Esprit Third Grade: 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.