Miss Barge's Third Grade Class: September 2015

Monday, September 28, 2015

September 25

This week students presented on Native American tribes they had researched. Students were given a choice on how they could present their information. Some groups chose to make posters while others made a play, video, or a power point.

What we are learning in school:

Language Arts: This week students reviewed how to visualize when reading. Students also learned how to identify a personal narrative. Students learned that personal narratives have to include one important incident from the author’s life, details, dialogue, the author’s thoughts and feelings, and that it needs to be about actual events.

Math: Students learned how to subtract with regrouping. We have also been working on mastering our addition facts.

Genius Hour: On Tuesday we began planning our Genius Hour projects. Students created a list of things they are interested in, passionate about, or wonder about. The idea of the project is to choose something that cannot be answered by a quick search on the internet. Students have to have their project approved by me before they can begin. Throughout this week, students will be given time to draw up a project proposal. This proposal will be signed by me, the student, and a parent. If students are not able to finish the proposal in class, it will be sent home as homework. On September 29, we will begin researching for our projects. I am planning on students presenting their projects towards the beginning of December. Please contact me if you have any questions. My hope is that this will be a fun learning opportunity for students and not an area of stress for you!

Important Dates:

October 2 – Camp Out with a Good Book forms due

October 6 (6:30-7:45) – Camp Out with a Good Book (see flyer that was sent home)

October 13 – First grading period ends (reading incentive paper due)

October 20 & 21 – Parent Teacher Conferences

October 22 & 23 – Fall Break

October 29 (9:05) – Honor Roll

ISTEP – Feb. 29-March 11

IREAD – March 14 – 18

ISTEP - April 18-May 6

Spelling Words

1. trays

2. minutes

3. classes

4. boxes

5. lunches

6. stories

7. families

8. pennies

9. because

10. today

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Genius Hour

We had a brainstorming session about our Genius Hour projects today! Students were supposed to answer the following questions: What are you passionate about? What do you want to know more about? What big questions do you have about the world? These questions are to help students come up with a project and topic that they can work on from now until December. We will spend some time each week researching for our projects and working on our presentations. We will start presenting our projects in December.

Students brought home their Genius Hour folders. These will need to come back by Tuesday. The folders have their brainstorming paper and two project proposals in them. Students need to come up with two project ideas by Tuesday. I will sit down with each student and discuss their ideas. I will approve one of them, and send home the approved proposal for you to sign as well.

Genius Hour projects need to have a question that cannot be answered by a quick internet search. Since students will be researching and working on these projects for several months, it needs to be something that will last that long and hold your child's attention.

Students need to bring back both proposals by Tuesday. They can bring them in any day this week, but must be completed by Tuesday.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the project. This is supposed to be a fun learning opportunity for students. I am looking forward to hearing their ideas! This project will be graded, but my focus is not on the grade, it is on students learning about a topic that interests them. There is a rubric in the Genius Hour folder that you can look at if you are interested.

Below are some videos we watched in class about Genius Hour. The first one explains what Genius Hour is and the second video has some examples of projects sixth grade students did at another school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQzKH7v0-Q

(Start at 1:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-FucEbUSM

Friday, September 18, 2015

September 21

Students had a lot of fun trying to figure out what name was on their backs. They were only told different character traits that described their person.

We discussed how projects and ideas take time. Students were given ten seconds to draw a picture of a clock. We realized that we would need more time to draw something creative. Students then took ten minutes to draw a clock. I was very impressed with what they thought of!

Students have been working on reading fluently and with expression!

What we are learning in school:

Language Arts: This week we learned how to visualize while we read. Students also learned how visualizing helps them identify character traits. We looked for clues in the text to tell us what character traits the characters in our books had. Some examples of traits students identified this week are athletic, caring, helpful, confident, and friendly.

Math: This week in math, students reviewed addition with regrouping. Our class seems to remember this from second grade, which is great! Next week we will begin working with subtraction and regrouping.

Genius Hour: This past Tuesday, I introduced students to Genius Hour. This is a block of time where students can research and learn about anything that interests them. On Tuesday, we will begin brainstorming different projects students can work on. The idea of the project is to choose something that cannot be answered by a quick search on the internet. I will send home some examples of projects on Tuesday. Students have to have their project approved by me before they can begin. Throughout this next week, students will be given time to draw up a project proposal. This proposal will be signed by me, the student, and a parent. If students are not able to finish the proposal in class, it will be sent home as homework. On September 29, we will begin researching for our projects. I am planning on students presenting their projects towards the beginning of December. Please contact me if you have any questions. My hope is that this will be a fun learning opportunity for students and not an area of stress for you!