A Week in our Shoes

Literacy:

Continuing our Biography Unit and Investigating History!
We investigated Wilma Rudolph with Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull, as well as continued our research into Black History Month! Students have been focusing on using a double entry journal as a strategy for monitoring and keeping track of new learning, while also coming up with wonders to guide them and keep them engaged in the text. We have been able to extend our learning on these topics through hyperdocs with many choices!
This has been a delightful way for us to integrate our social studies topics and learning, and we have even been able to explore plate tectonics! Ask your third grader about what they have been learning and researching!

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Through this unit, we will continue to address MN English Language Arts standards 3.1.1.1/3.1.3.3: ask and answer questions referring to the text and describe characters in a story, as well as 3.1.2.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. Through our Making Meaning curriculum, we have also been focusing on social emotional goals as well. We have been reflecting on how to be a fair partner, listen respectfully, and analyzing the effect of their behavior on others and on the group work. Students will continue to share, take responsibility for their sharing/learning, and refer to the text to prove ideas and thoughts.

Math: Fractions and Multiplication Basic Fact Strategies!

We continue to build on our understanding of fractions, and have taken inventory of our basic fact knowledge. Many students were surprised to find out that they knew the majority of the basic facts (thanks to the turn around rule), and we added more strategies to help us efficiently determine unknown basic facts. We may be able to draw an array and count the total for a product, but it may be much more efficient to use add/subtract a group! We want to be able to quickly know these facts as so much is built upon them. Help us remember to practice memorizing these!

Through this unit we are addressing the following standards:

• Read and write fractions with words and symbols.
• Recognize that fractions can be used to represent parts of a whole, parts of a set, points on a number line, or distances on a number line.
• Understand that the size of a fractional part is related to the size of the whole.
• Understand what denominators and numerators are, use models to show them, and order/compare fractions with like denominators!
• Represent multiplication facts in a variety of ways.
• Use strategies such as mental strategies, partial products, standard algorithm, cummutative, associative, and distributive properties.

Math homelinks should not be taking extended amounts of time, or causing extensive frustration. Please contact me if this is happening. We are learning the skills daily in class, and we have discussed what the role "learner" means. It is our job to ask questions for understanding as our community should be a safe place to ask questions and make mistakes. Sometimes learning is a healthy struggle; not everything comes easy! Learning this can be hard and frustrating, but that helps us become stronger!

A Peek into This Week:

• Wrapping up Unit 5 with multiplication strategies and fractions!
• Continuing our research project & editing and revising our personal narratives!
• Defining and studying Empathy as our kindness trait for March!
• There are NO MORE LATE STARTS this year.