Special Person Day & Weekly Update

Grandparent/Special Person Day
What a great time students had sharing the morning with their grandparents and other special guests on Tuesday!  Our guests spent time doing some morning math work, listening to students read aloud favorite picture books in the library, eating breakfast in the LGI, and listening to students read aloud their country reports and informational books while they ate.  Back in the classroom, students interviewed their guests to learn more about what life was like when they were in third grade.  Students loved learning more about their guests and realized how much times have changed.  Check out TONS of great photos from our special day in the slideshow below.  (Double click on the slideshow below to view larger versions of the photos and download individual pictures.  If you can't see the slideshow, click HERE to view the album)

You can also check out this School Life article about the Special Person Day.  It includes more great photos!

Reading Workshop

We have started our Poetry Unit in Room 13.  Students were immersed in poetry last week.  Each student selected four poetry books to keep in his/her book box.  Each student also has a poetry anthology of poems we will use during our lessons throughout the unit to keep in his/her book box.  Many poems were read aloud by the teacher and students as well!  On the first day of the unit students took time to look through their poetry books and complete a See, Think, Wonder (take a look below).  Next students learned how to use the "Four Finger Poetry Preview" to help them build their comprehension of a poem.  This strategy helps student notice the title of the poem and poet.  Then students read the first and last lines of the poem.  They also notice any rhyming words and repeated words.  Although poetry can certainly be read for enjoyment, students learned we also read poetry for meaning.  We practiced reading poems, paying close attention to words and phrases, which helped us understand the meaning of the poem, which also helped students understand the main idea of the poem.

  

Math

We finished up the first part of Unit 6 learning how to sort, analyze, and classify quadrilaterals.  Students did great on the first unit quiz.  Below is a picture of a helpful chart which describes the quadrilaterals we learned about in class.   A family letter from your child's Math Expressions math journal came home to introduce you to the second half of Unit 6--Area & Perimeter.  Students learned the area of a figure is the number of square units in the figure and the perimeter of a figure is the distance around it.  Students practiced finding the area of various rectangles by tiling the rectangles with 1 inch square units (we used Cheez-its).  Finally students learned how to find the area of a large rectangle by splitting it into two smaller rectangles.  This is a tricky concept until students get the hang of writing one equation (using both addition and multiplication) to find the area (see an example below).  Students used the app Educreations on their iPads in math this week to practice drawing quadrilaterals and to find the area of different rectangles. 

Science

On Thursday afternoon a naturalist from the Troy Nature Society visited our third grade students.  A BIG THANK YOU to our Hill PTO for covering the cost of the presentation, which was $3.50 per student.  First the naturalist shared several pictures of owls and talked to students about the different owls living in Michigan.  Next students had the opportunity to dissect their own owl pellet.  The naturalist walked around to help students identify the various bones students were finding inside their pellet.  Room 13 scientists had a lot of fun discovering the many things found inside their pellet.  

Our very own owl expert, Adam, read aloud his Amazing Owl expert report to our class as well.  Students also listened to a book called Adopted by an Owl: The True Story of Jackson the Owl and watched a short YouTube video of the real owl.  Check out the video and pictures below!

All Star of the Week

Charles was our fantastic All Star last week!  He enjoyed sharing his pictures of his family and items in his sharing sack as well as reading aloud his favorite book to the class.  Students loved hearing his amazing story of how he started walking at the age of 7 months!  They also loved watching a video of Charlie at age four being startled while coming out of the bathroom.  We watched his adorable reaction a few times.  Students loved seeing the videos of Charlie playing football as well...he is quite a fast runner!  Charles enjoyed a special lunch out with his sister on Thursday.

Weekly Update

Informational Writing:
This week students worked on the final drafts of their expert reports.  Most students finished in class, but some students took it home over the weekend to complete.  Our goal is to have them done by Tuesday so that students can share them with their special guests.  Some students printed out photos or clipart from home to add to their reports, while other students chose to add drawings to their cover and chapter pages.

Math:
This week we began Unit 6, Polygons, Perimeter, and Area.  So far we have focused mostly on polygons.  Students have been expected to draw and recognize attributes of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons.  They will also been identifying points, lines, line segments, rays, angles, and parallel and perpendicular lines.

Social Studies:
We finished our regional tour of the Midwest this week with our final stop in Minnesota at the Mall of America.  Students then used all of the souvenirs they collected along the way to create scrapbook pages in their region binders.  A study guide was sent home on Wednesday to help your child prepare for the test this Tuesday.  We realize that is also Grandparent/Special Person Day, but our guests will only be here in the morning.  The test will be given in the afternoon.

