We’ve spent our week focused on portfolio preparations, beginning an inquiry into national holidays, learning more about elapsed time and stopping for a moment to count our blessings.  We’ve learned a bit about the history of Thanksgiving and how it came to be celebrated. It’s kind of cool to know that New Hampshire’s own, Sarah Josepha Hale was instrumental in creating American’s special holiday.  I am hopeful that by the time you read this note, each child will have completed his or her blog sharing a thankfulor gratefulacrostic.  Their thoughts are beautiful.  Enjoy them.

Student Goal Setting and Portfolio Shares

Thank you for spending time with your son or daughter as they shared what they are learning, their classroom and their goals for this year.  They are growing their abilities to reflect on their learning processes. Since we began this process, they can already see they have changed.  They realized how they grown as a mathematician by seeing problems from early October.  It is motivating to find proof of learning and to feel the rewards of focus and effort. The more actively the children participate in their own learning, the more they will grow.

It is exciting to see their thoughtfulness and their enthusiasm for sharing what they do each day. They deserve to be proud of their efforts and abilities to present their thinking and learning at this point in the year. I appreciate knowing what they are thinking.  They always surprise me.  Their ideas and approach to each task is totally unique.  They teach me something new every day.

Book Clubs – Keeping Track Thinking While Reading

Last week the children participated in book clubs. Our first book club choices were centered on the idea that everyone can write what they know and feel in their hearts.  All of these first choices were picture books and the clubs were designed so that everyone could meet the expectations of 1) completing the book, 2) writing a summary, 3) selecting a favorite part to speak to and 4) to make an inference about the author’s message.  All of the children met these expectations and had some great discussions about their books and reading.

Our second book clubs selections all have something to do with Thanksgiving.  They are nonfiction selections and have a wide range of length and complexity.  We’ll be learning more about note-taking and questioning during these book club meetings. We’ll use what we learn during these meetings to guide us into our second inquiry project about national holidays.

Bits and Pieces –

• We finished The Wild Roboton Wednesday.  There was a resounding “YES” when I asked if we wanted to read The Wild Robot Escapes next. Roz is an amazing robot.  We loved the book so much we’ve decided to build some robots of our own.  It will be fun to see the personalities of our robots emerge.
• Just a reminder – we’ve got a field trip on Monday to Strawbery Banke.  We’ll be there for the morning and will be returning to school around 1:00.  The children will need to bring their lunch – or order lunch from school as yesterday’s notice outlined.  We’ll be eating lunch on the bus while we return from the program.  Please be aware of the peanut and tree nut allergies in the grade.  Thank you.
• We’ve continued to learn more about simple and compound sentences.  We are learning more about the choices we make can add to interest to our writing.

 

Happy Veterans Day! We’re getting ready to develop our weather forecasts as we end of our weather unit of study.  This week we’ve begun exploring our nation’s history by learning some about our nine national holidays.  We’ve continued to discuss and plan for how we can each contribute to the creation of a successful learning community.  We’ve been learning about sentences and parts of speech – nouns, verbs and adjectives. And finally, we’ve been exploring time. We’re learning about elapsed time and how to use what we know about fives and multiplication to connect with telling time.  We’re always trying to get the most out of our time.

Building A Strong Classroom Community – S.E.L.

We’ve been struggling with behavior for the past two weeks.  Both of these weeks have been full of unusual schedules and events. Because of this, I waited to see if we could pull it together.  Some have, but others have not.  As a class, we mean well, but behavior choices have left much to be desired. This, along with little attention to personal best and/or thoughtful effort, is prompting me to ask you to have a chat with your child about what they might do to support their own learning. We’ve been reading about teamwork and cooperation.  We’ve had lots of examples and now we need to make some important choices. If you have a chance, talk to your child about what s/he could do put forth best effort?  Ask how can s/he contribute to creating a classroom community allowing everyone to succeed? These conversations will help us continue them in our classroom, so we can be sure that learning is what we are about at school.

In Open Circle we are exploring the importance in being encouraging and giving compliments. We’re learning more about cooperation and how to contribute to our classroom team.  Competition has its place, but it’s not often part of our classroom learning community.  We are working toward a cooperative classroom.  Here’s how we imagine it will look and sound when we’ve been successful. We decided that a cooperative classroom looks calm, relaxed, focused and helpful. We can see that people are making eye contact and listening.  It looks like everyone is working to meet the classroom goals and everyone is doing what is expected with what the task and materials are at the moment.  We also decided a cooperative classroom sounds quiet so each person can hear what he or she needs to hear.  There would be the sound of purposeful talk that is on topic and respectful in our cooperative classroom.  We’d hear compliments and encouragement.

