Hello families,
We are all very much looking forward to sharing with you what we have learned about the world at our Cultural Event on Tuesday at 8:30. Our students have been working so hard! I hope you can join us and thank you for the flexibility in changing the date. After this event, we are moving forward to some exciting curriculum. We will dive in to reading some biographies and create timelines and other projects around this to share what we learn. In particular, we will be studying the fascinating life of Helen Keller. We will also move to the continent of Africa to study Ancient Egypt and learn about their traditions and practices. Later in the year we will visit the MFA to see their Ancient Egypt exhibit. In math we will continue with multiplication, before exploring its inverse - division, and learn about fractions. Important Information: There will be NO Read Naturally homework this week. We will pick up again next week. The Art Department is seeking volunteers to help prepare for the upcoming Arts and Poetry Night. The job entails displaying student art, in all shapes, sizes and forms, throughout the halls of Friends Academy. There is an incredible amount of work to exhibit, but with enough hands, we hope to accomplish this undertaking in one day. If you are willing and able to donate time on Thursday, April 18th, between 8 and 5, please contact Susan Cogliano or Wendy Goldsmith. Any amount of time is appreciated. No experience necessary! [email protected] [email protected] All the best! Mrs. Tavares
0 Comments
Hi families,
In Social Studies, third grade is busily creating numerous projects to celebrate our newly acquired awareness of Japanese culture and traditions. Recently, we have created carp kites, or koinobori, for the Children's Day celebration, which celebrates children's personalities and happiness. The wind sock is carp- shaped as a symbol of courage. Traditionally, a carp streamer is flown for each member of the family. They have also created Japanese lanterns that honor the deceased relative we chose to honor during our Mexican studies, much like Japanese families would in a Bon festival. Finally, students are creating their own unique Kokeshi dolls using the 3D printer. This week, students will work in groups to complete maps of Japan displaying the current regions. In math we have recently: -introduced/reviewed the concept of multiplication using concrete manipulatives -reviewed strategies for the 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 11 tables -introduced strategies for the 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 tables We will work towards the numeric (abstract) understanding as students show readiness and demonstrate understanding of the concept taught through arrays, skip counting, unifix cube groups, and grids. For those students who are having difficulty memorizing facts, I may introduce Times Tales as a mnemonic device that aides in the quick memorization of more challenging multiplication fact tables (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9). In language arts, we read through chapter 4 of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, when Sadako helps her team win a big race on Field Day, but suffers from an unexplained dizzy spell she keeps secret. The dizziness continues as she is training to make the relay team in junior high. Sadako becomes dizzy and falls down in class. She is taken to the hospital and diagnosed with leukemia. This week we will read chapters 5 & 6 and answer corresponding comprehension questions. In chapter 5, Chizuko is Sadako's first visitor in the hospital. She brings a crane made out of golden origami paper and encourages Sadako to fold cranes by telling her the legend of the 1,000 paper cranes. The girls decide that folding cranes may help Sadako get well. Sadako folds her first few cranes. In chapter 6, all of Sadako's friends and family save paper for her to fold cranes with. She meets a boy named Kenji in the hospital who also has leukemia and they become friends but he passes away. At this point, Sadako has folded nearly half of the 1,000 cranes. (Have you ever tried to fold a paper crane? It's tough!) We will learn to fold origami cranes at the conclusion of our book. We have also started research on animals from Japan and are building upon our research skills from the first trimester. Our findings will be presented in a slideshow at our cultural celebration on March 28th. Upcoming objectives in language arts: -Continue to use text and web sources to record information on our research and transfer this information onto Google Slide presentations -Write Haiku poetry using nature photos taken outside as inspiration Upcoming Dates: Wednesday, February 27th: 3rd grade field trip to Boston Children's Museum 8:15-2:00 Friends Academy is excited to invite local educators, administrators, health professionals, parents and their children (ages 11 and up) to join us in an important conversation about anxiety. On Wednesday, February 27 at 6:00 in the Friends Academy Common, we will be showing the movie "Angst." (angstmovie.com) Monday, March 4th: Morning field trip for Lower School to see the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra at the Z All the best! Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
