Enjoying our first few days together!

We have been taking time to get to know each other and learn the classroom routines. There is so much more to learn about 3rd grade but we are taking it slow so everyone feels safe and ready to learn.

We are learning about the importance of a growth mindset from the start. We worked on understanding how our brains work and what the different parts are for. We also worked on understanding that making healthy mistakes (stretch mistakes and A'ha mistakes) will help you grow your thinking. It is more fun to be challenged. We took some brain and movement breaks to help us focus and pay attention throughout the day.

Today we did a team building challenge with some pasta, a marshmallow, string, tape and scissors. The challenge: to build the tallest free-standing tower in 18 minutes.  It was great to see the teams work together. Even when they struggled and could have given up....they didn't! They enjoyed this and we talked about how many skills we work on and grow through these experiences. We will continue to enjoy the process as we work on the product.























Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Katchen Kids Week #5

Image
We had a busy week! We are working hard in reading to build and develop our reading lives at school and home. Please be sure the help your child work to improve a home reading life. Having a choice of books is such a big part of reading for joy! We are working hard in our mental math unit to learn strategies and develop number sense that will help us grow our thinking about numbers and our flexibility while working with numbers. Please look back at my blog post about Mental Math to learn more. In writing we are writing narrative stories and learning how to write leads, using strong words and phrases, using show not tell to revise with purpose. We are excited to start our Book Trailers later this week. In science, we are learning more about seeds and plants. We went on our Smart Farm field trip which was amazing! Ask your child more about the trip. Here is a link to the SmartFarm website.  SmartFarm Barrington  - consider volunteering some time there!  Our Top Chef's ...
Read more

Math Workshop in 3rd grade

Image
During Math Workshop in 3rd grade, every student gets what they need when they need it and where they need it! Some students receive supported interventions and some students receive extended services. During this time, all students work through our Math in Focus curriculum via the concrete, pictorial, and abstract modes of mathematical representation. Here are some of the core components of our math workshop time:   Each student receives small group, need specific instruction, followed by independent work time   Allows for students to be rotated/moved to different groups by lesson or unit   Students are engaged at all times in mathematics practice, and concepts are reinforced daily in stations   Students are motivated by the rotation and manage themselves with little need for teacher interruption   Allows extended students to return to class and extend their thinking.
Read more

Katchen Kids Week #6

Image
This week in 3rd we have worked hard to grow our reading lives by learning how to retell important parts of the books we read. This will build comprehension and love of reading. Many kids who do not enjoy reading are struggling to connect with books because they are not yet using reading is thinking skills. We practiced retelling our read aloud, Thank You, Mr. Faulker, by using the story mountain/plot diagram to pull out important parts of the story. This comprehension strategy is important as students continue to read longer books. This is a difficult but valuable activity. Ask your child about the story by Patricia Polacco, Thank You, Mr. Faulker. They all enjoyed it and realized that the more they think about the story the more connected they become. Then later in the week, each student did a retelling of the individual book that they just finished.  Jarrett Payton came to Hough to talk to our school about the importance of helping others. He talked about his life with hi...
Read more