CLIMB Classroom Presentation on Resiliance

Students talked about being resilient.  We watched a skit called Shrinking Sebastian.  Ask your student what they learned from the Actor Educators, Megan and Nathan.  

CLIMB Theater and Special Speaker

Today we watched a play called Caudia VS. The Trashinator, put on by CLIMB Theater.  The students learned about environmental conservation.  The City of Lakeville sponsored the Theater's visit.

Our guest speaker, Joey Novak, came today.  He talked with the kids about his job working with state legislators.  He reinforced concepts we are learning about in social studies.  He sees the three branches of government working together at the state level, first hand.  The kids had some great questions for him.  We had an interesting conversation with him.  The kids seemed to really enjoy his visit.  

Important Dates . . .

Tuesday, Dec. 9 -- CLIMB Theater classroom presentation on Resilience
Thursday, Dec. 18 -- 3rd Grade concert at 2:30 and 6:00 pm
Friday, Dec. 19 --  Winter Party and Service Project 2:45-3:45 pm
Wednesday, Dec. 24 - Friday, Jan. 2 -- Winter Break, No School  

Supply and Demand

Students listened intently to a lesson on Supply and Demand. (Perhaps using left over Halloween candy for a demonstration helped the students focus intently on what was being said.)  We had a great discussion about supply and demand. Based on their comments and questions the students were better understanding: goods, services, supply and demand. 

Classroom Update - Learning Targets

Math:  In math we are testing on our Number and ID pathway.
Students have been working on these targets:

• rounding to the nearest 10
• rounding to the nearest 100
• rounding to the nearest 1,000
• ordering numbers (numbers up to 5 digits) least to greatest
• estimating sums and differences
• introduction of fractions

We are also starting the screening process for our Real World Problem Solving pathway (multi-digit addition and subtraction, and word problems).  Students will be placed in groups that meet their personal math needs, based on the screeners they take.  

Literacy:  In literacy we are discussing "Questioning" while reading our literature books.  We are specifically working on asking "thick" questions (rather than "thin" questions) while reading text. Students are learning that asking questions while they read helps them to better understand their reading.

Spelling:  We took a spelling break over the Thanksgiving week.  The kids will be taking a spelling screening test this week.  The kids will be placed in spelling groups that meet their personalized spelling learning goals.  I will let your student know on Thursday this week what spelling list they will be working on.

Science:  We finished our unit on Life Science. The students loved working with the mealworms. We have the mealworms in our room happily wiggling around in their plastic bin with oats and bran flakes.  The kids are keeping an eye on the mealworms as they progress through their life-cycles right before their eyes.  Many worms are in their pupa stage; however, several have already progressed to their beetle form.

Social Studies:  We started a social studies unit on Government and Economics.  We started by talking about Veterans' Day, and the four branches of government.  Now we are learning a little about goods, services, supply and demand.  We are having a special speaker come to talk with our students on Friday.  Joey Novak a past Lakeville graduate, and a recent graduate of Harvard University, will come and talk about government with the kids.  He works directly with the state legislators and sees first hand how the 3 branches of government work together at the state level.  I cannot wait to hear what he has to say.  I am sure the students will have some thoughtful questions for him too.

Mealworms and Life Science

Today the students were so excited to work with mealworms in science class.  The lesson was on Stimulus and Response.  The students wrote 3 stimulus/response statements ahead of time.  (Ex: If I gently touch my pencil to my mealworm, then the mealworm will curl up.) The students then tested the three statements with their mealworm, and recorded the results.  Here are a few photo highlights from the lesson:

Reese had her mealworm crawling on her hand.  

Lily trying to get a leftover snack crumb for her mealworm.  

Angel's mealworm is getting away! 

Ashley and Hannah testing their stimulus/response statements.  

Jamie was your mealworm being too loud?  

Peyton drew a path for her mealworm.

Noah's mealworm is crawling over toward the stimulus/response statements.

Literacy Learning Target

In literacy we are working hard to compare and contrast Fiction and Non-Fiction texts.  We are identifying text features we notice in non-fiction books, and using the text features to increase our understanding of the text.  

• I can use text features to locate information on a topic.

• I can figure out the meaning of words and phrases in a 3rd grade subject area.

Math Learning Target

We are honing in on rounding during math. We are working to master these learning targets. Thank you for the support you can give at home to work toward these learning targets.  

• I can round numbers to the nearest 10,000.  
• I can round numbers to the nearest 1,000.  
• I can round numbers to the nearest 100 and 10.  
• I can estimate sums and differences.

Literacy Learning Target

Mental Images

We have been working hard on creating mental images while we read.  Creating a movie in our mind helps guide our thinking and understanding while we read.  The students have had many opportunities to share, draw and add to their mental images as we have read fiction, poetry, and non-fiction texts.

Pillow Making

Making our own pillows is a highlight of third grade.  We enjoyed making our fleece pillows at our Harvest Party. Thank you to the moms and dads that were able to join us and help!!

Math Learning Targets

In math we have been working hard within the Number Sense strand.  Here are a few of our current math learning targets:

• I can compare and order numbers.  
• I can round numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000
• I can find 10 more and 10 less than a number (100 more, 100 less; 1,000 more, 1,000 less; and 10,000 more 10,000 less).  
• I can tell the place value of each digit in a number, up to 100,000.  
• I can read, write and represent numbers in many ways (words, place value model, standard form, number line, etc.)

Bring Your Own Device - Digital Learning

Today was the first day that students in grades 3-5 could bring their own device to school.  We had a great time today in third grade getting our devices set up on the OLE student wireless network and trying out our devices.  Today's lesson focused on digital responsibility, and safety.  We logged in to our Gmail accounts and sent an email to the teacher.  We practiced adding an email address, adding an email subject line, and adding some purposeful and polite content to the email.

If your student has not brought in their "golden ticket" (their digital contract copied on goldenrod paper) please go over it with your student, sign it and return it to school ASAP.  Your student will then be allowed to participate in the digital learning whether they have their own device or they borrow a school device.

Wednesday's digital lesson will focus on Google Drive.  Students will create and share a document they create in class.

Thank you for your support in this new endeavor!

Photo Booth Fun

Here are a few highlights from the photo booth picture reel . . .

Fall Conference Sign-up

It's that time of year again . . .

I am looking forward to meeting for fall conferences.  Orchard Lake Elementary fall conferences are on Thursday, October 9th and Tuesday, October 14 from 4:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. each night.  You can sign-up for a conference time by clicking on the Sign-up Genius link below, or by going to our school website and clicking on the conference sign-up link for our class.  See you soon!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA3F85-fall1 

Walk-A-Thon

September 26, 2014
We had another successful Walk-A-Thon at OLE.  The official total that we raised has not yet been announced.  Donations are still be accepted this week.  I will post the official total raised by OLE students as soon as I hear.

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 Third Grade OLE blog.  I use this blog to keep third grade families informed about our school activities and student learning targets.  Feel free to add a comment to our blog.  You may also email me privately if you have questions or comments as well. meghan.tornell@isd194.org