'Tis The Season for Family in Math Workshop!

This week, we have been learning about the many members of the polygon family! Like a real family, all polygons share certain traits: flat, closed, made of line segments, do not cross themselves. Specifically, we’ve been looking at triangles (any polygon with 3 sides…equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute, right, obtuse) and quadrilaterals (any polygon with 4 sides…trapezoid, parallelogram, rectangle, rhombus, square).

On our scavenger hunt, students were on the lookout for triangles around the school! We stopped to measure a few to describe them by their sides (equilateral, isosceles, scalene).

We also learned that the sides of a paper are perpendicular/form a right angle and have been using this to help us tell if an angle is right (lines up exactly with both edges of the paper), acute (lines up with one side of the paper/one side of the angle goes on the inside of the paper), or obtuse (lines up with one side of the paper/one side of the angle goes past the other edge of the paper). Here we are using this trick to try to describe this triangle by its angles (figure out if it is a right triangle, acute triangle, or obtuse triangle)!

Gingerbread Geometry...sneak peek!

This week, we started a new unit, two-dimensional geometry! I decided to incorporate this into a holiday art project. The students started making pieces they will use to create a gingerbread house landscape. We used the pieces we made this week to learn about points, lines, line segments, and to model intersecting, parallel, and perpendicular. We will "keep building" next week as I introduce rays, angles (acute, right, obtuse), and polygons. (Yes, your child is still in third grade and not middle school :-))

Student leaders picked one of the concepts we're learning (intersecting, perpendicular, or parallel), showed their classmates what they chose, and checked their peers' models.

Veterans Day Tribute Project

(in case you did not receive my e-mail)
I would like to honor anyone in your family (or friends of your family) who are either veterans or active duty in the U.S. armed forces. On Monday, I will send home a sheet of construction paper to display your student's tribute...I just wanted to give you a heads up so you can start thinking about it (and digging through all of your old family photos like I will be this weekend :-)). When you get the paper, please include copies of photos, the active duty/veteran's name(s), branch, rank, years of service (if known), relation to student, and any other interesting information you would like to include. I am requesting copies of photos because I would like to laminate these for the students to keep as a reminder of their honorable heritage! Thanks for your support!

Patriotism

During the month of November, our school will be celebrating the character trait patriotism. We will tie this into our social studies standards about our country's government and constitution. Here is a fun song to get us informed and excited about our nation's history!

Drug Discussion Questions

We had some great discussion during our drug health lessons this week! Here are some of the students' questions we didn't get to answer...great starting points to talk to your kid about drugs!

-Why did people make drugs?
-If drugs are bad, then why do people try and use them?
-Will people that sell drugs destroy you if you don't buy the drugs?
-(We learned that some of the street names for marijuana are pot, weed, dope, herb, etc.) What are all the street names?
-How can you eat marijuana? Can you eat cocaine?
-What happens if someone puts a drug in your bag and you don't know and the police catch you and you tell the truth but they don't believe you?
-Are tobacco and alcohol related?
-Is a gun powered by any alcohol or drug or tobacco?
-What does a tobacco plant look like?
-Would nicotine affect children more that adults?
-Can the tobacco stains on your teeth go away?
-What if someone offers you tobacco and you say "No", but the person doesn't take no for an answer and hit you (or threatens you in another way) and made you do it?
-Is there caffeine in nicotine?
-How does alcohol get into your blood?
-Does alcohol cure people and make them go crazy?
-Would a sip of wine affect a child?
-Should I tell my parents to stop drinking alcohol if they only drink one glass? What happens if you drink alcohol every Friday?
-Do you know someone who drinks alcohol?/Do any of your family members get drunk?

Fall 2011 Photos

Check out our Shutterfly album for class photos...beginning of the year, science workshop, Hispanic Heritage Month art project, Naval Station Mayport field trip.

A PERFECT day for a field trip!

Today we were privileged enough to tour the USS Stephen Groves, a Navy frigot ship (and even a few helicopters) at Mayport Naval Station. I will be posting more pictures soon! A BIG thank you to all of our chaparones!

