Weekly Update

Greetings!

My goal for this blog is to share what we are doing on a weekly basis in Room 303 at Brownsville Elementary School.

Here is this week's update:

Language Arts - We started our first word study sort today.  Right now we're still learning different word study activities so the whole class has a sort related to commonly used words beginning with "a-" and "be-" (e.g., "about", "because").  We have also learned about synonyms (words that have the same meaning), antonyms (words that have opposite meanings), and homophones (words that sound the same but have different spellings/meanings).  As we read, we are learning to make different kinds of connections to ourselves and the world around us.  We have also been spending time learning how to use tools like the dictionary and thesaurus.

Writing - We have been brainstorming different topics to write about.  So far we have read books that model writing about our family, creating our own character(s), using memories from our own life and creating complex alphabet books that rhyme!  Right now students have the freedom to write about anything that interests them.  Soon we will choose a piece that we can take through the writing process (revising, editing, etc.).

We are learning about globes!

Social Studies - We played "Simon Says" today with geography vocabulary that we have learned in our Maps & Globes unit.  Students came up with creative ways to act out words like "hemisphere", "southwest", "prime meridian" and "coordinates".  We will have a Social Studies quiz this Wednesday on Citizenship (last week's study guide) as well as Maps & Globes (this week's study guide). 

We measure the "old school" way, with balance scales!

Math - This past week our class has been "rotating" through the 3rd grade learning about different ways to measure things.  For example, in my room, students learned about measuring the mass (weight) of an object.  We used both U.S. Customary units (ounces, pounds) and metric units (grams, kilograms).  Students worked with different types of scales including kitchen scales, balance scales and bathroom scales.  In other rooms, students measured distance, temperature and liquid volume.  Soon we will begin our unit on Place Value.  More info to come!

Parents, thanks for all that you do each day to make sure your child is prepared to learn here at school!

Sincerely,

Mr. Balnave