Happy Holidays from Team Esprit!

We had another busy week in third grade!  We did take time for a bit of fun... with a Paint and Sip Holiday Party on Tuesday.  The children snacked on popcorn and juice boxes and painted a special holiday gift for you...their families! Very fun and festive!

Miss Niles' class finished up the week with Science Investigation with carts and wheels.  Teams of two and three created small carts and sent them down ramps, measuring how far they traveled.  Then the teams had to make adjustments to their carts to make them travel even farther.  Be sure to have your child tell you about his or her cart and how far it traveled.  We also had a Mancala Tournament!  All the children learned about to play the game Mancala and had fun challenging each other to a game today.  If you're looking for a

strategy game to have at home...Mancala is a good choice!

We hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season with your families and friends.  Here's to a new year filled with health, happiness, and love!  Happy 2017!

Holiday Craft Fair!

The Holiday Craft Fair was a great success for Team Esprit!  Our finger knitted snakes and other knitted items were a huge hit, as well as our imaginary friends and thumb print cards!  Our team earned almost $200 to be used for field trips this year.  A huge thank you to everyone for making this event a success for our team. We still have a few items left which we are selling for 2 for $1.

In Math, we continued our learning about three digit subtraction and practiced a variety of strategies to help us become more efficient mathematicians.  We are learning about using a numberline for strategies such as constant difference, finding the difference and removal (take away). Next week we will do more work with rounding and using expanded notation to represent our thinking.

Miss Deb's class did two more investigations this week, during our Forces and Motion unit, that gave them the opportunity to become engineers.  Her class designed carts that can roll from a starting place to another place with only a small push or pull.  For their second investigation, they had to improve the design of their cart to make it travel a farther distance.  For each of their designs, they recorded data about distance traveled in centimeters, and used that data to determine which design was best.


Miss Niles's class conducted two investigations this week.  In one we worked with magnets to see how the size of the magnetic field affects how far away it can attract and object.  We also started investigating motion by creating wheel systems and noticing how they roll down ramp. Be sure to ask your child about his or her wheel system.  Did it roll straight down the ramp or curve to one side.  Can your child tell you why?

In writer's workshop, we have been reading and writing poetry.  We have noticed that poets use metaphors and similes in their writing and that poets also use a lot of repetition.  Ask your child about the poems he or she has written!

Next week, our team will spend some time reading African folktales and learning about Africa.  We will be doing this to prepare for our field trip to the Flynn Theater on January 3rd (the first day back from vacation), to see Cirque Mother Africa.  

Winter is Here!

Dear Esprit Families,

With the winter season upon us, we would like to address expectations for winter clothing required for recess.  The Esprit policy is that students wear to recess what they have been sent to school with. This is not negotiable with the children.  Please reinforce this expectation to your child, so as to minimize confusion or questioning about what is expected of them.

Playground rules require students to wear snow pants and boots if they want to be involved in activities on the fields and/or the playground.  Students who do not come to school with snow

pants and boots will only be allowed to participate in blacktop activities.  Even when there is not snow, winter grounds are wet and muddy. It is important that students not track mud back into the building, and that they have clean, dry clothes to wear for the remainder of the day for learning. We would appreciate your support in helping to make sure your child is prepared for recess this winter.

Thank you!

This week we had the opportunity to participate in the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is a part of Computer Science Education Week each December and introduces children to computer science and computer programming. Both of our classes used the ipads for an hour this week to try out coding. You can go to code.org or hourofcode.com if your child wants to try it out at home as well!

Miss Niles' class had a Publishing Party to share their opinion writing and poetry. It was wonderful to see so many families attend. These hard workers were proud to share their work! After the Holiday Break, we will be starting a Non-fiction writing unit. We will also be teaching the students cursive handwriting! Miss Niles' class also finished reading the Red Clover Books this week and voted on a favorite. It ended up with a tie! Winnie and Glamourpuss received the most votes! Be sure to ask our child which book was his or her favorite!

Our new science unit continues to move along! Miss Niles' class completed two investigations with magnets, focusing on what happens when magnets interact with paperclips and discovering if magnetic force can work at a distance. These scientists did a great job following the scientific method, making predictions, collecting data, and drawing conclusions.