Medicines and Other Drugs

We have started preparing for Red Ribbon Week by participating in our first of seven health lessons about medicines and other drugs. We defined drugs as anything that changes the way your body acts, feels, or thinks. We looked at the difference between over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and prescription medicines, and were also introduced to what side effects are. We also learned that by definition, caffeine is a drug found in coffee, many soft drinks and teas, and chocolate.

We should enjoy it in moderation, knowing how it affects our body. :-) Next week, we will talk about how to use medicine safely, inhalants, marijuana, cocaine, tobacco, alcohol, and most importantly, how to say NO!

Here's a fun site to find out the caffeine content of your favorite beverages!

Surrounded by Rounding!

Sorry it has been so long since I've blogged...our days have been spent working towards our goal of conferencing with every student's parent and getting adjusted to our three-teacher team. We're loving meeting with you guys and are thankful for your interest in your student's progress and the concerns you've shared. We value your feedback and consider it when planning instruction. I especially want to thank everyone for hanging in there this first quarter of math...as I've said to many of you during our conferences (and just about every parent over my last 8 years teaching third grade), it's a big jump from second grade math, especially in the areas of number and operations. We're just going to keep working...taking our time in these areas this first quarter and then constantly reviewing!
On Friday, I introduced students to rounding in a fun and practical way...we looked at a receipt from one of my recent trips to the grocery store and practiced rounding the cost of several items to the nearest dollar. We had some great conversation about how to use the half-way point ($0.50 in our practice rounding to the nearest dollar), thinking about if the cost of the item was less/greater than half-way to help us round. We will continue to use this strategy this week as we ramp up instruction, rounding through hundred thousands (hopefully) by the end of the week. I posted a few good websites I've found on here for some additional practice with rounding. :-)

Duval County Parent Portal

If you have not done so already, please pick up your Parent Portal password from the Main Office, so you can access our gradebooks/monitor your student's progress any time.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

This year, we will be studying the geography and culture of several Hispanic countries (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, The Dominican Republic) in social studies. If you have ANY Hispanic heritage (or have traveled to ANY Hispanic country), I would LOVE for you to come in and read a story to the class or share your experiences with the culture. Please let me know if you would be interested!

Open House

We had an AWESOME turn out for Open House last night! I forgot to mention one important thing...we value each of our students as individuals, each with his or her own special gifts and talents. As our schedules permit, we LOVE to support our students outside of the classroom. We have been known to show up at ball games and recitals, so please feel free to send us game schedules or inform us of any such important dates!

Learning is Life-Long!

I don’t usually post things about my personal life on this blog, but I thought this would be encouraging to my students, who will be learning many new concepts (what something is) and skills (how to do something) this year.

This weekend, a friend taught me a new skill—how to loom hats. For months, I have admired her beautiful work, but I was always intimidated by how amazingly complex her creations appeared. I enjoy crafts, but have a hard time with making anything that involves technical precision or skill. I definitely did not inherit my engineer dad’s “mechanical mind” and have a very difficult time understanding how things work. (My husband still jokingly asks when he will receive the scarf I tried to learn how to knit for him 12 years ago, which, pitiful and unfinished, is still buried in the depths of a closet at my mom’s house!)

Recently, I have had a renewed urge to create something (despite my interest in Project Runway, sewing is out…that’s another story. ☺) I felt like enough time had passed since my discouraging and frustrating attempt at knitting, so I decided to give looming a shot. Little did I know what a great reminder this would be about the learning process…
*How dumb I felt not knowing how to tie a simple slipknot to start my project
*How upset I was about the massive knot I discovered in the middle of my skein of yarn
*How intimidated I was by my peers who were “getting it” much faster than me
*How my heart sank when, after working diligently for nearly an hour, I went to incorporate the string around my anchor peg, only to find a gaping hole and had to start over!