All-Star of the Week:
Alaina was our fabulous Room 13 All-Star this past week.  She loved sharing special items from her sharing sack and giving details about the photos she brought in of her and her family members.  She also did an awesome job reading aloud her favorite book, The Biggest Easter Basket Ever.  The class loved the story!  Her mom was able to join Alaina as her lunch buddy on Friday to end her special week.

Weekly Update

Reading Workshop
Last week students were taught how to set up and use Google Docs on their iPads.  We're excited about Google Docs because it's a great way for students to complete their IDR task.  We are able to login to our Google account and view each student's response as he/she is completing the task.  Therefore, we are also able to see any students who are struggling to get started on the task and may need our help.  Finally, we are able to respond to each student's response...we did this in a red font.  We encourage you to ask your child to show you his/her IDR Reading Response Task sheet in Google Docs from last week.

Students worked with their reading partners last week to have many conversations about nonfiction texts.  They worked together to study the pictures in the texts as well.  On Wednesday readers noticed how similar information can be presented in different types of media.  They listened to a chapter read aloud about cheetahs and watched a video clip about cheetahs.  After listening and watching, students wrote the main idea and three details about the information presented.

For the last few reading lessons, students worked together to read a set of texts about a specific topic.  We set up several nonfiction text sets about various topics in Storia.  First, students picked one topic to focus on.  Then they previewed the texts to brainstorm a list of subtopics they were going to learn about.  Next, students read about one subtopic to write a summary.  Finally, students paid close attention to the text features in one book from their text set.  Readers discovered they can learn new information from nonfiction text features, such as photographs, diagrams, and captions.

A screen shot of Levi's Google Docs shows the thinking he did during Reading Workshop.

Writing Workshop
Students continue to work in their "Expert" draft booklets.  They have written an introduction and four descriptive chapters detailing everything they know about their chosen expert topic.  Students have also learned how to write a conclusion and an "All About the Author" paragraph.  We will take the booklets home over break to read through each one.  Students will write final drafts after break.

Math
We think Unit 5 is the most difficult unit of the school year.  The whole unit was learning how to solve word problems, word problems, and more word problems!  We are really impressed at the thinking our students were able to do to solve so many tricky problems, including problems with extra information, hidden information, unknown variables, problems with rounding and reasonable answers, and of course two-step problems!  Your child will bring home his/her correct math test after break.

Science
We have finished a major portion of our Structures of Life Unit.  Your child will take a science test over the plant and crayfish material on Wednesday, April 15.  Your child received an email with the Quizlet link to help him/her study for this science test.  In the last portion of the Structures of Life Unit, students will learn about owls.  There will be a date this spring the Troy Nature Center will visit us to teach us more about owls living in Michigan and help students dissect owl pellets.  Check out the pictures below of students investigating crayfish!

All-Star of the Week
Our most recent fabulous All-Star has been Isabella!  Students loved seeing the items in her sharing sack and listening to her read aloud her favorite book!  They also loved viewing the awesome video of pictures from Isabella's life her mom and dad put together.  Isabella enjoyed a special lunch with her mom on Tuesday and her very own cheer written by her parents on Wednesday!

Slurpee and Popcorn Party
Room 13 All Stars earned a Slurpee and Popcorn Party because we collected the most Box Tops!  Thanks so much for cutting out and sending in your Box Tops from home!!

Mystery Readers
Thanks so much for everyone who participated as a Mystery Reader during March!  The kids loved hearing the clues and guessing who might walk through the door!  Of course they also loved hearing the fun books you picked to read aloud and listening to someone special read the book!  Check out the pictures below of our last Mystery Readers...

Faisal's mom read aloud What's the Big Idea, Molly?

Elena's mom read aloud Priscilla McDoodleNut Doodle McMae Asks Why?

Reed's mom read aloud a nonfiction book about snakes while Reed held onto his python.

Charlie's mom read aloud Thundercake.

Isabella's mom read aloud Skippyjon Jones is Mummy Trouble.

Emma's mom read aloud What Do You Do With an Idea?

Autism Awareness Month

All students at Hill School are participating in a few activities to raise awareness of Autism.  Students brainstormed ideas how to help a student with Autism.  We wrote these ideas on blue ribbons to hang up at Hill.  We also met in the circle drive today to blow bubbles for Autism.  The rest of this month, we will be collecting change for Autism.  Your child can bring in any spare change at home to donate.  Thank you for supporting this great cause!