We Like to Move It, Move It

Happy Spring!

We have had the opportunity to hear two more of the Red Clover books - Papa’s Mechanical Fish, and Matchbox Diary.  We are REALLY loving all these guest readers!!!  Also, students continued to work in reading groups and on self-selected independent reading.  Keep your eyes peeled for information about the upcoming SBAC testing in future School Bell issues!!!   As a team, Equinox is working on practice tests to become familiar with all the technology skills needed to show learning in English/Language Arts and Mathematics.  We’ve been working on some sample literacy tasks both on paper and using the secure browser and SBAC practice tests.  Stay tuned for more details each week and keep your eyes peeled for information about the upcoming SBAC testing in future School Bell issues!!!   

In math, third graders solved over 5 different division story problems this week!  Our work on solving these stories concluded with a project where we were able to create our very own division story problem. We are even going to solve one another's problems next week! We also learned a new concept called Fact Families, and how to find them using arrays.  Fourth graders continued learning about measurement. This week the focus was on measuring liquids in milliliters and liters. They also completed the Unit 4 post test today!

 

In writing, The Observer has asked us to contribute to the next Kids Edition. We have been diligently working on completing different types of writing to submit to the Observer (we want to get published!) Some of our writing has include idioms, haiku poems, and answering questions like, “What does family mean to you?” and “If you opened your own business, what would it be?”  Finally, most are close to publishing their final persuasive pieces for our current unit of study in writing. 

Other:

• Our DIY basket for the Big Basket Raffle looks amazing! Thank you all who contributed to it!
• No school for students on MONDAY, 3/23 due to conferences. Have a wonderful long weekend! 
  
  

  

  St. Patrick's Day Green!

  
  

Spring is Around the Corner

We have entered the final “push” of our persuasive writing unit this week.  Students selected topics, wrote thesis statements and began drafting their persuasive essays or letters.  Our goal is to finish these pieces by next week!

All students wrote a persuasive article about the importance of head protection in football experiences for youth. Evidence from the informational video and news article provided supporting details for the thesis:  “football should be safer for its players.”  Students continued to work in reading groups and in self-selected independent reading.  We also have had the opportunity to hear five of the Red Clover books read to us - A Splash of Red, The Day the Crayons Quit, Eat Like a Bear, The Mighty Lalouche and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.  

In third grade math, after completing the pre-assessment for unit 5, students received their unit 4 assessments and completed a reflection on their work for the unit.  Unit five focuses on multiplication and division strategies, including the relationship between the two operations.  We worked together to explore patterns and functions as we created a “groups of four” chart, and began to use multiplication and division in the context of story problems as we worked through “game store problems.”  In number corner, third graders are looking closely at rectilinear figures and examining the relationship between area and perimeter of these figures.  Ask your mathematician what the current area (in square feet) of our rectilinear figure is!  Fourth graders are learning about units of liquid measure and are using both customary and metric units.  In number corner, classes just uncovered the function for the March calendar:  x3 + 1.  Fourth graders also worked on story problems involving measurement.  A large problem the class has worked on all week was called “Running the Race,” where students calculated distances and determined how many mL of water each runner would need during the race!  This module gave students an opportunity to explore benchmarks and relative sizes for length, time, liquid volume, mass, and weight.  Students use ratio tables to convert units within the same measuring system, and apply some of the place value multi-digit computation skills they've practicing to solve story problems related to measurement.

• Don’t forget...our Big Basket Raffle theme is “Gift Cards” this year!  3/20 is the last day to contribute to the basket! Our basket only has ONE item...please consider donating.
• No school for students on MONDAY, 3/23.  Conference sign-ups were emailed today.
• Keep your eyes peeled for information about the upcoming SBAC testing in future School Bell issues
• Lucky U begins on Monday.  Students are able to purchase raffle tickets for $0.25 to WIN an activity with a teacher! For more information on Lucky U, please check the latest School Bell.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fantastic time today celebrating Valentine's Day with Minute to Win-it activities.  Thank you to all the families that donated supplies.  Enjoy your Valentine's Day!