Miss Deb's class completed an investigation about patterns of motion. They built a variety of wheel-and-axel systems and observed what happened when they rolled them down a ramp. They discovered that they can change the motion of wheels rolling down ramps by changing the size and placement of the wheels they use.

Miss Deb's class also met with their book buddies again this week. Miss Elia's Kindergarten Class came to our classroom to read with their partner from our classroom. It has been a lot of fun for our class to get to know our Kindergarten friends and build relationships with them.

Have a terrific weekend,
Deb and Jenn

Spelling Bee Information

Our 2017 SCS Scripps School Spelling Bee will take place in  February  2017 and will be organized / sponsored by SCS 5th grade teacher Laura Grant Davenport.   The winner will be invited to participate in the state-wide spelling bee in March, with the winner from that Bee advancing to the national spelling bee in Washington, DC.     If you have any questions related to the Bee you can reach Laura by email at  lgrant@cssu.org

In order to qualify to participate in the school wide bee in February, students will have the opportunity to take a qualifying written test on Tuesday Dec. 6.   For grades 3-5 this will be in the cafeteria at 10 AM and for middle schoolers this will be in Ms. Davenport's classroom during the 5th Period / WIN period at 11:55.  The study materials listed below will help you prepare but Mrs. Davenport will choose similar words, not these exact words for the written test.    There will be a make-up written qualifying test for anyone absent on Dec. 6, this will take place on Wed. Dec 7 at 11:15 and will also be in Ms. Davenport's classroom.   

Interested students and families are encouraged to check out the following helpful resources:

Resources:

https://secure.spellingbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/010-2017_School_Spelling_Bee_List_2-pager.pdf

The link above has the list of words similar to the words on the qualifying test as well as ideas for study.

https://secure.spellingbee.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/2017_Spell_It-plain_text_1.pdf

http://cdn.spellingbee.com/bee/Spell_It_2017_full_color_PDF.pdf

For students who qualify to participate in the schoolwide spelling bee based on the written qualifying test, practice sessions with Mrs. Davenport will be held on Wednesdays until bee week, 3-4:10 p.m., starting January 11.  (late bus  available)

The Bee for SCS will be held in February during the school day and parents are invited to attend and watch although we don't have space for other spectators.

Looking forward to next Tuesday!

Getting Crafty!

This week we have spent quite a bit of time getting ready for the SCS Holiday Craft Fair!  We have been creating up a storm! The Esprit Team will be selling hand-knit items, Imaginary Friend dolls, Imaginary Friend doll kits, and hand-made cards.  The children are very excited and are very proud of their work!  The Craft Fair is on Saturday, December 10th from 9:30-1:30pm.  We hope to see you there!  Also, we are still looking for some volunteers to run our Esprit Table.  Please sign up at the link below.  Thanks!  Craft Fair Volunteer Sign Up

Miss Deb's class finished reading the Red Clover books this week.  They voted on their favorite.  It was a close vote, but in the end Winnie,-The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh was the winner with a total of 9 votes.  We Forgot Brock! took second place.

Miss Deb's class also had their Opinion Writing Publishing Party this week, and wow, what a turn out we had.  Every student had a family member attend to share their writing with.  Everyone worked very hard on this unit and published some terrific pieces of writing.  A big thank you to all of our families for coming to school to celebrate our writing with us!

Esprit is beginning a science unit about Forces and Motion.  This unit is our first science unit of the school year.  We will have the opportunity to do several investigations and use our science notebooks to record our work and learning.  This unit begins with an investigation using paperclips and magnets to explore magnetic fields, magnetic force and gravity.

Esprit began a new math unit this week that will focus on multi-digit addition and subtraction.  We began the unit learning how to round numbers to the nearest ten and hundred.  We will be exploring a variety of efficient strategies we can use to add and subtract three digit numbers throughout this unit.

Mix-it-Up and Getting Crafty!

