Week of October 2, 2017

Our Wonder Wall has been a great place to record questions. In the coming weeks we will move on to adding different prompts to encourage even more thinking. We have begun talking about the upcoming cardboard challenge (ask your child about Caine’s Arcade) which will lead us toward Genius Hour. We need your help! Please send in cardboard and other materials that students could use for building. We will need this by October 11.

With ISA testing behind us we are getting ready for parent teacher conferences. Appointment letters went home on Friday, so please ask your child to give you that paper. Remember that third graders are expected to attend conferences along with their parent(s).

This week we begin on Day 6. Please make sure your child has a water bottle and hat each day.

Reading This week we end our first reading unit. We will then move from fiction reading to information/nonfiction to focus on main ideas and text structures. This is perfect as we think about areas of interest, so students can build on their strengths.

Writing We are also ending our personal narrative unit. At conferences next week you will see both the pre and post assessments for this unit, which will help with goal setting as we move forward. Many aspects of writing are transferrable across genres so this information will help us as we move on to informational writing. This is not a unit where the focus is on researching to write, rather the students will use informational writing strategies as they compose texts about subjects they already know well.

Math We have begun our second math unit and in the coming week will focus on rounding to the nearest ten. We will introduce multiple strategies including using a number line, using benchmark numbers, and finding halfway numbers. As always the parent learning connection has ideas for you in math and reading/writing here.

Social Studies As we continue to look at different maps and what we can learn from them, students are creating their own maps (landform, resource, climate, and population maps are the focus). We have noticed that water is a key resource. We have enjoyed looking at various maps that students have shared.

This week we had our first Skype of the year when a retired librarian in the US read us a few picture books that have not yet been published (they come out in the next few weeks). Next week we begin a 6-week project, the Global Read Aloud, where we will be reading Fenway and Hattie at the same time as many other classes across the world. We will collaborate with a few classes during this time. Don't forget to check the photo folders regularly (see the tab on the blog).

On a personal note, I am involved with a project that is teaching teachers of refugee students and would appreciate plastic bottle caps and cardboard egg cartons that we can repurpose as teaching materials. Thanks for your help.

Thanks to Margherita's mom and Leonor's mom for helping with math fact practice- days 3-6 at 2:30 is generally a great time to help for a few minutes. Alternatively, 8-8:15 most days is a great time for sight word practice help.

Have a great week ahead!

First try of video book sharing- if you click on the link you can watch the videos

Free Dress Day

This Friday the money raised from Free Dress Day will go to help the Chin Women's Organization and specifically their school. 

The Chin people are refugees from Myanmar. The Malaysian Government does not allow refugees to use the health and medical facilities, allow adults to work, or allow the children to go to local schools. As a result, refugees and their support groups, have had to set up and fund their own schools. They rely on donations for paying rent on the school buildings and buying supplies, equipment and resources for their students. 

Our Red Hats Free Dress Day donations this Friday  will go to the Chin Women's Organization School and will help them tremendously! 

The head volunteer at the school is Janine WIlliams. She is a change-maker who has been a teacher at the Chin Women's Organization School for many years. Janine has two daughters who have graduated from ISKL, and is very dedicated to the cause.

As always know that your donation truly makes a positive difference in our community.

Cheers,

Mr. Mangelsdorf

Red Hat Coordinator 

Week of September 25, 2017

The days are flying by! This week you will receive your appointment time for parent conferences coming up on October 9th and 10th. In third grade we ask that your child attends along with you as we will be reflecting on progress thus far and setting goals together. The students are already improving in their keyboarding skills. These accounts can be accessed from home as well as many students have learned.

Thursday was the International Day of Peace and we shared The Peace Book by Todd Parr and students made something that represented peace. It was great to observe the focus and attention they put into their work and the thoughtful way they complimented each other.  

Ask your child about #classroombookaday- we have shared so many great books already.

If you are available first thing in the morning or just before dismissal we could use a few parents to practice sight words and math facts for a few minutes.

