A Fun, Fun Week

What an amazing week! We have been working on production...production of plays, production of games in Math, and production of stories in Writer's Workshop! While we were not producing, we were participating in Field Day and our fantastic Field Trip Around Frederick. I could write all about it, but I think I'll let the movie tell the story. Click on A Fun, Fun Week below to see how we spent one and a half days this week!

A Fun, Fun Week

I was going to write something about the plays, but luckily for me, one of the students in our class decided to do some reporting, and in Writer's Workshop, she wrote an article about the production of our plays. I will let her words fill you in...

UES 3rd Grade Plays

by Ady Weng

Karen Wills, a current 3rd grade teacher at UES (Urbana Elementary School) states that her students have been working extremely hard on 3 plays. These 3 plays are delightful and your reporter has seen these kids working hard. There is a play called, "Once Upon 100 Years Nap." There are many people working on this play and I have seen their backdrop. They have a whole backdrop colored in! The second name of a play is, "Will the Real Abraham Lincoln Please Stand Up?" It is informative and is a comedy, too. "We have worked really hard on our sign," says Jake Sherwood, who evidently robbed several people of their grippies and cappies. He is also a stepsister of the 3rd play, "Cinderella Outgrows the Galss Slipper." I say this is by far the most interesting play of all. It is a twisted version of "Cinderella." If you want to see one of these or all of these delightful plays, come to UES on June 8th in the Auditorium.

Have a wonderful three day weekend with your families! And please remind your son/daughter that they need to bring their PROPS on Tuesday!!

Holy Stromboli...less than 20 days!

How did that happen?!!? Less than 20 days? OMG...we have SO much to do! Please keep talking to your kids about coming to school "ready to learn"...I will have them finishing things right up until the last day, so I need them engaged!!

Language Arts

We are heavy into play production. We have had one rehearsal for each play; and the scenery, scene signs, and props are almost ready. We will begin using the cafeteria stage next week where we will perfect scene changes, sound effects, etc. The kids are working very hard and very cooperatively, and are very proud of themselves...I just love them! While working on plays, we have also begun our last formal writing piece...this is a persuasive essay where they will choose a topic they feel passionate about! Speaking of essays...your child's "How to..." essay should have come home this week. That essay has been graded and has a rubric attached to show the kids (and you) how they did while considering the six traits of writing. They are designing pictures using Pixie to match the steps of their essays. They will take those pictures and put them into a Photo Story where they will use voice, text, and pictures to make a visual representation of their essay. (I told you we have a TON to do!!)

Social Studies
Our environmental unit is moving right along. We have a VERY environmentally aware group and the discussions that go along with this are riveting!! We will continue with these lessons until the end of the school year (did I mention it's less than 20 days!?!?)

Math

Soooo...we are working on board games in Math...most kids are using math for the subject area, but I didn't want to limit these very creative kids, so some kids have picked a different subject. They are sketching game boards, creating challenging questions, and writing explicit directions! (Ties in nicely with the Reading and Writing Functional Documents unit!) The kids are having a blast with this and working very hard! Some kids are working independently, and others are working in pairs...they are having their work reviewed by me every few steps, and then we will spend an entire afternoon playing each others games BEFORE making the final drafts...kids often find direction errors and/or game errors while playing! We will spend time playing the final drafts of these games June 8th...read below for more details!!

BREAKING NEWS...

Mrs. Wills' Class Theatrical Productions have been scheduled for parents!!

Mark your calendars...Wednesday, June 8th 9:30 am in the cafeteria!

Our performances will take approximately one hour with a "cast party" to follow, so plan to join us if you can!

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  I am planning to order a cake from Costco...if there is anyone that would be available to pick it up on Tuesday afternoon/evening and bring it Wednesday to the play, please send me an email...it would be greatly appreciated! I will have the cake plates, napkins and drinks. They have worked hard and I can't wait to celebrate their accomplishments!


• Also that afternoon, the kids will be playing the board games they are designing...if you want to hang out, have lunch with your child, and join our board game fun, you are more than welcome to join us!