Our outdoor challenge this week was about teamwork too.  The class was divided into groups and sent to three different stations.  We were told we had to listen carefully to all the directions, take turns and allow everyone to participate.  Our goal was to move all the objects from one hoop into another hoop. With those directions, the class began. Ask your child what he or she discovered working through this challenge.  Perhaps Open Circle and the challenge can help your child in coming up with ideas of how our classroom can be a place where everyone can succeed in the manner that makes him or her proud.

Exploring Adjectives and the Power of 3

We’ve been exploring different types of sentences.  We’ve learned about simple, and compound sentences.  We know each sentence has a noun that is its subject. We know that the subject of the sentence has to do something, and then we are hoping to elaborate on the basic sentence structure by adding adjectives to paint a picture of our meaning with our word choice.

We’ve discovered that it is a bit harder than it seems.  We’ve also discovered that writing we admire has all different types and lengths of sentences.  We’re trying to think about all our sentence choices when we are writing ourselves. Check with your child to see if she or he trying to fill it with adjectives and description.  Some of them are, and some of them are not yet ready. You’ll be able to see some examples of readiness in this week’s set of papers.

Bits and Pieces

• We’re nearing the end of The Wild Robot.This book has taught us about building relationships.  In the book, having friends Roz can help and that she can help in return is important. It is important in our classroom too. We are all learning how to be supportive community members.
• If you’ve not had a chance to read and comment on your child’s informational weather writing on his or her blog, please do.  This is their first published piece.  We’ll be publishing them as books to be placed in the classroom’s weather library in addition to posting them on the blogs.
• We’re exploring national holidays.  We’ve spent some time reading about Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Independence Day. We’ve read poems and shared our ideas as to why we have set these days aside.  It’s exciting to know that Thanksgiving became a national holiday through the efforts of a woman from New Hampshire.
• Student-Led Goal setting conferences will be on Thursday, November 15 or Friday, November 16.
• Our field trip to Strawbery Banke is on Monday, November 19.

 

What an exciting week – Trick-or-Treating, Halloween and welcoming our new classroom pet.  Finally the Reptile Keeper has a real job to do everyday. On top of all that, our week has also been filled with reading, writing, researching, science and problem solving.  Your children are hardworking, flexible and interested in learning.  It seems as though 3E is a good place to be learning.

Goal Setting – Preparing for our Conferences

This week we continued our goal setting process.  As I’ve already shared, the students have described themselves as learners using the Multiple Intelligences model, they’ve described themselves as readers and writers, chosen “best” books and pieces of writing to highlight what they are capable of doing independently at this point in the school-year and set reading and writing goals.  These goals come from the traits of successful readers and writers we generated as a class.  Each of the children has chosen something they feel they would like to pay attention to and improve.  Our last goal-setting area is math.  We will have they completed by the middle of next week.  We’ll spend a few days organizing our portfolios and planning how we will share all our ideas with our families.  In the second week of November we will be organized and ready to share.

The students will lead their conference and share their learning profiles, work samples and goals with you.  The main goal of this reflection and writing SEL project is to help the children come to understand themselves as learners a bit better. It is designed to help each of them realize they are unique and totally capable of accomplishing whatever they are willing to work for.

The conferences will give you a clearer understanding of what your child is doing each day and give you a glimpse into how your child is feeling about third grade. Report cards will be sent home to you on Monday, December 3.  We’ll meet for Parent/Teacher conferences that week.  We’ll use the information from the conference and the report card narrative to set goals for we’ll do at home and at school to further to support our third grade learners.

Developing Descriptive Writing Skills

We’ve continued to learn more about adjectives and descriptive writing.  We’ve practiced writing descriptive sentences about weather. We’ve had the chance to create adjective poems.  We made one together about our gecko and the children wrote their own about the leaves they created in our symmetry project.

We’ve also practiced combining what we know about adjectives with words that stimulate our senses. Looking at a picture, we challenged ourselves to write descriptive sentences that follow “The Power of 3” rule. Ask your child about The Power of 3.  He or she may be able to explain a bit about how we use it to make our writing descriptive enough without, either going over the top, or leaving it bare bones.

