Room 303 News: 03-01-19

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• UPCOMING FIELD TRIP!  We are going to our State Capitol Building and Michigan Museum in Lansing, MI on Monday, March 18th.  Please send back the signed permission slips and money by Monday, March 11th. 

• Please mark your calendars:  Variety Show will take place on our Wixom Elementary stage on Friday, March 8th at 6:30 pm. Also, our PTA is hosting another Family Skate Night at Bonaventure Skating Rink on Wednesday, March 13th. We look forward to seeing lots of our families at both of these events.  






• Friday, March 22nd is a half day for students.  Dismissal at 12:09. 
• Friday, March 29th is our last day of school before SPRING BREAK!  

MATH
 We have been using several mathematical concepts and transferring such knowledge to a new mathematical situation.  In teaching, we call this a transfer of knowledge and it is our goal when students can naturally do this on their own. 
Below are a few pictures that relate to our doubling/multiplication strategy to find an area of a rectangle.  

Often times, parents will ask, Why do you teach it like that!?  and I believe the Mathematical Practices below really helps to explain the learning goals that mold our teaching method as well as the why behind your child's learning!  

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT

WEEKLY FACT FLUENCY TESTS

In addition to our curriculum, I have given the students a timed weekly fact fluency test each Friday since October.  To date, I am super proud to share that the majority of our students are secure in knowing ALL their facts up through 10.  

BRAVO, 3rd GRADERS😍

I have encouraged the students to study their multiplication tables at home, as well as practice in the classroom through work, games and online practice.  At this time, we WILL NO LONGER BE taking the weekly fact fluency tests because the majority of students are already fluent.  If your child is NOT SECURE, I will send home a note indicating what table they are still working on and it will be your responsibility at home to work with your child from this point on.  Indeed, our math lessons will continue to incorporate multiplication as well games to keep children fluent; however, I cannot express enough how important it is for your child to know their facts fluently by now.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We had great fun making a huge slice of pizza to enhance our learning about how Michigan's agriculture supplies many of the ingredients needed to make pizza, due in part to our state's unique geography and different types of climate.  Our learning also included how we produce, distribute and consume goods and services.  Look for this ART work outside our classroom!

SCIENCE
Students investigated a new type of system...the twirly bird! :)  Students first designed a standard model looking closely at the pattern of motion.  Then added a variable such as shortening the wings, adding more weight, adding additional wings, and shortening the wings' length in order to change the outcome.  They had great fun designing, testing, and redesigning their TWIRLY BIRDS!  

 Word Study/Grammar:

This week for grammar we are on Week Twenty-two.  The students are learning all about "ou" and "ow" words and irregular verbs.

Writing:   

The students have been working all year on writing a good paragraph.  To share what each of them did over their mid-winter break, the students wrote about their week in a 5-paragraph writing piece where they explained in detail the three highlights of their week.  Each writing piece included an introduction, 3 paragraphs describing their three main events, and a conclusion paragraph.  I am using this task to really see how the students are doing with writing a solid paragraph independently.  

We are also still finishing up our informational mini-books.  We will be starting our new writing unit next week where we will be focusing on Opinion and Persuasive Writing.  This is a fun and exciting unit for the students!  We will be also reading aloud some fun texts that really model good persuasive writing, including I Wanna Iguana and My Brother Dan is Delicious.

Reading:

Next week we will be starting unit 3 in Reading where we will be focusing on Non-fiction reading.  So far this year, our reading units have really been focused on fictional reading and character studies.  We will now be focusing on the very important skills that are needed when reading informational texts.