Week 3-- 10/5-10/9

Hi everyone!

It's finally starting to feel like fall! I hope you were able to get out and enjoy this beautiful, crisp weather.

Here are some things to keep in mind this week:

Learning Devices: Please send your child to school each day with their charged learning device and headphones!

Home Learning Worksheets: Each week, I will send your child home with some items in their take-home folder (it's a new clear, poly folder) that they will use during their independent home learning days. This week, I sent home a "Comparing Seeds" organizer which they will use for the Seed Search science activity on Day 1 of remote learning (the first row is filled in as an example). I also sent a double-sided math practice page which is assigned for Day 2 of remote learning. Students can complete these sheets and bring them back to school on their next in-person day. Any other assignment online does not need to be printed and can just be "turned in" on Google Classroom.

Classroom Library Books and Reading Logs: I am going to start allowing students to bring home books from my classroom library this week. They will come home inside a zipped-up book bag. Students will also bring home a "reading log" that will ask them to fill in the title of the books they're reading and the pages/minutes read. We will use these logs to track reading habits and set reading goals throughout the year. I want to encourage students to read for at least 30 minutes per weekday at home and to record their reading on their reading logs!

If needed, please try to remind your child to bring their book bag, books, and reading logs back to school on their in-person days! :)

1:45 Dismissal Time/At-Home Learning Activities: There have been some questions about what students should be doing at home from 1:45-2:30 on in-person school days. Here are some options:

• 30 mins of independent reading time (a book from home, book borrowed from our classroom, or on Scholastic Pro).

• Visit Clever and practice skills on Dreambox, Keyboarding Without Tears, or Scholastic Pro. Please limit your child to these 3 apps on Clever-- we have not introduced the other ones that are on their Dashboard yet!

Photo Permission: When you have a moment, please fill out this "Photo Permission" form.

Indoor Recess Bags: I sent home a large ziplock baggie with students called "Indoor Recess Bags" (Cohort A will get theirs on Monday). Because our "fun" indoor activities are very limited this year, I'm encouraging kids to bring items from home that they would like to play with when bad weather keeps us inside during recess. They may bring small things like a deck of cards, a small game, figurines, legos, a coloring book, etc. (just please make sure it will fit in the bag so we can store it easily)!

I asked the kids not to bring any electronics and to make sure that they will be able to keep their items in school this year (not their favorite toy that they'll miss when they're home).

Here's a peek into what we did in school last week!

Math: We continued learning about things that come in groups. Students began making pictures of items that come in groups and thought about how to organize the information in each picture. We then began noticing how pictures of groups can connect to multiplication equations!

Here's an example:

Writing: Students began exploring different poems and thought about what they already know about poetry. We also learned about a strategy to try when you can't think of a topic to write about: heart maps! Students thought about the things, places, and people they hold closest to their heart and illustrated them. They will keep these heart maps inside of their writing folder to refer to throughout the year.

Reading: We opened up our classroom library last week with a book tasting! Students were introduced to some of the genres featured in our library and got to choose some books from each genre to "sample". We thought about what to do and what not to do in order to take care of the books in our classroom library. This week, students will practice filling out reading logs and will begin taking books home!

Take a peek at the Books We've Read so far in third grade!

Social Studies: Students thought about what a community is and began exploring maps of many different types of communities. Next, we will think about the Arlington community and will explore some cool landmarks in our town!

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Ms. McLellan