WE do a lot of fun "stuff"!! Part TWO

Heart Math with our Buddy Class!!

We got together with our Mrs. Beach's 4th grade class and completed a math activity using candy hearts...we love hanging out with them and it was fun to do math together!  Thank you to Mrs. Beach for taking all of these wonderful pictures!!

WE do a lot of fun "stuff"!! Part ONE

Valentine's Day Party

Thank you to our three room parents - Mrs. Filburn, Mrs. Weisgerber, Mrs. Fields - for planning an amazing party!! And thank you to all of the other volunteers who came to help make our party a success!  Take a look at how much fun we had!

Have you heard about the COW in our room?

So...here she is!  Cart on Wheels...Computers on Wheels...not even sure which is correct...and I don't really care...it is magical!  It is fantastic!!  It is HOW IT SHOULD BE every day!!  But alas, she only gets to visit for about 10 days...we have to share...isn't that what we are supposed to teach the kids?  (Try to picture me throwing a tantrum screaming, "I don't want to share!!") Teehee!!

So that's what's going on in our classroom!  It was so amazing to have the kids for a full five day week...we got so much accomplished!  However...we have SOOOO much to do, and I cannot STAND the forecast I just heard.  O.M.G.  Please let them be really wrong!!

Let me first tell you what we've been up to...then I will go over "what's to come"...so grab a soda, a pillow, but stay awake!  Please read the entire post!

Language Arts
Our biography reading, research, and writing is taking up a lot of this time...but we manage to fit in subject and object pronouns, daily language drills, and handwriting, too!  The kids are at different phases of this project, but let me break it down for you...

-they chose a famous person who has made an impact on our country
-they read a book (or two or three) about that person

-they printed an article off an online research portal and read more about that person

-they take notes on file cards that are then categorized into their personal notes portfolio

-once all of the above steps are complete they use the cards to create a timeline of their person's life

-using the note cards in life order, they compose a biography of that person from the 1st person perspective...as if they ARE that person

And your child is in ONE of those phases right now!  ;-)  Actually, most kids are now writing their rough drafts...but not with a pencil...we are using the laptops to compose...we are also using them when the kids hit a snag and need a new piece of info...we use the laptops for research!

This coming week we will continue the composing part of this project, while reading some non-fiction texts and working on comprehension when the text is quite rigorous....oh yeah...and MSA!! But more on that in a few minutes!!

Math
In Math we have been focusing on multiplication and division...strategies, algorithms, problem solving...again, the kids are at so many different levels, so we regroup during math to make sure I am meeting the needs of all of the kids.  Just to give you an idea of what strategies the kids learn when we teach division...they know that they can use repeated subtraction to divide, they can use a number line when dividing, and they can use the inverse operation when they divide.  Using the inverse operation is the most efficient...but if their multiplication/division facts are not sound, this is much harder.  For instance...when you see 47 divided by 6...if you know 6 x 7 is 42 then  you know that the answer would be 7 with a remainder of 5.  But if you don't know that fact...you have to use one of the other strategies.  All strategies are acceptable and good...but not the most efficient...we let the kids figure this out.  Now some kids come to me already knowing long division...so after I make certain they understand the WHY and WHAT of the algorithm they have memorized...we use those skills to solve harder word problems.  All students are solving word problems, but the difiiculty depends on their division skills.  Hope this makes sense!  We used the COW in Math this past week, too!  We all visited a website called LearnZillion...it is an amazing resource for a teacher...and for a parent! You should check it out...when the kids visit it, I can give them a quick code that takes them directly to the clip I want them to view...in order for you to take part, I'm pretty sure you'd need an account...but go check it out!

Social Studies
What FANTASTIC Culture Projects your kids did!!  I'm so proud of their improved presentation skills!!  And we learned so much about each other.  Our classroom is so DIVERSE and it is really fun to see what each culture brings to our community.  We will continue with Social Studies and our study of different cultures for the next week...and then we will be diving into a new SCIENCE unit....the kids are going to be so excited!

THINGS YOU MUST KNOW!!
1.  I am waiting on TWO brown envelopes!  If I don't have them Monday morning I will write your child a note from me...but they would much rather have a note from YOU!!!

2.  MSAs start Monday (if the forecast is wrong).  Please take these suggestions from a veteran third grade teacher who has tested her fair share of third graders...

• help your child get a good night's sleep before testing
• feed your child a good, healthy breakfast the morning of testing
• make sure your child is on time for school on testing days (all days really...but for sure on those days!!)

 3.  I cannot pin down a date yet for the Wills' Wax Museum.  If I knew for sure that we'd be at school a full week next week, I probably could.  Look for me to pin down a date by the end of next week.  My guess is we're looking at the week of March 17th.  I have to look at the school calendar to get any more specific.

