A fun and festive week!

Happy 100th Day!  Can you believe it?  It's amazing all that our Esprit third graders have learned in one hundred days.  We had a little celebration on Friday with a visit from Zero the Hero.  Zero the Hero read us a story to celebrate the number zero that plays a big role in making the number 100.  The children had a variety of one hundred day activities to work on and Miss Niles' class had a special 100th day trail mix. It was a fun day!

We also enjoyed our trip to the Flynn Theater to see Pilobolus.  See if your child can tell you about the show of shadows and light.  Can he or she explain how the people made the shape of a car or flowers with just their bodies?

During Hands on Nature, we learned about birds!  We learned about how birds' feathers, wings, and beaks are specially adapted to help them survive in their environment.  We even had the chance to observe different bird feathers up close!

In math, we spent much of the week working on multiplication and division.  We solved many game store problems and then the children had the chance to make their own story problems for their peers to solve.  What was your child's story problem about?  Was it a multiplication problem or a division problem?

Lastly, thank you to the many families who purchased gift certificates or books for our classrooms.  We are very appreciative of your generosity!  Have a lovely weekend!

Red Clover Favorites!

This week marked the end of our Red Clover Book study!  All month long we have been reading and re-reading the ten nominees for the Red Clover Book Award.  After reading each book, the children participated in an activity regarding comprehension strategies or an activity to just celebrate the story and its illustrations.  We voted on Friday. Penguin Problems was the favorite in Ms. Deb's class and They All Saw a Cat was the favorite in Miss Niles' class!  Which book got your child's vote?  We will anxiously be waiting to hear which book is the official winner in April.

In math we began a new unit: Multiplication, Division, and Area.  In this unit we will be revisiting multiplication, but this time exploring its connection to division.  This week the children used arrays to model and solve division and multiplication problems.  Can your child explain what an array is to you?  The children also solved story problems related to multiplication and division and will create their own problems for their peers to solve.

As we finish our persuasive speeches in Writer's Workshop, the children will be learning how to present their speeches using Google Slides.  Jeff Badillo, our technology integrationist, will be visiting both classes to demonstrate how to create Google Slides with important points and visuals for their speeches and then teach the children how to record their voices to present the speech along with the slides.  We are very excited to see..and hear the final products!

Lastly, we are finishing up our cursive letter writing practice this week!  The children have done a great job forming and practicing writing in cursive.  We will continue to encourage the use of cursive handwriting for classroom work throughout the rest of the year. Ask your child to write his or her name in cursive for you! Once our cursive lessons are completed, we will turn our attention to working on grammar and punctuation in our writing.  Stay tuned for more information!

Have a great weekend!

Upcoming Events in February!

Please add these dates to your calendar!

On Wednesday, February 14th, we will be having a Valentine’s Day celebration.  If your child is choosing to bring in valentines, please have your child bring his or her valentines in on February 13th or February 14th to distribute them.  Also, if your child is bringing in valentines, please make sure there is a valentine for each child in the class.  A class list has been sent home.

Scholastic Book Fair:

On Monday, February 5th, our class will be going to the library to preview the books that will be on sale during the book fair.  This is the day for the children just to look and make a list of the books they like.  Then on Tuesday, February 6th, we will be going back to the book fair to make any purchases.  So if your child is interested in purchasing books, February 6th is our class’ only day to do so in school; however, you and your child can always visit the book fair to purchase books instead.

Flynn Theatre Field Trip

On Friday, February 9th, we will be going to the Flynn Theatre to see a show called Pilobolus Shadowland. It is story told through dance and shadow play with a large screen.  We will leave school at 8:45am and will be back to school by 11:15am.

Puppets in Education

On February 12th, we will have a presentation from Puppets in Education.  Using 3 ½ foot tall puppets, children are taught about important issues such as health, cultural and physical differences, or bullying.

A Visitor from Long Ago...

This week we had a visitor from a reenactor of the Ethan Allen Homestead!  He was brought to SCS to teach us about how Vermont settlers and soldiers lived long ago.  This tied in with our Shelburne History unit that we did earlier in the year.  Be sure to ask your child about our guest!  What did they find most interesting?

This week in writer's workshop we continued to work on our persuasive speeches.  We talked about looking over our writing and finding ways to make improvements such as, organization, punctuation, adding details, elaborating.  We also learned that writers of persuasive pieces often write down all they know about a topic to help build strong reasons for their opinions.  They then can take all they know and organize it into reasons with evidence and examples.

In science, Miss Niles' class is finishing up the cart investigation and making observations about wheel and axle systems.  This week the children had to build a cart that could roll with a small push or a pull.  Next week, they will use the same carts and make improvements to the features of the cart to see if they can get it to roll a further distance!

