Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Testing...testing...

Hello!

Just a quick update from Room 303:

Today most of the triorama projects went home.  Please be on the lookout for them!  Some students opted to wait a day so that their dismissal schedule was more triorama-transportation friendly.

In class today we discussed homophones, or words that have the "same sound".  These words are tricky sometimes because they can be spelled differently.  We read the book Dear Deer, by Gene Baretta, and talked about the meaning of words like "moose"/"mousse", "kneaded"/"needed", and "feat"/"feet".  Can you think of any other words that have the same sound but different meanings?

Students did a great job identifying the homophones in this book!

Students also spent time reading and then explaining (and drawing) a connection they made when reading the story.  We have been practicing the skill of making connections to text.  Students should be familiar with "text to self", "text to text", and "text to world" connections.  For example, if I was reading a Geronimo Stilton book and one of the characters in the story climbed a mountain, it might remind me of the time I went hiking in the Rocky Mountains this past summer.  That would be a "text to self" connection because the book reminded me of something that I experienced personally.  Similarly, "text to text" connections happen when one book reminds the reader of another book, and "text to world" connections happen when a book reminds the reader of something they've heard about in the world, but haven't experienced (like a volcanic eruption, hopefully!).

We also continued our measurement rotations today!  The class visited other 3rd grade classrooms and learned about reasonable units to use when measuring distance, as well as a lesson on telling temperature by reading thermometers.  Students had a chance to measure the temperatures of five objects (ice, hot water, room temperature, etc.) and record both the degrees fahrenheit and degrees celsius for each.

Brrrrr...chilly!
Finally, a sincere thank you to the folks who attended Back to School Night last night.  It's always fun sharing 3rd grade with other adults and I hope it was worth your while to attend!  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to email me at:  jbalnave@k12albemarle.org

Best,

Mr. B

P.S.  Tonight's homework:
- Read for 20 minutes with a good book
- Reading Log (and HW packet) due Friday, 9/11.

Have fun!


Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Back 2 School Night 2015!

Greetings Parents!

Welcome to Room 303.  Please feel free to look around the room.

We will start once everyone has had a chance to arrive.

Thank you very much for coming!  My hope is that this blog will be a useful tool for students, parents and friends of our class.

Sincerely,

Mr. Balnave

P.S. - Tonight's homework is on the board:

- Read 20 minutes (or more) with a good book
- Reading log + HW Packet (due Friday)