Sunday, November 30, 2014

Picture Time!

New pictures from November have been added to the photo album page on our class website.  Stop by and take a look!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up

We are just about finished with our study of the Native Americans of the Northeast Woodlands. On Monday and Tuesday the children worked in groups to build 3-D villages. Then they each wrote a paragraph telling about the section of the village they helped build. Finally, the groups worked together to create an Educreation presentation telling about their village. Next week we’ll publish the presentations into their blogs. Be sure to stop by your child’s blog and comment on their presentation.

On Monday conference time forms will go home. If you are unable to make your conference please let me know as soon as possible. If you do not receive it, please email me or send a note in, and I’ll send another one home.

Next week is a review week in spelling. This means that there are 35 words on the list. Some of them are words that have already been used, others are words that follow the same patterns taught in units 7-11. On Monday we will pretest all 35 words. But, there will only be 20 on the Friday test.

Now that the cold weather seems to be settling in, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately. As long as the temperature is above 20 degrees, recess can be held outdoors.  If you want your child to wear boots outside, but not inside, feel free to send in something else for them to wear while inside. Also, please try to put names on jackets, hats, mittens, scarves, etc… It’s very easy for things to go missing this time of year, and having a name on it helps get it back to the right person.

Here's a look at what's coming up next week:
Reader’s Workshop: Main idea and supporting details
Writer’s Workshop: Information research and writing, and possessive nouns
Spelling: Unit 12 - Words home on Monday, test on Friday 
Math: Topics 5 and 6, Multiplication
Social Studies: Native Americans - Test

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Nonfiction Text Features with Educreations

We've been reviewing nonfiction text features with our new reading unit of study on information books. The students worked in groups using the books in their book boxes to go on a treasure hunt for various text features. Then they created Educreations presentations with the iPads to show the text features and tell how they can help the reader. Enjoy!

These are also posted on the students' KidBlogs.



Friday, November 14, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up

As you know, our class is now on Twitter! Each week I’ll pick two children to help post daily tweets about what they’re learning or doing in school. This blog has more in depth info. along with what’s in this newsletter, and Twitter has quick short bits and pics of what goes on each day. Stay totally in the loop of your child’s school day, and hopefully never hear the answer of “nothing” when asking your child what they did in school by following us on Twitter and reading the blog. You can find us on Twitter by looking up @mrscarnevale3rd. For each parent or step-parent that follows us on Twitter, your child will receive 50 tiger tickets! For each other relative such as grandparent or aunt/uncle, your child will receive 10 tiger tickets!  

From time to time I send home Scholastic Book Orders. Please don’t feel obligated to purchase anything. It’s just one of many ways to find books and materials for your child. Along with ordering through the paper form, you could also order online. A larger selection of books is actually available online. The order link and our class code are on our class website. Online and paper forms are due next Friday, Nov. 21. If you send the form to school, please be sure to pay with a check made out to Scholastic Book Club. Please do not send cash.

We are well underway with our study of multiplication! We start unit 5 next week, which covers multiplying by 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10 (and I throw in 11 too). If your child does not have flash cards you can find many free sets online, or you can ask me for one and I’ll print out a set for him/her. A multiplication card game your child can play at home for more practice was sent home on Friday. You can find another copy of it in our class website's File Cabinet. Feel free to count time with this game on the math fact log!

Here's what we'll be studying next week:
Reader’s Workshop: Nonfiction books
Writer’s Workshop: Information writing
Spelling: Unit 11 - Words home on Monday, test on Friday
Math: Topic 5, Multiplication
Social Studies: Native Americans
Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education! 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Headphones and Weekly Update

Part of our learning includes a participating in a variety of learning experiences using technology. During math workshop students are on the computer for a short period of time each day to practice a math skill. Twice a week most children use the iPads for RAZ-Kids. Then there’s always blogging, writing stories, accessing documents in Google Classroom, using Educreations, and more. Technology is just a natural part of our day. But, that also means that children are sharing headphones throughout the day. If you do not want your child sharing computer headphones used by others, in both the computer lab and our classroom, please feel free to send in a pair of headphones or earbuds in a baggie with their name on it. Earbuds for iPads/iPhones/iPods work just fine with our laptops and desktop computers.