Science Research and Writing

We’ve nearly completed our first informational writing project.  The children have each made a real effort to meet the deadline set for November 1^st.  Most did. The children set their own criteria (with guidance) defining what they felt would be a successful (if not great) piece of informational writing.  They agreed

: to write what they understand, to write to teach others, to write in their own words, to write between 25 and 30 sentences (at least five sentences about five sub-topics) – more is always better, and to create their own illustrations to share their understanding of the topic.  They are excited to be sharing their weather library with others.

I am sure, as you read their writing, you will recognize where they are in their learning processes, and how they can grow as both researchers and writers. They should feel proud of what they’ve accomplished so far.

Bits and Pieces –

• We’ve continued to explore symmetry, congruence and angles.  We’re learning more about right angles.  We’ve learned angles larger than 90˚ are called obtuse and angles smaller than 90˚ are acute.
• We’ve almost finished The Wild Robot.  We’re looking forward to finding out what happens now that spring has arrived and the robot will have lived on the island for a full year. We are realizing this is a book about the importance of friendship in order to survive and to be happy.
• In Open Circle and in most of our S.E.L. morning meeting discussions we’ve been talking about including others and finding ways to be more aware of other’s feelings.  After reading The Invisible Boy, we’ve wondered if it is worse to be ignored and alone or laughed at.  Talk to you child about this story and see what he or she has to say.
• Our Strawbery Banke field trip is coming on November 19.  We’re still looking for a few permission slips and trip fee of $5.00 for some children.
• Just a reminder – there is no school for students on Tuesday, November 6 and there is a half day for students on Friday, November 9.

We are very busy. We’re trying to establish a safe habit for our class reptile – leopard geckos.  They live in the desert so it has to be hot.  We are trying to find a safe way to make sure the temperature doesn’t drop too much at night and on the weekends.  It’s been an interesting and exciting process.  We also had the opportunity (a high pressure system moving in) to set up our storm glass so now our weather corner has another tool that we can use to predict the weather.

We’ve been preparing for student-led goal setting conferences, writing informational weather essays, exploring description and learning about symmetry.

Setting Goals – Preparing for Student Led Conferences in November

This week we’ve spent time thinking about goals.  We’ve tried to be specific.  We’ve tried to make our goals about something important and doable.  We’re also thinking about the evidence we might collect to show we have accomplished our goals.

We began our discussion with reading.  We’ve been paying attention to how each reader can grow.  Here’s what we decided:

Reading grows if…

… you have good reading habits.

• You get your book box ready
• You read books that challenge you some, and that you will stick with and read from cover to cover.
• You read most of independent reading time with only a little looking or skimming and scanning.

…you try reading different types (genre) of books.

…you keep track of your thinking so you can show it or tell it to others.

…you learn new words and develop word attack skills.

Once we discovered what we might do to grow as readers, we set a goal for the week.  We called it a W.O.W. (within one week) goal.  We’ve discovered that even though we know how we might improve our reading skills, we don’t always do what will help us.  We really do have to make a plan if we are going to accomplish what we set out to do.  We’re trying to explore new books and spend more time thinking about what we’re reading.  They deserve to be proud of all they are attempting and doing as readers.

Exploring Symmetry

This month our calendar is filled with a pattern of polygons.  We’re learning about different types of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and hexagons.  We’ve discovered that when they are called “regular” shapes the sides and angles are equal.  “Regular” shapes often have many lines of symmetry. Symmetry is all around us.   We’ve looked for things in the classroom that are symmetrical and we’ve explored symmetry in nature too.

Developing our Writing Using Elaboration Strategies

We began to explore ways of expanding our writing by adding description.  We’ve been learning about traits and adjectives.  We’ve begun to categorize words that could be included in descriptions and we’ve been challenging ourselves to find as many ways as possible to describe one thing.  Here are our descriptions of a nest – a list of words that turned into a poem.

Nest

Pokey

Wispy

Grassy

Small

Prickly

Survival

Gentle

Inspiring

Secure

Exciting

Round

Light

Fluffy

Unique

Fragile

Bowl

Fluffy

Delicate

Life

Home

Bits and Pieces –

• The Wild Robot is full of wonderful characters and rich description.  Ask your child to describe his or her favorite part so far.  Some of it’s funny.  Some of it’s worrisome?  We’re wondering how the story will end.
•  Picture retakes will be on November 1.  If you plan to have your child’s picture retaken, they’ll need to bring the packet back on that date.  If they were absent your child should plan on having his or her picture taken on the first.
• We have a new outdoor challenge schedule.  Mr. Guidi (Mr. G to the children) will be leading these challenges.  Here is a new list of dates.
• Thanks for putting them on your calendar.  We will be outside if at all possible.

