It was so nice to see many of you at Curriculum Night. We appreciate your support in making this a great year. Thank you.

Naming Habits that Lead to Success

and Discovering the Many Ways We Are Smart – S.E.L.

We’ve continued on with our exploration of how we are smart and habits that lead to success. We read about Henri Rousseau. He painted because he loved to paint and though he never left the city of Paris the jungle fascinated him and found its way into his art. He painted as he thought it must be and entered annual exhibitions where he was horribly ridiculed over and over. We all agreed we would have either given up painting, or only painted in secret. We decided his habits for success were believing in himself, practicing, having courage and risk-taking.

We also read about Michael Jordan as a boy. He loved basketball, but he was short and could never get the ball past the tall guys. He stopped playing in games for a while, waiting to grow. While he waited, he practiced and practiced. Eventually he went back to the game and… we know where that took him. His habits for success were determination, practice and focus.

Finally we read Junkyard Wonders, a continuation of Patricia Polacco’s school learning story. If you haven’t read this book with your child, please do. There is so much to think and talk about. It can be read over and over again. We talked about how schools have changed and become more inclusive and more aware of learning differences and needs. We talked about friendship and determination, exclusion and fear of difference. We admired the “Wonders” for their support and caring of each other and for moving forward despite all they faced.

We can see parts of ourselves in the biographies we are reading. We can feel what courage and determination it takes to keep going. We also know that it is sometimes hard to believe in ourselves or ignore teasing and unkind taunts. We can also (when we are honest) recognize our less than kind selves. We all have choices – how do we want to grow our intelligences? What habits of success do we want to foster and practice?

Exploring Informational Writing

Over the last few weeks we have been reading a wide variety of informational books. We’ve explored the choices that authors have made of organizing their information. Some information is told sequentially. Some information is shared in categories and sub-topics in a more descriptive manor. Other information is shared in a compare/contrast or cause and effect format. In addition to the organizational choices for writing, we’ve explored some of the craft choices authors make. Sometimes authors make characters to share the information. We read I Fly! where the information is shared through the voice of the fly as he teaches the children in a classroom that he is a fascinating as a butterfly.

This learning is launching our global geography, habitat and animal research project. We are looking forward to

Many Models For Multiplication

We’ve been learning various models for multiplication. We’re exploring repeated groupings, arrays and the relationship between addition and multiplication. Multiplication seems like it must be hard – it’s new and many of the children feel that they don’t know it. But we’ve come to realize that it is not that hard – in fact at the beginning we already know a lot. When we count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s that’s a first step. You’ll see some papers in the folders this week where the class was challenged to think about repeated groups and what models represent addition and what models represent multiplication. Each week the concept becomes clearer.

Bits and Pieces –

• Don’t Forget! – 3rd grade school pictures will be taken October 3, in the afternoon.
• We’re beginning our 3rd chapter read-aloud, The Trumpet of the Swan. This fits with our science inquiry of habitats. It connects to our 3rd Grade Zoo project and will help us as we learn more about how to document our thinking while reading.
• Mrs. Mariotti is starting a weekly luncheon with 3rd grade. She’ll be inviting four children each week to lunch for small group conversation. Everyone will have a turn and then we’ll begin again.
• Ask your child about The River Runner challenge. It requires a great deal of self-management and self-awareness, while at the same time being socially aware as well. Ask your child they remember most about the activity? What was his or her biggest challenge within the activity?