• If there is a parent who would be willing to come to a dress rehearsal, so that he/she could work backstage during the parent production, send me an email...our dress rehearsals are that Monday and Tuesday.

Have a wonderful weekend with your families...did I tell you I'm goinng to be a grandma in the next three weeks!?!? My oldest son (he was five when I married my husband) and his wife are expecting a baby boy in less than a month!! We are SOOOO excited!! They live in Chattanooga, TN and we will head there as soon as we know they're in labor...don't worry, we won't be gone long, but we have to be there for the birth (or soon there after!) This baby's aunt and uncles wouldn't have it any other way...nor would my husband and I!!

Summer Reading Lists

Some parents have been inquiring about summer reading...I say, ask and you shall receive!

Frederick County Public Library has put together wonderful summer reading lists for 2011!

I have posted the list for 3rd -5th grades and the list for 6th-8th grades.

You can find the links on the menu bar to the right.

Happy Reading!!

Hey...it's not Monday yet!!

Hello to my favorite third graders' families! What a great Spring we're having!! So much to tell you...here we go....

Language Arts
We are all about plays right now...we spent most of the week focusing on stage presence and voice...we also started work on sets, backdrops, props, etc....

Our three plays are titled:
"Cinderella Outgrows the Glass Slipper"
"Once Upon a Hundred Years Nap"
"Will the Real Abraham Lincoln Please Stand Up?"

I promise by next week I will pick the date for the presentation of the plays so you can mark your calendars...I'm not quite ready to commit!

In Social Studies we have started the unit Environmental Issues...I can see this class really getting into this unit. We will be reading about and discussing different environmental issues, how they effect our communities, and what we can do to improve these issues. During this unit we will be writing persuasive essays...speaking of essays...no, I have not graded the "how-to essays" yet...but I have finally caught up with all other papers, so they are next! Writing takes a long time to grade...but I am excited to finally read them!!

We started off the week doing some problem solving in Math...questions where the kids can solve them in so many different ways...the questions all had solutions where multiplication was an efficient way to solve...but not everyone uses multiplication...its important for the kids to know there are multiple ways to solve problems, but that there are ways that are most efficient. So, after a four question pretest, I grouped the kids into three different groups...one group started out the week reviewing the algorithm for one digit times three digits multiplication...they eventually joined the second group which sarted out learning the algorithm for two digit times two digit multiplication. And my third group had the multiplication algorithms down pat, and they worked on applying the algorithms. It was a lot to manage, but it was by far a productive week. I still have a few friends that get confused in the one digit times three digit algorithm...this skill is important for next year...if you have trouble with one digit times any number, it is hard to master two factors that are two or more digits...this would be a great practice skill for the summer. I have only a few kids left that really need fact practice...I've talked to them and they know who they are...this is a must for summer!!

We will be continuing our problem solving this week...most of the problems will require a BCR answer...the kids always groan when they have to write BCRs...they hate to explain their thinking...but I will continue to push them until the very last day of school...you can count on that!

We have some cool assemblies this week...tomorrow the kids will be participating in an assembly titled, "Together We're Better" and the idea behind this assembly is sensitivity awareness...a young many with Asperger's Syndrome will talk about the challenges and successes in his life. Then on Wednesday, your kids will get to see the Band/Orchestra Recruitment show...this is an entertaining, fun show that will excite your child about the opportunity to play an instrument in 4th and/or 5th grade...so expect them to come home with a lot of enthusiasm about playing an instrument! Then on Thursday, Mrs. Fike will be visiting our class to share a lesson with the kids...this time we'll have the lesson in the computer lab...the kids are going to love that!!

Maybe we should just agree on Monday posts this Spring?!!?

Sorry AGAIN!! I could go into a long explanation of all EIGHT games I attended this weekend, but I won't bother...last week was wonderful and I want to update you!