In readers workshop we are finishing reading Red Clover books and voting on our favorite.  What's your child's favorite book?  During the month of February, we will continue to work on comprehension strategies in our reading.

In math, we are finishing our fraction and measurement unit with some work with Jack and the Beanstalk! After retelling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, the children were given paper beanstalks (about 3 ft. high) to measure.  They measured the length of the stalk and measured the leaves to the nearest half-inch and the nearest quarter-inch. They then used a line plot graph to display this data.  Ask your child to show you what a line plot graph looks like!

The month of February is filled with many events at SCS.  Be on the lookout for more information coming home soon!  If you have questions, please contact Miss Deb or Miss Niles.  Happy weekend!

Forces and Interaction

We had a great four-day week on Team Esprit!    

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-axle 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.

We continue to read Red Clover Books this month!  Ms. Deb's class read Frankencrayon and Penguin Problems and created fun, animal cartoons and some great crayon drawings! Miss Niles' class read Daniel Finds a Poem and Ada's Violin and crated haiku poems about nature and instruments made from recycled materials.  We are really enjoying these books!  Has your child found a favorite yet?

In writing, we are working on our persuasive speeches either about a problem in our school or community or a speech that recognizes a person or place as being important or notable.  Last week we worked on creating a strong thesis and having reasons and examples to back up our opinions. This week we talked about ways to make our persuasive writing more convincing.  One way is talking directly to the audience.  This can be done by using phrases such as, "I know you might you be thinking...", "Let me explain...", or "Have you ever wondered...".  What has your child started writing about?

During math, we continued to learn about measurement and used our knowledge to solve story problems.  We then turned our attention to fractions.  We folded paper into rectangles and labeled them with fractions and used those fractional pieces to compare and order fractions from smallest to largest.  As we worked, we realized that the larger the number of people sharing something, the smaller the share!
 
Have a great weekend!

A Visit From "Batman" and Nearby Nature

This week Barry and Maureen, from the Vermont Bat Center, visited the Esprit Team.  They taught us many interesting facts about bats and shared information about how they help bats at the Vermont Bat Center.  Did you know there are nine species of bats in Vermont, many of which are on the Endangered or Threatened lists?  Ask your child what he/she learned about bats!

A big thank you our Nearby Nature parents who taught us about skulls this week.  We learned that the shape and structure of skulls and teeth are adaptations related to an animal's food and way of life.  We also learned that teeth and eye placement of carnivores differ from those of herbivores, omnivores, or insectivores.  Ask your child what he/she learned about skulls

In Math, we are currently learning about various forms of measurement.  We have been practicing telling time to the minute and have been discussing the difference between "weight" and "mass".  We have been comparing the metric system to the customary system of measurement and learning about a variety of units to measure in both systems.  This week we practiced estimating and finding the mass of a different objects using a pan balance.  We also practiced estimating and measuring liquid volume.  You can support this unit at home by helping your child practice telling time on an analog clock.
During Writer's Workshop we have been learning about speech writing to change the world through our Opinion Writing Unit.  This week we practiced writing about problems in our school community and solutions for those problems.  We also wrote about noteworthy people in our school community.

In Reader's Workshop we are reading this year's Red Clover books and working on comprehension strategies.  Some books we have read so far include Dragon Was Terrible, Ada's Violin, I Dissent and The Princess and the Warrior.  When we are finished reading all of the Red Clover Books we will vote on our favorite.  Ask your child what his/her favorite book is so far.

We kicked off our Forces and Interactions unit this week with a brainstorm of what we know and what we want to know about forces and interactions.  Our first investigation focused on observing and measuring the patterns of an object's motion in various situations to predict future motion.  Students
learned that objects in contact exert forces on each other, that electric and magnetic forces between a pair of objects do not require that objects be in contact.

We have stepped away from Word Study for a bit while we learn cursive handwriting.  So far, we have learned letters L, E, H, B, F, K I, J, P and R.  As we learn more letters, we will begin writing complete words and sentences using cursive writing.  If you would like to support your child's learning of cursive writing you can encourage him/her to begin to write in cursive at home.
Have a great weekend,
Deb and Jenn

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who attended our Esprit Team Publishing Party on Wednesday!  The children were very excited to share their hard work in writing with you!  When we get back from vacation, we are going to start our next writing genre: persuasive or opinion writing!

We also a "Sip and Snack and Paint" celebration on Monday!  The children had a little snack and painted a holiday gift for a special person in his or her life. The paintings turned out very cute!  Thanks to those who provided the snacks/drinks for our classes!

Just a reminder that we do not have school from December 23rd- January 2nd. School resumes on Wednesday, January 3rd.  We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy 2018!