Jeopardy

We reviewed our math chapter with a game of Jeopardy yesterday!

First Math Test

Your child's first math test will come home in the this week's Friday Folder.  We just finished the review of place value and using what they already knew to manipulate numbers up to 10,000.

Our class taking the first math test.

You will notice at the top of each section that the test specifies how many points each question is worth.  For example, “5 x 2 points = 10 points” means that the following 5 questions are each worth 2 points each, for a total of 10 points for that section.  If your child was on the right track, but didn’t get the answer right, I may have given him/her half of what that question was worth.  So, if the question was worth 2 points and your child got it wrong but was on the right track, I gave him/her 1 of the 2 points possible.  The green pen grading was your child’s first try. 

After I score the first try, I pass the tests back to the students for them to look through and to see their mistakes.  Without any further instruction I ask the students to look at their mistakes and try to figure out where they went wrong.  Then, they make their changes in colored pencil and I grade the second try in purple pen.

After the second round of grading, we go over the tests together to make sure the students understand how to work each problem.  Please let me know if you have any questions about your child’s math test!

Digital Portfolios and Life Zone Research

Our students have started posting to their Digital Portfolios. Please feel free to take a look at your student's work by clicking on the "Student Digital Portfolio" tab at the top of this class blog.

 

Our third graders also started their life zone research! Each student chose their life zone and animal, and they were excited! The research and report are done in class, but the diorama is completed at home. Information about the diorama project went home with homework this week. This is such a fun project!

Scholastic

This month’s Scholastic Reading Club flyers were sent home on Friday. Please take a few moments to explore the selection together and let your child help choose books he or she is excited to read.

You can order online at scholastic.com/readingclub, where you’ll find a wide selection of quality children’s books that are just right for your child’s reading level and interests.

Class Code:  HZJMW

Order Due Date: 9/30/16

Spanish Field Trip

Today our class went to the Cherry Creek Farmer’s Market on a Spanish field trip. This trip was organized and run by Christi James, your child’s Spanish teacher, who provided a few dollars for each child to spend at the market. They purchased produce with vendors using Spanish conversation. It was a wonderful way for students to apply their Spanish language skills 

in real life!  CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES.

 

If you have any questions about this great field trip, please contact Christi James (CJames@graland.org).

Recess

Sportsmanship and good choices are important for a happy recess.  For soccer, football, and other recess sports games, Third grade teachers decide the teams.  Starting next week, we will be using pinnies to help make sure the teams remain the same and that the experience is enjoyable.  We have passionate students who feel strongly about their recess activities, and teachers on recess duty carefully monitor the sports games, tag games, and playground activities.

Our new recess pinnies.

Chief Mountain

We had such a great day hiking Chief Mountain!  CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES.

Parents Visiting For Lunch

Sometimes parents or other family members enjoy coming to Graland to visit their student during lunch time.  During these lunch dates, other students often like to join in and sit with the visitor. Unfortunately, some students feel left out, and the teachers do their best to help students resolve hurt feelings.  Moving forward, we ask that visitors and their student treat this special time as a lunch date, and sit together at a separate table.  Other students won't sit with you, in an effort to avoid hurt feelings.  Thank you for your help with this!

Webpage or Class Blog Notifications

Third Grade Graland Webpage (usually updated once or twice a month)
If you would like to receive an e-mail or text letting you know that the Third Grade Graland Webpage has been updated, contact Ruth Segal: rsegal@graland.org

Class Blog (usually updated several times a week)
If you would like to receive an e-mail letting you know that our class blog has been updated, please look to the left of the blog page at a section titled "Follow Our Class Blog By Email."  Enter your e-mail address there.

Happy birthday, Johnny.

Sharing

Sharing is part of each Morning Meeting!  It is a wonderful time for students to learn more about one another.  In our class, sharing looks very different than the normal "show and tell" where a child might bring in a toy they really like.  Our sharing time is dedicated to learning about the sharer, so what they bring in should teach us something about him/her.

The children sign up on a calendar (they can sign up once every two weeks) and they are responsible for sharing on their sign-up day.  Sometimes they forget, which is always fine, and other times students choose to switch days with someone else.  We are flexible and this is a fun, relaxing time, so a forgotten share day is never a big deal. 

Some examples of sharing include family pictures, a vacation souvenir, playing piano, bringing in an instrument to play, singing (buddy sharing is a fun idea!), dancing, a short Keynote presentation on a family pet, and trophies/medals for sports.

Olivia and Mia were the first two to sign up and both chose to play the piano!

 

September Newsletter

Dear Families,                                             

We’ve had an exciting start to a new year in third grade!  In every aspect of the curriculum, learning is happening. From getting to know each other and our classrooms, to researching Colorado life zones, we are hard at work.

The Responsive Classroom approach provides the foundation for our social curriculum. We begin each day in morning meeting and strengthen our community with greetings, sharing, activities, and messages. Arriving to school by 8:05 is especially important as we begin our classes promptly at 8:10.

