What a week it's been in third grade! We started things off with a field trip and ended with Run4Fund$ prize day. Luckily, we managed to get some work done in between! Writing this week centered on one guiding question: Are trampolines safe? Third graders read an article that detailed reasons trampolines can be both fun and dangerous. Third graders then determined their own opinion and began writing about it. Students even typed their final copies on a Google Doc! Next week, we will continue with the opinion writing process, shifting our focus over to chocolate milk… Should schools be serving it? We began a new math unit this week: Multi-Digit Addition and Subtraction. The unit centers on rounding strategies and solving 2- and 3- digit addition/subtraction problems. This week, we learned all about rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. Specifically, we focused on why/how we use rounding in everyday life, and how we could use it to help solve complex estimation problems. We will continue with this work next week, and also tackle strategies to use when solving multi-step word problems. Reader’s workshop this week centered on grit and perseverance. Third graders learned that to become an expert reader, it takes grit. Students must work hard to power through hard words and track their comprehension. We also talked about how grit and perseverance are life skills. Things don’t always come easy, and when they don’t, it takes hard work to achieve great things. As a class, we used two model texts (Ada Twist: Scientist and After the Fall). While reading the books, third graders were challenged to consider the author’s purpose, particularly what lesson was behind each story. During workshop time, students also read about a noteworthy individual, Shaquem Griffin. He currently plays in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks and serves as an excellent representation of both grit and perseverance. Be sure to ask your student about it this weekend! See below for a few fun pictures from our Denver field trip. Third graders did a great job exploring and learning about the downtown area. Next week, students will use all that they've learned about Denver and report out using Cottonwood's green screen!
We've cruised through a short week, and third graders really hit the ground running! In addition to learning new academic content, students displayed their Cottonwood spirit through participation in our Run4Fund$! It was great watching third graders fly through their laps, and many were determined to keep on going. All pledges/donations are due back Friday, September 13th!
In the classroom, math was all about balancing equations and using variables to represent unknown numbers. Third graders encountered problems that included unknown variables and worked to determine not only what the problem was asking, but find the missing information and solve. Reader's Workshop this week was all about making strong predictions and retelling a story. As readers, we make predictions without even noticing! Our goal this week was to notice, and also back up our predictions with explanations on why/how we thought something would happen. Retelling a story was also a teaching point this week. Often, when retelling a story, we feel the urge to talk about the whole thing and try to incorporate every little detail. As readers, our goal is to only feature the main points and engage in the retelling process to improve our overall understanding. Denver History this week was focused on the famous people of Denver's history. Specifically, those that made a name not only for themselves, but also for our capitol city. Our first individual of study was Molly Brown, known for her "unsinkable" personality. Third graders were riveted when learning about her travels, most specifically her plight on the Titanic. Next week, we will be studying even more famous individuals and work to discover their influence on Denver! *Don't forget! Our Denver field trip is Tuesday, September 17th. Our class is incredibly lucky and has already had multiple volunteers to chaperone. Unfortunately, we are only able to bring 4 chaperones with our class on the trip. Because of this, third grade teachers will randomly select chaperones from each class through a lottery system. If you are not contacted to chaperone by September 12th, this means your name was not drawn and we will not be needing you. Thank you all so much for volunteering. There will be another opportunity in the spring!* Also... Our story parent sign-up is live! Feel free to sign-up by clicking the button below. On your story day please bring in some books to read aloud to third graders. They love it! |
Author
Mrs. Minatta is a third grade teacher at Cottonwood Creek Elementary. See and read all about what third graders are up to throughout the school year! Archives
March 2021
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