February Update

The week before February break (next week) at WCS is “Theme Week.”  This year’s theme is connecting wellness with cultures around the world.  Students will attend fun and diverse workshops on Monday - Thursday and then a parade, cook-off, and dance on Friday!  We were each able to pick two one-hour sessions, a Monday-Tuesday workshop and a Wednesday-Thursday workshop. We will be trading flags with other third and fourth grade classrooms.  Our class country is Vietnam!

In Literacy this week, students focused on visualizing as a comprehension strategy this week.  Groups are reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction selections, and discussing text features, themes, vocabulary and making connections.  Students also continue to practice persuasive techniques, including counter-arguments, in writing about noteworthy people and places.  Students began working on pieces for The Williston Observer Kid’s Edition!

In math this week, third graders are in the thick of unit 4 - studying various units and tools for measurement.  Students completed a measurement checkpoint on Friday, assessing their understanding of unit concepts thus far.  Our February calendar focuses on concepts of area and perimeter.  We continue to practice finding equivalent fractions and connecting fractions to decimals using money.  Fourth graders have an exciting new calendar for February and are learning about isosceles and scalene triangles.  Math lessons have included strategies (including the popular mental-math strategy “give and take”) for adding multi-digit numbers (in the thousands and ten-thousands!) and rounding large numbers as well.  We reviewed how to do the traditional algorithm and played two NEW math games!

We continue this week with our Properties of Matter science rotations.  Thanks to many wonderful parent volunteers, we are able to have exciting inquiry happening in multiple classrooms.  In Ms. Ward’s workshop, students are exploring the many fascinating properties of gas.  The core science idea is that gas is matter because it takes up space and has mass.  Investigations include comparing the circumference and mass of deflated and inflated balloons, explaining water displacement using an empty glass, and keeping track of data in a chart.   

In other news, our Big Basket has arrived!  Our class’ theme this year is “Gift Cards”.  Please consider sending in a donation for this important (and fun) fundraiser!  Thanks!

LOVE seeing this teamwork :)

Reader's Workshop

The reading strategy we are focusing on right now is Connections.  While your child is reading he/she should be making connections to deepen their comprehension.  Schema theory explains how our previous experiences, knowledge, emotions, and understandings affect what and how we learn (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000). Schema is the background knowledge and experience readers bring to the text. Good readers draw on prior knowledge and experience to help them understand what they are reading and they’re able to use that knowledge to make connections. Struggling readers will move directly through a text without stopping to consider whether the text makes sense based on their own background knowledge, or whether their knowledge can be used to help them understand confusing or challenging materials. By teaching students how to connect to text they are able to better understand what they are reading (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).
Keene and Zimmerman (1997) concluded that students comprehend better when they make different kinds of connections:

• Text-to-self
• Text-to-text
• Text-to-world

Text-to-self connections are personal connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader’s own experiences or life.
Text-to-text connections are when readers are reminded of other things that they have read, other books by the same author, stories from a similar genre, or perhaps on the same topic. Readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they are reading connects to other familiar text.
Text-to-world connections are the larger connections that a reader brings to a reading situation. We all have ideas about how the world works that goes far beyond our own personal experiences. We learn about things through television, movies, magazines, and newspapers.
Cris Tovani (2000) offers reasons why connecting to text helps readers:

• It helps readers understand how characters feel and the motivation behind their actions.
• It helps readers have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged.
• It keeps the reader from becoming bored while reading.
• It sets a purpose for reading and keeps the reader focused.
• Readers can see how other readers connected to the reading.
• It forces readers to become actively involved.
• It helps readers remember what they have read and ask questions about the text.

Below are some examples of connecting statements for students to use as a reference for their Reading Letters.
This part reminds me of….
I felt like…(character) when I….
If that happened to me I would….
This book reminds me of…(another text) because….
I can relate to…(part of text) because one time….
Something similar happened to me when….
Below are some examples of questions that can be used to help your child make connections:
Text-to-self:
What does this remind me of in my life?
What is this similar to in my life?
How is this different from my life?
Has something like this ever happened to me?
How does this relate to my life?
What were my feelings when I read this?
Text-to-text:
What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read?
How is this text similar to other things I’ve read?
How is this different from other books I’ve read?
Have I read about something like this before?
Text-to-world:
What does this remind me of in the real world?
How is this text similar to things that happen in the real world?
How is this different from things that happen in the real world?
How did that part relate to the world around me?

What did you do on our Snow Day?

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