What's Ahead This Week?

       One of the big projects for this week will be completing our non-fiction books that we've been working on in Writer's Workshop. We began weeks ago deciding on a topic that each student felt they were an expert on. This was not research and writing, but a topic that each student felt he/she already knew a good bit about. Then we "wrote long" to get out all of the ideas he/she thought should be included in the book. Next, it was time to understand how real non-fiction authors take their ideas to a final form. We began by learning about the most commonly used text structures in non-fiction writing. Each student used three non-fiction text structures: descriptive, sequential, and compare and contrast. One structure was used for each one of our three body paragraphs in the book. Students have worked hard to truly revise their rough drafts to include the language of each text structure.
        During revision lessons, we learn that authors add some sentences, delete some sentences and keep only some sentences from their rough draft. This is a big challenge for third grade writers because it is hard to recognize where your own writing could be better.
       We have now rewritten to the point of final draft and the fun part of adding artwork and other text features like diagrams and text boxes with additional related information. If you are wondering how you can help this week....... help your child to look for some pictures to include in his/her book online. I can print B&W pictures if you email me images that the two of you have found. If your child would like color images, those will have to be printed at home and sent in to be added to the book.
      It will be exciting to see these books come to completion. The students have worked hard and are very proud of their work.

We Start Our Day.....

I hope you'll enjoy these insights into the way in which your child starts his/her day.

ac·knowl·edg·ment

 noun

 noun: acknowledgement

1. 1.

   acceptance of the truth 
2. 2.

   the action of expressing or displaying gratitude or appreciation 

   
   

We call this our Power Start Up:

Each morning we start our day with a this acknowledgment. This idea came from a show brought to West Hill School several years ago by the Town of Rocky Hill. The show's message was that each and everyone of us, by appreciating who we are, can reach our potential and be a positive influence in the world around us. The presenter discussed the power that each one of us has in relationship to bullying. If the acknowledgment we recite together is believed by each student, then bullying will never be an option. I realized this was a message worth remembering each day for myself and my students and I have started my class' day with this appreciation ever since. I hope you will agree that this message, acknowledging the "Power of One" cannot be realized too early or too often.

This year in the effort to align my teaching with the requirements of the Common Core Standards, I matched a song, What I am, by Will. i. am,  with a poem, By Myself, by Eloise Greenfield. My question to the students was what beliefs do the author's agree upon? We read and discussed the poem then listened to this version of Will. i. am singing on Sesame Street. The song was so well received by the students that we now sing it each morning. You should see the students singing and doing the hand motions along with Will and the Muppets. Another acknowledgment that cannot be realized to early or too often. I have included the link so you can enjoy the presentation also....You're never too old to enjoy the Muppets!!

Will. i. am Sings "What I Am"

Science: This week we will begin our science study of five different habitats around our world. They are the Desert, the Coral Reef, the Polar Regions, the Savannah, the Rain Forest. Each student will work in a group to read, take notes, design a poster with a paragraph and present information about the habitat. Students will refer to a rubric in order to include all required information. Each student will present information about a plant or animal and its adaptations to live in the environment, or the climate and location of the habitat they have become an expert on. Students usually enjoy this project and the opportunity to speak to their classmates about a topic that they have come to know well. Watch for some photos of the posters and paragraph writing in future blog entries.
Here are some excellent videos about habitats to watch and discuss with your child if you have the chance. It is so important to promote a curiosity in your child about the world around us. The possibility to grow your child's vocabulary, to develop background knowledge for future reading, to create an understanding of the world's needs vs an individuals needs cannot be underestimate when sharing this type of information with your child.

The Amazon Rain Forest Watch how plants and birds such as the hummingbird work together to survive in the jungle while bears have to be skilled climbers to find their food.

The Great Barrier Reef  Found off the coast of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth. It is home to billions of small organisms known as coral polyps as well as thousands of different species of marine life.

Just to keep the learning outside the classroom about FUN a few games for your child that will enhance the learning we are doing in our classroom:

Food Chain: Learn about various living things such as animals and plants, sort them into different categories and discover where they fit into the food chain with this fun science activity for kids.

Plants and Animals: Different animals tend to live in different habitats that suit their characteristics, this is the same with plants, which thrive in an environment that suits them.