OSMO

Osmo is an award-winning game system that will change the way your child interacts with the iPad by opening it up to hands-on play.  We are using Osmo as one of our Math Stations, and the kiddos love it!  Some brief descriptions of the things the kiddos can do with Osmo, as well as some pics of us using it are below.   The link is also below if you want to learn more about this cool product: 

 https://www.playosmo.com/en/

Numbers

Add, count and multiply the tiles to match the numbers on the bubbles. Popping enough bubbles will free the fish and unleash a storm of lightning and thunder! Big or small, even or odd, will you become the Numbers Master?

Tangram

Arrange wooden puzzle pieces to match on-screen shapes. Animals, objects, humans and more. Play with a friend or challenge yourself to increasingly more difficult levels as your handiwork lights up with each victory.

Words

Guess and spell the on-screen image. Team up or compete in-person with friends or family to see who will get their letter in first! Download free content like trivia, geography or upload your own like family names. The possibilities are endless!

Newton

Newton works with any object or drawing – Mom’s keys, hand-drawn basket, even toys you already own. Simply place the object/drawing in front of the screen and manipulate it to guide the falling balls into the target zones.

Leader of the Week - Jack

Writing and Science Combined

We finished up our Information Unit in Writing by working in groups to research animals, create a poster to share the information they learned, and they also had to write a short paper (report) about their animal.  In Science, we just finished learning about invertebrates and vertebrates, so they had to select an animal in the animal group they were assigned.  They really enjoyed researching their animals and creating their posters with their groups!  (Pictures are below.)  After completing the posters, they used the research they found in their groups, as well as the strategies and structures we learned in writing informational pieces, to write heir own reports.  They did great!!!!

A Book Blessing by Dr. Mariscal

Dr. Mariscal visited us today to introduce a fabulous book to our class, "The Tale of Despereaux."  He read the first chapter to the class to get them excited about this book, and then gifted the book to our class so we can read the rest.  The kids were sooo excited to hear the beginning of this book, and did not like it when Dr. Mariscal stopped at a cliff hanger.  They really enjoyed the French accent you gave to the characters!  ☺️. Books are a blessing, and we are blessed with this gift to add to our classroom library!  Thank you!

Mystery Reader - Maya's Mom

Thanks sooo much for coming today, and reading us "The Big Book of Why!!!"  The students REALLY enjoyed this book!  It was fun, interesting, and gross!  Thank you!

Book Clubs

We are excited to share that we are starting Book Clubs as a part of our current reading unit about Characters.  Each group was given books to choose from, and as a group they had to decide on the book for their group.  

We also talked about Book Club expectations:

1. You decide on how much to read, and then read that amount independently.

2.  You meet the next day, after reading your assigned pages, and discuss what you read, what you know about your characters, why is your character acting a certain way, make predictions about your character...

3.  Then, you decide on how much to read again, and then go read independently.  If they don't finish their assigned reading at school, it will become homework.

The students are sooo excited about reading their books and talking with their friends about what they are reading!  Yea!!

Weekly Update 11/16 - 11/20

THANK YOU

I wanted to thank everyone who was able to join us this morning for our Book Launch Celebration!  The students were sooo excited to share their books with their families.  They worked super hard, and the books really turned out awesome!  We have some great authors in third grade!  As soon as the books are graded, I will send them home.  Thanks again for coming today!

Weekly Update 11/16 - 11/20

This week in Reading we are continuing to focus on the characters in our stories, and asking ourselves WHY the character is acting that way, or speaking that way.  We are moving from saying "That character is nice" to asking "Why do we think that character is nice?"  We are digging deeper!

In Writing, we are taking everything we learned in this unit about informational writing, and will write about another non-fiction topic.  The exciting thing is the students will be working in groups to research their topics, and to create a poster for their topics to present to the class.  They will write their own papers though.  This writing will not be a book like you all saw today, but will be more like a short paper.  ***Be on the look-out ~ Personal Narratives will be coming down from the hallway, and will come home this week!***

In Math this week we are looking at division (Ch. 5).  We will learn strategies for how to divide, just like we did with multiplication.  We will also go over fact families for multiplication and division.  This chapter is short just like Ch. 4.  We will review next Monday, and test on Tuesday before Thanksgiving break.

Spelling tests are this week.  We will not have another spelling sort to study until after Winter Break.  The test schedule is below:

• Hamsters and Hedgehogs are Tomorrow
• Monkeys and Mice are Wednesday
• Lions and Lizards are Thursday

We will begin Ch. 5 in Science this week.  We will be learning about food chains, food webs, and the different Ecosystems.  Since the students really enjoyed, and did a great job with Science Stations, we will continue that with this chapter as well.  

IMPORTANT DATES & NEWS:

Tuesday, Nov. 17 - PTG Meeting in the Concord Library - 7 p.m.

• General information about all the exciting events being offered by our PTG and to learn about all of the exciting lessons going on in our library Makerspace. Students will be leading sessions on Osmo, legos, coding, and snap circuits.

Wednesday, Nov. 18 - Early Release - Dismissal at 1:40 p.m.

Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 25-27 - No School - Thanksgiving break!

Giving Tree 2015

Our giving tree is a wonderful opportunity for you to provide clothing, toys, gifts, and gift cards specific to our Helping Hands families. Click this link to our digital Giving Tree to learn more. There are still lots of spots available.

Helping Hands Week 3: Cleaning Products

You are doing an amazing job of supporting our Helping Hands project! Please bring in items such as bleach, window cleaner, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, sponges, disinfeting wipes, etc. Thank you!

Winter Festival: Teacher Raffle

Here is the document for the exciting teacher raffle. Feel free to download and print additional tickets to win lunch with a Concord Staff member.

Leader of the Week - Olivia

Information Book Launch

Mystery Reader - Kira's Dad

Thanks for coming to read to us today!  The kiddos enjoyed listening to you read the book "The Happy Hedgehog" to them!  They also loved that you were a surprise to Kira - she didn't guess!  ☺️ This book taught us a great lesson too!

ALEKS Completion - Hannah

Congrats on completing Level 3!!!

Veteran's Day

Thanks to all the heroes that came to celebrate with us today!  Thanks too for your service!!!

Leader of the Week - Sam

ALEKS PIE Completed by Zach!

Mystery Reader - Sam's Mom

Thanks for coming today, and for introducing us to a great author!  Kate DiCamillo is a fabulous author, and has written many great books.  The students enjoyed hearing the first two chapters of "Francince Poulet and the Ghost Racoon."  I love how you left them wanting to hear more!  😍 The best part about reading part of a book to them is now they can get the book for themselves and read it independently, or they can choose another book by the same author!  Thanks soooo much for reading to us today!

We Completed Our 3rd Grade ALEKS PIE

Congratulations to Luke and Jack for working sooo hard to complete their ALEKS PIES!!!!