We had a wonderful start to our day with Mix-It-Up!  Each class in the school was partnered up with another class to get to know each other and to do a project.  Miss Deb's class was partnered up Ms. Stansfield's class in middle and Miss Niles' class was partnered up with Mrs. Tetreault's fourth graders and Mr. Brunvand's middle schoolers.  Today our task was to get to know each other and to make snowflake decorations for an upcoming middle school dance.  We had a great time meeting new friends!  Our next Mix-It-Up will happen on Valentine's Day!

Bradie, Jacob's mom, came to Team Esprit to help us get ready for the SCS Holiday Craft Fair.  She taught everyone how to finger knit!!!  It was amazing to watch how quickly everyone picked it up!  We are hoping to sell our knit necklaces, bracelets, headbands, and snuggly snakes at the Craft Fair on December 10th.  If you have yarn at home, I am sure your child would love to teach your how to finger knit a scarf or necklace!

 We hope that you have wonderful holiday week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Books and Birds!

We have been enjoying the start to our Red Clover Book study this month!  This week we read two books Mango, Abeula, and Me and Granddaddy's Turn:  A Journey to the Ballot Box.  In the first book we learned about a girl whose grandmother moves in to live with them; however, the grandmother, Abuela, does not speak Englisha and the little girl does not speak Spanish.  Be sure to ask your child about how they figure out a way to communicate with each other.  We then did an art project inspired by the story.  Each child created his or her own Amate Bark Painting.  These are paintings that many people in Mexico created to tell stories or ideas without using words.  The paintings turned out nicely!  Check them out on our bulletin board in the hall!  Our second book was a true story about a boy living in the United States at a time when African-Americans had to pass a reading test in order to vote.  In this story, the grandfather was not allowed to vote because he could not read the passage that was given to him.  This story encouraged some wonderful discussions about the past, how people were treated, and the changes that have occurred in our country.  It was also a good story to help us discuss the voting process in our country.  Be sure to ask your child which book he or she enjoyed this week!

In math, we continue to work on multiplication. This week we solved several multiplication story problems and generated a list of strategies mathematicians could use to multiply numbers.  The children were also introduced to a ratio table.  This is a model that invites the children to explore proportional thinking.  For example, if 1 pound of rabbit food costs $1.50, what would 2 pounds cost or 5 pounds cost?  We also learned two new Work Place games:  Array Race and Cover Up. Both work with using an array model to demonstrate multiplication. Can your child explain either of these games to you?



In Hands on Nature, we learned about birds and migration.  Through the puppet show and activities, we explored how far birds actually travel when migrating (did you know the Bobolink travels 12,000 miles!?!), and learned about birds that migrate and birds that don't migrate and why.  Ask your child why some birds don't migrate.

Miss Niles' class started Book Buddies this week with Mrs. Hazen's Kindergarten classroom.  Every other week we will be reading to Mrs. Hazen's students and they will be reading to us.  The children were very excited to meet their buddies today.  Ask your child about his or her buddy!

Miss Deb's class continues to meet with their book buddies from Miss Elia's class every other Thursday.  We will be meeting again this Thursday in Miss Elia's classroom to share books with our buddies.  In addition to that, some students in Miss Deb's class have been mentoring students in Kindegarten, First and Second grades every week.  This has been a great opportunity for them to be a role model for younger students.

We hope you have a great weekend!  Please note that there is no school during the week of November 21st.

Visiting Artist for Miss Niles' Class

Every other Friday for the school year, Miss Niles' class will be joined by Bradie Hansen (Jacob's mom) to teach us about fiber art.  We will be learning about fibers and making projects as well.  Today was our first visit.  We watched a slide show and learned about all the different kinds of fur and plants that are created into yarn.  The children also used their science notebooks to make observations in Bradie's Fiber Museum. They had the chance to feel and observe fur and wool from a variety of animals!  Be sure to ask your child about what he or she observed.

Visiting Author Ammi-Joan Paquette

This week we enjoyed a visit from author  Ammi-Joan Paquette.  She has written books such as the Princess Juniper series.  She talked about how to become an author and the steps taken to write a book.

