12.19.14 Crew News

Calendar Updates:Dec 19: School in session (this is different than other schools in the district)
               Report Cards sent/emailed home
Dec 20-Jan 5: Winter Break/Jan 5th is a Teacher work day (this is different than other schools in the district)

Jan 6: Students return to schoolJan 8: Fieldwork to the Museum of Nature and Science
Jan 16: No School (Teacher Professional Development)
Jan 19: No School (MLK Day)
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)

Digestive System & Nervous System The students participated in a jigsaw protocol to learn more deeply about the digestive system. Students were in groups of six, then split off to become an expert about the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, or nutrition, and then returned to their original group to teach each other their learning. It was a great way for students to become experts, be responsible for their learning, and teach each other. Make sure you ask your child to tell you all about it!  Today we covered a brief overview of the nervous system. We had an interesting conversation about how systems work together in the human body. What great learning we have had so far about how systems interact! Report cards... This week was a busy one, where I collected samples and gave assessments to give you the most current view of student's progress in reading, writing, math, and expedition. I hope that you find the narratives on the report cards helpful and informative. It gives information about your child's growth, areas of challenge, and next steps. Please feel free to set up a meeting with me at anytime to get more information about how your child is doing.  Report cards from me will be emailed, and those from the Integrated Arts teachers (music, PE, and art) will be sent home as a paper copy in a manila envelope. Meanwhile, the students engaged in some meaningful community-building: Secret Santas! I have never had a group that was so interested in being Secret Santas! What great opportunities for creativity and communicating to an authentic audience! We spent the week developing a thoughtful letter. It provided great opportunities to talk about the structure of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature) as well as opportunities to push writers for more specific details (give an example of why/when that person is nice, funny, or awesome).  The Secret Santas left stickie-note kindness, cut out snowflakes, made creative gifts, bookmarks, and popsicle ornaments.  Here are some pictures to share the hard work and delight of being Secret Santas:  Singing holiday songs with the 2nd graders! Thank you to our helpers and everyone who sent items in! I have never seen such a thoughtful, caring exchange of notes! It was heartfelt and very memorable. :) Thank you for the kind notes and generous gifts. I feel very loved and appreciated! :)  I wish you a happy holiday season! See you in 2015!

12.11.14 Crew News

Announcements:

LAST CALL for Chaperones and Volunteers: I am looking for volunteers for our fieldwork to the Museum of Nature & Science on January 8th and chaperones for our winter voyage to Keystone Science School on Feb 23-25th. If you are interested, please sign up here by 12/12/14. I will do a lottery and give final confirmation the week of the 15th. Thanks!

Holiday Party: Do you have a collection of holiday cards that people sent you last year and you are not sure what to do with? PERFECT! Please send them in so that students can use them to make new cards for each other. Thank you to Vanessa for setting up a sign-up for a few things for our holiday celebration on Friday December 19th.

Fieldwork Permission Slips: On January 8th, we will be going to Museum of Nature and Science. Please send these permission slips back soon, so that we are all set before we leave for winter break.

Behavior Reminders: As the holidays and our winter break gets closer, I can feel the energy building in the room. Kids are getting carried away with impulsive behavior. To make this a successful six days of school, can you please check in with your child about their choices? I appreciate your support!

Calendar Updates: 

Dec 19: School in session (this is different than other schools in the district)
               Report Cards sent home
Dec 20-Jan 5: Winter Break/Jan 5th is a Teacher work day (this is different than other schools in the district)

Jan 6: Students return to schoolJan 8: Fieldwork to the Museum of Nature and Science
Jan 16: No School (Teacher Professional Development)
Jan 19: No School (MLK Day)
Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)

In Expedition... While I was away at the conference, students read articles about nutrition and created presentations to share their information with the class. Ask your child for some new facts they have learned about nutrition! During their presentations, students worked hard to explain their topic without reading off the slides, face the audience the whole time, and avoid filler words such as "um" or "like." What great growth I have seen in their oral presentation skills! Then, we also enjoyed a presentation by Dr. Eric Plummer, who came to talk about spine surgeries. Students were thinking about how parts of a system sometimes fail and how humans support support those parts. Be sure to ask your child about new learning! Next up, we are learning about the Circulatory System. In Writing... Our crew worked very hard on two pieces of writing that we felt we should share on ePortfolios. We got them up today! Check out your child's ePortfolio to see their climbing reflection and solar oven reflection. These two pieces of writing went through several stages of revision before they were finished. It feels good to share them!  In Math... I am strongly encouraging students to begin the process of memorizing their multiplication facts. There are so many fun ways to practice these, such as computer games, phone apps, flashcards in the card, games, and more. Counting up by 3s, 4s, 6s, and 7s helps too. Parent volunteers have been coming in to test students on their facts. To get a set of facts checked off, answers need to be given in less than 3 seconds. Our Crew Cares! Many wore green today to show support for Officer Adsit and his family! One student said that our message in our picture should be "our crew cares." :D

12.4.14 Crew News

Announcements:

Volunteers Welcome!

Just a reminder for those of you that our interested in helping out in the classroom. We have slots available from now until the end of the year. Please click on the link below to view the online sign up sheet. It is okay if you can only be there for part of the block of time.
To sign up, go to:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/5080D48ADAB29AB9-classroom/677411

Repost from Monday's Email:

Calling for Chaperones and Volunteers: I am looking for volunteers for our fieldwork on January 8th and chaperones for our winter voyage to Keystone Science School on Feb 23-25th. If you are interested, please sign up here by 12/12/14. I will do a lottery and give final confirmation the week of the 15th. Thanks!

New Homework Policy: 

• Students will not return the homework to school. Instead, I encourage parents to check their students work and have a discussion about their answers. (They brought home the Unit 4 Family Letter that has the answers in it today).
• Students should be able to complete the homework independently. They might need clarification, but they should be able to complete most homework assignments by themselves. 
• If you notice that your child is struggling, please have your child bring in the homework with a note that they need extra help with this concept. 

For more information on everyday math homework, please click here: Everyday Math 3rd Grade Information. We just began Unit 4 on Multiplication/Division.

Calendar Updates: 

Dec 19: School in session (this is different than other schools in the district)
               Report Cards sent home
Dec 20-Jan 5: Winter Break/Jan 5th is a Teacher work day (this is different than other schools in the district)

Jan 6: Students return to school

Learning More about the Muscular System Last week, we had the privilege of having an expert speaker come talk to us about muscles, fitness, and healthy choices. It was a fun, interactive lesson!  Getting our blood moving!  A visual of bones, tendons, muscles, and connective tissue.  She even got the teachers sweating! :)  Some exercises are better than other. We learned about healthy choices for exercise and eating.  Building Models of the Respiratory System Today we made a working model of how the muscle, the diaphragm, controls breathing in (inflating your lungs) and breathing out (deflating your lungs).   Students should be able to tell you all about the respiratory system from beginning to end. Ask them to use words such as the trachea, bronchial tubes, alveoli, and diaphragm. The Hour of Code Next week, we will be joining 11 million others in the Hour of Code. It is a worldwide effort to teach computer programming concepts and computational skills to people of all ages. Through games and interactive lessons, students will be learning how to code! Check out the website for more information. Students are welcome to work on this at home! http://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/