Welcome to October!

September flew by quite fast! On to October and many exciting events.

Speaking of time flying...we continue to work on telling time skills. Students continue to work on telling digital and analog time. We are also building skills in telling how much time has passed between activities or until the next activity. This is a great skill to build at home. Last week’s homework included a T.V. Guide worksheet and keeping a log similar to this at home will help students become more aware of how time is kept and practice in tracking its passage. In reading we’ve left Boom Town behind and moved on to imagining what it would be like If You Made a Million. This continues to tie into our work in math building on addition/subtraction skills and fluency with money terms and amounts. Have your child practice adding amounts by keeping track of purchases while shopping or practice naming the coins or practice fluency by counting your pocket change. The more experience with counting money, the more fluent your child will become adding and subtracting it.

We have had the opportunity to try out the new Chromebook mobile lab. Most students were able to sign on and start work on All the Right Type. Your child’s experience with this program and with MobyMax will be enhanced by being able to hear the sound effects. Our three classroom computers have their own headphones, but we do not have any for the Chromebooks. Students may bring earbuds or small headphones (I got mine from the Dollar Tree) to use with our computers. This would be a great way to avoid head lice-this is not required, but I do recommend it. Students may practice keyboarding at home, but a parent should be with them to make sure they are using the correct fingering.

Coming up:

Fun Run: October 9th. The third grade is scheduled from 1:50-2:10.
No School: October 10th, State In-service day.

Book order: Our September book order will be here anytime. The Scholastic Book club flyer for October will be coming home soon and the last day to order is October 17th.

Volunteer opportunities are available, let me know if you are interested in helping out.

Have a wonderful month!

Mrs. Soumokil

soumokilm@newberg.k12.or.us

wherewearewildabout3rdgrade.blogspot.com

Heading into week 3....

Here we are at the beginning of week three already. Students have had a practice partial week of homework and last week had their first full week of actual homework. Just like I outlined in my welcome letter homework will mostly consist of reading every night for at least 15 minutes, practicing math facts, studying the weekly spelling list, a math page for the week, and a reading page for the week.

In the classroom, students are busy learning and growing as community members. This is a brief outline of what we are doing in the different subjects:
Math: Addition facts fluency, reviewing money, time, and place value. We are working towards rounding to the nearest 10.
Reading: Finishing up Boomtown and moving on to the next unit. The overarching theme is money which also ties into our work in math.
Language Arts: Grammar work includes nouns, pronouns, and verbs. We are enjoying School House Rocks! videos to help us keep in tune with our learning. Spelling work is focused on the "h" brothers (th, sh, wh, ch). We are also studying text features and how they can help us in our reading.
Social Studies: Communities is our theme. We have focused on what it means to be a Safe, Respectful, and Responsible member of the Crater Community. We will move into our larger community for our studies, but will continue to revisit our role as Crater Community members.

How can you support your child's growth at home? Have your child study their math facts fluency, sign them up for a free account at Xtra Math (https://xtramath.org/) for practice, read with your child and ask him or her to give you a quick retell of what you both read, have your child identify text features to you, play School House Rocks! Grammar videos (YouTube), and practice those spelling words in fun ways (look at the ideas sent home in their Homework folder).

The first Scholastic Book order went home last week. The last day to send in money for this one is September 23rd. Remember this is voluntary and not required.

Most of all, I am thoroughly enjoying your children! Every day ends with a smile and each and every one of my students are responsible for putting that smile on my face.

Here's a peek at our first day of school. 

This first picture is the poster on our classroom door. It is an adaptation of a saying that is currently burning up the internet with its use-popular, but also speaks volumes about how to empower a child. I added in some ideas from my students.

 This second picture is our "We Are" poster. Each student wrote what they are, or wanted to be, on a Post-It note. Everyone has a voice and everyone's identity is important. I also want to help expand how they see themselves. Between the door poster and their "We Are" poster, I want them to see that they can be and are everything!

 Math time gave us a chance to chart out how each of them got home. Some great observations were made. Included in the picture were: "Most students go home by bus," "The number of people to get picked up plus the number of people who walk or ride their bike is about the same as the number of students who ride the bus!" and "Nobody goes to C.A.R.E.!" We had an opportunity to discuss puns when one of the students said, "You mean nobody C.A.R.E.s?" I think this will be a very pun-ny year!

This fourth picture was the result of a Lego listening activity. Yes, a Lego listening activity! Each student was given a bag with 6 Legos in it. I built a shape out of 4 of the 6 and hid it in the box. As I described my creation, the students had to make the same creation as I described it. This gave us the opportunity to do a little language building as well when some words needed defining-like base. The students were challenged to help define these words and I think some very kid friendly definitions were created. After this mostly successful lesson, we moved to describing what a good listener is/has/does and then what a good speaker is/has/does. This is a very perceptive class!

One of the most important things we did today was to clarify why students are assessed. This will not be the last time this is covered. I believe that it is imperative that students know the why behind testing in order to de-scarify the process. Many reasons were suggested and after discussion the big answer was:
So the teacher knows what to teach and knows if what I think I taught, is what they learned.

Much more happened today. There are so many routines to put into place and important information to share. Don't forget to ask your child what happened at school today. See the page link (How was their day?) above for ideas on how to get your child to share his or her day at school.