January 18, 2014
Post date: Jan 18, 2014 7:39:45 PM
WRITING: The students have been working on opinion pieces. This unit began with some fact and opinion lessons to help the students recognize the difference and how they may both be used to support their opinions. They have been working on planning their writing out with their 3 reasons to support their opinion. The difficult part is getting them to generate specific details to fully support each reason. It has been helpful looking at mentor texts and rubrics to show the students how a strong opinion piece looks and sounds.
READING: The 3rd graders have been working on understanding characters and their motives. They have been generating some great discussions around the characters and using text evidence to support their reasoning. Now we are reviewing retelling and summarizing strategies that will hopefully carry over into their independent reading response journals!
MATH: We continue to work on understanding multiplication and division. The Common Core Standards we have been focusing are:
Interpreting products of whole numbers. For example, interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each (3.OA.1).
Interpreting whole-number quotients of whole numbers. For example, interpret 56 ÷ 8 as the number of objects in each share when 56 objects are partitioned equally into 8 shares, or as a number of shares when 56 objects are partitioned into equal shares of 8 objects each (3.OA.2).
Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities (3.OA.3).
Determine the unknown whole number in a multiplication or division equation relating three whole numbers. For example,
8 × ? = 48, 5 = _ ÷ 3, 6 × 6 = ? (3.OA.4).
Apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply and divide. Examples: If 6 × 4 = 24 is known, then 4 × 6 = 24 is also known. (Commutative property of multiplication.) 3 × 5 × 2 can be found by 3 × 5 = 15, then 15 × 2 = 30, or by 5 × 2 = 10, then 3 × 10 = 30. (Associative property of multiplication.) Knowing that 8 × 5 = 40 and 8 × 2 = 16, one can find 8 × 7 as 8 × (5 + 2) = (8 × 5) + (8 × 2) = 40 + 16 = 56. (Distributive property.) (3.OA.5)
SHARING THE PLANET: The students wrapped up their Sharing the Planet planner with a learning experience where they had to link their learning about habitats from one challenge and apply their new understandings to think about how living things would need to adapt if they were all of a sudden transplanted into this habitat. For example, what adaptations would a crocodile need to develop to survive in the desert? They have done an incredible job thinking outside the box and using their creativity. The next planner will be How the World Works and is centered around theories, the solar system, and the scientific process.