This week in Social Studies we watched a movie, Families of Japan, which followed the lives of two Japanese during a typical day. This allowed students a peek into typical Japanese life for a child their age. We've also been building background knowledge for this unit on Japan and the reading of our class chapter book, Sadako, through watching video shorts on Brainpop, such as the events leading to WWII and Pearl Harbor, and reading articles on ReadWorks about Japan, Mt. Fuji, and Sadako Sasaki's life. After a lengthy lead-in, our students were excited and eager to begin reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. In writing we have been working on identifying action, linking, and helping verbs within the predicate and then writing their own sentences employing each of these. In math we finished up our unit on time. We have covered the parts of the clock, telling time to 5 and one minute, clock vocabulary, elapsed time, and other ways of measuring time: days, weeks, months, seasons, and years. This upcoming week we will introduce multiplication. We will explore several different ways to think about what multiplying actually means, and will do some fun hands on activities such as finding patterns when skip counting and making arrays/equal groups with manipulatives to help our students start to relax about "times" and "multiplication" and realize that what they are really doing is repeated addition. I require that they say the phrase "groups of" instead of "times" when using the X symbol, and have found that it helps students activate their visualization skills so that they are trying to picture the groups they are making. Memorization of "times tables" can be an effective way to make the facts immediately accessible, so we will spend some time working on our facts before moving on to multi-digit multiplication. They will be getting nightly fact practice in addition to the other elements of their homework. It would be greatly appreciated if you could check in with them nightly about completing all elements of their homework as we adjust into this new routine. Thanks in advance! Upcoming Dates: Wednesday, February 6th: Band of Friends performance at All School Meeting. Friday, February 8th: Friends hosting a Parent Diversity Group gathering in Colin Martin's classroom from 8:15 - 9:00 am. Friday, February 22nd: Friends Fest Here is the link to the registration page: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07efyce2iif820a4d9&llr=df8gwxlab Friends Academy is excited to invite local educators, administrators, health professionals, parents and their children (ages 11 and up) to join us in an important conversation about anxiety. On Wednesday, February 27 at 6:00 in the Friends Academy Common, we will be showing the movie "Angst." (angstmovie.com) All the best! Mrs. Tavares Hi families!
In social studies this week, students were introduced to the Japanese culture through the class anchor book, Look What Came from Japan. Their new background knowledge will serve them well as we learn more about this fascinating country and on our March field trip to the Boston Children's Museum's Japanese house exhibit. In math, we moved into a short unit on time before we begin multiplication and division. Here are some of our learning objectives for time this week: -Discuss features of an analog and digital clock. -Tell time as minutes after the hour or minutes before the hour. -Understand half hours as a fraction of an hour. -Relate daily activities to the time. -Understand the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. -Use a clock to find the time interval in minutes or in hours. In writing, students have been doing a great job adding original predicates to their sentences. Our focus now is focusing in on the function of verbs and reviewing rules around plurals. Upcoming Dates: Wednesday, February 6th: Band of Friends performance at All School Meeting. All the best! Mrs. Tavares Hello Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back everyone! It was great to see the kiddos back again and return to our classroom routine after a long, restful break (although many of us were still a little sleepy on that first day!) We had a nice slow "warming process" for the first hour which included silent reading and enjoyment of books, and then an opportunity to share the events of our vacations. We also participated in the classroom store for one final week, extending the opportunity to practice our consumer math skills. As we enter a new trimester, we will also explore some new exciting curricular studies. In math, we take on a unit study in time, and so far students are very excited to learn more about this! In social studies, we begin our Asian Studies unit and will compare/contrast the cultures of three main countries in Asia: China, India, and Japan, before we start an in-depth study of Japan. In language arts, students will continue to apply the structure words of Visualizing and Verbalizing in their verbal and written expression. This ability to use descriptive language will prove helpful when discussing the events of our upcoming group read, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. In introducing this story, we will build background knowledge of the events leading up to the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. This is a true story about the life of Sadako Sasaki who was 2 years old at the time of the bombing and suffered from Lukemia as a result of radiation exposure. She died at age 12. However, while in the hospital, a friend of her told her about the hopeful story of the thousand paper cranes: that whoever made 1,000 paper cranes, would be granted a wish. Sadako decided to remain hopeful and folded crane after crane. She made it to 644. Her classmates then took up her quest and folded the remaining cranes. Sadako remains a beacon of hope and symbol of peace for the people of Japan and beyond. There is a Sadako statue at Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima where many people leave paper cranes. Winter reading assessment continues this week, which helps to inform OG and guided reading instruction moving forward. Here's to a great week! Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
