February 22, 2012
Dear Parents,
We are in the midst of finishing several projects. Currently in the hallway is a nearly completed timeline of facts the third graders have illustrated and recorded based on their individual research. Wheel-and- axle vehicles that the children constructed from recycled materials are displayed on a hallway table. This latter endeavor engaged resourceful problem solving as well as trial-and-error experimentation. The children implemented many possibilities in a series of constructions to result in imaginative machines that successfully roll! Finally, a thoughtful use of repetition and word choice are two literary tools applied in recent poetry writing. A poster of “Who Am I?” poems is posted outside our entrance.
It is clear that more and more third graders are seriously undertaking the challenge of learning their basic multiplication facts. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Please help your child keep this review and drill part of a short but daily routine during school weeks and vacations. Mastery of these provides students such a great advantage in both current and future math activities. We now are in a math unit that will soon extend these facts to multiples of tens, hundreds, and thousands (e.g. 30 x 4000). Division and fraction work will be integral strands of current and upcoming units as well. Of course, ready recognition of fact families is key to allowing a student to focus her/his mental energy on other aspects of a complex number story or calculation.
Revisions, revisions, revisions! We are at a point of the school year when a creative piece requires much more time in the sharing, discussing, reworking phases. Right now third graders’ current stories represent a wide range of stages because it takes time to conference and thoughtfully reflect on what to delete, move, add, etc. when revising a series of drafts. I am confident that all students’ work will be published, illustrated covers and all, for their peers and others to enjoy by the end of next week.
UPCOMING TRIP DATES: March 20, Tuesday-Leave TGS at 10:30, Visit Thompson House (please let Michelle know if you can help with transportation.) Thank you.
March 22, Thursday-Leave TGS at 8:45 via bus to Brattleboro to performance of Windham Orchestra’s children’s concert at Latchis Theater, 9:30
Have a wonderful Friday and weekend. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Respectfully,
Linda
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
February 6, 2012
February 4, 2012
With little snow to ski on, third and fourth graders enjoyed a great hike up Shumlin Hill on a glorious sunny, brisk Friday morning. Earlier that morning we closed our reading of Farmer Boy. The third graders were asked to write a thoughtful response to the question: “What was important to young Almanzo Wilder? Explain why.” Based on the range and depth of answers each student wrote, each came to know this character well. Before recess we viewed a video,“From Stump to Ship,” that filmed the lumbering sawmill industry in Maine in the early 1900’s . As in our waterwheel focus, this transitions our singular history focus to our unit on simple machines. This week each child will be given the challenge to construct a wheel and axle vehicle from reused/recycled materials. Possible uses of recycled items for the wheels and body of a rolling creation will be part of Monday and Tuesday nights’ homework.
As part of our geometry unit we have drawn and labeled triangles, quadrangles, and other polygons as well as working with angles. This week we will construct basic tools to measure angles in degrees, and groups will be presented a spatial reasoning problem, “The Four-Triangle Challenge.” Specifically, each group will generate as many possible polygons from four equilateral triangles. Testing for congruency will be key to this problem-solving process.
Mirror- Mirror is the title of a recently read Red Clover book. Based on the author’s innovative poetic form and inspired by a tray of small items, each third grader recently completed an original poem based on this latter style. Symmetry was also the key to a short art project we did last week. This concept will also be further explored in upcoming geometry lessons.
Third graders continue to work their modern tall tales drafts. Revisions will be emphasized based on structured activities with specific noun and verb selection as well looking at sentence structures and rearranging parts to accomplish a greater variety of sentences.
It has been a long time since we have visited our friends at Thompson House. This Friday, 2/10,the children will bring creative writing to share and a short art project. Thank you Collin, Michelle, and Ray for driving and helping.
Our recent parent conferences were productive and helpful meetings. I am grateful for this opportunity to gain invaluable insights from you to help ensure the best for your child’s third grade experience as we enter the second half of this school year. Thank you!!
Have a wonderful week. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Cheers,
Linda
With little snow to ski on, third and fourth graders enjoyed a great hike up Shumlin Hill on a glorious sunny, brisk Friday morning. Earlier that morning we closed our reading of Farmer Boy. The third graders were asked to write a thoughtful response to the question: “What was important to young Almanzo Wilder? Explain why.” Based on the range and depth of answers each student wrote, each came to know this character well. Before recess we viewed a video,“From Stump to Ship,” that filmed the lumbering sawmill industry in Maine in the early 1900’s . As in our waterwheel focus, this transitions our singular history focus to our unit on simple machines. This week each child will be given the challenge to construct a wheel and axle vehicle from reused/recycled materials. Possible uses of recycled items for the wheels and body of a rolling creation will be part of Monday and Tuesday nights’ homework.
As part of our geometry unit we have drawn and labeled triangles, quadrangles, and other polygons as well as working with angles. This week we will construct basic tools to measure angles in degrees, and groups will be presented a spatial reasoning problem, “The Four-Triangle Challenge.” Specifically, each group will generate as many possible polygons from four equilateral triangles. Testing for congruency will be key to this problem-solving process.
Mirror- Mirror is the title of a recently read Red Clover book. Based on the author’s innovative poetic form and inspired by a tray of small items, each third grader recently completed an original poem based on this latter style. Symmetry was also the key to a short art project we did last week. This concept will also be further explored in upcoming geometry lessons.
Third graders continue to work their modern tall tales drafts. Revisions will be emphasized based on structured activities with specific noun and verb selection as well looking at sentence structures and rearranging parts to accomplish a greater variety of sentences.
It has been a long time since we have visited our friends at Thompson House. This Friday, 2/10,the children will bring creative writing to share and a short art project. Thank you Collin, Michelle, and Ray for driving and helping.
Our recent parent conferences were productive and helpful meetings. I am grateful for this opportunity to gain invaluable insights from you to help ensure the best for your child’s third grade experience as we enter the second half of this school year. Thank you!!
Have a wonderful week. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.
Cheers,
Linda
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