This week’s post was illustrated by Gavin, our class photographer.

Reminder – the Parade of the States is this upcoming Thursday, May 25. Students should arrive at 4:45 and meet at the stage. The evening will begin with the recorder concert promptly at 5:00 followed by the parade into the gymnasium. We imagine the event will be complete by 6:30 at the latest.

Testing – Week 1

Testing has been a huge part of our week. Some days we read in the classroom, and other days we didn’t. Some days we had a long writing block in the classroom, and other times we wrote little at all.   Some days we continued learning about fractions and problem solving, while other days we didn’t. This makes it challenging to identify the two or three things we explored in depth in our classroom to report to you in our memo. I do know your children put a lot of effort into the testing. Please give your third grader a huge hug to celebrate the fact that they successfully navigated their way through the first week of testing. As an entire grade they were focused, respectful of each other and hard working.

This is the third year we have taken the SBAC test, and each year I am reminded of the enormity of the task. The written directions are long and convoluted. The directions alone fill more than a full computer screen, and that is before the children get to the questions. They are intimidating to look at. I am proud of them. They read and answered questions. They read and proofread, wrote and revised short answer questions. They also wrote longer information pieces, narrative and opinions. They knew about leads and worked to create paragraphs and conclusions. It is challenging to write about things you’re learning about for the first time, while navigating many sources, references and passages all at the same time. They did their best.

Many of the children like the test. They like the challenge and the focus. Perhaps the most important thing they’ve learned from this testing experience, is that they can navigate online assessments, and are able to respond to many different types of assignments and questions.

Next week we will tackle the math tests. They too will be challenging, but in a different way. I think our class will feel more comfortable with them. Thank you for encouraging your child each day and helping them approach the test with a positive attitude; knowing that their best effort is all we ask for.

Bits and Pieces from our week:

• We began our eighth chapter read-aloud, Maxi’s Secret. Julie recommended it and we’re excited by it so far. We’re on the 12th chapter and can already see connections between it and Wonder. Jayce speculated that if Auggie and Timiny had been in the same school, they most definitely would have been friends. The class agreed!
• The children are continuing to complete their State Wonder research and writing.
• Many of them had a chance to revise and complete their fables so that we should be able to get that illustrated and to the printer next week (Yay!)
• It is the 3rd week of The Global Kindness Project (GKP). The theme of the week was exploring empathy and uncovering why it might be hard to empathize with others. We read Ada’s Violin on Monday and watched a video about The Landfill Harmonic (it is linked here). Living on a landfill seems unbelievable to us and yet, there is happiness and joy their. We were mindful of how music brought hope and opportunity to that community. This week we also learned about the United Nations and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We read I Like, I Don’t Like. It’s a deceptively simple book, but one that sparked a great deal of conversation. The “teaser” on the back says, “Every child has the right to play – but in some parts of the world, children spend more time working than playing. This thought-provoking book captures how different the world can look from the eyes of those less privileged.” I urge you to find a copy and talk about it at home.
• We’re learning that sharing kindness is an easy thing to do, but it feels nice. As Lucy describes it, “It is a warm feeling in your heart.” First we hid bookmarks in the library, next we created Mother’s Day cards and now we’ve got rocks. For our third kind action as a class, we are working on our “Kindness Rocks!” project. Everyone has put the first coat of white paint on the rocks. Friday we’ll add color and decide on our messages. Next week, we’ll write the messages with Sharpie and then finally cover them with Mod-Podge so they’ll have a shiny finish.
• Individually, a group of students has been creating acrostic poems for their classmates. It seems to me that those are kind messages of caring for each other. They warm my heart to read – and the smile on classmates’ faces when they read them and realize how they are known and cared for is special.
• Our broccoli is thriving. Some of the larger plants are showing the first little signs of flowering. On top of that, each time we go into the greenhouse we notice more and different things. Last week it was the petunias. This week it is the tomatoes, peppers and sunflowers.

As always, thank you for all you do to support and promote learning in 3E. Happy Float Building!