Update for November 15

Hi Room 14 parents!
We had an exciting week in room 14.  Students were lucky enough to see a preview of the upcoming Dreamworks live production of "How to Train Your Dragon".  We also celebrated and discussed the Diwali holiday at school this week.  Students were treated to some samosas thanks to the Gorthi family.  We also read a couple of books about Diwali and students made Rangoli with chalk out in front of the classroom.  On Thursday we had our Walkaround awards assembly.  While our class did not receive a trophy this year, I was impressed by all the efforts students made in walking laps and fundraising for our wonderful school.  Finally we wrapped up the week by going to see an amazing production of Beauty and the Beast in Mountain View.  All the actors were children 8-18 years old and they did an amazing job singing, acting, and dancing.  

Here is the link to this week's Dragon Dispatch    http://bit.ly/Dragon_Dispatch 


I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with your family!

Jessica Barkve

Here is what we will be up to in the coming weeks:
Science:
Our class is beginning a new science unit using the FOSS Structures of Life Module. We will be sharing space in our classroom with plants and crayfish.  It looks as if we have an interesting and exciting couple of months ahead.
In this module, children investigate the structures and behaviors of living things. You can increase your child’s understanding and interest by asking about the investigations at school and by providing experiences at home. You might search for and count the seeds found in various fruits and vegetables as you prepare dinner (children will learn that all plant parts that hold seeds are technically fruits). You could grow plants from seeds, grow and eat edible sprouts, and look for the fruits and seeds of plants in your neighborhood.
Later we will be taking care of crayfish.  Anything could happen, from eggs appearing to shells molting as crayfish grow. If you happen to see other animals when you are out and about with your child, you might take a moment to watch what they do, or take note of some interesting features of an animal’s body. How might that behavior or body structure help the animal survive? Together, you become scientists searching for clues!

Math:
During the next few weeks, our class will be learning about geometry and measurement.
You can expect to see work that provides practice with identifying and classifying plane and solid figures, as well as work with finding perimeter, area, and volume.  Knowing about geometric figures will help students understand the geometry that is all around them.

Language Arts:
In writing we will be continuing to work on writing summary paragraphs for both non-fiction and fiction pieces.  We will continue to work on grammar, vocabulary, and spelling as well.   If your child is interested in the upcoming school wide Spelling Bee have him or her see Mrs. Gauthier in the GLC for more information.  We will be hosting our class Bee on Tuesday, Dec. 11th and the school wide Bee with be on Tuesday,January 15th. 

Reading:  
We have been focusing on non-fiction text features for the past couple of months.  Starting after the Thanksgiving Break we will be focusing once again on comprehension strategies for reading fiction text.  We will be talking about how good readers ask questions while they read. 

Social Studies:
We started Unit 2 this week, California Indians Past and Present.  Students will be reading about how California Indians lived in their region and others in California in the past and how their lives were changed by the arrival of Spanish Settlers in the 1700's.  We will look at the different foods they ate, homes they built, and myths and legends that tell their history.  Later in the unit students will be making a power point presentation in the computer lab about what they have learned about a specific group of CA Indians. 

Update for November 2, 2012

What a busy and exciting week!  Our Halloween parade and party on Wednesday was so much fun for the kids.  Thank you to all the families that sent in snacks, drinks, plates, and napkins for our celebration.  I know that I saw many of you with cameras during and after the parade.  If any of you got any great shots of the class I would love for you to email them to me so that I can include them in our yearbook page. 

Since next Tuesday, November 6th is Election Day, the third grade classes will be participating in center activities that will teach them more about the election process as well as what it takes to be president of the United States.  Be sure to ask your son or daughter to show you their Election Day folder and explain to you what they learned from the various activities on Tuesday.

Language Arts/Writing:
For the past couple of weeks students worked hard at writing a description of a Haunted House as if they were trying to sell it.  They turned out really well and are currently on display in room 14.  I encourage you to stop by the classroom and take a look at some wonderful examples of descriptive writing.  In the coming weeks we will be shifting our focus on writing during workshop time to writing summaries.  Students will learning and practicing the process for writing summaries for both fiction and non-fiction pieces of writing. 
We will also be resuming our normal spelling schedule for the upcoming week.  Please take the time each evening to remind your child to proofread all their work.  I have been seeing a lot of errors on their spelling homework lately that could have been fixed had they checked their work once it was completed. Thank you for your help with reminding them to do this at home.

Reading:
Students have been learning all about non-fiction text features as we read our National Geographic Explorer magazines.  We will also be working on the inferring strategy used while reading fiction pieces.

Math:
We will be wrapping up our unit on multiplication this upcoming week and students should expect to take a unit test next Friday (11/9).  The next unit that we will be working on will be on Measurement and Geometry skills.
In class I have been talking a great deal with students about the importance of showing all their work and thought processes while completing their math assignments.  This is most import when they are solving word problems.  I am not as interested in the answer to a problem as I am about the process they used to solve the problem.  Please help me by encouraging and reminding your children to use correct labels while solving problems and to explain their thinking fully as well on their math homework.   

Science:
We are also about to wrap up our first Science unit of the year (Matter and Energy).  I have been assessing students as we go and I will be collecting and grading their science notebooks sometime next week.  Between units we will be focusing on our drug and alcohol awareness program, Too Good For Drugs.  We will begin the next science unit, Structures of Life, the last week of November. 

Social Studies: 
We are wrapping up yet another unit in social studies right now.  Students have worked to create posters that show what they have learning about different geographical features and resources found in the four main regions in California.  They are also currently working on writing a paragraph describing a geographical feature found in their region.  We will be starting the next unit later this month on California Indians. 

Please be sure to read this week's Dragon Dispatch.
 http://bit.ly/Dragon_Dispatch

Have a great weekend!