3rd Grade Challenges – 3E

1. November 7th
2. November 28th
3. December 12th
4. January 2nd
5. January 16th
6. January 30th
7. February 13th
8. March 6th
9. March 20th
10. April 10th
11. May 1st
12. May 15th
13. May 29th

 

 

Thanks for supporting our reading museum and helping the children take note of he fact that learning continues on and on.  Thank you also for your attention to making time for homework.  Many of the kids were super excited about having that responsibility. We began our week by thinking about a series of precepts:  “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”, “Practice makes perfect.”, “”Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re probably right.”, and ”Practice makes progress.” We had some great conversation about what we can do to make sure learning grows.

This week everyone created a second blog post, more of the children were able to solidify and apply their understanding of the distributive property during daily problem solving and we defined the criteria we would use to create “great” pieces of informational weather writing.

Reading Grows

This week we shared books important to each of us as readers.  The class shared favorite books read when they were babies, read-alouds they loved hearing over and over and over again as toddlers and favorite chapter books shared as a family.  It was fun to tour the class’s reading museum.  Some children realized they had brought in the same book. (I discovered that Good Night Construction Siteis a must for our grandson, James.) Others were reminded of favorites from the past.  It was fun to revisit books that may not have been looked at for a while.

After the museum on Tuesday, we reflected on the reading we’d been doing in the first month and a half of school.  We thought about the books we’d been choosing to read and we considered the difference between “reading”, “skimming and scanning” and “looking through.”  All are important habits to have, but we agreed that much of the time we have in our classroom with books should be dedicated to reading.  The only way to grow as a reader is to practice.  We reflected on what we’d been reading so far and the school year, and what habits we’d been most focused on.  Are next steps will be to develop goals that will lead us forward and help us to grow.

Multiplying With Large Amounts

We’ve been learning how to use what we know about place value to help us multiply larger amounts. We’ve been trying to use the distributive property, because these steps more often help us with accuracy.  They remind use to multiply everything – not just the hundreds and tens, but also the ones.

The problems have been written to help the children practice using this skill to become more efficient. More and more of the children are feeling sure of themselves with this strategy.

Experimenting with Leads /

Establishing the Guideline We Plan to Follow for Our Weather Writing

We learned about four different types of leads: snapshot, question, dialogue and onomatopoeia.  We had a go at playing around with each of them. We’ve tried choosing words that paint a picture.  We’ve thought about the sounds we’d hear if we were to enter the setting of our piece of writing to consider if that would make an impactful start.  We’ve thought of creating characters to speak and introduce our topic or story.  And finally, we’ve wonder about the questions we hope our writing will answer.  See if your child can tell you about the lead he or she is most interested in using to introduce readers to weather.

In addition to leads we also agreed on the writing criteria we’d have for our weather writing.  We thought each piece should be at least five pages (have five subtopics), and each page should have at least five sentences. We decided that our writing should how our understanding of the topic so that readers would find it interesting. And we thought we should include one illustration.  Many of the students are continuing to research, but some of them are already at the writing phase.  Some are typing on computers, while others are choosing to handwrite their pieces. In addition to publishing them so we have a weather library in the hall for others to read, the children are excited about posting them on their blogs for all to read.

Bits and Pieces

• We’ve posted our second blog post. This post features a personal favorite, hobby or interest. With this post we learned how to copy and paste text from one file to another.  It will take time but, with practice, this will become second nature.
• We also learned about making quality comments.  We’re trying to begin with a specific compliment that lets the blogger know we actually read the post.  Then we’re trying to add a connection or question to get a conversation going. And finally we’re trying to remember to sign our names so the blogger knows we visited.
• A HUGE thank you to those who have commented and shared the URL with family and friend.  Comments are motivating.
• In Open Circle we’ve discussed positive self-talk and growth mind-set.  We are trying to be as encouraging to ourselves (and our classmates) as possible.
• Our next field trip will be to Strawberry Banke.  It is on Monday, November 19.  Permission slips went home on Wednesday.  The cost of the trip is $5.00.  We’ll be learning all about Thanksgiving through the ages as we travel from house to house and learn how the celebration has changed.

There is an Early Release on Wednesday, October 24. 

Dismissal is at 12:00.

For a short week, we certainly fit a lot in.  We continued our weather research.  We’re finding out a lot of interesting facts.  We began student blogging this week. The class is very excited about creating a first post.  Thanks to those families who were able to read them and leave a comment.  Please share the blog url with family and friends, near and far.   It is exciting to open the blogs and find comments from grandparents, aunts and uncles. Thank you for your time and attention with this.

