We began our week with a Quirky celebration – balloons, piñata, cake and a movie – all parts of the Quirkalicious celebration from our read-aloud.  We finished the week with a preview of the play.  It was fun to see some of the dances and hear some of the songs.  Looks like it is going to be a great show.  In between we completed the testing. The math section this week was not at all what we had been told. It was not a cumulative assessment of what has been learned in the last four years of schooling. It was an assessment of the Common Core State Standards for grade three in the second year of implementation. The majority of the questions and tasks assessed children’s knowledge of multiplication, division and fractions and knowledge of terms like equivalent, area, perimeter and pictograph. It is maddening that there was no acknowledgement that the state scheduled the least experienced test takers to begin the end of the year assessment at the 2/3’s mark of the year. Nor was there any understanding that the new standards have not been fully implemented. Third grade is still a time for learning and mastering addition and subtraction. I am explaining this not as an excuse, but so you can have some context for understanding the test scores when they come to you. They are not likely to be terrific. I am proud of the children. They did work to do their best. The tests asked them to do a great deal of flexible thinking and expected that they have expertise with multiple screens of directions and information. Their efforts and perseverance should be commended.

S.E.L. – Talking About Mistakes

            This week we have been talking about doing our best and still making mistakes. We have been trying to decide if there are different kinds of mistakes and we think there are. There are mistakes that are accidents, there are mistakes that lead to learning and there are mistakes that are choices. The latter “mistakes” can only be called that, if they are learned from and not repeated. There is a difference between pants splitting on the bowling alley, misunderstanding how to use a new strategy and taking a pack of gum. Two couldn’t be stopped and one could.

We talked about the difference between making mistakes and learning. In Horace and Morris Join the Chorus (but What About Delores) Delores loves to sing more than anything, but she is not very good. At try-outs, her friends make the chorus, but she does not. She is sad and then mad. She tries to find other things to do and eventually tells the chorus director how she feels. Once he understands how she feels, he gives her extra help so she can become part of the chorus and be successful at things she loves. We also wondered about the pressure felt by the main character of The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. People didn’t even know her name. We admire her ability to laugh at herself and move on.

We are working to accept differences, to appreciate mistakes and learning and to advocate for our selves. All three are important things to learn and understand. All three are challenging.

Working with Fractions

            This week we began our work with fractions. We explored equivalent fractions. We saw that 1/2=2/4=3/6=4/8. We will be working with geoboards and pattern blocks to develop this understanding by exploring congruent eighths and finding all the ways a hexagon can be built.   Each student will be making a set of fraction bars. With them we will explore the relationship between denominators. Children can see how knowing multiplication helps in seeing how amounts are related. For example 6/12 = 1/2 because 6×2=12. It was exciting to see and hear all the great math thinking going on with fractions this week.

Moving Toward More Efficient Math Strategies

            Also with math we have been exploring an even wider variety of problems that challenged the children to follow different lines of logic and work as efficiently as possible. For example if there were 98 balls in a shipment and each ball cast $2.00, how much would it cast to sent three shipments. With this problem some children chose to use the standard algorithm while others multiplied. Some found the total number of balls and then doubles while others found the cost of one shipment and tripled that. It was interesting for the class to see all three approaches came to the same solution. And each approach was evidence that the students had master new skills. It was a concrete example of learning that is not always easy to see.

Launching the State Project

            We have begun our study of the United States.  We are excited about this project because it combines so many different areas of study and it is fun!  We do, as always need your help at home.  In mid-April we’ll be sending home the guidelines for how you and your child can create a “float” for the Parade of the States.  Hopefully by this point you all have heard about the state your child is researching.  After a few fits and starts it seems as though our class is pretty eager to be learning as much as they can about each region.  The children will be learning about their states and identifying that state’s ” seven wonders.”  These wonders will be represented on a float to be presented in the Parade of the States.  It is our plan that the children will have researched and identified their seven wonders by April vacation.  Mrs. Haight is collaborating with us and has planned several units of study to coincide with this project.  In school the children will be creating an animal collage, a model of a man-made structure and a representation of person important in their state.  These will represent three of the wonders.

