Our students did a terrific job holding "elections" last week for the positions of mayor and city council. This week, our citizens will discuss with the council suggestions for the name of our "city" and begin a rigorous discussion of affairs that affect our community. Students will engage in a debate on leash laws in our community. They will analyze Cary's leash laws, determine their opinions on this topic, and stand up to present their argument in a debate. This will be a grade in social studies-civics and government.
In math, students have learned several strategies to multiply. We will review these and begin division this week. By the end of the week, students will be working on fluency of multiplication facts including 0's, 1's, 2's and 4's. In reading, students have been analyzing and writing informative paragraphs. Our focus this week will be writing a contract that includes 2 reading challenges students have and how they will overcome them. There is a formula to this and students will be learning they must clearly state their topic (the 2 reading challenges) and then specifically address each learning challenge with 2 detailed strategies that will help them overcome their challenges. Things to know: ***The third grade teachers will be doing intervention and enrichment activities with students this week to help with spelling. We've analyzed problems and created groups to target weaknesses and strengths. This will be done during intervention/enrichment in the mornings beginning Wednesday. ***We visit the Book Fair on Thursday to create "wish lists". Students can buy books beginning the next week. ***Friday is an Early Release Day. Dismissal is at 1:15. ***Our third grade team of teachers will be out on Tuesday. We'll be receiving training for our reading curriculum. Oliver's mom will be our substitute on that day. ***Our class is taking on Mrs. Bussey's third grade class in a reading challenge. Please have your child read 30 minutes or more each night and log in to Readvolution (found on the Douglas website). If your student has difficulty recording their minutes on this site, I can help them in the mornings. Read LOTS this week so we can make our way to the playoffs! Thank you for all your support. Please be sure your child is completing homework assignments and turning them in!!!! Amy Flowers [email protected] This week, students will take a 2-D shape math assessment on Monday. Our next unit will focus on multiplication. We will spend several weeks understanding the concept of multiplication and various strategies to solve for products.
In reading, we are transitioning to a new unit. Our past two units have highlighted challenges some people around the world face with regard to access to education and books. Our next unit focuses on challenges some people face in reading. In social studies, students will delve deep into understanding the components of the local government. We will setting up a "city" in our room. Students will go through the process of elections as they select a "mayor" and "city council members" for our local government. From there, students will go through the process of understanding these roles and the citizens will suggest ideas for the mayor and city council to consider for our community involvement project. Thank you for all you do to help your student complete daily reading assignments! Amy Flowers [email protected] Happy First Week in October!
This week, students will continue analyzing quadrilaterals. By the end of the week, students should be summarizing the attributes of a shape. For example: This is a square. A square can also be a rectangle because both have 2 pairs of parallel sides and right angles. It's also a parallelogram because both have 2 pairs of parallel sides. It's definitely a rhombus with right angles. It's also a quadrilateral because both shapes have four sides. In reading, students have been reading about countries and how they get books. They take down their information on a note-catcher. Once they have completely filled out this chart, they write a paragraph that shares all this information. We have studied each part of a strong paragraph: introductory sentence, focus statement, details in the body of the paragraph, and a conclusion. We color-coded each part on the note-catcher and then color-coded each part in our paragraphs. Students connected that their notes were very important in helping them write their paragraphs, keeping their work in order. I am sending home their work (attached to this piece) so that you can review this with your student. This week, students will be taking an assessment that will be on a new country. Students are expected to read, jot down information on a note-catcher, and write a strong paragraph using the order we have gone over in class: *Introduction *Focus Statement *Details *Details *Conclusion Here is one shared with the class on Kenya: Kenya is a country in East Africa, with a desert in the northern part of the country. Getting books to children in the desert can be challenging, but Kenyan librarians have found a way to overcome this challenge. In some parts of Kenya, sand covers the roads and makes it hard for cars to get through. Librarians in Kenya use camels instead! The camels can carry heavy loads like the books and a tent used to make a library roof. They don't need much water and can walk easily through the desert sand. The librarian and camels come every two weeks when children can trade their books for new ones. The children treasure the books the librarian and the camels bring to their home in the desert! |
AuthorHi! I'm Amy Flowers-mom to four great kids and one energetic puppy. I've been in education fifteen plus years and am passionate about igniting a love for learning, not just filling a bucket.. Archives
June 2018
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