As we prepared for the open house it was interesting to stop and realize how much we’ve been doing in our first thirty days of school.  Thank you for joining us last night.  I hope you found the information helpful.  Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions at they arise.  If you were unable to attend, please look for the hand-outs in your child’s Friday envelope.

Learning Properties of Multiplication

We’ve been learning how to create and read arrays.  This practice enabled all of us to understand how the Commutative Property of Multiplication works.  It doesn’t matter if you have 3 rows of 4 or 4 rows of 3.  Both equal twelve.  To show this understanding we made buildings to create Multiplication Main Street. Our buildings show how this property works.

We also learned how to break arrays up into manageable parts.  For instance when looking at an array that is 5 rows of 13, we can break the 13 into 10 and 3 and easily do the multiplication then: 5×10 and 5×3.  After working to organize our thinking with arrays, we learned how to use the Distributive Property with multiplication. We’ve still got some work to do with this property before everyone feels fully certain of what they are doing, especially when hundreds turn to thousands.

Living the Life of a Reader

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of our goal setting process, we’ve begun talking about what it means to live the life of a reader.  We’ve been reading poems and books about books, reading stories and loving certain kinds of books as a way to discover all the different types of reading people do. The children have been asked to think back and talk to you about books that were and/or are important to them. They could be favorites from when they were younger – books they asked to have read over and over, or they may be books they spent so much time with they could recite them without even looking. They can also be books that have been read aloud to them at home or at school.  They could be books of topics they are interested in.

Hopefully each child can bring in a collection of between 3 and 5 (2 and 6 are also fine) books, maps, magazines, charts… texts that have been important to them in becoming the reader they are today. We’ll create a reading museum with these texts on Tuesday, October 16.

Bits and Pieces –

• We’ve begun our fourth chapter read-aloud of the year, The Wild Robot. This is a fantasy, full of rich description. The setting is important in this book.  Ask your child what he or she remembers about the island where Roz has washed up.
• On Thursday two North Hampton firefighters visited our grade, Steve and Brendan. They shared some important fire safety tips with the classes and answered many, many different questions.
• In Open Circle this week we began discussing how people know when they feel upset and where in their body they experience that emotion. Some in the class feel that emotion in their stomach, while other feel it in the chest and still others feel it as a tightness in their shoulders.It was an interesting discussion and one that we’ll continue as we learn to recognize the many side of “upset.”
• We have continued to work on our Multiple Intelligence (MI) pie charts. We’re having fun noticing all the ways we are “smart.”

Our week seems to fly by. I guess that’s a good thing – we are exploring lots of things every day and all seem to be enjoying what we are doing. This week we finished our third chapter read-aloud for the year.  With the help of Mrs. Wyman, the students were each able to take the first step in setting up their personal learning blog.  We’ve begun our first research project and feel surer about how the commutative property of multiplication works.

S.E.L. – Developing our Multiple Intelligence Pie Chart

During our Open Circle discussions during the last few weeks we’ve been discussing feeling and emotions. We’ve sorted them, calling some uncomfortable and other comfortable.  We’ve wondered if we always know how we are feeling – we’ve discussed how breathing can help us relax.  We’ve also discovered that we can read other people’s emotions by paying attention to their body language.

We’ve spent time learning more about ourselves as learners.  Last week we took two different surveys to uncover our multiple intelligences.  We are using that information to create a pie chart of “how we are smart” to show which areas of intelligence are our strengths at this time.   While we’ve been doing that, we’ve also been exploring how we can make our brains grow and develop due to our interest, attention and willingness to practice even when it’s a challenge.  It is interesting to hear the children talk about what they are discovering about themselves and the habits we can develop that may lead us toward success.

Problem Solving – Arrays and the Commutative Property

Our goal in daily problem solving is to offer the children opportunities to practice logical thinking and to find ways to use new knowledge to become more efficient over time.  The children choose a strategy they can use to document their thinking and follow through to an accurate solution.  This is challenging.  When you and I read the problems we see that most of them can be solved with multiplication, but because it is still new to your children, it is not always their choice.

Please expect this.  There are many things happening all at once in this thinking process.  The children have to read the problem and visualize the operations that are happening in the story.  The problems generally have two-steps, sometimes more, and often more than one operation.  They have to keep them separate which is not always easy.  The problems also use amounts that are manageable, but still challenging.

