We are all so appreciative of the time he put into our lesson.

Thank you, Mr. Esko!!

IT'S OVER....

Where to begin?!!

Let's start with what an absolutely AMAZING job your kids did on their MSA tests...they were rewarded all week with extra recess and no homework...I'm extremely proud of your kids and you should be, too!


Although it may seem as if all we did this week was test...there were some other really cool things going on this week...read on...


SCIENCE
This week in science our focus was on weathering and erosion. We read from the textbook, we watched video clips, had multiple discussions, completed a fill in the blank worksheet, and finally, the culminating activity...we simulated the effects of wind and water on three different Earth substances...sand, soil, and rocks. We've had beautiful weather, so we took full advantage of it and headed outside for "wind and rain storms"! Each student observed three different mountains pre-wind and pre-water. Then with the help of third graders' lungs, we simulated wind and recorded our observations. After wind, they observed as a cup of water was poured onto each mountain and recorded those observations. And finally, Mr. Schartner demonstrated how wind and water effect a mountain where sand, soil and rock are all mixed together. Based on all of their data, they made conclusions as to how wind and water effect the different substances. It was a fun afternoon...check it out below!!






























LANGUAGE ARTS
This week in language arts we focused on "Juicy Words"...words that give reading and writing better and more precise meaning. We read the book, "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Book" and found lots of "juicy" adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns...each student chose one of the "juicy words"...looking for one they were somewhat unfamiliar with...they each completed a word map for their word...I am always so excited to see kids that are motivated by new words. "Juicy Words" will be a push for the upcoming months!

As an introduction to our plays unit (a little later this Spring), we are headed to Urbana High School next Tuesday 3/23 to see the high school production of Bye, Bye Birdie. Please send your child's permission slip in on Monday. There is no fee for this field trip.

Important Dates
Monday, March 22nd Class Pictures

Tuesday, March 23rd Field Trip to UHS - Bye, Bye Birdie

March 22-26 Personal Body Safety Unit for 3rd grade

It's MSA time!

I feel so good about how prepared your kids are for the MSA's!! They don't have any idea what to expect, and the unknown is kind of scary...but yesterday I shared with them some of the "perks" of MSA week...now they are looking forward to a week with no homework and some extra recess time! Putting the "kid spin" on testing can help ease their minds! Please do your part by making sure your child...

• has a good breakfast
• gets plenty of sleep
• feels good about themselves (as we all know, confidence is over half the battle!)

Thank you to those of you that have gotten the cards/notes to me...if I did not receive yours, please send it Monday am...they will be on the kids' desks when they arrive...thank you!

WOW, did we have a busy week...here's how it all went down...

MATH - this week in math we focused on a different skill each day...we measured things around the room to the nearest 1/4 inch...we discussed how something can be 3 and 1/2 inches and still be measured to the nearest 1/4 inch...since 2/4 is equal to 1/2...this was new territory for most of them...they thought that if it was to the nearest quarter inch, there MUST be a 1/4 inch in the measurement...I think they've got it now! Another day we created paper airplanes, and flew them in the cafeteria. We measure their flight distance using meters, centimeters, and millimeters...this was definitely a highlight of the week...the smiles in the pictures below speak volumes!! We also worked with temperature this week...experimenting with the thermometer both inside and outside, reading temperatures using Celsius and Fahrenheit...and then of course, we did some practice MSA activities so that the kids could get used to the seating arrangements and become accustomed to looking up on the screen to view the stopwatch that tells them how much time they have left to work. We went over all of the practice activities and they scored their own papers so they could see errors and how to write better answers.

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LANGUAGE ARTS - this week we finished the persuasive essays...they are fantastic!! What an amazing group of writers I have...they were told about a week and 1/2 ago that the administration was considering taking away recess in order to gain back some instructional time. They were to form an opinion about whether or not they felt recess should stay or go. They used a hand-made graphic organizer to put together their supporting reasons for their opinion and the details that support that reason. Then, after discussion and modeling, they turned their graphic organizer into the rough draft version of their essay. After completion, they met with a peer to go over organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. Their final drafts were written using strong conventions and in their neatest handwriting. These essays were presented to Mrs. Hollenbeck and Mr. Watkins. The kids must have been very persuasive...the majority of them wanted recess to remain in the schedule and that was indeed the final decision. Mrs. Hollenbeck quoted many different students' reasons stating that they were excellent points on both sides of the argument...but in the end the "staying healthy" and "brains that get a break think better" reasons won her over!

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Also in Language Arts this week we have continued with our novel...the kids are reading, discussing, and writing about this wonderful story. I think some of them are frustrated because they just want to read the book and not stop to talk, think, write...they're such avid readers that once they start a good book, they hate to put it down...but I keep making them put it down!! I am working with the kids on writing strong answers to comprehension questions...being a "word thief"...stealing the words FROM the question...makes writing a strong complete sentence very easy...I told them it's the only time they are allowed to steal in my classroom! :-)

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And of course, the work with homophones this week...our word study lessons always have a focus...but your child's list may not always reflect the focus because if they get all of the words correct on their pretest, they are to find challenging words to put on their lists...I always provide a challenge list that stays with the focus...but some of your kids would much rather attack a dictionary and find outlandish words! I usually have to look half of them up to a) see if your child spelled it correctly, and b) see what it means! So, just in case you were wondering where some of the words come from...there you have it!

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SCIENCE - we dove back into science some this week...we viewed a fantastic DVD titled, Bill Nye the Science Guy - Rocks and Soil...something about that man makes everything fun to learn about! We also did an experiment titled "Cookie Rocks"...instead of edible items, we used clay and lots of different "minerals" hidden in the clay (beads of different shapes and colors)...the kids used a spring scale to weigh their rock and then dissected the rock to discover all of the different minerals...they then weighed the minerals separately and the clay separately to discover if there was any difference from the original weight. They recorded all of their observations and data while working and then we ended the experiment with a discussion in which the kids were using all kinds of great vocabulary. I really love this unit. Next week we will be working with/learning about weathering and erosion...stay tuned!

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I'm sorry I'm a day late with the post...may I brag on my middle schooler for a minute? Connor and two of his friends are participating in the National History Day "fair" (sort of like a science fair, but for social studies)...their project was selected to represent UMS...they met at my house yesterday afternoon because they found out that along with the model castle and power point they had prepared, they also needed a 500 word essay. I had to leave school right away so the boys could work at our house to complete the paper. Needless to say, they had access to our computer, and their needs came first! I am headed out now to go take pictures and watch their presentation! I hope you have a great weekend with your families...I look forward to seeing your lovelies Monday morning...and don't worry...after day one and the initial "what's it like?" worry...they'll be just fine! I promise. :-)