Students were introduced to the reading genre, mystery. They began the unit brainstorming what they know about the mystery genre and played an "eye witness" game to test out their detective skills. Students spent two days learning important mystery vocabulary words and played a mystery match game to pair the new vocabulary words with their matching definitions. Each detective received their Detective Case File and mystery chapter book. Students worked together in their Detective Clubs to make predictions before reading. They read the title, looked at the picture on the cover, read the Table of Contents, and read the back cover of the book to help them make predictions. They also received their first assignment and began reading their mystery chapter book.
Writing Workshop
We began our next writing unit--Personal Essays. To begin this unit, students are immersed in reading and understanding personal essays before they begin to write their own essay. Students learned personal essays have a "Big Idea" or theme. The essays we read aloud in class had themes, such as: Reach to do the Impossible, People Who Help Others in Little Ways are Heroes, Don't be in a Rush to Grow Up, and Give People a Chance. Students also learned writers support big ideas from stories with evidence from their own lives. They tried to think of moments in their lives that matched the themes from the essays we read aloud. These moments will be saved for possible essay ideas. Examples of student work are below.
We started our Measurement Unit by discussing Customary Units of Length and Capacity. We reviewed how to measure objects with a ruler to the nearest 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch. We also learned how to create a line plot using a set of data. Then we answered and asked questions about the data by reading the line plot. Students also solved capacity word problems. Your child should be able to name the units of liquid volume from largest to smallest--gallon, quart, pint, and cup. We also discussed the fluid ounce, which is actually the smallest unit of liquid volume. We learned there are 8 fluid ounces in 1 cup.
Science
Our next science unit, Light and Heat, is under way. Students have sorted pictures of light sources versus non light sources. They learned the moon is not actually a light source--many were surprised by this fact. They also discovered light travels in a straight path through an investigation with a flashlight and index cards. Knowing that light travels in a a straight path, helped students understand shadows. (If the sun is behind you, your shadow will be in front of you.) They also had fun creating shadow puppets in class.
All-Star of the Week
Brayden was our awesome All-Star last week! He enjoyed a special lunch with his dad on Thursday. The class loved to hear about his great dance moves in his parent letter. They begged him the rest of the week to show off his "Michael Jackson moves." We also enjoyed Brayden's "Look and Find" read aloud, his adorable baby pictures, and his special items from his sharing sack. Our All-Star even showed off his new glasses! We think he looks great wearing them!
Other Happenings from the Week
A local chapter of Kiwanis Club visited Hill to deliver and donate a dictionary to each third grade student. Students were astonished to learn the longest word in the English language is over 1,000 letters long! Thank you Kiwanis for our new dictionaries!!
The highlight of the week was the iPad Roll Out Day! Students were so excited to finally receive their iPads! Last week a separate email was sent out with more details about the iPads. So far students have learned how to create "Math Talk" videos using Educreations, log-in to Raz-Kids and Storia to read books, log-in to Xtra Math to practice math facts, and send emails from their Troy Google address! You will receive more communication about the iPads as we share how we are using them in the classroom. There were A LOT more pictures of the actual Roll Out Day, but I don't know what happened to them ;-(
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