Speech Writers

This past week students used the characteristics they determined a president needed to have to comb through various examples of fiction stories looking for a character they felt worthy of the presidency. We have a variety of candidates from Harry Potter to Olivia the Pig to Luke Skywalker. Students then had to provide evidence to support their theory about their character. For example, if they said that this character was determined, they needed to have an example or quote to prove it. They took these ideas and began to craft an opinion piece of writing that will be presented in speeches this week.

We are working on building our students confidence daily in a variety of ways. Speaking in public is an area that is new to our students and can test the confidence of even the most outgoing student. We are going to scaffold this process by observing and discussing other speeches, working in partners, and finally presenting in small groups. Then we will vote at the end of the week to see which character will become our fictional President of Mosaic! Stay tuned for the election results.

We also had the students register to vote this week. As they were filling out their registration forms we both noticed that many of our students do not know they addresses by heart. This is an important piece of information and we encourage you to remind them of their home address.

Thank you to any families who have volunteered to be a part of our Harvest Craftermorning event on Monday. We appreciate you volunteering your time and/or contributing snacks for us to enjoy on this fun-filled day.

Fondly,
Jess and Liz

Close Readers

This past week we began an integrated unit of study that combines social studies and literacy. The students began to closely read and analyze Judith St. George's book So You Think You Want to Be President to gather evidence about the character traits of presidents. Next we will follow the election process as students use familiar  books to "nominate" fictional characters whom they believe possess the traits of a leader. They will be writing opinion pieces to convince the "voters" of why their character would be fit for the important role of president. This interactive unit will have students reading closely, writing persuasive arguments, learning about the election process, and public speaking. Stay tuned for more information as the unit unfolds over the next two weeks.

We wrapped up Unit 1 of our math unit on efficient strategies for addition and subtraction and students were able to show all that they have learned in a post-assessment. This week we will be reflecting on those assessments and you will see both the pre/post assessments coming home. We like to provide you both so that you can celebrate the growth that your mathematician has made throughout the unit. They may not have mastered all of the skills around addition and subtraction yet, but everyone is able to see how far they have come since the start of the school year. We also use the post assessment reflection to set goals for upcoming practice within other units.

This week we will begin Unit 2. The concepts that we will cover throughout this unit are aimed to introduce students to multiplication by providing them with hands on opportunities to build off of the understandings they have around addition. Click here for more information about the content that will be covered during this unit.

Next Monday we will be having our annual Fall Harvest "Crafter" Morning. A notice went home in your child's homework folder today. We'd love to have parent volunteers sign up to run a craft/activity. If you have an idea please let us know. If you'd like to help but aren't sure what to do, just let us know on the form and we'll provide you with an activity. We look forward to a fun and spirited celebration.

Energetic Engineers

After learning about the E.D.P. (Engineer Design Process) this week the third graders were ready to use the process right away. They were given their first design challenge which was to build a tower that could "save" a beenie baby from a predator. The tower had to be at least 10 inches high and could only be constructed out of paper, index cards, and tape. Not one design looked the same and the groups had to learn to work together in a short amount of time to ask, imagine, plan, create and improve.

Next they will be using the EDP in our integrated unit of study on weather. The students will be reading and researching about a weather phenomenon in our country. Then they will have to use the EDP to create a house that could withstand the effects of that type of weather. Stay tuned to see some of the amazing "dream homes" they create using Google Drawing.

Yo! Yes?

This week students returned to some favorite big books to explore how author's use different types of punctuation marks to help us readers to understand the text and read with fluency and expression. We then read and practiced these skills with Chris Rashcha's book Yo! Yes?. Students also learned how to access their Google Drive and created a published version of their Someday Hope and Dream project.

In preparation for our upcoming unit on Weather and Climate we began to think like scientists and engineers by brainstorming ideas to answer the question..."What is technology?" Some of the responses were:

"Technology is something that you plug in."
"Tech is something that is an electronic."
"It's like an iPad or gaming system."

The students were shocked to realize that things like windmills, hairbrushes, and even pencils were actually considered technology because they were man-made items that solve a problem or meet a need.

Next we began to look at the job of an Engineer, the people who create these amazing technologies. All engineers follow the E.D.P. (Engineer Design Process) and so will we as we study extreme weather forces and design digital houses  that can withstand the effects of tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods. Stay tuned!

Ask About...

• What are the steps of the EDP? 
• What is a type of technology that you don't plug in?