Weekly Update from Room 003!
Week of January 4, 2016
Welcome Back!
It is great to be back to school! I hope you enjoyed the break. Everyone had a fabulous week!
Learning iMovie
Mrs. Tucker came in this week to teach us how to use iMovie. iMovie is an app that allows you to create and edit video files. We are learning to create videos as an option for our informational writing unit.
Caldecott 2016!
On Monday, the American Library Association will announce this year's awards for children's books. We looked at several book trailers online as we began to think about our hopes for the Caldecott Award. We can't wait until Monday!
Time for Kids
We spent some time talking around many of the articles in a recent Time for Kids magazine. As we begin to learn about informational reading and writing, we are analyzing the things that make some articles interesting to us.
Learning About Perimeter and Area in Math
We were busy in math. We solved several word problems that focus on multiplication and division. We are working to match number sentences to our work. We also spent time learning about perimeter and area. We explored it with tiles and with Cheez-Its. We will continue to explore perimeter and area in different ways next week. We will continue to work on multiplication and division strategies also.
Join Us for Family Tech Night on Wednesday, January 13
On Wednesday, January 13, please join us in our classroom (6:00-7:00 p.m.) for Family Tech Night. This is an open house so you can come for a few minutes or stay for the full hour. During this time, your child will show you some of the many ways we use technology for our learning.
Khan Academy Website
We looked at a few videos on the Khan Academy website this week. If you have not visited this site, it is a good site for math. There are several videos that teach and review important 3rd grade concepts.
No School on January 15 for Teacher Professional Development
Remember that there is no school for students on January 15. All PK-5 teachers will be attending a professional development on that day, during which will be working with our colleagues from across the district and sharing our knowledge about good instruction. We will begin our day with a keynote presentation by Dr. Fred Burton, who is a former teacher and administrator and currently works as a Project Zero faculty member at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard. He is also the co-director for the Center of Creativity Institute for 21st Century Skills at the Columbus Museum of Art. We will discuss ways to better embed thinking routines with our students using the widely read book, Making Thinking Visible by Richhart, Morrison, and Church. Afterwards, we will work with our job-alike colleagues to specifically target how to implement best instructional practices for 3rd grade learners. This day will help us in our quest to continuously improve our work as teachers and, therefore, enrich the educational experience of all students.
Parent Conferences
Our next set of Parent Conferences is scheduled for Thursday, February 11. Please let me know if you would like to schedule a time to talk about your child's progress.