The Bond Brief
Catching Up on the Happenings of Team Bond
Half of Third Grade is Over!
We have made it to the middle of the year! With that, I told the kids that I would be expecting more of them, as they are now climbing the hill towards 4th grade. Some of the things we discussed were: reading the directions and completing quality work, using correct capitalization and ending punctuation for EVERY SENTENCE WE WRITE, writing our names on our papers 100% of the time, and putting more efforts into our spelling and basic math facts. Children seem disappointed in themselves when they don't pass a multiplication test, but when I ask them if they studied, they say no. It is important to teach your child that they need to put effort into their work to find success.
The Michigan Kids of the last 2 weeks were Alyssa Provo and Andy Case!
New Spelling City Goals
Highlights From Our Learning
Math: We are wrapping up Unit 6, and we will prepare for our BA covering both units 5 and 6. The BA will be on Monday, January 28. The concepts tested will include whole number place value 0-ten-thousands place. (decimals will not be tested), 3-D solids and Polygon identification, geometric vocabulary understanding (vertex, sides, edges, parallel, intersecting, rays, line segments, lines, etc.), and the test taking strategy...choose all of the answers that fit.
Social Studies: We are learning about owning our own businesses and all that is involved! Last week we learned more about natural, human, and capital resources, as well as incentives and the importance of picking the right location. This upcoming week we will learn about the role of the government in business, the global economy (through the Hershey Kiss!) and be able to create our very own business plan. The culminating activity will be a home project that will require the children to create their own commercials for their business!
Literacy: We are in the middle of our non-fiction unit right now. We are reading leveled non-fiction books and learning about text features, notetaking, summarization, plagerism, and the structures of non-fiction texts. We will continue our studies and lead into our third grade research report. Each child will select a state to research and create a report about.
Writing: Each week we complete 2 Daily Pages. We write for around 15 minutes and keep a record of how many words we are able to write. This week I am going to have the students create a line graph of their writing using Excel so they can share their progress with you. In addition, we are working on paragraphing skills. We have focused on main ideas and supporting details. This week we will complete a lesson on closing sentences. Crafting good paragraphs will be reinforced throughout this unit, especially when we begin our research report!
Handwriting: We will finish our lowercase letters soon and begin our studies of uppercase cursive letters. The children are doing a much better job with their letters, although f and q have given them some issues. Like I mentioned at Curriculum Night, I will expect the students to write each assignment in cursive beginning in the spring (exact date TBD). This will help them gain fluency in their cursive writing!
PRACTICE SUBTRACTION AND MULTIPLICATION FACTS AS MUCH AS YOU CAN! Quiz your child in the car, before or after dinner, during commercial breaks...anytime when there may be 2-5 minutes to review. Congrats to Lucas for mastering both his addition and subtraction facts!
We've Got Passion for Our Apps...
Edmodo
I am working closely with edmodo and helping them with their PD and support, so I am getting credit for the app store! Make sure to check out the apps in our library currently!
Angry Birds and Angles
The children were shocked that Angry Birds could actually be educational! I demonstrated how angle measure is connected to sling shot action.
App T-shirts Ready To Go!
The children worked on their t-shirts for the Variety Show. If your child is not in the variety show, he/she can still bring in a shirt and make one. We will wear these on Feb. 6 too!
Feb. 6 Digital Learning Day and Team Bond BYOD
On February 6, classrooms from across the nation will be taking part in the 2nd Annual Digital Learning Day, and all Glengary classes will be participating! I am going to launch our first BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Day to celebrate! Your child can bring in any technology device that he/she has access to. Tablets, Portable Gaming Devices, iPads, iPods, MP3 players, digital cameras, eReaders, laptops, netbooks, etc. are all acceptable. Throughout the day we will use our devices to use in our learning activities. I will do my best to individualize based on the devices, and use my creativity to inegrate them as much as I can! This will be my third year having BYOD days, and I have always had positive experiences with each one! In fact, I even had BYOD at Sunday School earlier this month! I will make sure to lock the room when we leave and to reinforce responsibility and respect with the devices. Please take a moment to complete the survey that is linked below to let me know your thoughts on BYOD.
We Are More Than Just a Class...We Are Team Bond!
Email: jenniferbond@wlcsd.org
Website: wlcsd.org/webpages/jbond
Twitter: @TeamBond2012