The Importance of Math Discourse

Each week, our math lessons are infused with math talk- kids buddy up to talk out strategies for solving math problems and work to solve them together in a variety of ways- students do this in small math groups, during whole groups lessons and during center time as well.

Today students worked together to solve some challenging problems with "torn shapes"- rectangles and rectilinear figures with pieces missing where students were asked to figure out the area of the whole shape. They did an excellent job collaborating and problem solving!

Math Discourse helps students to learn new strategies and think of math in new ways and improves their ability to explain their thinking. This is crucial to having a deeper understanding of mathematics!

You can see the problem they were working to solve here. Consider working together over winter break to solve some problems from the nRich website with your child!

Our "Hour of Code" in Science!!!

This week, all Grade 3 students participated in the Hour of Code program put on by code.org.

Students did an amazing job and remained engaged for an entire hour of learning to code for video game and design purposes! It was really great to see how excited the kids were by these activities! Ask your child to show you some of them at home and please give them an opportunity to continue to explore all of these amazing resources!!!

Click here to select an Hour of Code activity to participate in today in science class!!!

Multiplication Game for Today

Here is the game we are playing today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for all of my students and how they come to school each day with a positive attitude, ready to help their classmates and excited to learn!!!

Across the past few weeks, we've been doing a lot! We are beginning to memorize our times tables and have been doing some different fun activities to learn them all!

Here, a students is using their multiplication facts to color in a Fall scarecrow picture!

While we work on these new hard facts, students continue daily practice of addition and subtraction facts so they maintain their speed and accuracy- here Gabby is practicing her facts on XtraMath.org! Log in to check your child's progress today!!!

We have been doing Readers' Theatre in reading groups and the kids love it! It is very engaging for kids because they get to act out their assigned parts and they learn to follow others readers and read with expression. Here are some of our reading groups practicing their plays together- the plays included "Where the Wild Things Are", "Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie" and "The Hidden One" (a Native American Folktale).

 

Lots of learning and lots of fun!

 

I hope everyone has a safe, restful and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Math and Reading Night

Follow this link to the special math challenge for tonight.

Follow this link for the PARCC sample question we will be using for our Reading practice.

Preparing for Conferences

As we all prepare for conferences across the next two days, I look forward to meeting with all parents and guardians and sharing important information about the students' progress. Attached are some helpful blog posts I've written in previous years- this one discusses strategies and resources to help your child at home if they are struggling. This one also gives a lot of tips and resources from the county.

Conferences are tough because we only have 2 half days to meet with all parents. Please feel free to contact me to set up more time to talk if you do not get to share everything and get all of your questions answered in the 15 minutes provided.

This year, we are having a special "Math and Reading Night" to give parents and kids some fun and interactive things they can be doing at home to help their child succeed here at school. It is next Wednesday, November 18. Pizza will be served at 6:30 pm and the free event for parents and kids begins at 7 pm.

Hope to see you all there!

Here are DJ and Caden in small group working hard to relate multiplication and division through fact families!!!

Fall Festival!!!

We all had a great time last week wrapping up Marking Period 1 and celebrating the Fall Festival on Friday afternoon.

Many students' project were outstanding and we all enjoyed having each and every member of our class come up and tell us all about their community service experience. Many in and out of school projects are now displayed in the hallway outside of our classroom! Check them out when you come in next week for conferences!

Thank-you to Mrs. Mir, Mrs. Vazquez and Mrs. Rosa who all came in and helped out with our successful Fall Festival. We played Autumn BINGO, created cool leaf print with a marble effect, enjoyed some treats and finally some team games and dancing! It was a great time!

Each week, I am taking the time to check out Learn2Earn, with all of the kids, and reward students who are reading! This week, 6 students earned certificates for a free personal pizza from Pizza Hut. Students are expected to read for 100 minutes each night and answer 4 questions (or prompts) about their writing. If your child does not have access to the Internet, they should be logging their reading on a reading chart and answering 4 prompts per week in their (purple) Spelling/Reading Notebook. Please ensure your child reads each and everyday and let me know if you need assistance in understanding these assignments!

