Yearn To Learn

This week we are reviewing in Reading Street.  The stories in Unit 1 were about skills that help us make our way in the world.  Students were asked what kinds of questions might be useful to ask to help us make our way in the world?  We talked about trying new things, trading ideas and information, the importance of saving and spending, and the difference between needs and wants. I know it sounds like a lot for a third grader but all students had amazing background knowledge and contributed to all whole group, small group, and partner talks.

Some of the comprehension skills we are reviewing this week are: character, setting and theme, sequencing, summarizing, main idea and author's purpose.  Besides learning amazing words and increasing our vocabulary we have been learning about prefixes, suffixes, and compound words.  Your students are brilliant we are getting smarter every minute of the day and we are working on getting one step closer to mastery!

We have been writing Sound Poems for our study of two cultures coming together, producing All About Me graphics, and are currently working on 4 square personal narratives that tell about a time that we tried something new.  We are working on stretching our writing and using details that appeal to our senses.  Wow! Are we stars or what!?

Our focus in math this week is on rounding, estimation and up to 3 digit addition problems.  Today we worked on taking our understanding of rounding up one notch to estimation. We solved problems thinking about how much some of our make-believe purchases would cost us while on a shopping spree.  Some of those items had to be taken out of our imaginary baskets because we didn't quite have enough money.  Amazing how that whole needs vs. wants thing came up while doing a little math today!

We are finishing up our social studies unit this week with Native American symbol story writing and a closer look at a few tribes with a focus on geography, culture, and beliefs. It has been fun to find a few of us who have some ancestors that came from Comanche tribes.

Just a quick reminder...PAPER BAG BOOK REPORTS ARE DUE THIS THURSDAY, SEPT. 26.  ALL INFORMATION IS INCLUDED IN YOUR HOMEWORK FOLDER.  YOU CAN CHECK A  PREVIOUS BLOG POST DATED SEPTEMBER 9 FOR PICTURES AND A DESCRIPTION.