Week of April 1st

Dear Parents,

Hopefully, you and your family had a relaxing and fun holiday. It is hard to believe but we are now set up for our final stretch of the school year. A time that promises lots of learning and growth, and it will go by quickly. We have several new units scheduled to begin either this week or next!

3JA students collaborating and problem-solving during our Ancient Civilizations unit! 

Students have great conversations about geometry. 

HERE are some other pictures from our Ancient Civilization Share before the break. The kids did a great job showcasing what they had learned through creating their own ancient civilization.

This week begins on a day 6.

Reading Students will finish up our character studies reading unit this week. This will also be the last week for book clubs. They will continue to practice making predictions, asking thick questions, retelling important events, comparing and contrasting, and identifying character traits.

Writing Students are continuing the fiction writing unit from before the holiday for one final week. They will not only continue to write adapted fairy tales but also branch out into other fantasy and creative writing choices.

Math This week we are focusing on the attributes of 2D shapes, with particular attention to quadrilaterals. Some shapes can go by many names, for instance, a square is: a special rectangle, a rhombus, a parallelogram, and a quadrilateral.

Science We will be starting a new science unit this week called Balancing Forces: Investigating Floating Trains. Students will begin to figure out ideas about magnetic force, gravity, and how forces can cause an object’s movement to change or stay stable.

Week of March 19th

Good Morning parents,

Book week was a lot of fun last week. From the book swap, to dress like a character day, to March Book Madness, and Matt Smith the visiting author/illustrator, the students enjoyed a successful week of reading celebration.

Yesterday was an in-service work day for teachers, it was a full day of learning for all of us.

We will begin the week on: Day 2

Reading Students will continue to work in their book clubs. They will be making predictions based on evidence, asking and answering thick questions, retelling the important parts of the story. Students will also be comparing and contrasting characters both in their book and other books.

Writing Students will continue with fiction writing. They will focus on adding actions words and descriptive details. They will continue to work to show, not tell what is happening in the story.

Math Students will begin our new unit in math. This unit focuses on geometry. They will learn about how stapes in different categories may share attributes. They will be recognize and draw rhombuses, rectangles, squares and other examples of quadrilaterals.

Science This week will be the final week for our People of the Past Unit. For a final project, students will be busy creating their own made up ancient civilization. They will be using the features of what made ancient civilizations successful: a good location with access to water, a belief system, a social structure/organization, art and architecture, technology and education.

Week of March 4th

Dear Parents,

This week's update looks a bit different as on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we will be finishing up Student Led Conference (SLC) preparation. Student-led conferences are scheduled for Thursday, March 7 and Friday, March 8. Your child will be the most important part of this conference, so they are required to attend. As your child leads the discussion by reflecting on his/her learning, sharing his/her goals, and celebrating his/her successes, please be ready to ask follow up questions. These are the type of questions to ask your child as they are leading the conference:

• How did you make this?
• Why did you choose this?
• What does this work show about you?
• What did you learn from this?
• What was the easy or difficult part of this?
• What do you like best about this?
• What more do you want to improve in, or learn?
• Tell me about this.

There will be other conferences in the classroom going on at the same time. Please note that this conference could take up to 45 minutes (but it won't overlap with any sibling conference time). After this time you will go with your child to any specialist teacher you choose to finish off the conference.

We begin this week on DAY 8.