Dear Families,
I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. The rain on Saturday was a bit dreary but that cool Sunday breeze sure couldn't be beat. We're ready to begin another full week of explorations and activities. Last week we worked quite a bit on solving word problems using our knowledge of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. I thought everyone did a very nice job. You'll notice a bit of review with both word problems and multiplication facts in this week's homework.
In reading workshop we are reading Kate DiCamillo's book, The Tiger Rising. As we focus on reading for meaning, talking around literature, and focusing on the text we are also being introduced to metaphors. In this book the author uses the metaphor "keeping my suitcase shut" to demonstrate how the main character works so hard to suppress his feelings of sadness. This is a major theme of the book. We'll finish this book on Wednesday and the kids will then move into self-selected book clubs. I've been very pleased with the quality of their discussions thus far. They are really beginning to work together to build new understandings of the text. Such discussions model the types of thinking they should be doing as they read independently to ensure they are understanding the text. This is why we spend so much time in the classroom talking about our reading.
During Morning Meeting last week I shared a fact I had heard during my morning commute: Tiger Woods recently finished 3rd in a golf tournament, bringing his career winnings to more than $100,000,000. I asked the class if they thought he deserved to win so much money playing golf. Nearly all responded that he did deserve it because he worked hard to be good at golf. Playing devil's advocate, I asked whether other professionals worked just as hard to do their very best in their jobs. Everyone decided that there are people who work hard in every field,as well as some who do not. I asked, then, why so many cultures across the globe pay professional athletes lots of money to excel while other people (such as nurses, firemen, park rangers, librarians, etc.) are paid much less. Our discussion was quite simple and led to no clear conclusion we could all agree with. Of course, agreeing is rarely, if ever, the goal. Rather, we are learning to think through issues and discuss them in meaningful ways. If you find a good news story please send it in with your child. We enjoy these conversations.
And now a note from our fantastic new MAT, Ms. Ruff...
My name is Victoria Ruff, and I am a student teacher in Mr.Hass'
class. I graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor's degree in
Studio Art, and I am currently in USC's M.A.T. program. Even though this
school year has just begun, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know
your third graders!
This week we read Lauren Mills' The Rag Coat, a story about a young
girl named Minna who wants to attend school but cannot until she
receives a coat. I chose to share The Rag Coat with the students
because the story contains many positive messages about building
community.
As a class we discussed creating a decorative quilt for our
classroom. I have asked the students to bring in clean scrap fabric from
home (an old t-shirt, pillowcase, leftover fabric, etc) to incorporate
into the classroom quilt. This quilt will be a great way to represent
each child's individuality while displaying our community as a
classroom. I would like to get all of the scrap fabric in by this Friday (September 14). I
will cut the fabric at school, and we can design the layout of the quilt
as a class. If you have any questions about the quilting project you
can contact me at vruff@richland2.org or contact Mr.Hass.
I am looking forward to working with your students this fall!
Sincerely,
Victoria Ruff
Dates to Remember:
Wednesday, 9/12 MAP Reading Test at 12:30pm
Wednesday, 9/17 MAP Math Test at 9:00am
Friday, 9/28 School-Wide Field Trip to the Zoo
Friday, 9/28 Our class will host Gathering at 2:20
Saturday, 11/3 Class Camping Trip at Sesqui (plan to arrive around 3pm)
This Week:
Reading - Reacting/Responding to Text; Metaphor; Self-Selecting Books, Planning for Book Completion
Writing - Poetry/Where poets get their ideas
Math - Multiplication games
Science - Finishing our Field Guides, adaptations of plants and animals
Have a great week,
Chris
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