STEM In and Out of School

As you have probably noticed your child now receives a grade for "Engineering and Technology" every marking period in science. We are constantly examining how things work and how scientists improve on existing inventions and technologies. This will especially be a big focus in Marking Period 2.

This marking period, your child worked in a group in science to build a basic vehicle. Next week, they will design a wheel covering for their vehicle to meet a certain need- maybe as a parade float or a baby stroller, for example. This is a culminating activity after this marking period of examining forces of motion, speed, friction and texture and how all of these concepts go together. Here are some photos of our class working on their basic vehicles together- all Mrs. Cody did was power the hot glue gun- the rest was 100% done by the students.

STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) instruction is so important to prepare our kids for 21st century jobs and the kids LOVE it. At school, we are limited by the constraints of time, money and safety to doing as many STEM projects as I would like. Here are some great sites for suggestions of some cool activities and projects to try at home.

 

 

239 cool STEM websites for kids!

 

STEM project supplies delieverd right to your door!

 

STEM Projects and Things Your Child Can Build

 

20 FREE ideas to do- why wait until summer?

 

 



Halfway Through Marking Period 1!!!

On Wednesday, October 7, your child will receive their first progress report of the school year. This report gives you an idea of where they are at this point in the year. I am also attaching a few important documents to the progress report:
-A letter explaining the progress report and communicating any other concerns I may have at this time.
-A letter explaining a new reading at home program, Whooo's Reading with Learn 2 Earn, that our team will be piloting for the school this year. The letter explains how and where to sign your child up and to monitor their progress as the log their minutes of reading and reflect on it each night. If you and your child choose not to use this program, then they must fill in the standard Reading at Home chart, to be glued into their purple "Reading and Spelling Homework" notebook here at school. 
-A letter explaining a new math program, Xtra Math, we are going to try out inside and outside of school. Again, parents can choose to utilize this program at home and enter their personal e-mail to receive updates and reports on your child's progress. All students will be using the program in school in grades 3-5.

We are very excited

to use these 21st century learning tools in Grade 3!!!

 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns or to set up a conference time.

 

Soon, you will receive the first PTA Ice Page Issue for the school year. Be sure to check it out and read our Grade 3 updates. We are looking forward to seeing some great community service homework projects this month!

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of our hard workers showing off how efficient they can be at solving addition basic facts!



Math Mania!!!

This week in math, students are working to review addition of 3 digit numbers, involving composing. We expect that all Grade 3 students will be able to solve these addition problems using a variety of strategies- and we hope that they demonstrate mastery of at least 2 strategies. Frequently, these 2 strategies are the "Mom and Dad" method- as one student called it- or the "Traditional" method, as I call it. Students line up the numbers vertically and add them up, beginning with the ones place. They "put the one up" when they compose a ten or a hundred, but they often do not know and cannot explain why they are doing that.

We teach strategies like the break apart method and "Draw It" to help them to be able to "see" why they are "putting that one up".

This is a review from Grade 2 and we will only be spending about a week on this. If your child is not fluent with their basic addition facts and does not add large numbers efficiently, please continue to practice this at home.

Here is some awesome collaboration going on during our math time- students worked in pairs and trios to determine if they needed to compose in a series of challenging addition problems and created a poster to demonstrate their understanding.

Just a reminder- Scholastic Book Orders are due on Monday, September 21st!!! You may use the link to the left of the screen to order online using the parent code "GYFMB" or you can send me cash or a check made out to Scholastic Books with your order form.  These books are reasonably priced, tax-free with free shipping and you help all third graders get more books in their classrooms as well by ordering!!!

Welcome to a NEW YEAR!!!

I am so happy to beginning my 12th year at W.T.Page ES and my 5th year in Grade 3! It has been a great first week of school so far, with my 20 new Penguins- with lots of learning, "getting to know you" and team building activities and creation of our classroom rules and expectations.

I look forward to meeting parents at Back to School Night next Wednesday, September 9 from 7-8:30pm. We will discuss the curriculum your child will be learning this year, classroom and homework expectation and it will give you a chance to see your child's classroom up close and get to know me a bit better.