There has been lots of excitement and enthusiasm around our research projects these past few weeks. Each student has chosen an animal native to Mexico to research. We have spent lots of time finding and reading through our authentic web sources of information and highlighting important information. This past week, students have been finalizing their read-throughs and highlighting important information, and inputting this info into their Google doc in 2-column note format (the first column having specific categories of information, ex: habitat, and the second column containing the factual information). This upcoming week they will finalizing the edits of their research, finding corresponding images and maps, and creating their posters which will display all that they have learned. Another exciting development is that we have shifted our token economy system from "warm fuzzies" to coins/bills. Positive behavior and effort is rewarded through the disbursement of fake money which they total up at the end of each class. This is an opportunity to practice counting coins, and it typically reinforces some good habits along the way as we head towards the break. The past few weeks we been exploring money/consumer math skills with a focus on understanding the value of coins, adding and subtracting, comparing amounts, and making change. Students have been working hard as they class is eagerly awaits the class store, which will open this week. The students will each take turns purchasing items with their earned money or playing the cashier and making change. They will also have to make decisions whether to spend their earnings now, or delay gratification, holding out for a potentially more valuable item. We have wrapped up our Read Naturally stories for 2018. There will be no Read Naturally homework this week :) Rehearsals have started for our big event - Winterfest! The kids are busy putting the finishing touches on their performances. The third grade will be featured in their grade level songs and Band of Friends songs this year. The holiday concert starts at 10:30 on Wednesday in the Commons. Dismissal will follow at noon to kick off our winter break. Students should be in dressy attire. Also to note, room parents have organized a special holiday snack after All School Meeting on Wednesday morning. Also, to add some extra coziness, students should come dressed in their pajamas that day! All the best wishes for a wonderful break! Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
Our students came back from Thanksgiving vacation rested and ready! The next few weeks can feel like a "push to the finish" in many ways, but our students are focused and putting forth great effort. We will work to maintain this feeling of productivity right up until break as we wrap up many units of study, such as: our addition/subtraction/money study in math, learning of the lowercase alphabet in cursive, and of course our cross-curricular study of Mexico. This week our students began their research projects on animals found in Mexico. They looked to reliable web sources to identify their animal, and have set up a folder to store their digital sources. We will continue to work on this in small bites every day over the next three weeks. In math this week, we take on a unit study in money, and so far students are very excited to learn more about this! They have picked up a great base of paper money addition through our daily calendar math, but are interested in adding coins into the mix. Any opportunities you could provide them at home to count coins and bills would be extra reinforcement of the skills we are working on at school - thanks! Upcoming information: Monday - our students will participate in their first Sally Borden All School Meeting Friday, Dec. 21st - Winterfest performance 10:00 - 12:00 Dismissal at 12 noon *The after school program will be available until 5:30 pm on December 21st for those families who can not pick up their child(ren) at the 12 noon early dismissal. All the best, Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break, enjoying time with family and delicious food. These past few weeks have brought excited energy, with Book Fair and Turkey Trot preparations. We were all disappointed that the Turkey Trot fell victim to the very rainy weather that has been a hallmark of this fall season, but we made the best of it and enjoyed putting our math and close reading skills to the test while baking ginger pumpkin muffins for our friends and families. At Authorfest, Matt Tavares, told wonderful stories about research and fact finding being an important part of the biographies he writes, like in the life of Babe Ruth. He also inspired us as writers by showing us the many revisions it