February

February 24 - February 27

Students continued to draft their personal narrative story. This time they read their rough draft to themselves and reflected on if the words were what they intended. Then, they read the draft to their partner who gave them a compliment and a suggestion. WIth their new ideas in mind, they found a quiet spot and began to write a second draft of the story. This week we will focus on leads, descriptive language, and dialogue. Students started a new reading unit this week that will focus on character development and will analyze the inner feelings and actions of the main character. They were put into reading groups where they will practice the strategies learned during our mini lesson together. They will also be learning how to converse and navigate their book group somewhat independently. In morning meeting, students spent some time journaling on conflict and what that may look like to them. We talked about resolution strategies and compromise in relation to conflict. Each student then set a conflict goal for the week which we will look back to on Monday, and then set another one. Bringing awareness to our actions and reactions is a big part of learning to be a responsible leader. Students also found the power of their breathing as they spent time in a quiet space after a PE that ended with heightened emotions. It was so neat to watch the energy dissipated and watch as they switched back to a focused learning mindset. We also started our chemistry unit this week. Students brainstormed ideas about chemicals and what they wanted to learn. Of course many of their ideas were chemicals that are in cleaning or medical supplies. They were amazed to learn that they are a chemical and that everything is a chemical! I can’t wait for more discovery this week as we start our experiments. Finally, the 3rd graders participated in the second round of the Illinois Mathematics Competition. This is a fun competition where students compete against other schools as a team. Each student participates in an individual and team component.

February 18- February 21

Students worked this week to write a very rough draft of a seed story. First, students met with their writing partners to tell each other their ‘story’. By dictating before they write they are able to generate more specific details to add to their stories. Once the students told their story, they sat in a quiet space and wrote a rough draft. We will be developing these stories this week. In math, we began our geometry unit! I love switching gears and using a different part of our math brain that focuses on visual and spatial elements. Students have learned about angles, parallel and perpendicular lines, and are beginning to investigate quadrilaterals. Students also began an intensive look at what it means to be a student and how their actions can affect their learning as well as the learning of others. We have been journaling and applying the 7 habits to our daily routine.

February 10 - February 13

It was a short but fun week! Students in Kindergarten through fourth grade had a great time at our Valentine’s Day celebration at the end of the day. The 3rd grade students spent the morning time learning about the heart and doing some experiments with their heart rate. They continued to work on their bill and are coming towards a final version to pass on to the executive branch. In writing, students learned the difference between a watermelon idea and a seed idea, where the seed idea is very specific. We will be picking one idea to elaborate on starting next week. This week our focus was on guided meditations during our community meeting time. We used some meditations by Stop, Breath, Think at the end of the day that the students seemed to enjoy as they left to go home. It is always a great idea to pause, breath, and just be you. In math, the students are continuing to practice their math facts with a focus on the doubling strategy and breaking things apart. These two strategies help with mental math capabilities.

February 3 - February 7

This week we celebrated the Lunar New Year with our Griffin Buddies. Students love spending time with their Upper School buddy and participating in fun events. This year they learned about what animal they would be based on their birth year and spent time coloring with their buddy after hearing a wonderful presentation from an Upper School student.Students then listened to a story read my Ms. Hilda about the Lunar New Year in the library. It was a wonderful celebration. Students this week were introduced to another way to read ‘just right’ books and that was through their accounts on Raz Kids. They loved reading on the iPads, and then meeting with me in small groups to discuss stories. Students are working on looking back at the text to answer questions when they are not sure of an answer. This week students have also had to do a lot of dictionary work and were thinking about the different meanings a word can have when it is used as a noun, or verb, or even adjective. The daily grammar practice they have is really important for establishing a strong sense of the English language and will help strengthen their writing. The students were thrilled to be split into our class government to write a bill that they hope will become a law. The students worked as a team to decide the topic: “All schools should have certified nurses.” The bill started in the House of Representatives and will travel to the Senate this week. It will be fun to see how this all plays out! Students continued to work with their 4th grade partners and learn about frequency and sound waves. They have so much fun collaborating together.