Week of October 26

 This week we had some of the lowest morning temperatures of the season and the sun only showed itself on two of our days. The third graders continued to show their grit and resiliency during it all. The one morning we did begin inside, many students continuously asked when we could get outside. They even chose to have PE in the rain rather than in the indoor classroom. This week students were challenged to build a scarecrow by themselves or in teams of two. They designed the scarecrows, made material lists, and used a lot of creativity to build their final products. Thank you to everyone who helped their kiddo with materials from home this past week. Many kiddos used items they found outside as well. In writing, we focused on how to write a structured paragraph to include an introductory sentence, followed by three supporting details and a conclusion. In math, we continued to solidify our knowledge of addition and subtraction within 1,000. With a slight schedule modification, students are now able to have 60-minutes of ELA time each morning. This allows all students to participate in a reading group and writing group each day. 

Quick Reminders: 

Monday, November 2nd, Half-Day Schedule: Dismissal will run from 12:15-12:45. 

Nov. 2 & Nov. 3, Parent-Teacher Conferences: You should have received an email confirmation with Google Meet code. If you did not, please email me. 

Tuesday, Nov. 3: No School for students

Here are some questions to spark conversation:

-What was the most challenging thing about building your scarecrow?

-If you could have changed your design in some way, how would you have changed it?

-What was so special about the "Firewood Forest"?

*Game to Play: Roll 10 dice, have your child add them up quickly. Students should look for easy groupings of 10 as a strategy to help them find the sum

Here is a link to our October Forest Poetry video, in case you haven't had a chance to view it yet:

https://youtu.be/FNjRMDLwEtA

Here are some pictures from the week:

This student saved up her Otter points to cash in for fire starter for the day. She did an excellent job!

Reading Groups are one of the many reasons we choose to be outside. If we were inside, students would not be able to move around and mix up their groupings. 

Experimenting with the use of balances and levees became a highlight of exploration time this week. 

On Friday, we were able to have our annual Unity Day parade around the school. It was the first time DBS was able to be together safely and it felt wonderful!

We found a new space in the woods on Friday! Firewood Forest

Week of October 19

 This week the weather proved to be on our side once again. We spent much of our day, every day, outside. We completed our second round of STAR testing. This computerized test evaluates students in the area of Math and Reading. We hope to complete these assessments once a month to track student progress. 

In reading this week, students continued their reading groups. We are focusing on reading strategies to help us when we come to an unknown word, what the author's message is within a story and how a character's perspective can change over time, using clues from the text to support our answers. 

In math, we have been focusing on using addition and subtraction strategies when solving word problems. It is important for students to identify what the problem is asking of them before they begin. Once the problem is solved, students are required to show their work and label their answers. 

During exploration time, students have been bringing their imagination to a whole new level. Students have been busy building forts and fairy houses. They are come up with elaborate games as well. It has been wonderful to see the collaboration, communication, and inclusion taking place within all of these activities. Their adaptability and creativity have really moved me. Every day I am grateful to be working with this group of kiddos! 

Here are some questions to spark conversation:

1. What book are you reading in your reading group? Who is the main character? What was the character's motivation? How did the character change over time?

2. Do you prefer to add or subtract when working with word problems? Why?

3. What do you do during exploration time?

Pictures from the week:

Mrs. Ela joined us this week for class council in preparation for Unity Day. 

Thank you to the LaMotte family for finding and donating 5 wooden spools for us to use as tables in the woods! They are perfect. 

Our morning jobs allow us to get our classroom ready for the day and helps students take ownership of their space. 

Trying to catch a leaf as it falls to the ground. 

One of the fairy houses built last week. 

Week of October 13

 Hi everyone, 

This week the weather had a mind of its own. We experienced significant rain (learning the word deluge first hand) to sunny, clear days of 70 degrees and back to a drizzle of rain on Friday. I am extremely proud of our third graders and how well they are handling the elements. On Tuesday, students worked hard on creating new waterways for the tarp drip-off, rerouting the flooding water, navigating obstacles along the way. Watching every student collaborate, problem-solve, and troubleshoot issues as they arose was simply amazing. They are an incredible group of students with strong minds and determined personalities. By the end of the week, students worked on writing more poetry within their journals, met in their reading groups, and completed activities in their math menu. Hopefully, you were able to check out their Seesaw accounts as well to see a sample of their writing. 

Questions to spark conversation:

1. What is the difference between a triangle, quadrilateral, and pentagon?

2.  How does water travel? How can you change its route?

3. What is your color of fall? Why did you choose this color?

4. What changes have you observed in the woods this week?

Here are some pictures from our week:

Best view at DBS

When telling these students I love where we live, one replied, 
"You can say that again!"

One of our classroom jobs asks students to find items from the forest to add to our museum display for the day. This wood slice was found!

A little drizzle did not stop these students from working around our campfire.