A couple of little things: Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on their child’s blog, and the blogs of other children in the class. The kids love it! Layers are helpful at this time of the year. Our classroom seems to go from warmer in the mornings to cooler in the afternoons. When you’re comfy; not too hot or too cold, you can learn better!


Here's what we'll be learning next week:
  • Reader’s Workshop: Nonfiction books
  • Writer’s Workshop: Information writing
  • Spelling: Unit 10 - Words home on Monday, test on Friday 
  • Math: Topics 4 & 5, Multiplication
  • Social Studies: Native Americans

We're On Twitter!

Our class is now on Twitter!  Follow us @MrsCarnevale3rd

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Arrays with Educreations

We are just two days into our unit on multiplication and the Safari Scholars are already using the Educreations iPad app to show their know knowledge of multiplication as repeated addition, and to show how an array can illustrate a multiplication sentence. I'm beaming with pride at these kids!

Please be patient, the presentations take a little bit after the kids start talking before you see their whiteboard writing start.

Feel free to also stop by the student blogs to see the arrays each one made using KidPix.




Information Reading

We started our next reading unit of study today, information reading (aka non fiction). Here's a look at the kids enjoying their reading selections, and sharing with their partnerships.




Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Kids Teach Subtraction Across Zeros

Third graders have become experts at understanding how to do three digit subtraction across zeros with regrouping. Here is an Educreations video that one group made on the iPad to teach others how to do it.




Saturday, November 1, 2014

Indian Rock Field Trip

What a great learning experience we had on the field trip to Indian Rock!  The students shared what they learned on a Padlet (think of it as a virtual sticky note poster).



Here are a few pics from our day. Check out the October photo album for more.








Celebrating Reading with KidBlog

As we celebrate the end of our reading unit of study on fiction and characters, the children have been busy with two projects. First, they selected one of their favorite books, and wrote a book talk on it. Some children made a blog entry with it, others wanted to make a video. I filmed them and did a little editing. I’m working to upload the videos to their blogs. Second, the children went through their reading logs and picked out their 10 favorite books they’ve read, or I’ve read to them during our Interactive Read Aloud time. They created an “ideal bookshelf” of their favorites (just like you might have seen on Pinterest or Twitter). I took pictures of those and placed the pictures on their blogs. Their original papers are hanging in the hallway above their lockers.

Please take a minute and drop by your child’s blog and leave a comment. Feel free to encourage relatives and family friends near and far to do the same.  Kids LOVE comments!  :)

It's Time for Multiplication - Weekly Update

On Wednesday we begin learning about multiplication! It’s first introduced through the concept of repeated addition, such as 4x2=8 is the same as 4 groups of 2, or 2+2+2+2=8. We will also learn about it through arrays, and make arrays with the computer program, KidPix. An example of an array is shown on the family math letter that went home on Friday. Another way that we’ll learn about multiplication is through skip counting. If your child can count by 3’s six times, then they’ll know that 3x6=18 and 6x3=18. Look for a skip counting chart to go home next week. Also, look for a multiplication chart to come home next week. Your child will probably need to refer to it while doing homework. This chart will be used for topics 4, 5, and 6 which cover multiplication, as well as topics 7 and 8, which cover division. If it gets lost another copy can be found in the File Cabinet section of our class website. Finally, the vocal words for topic 4 will be coming home. Your child will need to work on studying these, and may need to refer back to them while doing homework.

Along with studying addition and subtraction facts, your child can begin studying multiplication facts. The website multiplication.com has some great games that kids tend to love. One thing I find is that in their excitement to learn something new and “grown up” kids often fall back in their subtraction progress as they focus on multiplication. So, they’ll need to keep studying subtraction (and addition too). Speaking of math facts, this week we took our October addition and subtraction 100 question tests. The score reports for those will go home next week. Please sign it and return it with your child.

Here's what we'll be learning about the week of November 3rd:

  • Reader’s Workshop: Nonfiction books
  • Writer’s Workshop: Typing/publishing small moment stories. Starting information writing
  • Spelling: Unit 9 - Words home on Monday, test on Friday 
  • Math: Begin topic 4, Multiplication
  • Social Studies: Native Americans
Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education!