We will send home clear guidelines for the float when the time comes.  A couple of the children talked about beginning the building process now.  Please don’t do that yet.  We have learned from past parades that we should slow the process down. We believe we have planned the project with enough time so that learning AND will building go together for a great event. (Be on the lookout for a blue form with further parade information in next week’s homework folder)

Bits and Pieces –

• We have a reschedule challenge with Mr. Caron on Tuesday, March 31.
• We’ve begun our new chapter read-aloud, The Secret of Zoom.  We’re just getting to the exciting parts.
• We are working on both our state research and are working to find 7 Wonders from our state.  One of them is the animal we’ve chosen.  We are learning about them and their habitats.  We’re also making a mask of it.  On Friday we began the paper mache step.
• The Parade of States will be Thursday, May 28.

Spring is almost here.  I hope we begin to feel it soon.  It been a week of testing, talking about friendship and kindness, broccoli growing, party planning, animal researching and dealing with zero’s in math.

Week One of Testing Done

Most of the students have completed the English Language Arts portion of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. I hope you’ll give your son or daughter an extra special hug for his or her effort this week.   Things were as smooth as taking a new standardized test can be.  Though a few of the children said they thought it was fun, most found them exhausting, and a few felt pretty discouraged.  There were several teary moments when children felt totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they were being asked to do.  It was a lot.  I am very proud of their efforts and their willingness to push on through confusion and difficulty.  Mr. Boardman said that he felt things had gone smoothly at the board meeting on Thursday.  That was certainly true technology-wise thanks to Mrs. Wyman.  She spent countless hours to make sure all the computers were ready for us to use.  She knew all of the tools available to the kids and was able to support us all through the entire process.  She is the mom of the third grader.  She thought about this through his eyes and tried to do everything she could to make this experience as good as it could be.  She did for our children what she hopes will happen for her son.  Thank her if you have the chance.

S.E.L. – Trying to Find Ways to Be Better Friends

Spring is often a time of strained friendships.  Kids are longing for movement and change.  They are also wishing for options and new relationships.  Small classes make that hard.  There are only some many ways to pair up or form small groups with 13 children.  We need to deal with issues of unkindness in our classroom.  After reading several books by Trudy Ludwig, we’ve been trying to think of actions each of us could take to become better friends.  We are trying to make changes in what we do.  We are not making suggestions for others or passing blame.  It is a challenge but we are beginning to try.  Mrs. Ludwig suggests these ideas:

 It’s okay to be mad.  It’s not okay to be mean.  Don’t respond to bullying by bullying back.  Be a hero bystander: reach out to kids who are being bullied.  Don’t put others down to build yourself up.  Be accepting of others’ differences.  Hang out with friends who make you feel good about yourself.  Don’t just say “Sorry!”  Show you’re sorry.  Take responsibility for your hurtful behavior by making amends.  Know the difference between tattling and reporting.  Report bullying to a grown-up you trust.

We talked about all of her suggestions but we realize that there are still some unkind things going on.  We have some classmates that are left out.  We have some classmates that feel teased and picked on.  We have some classmates who are feeling put down.  We know we don’t want that and we are working to find ways to change our behaviors so we can lessen those feelings – hopefully eliminate them.

Bits and Pieces – 

• Report cards should be coming your way today.  Let me know if you don’t receive it and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  I am happy to meet with you.
• Our broccoli plants are a month old.  We are hoping they’ll be ready for the green house in two more weeks.
• Most of the children have mastered using the standard algorithm with a few questions here and there about place value.  They are feeling pretty good about it.  Next we move on to fractions.
• We finished The Quirks and the Quirkalicious Birthday on Monday.  We finally planned our quirky celebration and are looking forward to that on Monday.
• We began a mask making project.  We are making paper mache masks of the animal we are researching.

