We have had a wonderful start to THIRD GRADE. I will give you a brief overview of what we have been up to. First, the students have enjoyed talking about the quote of the week. We began the year with: Mistakes are proof that you are trying During our MAP testing week, our quote was Do your best and forget the rest. This week some of my friends learned a new vocabulary word with the quote: Learning is not a spectator sport. The kids decided that they would contribute to the class discussions more, rather than be a spectator. :)
We have been busy with other academics as well. In reading, the students learned about CLOSE reading and have focused on the following genres: Narrative Nonfiction, realistic fiction and fantasy. The two reading strategies introduced thus far are visualizing what we read and asking and answering questions. I am amazed at how great the kids are at finding text evidence to support their interpretations. I will tell more about reading in my next post. Additionally, in writing, we wrote a narrative nonfiction piece about our very best place to read. They included at least 3 big ideas and 3 support sentences in between a catchy topic sentence and concluding sentence. After the students published a final draft, they painted a picture of their very best place to read.
In Social studies we took a spaceship to the moon. Unfortunately we lost touch with NASA Space Center and had to navigate our way back to Earth, North America, The United States, Florida, and finally Cape Canaveral. Phew! It was sort of scary. Recently the students made community crests, highlighting why their community is special. We have students from Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Buffalo Grove, and Vernon Hills. The community crests are hanging in the hallway in the form of a bar graph with all of the other upstairs third graders' crests. It is very interesting to see from where out Half Day students come.
In math we have covered graphing, place value, rounding, and writing large numbers. There will be an assessment next week covering the overall topic of "numeration".
I have enjoyed my third graders this year. They are a kind group of students. In celebrating International Dot Day this week, each student wrote about how they "made their mark" this week. It was so exciting for me to see the kids pay it forward. What a great concept, taken from the wonderful book, The Dot.
I am signing off for now. Be sure to check back often. I plan on posting students' work and many many pictures throughout the year. Also, please follow our class on twitter. You can find our twitter feed on my home page.
Warmly,
Mrs. Chemers
We have been busy with other academics as well. In reading, the students learned about CLOSE reading and have focused on the following genres: Narrative Nonfiction, realistic fiction and fantasy. The two reading strategies introduced thus far are visualizing what we read and asking and answering questions. I am amazed at how great the kids are at finding text evidence to support their interpretations. I will tell more about reading in my next post. Additionally, in writing, we wrote a narrative nonfiction piece about our very best place to read. They included at least 3 big ideas and 3 support sentences in between a catchy topic sentence and concluding sentence. After the students published a final draft, they painted a picture of their very best place to read.
In Social studies we took a spaceship to the moon. Unfortunately we lost touch with NASA Space Center and had to navigate our way back to Earth, North America, The United States, Florida, and finally Cape Canaveral. Phew! It was sort of scary. Recently the students made community crests, highlighting why their community is special. We have students from Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Buffalo Grove, and Vernon Hills. The community crests are hanging in the hallway in the form of a bar graph with all of the other upstairs third graders' crests. It is very interesting to see from where out Half Day students come.
In math we have covered graphing, place value, rounding, and writing large numbers. There will be an assessment next week covering the overall topic of "numeration".
I have enjoyed my third graders this year. They are a kind group of students. In celebrating International Dot Day this week, each student wrote about how they "made their mark" this week. It was so exciting for me to see the kids pay it forward. What a great concept, taken from the wonderful book, The Dot.
I am signing off for now. Be sure to check back often. I plan on posting students' work and many many pictures throughout the year. Also, please follow our class on twitter. You can find our twitter feed on my home page.
Warmly,
Mrs. Chemers