The Week in Review

First of all, thank you to each and every one of you. I have often said to friends and colleagues alike, that this group of boys and girls has a special place in my heart. They are some of the sweetest, kindest, most empathetic third graders I know. I was so overwhelmed by the tokens of appreciation that I fear I will never fit into my summer capris! Cheetos, chocolate and Diet Coke?! My taste buds died and went to heaven. It's hard to pick a favorite day; C Day, Flower day, Dutch Day, Pink Day, or Card Day. I enjoyed them all, but my family got a particular kick out of Dutch Day. I feel so blessed to be able to earn a living doing what I feel I was created to do.

READING: We began reading Harry Potter the Socerer's Stone.  We are working specifically on drawing inferences and using examples from the text to support the validity of those inferences.

WRITING: We began the first steps of our final writing project, a persuasive personal letter. Students learned what the purpose of persuasive writing is. They learned to identify when persuasive writing is needed. They began the very first steps of identifying what words are used to persuade.

SCIENCE: Having used a pick to break down a mock rock into its component ingredients, its minerals, students used water as a tool to further separate the minerals. They observed what happened when the ingredients settled. Then they used evaporation as a tool to further separate minerals. As the liquid evaporates, students will observe the residue material to identify the mineral components.

MATH: Math is definitely becoming more challenging. This week students learned to identify improper fractions as though with a numerator that is greater than the denominator. They learned that these fractions equal a number greater than one. They learned the steps to turn an improper fraction into a mixed number. They also began discovering how decimals and fractions are related. As you can imagine, these lessons can seem somewhat abstract to a third grade brain. We've broken the lessons down into two or more days. We did not finish today's lessons and so there will be no homework over the weekend.

MISC: It's been an unsually busy week this week. In all the craziness, I just haven't had the time to look over responsibility charts and reading logs. I told students my gift to them was that they didn't have to worry about getting charts and logs signed over the weekend. Look for those to return next week.