Science Experiment Time!

Science Experiment Items:

   We are going to be making our own rocks in Science this week...most likely Friday. If you have any of the following items please send them in with your child... please and thank you!

 old/broken crayons

 crayon or pencil sharpener

 containers for holding the crayon shavings

 pieces of aluminum foil

popsicle stick or other disposable stirrer

clear plastic cups

sand

white glue (for pouring layers)

pebbles

We will be doing  THIS  experiment to create our own rocks. We will also be exploring how each of the the three types of rocks  are formed using a crayon shavings EXPERIMENT !  

If you are interested in joining us for either of these experiments please email me! We have science from 2:00-2:45 or 3....  We will most likely do the crayon rocks experiment on Thursday and the make your own rocks on Friday. 

Hello Friends!  I have to say I feel a little at a loss for words this week. Maybe it's because we got to talk during curriculum night, or maybe.....things are starting to settle down....either way here's the latest from room 107.

Heard in room 107 this week:

"Ms Soons, you're such a nerd" and "Sup Dudette"


SATURDAY ( aka....Tomorrow...I meant to write this post last night but fell asleep with my computer in my lap!)
   The "Welcome to GLOBE" event is tomorrow from 10-2. All the info is posted on the GLOBE Facebook page as well as in the GLOBE Gazette. I will be there with my family after our very, very , early soccer match!

Q & A
   There were questions about conferences and progress reports at curriculum night. The answers are in the GLOBE Gazette. The short answer is yes we will have both. The progress reports are set to come out in October at some point, although, I am not exactly sure what they will entail. I believe they will be in a rubric-like format from the discussions we have had as a team. As for conferences, there will be a school-wide scheduled conference date/s in November but I went ahead and sent out a Sign-Up Genius for our class for October. If the times are not conducive to your schedule please send me an email so that we can make arrangements to better accommodate you.

www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DAFAC28A4F58-parentteacher

Field Trips
  I am still waiting on an answer about our school's eligibility to utilize DCSS school buses for Field Trips. I am well versed in the DCSS paperwork and procedures for requesting & paying for buses. I will BUG,  I mean follow-up with the "Charter Guy" (name and title escapes me right now) and let you know. I did ask the kids to write down places of interest if we do go on field trips. Here's what they came up with....I will use their spelling here for effect! :)

Fernbank     Spane     Nature Senter   Mishigan   Disney World   Russia   Movies (Smurf's 2) LOL!!

Beach    NYC     China   North Pole   USA (? not sure about that one ?)  Six Flags  France

Hong Kong   Fox Theater      Florida Lego Land   Art Museum  aquireeem  Zoo  White Water

Alfereta   Braves Game  Stone Mountain   Stars and Strikes  St Paul Adoption Center

My Backyard  Somewhere to help animals    Nursing Home to help old and sick people

Science
   We began learning about rocks today. I'm looking for some fun experiments/activities to do with the kids so I will likely ask for some household items once I decide what we are going to do. I'll post those requests here next week!

Ok...so I had plenty to say....

CULTURE ABOUNDS!
 
    We kicked off last week with our first of many lessons from our Partner Teacher Wu Laoshi. The students created Chinese lanterns, tried a taste of moon cakes, chose Chinese names, and learned some basic greetings. Today, Wu Laoshi attempted to teach the children a Chinese song...but they were slightly confused....SO WAS I!! Mandarin is not as easy to learn as French, that's for sure. We will keep listening to the song and practicing...at least there was a lot of laughter! :)

FRENCH

  The students learned all about clothing in French last week. If you didn't get the video I emailed, just let me know and I'll re-send it to you. We listened to French Cafe music as we created artwork and labeled it in French. We had some really nice work...there were also some French aliens and a French Ninja!

This Week's Curriculum:

Reading: Questioning Strategies that aid in comprehension
Writing: Narrative Writing
ELA: Concrete and Abstract Nouns
Math: Multiplication with repeated addition and arrays
Science: ROCKS and Minerals  (*I have embraced my inner scientist..and I found some really great activities for the students...I realize that I can't shy away from dirt my whole life!  HA!)
SStudies: We are almost done with our Historical Figures

QUESTIONS:

I haven't heard back yet about field trips or progress reports but I will certainly be asking at our stafff meeting tomorrow and I'll let you know. In the meantime, I will create a sign-up genius for individual conferences. I know that there will be a schedule coming from Brandi, but I thought I'd go ahead and get the ball rolling. Look for the sign-up link and answers to the other questions...coming soon!
 
