Tech Saavy Kids

What a full week we have had!  We kicked off our week by celebrating Dot Day September 15th.  We read The Dot, by Peter Reynolds.  The theme of The Dot is "make a mark and see where it takes you".  We went to the computer lab and used Peter Reynolds animation program called "Animationish" to make an animation that showed about something we love.  We also posted them to our first "About Me" blog posts!  To get to our class blogs, click this link.  Feel free to leave comments and ask questions too!

We continue to build stamina with our independent reading time.  We will be launching into strategy instruction beginning next week!  We have started our first chapter-book read-aloud: Wonder, by R.J. Polacio.  The story tackles some challenging and important concepts and is very well done.  The English teacher, Mr. Brown, begins each week with “Mr. Browne’s Precepts,” - guides or rules for morals.  “When given the choice to be right or be kind, choose kind.” - Dr. Wayne Dyer  To learn more about our read aloud, click here.

In Math this week Third graders have been hard at work reviewing concepts of equality, composing and decomposing three-digit numbers, practicing strategies for addition and subtraction problems, and measuring in centimeters.  As part of their multiplication unit, fourth graders have been exploring factors, prime and composite numbers.  They created posters representing all of the different arrays for a given number and constructed their own definitions for math vocabulary.  

All students have been registered for xtramath.  This is their daily fact practice.  It usually takes about 10-15 minutes to do a session.  This will be part of their daily Morning Work when they arrive in the classroom.  If students choose to complete their sessions at home, they may.  When they graduate from xtramath (we have 4 Fourth Grade graduates already!!!) they are able to use Kahn Academy to strengthen their math skills.  Keep an eye out for your child's login information and how to sign-up for email updates in Monday's folder.

Chromebooks Are Here!

Our Chromebooks are here!  Our Chromebooks are here!  Last week, we were able to start logging in to our Chromebooks and began completing lessons online regarding digital citizenship.  We are also using “Typing Club” to practice accuracy with our keyboarding skills. Let me know if you need help logging on from home!  Also, student homework contracts were due this week and we celebrated the “Equinox Equinox” with our very first “Team Time” today.  The students were thrilled!  Our class has been incredibly tech-saavy and helpful to others!  We are using a new platform called Google Classroom to give assignments and turn them in.  Their first assignment was their Weekly Update!   There is a short video below we watched today to  help us understand Google Classroom before we began to use it.

A HUGE thank you to all of the parents who volunteered their time last Friday for our wonderful hike of Mt. Philo.  A great time was had by all!  I have many photos...and will post a video soon!

 Our Star Student of the week is Isabella and our Bucket-Filler Award was given to Harper.  Congratulations!