Assembly on Friday

Students are allowed to wear their winter PJs or best tacky holiday sweater on Friday.  We will also be having a winter assembly from 2:00 to 3:00 on Friday.  Parents / Families are always welcome! Please join us as we sing holiday songs and enjoy performances from several classes.  Happy holidays!

Polar Express

We are looking for a copy of the Polar Express to watch in class on Friday.  If you have a copy that you could loan to us please send it in with your child.  Thank you!

Questions to Ask Your Child:

Here are some conversation starters about our class this week:

• Where was Buddy the elf? What mischief did he cause? 
• What is area? How can you find it? When in real life would you need to use it? 
• What is perimeter? How can you find it? When in real life would you need to use it?
• Can different shapes have the same area?
• Can different shapes have the same perimeter? 
• What is informational writing? 

Holiday Jammies / Tacky Sweaters on Friday

To show our HMS holiday spirit, students can wear pajamas or their favorite tacky holiday sweater this coming Friday, December 23rd! The tackier the better - tinsel, bows, lights - be creative! We will also be watching the Polar Express on this day! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

New AR Goals Set!

This trimester, AR will be done little bit differently.  Students decided on teams of 3 students.  They were then given a team goal, based on their individual Lexile Levels.   Students worked collaboratively to decide how many points each student on their team had to earn.  In order for the team to earn a prize, every person on the team must meet their goal! Even if a team beats its team goal, if one member didn't do their part then they do not earn a prize.  This helps to encourage students to cheer each other on and work together.  For this challenge, students can read books together and then take the quiz together as well if they would like.  Students can also help each other find good fit books or pass books that they recommend along to their teammates.  We will try to find some time each week for groups to get together and work on reaching their AR goals.  Happy reading and good luck to all of the teams as they work together!

FREEZING COLD WEATHER.... BRRRR!

Tomorrow is expected to be VERY cold! Please be sure to dress accordingly.  Chances are it will be indoor recess, but please always assume that we are going outside and dress for the weather just incase! Students that are not dressed appropriately will have to borrow clothes from the nurse in order to go outside or they will need to stay in the warm office until recess is done.  We want all students to be safe and warm! Thank you so much for your support in this!

Chapter Six Math Test

Tomorrow will be our chapter six math test.  Please make sure to come to school with the most important thing... a growth mindset! You can conquer any challenge on this test if you believe in yourself and use all of the different tools and strategies that work for you!  Also, don't forget, it doesn't matter how quickly you solve a problem - take your time and use as many different ways to prove your thinking as you can! I believe in each and everyone of you but most importantly you need to believe in YOURSELF to be successful!

Students in Need

In the spirit of holiday giving, I was hoping that some families might have some extra winter gear that they no longer need.  We have several students in our school in need of boots, gloves, hats, winter jackets etc.  If you have anything lying around the house that is too small or no longer used for your children and could donate it that would be greatly appreciated! All sizes are needed.  Please just send it in with your child and I will make sure it finds a good home where it will be used.  Also, if you are a family in need, please just send an email or call me and I will see what I can do.  Cold weather is on it's way and we want to make sure every child is safe and warm.  Thank you so very much!

Just a Reminder to Join Ady's Army for the Polar Express this SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18th @SNHU

Ady Receives the Hooksett Youth Achiever Award!

 

Tonight, one of our classmates earned the Hooksett Youth Achiever of the Month Award from the Town Council!

 Ady was recognized for her commitment to helping others and her fundraising efforts for programs such as the Jimmy Fund and Alex's Lemonade Stand.  One of the teams that Ady was a part of raised over half of a million dollars - with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Dana-Farber! Way to go above and beyond, Ady! Our whole class and school community are so proud of you!

Thank you, everyone!

I just wanted to thank all of my students and parents for being so flexible over the last two weeks.  My son, Cam, just seems to catch everything this season so that unfortunately has been the cause of my being out so much, and I absolutely HATE being out and missing a day in class to work with the students.  I have to say that the sub always leaves a glowing report of our class, so thank you to each and every student for being safe, respectful, and responsible as well as flexible and going with the flow in our lack of consistency lately! I can't say I'm surprised! :) Way to go, 3L!