 ALSO...here is a photo of your children having FUN Friday game time....they earned it! I just Love them!

Happenings

 Special thanks to Mr. M for coming to our rescue and bringing the shop vac to our class. The water was swept up by 10 am and the rug dried in the sun by 3pm. A bunch of the strong kids helped me carry it back into the classroom and all was well!

CHINESE CULTURE
Wu Laoshi  (woo Lao shh) will be teaching our class all about China's Autumn Festival and the students will begin learning about Chinese culture and traditions during specials time on Mondays and Tuesdays! In addition, Wu Laoshi will teach Chinese numbers, days of the week and months of the year as well as some basic phrasing during calendar math every day! The students will be keeping Chinese Culture Interactive notebooks to record what they learn. I will send them home to show you what is happening once we get started!

MYSTERY READER
  We had our 3rd mystery reader on Friday! If you are coming to be a mystery reader, please bring  a few of your child's favorite books and send me a few "clues" about you. I usually tell the children the clues during morning meeting so they can guess who you are. We go to lunch and then recess immediately after you read so you are welcome to stay if you like!

MATH HOMEWORK
  Just in case you are wondering, the math homework contains problems from each domain we are required to learn in third grade. If your child is having trouble with some of the concepts, that is expected. These problems are an exercise in exposure and inquiry. Help your child with the 'harder' problems but do not worry if they don't exactly get it. The idea is that by the time we get to those standards, your child will feel confident having seen similar problems all year. I will teach them all of this and more! BTW, most of the kids don't seem to be phased in the least by many of the 'unknown' concepts! I will be speaking with our MATH expert in order to bring some more challenging work. We will also begin Math centers this week.

COMPUTERS
  If anyone is savvy with PC's , I'd love some help with parental controls. Last week, a few boy were looking up info on their historical figure and a bikini clad girl popped up on screen! Nothing terrible but I am not comfortable allowing students to conduct research w/o Wu Laoshi or my guidance since that happened. I'd appreciate any help as I am a more familiar with MAC.

GLOBE and The Little Shop of Stories
 Check out THIS link to see what LSOS is doing with Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. We had a parent present the idea at our last staff meeting that we read this book school-wide and create some activities of our own in addition to inviting the author to our school and possibly booking the performance for our school. The staff LOVED the idea so be on the look-out....we will need help!

Social Studies Presentation

  We had our first presentation on Friday! The group wrote  a play about Eleanor Roosevelt and it was AWESOME!! I look forward to the rest of our groups presenting.

See you at Curriculum Night on Thursday from 6:30-7:30. The focus will be on Reader's and Writer's Workshop. You'll get to see a video of our class learning about Seed Stories...... :) Hope to see you there! 

What a Wonderful Wednesday!

First of all, I forgot to say thank you for the First Aid Kit! We've already used it twice for our class and once for another class who didn't have a kit yet. It is quite full with supplies of all kinds...THANKS!

We had art today...so I thought I'd share some photos of your little artists. The students worked on portraits of a pal by looking at their 'subject' in order to sketch an outline of their face and features. I must say, they are really really good!

Ms. Gill and the ART CART! When you see the cart, be ready to start! :)

Our Social Studies projects are coming along nicely and the students should be ready to present next week.  Here a few shots of the nearly finished products.

 Paul Revere research on one of our new LAPTOPS !

Dieur Wu helping the children. (The kids call her Wu lao shu=Wu Teacher)

Susan B. Anthony

Thurgood Marshall

This team wrote a play to teach the class about Eleanor Roosevelt

We have been discussing self evaluation and reflection on learning this week. Since we will not be using grades as a means of reporting our progress, the students need to understand how well they are doing when it comes to meeting the requirements for third grade. Here is the self evaluation rubric system we are using.

Levels of Understanding

Kid friendly!

Last but not least, one of our friends has left us for an opportunity she couldn't pass up. Our sweet class gave her hugs and high fives to say goodbye. They are the best and the kindest children ever! 

MUSIC:

I GOT THE MUSIC IN ME!!!

