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