This week we begin on Day 1. We will complete the ISA on Thursday and Friday. Please ensure that your child has a good night sleep and a healthy breakfast. Please remind your child to return their home learning on Friday.

Reading The focus this week is on being more aware of when a text signals the reader to do more thinking and inferring. Students will learn to add their own thinking and consider author’s purpose when something unexpected happens in the text. We are introducing conditional language such as “could it be that…” or “maybe…” so that students explore several ideas to dig deeper.

Writing  Revision and editing take on a bigger role as students work with more independence on their second narrative. We are introducing punctuation within dialogue by referring to our mentor text, Come On, Rain! Students are keeping their goals in mind as they write.

Math This week we begin our second math unit, Solving Problems with Units of Measure. In this unit, students will:

• Investigate, understand, and use place value to manipulate numbers.
• Build on understanding of place value to round whole numbers.
• Continue to develop understanding of addition and subtraction and use strategies and properties to do so proficiently and fluently.
• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.
• Solve word problems involving masses or volumes.

We will begin with making conjectures (what we believe to be true) and composing and decomposing numbers.

Social Studies We are looking at different types of maps and the information we can glean from them. As we look at different maps of the same area we are looking for connections. Students are creating their own maps to show their understanding.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Math Unit 2

Dear Parents,

We are starting our new Unit 2 in Math very soon: Problem Solving with Units of Measure. 

Here is a summary of what your child will be practicing in this Unit of Problem Solving using Units of Measure:

In this unit, students will:

• Investigate, understand, and use place value to manipulate numbers.
• Build on understanding of place value to round whole numbers.
• Continue to develop understanding of addition and subtraction and use strategies and properties to do so proficiently and fluently.
• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.
• Solve word problems involving masses or volumes.

Key vocabulary word cards from this Unit to talk about in your home language at home are attached at the bottom of this email and ready to print.

Online Visual Math Dictionary: CLICK HERE

Activities you can do at home as a Math learning connection:

• Make records of important times of the day (wake-up, dinner, going to school, getting home from school, etc.) and practice telling how long between activities.
• Calculate elapsed time by finding out how long it takes to complete daily activities (soccer practice, homework, take a shower, etc.)
• Fill a small box with blocks (e.g., sugar cubes) to determine its volume. Brainstorm multiple strategies to determine the volume.

Math is Everywhere! Ask your child: How do you know? Prove it! Convince me! Show me!

ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES:

Can You Fill It?: estimating volume (Click on link)

Pour to Score: to practice on volume (Click on Link)

Khan Academy: 3rd Grade Math topics videos that show exercises step by step (Click on link).

We really appreciate your support at home! Thank you!

Warm regards.

The Grade 3 Team

Math Vocabulary

IMWAYR5

Week of September 18, 2017

What a busy week! Thanks to Zara’s dad and Ms. Joan’s son for being great guest speakers about landforms. The day on Friday was fun and educational. The students loved cooking, watching the dancers, and eating new food. Please check your class blog for pictures. We begin this week on Day 3. It is helpful if you review with your child their ASA each morning as we get used to these new routines. This week we welcome Yahiah to 3EV. You can access the student directory via the Parent page of ISKL.

Parent Teacher Conferences in the ES are October 9 and 10. Your third grader will attend this conference with you. Please let us know if you prefer one day over the other and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Reading In reading this week we continue to work on using contextual clues to read through difficult words. We look at the clues authors may include, such as using synonyms, antonyms, or explanations and how we can determine the gist of the word meaning. Students are encouraged to take note of new words or new meanings for familiar words and start using these words orally and in writing. We are also looking at figurative language, such as “crying over spilled milk”.  You can help by talking about such phrases in your home language.

Writing The students begin a new writing piece with more independence. This allows us to review the many tools they have to help, such as the narrative writing checklist and anchor charts made in class. Revision continues throughout with another look at “showing, not telling” as a way to be more descriptive in writing. We also look at irregular past tense verbs.

Math We will be looking at liquid volume and weight as we finish up this math unit. Elapsed time is still difficult for some students, so look for opportunities to practice this at home (“If we need to be at soccer at 10:00 and it takes 17 minutes to drive there, what time should we leave home?”).