What a week! We can tell that spring will come for sure. There is still a lot of snow, but there is also a lot of sun and melting and mud. Change is in the air inside and out. We’ve changed our morning routine so that students self-select the learning center they will work at. That is requiring self-direction and cooperation. It has not gone smoothly. We hope we have a plan – we shall see.

Smarter Balance Assessment

We are beginning this national assessment next Tuesday. As outlined in the letter last week, there will be three days of English/Language Arts testing next week and two days of Math testing the following week. Because these are all computer based tests the whole grade is taking them together. We are using the computers in the lab, the library and two of the classrooms. The children have practiced and know as much about them as they possibly can before we begin.

Please assure the children that their best effort is all that is required. It is very different from most things they are familiar with. Some of the children will likely see it as a fun challenge, while others will see it as a discouraging task. We will do all we can to move through the next two weeks smoothly and positively. A plus with this assessment is that children have as much time as they need to complete it. We have flexibility to meet children’s individual needs. Next week will be different, but we will definitely manage. Thank you for your support and continued encouragement at home.

Reading and Writing to Learn

We’ve continued to record our daily answer to the question: “what have you learned or noticed in the last 24 hours?” To support this we’ve been reading a wide variety of nonfiction texts about animals, history and places. We’ve been looking at how authors have chosen to share information. Some share the information embedded in a narrative, while others organize the information in sections. Some books need to be read in order from start to finish, while others can be read section by section according to the information wanted.

The writers in 3E are using that knowledge to plan and organize their own research writing about an animal from their state. Together we developed a definition of habitat and decided what kinds of information we would like to gather about each animal. We hope to have completed the research portion of this project in the next two weeks. After that choices will be made as to how the information will be written about and presented.

Writing to Discover What We Know

Ben and Tim launched a whole new way of writing in our classroom with their Pyramids series. While writing for two voices has been done before, it has taken our classroom by storm. There are many different groups – some two and some three – working together to write dialogue for stories that need to be read aloud. They are full of action and humor (a favorite 3rd grade trait – hoping for a laugh.) If you’d like to hear some of these pieces a few have been recorded and posted on blogs.

This writing takes a lot of cooperation and attention to audience. The texts require enough detail to be interesting and clear, but not so much that they become long and silly. The room is full of purposeful chatter during that portion of our writers’ workshop. The children share ideas back and forth or work on their independent pieces – some inspired by things they’ve done or pictures they’ve looked at. I know they are feeling good about what they are doing because our sharing time is getting longer and longer. There is a great deal of writing enthusiasm in 3E.

Subtraction is Getting Easier

This week we have done a check in to see how we are doing with basic fact knowledge. We are checking progress with all four operations. The children chose how they wanted to take them – some chose most challenging first, while others saved that for last.   Some children were totally overwhelmed by the timed aspect and so couldn’t show what they actually know. Regardless, they are all feeling as though they understand inverse operations. They know which facts are their personal challenges to work on and master.

In addition to the fact check, math has been full of subtraction practice. Most of the children are working to add and subtract using the standard algorithm. They are working to regroup and trade. We’ve been working through the challenge of zeros. As you’ll see from the work in this week’s folders, progress is being made.

Bits and Pieces –

• Our S.E.L. focus this week has been self-responsibility and making good choices. Please talk to your child about how they feel they are using their learning time in the classroom. Do they feel they could focus more? Do they feel they could be more aware of how they choices affect both their own progress and the progress of others?
• We had a great day of snowshoeing on Tuesday. It was a glorious day. Everyone’s snowshoes stayed on for the entire walk. It was great to be out in the woods.
• We have completed the second transplant of our broccoli. In a few weeks we’ll have some plants for the children to bring home and some that we’ll put in 1-foot gardens in the greenhouse that we hope will produce food for our cafeteria.
• Term 2 Report Cards will be sent to you on Friday, March 20.