Questions to Ask Your Child This Week

12/12
What is division?
What are some strategies you can use to solve division problems?
What is the most important thing to remember during math? 
What are some ways to make your narrative writing more interesting?
How can you convince your reader in argument writing? 
What argument piece are you working on in class?   

A GREAT resource for parents about Growth Mindsets

Check out this amazing resource for PARENTS: Mindset Kit. 
It is a mini class with short videos and activities for parents to complete to help them understand more about growth mindsets.  We talk about growth mindsets each and every day in our class so having the same language at home can be very beneficial!

Join Ady's Army for the Polar Express!

Play Kakooma at home

In class, we learned how to play Kakooma.  This game can be played at home, too, and is a great way to practice fact fluency.  Follow the steps below to get started!

Visit this website: http://gregtangmath.com/kakooma
Click Practice
Select multiplication and the honeycomb version (see below)

Select the level of difficulty you want - easy sun more challenging clouds. 

Have fun growing your brain! 

OR visit the link, click play, and start at level two! 

Questions to ask your child this week

Looking for something specific to ask your child about school?
Here are a few questions from the week that can start a great family conversation.

11/28
What is Kaboom?
What is Kakooma? 
How can you give a summary of a text in one sentence? 
What is an inference? How can you make an inference? 
What are some strategies that you can use to multiply? 

Math fact fluency games

Marlee reflecting on our math lesson. 

Caden reflecting on his math thinking. 

Playing Kaboom to practice math fact fluency. 

Playing Kakooma for math fact fluency. 

Making our class multiplication chart

Students working together to create a multiplication chart for our class. Students had to prove their thinking as they created a chart for the class to refer to.  They could not use the same strategy twice.  

Thank you to the Hooksett Grange for our dictionaries

Multiplication using facts you know

Book Order Reminer

Just a friendly reminder to get your holiday book orders in! If you want your order to be a holiday present, just let me know and I will leave your books in the office for pickup instead of sending them home with your happy.  Happy reading!

Holiday Book Orders

December book orders will be going home today!  All orders must be placed online by Wednesday, December 7th.  If you are purchasing a book as a holiday surprise: please just send me an email and I won't send the book home with your child.  I will instead let you know when your order arrives so that you can pick it up in the office at your convenience.

Challenge Winner

This week's challenge winner is Cam! Way to go!

Shoeboxes

Thank you SO much to everyone that has brought in extra shoeboxes! We are still short by 4 boxes.  Our hope is to start working on our projects on Thursday so any extras before then would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Still need shoeboxes

Our class is still in need of 6 shoeboxes for an upcoming art project.  If you have any extras at home that you could donate to our class we would all greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

Questions to Ask Your Child

11/14
What is multiplication? 
What are some different ways to find the product? 
What is inferencing? 
How can you show the reader how a character is feeling instead of telling them in a narrative? 

Mentor Paragraph from Author Isabel

This week, Author Isabel, wrote our mentor paragraph! Read below for the narrative Author Isabel created. Our class then tried to imitate Isabel's writing as all students wrote about a time that they got in trouble! We learned that starting with a quote, action, sound, or feeling is a great hook for the reader!

Pant pant pant.  I headed down the hall making sure to take my time.  Thoughts raced through my head.  Why in the world was I going to the Principal’s? It was only Thursday.  It would be the weekend soon.  I saw the door to the office and noticed my hand was shaking as I reached for the door.  I opened it and the lady smiled.  It was too late… The next thing I knew I was seated next to my BFF, Jake, who looked as worried as I was.   “So”  began the Principal, “did you see this young man get slapped in the face?”  “No!” I told him.  “I was picked up early.” “Oh” he said.  “You may return to your room.”  I was relieved I gratefully rushed back to my room.  I didn’t know why I was involved.  Thoughts were still racing through my head.  What had happened to Jake?  Was he okay? But most importantly, who in their right mind would hit Jake in the face?  The light was off in my classroom and nobody was there.  The lunch cart was gone so I assumed my class ws at lunch.  When I got to the cafeteria I knew everything would be fine.  So, I just let things carry on.  Now whenever I’m called down to the Principal’s I know not to worry too much.  

This Week's Challenge Winner Is...

BELLA! Way to go, Bella!

New Videos Posted in Google Classroom

Need help with bar models? Want to watch our writing lesson this week? Check out Google Classroom and watch real videos of our class at work! Follow along and complete each activity from home.