Thankfully, I had a kind and patient friend/teacher, and that made such a difference. Instead of feeling like I wanted to give up because I was taking an unfinished hat home at 11:00 p.m., I chose to persevere. The next day, I got on YouTube for a tutorial and finished the hat! The incredible feeling of success that brought has spiraled into a new hobby! It was awesome to think about how my mistakes and frustrations on my first hat helped me to better understand the construction of it and allowed me to do an even better job on the next hats.

(Can you guess what my family will be getting for Christmas this year? ☺)

Numeration Unit Test Resources

I have scheduled our EnVision Math Topic 1 (Numeration) test for Friday. Students will be assigned some review problems as homework this week. We did not do the lesson on making an organized list, so students won't be tested on that section. If you notice your student is struggling, I have posted some assignments on Pearson SuccessNet for you to have your student complete at your discretion. Please let me know if you need another copy of the log-in information letter.

Egg Cartons

Please send in empty egg cartons (the kind that hold a dozen...the cat can stay home. :-))

for a math activity I would like to do with the students. Thanks!

Nautical Alphabet Name

For homework this week, students will be spelling their names using nautical alphabet flags. Here is a resource to help with this assignment:

Math Workshop

Our first third grade math workshop! We investigated how base ten numbers are comprised in our base ten number system. First, we reviewed concepts such as digits and place value, then used this knowledge to help us represent numbers in three different ways: standard form (using digits only), expanded form (adding together the value of each digit), and word form (how to say/read the number). Today, we worked our way up to 4-digit numbers (thousands), but still have a way to go to become familiar with numbers through hundred thousand, which is the third grade standard (crazy for 8-year-olds, I know! :-)). I introduced the students to their online textbook and its features, so they will be ready to use it at home when they receive their log-in information tomorrow.

First Day

Today we stayed with our homeroom until after lunch, so we could introduce most of our rituals and routines. We had a special visit by our principal, Ms. Stalls, and assistant principal, Ms. Turner, who were VERY impressed with how quickly our students brought supplies. :-) Other events in my homeroom included a health lesson about choosing healthy snacks, making birthday cards to give to classmates throughout the year, and touring the school. Both classes were able to suggest class rewards for our "100 Squares" incentive chart and participated in our first Second Step lesson, an introduction to our first unit, Empathy Training. If forgetting my camera at home was the worst thing to happen to me at school today, then I'd say it was a pretty good first day. :-) What was your favorite part of our first day?

Meet and Greet

It was GREAT meeting all of you who were able to make it to today's "Meet and Greet". I want to extend a special welcome to our new classmates coming from Chets Creek Elementary. We are so glad to have you as a part of our school's family. Thank you to those of you who brought your school supplies, so we can get everything in "ship shape" and are ready to set sail on Monday!

Training Day

Today your teachers were learners! I am very excited to implement some of the things I learned in one of my math trainings about Pearson SuccessNet, an awesome online tool for our Math Investigations and EnVision Math resources. This site not only has our textbook online, but also contains explanations of strategies we use in class and practice activities. I am in the process of setting up accounts for both classes and, while doing this, discovered some students already have accounts and experience with this cool tool from second grade. I hope to start using it in class next week and will send home a letter with user names and passwords (I will also put this information on a label in your student's planner.). Bookmark Pearson SuccessNet on your home computer!

What do General Mills, Campbell's, and Tyson all have in common?

They all support our school! Start clipping and sending in the labels from these products (or bring in your ongoing collection...just make sure you write your homeroom teacher's last name, your grade level, and the number of clips for each type on your bag). What a great, easy way to get grandparents, aunts/uncles, co-workers, neighbors, and friends to support our school.

Back to Work!

I hope you are enjoying the last week of your summer break! I spent most of my summer in Jacksonville. I REALLY enjoyed waking up without an alarm clock, having time to spend with friends, being crafty, reading, and relaxing. I was also able to visit my family in San Diego and Monterey, California. As a runner, I greatly enjoyed the break from the sweltering heat and humidity here and spent LOTS of time outside. Here is a picture of my brother and me (you will hear A LOT of stories about us when we were kids this year : -)) in Monterey:

What did you do this summer?