I'm going to start with MATH because as I type, your children are taking a decimals quiz! Over the past two weeks we have been working with decimals...after the kids designed their Dream Homes and wrote about them, we completed some work in the textbook and did some problem solving...and yes, this is the second round of decimal work in the Wills' classroom! Upon giving the 4th quarter pretest it was definitely the subject where weaknesses showed up...but it was my job to make sure those kids who already had those concepts had a challenge, too...so we explored multiplying and dividing decimal fractions a bit! Our quiz today signifies the end of decimals in third grade...if your child has trouble with the quiz, it is a good indicator that he/she could use some extra practice over the summer!

Last week we began our unit on Plays in LANGUAGE ARTS! I love this unit and so do the kids. We spent the first few days on the elements of a play and read different plays. Then we voted on three plays we'd like to produce in our class...and I'm thrilled to say they picked three of my FAVORITES! The kids have chosen parts and are now practicing their lines. We're talking about backdrops and costumes and props...and I know they are going to be fantabulous! We will be performing these plays in early June...as we get closer, you'll get an invite! During all of this, I will be conducting reading inventories to assess your child's reading levels at this stage of third grade.

On Wednesday of last week I took the kids to the computer lab and introduced them to Moodle. It is an online classroom and I will be sending information home this week about the online course. It is a different way for kids to reflect on something they've read and respond to each other. It is a very secure site and I read all of their responses. Again, more to come later this week.

We finished final drafts of our "How-To" essays and am excited to read them...I just need about 300 extra hours to get all these papers graded and we'll be good! ;-)

Last, I would just like to thank you and your kids for making me feel so special during Teacher Appreciation Week...the cards, flowers, and gifts were so generous. Thank you...it is my absolute pleasure to work with your kids every day.

PLEASE forgive me...

Springtime is really crazy in the Wills house...truly, I left home Friday at 3:45pm and arrived back home Sunday night at 10:00 pm...then had a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday...and although all of that is true...I still owed you an update on Friday, so here it is...please forgive me...

Last week was a great week in our classroom! We started off Tuesday with a lesson using a book called Joyful Noise - Poems for Two Voices. These poems were all about insects and were written using different perspectives...we had a lot of wonderful, rich discussions about perspectives and then choral read these poems...I then challenged each child to try to write from two different perspectives during Writer's Workshop...I got some AMAZING work!! We continued with the perspectives theme all week...we read some fairy tales from different characters' perspectives and now I have kids writing new fairy tale versions, too...I love that they love to write!! The next day we started an informative writing piece using the "How-To Essay" framework. I modeled the prewriting last week using "How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich"...we had a lot of fun with that! Then they chose a topic they are highly interested in and wrote up the framework for their essay...they will eventually use PIXIE and a moviemaker program to publish this essay for the screen! It should be a really cool project! They wrote rough drafts yesterday while I wasn't here and I'm anxious to look at them.

On Wednesday of last week, the Maryland Historical Society came to visit the third grade magnet classes. They shared a program on what a child's life was like in the late 1800's here in Maryland. The kids got to use tools and toys that those children would have used or played with, and then we compared our lives. They had the homework assignment where they had to decide whether Lucy Bronson would prefer her own time, to our time. (I have so many papers to grade!!) It was a very worthwhile "in house field trip"!

And in Math this week, we focused on decimals, perimeter, and area...all topics the kids have covered this year, but we took it all a step further. They designed their "Dream Homes", calculated the decimal fraction of each room in their house, calculated the area and perimeter for each room, and then wrote an advertisement for the sale of that house. They enjoyed creating, and I was able to review and extend those particular math concepts.

What's up this week? LOTS MORE...but I will wait 'til Friday to write about it all...a couple reminders:

1. Strawberry Festival and our 50th Anniversary Celebration are this Friday!! I will be in the Sponge Throw for two slots, so come out and see if you can hit me!!
2. As the Spring is upon us, the hammer comes down more quickly...so you will see more #'s on checklists and some Think Sheets to have to be signed...I don't know how else to let them know that FOURTH QUARTER COUNTS!! :-)

Please email me with any questions. Have a great rest of the week!