At this point you’ll notice any range of strategies.  Sometime the children are drawing out the problems.  This can become cumbersome and mistakes are often made when counting.  Sometimes children are skip counting or using a doubling strategy.   Sometimes children are able to mentally manipulate amounts in their minds but are off by a bit when the value of a digit is confused. Each child is using what s/he knows to solve the problem, and with time will become more efficient. With time you’ll see changes and progress.  We’ll be keeping samples of problems in the classroom to document growth.  You may want to do that too so you can share the growth that you see when you look at problems from across the year and notice as more sophisticated strategies are being used with all four operations.

We’ve spent some time understanding the ARRAY model of multiplication.  We’ve learned about the commutative property.  We are sure that 6×7=7×6 even if we are not instantly sure of the answer.  On top of that we can create an array of that amount and find a way to solve it (We know how to 7 fives and then we just need to add one more on.  Or we could double 6 three times and add one more.)  It is interesting to discover there are many correct ways to reach a solution.

Bits and Pieces –

• Curriculum Night is Thursday, October 11.  Ms. Coronato and I will be presenting information about the 3^rdgrade curriculum in Mrs. Oliver’s music room at both the 5:00pm and 6:15pm.  We anticipate that each presentation will be about 35 minutes so you can have 10 minutes or so in the classroom to see and respond to the pieces of work or parts of the classroom that your son or daughter has chosen to point out to you.
• When we completed I Survived the Children’s Blizzard of 1888,we celebrated that accomplishment by having each child illustrate a snowball with their favorite scene and create a snowflake to be part of our doorway blizzard.
• After we learned about blizzards, each child chose something about weather that he or she would like to become an expert in.  This is going to be the topic for a mini-research and information writing project. We’re going to decide on the criteria and we’re going to find a way to share this information with you.

And of course, the highpoint of our week was having WMUR Meteorologist, Hayley LaPoint come to share her love of weather and meteorology with the third grade.  Here’s a collection of what the children said they learned from the presentation:

 

• Lightening is hotter than the sun.  It’s 5 times hotter than the sun’s surface.  Lightning is 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
• The words meteorology and meteorologist started out as Greek words.
• Both hurricanes and tornadoes can go over water.
• Cirrus clouds are made of ice.  They mean the weather is changing.
• I learned that anything that comes from a cloud is precipitation.
• There are meteorologists who work at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park so they can decide whether or not to hold or postpone the games so they can give a warning to the fans.
• Tornadoes can be dangerous and destructive.  There are usually one or two tornadoes a year in NH – they are just really small.
• The bottom of a cumulonimbus cloud is called a blanket.
• The biggest tornadoes can be two miles wide.
• Hail only happens in the summer.  It can be the size of a baseball.

I’m guessing more memories will emerge as we plan our weather presentations over the next few weeks.

We are continuing to grow as a classroom of learners, thinker and doers.  This week we began to collect reflections on learning, we read more about different types of weather and created a wind experiment.  We’ve continued to learn more about multiplication and problem solving.  And of course, we read and write some every day as well. This week the class discovered the Who Will Win basket.  Many in the class have been passing these books around and talking about their surprise at which animal can defeat the other and how.  Some of the children are trying that style or writing out on their own. It’s fun to see how interest grows and spreads across the classroom from reader to reader.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences – our SEL focus

We’ve continued to learn more about the theory of multiple intelligences.  This week we’ve completed a couple different questionnaires so the children would know more about themselves as learners.  We used the different survey questions to think about how our interests and activities mirror the ways we are smart. It can be surprising to notice how even and balanced we are.  I think the children are surprised at the balance they are noticing as well.

We also talked about how intelligence grows.  We know we can change and grow in any way we choose.  My example is that I am always embarrassed that I cannot dribble a ball and move at the same time.  The truth is, I’ve never had the opportunity to learn and I’ve never taken the time to practice.   Clearly, if that skill truly mattered to me, I’d practice until I could do it.  That is the case for them too.  They can do anything they choose to do!

They’ll be sharing this information and what they know about themselves as learners with families at the fall goal setting conference.

Models of Multiplication

We’ve begun learning more about multiplication.  We’ve learned a bit about arrays and function or ratio tables.  We’ve learned that the first factor in a multiplication equation stands for the number of groups and that the second factor stands for the amount in each group.  We know that multiplication is a way to add more quickly.