We are continuing our learninng about multiplication during Math and have been practicing different strategies we can use to multiply, such as a number line, loops and groups, and arrays.  We have been making connections between addition and multiplication and finding more efficient ways to multiply. We are working hard to show our thinking in different ways to grow our conceptual understanding of multiplication.

This week we began reading the 2016-2017 Red Clover books.  We will spend the month of November reading these books and will then vote on our favorite!  We will use these books to further develop reading comprehension strategies.  Click here to find out about this year's nominees... Red Clover Books.

In Writer's Workshop, we are continuing our work writing persuasive pieces.  We have been working hard to include all the ideas we have learned about writing opinion pieces in writing so our published copies showcase our best writing work.

Miss Deb's class walked to Shelburne Village this morning and did a walking historical tour of buildings throughout the town.  We started our tour on Harbor Road near the railroad tracks and did a circle of the village which included the  town green, churches, Shelburne Country Store and many other buildings of historical significance. We had a terrific time learning about our town's history.  Ask your child to share their sheet of facts we learned through our tour.  Miss Niles' class will be doing this historical tour on Monday.
We hope everyone has a great weekend!  Don't forget to set your clocks back!
:)Deb and Jenn

We finished Stone Fox!

This week during Reader's Workshop, we finished our first Reading Unit and the book Stone Fox.  Our discussions this week focused around asking questions while reading and determining the author's purpose in books.  As we read the ending, we tried to decide why the author might have ended the book the way he did (Ask your child about the ending...many were surprised.).  After finishing the book, the children were given a choice of book projects on which to work to show there learning from the book.  They could choose from the following options:  a new book cover, a map of the race course, a poster for the dogsled race, re-write the ending, or create a timeline of events in the story.  Many children chose to make maps of the race course.  They were very creative and incorporated details from the book!  We certainly enjoyed this book, but are looking forward to reading the ten Red Clover Books next month and working on comprehension strategies!

In writer's workshop, we are still working on our opinion writing pieces.  This week we talked about organization and creating paragraphs.  As the children read through their work (or continued writing), they were encouraged to check to make sure each paragraph was just about one reason.  Sometimes all their reasons to support an opinion can show up in one paragraph!  Organization and revising can be a tricky aspect of the writing process so we will be working on this for the next few writer's workshop lessons.  We continue to be impressed by these Esprit writers!

During theme, we are beginning to wrap up our Shelburne History unit.  The children have been working on creating timelines of important events in Shelburne.  Can your child tell you something that happened long ago in Shelburne?  Our hope is finish this unit with a walking field trip through Shelburne Village to look at some of the sites we have learned about in our reading.

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend!  I imagine many of you will be enjoying some Halloween festivities.  Please note that although we are having a festive and special snack, costumes and candy are not allowed at school on Monday.  Thanks!

Hands on Nature

Miss Niles' class had Hands on Nature this week!  This month's focus was on seeds.  We learned about the structure of seeds and how they are dispersed throughout nature.  We also had the opportunity to investigate and taste seeds.  Each child was given a lima bean, that had been soaked in water, to take apart and explore the structure of the seed. We also noted that seeds can come in many different sizes and in different places as we taste-tested strawberries, kiwi, and pomegranate seeds.  We finished Hands on Nature by going outside and exploring our school yard for many kinds of seeds on the plants.  Thanks to our Hands on Nature volunteers for a great morning!

The BFG

The Esprit team is currently reading The BFG by Roald Dahl as part of the Global Read Aloud.  The Global Read Aloud is an opportunity for students all over the world to read the same book and connect in a variety of ways through the book we are all reading.  Team Esprit will be connecting with a third grade class in Illinois to share our ideas and understandings about The BFG and learn more about their community.
In Math, we are beginning a new unit that will help us develop a deep, conceptual understanding of multiplication.  We will be working with problems that help students think about equal groups and begin to use multiplicative reasoning.  Students will begin by examining various arrays that facilitate the use of repeated addition and skip-counting and move them toward multiplication strategeis.
During Reader's Workshop, we have continued to read Stone Fox and have been learning about different strategies we can use to tackle hard words.  We are talking about chunking words, thinking about the story, asking, "Does it look like a word I know?", "Does it sound like a word I know?", trying out different words, and searching for clues to figure out what words mean.  We will continue to work on a variety of strategies that support our reading comprehension.
In Writer's Workshop, we are now writing opinion pieces about "noteworthy" people.  We are writing to get others to pay attention to people, places, things or ideas that they might otherwise walk right past.  We are learning about ways to address our audience directly through our writing and practicing using those strategies in our writing.
Miss Deb's class enjoyed a Hands On Nature lesson this week about seeds.  We learned about different kinds of seeds and how their design helps them to travel in different ways so they can grow in a new place.  A big thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for this fantastic learning experience! Miss Niles' class will be learning about this in a couple weeks.