Please teak some time to check out my blog and familiarize yourself with how it has been used by my students for the past 2 years- it has over 5,000 hits! On the left, you can find helpful sites for parents and students to use.

This year, W.T.Page's instructional focus is reading, specifically guided reading. Being a strong reader is so important! Did you know:

• Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year. 
• The more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students are in reading proficiency, according to the Educational Testing Service.
• The imbalance between reading and television has a significant effect on academic results, the Michigan researchers found. Every hour of weekly reading translated into a half-point increase on test scores, while each hour of TV watching corresponded with a tenth of a point drop in scores.

Click here to get some ideas and tips on how you can help your child become a stronger reader.

Just some food for thought- looking forward to meeting you all at Back to School Night!!!

End of Grade 3 Wrap Up!!!

Whew! This year has really flown by- I feel that way every year but this one has really snuck up on me and here we are with only a few days left.

A few important notes as we wrap things up:

-It is so crucial that your child completes the reading and math packets this summer. "Summer Slide" (where students regress over the summer) is a real concern and happens to many children every year! The children will be rewarded for completing them, but is an expectation and is considered required!

-Additionally, I have signed up- and gotten a FREE trial!- for all of my students for Splash Math! I have never used this program before, but it really sounds great and I am eager to hear your feedback! Students brought home a sign up form with an access code today.

-Read, read, read! There is a great Summer Reading Program at the Montgomery County library, please participate! They also have summer reading lists by grade for your child.

- By the end of the week, your child will bring home all items from their desk and their data notebook with all of their best work. Please let me know if your child will not come to school on Monday, June 15 (which is a half day!) so I can ensure they do not leave anything behind this week!

-This Friday, the class earned an end of year pizza party. Please let me know if you'd like to send in any additional treats for our last party of the year (cookies/cupcakes/juice boxes). No nuts!

Here are some last pictures of our end of year fun- field trip, author's tea and vacation presentations!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and exciting summer

full of learning and fun!

Multiplication Mania!

As many of you (students and parents) have heard me say- Students need to master their multiplication basic facts (through 10 X 10 at least) by the end of the year.  I keep repeating it because it is a key to success in 4th grade math- students cannot move on to multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers and fractions and decimals unless they have mastered these facts.

In marking period 4, we will dedicate more class time to this goal- students will take timed quizzes multiple times per week, quiz each other with flashcards, play multiplication games, do additional worksheets and use websites to practice their facts.

Some students are close to demonstrating mastery already, while others continue to be "stuck" on their 3's or 4's facts and not moving forward.  Here are some ideas to try at home to get "over the hump":

Multiplication websites that have timed quizzes and games!  There are a few listed here on the left side of your screen. Multiplication.com (my personal favorite) has multiplication videos, self correcting quizzes and engaging games for the kids to independently practice their facts for 10-15 minutes per night.

The Joy of Music! Tune into some multiplication songs to help your musically inclined child remember their facts.  This has really helped some of my students in the past who have struggled. You can find tons of options on youtube: Here is an example of a funny 8's times table song. You can also look up CD's on Amazon and purchase one for when you are cruising around town. I have a CD in the classroom for down time and transitions and some kids really enjoy it.

Speaking of Amazon, you could also consider buying a good old fashioned multiplication workbook, flashcards or a game to help them learn and practice.  Many of these things can also be found at Target, Staples and dollar stores!

Have other ideas for ways to help the students master their multiplication facts?  Please comment and share them!!!

The children who are having the most success have shared with the class that they practice at home! Thank you for the support!!!

Photo Extravanganza

I think I was able to fix my browser/blog troubles and add some photos to the blog, so here is a little show of photos I've been holding on to upload.

The kids are currently familiarizing themselves with their very own chromebooks in the classroom- such an amazing addition to bring into the classroom- they are currently trying out some fractions games- the link can be found at the right. This morning, we were able to log into the PARCC system and begin a practice English/Language Arts test on the chromebooks as well.