While working with some array worksheets, the class realized how learning multiplication would be a good thing.  It will help us with accuracy and allow us to complete our problem solving work more efficiently.  It is fun to see the children excited to solve math problems.  At first the problems felt hard and now they are becoming easier.  Many of the children are able to finish three and four problems in a work session.  It is great to see their focus and dedication to learning new things.

Air + Water + Temperature = Weather

We’ve continued to explore weather and extreme conditions.  The week we read more about tornadoes.  We’ve learned that they can form at the edges of hurricanes, but that they are usually separate.  We learned about their different ratings and the reason they can be so devastating. It is amazing to learn that the winds in tornadoes cannot be officially measured – they are only estimates because people can’t get close enough to be certain.

This week we worked on a design challenge.  The children built a house and a wind maker (a.k.a. – fan) and then had to figure out how to change their design so the roof and house could withstand a storm.  It was a lesson in dealing with frustration and difficulty for some.  It was challenging when some ideas worked, while others did not.  It was challenging to see those missteps as something to learn from too.  We know some of what to try again another time and what not to try as well.

Bits and Pieces –

• We’re learning about both weather and history by reading I Survived The Children’s Blizzard of 1888.
• We are looking forward to our visit from Hayley LaPoint, WMUR meteorologist.  She’ll be joining us on October 4 to share her passion for science, meteorology and her belief that you can do anything you set out to do.
• We’ll be blogging next week.  We’re excited about this.
• We’ll have a Fire Safety presentation on October 11 with the North Hampton Fire Department.
• Curriculum Night is October 11.  There will be two 45-minute grade level presentations, one at 5:00 and another at 6:15.  We’ll be sending you more information about this next week.

Happy Dot Day!

It is surprising to realize this is our first full week of school – from Monday to Friday.  Many in the class have spoken of how tired they are, because, along with a full week many have been going to practices and games as well.  Despite these feelings, they have been kind and caring, hardworking and interested. We couldn’t ask for more.

Collecting Habits for Success

We’ve been reading a variety of biographies to see if we can discover the habits these famous people have that have leading them to success.  We’ve read about scientists, Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein, athlete, Michael Jordan, artist, Henri Rousseau and farmer, Snowflake Bentley.  We discovered that no matter what their passions, they all had certain habits that helped them succeed.  Here’s our list.

• They were determined.
• They asked questions.
• They believed in themselves.
• They used imagination and creativity.
• They never gave up. They persevered.
• They tried hard.  They practiced, practiced, practiced.
• They wondered.
• They kept experimenting.
• They had patience.
• They did what they loved.

We may add more to our list as we learn about other famous people next week, but for now we have a pretty good beginning.  What will we learn from Jane Goodall, Wassily Kandinsky, Billie Jean King and Rachael Carson? How will we use what we learn to set goals for ourselves in third grade? We’ll see and share with you at our first student-led goal setting conference in late fall.

Weather Science

We’ve continued with our study of weather.  We’ve learned more about the water cycle and terms like evaporation, condensation, transpiration and precipitation.  We spent time exploring the details of storm clouds.  We learned how we could make weather predictions based on the clouds we see in the sky and knowing the direction the wind is blowing.  It’s pretty complicated, but also fun.

Exploring Math Problems

Most families will notice many math problems in your child’s collection of work this week – or not. We’ve completed our baseline math assessment this week.  Some of the students only had time to complete those problems.  Others began math problems, but did not have time enough to complete them.  They’ve come home unfinished.  That is fine at this point.

You also may be wondering about the size of the amounts and the number of steps in the problems.  I have been learning about the class and who they are as mathematicians.  I want to challenge them to do new things and to think in new ways. Our first inquiry in math is a review of 2-digit addition and subtraction.  While doing that we’ll sprinkle in problems with larger amount where they can strengthen their number sense and knowledge of place value. Hopefully by the end of next week we’ll have become more settled into our math routine and strengthened our problem solving routines.

Bits and Pieces –

• Picture Day is September 18, 2018.
• Our field trip to Camp Lincoln is on September 20.
• We’ve begun learning about multiplication.  We learned how to play Circles and Stars.  If you have time, have your child teach you how and play.  It’s fun and great practice!
• This week in Open Circle we discussed the importance of listening and treating each other with manners and respect.  We’re working to manage impulses and to consider others before we take action.
• Our challenge with Mr. Caron was a surprise.  We first thought we were going down the Nature Trail, but the rain kept us in the classroom.  The challenge there was all about concentration, focus and anticipation.  It was simple, but difficult at the same time.
• We’ve begun to remind ourselves about what we know about writing narrative stories.  The children chose “one time” they felt was important to them and write about.  This is our starting point.
• We’re learning how characters change and develop throughout a story while we are reading Phineas L. MacGuire – Erupts.  Ask your child to tell you about Mac and Ben (aka- Mac R).  See if they’d like them as friends.  Ask them to tell you about Althea.  Sometimes it’s challenging to be in a new school or to have your best friend move away or to get too caught up in a competition.  There’s a lot we can learn about ourselves from this book.

