Newbery Book Club

Many of our students joined the Newbery Book Club today!  These students have read five Newbery books, passed Newbery testing, and are on their way to the next step in the Newbery Book Club process!

After reading five more Newbery books, the student receives a special pencil.  There is a reward for each set of five books read.  After 20 books, the student's name is added to the permanent Newbery Hall of Fame!

Upcoming Dance Performances

During the short week of March 9-11, there will be two assemblies showcasing movement and choreography. Participating in both assemblies, the third grade will perform The Third Grade Salutes Kids! Dance Concert and the fifth grade students will present the Tai Chi form they learned.

Performances: Choose one or both

Middle School Assembly

Tuesday, March 10, at 8:15 a.m.

Fieldhouse  

Lower School Assembly

Wednesday, March 11, at 8:20 a.m.  

Fieldhouse 

If you have any questions, please contact drama teacher, Tony Catanese, at 303-336-3773 or tcatanese@graland.org.  

Service Learning Field Trip

Our third graders made Graland proud on Wednesday, when they participated in our service learning project at the Naturalization Ceremony.  Below are pictures and videos from this great experience, including the students' song.

 Picture with Congressman Mike Coffman, one of the guest speakers at the ceremony.

Star-Spangled Banner

Speech During the Ceremony

Countries Represented (On YouTube due to the length of the video.)

New Citizens Taking Their Oath

Graland Third Grade Singing at the Ceremony

Celebration

New Citizens: Guest Speakers

We want to thank Chloe's nanny, Carla, and Addie's nanny, Evelin, for coming to speak to our class about their citizenship journeys.  Their experiences helped the students understand what the process is like and further realize how meaningful the ceremony is.

We went to the Naturalization Ceremony yesterday, and I will post pictures and videos soon.  It was a wonderful experience and the third graders did an excellent job singing and representing Graland.  I was so proud of them!

 

Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful time celebrating Valentine's Day last Friday!

Thank you to Trina Reisch, Karen Reidy, Olga Gershovich, Cynthia Crews, Andrea Mahoney, Mercy Okurut, and Merel Wilson for putting together such a wonderful party!

Multiplying Ones and Tens with Regrouping

Sami taught a solution to a math problem today!

Naturalization Ceremony

The third grade has a new service learning initiative this year. SCROLL DOWN TO THE JAN. 23RD POST FOR DETAILED INFORMATION!  

On February 18^th, we have the honor to attend a naturalization ceremony at the History Colorado Center. There, we will witness the ceremony, sing a song, and deliver student made welcome bags to the new citizens. While we do not need chaperones for this trip, we invite you to attend, as it is open to the public. You can learn more about this exciting event by visiting by clicking here. This link reads that the date is Feb. 19th, but we have doubled checked and their site is wrong.  It is in fact on Feb. 18th!

If someone in your family has become a naturalized American citizen, we would love to invite them in to share their story. Please contact me if this is a possibility. We are always looking to include our community in the classroom learning.

Third Grade Concert

The third graders gave a wonderful performance on Tuesday!  We would like to say a special thank you to music teacher, Mr. Dan Hazlett, for all of his incredible lessons and work with the third grade!

Please see pictures and videos below.

 

Third Grader's warming up!

Click here for Old Dan Tucker (on YouTube because of the length).

Click here for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Hot Cross Buns with Drums and Recorders

February Third Grade Newsletter

"Love is in the air" and everyone is gearing up for Valentine's Day. Each class will have their own Valentine's Day celebration on Friday, February 13th.  Students will bring valentines for each of their classmates.  These can arrive early during the week of February 9th, if needed, and stay in the lockers. The Lower School office has decided that candy cannot be included with valentines.  Graland has a Pinterest account with a board titled “Candy Free Valentines." Please be sure all classmates receive a valentine from your child.  On the 13th, this Valentine's school day will be kicked off with our 7th grade buddies.  Ask your child about their buddy and the special activity prepared for that day.

