Swimmy Informance

Students did a wonderful job today interpreting a text through movement, expression, and music during their presentation of "Swimmy."

Crew News 9.29.11

Looking Ahead: Tomorrow 9/30: Currency: For our study of money, can you send in currency from other places? If you are able, please send in each form of currency in a separate plastic bag labeled with your child’s name, where the money is from, what it is called, and how much it is worth. We will look these on Friday and then send them home at the end of the day. Swimmy Informance 9:55-10:25 in Music Hope to see you there! Next Friday 10/7: Money Games: For next Friday, can you send in games that involve money? We are going to play these and talk about how they connect to our learning about understanding budgeting and money exchange. Photo Essay Celebration: We will have a celebration for our fantastic photo essay authors in the afternoon on Friday October 7th from 3:30-4pm. It will be a chance for family members to see the work students have been doing for our last case study in expedition and writers’ workshop. Students have been hard at work, and are putting together amazing products. Please come join us for this celebration Friday 10/7 at 3:30pm. Fall Break: Our fall break is from October 10th to the 24th. Students will return to school on Tuesday, October 25th. REMS has a different calendar than the district calendar, so be sure you are aware of these dates.

Crew Learning Expedition: We have launched into a short study of financial literacy. Our focus this week has been identifying the role of producers, consumers, goods, and services. We have been discussing the idea of needs versus wants, which ties perfectly into our next focus of budgeting. HINTS AT HOME: Share some learning about our money study.

Writing/Language Workshop: In writer's workshop, we have been working hard to write our photo essays for Bent’s Fort. Students are going through the process of selecting pictures, answering guiding questions, and describing their learning. HINTS AT HOME: How is your photo essay going? What is challenging? What is going well?

Math: Our new math unit is developing our knowledge of measurement. We have discussed why it is important to have a standard unit of measurement and practiced measuring using a ruler. Students are enjoying this more interactive, hands-on unit. HINTS AT HOME: Notice the language of measurement in everyday life. Practice estimation of lengths and distances.

Reading Workshop: This week our reading theme is called “What is Light?” It explores vocabulary and various genres about light. Our reading strategy is inferring. Students combine what they read in the text with what they already know to develop a better understanding of what they are reading. HINTS AT HOME: Set a routine for 3rd graders to be reading every night. Ask them what have they been able to infer about the characters they are reading about.

Spelling : Click here for this week's list. (Week 8)

 October Lunch Menu: October Menu

Reminders:

Sept 30: Official Count Day

Oct 10-24: Fall Break

Oct 25: Students return from Fall Break

Nov 7-11: Fall Climbing 9:55-10:45am Click here for directions on how to sign up!

Crew News 9.22.11

Constitution Day In honor of Constitution Day on September 17th, we took some time today to talk about the Constitution. We had a great conversation talking about themes of showing citizenship by saying the pledge of allegiance, voting, following laws, and jury duty. Share with your child how you show citizenship.

Crew Learning Expedition: Students have done an excellent job this week debriefing all their learning from Bent’s Fort. Expert groups shared their most important facts, and we revisited the guiding questions to discuss the big ideas. Now students are beginning to put together photo essay to share learning and expertise on Bent’s Fort. HINTS AT HOME: Share some learning about Bent’s Fort. What facts are you going to share in your photo essay?

Writing/Language Workshop: In writer's workshop, we supported our photo-essay writing with lessons about adding details to writing (showing instead of telling) and combining sentences. In language workshop, students practiced writing photo essays with pictures from home. HINTS AT HOME: What have you learned about writing photo essays,

Math: In math, we have explored new addition and subtraction algorithms. This year students will be presented many methods to solve math problems. The key is to become familiar by trying each and then mastering one to use. HINTS AT HOME: Continue to give authentic opportunities to use addition and subtraction skills (money, time, etc.).

Reading Workshop: (Continued from last week…) Our reading theme involves learning about other cultures around the world. Our reading strategy is asking meaningful questions and understanding how this enables us to better comprehend the text. HINTS AT HOME: Set a routine for 3rd graders to be reading every night. Ask them what questions they are asking as they read.

Spelling : Click here for this week's list. (Week 7)

Reminders:

Sept 23: Book orders due (online please!)

Sept 23: No students; teacher-work day

Sept 26: Picture Retake

Sept 30: Official Count Day

Oct 10-24: Fall Break

Oct 25: Students return from Fall Break

Nov 7-11: Fall Climbing 9:55-10:45am

Crew News 9.15.11

Crew Learning Expedition: Leading up to our fieldwork, we have been busy getting ready. Students enjoyed a guest speaker on Monday, William Brecknell, who came to answer questions about what life was like during the trading days of Bent's Fort (mid 1800s). For an overview of our day of fieldwork please see the post below that features pictures! HINTS AT HOME: What did you learn about during you time at Bent's Fort? What surprised you? What information did you gather for your expert group?