We look forward to meeting with everyone for parent/teacher conferences this week.  Please check your time on the Esprit google site to make sure you arrive for your scheduled conference time so we can have plenty of time for our conference with you.
Have a terrific weekend,
Deb and Jenn

Opinion Writing

This week during Writer's Workshop, we began a new genre of writing: persuasive speeches or opinion writing.  We began by discussing that persuasive speech ideas are often generated when we see changes that we might like to make in our home, school, community, and world.  As a class, we brainstormed changes we might like to make in school, such as longer brain break, earlier recess, healthier food in the cafeteria, and even a door in our classroom.  After choosing a change he or she would like to see in the world, your child began writing a speech which included an opinion (thesis statement) and reasons with details.  What did your child write about this week?

In Reader's Workshop, we continued reading Stone Fox.  We are certainly intrigued by this story!  This week we focused on the comprehension strategy of making predictions based on clues in the story. We then took our predictions to a higher-level by not only predicting what will happen next in Stone Fox, but also by explaining how we thought it would happen.  We accurately predicted that Little Willy will find a way to get the $500 to save his Grandfather's farm.  Ask your child how Little Willy is going to do this!

During math, we continue to discuss and work on a variety of strategies to add and subtract two-digit numbers.  This week we worked on those strategies by solving story problems. Through our discussions we found that third graders are using base ten piece sketches, number lines, and equations to help show their thinking.  We also learned a new game called Target 100.  Be sure to ask your child how to play and what strategies he or she used to add up numbers to 100 in this game!

Please note there is no school on Wednesday, October 12th in observance of Yom Kippur.  Picture Day is on Thursday, October 27th.  You will receive your child's portraits that day! Have a lovely fall weekend!

Global Read Aloud!

From October 3rd- November 11th, the Esprit third graders will be participating in the Global Read Aloud.  What is the Global Read Aloud, you might wonder?  Here is an excerpt from their web site:

The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with more than 1,000,000 students having participated. The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. While there are official tools you can use such as Skype, Twitter, WriteAbout or Edmodo, you choose the tools that will make the most sense for you. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year.

We will be participating in the Global Read Aloud by reading The BFG by Roald Dahl.  Each week we will read and discuss sections of the book. Our hope is to connect with another school in the country and share our thoughts about the book with them.  We have heard from one third grade class in Illinois about the possibility of connecting so we hope that works out!

Speaking of reading, the children have been thoroughly enjoying reading Stone Fox together during Reader's Workshop.  We have read four chapters so far and have used those to talk about how strong readers stop and take quick comprehension and checks by asking "what happened?" and "who was in this part?" and strong readers envision (make a movie in their minds) as they read to  better understand what is happening in the story.  Everyone is anxious to find out what will happen next in the story!  Ask your child to tell you about the characters in this book!

In writer's workshop, we have been working on conventions (grammar, usage, mechanics) in sentences and the structure of paragraphs. Through modeling and independent practice we have found that paragraphs contain a topic sentence, detail sentences that support the topic, and a closing sentence.  Be sure to ask your child about the paragraphs he or she wrote this week.  Next week, we will begin our first writing genre unit: persuasive or opinion writing.

During math, we continued to work on subtraction and addition strategies. We also did a bit of measuring this week and completed a scavenger hunt in the classroom, looking for objects that were a certain number of centimeters long.  Then the children solved some story addition problems related to those measurements.  What strategies does your child use when adding or subtracting double-digit numbers...jumping on a number line, drawing a picture, decomposing a number based on place value?  Ask them...you'll be amazed by their math thinking!