We hope everyone is staying warm now that we are in the middle of winter. Please remember to send a coat, hat, and mittens or gloves to school. Students can leave these items in their lockers, since the weather can be unpredictable. It is important to label everything with your child's name.

Third graders have a wonderful opportunity to participate in a Naturalization Ceremony as part of our Service Learning project.  Señora Christi James presented to third graders about the citizenship process. After studying hard and passing a test, new citizens go to a Naturalization Ceremony where they receive their official certificates.  Since our third graders are becoming experts on Colorado, they will be playing an important role in the next Naturalization Ceremony - welcoming residents of Colorado to their American citizenship ceremony. During the ceremony, our third graders will be singing a Colorado song and giving a special remembrance gift to the new citizens. This great event will take place on February 18th at the History Colorado Center.  All are welcome to attend.  This is our big third grade Service Learning project.

We are wrapping up our Mountain Man (trappers and traders) unit.  Students will be comparing William Bent's Fort National Historic Site in La Junta, to Graland's campus.  Be on the look out for this posting on the student blogs.  Our next social studies unit will be on Colorado Settlers (pioneers and miners).  We will be going to the Four Mile House on March 20.

 In literacy, we have been practicing a variety of comprehension strategies, including identifying author's purpose, comparing and contrasting, summarizing, visualizing, inferring/predicting, and monitoring/clarifying text. Students are working on reading skills in teacher-led book groups (variety of genres) at their instructional level.

We have been studying different phonics skills, grammar, and vocabulary strategies:

Homophones/Homographs

Prefixes in-, im-

Vowels controlled by r

Pronouns and Verbs

Past Tense

Using a Thesaurus

Adjectives

Context Clues

The writing process can be time consuming, and the homework practice and in class practice has been so valuable.  These opportunities give the students time to apply the complete writing process: brainstorming, rough draft, editing, and a final copy. Students are learning how to focus their attention on specific editing strategies, as well as expanding their ideas with specific details. We have such a fine writing program and our students will demonstrate their skills in April during the WrAP (Writing Assessment Program).

Students have worked hard on learning multiplication and we will move from multiplying three digit numbers without regrouping to the more difficult process of regrouping.  We have also been learning about measurement and area and perimeter.  Our next math focus will be division, including the steps of long division. For success and confidence during division lessons, automaticity of multiplication facts are imperative.

We appreciate all of your support at home!  Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and we look forward to sharing with you at our March Student-Led Conference, on March 12-13.

The Third Grade Team

P.S.  Mark your calendar for Third Grade Salutes Kids.  This dance performance is presented twice - on March 10th and 11th, both at 8:20.

Tesoro Cultural Center

Third graders are learning about Colorado mountain men, the trappers and traders in Colorado history.  Last Friday, we visited the Tesoro Cultural Center!  This center is committed to keeping history and artistic treasures of our American past alive in the community.  Their events are inspired by Colorado's rich history and shared experiences with the Native Americans, American Pioneers, and many other cultures.

We took the Graland buses to The Fort in Morrison, a replica of William Bent's Old Fort, a National Historic Site in La Junta.  There we experienced a trunk show that included Spanish, Native American, and Mountain Man dress for the students to try on.  The presentation included storytelling and show-and-tell items.

We also were given a tour of The Fort, and learned more about beaver trapping, the reason men lived in the mountains, trying to earn money and have items for trading.

Newbery Book Club

I would like to announce the beginning of our Newbery Book Club!  This optional classroom club is designed to promote the love of reading through exposure to award winning books. Newbery Club reading is intended to be a supplement to our classroom reading curriculum. Students will keep a personal reading record where they will list the name of each Newbery book they read. They will receive recognition in class as they add Newbery books to their list. 

Please take time to ask your child about our Newbery Club and as always please contact me if you have any questions.  I appreciate the opportunity to support your children as they grow as readers!

Below is the Newbery winner for 2014, announced just this morning!