Writing/Language Workshop: In writer's workshop, we took some time to review some grammar including identifying common and proper nouns, capitalizing proper nouns, and other capitalization rules.  In language workshop, we began a new genre study of photo essays. A photo essay is what you would find in a "coffee table" book with photos and extended captions. We will be creating our own photo essays of for our final product of learning about Bent's Fort. HINTS AT HOME: Tell me what you know so far about a photo essay.

Math: Our math lessons have been using function tables and solving word problems. Students have to read these carefully to figure what information is given, what information we are trying to solve, and checking to make sure the answer makes sense. HINTS AT HOME: Continue to give authentic opportunities to use addition and subtraction skills (money, time, etc.).

Reading Workshop: Our new reading theme involves learning about other cultures around the world.   Our reading strategy is asking meaningful questions and understanding how this enables us to better comprehend the text. HINTS AT HOME: Set a routine for 3rd graders to be reading every night. Ask them what questions they are asking as they read.

Spelling : By popular demand, I will be posting spelling on my blog. Spelling and Thursday Folder items will go home Friday. Click here for spelling.

Book Orders: New book orders will go home on Friday. Please place your orders online by September 23.

The website is www.scholastic.com/bookclubs  and our class activation code is GP449.

Climbing: Mark your calendars for fall climbing in the gym during the week of 11/7/11 from 9:55-10:45. Click here for the belay training schedule and the definitions of a test, a refresh, and a training. The more belay volunteers we have, the more the kids get to climb. :)

Art: Ms. Pam, our art teacher, now has a blog: artteacherc.blogspot.com. This is how she plans to communicate information with you throughout the year. Check it out!

Our October Count Day is FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH.  For funding purposes, it is very important that students attend school on this day!  If they miss this Friday for any reason, we need to make sure they attend during the "window" which is September 23rd through October 7th. 

Douglas County Association of Gifted & Talented invites you to a free  meeting about Parent Advocacy for Gifted Students in Challenging Times.  Parents are welcome to attend even if their child has not been identified as gifted and talented.  Click here  for more information about the DCAGT and the Sept. 21st public meeting.

 

Fieldwork at Bent's Fort

Our day at Bent's Fort was a HUGE SUCCESS!
Today was such a fantastic day at Bent's Fort. The students did a fabulous job of being good listeners, recording notes, and collecting new learning. Each student was part of an expert group and focused on one of the following: location & natural resources, trade & transportation, and people & interaction. This allowed them stay focused on one area, rather than trying to remember it all. Students enjoyed touring the fort, before listening to speakers about the ecology of the Arkansas River, Native American life, the trade and council room, wagon repair, and the canon being fired off at the bastion. At the end of a full day of gathering information, students were able to begin the process of charting their learning.


Tomorrow, I look forward to debriefing this experience and having them share with each other their learning.


A huge thank you to:
~Parents: for rearranging your schedules and your punctuality with the drop off/pick-up times.
~Chaperones: for volunteering your time today! I hope you enjoyed the day.
~Students: for working hard to listen and learn at Bent's Fort.


Next week, we will be working on a final product to wrap up our study of Bent's Fort. Stay tuned!

Fun at Bootcamp

The students were thrilled about Bootcamp! What an incredible success of fundraising and fun! Here are some pictures that show the different stations. (Sorry I wasn't able to get pictures of all students).

A huge THANK YOU for donating your time and money for this event!!!

Assessment Clarification

I wanted to clarify any questions you may have about assessments.

Spelling: Each Wednesday, we take a test on the previous week's words and a pretest on the next week's words (which I call List A). If students demonstrate proficiency on the List A words, I give them a more challenging list (List B). Both lists emphasize learning the spelling patten, so that a understanding of spelling can be applied to more challenging words. Each week, there will be an opportunity to get the List A or List B, which depends how they do on the pretest. Spelling tests, pretests, and new lists will come home in Thursday folders.

Math: This past week, the Unit 1 Math Assessment went home in Thursday Folders. An “A” means adequate progress and “N” means “Not Adequate Progress.” The expectation is that students are proficient in Part A (they have been exposed to these math concepts before). For Part B (these are concepts that are still new or not mastered), this informs me of their familiarity in these areas and what they already know. 

I review the assessment with every student individually so that students understand their mistakes before the test goes home.  

For future reference, the Open Response section allows practice in problem-solving and using strategies to solve word problems that require higher level thinking. We will do this as a whole group, small groups, or partners, until students feel comfortable with these, before they are to be tried independently. This exercise help students draw pictures and use words to explain their thinking. (This time, we did this whole-group to model the process; therefore, I did not send it home).