4.  I sent out the volunteer schedule for March and inadvertently put volunteers on this coming week...I cannot have volunteers in the room during the MSA tests.  If you would like to reschedule for a different day, please email me.  ALSO...if the tests get pushed back and you are scheduled the following week, please know that on a day we test, I cannot have a volunteer.  Thank you.

5.  This year the PTA's Silent Auction is Friday, March 28th...please consider supporting this fundraiser!  Here are a few different ways you can support their endeavors...

• send in a donation to our room parents (per the letter this past week) to contribute to our classroom basket...these baskets are auctioned off and make the PTA a total profit.
• come to the Silent Auction...I'll be there and its a great evening of fun and community
• bid on any of the items...but especially the one I'm donating...PIZZA LUNCH with a student and his/her three friends...during school...I buy the food/drinks...we eat together in the classroom (should be a hot ticket item) ;-)

In case you're wondering why I'm plugging the PTA...they do a TON for our school.  Each teacher is given a $100 grant each year to supplement what we buy for the classroom...the black rug my students sit on daily is what I spent a lot of that money on this year.  It is the PTA that pays to have the AG in the CLASSROOM trailer that will be parked on the blacktop by my room this Spring.  The students will get to visit two times and participate in hands-on Science experiments.  They make sure each student has a Take Home folder and Agenda each year.  They can only do these things with our support.  So, I hope you will be able to support this year's Silent Auction.  If you decide to send a donation for our classroom basket, remember to label it with your child's name and put Silent Auction on the envelope.  Thanks so much.

Well, that's it from me...I am going to do a second post with pictures from the Valentine's party and from our get together with our Buddy Class...also, I have a TON of pictures of their biography work, but I am only sharing a few, because I will eventually make a movie of the entire process. 

Have a great weekend and pray for NO SNOW!!!!

Happy Second Winter Break?

Can you believe this!?  Well, I can't.  And next week is crazy, too.  Let's all send positive energy to Mother Nature...enough snow, already!

I'm going to start with a few reminders...

1. The kids' Cultural Projects are due on Wednesday, February 19th.  They have all the requirements and grading rubrics in their Take Home folders. 
2. The Valentine's Day parties have been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 19th.  Our party is 1:15-2:15 pm.  All parents are welcome...no siblings, please.
3. Please go through your child's Take Home folders...review their graded work and sign the Wills' Wax Museum info sheet.  Normally this info sheet comes home with a date for the actual Wills' Wax Museum. With the INSANE winter we are having, I just didn't feel comfortable putting a date on there...we are looking at mid-March...and we will give you at least two weeks notice so you can take off of work to come visit this wonderful culmination of our Language Arts/Social Studies unit.

Language Arts/Social Studies
In social Studies we are discussing people who have made a positive impact on our country.  We are combining those standards with our reading for information standards and VOILA...the Wills Wax Museum is born.  As a class we have been reading about Harriet Tubman and her contributions to our country.  I have been modeling reading for information and taking notes using index cards.  Each fact written down is then organized into sub-categories...this will help in making sure the kids collect plenty of information about their famous person. The students have each picked a person they are interested in learning about and have begun collecting facts themselves.  They each have an organizer that will help them categorize their facts and keep track of the resources they use.  Each student will read a book, as well as research online, to gather information.  Then, using my Harriet Tubman information, I will model making a time line using each fact card I have written.  Using the order of that time line, I will model the writing of the biography of this famous person.  Here's the hitch...I will write it from first person...as if I am Harriet Tubman.  The kids will make their own fact card timelines and write their own biographies...from the first person perspective.  All of this legwork is done at school.  At home they will need to find an artifact or outfit that helps represent their famous person AND practice the speaking of their biography...but that will be a ways down the road...so no worries!  If you want ideas of how your child might dress to represent their famous person, peruse the blog posts from previous years...you DO NOT, I repeat, you DO NOT, need to spend ANY money in order to do this...you will see wigs made of cotton balls, costumes using parents' old dress up clothes, etc...but this will give you some ideas.  I will also be brainstorming with the class different ideas for each student if they need help figuring it out. Please feel free to email me with any questions.  This coming Wednesday your child will be bringing the biography book home with the assignment to write at least five note cards.  This will give you the opportunity to see the person they are representing.  Please allow them to do this assignment independently. Thanks!

Math
We have had a mish mash of math lately...some problem solving, some multiplication and division (the unit we're headed into), some line plots and measuring, some algebra...math has been as crazy as our schedule...however, once we return on Wednesday, we will be focusing on problem solving when using the operations multiplication and division..this will involve reviewing the most efficient ways to multiply when multiplying a 2- or 3-digit number with a 1-digit number.  For those that have that algorithm mastered, we will review the most efficient ways to multiply 2-digit numbers by 2- or 3-digit numbers.  Division will be similar...we will discuss all of the strategies we use to divide, but we will focus on efficiency.  For those students who haven't learned the long division algorithm...this will be the focus.  It is ESSENTIAL that if your child has not hit the mark for mastering basic facts in multiplication and division that they are practicing at least three times a week.  The hardest thing about this unit is when you are stumped as to how many 6s are in 48?  Its very hard to remember what you are doing when you get lost in that thought...so PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!