It is hard to imagine that we were just on vacation. It feels as though we have been in school all along. The class is attempting to accomplish many things and yet is always feels as if there are many more waiting for us to get to.

Writing to Explore Ideas

As a way to increase the amount of writing the child do, each of our writing sessions begins with a 10 minute quick write. The children have their choice of two suggested topics or to write something of their choice. They’ve been creating stories, personal narratives, lists, and poems. They’ve been exploring description and details and looking at different types of sentences. We’ve been sharing favorite pieces or a favorite sentence nearly every day.

The quick write time is silent (mostly) so that the whole time is dedicated to thinking and writing. After two weeks of this daily work the children have quite a collection. From these they will be asked to select a piece or part of a piece to develop through a drafting process to publish.

Writing to Reflect on Learning

Is it true that you learn something new every day? Ask your child what their answer is to that question. We’ve also been working to capture our thoughts, observations and new learning each day and it is harder than you might imagine. Sometimes the things we learn are small bits like: I learned how to change the background image on the computer. Other times the learning is a new observation: Deer can leap high and long. This new personal knowledge was accompanied by the story explaining how this was learned.

All of the children have discovered that learning is an active process. To have something to write means being more aware and self-reflective; stopping to notice that something new just crossed your mind. I think it will be a fun collection to look back through at the close of the year.

Blogging – Sharing Stories, Information and Ideas – Hoping for a Responsive Audience

This week when we went to the computer lab to work on our blog posts I was struck by the diversity of what was happening. One student was working with an ipad to create an ebook to post. Another student was planning how he would make a chatter pix post of his state. Some children were writing book reviews and others video game reviews. A couple kids were creating an audio recording of a story they had written in two voices. Another child was scanning her drawing so she could add it to her narrative story and still another was working from books and notes to create an alphabetical listing of all fifty state’s symbols and capitals. There were original stories being typed and vacation memories recounted.

As the children watch each other work in their different ways and with different tools they are inspired to try new things. It will be exciting to see how this grows in the next few weeks. If you haven’t had the chance to check out your child’s blog, please do and leave a comment. They are excited to know their work has been read.

Subtraction Remains a Challenge

This week in math we have reacquainted ourselves with the standard algorithm and how it works with addition and subtraction. Most of the children feel secure with addition. They can imagine one becoming tens and tens becoming hundreds. Subtraction remains a challenge – especially when zeros are involved. You may notice many math problems coming home that show some confusion. If your child is willing to take your help, please do. If your child just can’t stand the thought of subtracting at home too – that’s okay. We are working on it and I know little by little understanding will grow.

Ask your child about our work with these quick image cards and the die.

Bits and Pieces

• Our broccoli seedlings are three weeks old. The second set of leaves is beginning to show. We are nearly ready for the second transplanting. In a few weeks they will be ready for their one square foot garden out in the greenhouse.
• We are halfway through The Quirks and the Quirkalicious Birthday. We plan to celebrate all birthdays with our own “quirky” party when we finish the book. We will likely be looking for supplies and help depending on the celebration the class plans. I’ll keep in touch.
• Preparing for the new Smarter Balance Assessment – we’ve been practicing a bit so the class is familiar with the format and the tools that are available to them during the testing. They are going to be challenging and we hope the children know that their best effort is all we are hoping for. Please find a letter and 3rd grade testing schedule in your child’s Friday envelope. We are the first grade to begin this process in a week.
• Our Portfolio Board is taking shape at last. We hope to post work and reflections on a weekly basis as a way of : 1) stopping to take note of learning that is taking place and 2) to increase awareness of how good taking pride in what you do feels.
• Report Cards will be coming to your email address on Friday, March 20th. Both second and third term report cards come with narrative comments to help you understand how your child is progressing toward the grade level standards.