Lastly, we send home your child's first reading homework assignment for the month of October.  Your child should have  brought home a reading log to record minutes read this month.  The goal is to read 500 minutes in October.  Please return the reading log at the end of the month.  If your child meets the goal and returns his or her reading log, he or she will be invited to a Lunch Bunch with Ms. Deb and Miss Niles!  Happy Reading!

Fire Prevention Day!

On Wednesday, we had Fire Prevention Day at SCS!  This year the third graders had the opportunity to go into the Fire Prevention trailer (which had a mock kitchen and bedroom).  In both of these rooms, they talked about fire hazards and what to do in case of a fire.  The highlight for many children was climbing out the window of the trailer! Be sure to ask your child about Fire Prevention Day and talk with your child about your fire escape plan at home.  Here is a video from Fire Prevention Day...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ij1akPPbI

Our Esprit third graders have been working very hard these past few weeks! They are gradually becoming more comfortable with our routines and the schedule.  In Reader's Workshop, we are still building a reader's life.  This week we talked about recommending books to friends and sharing about books with partners.  We have found that books are much better when we can share funny parts and interesting parts with a partner. Next week, we will start a whole class read aloud of Stone Fox.  We will be using this read aloud as a way to build comprehension skills such as, retelling, predicting, and envisioning.

In writer's workshop, we continue to talk about ways that writer's get ideas.  This week we created a heart map with important events, symbols, and ideas.  We also brainstormed a list of important people in our lives.  Both of these lists can be used when the children are struggling for writing ideas.  Next week, we will begin working on the structure of paragraphs: topic sentences, detail sentences, and a concluding sentence.

In our social studies unit of Shelburne Story, we began learning about the Abenaki Native Americans.  By reading several articles, we learned about Native American artifacts, how the Abenaki lived in this area, and about the bodies of water that were important to the Abenaki.  Be sure to ask your child about his or her new learning from this unit so far.

We began our first Bridges Math Unit this week by practicing addition and subtraction and coming up with strategies to help us remember and use these facts fluently. We also learned two games called Target Twenty and Make the Sum to help us build addition and subtraction fact fluency.

Just a reminder we will be holding Parent Conferences during October.  Please check our Esprit Google Site to sign up. Thanks!

Dot Day!

This week Esprit participated in International Dot Day.  We read the book Dot by Peter Reynolds and joined the International Dot Day live streaming on Discovery Education.  We were able to watch author Peter Reynolds read his book live and answer questions from students all over the world.  It was a fun opportunity for our team to see what live streaming is about and learn more about Peter Reynolds.

During Writer's Workshop we have been generating ideas to write about.  We have made lists of our best memories, experiences that evoke strong feelings, people we know well and want to write about, writing from our hearts, and writing about events from the world around us.  We will refer back to these lists when we need ideas for stories or books.  We have also continued with our 7-minute write.  We are trying to build our stamina for writing...writing long and strong!

In Reader's Workshop we have continued to build our reading lives.  We have been reading as if books are gold, learning how to find within reach books, and setting goals and tracking our progress using reading logs.  It has been wonderful to see everyone finding a good reading spot and diving into their books!  Next month, we will be sending reading logs home for the children to track their reading at home.  Our goal is for each child to read 500 minutes a month.  If they do, they will be invited to a literary lunch with Ms. Deb and Miss Niles.

This week in Math, we finished up our Youcubed series with videos about how the brain grows and changes, the power of mistakes, how speed is not important, and the importance of believing in yourself. We will be diving in to Unit 1 in our Bridges program next week and will have an opportunity to explore addition and subtraction patterns through that unit.

In Social Studies we have begun our learning about the history of Shelburne.  We began our unit by brainstorming all that we know about Shelburne and by generating questions we have about Shelburne's past.  Then we continued by learning about Shelburne's earliest settlements and the Native American tribes that had settlements in the Shelburne area.

