Journey On

This morning the Lower School celebrated literacy with an event called Journey on.  Our class was buddied up with Ms. Menk's fourth grade class and together we shared stories from the Journeys curriculum. We focused specifically on the comprehension strategy, text and graphic features.

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Helping Verbs

Four Mile House Field Trip

Third graders had such fun last week as they lived the life of a Colorado pioneer at The Four Mile House.  Our class made quilts, made butter, played pioneer games, took care of farm chores, and panned for gold.  Below you will find a photo album and several videos.

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HERE IS A SEPARATE LINK TO MRS. REISCH'S PICTURES (THANK YOU, TRINA)

Third Grade ERB Dates

We want to inform all Third Grade parents that our ERB testing dates are slightly different than what is noted on the Graland calendar.

We will be testing Monday, April 20 - Thursday, April 23.

Other grades will more than likely be sticking to the Graland ERB dates, which are the same week, but Tuesday-Friday.  Third grade is unable to test on Friday due to a great field trip opportunity!

Our final Social Studies unit is called The Making of a State.  We will be answering the following questions:

• What is a territory?
• How did Colorado become a territory?
• Who were the first territory governors?
• What was a Constitutional Convention?
• How was a Colorado territory law passed?
• How did Colorado finally become a state?
• What are some of Colorado's state symbols?

As part of this unit, we will be visiting the State Capital and Governor's Mansion on Friday, April 24!

Panning For Gold

Last week, Third Graders panned for gold as part of our "Settlers" social studies unit.

Rushing to stake their claims!

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Odyssey of the Mind

The Odyssey of the Mind team, Billionaire Brains, won first place last weekend at the annual competition!  Congratulations to Sam, who is in our class, and all of his teammates!

The Thinking Caps team, which includes Nina and Sami from our class, won an award for outstanding sportsmanship, exemplary behavior, or exceptional talent!

Third Grade Dance Performances

We want to thank drama teacher, Tony Catanese, for working with the third graders on this lovely dance assembly. Our students did an amazing job, performing once for the middle schoolers, and then again for the Lower School. Below are a few pictures and videos.

 

Our Class' Dance Performance

Whole Third Grade Dance Performance

Dogzilla

March Newsletter

We continue our exciting and busy learning in third grade. This week we will get to see our students perform their dance concert twice on the “big stage” in the Preisser Field House. This is a rite of passage for our third graders who will present their interpretations of dance, choreographed by them, and performed for you and the Graland student community. You will see the magic of Tony Catanese, who masterfully brings out the initiative and creativity of each child. Bring your recording devices and tissues. It is always a truly ‘moving’ event!

Student-led conferences are this week as well. We look forward to this opportunity for your children to share their learning and progress with you around the table. While we believe this is a powerful and celebratory experience, it can also be daunting for some children. We ask that you come prepared to ask uplifting questions and supportive comments for your child. They are excited to share their work with you, and they have all accomplished so much!

The curriculum has been driving a busy classroom environment. In math, we have been exploring division with remainders, concepts of money, and measurement. Measurement takes on many forms. We are exploring units of weight, distance and volume. Ask your children questions about these topics when you are cooking, shopping, or traveling. We are always looking for ways to apply their learning to real-life activities.

Literacy instruction is woven into everything we do each day. Specifically in reading, we are learning about many rules that govern our language: suffixes, adjectives, and articles to name a few. We are investigating various author purposes to enhance comprehension. In small groups, we are identifying the cause and effect of events in stories, how to draw conclusions, and also how to read text and graphic features in a passage. Our writing is taking us into our past as students have scribed about an autobiographical event in their lives. From there, we have been working on formulating an opinion and convincing a reader to agree. This is the art of persuasive writing. Third graders truly enjoy succeeding in this art form!

“Pike’s Peak or Bust!” In social studies, we are exploring the lives of the Colorado gold miners. We are looking at the lure of the possibility of riches and also the extreme hardships of those who pursued the promise. We even become prospectors ourselves and try our hands at gold panning. All this learning leads up to our trip to the Four Mile House on March 20th, where we will indulge in a day of hands-on learning about the pioneer era of Colorado. Ask your child to share some of the fascinating facts that are a part of the foundation of Colorado’s history. Thank you for your continued support in our teaching and your child’s learning. Welcome Spring!

Spanish Homework Video