Social Studies This week we begin looking at the specific uses of different kinds of maps (focusing on landform, resource, climate, and population). We are looking at how the place influences the people and their lifestyle.

Have a great week ahead and remember that Friday there is no school due to another holiday, Awal Muharram.

By the way, did you know you can translate Google docs into the language that you read best (not perfect, but…)? Go to tools and then to “translate document”. You could have this whole blog post in your home language! If it doesn’t work within the blog, copy and paste the text into a Google doc and then go to tools.

Please find our most recent IMWAYR Padlet here. We are also beginning a year long collaboration with a class in Pennsylvania in the US and on Monday they will add to a Padlet we started for Dot Day.

Week of September 11, 2017

Week of September 11, 2017

Good Morning Parents,

I hope you enjoyed another long weekend and are ready for a full week ahead. This week we started the Grade 3 Wonder Wall. It is great to see that these learners have so many questions! A great website to explore to encourage wonder is Wonderopolis. In the week ahead we will celebrate Hari Raya and Merdeka Day at school on Friday. Students may wear traditional Hari Raya clothing.

This week we begin on Day 4.

Reading: We are working on retelling the main story events in order and then “growing ideas” by adding on our on thinking about what we have read. We will look at problem solving strategies when words or passages are tricky and how we need to really work hard to make real meaning from what we read.

Writing: Many third graders are working toward revising and editing their first “small moment” personal narrative. We are looking at how dialogue is punctuated and closely examining some mentor texts to strengthen our work. We are now using paragraphing when time moves forward, a new speaker talks, or when a new subtopic starts. We will start a second story with more independence in the process.

Math: While we continue to work on elapsed time we are also introducing units of mass and liquid volume. Look for opportunities to talk about which units you would choose to measure the amount of milk in the pitcher (liters, milliliters), the weight in kilograms/grams of familiar items, and more. We will move on the problem solving with units of measure in our next math unit.

Social Studies: We will have a few guest speakers this week to teach more about how maps are used with their job and/or how location/resources influence people. We are beginning to look at different types of maps and how we use them.

Have a great week ahead! Thanks in advance for reminding your child to return home learning on Friday.

Week of September 5th-7th

Good morning parents,

I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend. A friendly reminder there is no school on Monday the 4th or Friday the 8th.  Students have been working hard solving word problems with elapsed time, it is great to see their critical reasoning! This week will begin on a Tuesday, Day 1.

Reading

Students will learn that readers give themselves comprehension check as they read, asking themselves questions to make sure they understand what is going on in books. They will follow the steps:

1. Give yourself a comprehension check about each chapter.
2. Ask yourself or write a post-it about:

1. Who was in that part?
2. What was happening?
3. How does this part connect to the rest of the story?

Students will also learn that to truly understand a story readers ask themselves “What does this text want me to do?” Envision (make a mental movie) or collect information? We are also working on developing reading partnerships.

Writing

Students will learn that writers don’t wait to edit (adding punctuation and capitals); they take a minute as they write to make sure their writing is as clear as possible for their readers. Students will also learn how to write a lead for a story by using detail, action, sounds, or dialogue that introduce the characters and setting.

Math

Students will begin to explore weight and the need for standardized units. Students will then transition from nonstandard to a standard unit of measurement and use grams to measure weight.

Here is the vocabulary they will encounter:

am	analog clock	decompose	capacity	digital clock	elapsed time	gram
hour	hour	interval	kilogram	liquid	liter	mass
minute	pm	solid	volume

Looking for more ways to help your child practice math facts? Try these games!
Want to look at telling time with your child? Maybe these videos can help.

Social Studies

Students will continue to learn how to use map keys, a compass rose, and a scale to interpret and gain information from various maps.

More sites that you may want to look at with your child will be added to the class documents page.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend and the (short) week ahead. Home learning is due on Thursday and continues from last week. Please see the home learning tab if your child does not have her/his notebook