We’ve made it through another melting week.  Your children have been awesome.  Each day we learn a little bit more about each other and find ways to establish a classroom community that will allow us to do our best alone and succeed together.  Here’s hoping this is the last of the hot and humid weather.  But if not, I’m looking on the bright side – it is far better to be hot and looking forward to the school year, than being hot and wishing for summer vacation.  Despite the heat, we are having a great time sharing books, writing stories, poems and reading responses, solving problems and exploring science.  It is really nice to be together.

S.E.L. – Creating Our Class Goals

This week during Open Circle and Morning Meeting the class generated a list of jobs they would like to have in the classroom.  We planned them out, created the chart and got started with them on Friday.  The students are excited to have different responsibilities in the class to help each other out.

We also spent time talking about what goals we might like to have for our classroom.  We decided we would like to be kind, to follow the Golden Rule, to be respectful to each other and the materials in the classroom, to be safe and to have fun.  We learned what the word “non-negotiable” meant.  We decided that our five goals should be non-negotiable.  We made a commitment to meeting these goals each day. We know there are some days we may make mistakes – that’s okay.  We’ll learn from them and do better tomorrow.

The Science of Weather

This week we learned more about different cloud types.  We created our own mini-clouds to discover what exactly clouds are made of.  Ask your child what they did to make it.  See if they can tell you how clouds feel – are they fluffy, sticky, soft or misty?  Ask your child about the lab and see what they can remember to tell you.

At the beginning of the week we created a Venn diagram of the cloud types.  We sorted cumulus from cirrus and cirrus from stratus.  Soon we’ll be able to make general predictions about the weather.

are also learning about the Water Cycle.  We are learning lots of vocabulary like evaporation, water vapor, droplets, condensation and precipitation.  At this point we’re not always certain yet which term is which, but we’ll get there.

Generating Topics for Writing

This week we learned a “Quick Write” routine.  When there is a Quick Write assignment we’ll be writing in the back of our journals. There will be two topics to choose from and always a third, “whatever you choose” option.  Once the journals have been passed out and everyone is in their preferred writing spots we’ll begin seven minutes of silent writing. The goal of this routine is to help the children see how much they can actually accomplish in a short time.  It is also to help them generate lots of little pieces of writing on a wide variety of topics.  Eventually, when we have a dozen or so pieces to choose from, each child will select one piece of interest to extend and develop more completely. Quick Writes are fun.

We also began a Mind Map of interests, passions, favorites and/or hobbies.   The children placed themselves in the middle of the maps and drew out connections and sub-connections.  We’ll be using these next week to learn about paragraphing and to learn about the blogging process.  Our first blog post will be on paper.  First we’ll do the writing.  Next we’ll create and search for the images that will illustrate the important parts of the writing and finally we’ll “post” it for comments.  Before we comment on each other’s writing, the class will learn how to write comments that are positive, specific and helpful. We’ll invite classmates and other familiar adults in the school to make comments on post-its to attach to the paper blogs.

Once we are familiar with the blogging sequence – message to share, images to illustrate the message – post and (hopefully) comment – the student blogs will be set so each child can begin sharing posts for you and the world to read.

(An exciting blogging aside – we received a comment from a 3^rdgrade in Spokane.  I am hoping we can make a connection with them and they can be our first set of blogging buddies!)

Bit and Pieces –

• We completed our first chapter book read aloud from the Zoey and Sassafrasseries, Dragons and Marshmallows.  To create and celebrate our community as readers together we’ll mark each book completion with a special celebration.  This time we made dragons.  It was fun.
• We have begun our second chapter read aloud, Phineas L. MacGuire…Erupts! This book is also part of a series that explores science and the scientific process.  This series is realistic fiction.
• We have a challenge with Mr. Caron on Wednesday, September 12^th.  It will be outdoors, weather permitting, so the children should dress accordingly.
• Our first field trip is to Camp Lincoln on September 20^th.  While the entire grade is going, we will participate in activities as class groups.
• We’ve begun our beginning of the year assessments.  That means that much of the work that is done isn’t coming home.  The student work this week is minimal.