Team 22 Highlights 4/13/18

Dear Team 22 Families,

I hope you are all enjoying your April vacation! The year is flying by. We had a busy week at school before break.

Morning Work
The students have continued to develop their critical thinking skills, explaining their own interpretations of quotes left for them on the board. I have been so impressed with the students' insights. It's so much fun to hear them share their thoughts with the class.

Reading
In Reading, the students have continued working in their Mysteries unit. Students are reading books from the A-Z Mysteries series, the Encyclopedia Brown series, the Capital Mysteries series, the Chet Gecko series, and the Boxcar Children series. The students have been working hard to track any suspects and clues. We have been discussing, as a class, the idea that mystery readers always try to solve the mystery at hand before the crime solver (usually the main character in the book) has a chance to do so! This requires the students to always be on high alert for suspects and clues and means that careful attention is being paid to all details mentioned. The students are aware that, as third graders, any predictions they make or thoughts they share must be grounded in evidence. Students are working on supporting their claims with clues presented earlier in the text to back up their reasoning. Each day, students are encouraged to add to their suspect/clue charts, entering any new information they have learned about important characters.

In class, we have been reading the first book from the A-Z Mysteries series, called The Absent Author.  We are using this book as our mentor text. Each day, several chapters are read aloud to the class. After this, students have a chance to do a "Turn-And-Talk" to discuss any ideas or predictions they have with their classmates. It is so exciting to see how the students are using new information they've learned about new characters in order to revise or add on to their previous predictions.

Math
In Math, we wrapped up Module 6, which focused on collecting and displaying data. The students will begin working through Module 7 next week, which will cover geometry concepts.

Writing
Early in the week, the students worked in cooperative groups to finish reading several different adaptations of The Billy Goats Gruff and Little Red Riding Hood. The students very much enjoyed being able to see the similarities and differences between each of the versions they studied. These changes offered inspiration for students when thinking about creating their own fairy tale adaptations!

Later in the week, the students worked together, as a class, to brainstorm different ideas we could use in our class adaptation of Cinderella. Students had a chance to offer their suggestions and then small groups were given the opportunity to act out different scenes. The students had so much fun with this!

We decided to adapt the original story-line of Cinderella, while keeping the same characters in our story. In our class version, Cinderella is still treated much like a servant by her stepmother and stepsisters. Instead of being invited to a royal ball; however, Cinderella receives an invitation to attend a fundraiser for the local library which is in danger of being shut down. Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters loathe the library and, as a result, rip up the invitation and throw it away. Cinderella's wish to attend the fundraiser is later granted by a fairy and Cinderella goes on to save the library.

After students had a chance to act out several scenes from our class version of Cinderella, they had a chance to act out, with a partner, some ideas for their own fairy tale adaptations. It is clear that being able to engage in this type of theatrical play is beneficial for students. Once students can orally narrate a story, it is much easier for them to put pen to paper. This dramatic play also allows students to get a better understanding of how characters might react to certain events, words, or actions thrown their way. After this short activity, students were able to think a bit more deeply about their general stories as well as dialogue they might include.

After the class had time to start writing, a number of enthusiastic students volunteered to share their work with the class. It was really interesting to see how different and creative each of the students' stories was. The students can't wait to get back to their fairy tales!

Social Emotional Learning
This past week during our Circle time, the class focused on learning about a new strategy called, "A Bug and a Wish". The students first watched a video in which the strategy was explained and examples were provided in regard to appropriate times to use the strategy.

The students were instructed to resort to the following sentence frame when someone in school (or even at home) is bothering them. 

In order to further practice this strategy using real-life examples, student volunteers came up, picked a scenario out of a hat, and then had to act out the given situation and solve the problem using "A Bug and a Wish". The students did an amazing job with this. I even caught a number of them referring to the "Bug and a Wish" poster hanging in our classroom to use the appropriate language to solve small problems during the remainder of the day! 

Have a fantastic April break.

Best,

Miss Weinstein

Team 22 Highlights 4/6/18

Dear Team 22 families,

We have been off to a busy start in the month of April! The students had their first taste of MCAS on Monday and Tuesday. We had many discussions about the MCAS exam before the testing date in order to alleviate any stress and anxiety the students were harboring. As the date approached, the students felt more confident and constantly offered each other reminders and helpful tips to keep in mind.

Math

This week, the students started a new unit on collecting and displaying data. The beginning of this unit reviews many concepts that were taught and introduced to the students in second grade. It further builds on these concepts, asking students to interpret a variety of graphs and to create their own using different scales. Completing the Zearn homework online will be very helpful for students during this unit and will further promote the development of important mathematical and critical thinking skills.

Social Studies

This week, the students participated in an engaging taxing activity to demonstrate the concept of taxation without representation. For this activity, each student was given a stack of paper bills and the "king" in the class read out new taxing laws he had made which the students had to obey. Rules included, "If you used a pencil today, you owe $5" and "If you read a book from the classroom today, you owe $20", etc. Two students in the class posed as "Tax Collectors" and walked up and down the aisles of desks waiting to be paid. The students were FUMING!  Many students were left with no money and several had only a couple dollars left. After the activity, the students had a chance to share their feelings. A number of students mentioned the anger they felt at having only a few dollars left to pay for food and shelter. This activity was a hit and the students were truly able to empathize with the colonists. 

Science

This week, the students focused on the question, "What rules help predict where a rolling cup will end up? During science lessons, the students had an opportunity to work with a partner and investigate what happens when rolling plastic cups down ramps. After observing that the cups roll in a curved path as they go down the ramp, the students had a chance to come up with ideas about how they could ensure the cup would continue along a straight path. Many students came up with a solution which required them to tape two cups together so that the top and bottom circles of the cup would be the same size on both ends.

                                                 

Writing

The students have embarked on a new journey in writing. They will be spending the next several weeks focusing on adapting favorite fairy tales! We spent the past several days in school reviewing fairy tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Before beginning their own adaptations, the students must know these old favorites like the back of their hand! The students are so excited about this unit and can't wait to start writing! The students have been retelling these tales in partners and small groups. They have also spent time working in cooperative groups to read different versions of these tales, noting any changes the author makes, and discussing why the author may have made such changes.

Social Emotional Learning

In order to hold students accountable for their behavior and effort level in school, the class participated in a goal-setting activity, which we will be returning to regularly. Students worked together to brainstorm areas upon which they would like to improve. Students chose to either set a behavioral goal or an academic goal. The students checked-in throughout the day to make sure they were working toward their goal.

Best,

Miss Weinstein