Dear Grade 2/3 Families,
Thanks so much for making sure to have your child here on time and ready to take ISA tests last week. The kids were excited to do something new, and of course they did a great job. This week will look a little more normal, with the exception of the excitement surrounding our school production of Annie Jr. If you don’t have your tickets yet, you need to act fast.
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: We are getting into the groove of taking our addition timed tests. Please have your child work on his/her math facts at home. Your child should know which facts to study, so please check in with him/her. We are beginning a unit on fractions this week. We will look at some models and use numbers to represent numbers that are less than one.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop: As we work on studying for our timed math tests, the children also need to focus on their new spelling lists. We will have our third dictation this week. The progress that we have already seen from the first dictation to the second is amazing. Please continue to help your child prepare for the dictation.
We will continue our reading and writing units on non-fiction this week. We will look at some of the features of non-fiction texts, and the children will continue their writing about a topic on which they are an expert.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: we’ve been getting MESSY exploring mass and volume measurement. We spent a day measuring water volumes in cups, pints, liters, quarts, and gallons-- making estimates of how many pints in a liter, and how many liters in a gallon. First we formed predictions, then we tested using measuring tools. We did the same with weighing mass. We weighed a variety of common classroom items ie: colored pencil, crayon, marker, crumpled paper, and a short chapter book. We organized a chart where we recorded our predictions of weight in order from least to greatest, then found exact weight in paper clips (because 1 paper clip equals 1 gram) on a balance scale.
In Readers’ Workshop, our Author Study of Chris Van Allsburg has gained momentum as children explore his books from the C.V.A book basket. We decided that Allsburg purposely writes with the intent of making his readers think very carefully about what’s happening in his book. We also noticed how he uses very precise and pointed language, often making the reader go back and re-read to read “beneath the text” or “in between the lines” so the reader has to infer what is shown and not told. The character in The Stranger really has us stumped. Ask your learner about who he/she thinks the stranger in the book might actually represent? It’s OK if your learner says, “I’m still not quite sure yet….I’ll have to go back and re-read parts of the book.”
In Writers’ Workshop: we discovered how difficult writing the middle of a fiction story can be. We took a close look at a piece of mentor text called Brave Molly where the beginning was read, and the ending was read, but learners took time to write the middle that would connect the beginning to the end. The beginning of the story starts when the main character, Molly, escapes into a cave to avoid a dark rain storm and encounters a very scary monster who is big, and loud, and mean. The end of the story is of Molly skipping happily back home. What happened in the middle to make Molly switch from being fearful of the monster, to being happily on her way back home through the woods the next sunny morning? We went around the room to share out our versions of the middle, then read the actual middle. We discovered that there’s more than one way to write a middle that can work! We also talked about ways to write a middle that connects to the ending we have in mind-- which usually leads us to the resolution of the problem in our story.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: We wind up our unit on water this week. We will be communicating our final 3D designs with our partners in Nicaragua. We will also experiment with making water filters in the classroom. Children will try using different materials to make a usable water filter. We will test water again to see if we have been successful. At the end of week, children will complete a summative assessment to show what they have learned during this unit.
Important Dates and Reminders:
March 10 & 11, Friday & Saturday - Annie Jr. Play @ 7:00pm - Tickets available.
March 14, Tuesday - PJSPA Meeting @ 7:00pm
March 16, Pizza Thursday
March 20 - April 2 - Spring Recess
April 3, Monday - Classes Resume
Thanks so much for making sure to have your child here on time and ready to take ISA tests last week. The kids were excited to do something new, and of course they did a great job. This week will look a little more normal, with the exception of the excitement surrounding our school production of Annie Jr. If you don’t have your tickets yet, you need to act fast.
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: We are getting into the groove of taking our addition timed tests. Please have your child work on his/her math facts at home. Your child should know which facts to study, so please check in with him/her. We are beginning a unit on fractions this week. We will look at some models and use numbers to represent numbers that are less than one.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop: As we work on studying for our timed math tests, the children also need to focus on their new spelling lists. We will have our third dictation this week. The progress that we have already seen from the first dictation to the second is amazing. Please continue to help your child prepare for the dictation.
We will continue our reading and writing units on non-fiction this week. We will look at some of the features of non-fiction texts, and the children will continue their writing about a topic on which they are an expert.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: we’ve been getting MESSY exploring mass and volume measurement. We spent a day measuring water volumes in cups, pints, liters, quarts, and gallons-- making estimates of how many pints in a liter, and how many liters in a gallon. First we formed predictions, then we tested using measuring tools. We did the same with weighing mass. We weighed a variety of common classroom items ie: colored pencil, crayon, marker, crumpled paper, and a short chapter book. We organized a chart where we recorded our predictions of weight in order from least to greatest, then found exact weight in paper clips (because 1 paper clip equals 1 gram) on a balance scale.
In Readers’ Workshop, our Author Study of Chris Van Allsburg has gained momentum as children explore his books from the C.V.A book basket. We decided that Allsburg purposely writes with the intent of making his readers think very carefully about what’s happening in his book. We also noticed how he uses very precise and pointed language, often making the reader go back and re-read to read “beneath the text” or “in between the lines” so the reader has to infer what is shown and not told. The character in The Stranger really has us stumped. Ask your learner about who he/she thinks the stranger in the book might actually represent? It’s OK if your learner says, “I’m still not quite sure yet….I’ll have to go back and re-read parts of the book.”
In Writers’ Workshop: we discovered how difficult writing the middle of a fiction story can be. We took a close look at a piece of mentor text called Brave Molly where the beginning was read, and the ending was read, but learners took time to write the middle that would connect the beginning to the end. The beginning of the story starts when the main character, Molly, escapes into a cave to avoid a dark rain storm and encounters a very scary monster who is big, and loud, and mean. The end of the story is of Molly skipping happily back home. What happened in the middle to make Molly switch from being fearful of the monster, to being happily on her way back home through the woods the next sunny morning? We went around the room to share out our versions of the middle, then read the actual middle. We discovered that there’s more than one way to write a middle that can work! We also talked about ways to write a middle that connects to the ending we have in mind-- which usually leads us to the resolution of the problem in our story.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: We wind up our unit on water this week. We will be communicating our final 3D designs with our partners in Nicaragua. We will also experiment with making water filters in the classroom. Children will try using different materials to make a usable water filter. We will test water again to see if we have been successful. At the end of week, children will complete a summative assessment to show what they have learned during this unit.
Important Dates and Reminders:
March 10 & 11, Friday & Saturday - Annie Jr. Play @ 7:00pm - Tickets available.
March 14, Tuesday - PJSPA Meeting @ 7:00pm
March 16, Pizza Thursday
March 20 - April 2 - Spring Recess
April 3, Monday - Classes Resume