Week of September 3rd, 2017 -18

Reminders for the Week
Map testing starts next week. 

Sept 12 - Language

Sept 14 - Reading

Sept 18   - Math

Picture Day
3C- September 13th
3D- September 14th
3H- September 14th
3W - September 11th

Room Parents
3W is looking for a room parent. If you like working with other parents to organize classroom parties, this is the job for you. You also might also consider partnering up with another parents to share responsibilities. Please let Carole know if you are interested.

READING

This week, students will continue their reading journey by adding on to their reading repertoire. They will learn that fiction texts sometimes signal for readers to make a movie in their minds, and other times signal for readers to list, or collect information as they read. They will reflect on the mind work the text requires them to do and will practice during their independent reading time. They will also practice making predictions, asking themselves, 'What will happen next?" to deepen story understanding. 

WRITING

This week, students  will choose one story ‘seed’ that they will take through the entire writing process (preplanning, drafting, revising, editing & publishing). Students will rehearse their chosen 'seed' by storytelling their selected life event repeatedly, creating a mental movie. The goal is for the writer to become more familiar with the story - every aspect of it - and to include more details with each telling (what was said, feelings, actions, descriptions etc). 

MATH
This week, students will solve multiplication problems using arrays to model the distributive property (Example: (1x6) + (2x6) = (3x6)). Students will add this strategy to their problem solving toolkit by breaking arrays into two parts to multiply, add, then solve the problem. Our mathematicians will also examine two types of division situations—group size unknown and number of groups unknown—using factors of 2 and 3. Building on their prior knowledge of tape diagrams, students will draw and label pictures that help them to compare and analyze problems that may use the same division sentence, but have quotients representing different things.

They will also have their Mid-Module Assessment this week to demonstrate their progress thus far in our unit on the properties of multiplication and division with units of 2-5 and 10. 

Important vocabulary for our mathematicians includes: parentheses, units, and equation. 

SCIENCE

This week in Science we continue to monitor our first 3 test pots. We record the day they germinate, growth rate and any observations that we notice about soil. We will continue to  investigate soil composition this week. We will be looking at the structure and particle size and how it effects texture of soil. 

Guidance Update: Empathy for Others

In guidance we are learning what it means to “walk in someone else’s shoes”.  Through various discussions and activities the students were able to “experience” someone else’s thoughts and feelings. The students shared personal experiences and we talked a great deal about empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and to feel what someone else is feeling.

We have also discussed how our words can greatly impact another person’s feelings, thoughts and behavior.  We cannot see our words, yet words are very powerful. Saying unkind things, teasing or laughing at someone can have lasting effects on how a person feels about him or herself. We listened to the song, “Don’t Laugh at Me”, written by Steven Seskin and Alan Shamblin.  This song has a powerful message! Click above to see the video from home.

The students discussed how they want everyone to feel at CAC. They made plans for helping each other feel happy and good about themselves.  Here are some of the ideas the students came up with:

Ask someone who is alone to eat lunch with you

Stand up for someone who is being teased

If someone is sad, tell that person they are important

Tell her not to listen to the mean words because everyone is special.

Give someone a compliment

Home School Connection: Ask your child what it means to “walk in someone else’s shoes”.