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