Wednesday will be Fire Prevention Day at SCS.  The Shelburne Fire Department will be here to help us learn about fire safety and give us an opportunity to practice ways to keep ourselves safe during a fire.

Perfect Pizza!

We had a fantastic time at Shelburne Farms today!  During our visit we worked on building our teamwork skills by making a community pizza.  The children were split into four groups.  Each group was responsible for making part of the pizza:  dough, sauce, cheese, and  vegetable toppings.  We spent the morning working on our parts of the pizza and then each group assembled their own pizza.  The best part was the pizza tasting!  "That was the best pizza ever!,"  one child said.  Be sure to ask your child about his or her role in the pizza making process!  Thank you to our parent volunteers who joined us on this pizza-making adventure!

This week we began both Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop.  Our focus during the beginning of Reader's Workshop is to help the students build reading lives.  That means they are setting themselves up (finding a good spot to read, choosing just right books, etc.) to enjoy and be successful at reading throughout third grade.   During Writer's Workshop, the children were introduced to their writer's notebooks. Writer's notebooks will be used for our 7 minute writes and to hold ideas for new stories or books.  During 7 minute writes, the children can write about anything they want from a story, to a list, to jokes.  The purpose is to build stamina for writing by writing for the whole time.

In math, we continued with our work on www.youcubed.org. and learned about "Math Myths" and our brain.  We learned about how our brain can change and grow and what things we can do to help it grow the most.  We have been participating in number talks and other activities to help grow our brains.  Next week we will begin Unit One of our Bridges Math program.  This unit will focus on addition and subtraction patterns.

Deb's class had Hands On Nature this week and learned about life cycles of insects.  We listened to a puppet show, did a puzzle activity and went outside to explore and find insects.  A huge thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for a terrific afternoon of learning.
Have a great weekend!
Jenn and Deb

Welcome to Third Grade!

Esprit Third Grade has had a lively beginning to our school year!  We have spent the past three days getting to know each other through team building activities, a scavenger hunt, playing games, and personalizing the materials we will be using for learning this school year.  We have been very busy discussing and deciding on rules that will create a safe, positive and comfortable learning environment for all of us.  We have also been learning about where things are located in our classrooms and practicing procedures that will help our classrooms run smoothly throughout the school year.  Morning Meeting has been an important focus this week as it will help us build a strong community.  This year we will have other staff members joining us for our Morning Meeting to help strengthen student relationships with other adults in the building.
This coming Friday, September 9th, our team will be going on a field trip to Shelburne Farms from 9:30 - 1:30 as a team building experience.  Your child should bring a  snack, lunch and water bottle that day.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather that day.  We are looking for parent volunteers who have been finger printed to join us on this field trip.  If you are interested in attending, please email us and let us know.
Finally, a reminder that Tuesdays are early release days this year.  Your child will be dismissed from school at 2 pm on Tuesdays.  Also, this Thursday, September 8th at 6:00 pm is our third grade curriculum night. This event is for adults only.  We look forward to seeing you then.
Have a great long weekend!
Deb and Jenn

Shelburne Farms

It was nice to see so many of your for our Team Picnic at Shelburne Beach last night!  It was a beautiful night to enjoy each other and the beautiful Vermont scenery!  It's hard to believe, but the last week of school is upon us.  Next week is our Esprit Team Spirit Week:

 Monday: Favorite Book and Stuffed Animal

Tuesday:  Board Game Day

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (wear wacky clothes or a wacky hairstyle)

Thursday: Hat and Shades Day

Friday: Esprit Talent Show

We also will be taking a walking Field Trip to Shelburne Museum on Thursday, June 9th. Please send your child with a lunch that day as we will be eating at the Museum.  Also, we will be walking rain or shine so please make sure your child is dressed appropriately.

We had a fantastic Thursday at Shelburne Farms.  During this visit, we were learning about Ponds, Lifecycles, and Ecosystems.  We spend a lot of time at the ponds, scooping for creatures.  The children found leeches, frogs, and other insects!  It was a lot of fun and no one fell in the pond!  Then the children headed into the woods and searched for salamanders.   Enjoy a few pictures from the day!