takes to make a book come to fruition from the idea stage through to the publication stage. As an illustrator, he showed us how his sketches come to life and how they too, require editing. We had multiple opportunities to visit the book fair to add to our personal libraries (and classroom - thank you!), so we were all in the mood for snuggling in with some good books! We are going to have our own opportunity to develop fact finding skills as we begin our research project on the animals of Mexico. Upon our return from break, students will identify their animal, brainstorm questions that they would like to know about that topic, find books/websites that provide relevant information to answer their questions, read through and highlight materials, and record their findings in a note-taking format: two-column notes. Eventually, our findings will be presented on an "eye-catching" poster. This will be another opportunity to practice executive function skills and plan through what elements of the project need to be completed and by when. We will plot out our completion goals on a calendar and check in with the calendar weekly. In Calendar Math we made it to 50 days of school which served as a measure that we are already a third of the way through the school year. It was a nice moment to reflect on how much we have learned since the beginning of the year. It also got us excited about the remaining 2/3 to go! It is impressive how much better their understanding of patterns and multiples are getting through this daily exercise. As we chug along towards the holiday break, we will get to put our addition and subtraction skills to work as we head into a unit on money. We will even set up a class store for all their holiday shopping needs! Upcoming events: Thursday- In-school performance by New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Dec. 3rd. - we will have our first Sally Borden Program All School Meeting of the year. We will met our older "Amigo" students and lead the group in a mindfulness activity. All the best, Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
It was great to have an opportunity to meet with many of you last week to discuss your child's progress and take a look at what your child wanted to share from their third grade experience so far. This week our Halloween parade and party was creative, festive, and tasty - thank you to all! In math, we have been working on combining numbers through addition of digits in the thousands and ten thousands with regrouping. We also got a chance to introduce two fun card games that reinforce numeracy, patterning and order, and planning ahead: Kings in the Corner, and Garbage. The kids loved them and have begun to play during free time. Have your kids teach you how to play and you can get in on the fun! This week, students began writing their Day of the Dead honor stories, to accompany the ofrendas that will be presented at our cultural celebration in the spring. They are taking their answers from the interview questions and turning them into statements that will be woven together to form a cohesive piece, dedicated to their deceased loved one. We also have started to introduce the speech-to-text function on Google Docs. This can be a great accommodation when students have lengthy written work to convert to typed format. For some students who have difficulty with expressing themselves in written form or typing, they often times feel that utilizing this tool can free up the process of expressing their ideas. Students will begin revising and editing their honor stories using COPS (Capitilization, Organization, Punctuation and Spelling). Upcoming events: 3rd grade students will be working with their Kindergarten Buddies to create spirit T-shirts for the upcoming Turkey Trot. The T-shirts for our class will be provided. They will collaborate with their buddies to decorate the shirts that they will wear to the Turkey Trot on Nov. 20th. November 13-16: AuthorFest & Book Fair Celebrated Author Matt Tavares will be with us next Thursday. All next week the book fair will be open to students and families. As a class, we will peruse on Tuesday and shop on Friday, but feel free to visit on your own! Thursday, November 15th: Join us for a great Parents' Night Out at FA in support of the Book Fair. Click here to learn more and register. Childcare is available, but you must register for it in advance. Hope you had a great weekend! Mrs. Tavares Hi families,
This week we were on a roll, making progress in toward our learning goals! In math we began work on addition into the thousands without regrouping. We reviewed tools such using graph paper to line up our numbers and 100's grid to double check our answers for accuracy. We will introduce regrouping this upcoming week. In Social Studies we are creating various maps of Mexico (landform, agricultural, political, and product) making sure to include important map elements such as a compass rose, scale, and map key/legend. Coming up: Conferences - looking forward to seeing you all this week! Wednesday, October 31st - Halloween parade 8:15 Thursday, November 15th: Join us for a great Parents' Night Out at FA in support of the Book Fair. Click here to learn more and register. Childcare is available, but you must register for it in advance. All the best, Mrs. Tavares |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2019
Categories |
Mrs. Tavares' 3rd Grade | Newsletters |