I will leave you with these pictures....I have been so impressed with their work on these "Ella Tales!"

"Writing Groups Discussing 'Ella Tales' on PJ Day" 

Can we just have a regular five day week...PLEASE!?!?

We had a great week last week...and I would REALLY like another full one...guess we'll have to wait for next week, huh!?  I find that because January was so crazy, some of the kids have really had a hard time getting back into a routine...you may have noticed a few changes on the weekly checklists...I could use your help and support in discussing those changes and encouraging your child to come back to school with learning as the first priority...we have a very social class and it takes a lot of self control to make good choices.  I appreciate your support.

LANGUAGE ARTS
We are finishing up our Cinderella  unit...and the kids are writing their own Ella tales.  They are using a theme or cultural influence to shape their stories...the kids first brainstormed all of the important elements in an ELLA tale...then they plotted out their stories using a plot diagram...they had to identify the turning point/climax of the story and then work on the rising action and the falling action.  Now they are taking their elements list and their graphic organizers and writing rough drafts of their tales.  They have been meeting in "writing groups" to share ideas and get feedback from their peers.  They have done a very nice job with this concept...they are noticing the importance of listening and participating in a discussion, not just speaking!  I have been thrilled to watch this transformation.

Last week the kids analyzed a poem entitled, "The Rat's Ride".  They first listened for enjoyment, then they listened to the second time and thought about meaning.  We shared those ideas and then they listened one more time...they figured out that it was the Cinderella story from the rat's perspective.  We had a wonderful discussion about the words the author used and some of the rat's thoughts in the poem.  Then the kids had to answer some comprehension questions about the poem using text evidence when necessary.

MATH
We have continued our fraction work...focusing mainly on converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa, adding fractions with like denominators, finding the least common multiple when figuring out equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions with unlike denominators.  The kids also worked on a Pattern Block Creature and then wrote about them...they are cute and still in my "needs to be graded folder"! The other papers in my "needs to be graded folder" are their Winter Break essays.  I am half way finished grading those.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We are working on studying CULTURES.  If you emptied out your child's folder over the weekend you have seen the project that has been assigned.  This project is due Wednesday, February 19th.  If you have any questions after reading the directions and talking to your child about this project, please email me.  We went over it in school and had a long discussion, so your child may actually know the answer if you have any questions!! ;-)

VALENTINE'S PARTY
On Friday, February 14th we will have our Valentine's Day party.  It will be from 11:30-12:25 (we dismiss at 12:30 that day)!  Please send a $2 donation in an envelope with your child's name on it to help provide for the party.  If you would like to help, please contact one of our room mothers:  Lane Fields, Maura Weisgerber, or Susie Filburn.  Thanks so much to these moms for the planning and implementing of the party!!

BIOGRAPHIES
We are headed into a biography unit...lots more on this soon...but just know it is IN SCHOOL project...your child will probably come home talking about it a lot, and I don't want you to worry about what needs to be done at home...towards the end of the unit we will be holding a WAX MUSEUM that you can come visit (as soon as we set a date, I will let you know)...and the only things that will need to be done at home are practicing their speech and finding a prop or a costume.  Again, more to come soon.  BUT..if you happen to read this tonight...please have your child think about who they would like to read/study about...we are headed to the media center tomorrow to find biographies.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...CURSIVE
OK, so I know that many kids HATE cursive...but it is a requirement in Frederick County that all children be able to write in cursive.  We are slowly (and I mean slowly) but surely getting through the alphabet.  This is a review if your child was at UES last year.  I instruct each letter and then they practice on a two sided sheet.  There are a few kids that need more practice than that and you can see this from their writing...there is a REALLY good resource on the web.  If you go to Zaner Bloser (which is a link from my blog), you can make worksheets really easily for your child to practice.  The other thing the kids can do...on Mondays when they are assigned "write in cursive", they can make a worksheet with their words on it and will have the correct form right in front of them!  Once on the site, click on "Handwriting Resources" and then once on that page, click on "ZBFontsOnLinePlus".  Scroll all the way down and click on "free version"...this allows you to pick manuscript or cursive, grade level, and then the type of paper you want it to print onto to.  I personally like the "Spelling" paper...it gives you two columns...one for the computer to write it in cursive and the other for your child!  It is a wonderful free resource!!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns...please feel free to email me.