Week in Review: November 2-6

This week, we have continued exploring poetry (narrative and humorous poems in particular), and done lots of poetry writing. Every student chose their favorite poem to read aloud and had the chance to practice reading in front of a group. We have done a few practice poetry passages, which is the kind of thing they will see on the STAAR test in May, to get them used to the types of language and questions they will see. We talked about test taking strategies, and specifically PROVING your answers!

In math, we have learned about perimeter and used that knowledge to solve numerous word problems. We wrapped up our time and perimeter units with some fun reviews on Thursday and a test on Friday.

In social studies, we are continuing our unit on government and learned about the executive and legislative branches. Next week, we will run a mock Congress to see the process that a bill takes to become a law. Then we will study the judicial branch of our federal government.

In science, we wrapped up mixtures with stations on Monday and a test on Wednesday, on which everyone did really well!

We visited our kindergarten buddies during science time on Thursday, and the third graders taught their buddies how to log on, get to a website, bookmark it, and then log off and shut down. They did a great job teaching the younger ones.

Our week ended with Kona Ice and extra recess since the school met their fundraising goal of $25,000. Thanks to all who contributed!

Our last two weeks before Thanksgiving are just going to fly by! Next week, we are honoring Veterans on Wednesday with a school wide assembly, and third graders will be writing letters to Veterans. Two of our wonderful moms are also going to visit the class on Wednesday to present some information about Japan, which is the country our class has been assigned for the International Children's Fair. On Thursday, the author of Sky Jumpers will be visiting the school. I have been reading this book to the class, and they are looking forward to hearing her speak. Then of course, November 16-20 is designated as International Children's Week with a school wide assembly on Monday morning, an evening event for the family on Thursday the 19th, and a country station rotations for all students on Friday morning. I'm worn out just thinking about it all, but it's going to be lots of fun! Have a wonderful weekend!