Here's what we've been up to in D111 this week!
- The bio poems we started writing, we've now started typing them up on the chromebooks! Students will be adding in their photo and changing the font to complete the assignment. Stay tuned for some pictures of students work!
- We discussed that we all have a writing stamina -- so this week, we started off slow with writing. We read the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge and brainstormed all the things a memory is (ask your child what memories are!). From there, we brainstormed a list of our memories. We then had 2 minutes to write about a memory. Some students wrote about movie night with their family, others wrote about a vacation they went on, and there were a few that wrote about previous birthdays.
- We've been working on building our reading stamina as well. Currently, we are able to read 6 minutes without breaking away from the book. Our ultimate goal is to be able to read for a focused 30 minutes!
- We've continued our work with graphing and ways to organize data. As you saw on Class Dojo, students made foil boats and saw how many pennies it could hold. Some were so strong that they held up to 80 pennies! After a first trial run, they then had the opportunity to make a second boat design with the goal of the boat holding more. We then graphed this data on a whole class graph.
- We took a pretest on Friday for our next upcoming unit topics: place value, rounding, addition, subtraction. Math workbook pages will go home today in Friday Folders. You can also refer to this google doc for more resources. A link to this doc also will always live in the "Useful Links" tab under "Math".
- Third grade is a big year for students because it is the first time they are the big buddies! I shared photos of big/little buddies on Class Dojo!
- NWEA Testing: Starting next week, August 28 - September 7, we will be taking our Fall NWEA. I'm excited to gather some beginning of third grade data! We will be starting with Reading on Tuesday, Math on Wednesday, then Language on Wednesday. Getting a good night's rest and breakfast in the morning helps out a lot!
- Classroom Wish List: Many people have been asking if there's anything our classroom needs. If you are interested, there is a "Wish List" tab to the left. There is an Amazon wish list of books that will make our library more diverse, inclusive, and garner the interest from more reluctant readers.
- Back to School Night: If you were unable to make it to Back to School Night, click here for the slides I shared. I have also sent home some papers in your child's Friday Folder. Please fill out the Parent 3-2-1 and return to school. If you have any questions, please put them in the Google form down below.
- Field Lessons and School Supplies: We are so excited to launch our new donations website! Click HERE to donate toward our school supply and field lesson campaigns.
- School Supplies: Families, this year each grade level has purchased all the school supplies that your students will need for the entire year. We get a great discount as a school, so we like to purchase everything in advance. We ask that if you would like to help out with school supplies, simply make a $25 donation to our School Supplies Campaign and we will take care of the rest.
- Field Lessons: Speaking of donations, each grade level is planning some incredible explorations this year! You can see a list of Field Lessons for each grade level. The school has already paid for these trips, and everyone is going whether we meet our donations goal or not, however, we have set our grade level Field Lessons Donation Goal and placed it on the website to help support these trips. You can help by donating to our Field Lessons Campaign on our donations website - the new website will even break up your donation into smaller monthly donations for you with just the click of a button. Click HERE to donate today!
- Explorer Athletics Coaches Needed: Click HERE to volunteer in our Explorer Athletics program! Volleyball and Flag Football in 6th-8th grades are launching in just a few weeks and we need 3 assistant coaches. No matter what grade level your students are in, we can use your help! It is only two hours a week, please sign up today!
- After-School Live: After-School Live Clubs are back this year, and easier to lead than ever! Earn volunteer hours by leading Explorers in joyful learning experiences after school. Click Click HERE for more information, and click HERE to show your interest. Email live@westlakecharter.com with questions.
- Tuesday, August 28 - Friday, September 7: Fall NWEA Testing
- Thursday, August 30: WAVE Board Meeting
- Monday, September 3: No School - Labor Day
- Monday, September 17: Fall Picture Day (in school uniform)
If you have any questions or concerns, please fill in the Google form below. I will respond to you via email!
Until next week,
Miss Ho