Music Updates:  Ms. Mashburn has released info for ordering recorders. You should have received the order form via the Globe Gazette. Just in case you didn't get it,  I will send a mass email with the attachment. Also, if you have questions about the online game see the letter from Ms. Mashburn Below!
Happy Monday everyone. :)

Hello GLOBE parents,

I have had a few questions about the online recorder game listed as an option for purchase on the recorder order form. 

There are actually two games available from JoyTunes to make music learning and recorder practice exciting and interactive.  Register and give them both a try for free at www.joytunes.com/teachers.php?tok=rmashburn13@yahoo.com. Students will need to connect to me (select "Connect to Teacher") and I will immediately receive feedback about their practice and understanding. There are many free resources and purchase is not necessary in the first few levels, so please take the time to register. The best part is they play their recorder to control the game and it only requires a microphone on your computer - if you use Skype, you are fine. Here are the options:

1) Recorder Master Game (try for free via link or on AppStore for ipad) - Complete "worlds" by playing the recorder and scores are sent to Ms. Mashburn. Extra games can be purchased online for $14.99 through the JoyTunes company.

2) Recorder Express Game (try for free via link, not available on AppStore) goes page by page in our recorder text book and supports their learning through interactive games. I receive immediate feedback about their practice time and can plan more individualized instruction based on the scores.

Again, even if you decide not to purchase the activation code for the full game, all students should register and give the games a try as they offer many free and fun resources.

If you know you would like to purchase the Recorder Express Game Activation Code, please include the additional $10 with your recorder order form. If you wait to purchase the code, it will cost $14.99.  I have attached the order form, in case you haven't received a copy.

Please contact me at rebecca.mashburn@theglobeacademy.org with any questions.

Thanks,

Rebecca Mashburn, Music Specialist

GLOBE Academy

MULTIPLICATION!

Dear Friends,
  I noticed on FB that there are some questions regarding the time frame in our curriculum for learning Multiplication Facts. Well, it's never too early to start. I'd say that about half of the class already knows their facts fluently. This is wonderful, however, do not be alarmed if your child hasn't learned them yet! We will start skip counting the 2's, 5's and 10's this week since the children ALL already know how to do this! We will be writing Multiplication Songs to help us remember the facts as the year goes on. Our curriculum doesn't really delve into multiplication until after the winter break, but we will be slowly adding skip counting into our daily routine.
  In the meantime, www.multiplication.com has oodles of facts games that your child can play if you'd like to get a jumpstart on them! Also, good old fashioned flash cards and drills are great as well. I remember my mom practicing my facts with me in the car when I was a kid!
 
You can also check out out THIS MULTIPLICATION SITE  for songs and practice! This is one of my favorite references for facts.

Thanks! :)

Short Week, FULL Week!

Hello  Friends! I have LOTS of updates and info for you today!

1.    We have received many classroom gifts this week! THANK YOU! We now have a few more learning games and centers, a new bean bag, a lamp, a custom/handmade bird house, a new teacher partner, and 2 BRAND NEW LAPTOP COMPUTERS!!!

      The RHAME Family Foundation (http://www.rhamefamilyfoundation.org/) generously awarded our class with two laptops for use in our centers and projects! All I had to do was write a little grant and VOILA! :)  We are so super lucky. I'll take them home this weekend and get them ready for use on Monday!

YAY!!

THANK YOU FOR THE BIRDHOUSE!! Created by Ernest W. Gaines for our class! 

3. Social Studies Projects are coming along nicely! We will begin teaching each other about our important historical figures next week. I will share my feedback with you on Curriculum Night!

Eleanor Roosevelt

Mary McLeod Bethune

Lyndon B Johnson

FDR

Paul Revere

Cesar Chavez

                                   

Susan B. Anthony



4.  Math Data Notebooks are complete! We have begun the process of evaluating ourselves, setting learning goals and tracking our own progress! 

 5. Our full time Teacher Partner has actually really truly arrived and we met her today! Her name is Dier Wu (DEAR WOO). She will be teaching some Mandarin Language and Chinese culture, calendar math and she will work with students in writing and reading conferences.

6. Our P.E. coach started this week, so the kids may be a little tired when they get home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


It was a very full short week! I'll be posting more on reading assessments and Curriculum Night info.
Have a wonderful weekend!