Reading: Also, this last week I sent home a reading "Theme" test in Thursday folders. This theme test is connected to the reading program that we use during our reading block and part of language workshop. It integrates comprehension strategies, vocabulary development, and word study into a thematic unit that will change every two weeks. This assessment holds students accountable for this learning and application of comprehension strategies. 

*For each test, it seems I throw some questions out that do not adequately measure what I am looking for, so I wrote if students were proficient or developing next to the number correct.

Hope this is helpful. Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to set up a time to talk about goals/progress. Thanks!!! 

Crew News 9.8.11

 

Bent’s Fort Expedition! Mark Your Calendars for Bent’s Fort Fieldwork: We will be traveling to Bent’s Fort on September 15th. Since it is a bit of a drive, students will need to be dropped off at 8:15am and picked up at 7pm. Please mark your calendars to make arrangements now. Don't forget to pack your day-pack, bring a sack lunch, and two snacks.

Crew Learning Expedition: This week students have been collecting a lot of information about Bent's Fort. We have been dividing the information into three categories: location & natural resources,  trade & transportation, and people & interaction. Today in expert groups, students learned more about the Native Americans, Craftsmen, Mountain Men, and Traders. HINTS AT HOME: What facts have you learned so far about Bent's Fort?

Writing/Language Workshop: In writer's workshop, we finished publishing our Robert Munsch stories. We used our rubrics as a guide of expectations. On Tuesday, students took the CogAt test. You should get a copy of the results in a few months. HINTS AT HOME: Tell me about your Robert Munsch story. How did you use the rubric to help you?

Math: This week we began a new unit that builds on addition and subtraction skills to fact families and fact extensions. HINTS AT HOME: Share authentic opportunities to use addition and subtraction skills. Playing the math games suggested in the math family letter help sharpen these skills.

Reading Workshop: Students are still working on selecting just right books in the classroom and in the library.    Our reading strategy for the next weeks is asking meaningful questions that help us comprehend the text better. HINTS AT HOME: Set a routine for 3rd graders to be reading every night. Ask them what questions they are asking as they read.

Boot Camp on September 9th: Feel free to join us tomorrow from 9:55 to 10:45 at the Outdoor Learning Environment to cheer on our crew. We had a special visit from a helicopter today that dropped off our camouflage bandannas. Students will also get free t-shirts tomorrow. How fun!!!

Crew News 9.1.11

Launching Headfirst into our Bent’s Fort Expedition! Mark Your Calendars for Bent’s Fort Fieldwork: We will be traveling to Bent’s Fort on September 15th. Since it is a bit of a drive, students will need to be dropped off at 8:15am and picked up at 7pm. Please mark your calendars to make arrangements now. Calling for Volunteers: We need about 6 volunteers to come with us that day. This is a very fun day, where you get to experience Bent’s Fort alongside the students. Email me if you are interested and I will let you know next week. Permission Slip: Look for a permission slip to come home early next week.

Crew Learning Expedition: This week we dived into our first expedition. We began with a mystery piece, where students began forming ideas of our topic after looking at pictures and reading an article. The expedition topic was revealed today when we watched a video about Bent’s Fort, and we began forming questions to guide our study. HINTS AT HOME: What questions to you hope to find out when studying Bent’s Fort?

Writing/Language Workshop: In writer's workshop, we debriefed our time on voyage, first in conversation and then in writing. Students worked through all the stages of writing to publish their reflection: drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In language workshop, students have been working to publish their Robert Munsch story. Using the rubric as a guide, students have worked very hard to revise, edit, and publish these stories. HINTS AT HOME: What is revising? What is editing? Give examples from your reflection or story.

Math: This week we finished our unit that included patterns and solving time problems. We will take our first unit test tomorrow. HINTS AT HOME: Practice time problems. Ex. If you wake up at 7:15 and you eat lunch at 11:50, how many hours/minutes until you eat lunch?

Reading Workshop: We finished our reading unit on community. Students read various selections about all kinds of examples and ways we show community. Students deepened their understanding of making connections and how it helps them better understand what they are reading. HINTS AT HOME: Set a routine for 3rd graders to be reading every night. Ask them what connections they are making.

Boot Camp on September 9th: Thanks for all your support with fund-raising and getting the kids pumped about it!I heard we raised over $18,000! AWESOME!

Voyage Pictures: Check out a slideshow of our pictures from Camp Id Ra Ha Je located under the Adventure Eduction tab. :)

CogAt testing: Third graders will be taking the CogAt test on Tuesday, September 5th. 

Bookorders: Tomorrow is the last day to submit book orders. Please do this online! Thanks!