Just as we are building our communities in the classroom, we are watching our new building in its final stages of construction. The once empty space now holds a beautiful, new building for us all to use. This is like our classrooms. We start out with many unknowns and begin to construct our classroom family with safety, respect, responsibility, and honesty. Ask your child about some of the routines we employ each day, and ways we have shared our personal experiences and interests with each other.

In math, we are reviewing place value and extending our understanding of our number system with numbers up to 10,000. Daily math fact practice at home will reinforce automaticity with the basic facts, and allow your child to meet more challenging math concepts.

  

In the coming weeks, we will be conducting Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments to identify your child’s instructional and independent reading levels. The students already know “The Rule of Thumb” for figuring out whether a book is just right for them, but knowing the F&P reading level will help your child find a book that meets his/her fluency and comprehension. “Just Right” books should be used for the daily 15/5 homework assignments as well for Repeated Oral Reading.

  

Our Writing Workshop during this first unit focuses on writing personal narratives. We are learning how to use details to enhance stories. One game you might play to help this skill is to say a noun and see how many descriptive adjectives your student can attach to that noun. We are also exploring sentence structure, compound words, subjects and predicates, and more.

During social studies, students are researching Colorado life zones in small groups. They will soon select a specific life zone and an animal for their Life Zone Project. More information about this project will come home soon.

Third grade is looking forward to climbing Chief Mountain! In fact, students are climbing a mountain of independence and responsibility throughout third grade. Working together, parents and teachers are essential in supporting this journey for the children. We foster positive attitudes and perseverance as the students’ sense of independence grows.

Lastly, please be sure that your child gets a good night’s sleep and has a healthy breakfast each morning.  The Dining Hall is now offering chocolate milk for lunch every day, and desserts are available Tuesdays and Thursdays. The lunch menu can be found on the Graland website (click here) and we are asking each student take at least three different items, including a fruit or vegetable, for lunch each day.  Discussions at home about healthy choices is always helpful.

We are looking forward to a great year with your child!

Warmly,

The Third Grade Team

Sandy Erlach

Julie O’Connor

Dana Pease

Julie Stretz

Sheri Baker

Mary Helen Sheehan   

Upcoming Events/Reminders

• Back-to-School-Night: 6:30-8:00 PM September 13^th in Fries Theater
• Chief Mountain Hikes:
•  Thursday, 9/15 – Pease and O’Connor classes
• Friday, 9/16 – Streets and Erlach classes

Chief Mountain

Dear Third Grade Parents,                                                                    

The annual third grade class trips to Chief Mountain are coming up soon, and we are excited!  Two classes will hike each trip day. (See the schedule below for the day that your child’s class will hike.) This hike provides the children with a good physical challenge and allows them to observe firsthand the various life zones and ecosystems that they have been learning about in class. Most importantly, however, it is an opportunity for the class to work together and support each other in achieving a common goal.

We will leave school by Graland school bus at 8:15 on the day of the trip, and after a brief stop at Bergen Park, we should arrive at the trailhead around 10 a.m.  The majority of our time will be spent hiking Chief Mountain.  We will hike in small groups consisting of 3-4 children and one adult.  This will allow us to keep a close eye on all of the children along the route.  It is a three-plus mile round-trip hike with approximately 1000 feet of elevation gain.

As we hike up the mountain, we will take frequent stops to observe our surroundings and make sketches of the changing environment.  We will also stop along the way to “catch our breath”, adjust layers of clothing, drink water, and eat a quick snack.  These frequent stops should be enough to allow all children and adults to feel rested and ready to continue.  We will have lunch on the summit and then begin our descent.  We plan to return to Graland in time for dismissal at 3:10.

Because the weather at this time of year can be highly unpredictable, your child must be adequately prepared and appropriately dressed! Please refer to the attached page for a complete packing checklist of required items.  You will need to help your child pack, and he/she is required to return the signed packing checklist to his/her teacher the day before the hike. Your child’s signed packing checklist due date is below.

If you have any additional questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Sincerely,

The Third Grade Team

Mrs. O’Connor and Mrs. Pease Classes

Signed packing checklist due:                  Tuesday, Sept. 13th

Chief Mountain Hike:                                  Thursday, Sept. 15th

Mrs. Erlach and Mrs. Stretz Classes

Signed packing checklist due:                  Wednesday, Sept. 14th

Chief Mountain Hike:                                  Friday, Sept. 16th

Packing Checklist:

Backpack (large enough to hold all supplies, but manageable for child to carry)

2 full water bottles

Warm hat (that covers ears)

Lightweight, warm jacket

Long pants (no shorts)

Thick, warm socks

Hiking boots or sturdy tennis shoes (no Crocs, rain boots, or Keds)

Mittens or gloves

Ziploc trash bag (to carry out trash)

Some toilet paper and Kleenex in Ziploc bag

Optional items:

• Baseball caps 
• Sunscreen
• Chapstick
• Raincoat/poncho
• Scarf (if it’s a cold day)
• Camera