Shoeboxes Needed Please

Hello everyone! Our class needs shoeboxes for an upcoming art project! Please send you child in with a shoebox with their name written on it ASAP.  Also, if you have some extras that you could send in for students who do not bring one in that would be greatly appreciated!  We need to top and bottom of the box to create a habitat diorama.  Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you so much to all of the families that attended parent teacher conferences today! I greatly enjoyed talking with everyone and thank each and every one of you for your continued support!

Google Classroom Video

Need help with bar modeling? Check out our Google Classroom to watch videos of our class lessons! Follow along for some extra practice.

Halloween JOKES Video

Check out our Google Classroom to see the video of our class telling Halloween jokes!

Happy Halloween!

Today our class had some fall fun! We learned about Dia De Los Muertos and also told Halloween jokes!

Bar Modeling: for PARENTS

Last year, I created a presentation for parents about bar modeling.  Below are some slides with information about what bar models are, why they are useful in mathematics, the different types of bar models, sample problems, and ways to help your child be successful with bar models.  If you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to contact me.   We will be starting this chapter on Friday, October 28th.

For example, trying using 3 cakes and 1 cake.  

What would you do to solve the problem? 

Then replace with the greater numbers. 

3rd grade monster

The monster is complete!

UPDATE: Google Classroom!

I previously said that our "Tech Directors" would be posting lessons to Kidblog.  However, Kidblog has size restrictions for files so after some problem solving we will be using Google Classroom to post and view videos of class lessons.  We will be going over this in class later this week, but students can log into their Google emails / accounts to accept their invite to Google Classroom.  Any student that does this at home over the course of the week will be earn a special prize! Let's see who checks the blog and can problem solve and log into Google Classroom!

Questions of the Week to Ask Your Child

What does the "Tech Director" of the day do? 
What is a regular plural?
How do you know if you have to regroup when subtracting? Can you think of an example? 
Do you think recess should be before of after lunch? 
What are some examples of habitats? What animals / plants can you find living there? 
Can you explain how to regroup when finding the difference between 2,000 and 999? 

Tech Directors of the Day

Throughout the week, different students in our class will be filming a lesson from the day so that we can post it to Kidblog! This way, if a student is struggling or absent, they can log into Kidblog and watch the lesson from home.  Our whole class will be learning how to use an iPad to film, send a video to Google Drive, and upload a video to Kidblog.  We unfortunately can't film every aspect of our day, but we will try to pick a lesson from each subject throughout the week.

Today's "Tech Directors" are Cam and Caden.

New Kidblog RULE

Hello everyone,

In order to encourage more class discussions and build our class community, I have created a new Kidblog rule.  In order to create a post, or question for the class, you have to first respond to at least TWO other classmates.  You can respond to math posts and answer the question, or you can read a classmates paragraph / writing and leave them two stars and a wish. THEN, you can create a paragraph post or math question for the class.  Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

KidBlog = WOW!

I am SO impressed by the number of students that logged into Kidblog over the weekend! I saw such thoughtful paragraphs written by so many authors in our class, great thinking explained by our mathematicians, and most importantly, lots of positive notes and two stars and a wish written by our class community to one another! Way to go 3L!

Face Time

Today our class used Face Time to talk with a classmate that couldn't join us in school! It was so fun to use technology to stay connected as a class community!

Kidblog Weekend Challenge!

Any students that log into Kidblog this weekend and answer Makayla's question and at LEAST one of Cam's challenge subtraction problems will be able to have lunch in the class one day next week! Please be sure to use math vocabulary words in your comment! Let's show what great growth mindsets we have and give it a try!

Questions to Ask Your Child

Don't forget to visit out new tab Quesions to Ask Your Child.  This page is designed to encourage specific conversations about what we are working on each week in school. 

Week of 10/11

What is a main idea?
Who was the first African American to play in the Major Leagues?
What does it mean to regroup?
What is the sum?

KidBlog

I am SO impressed with the number of students that have been logging in to Kidblog each night to post questions for our class to answer the next day! Way to go above and beyond Kody, Ayvree, and Cam!

Book Order

Just a reminder to place your book orders online ASAP!

Who's who?

Today two of our students looked like twins! Can you tell who is who?

This week's winner is...

Avery! Way to go!

Zones of Regulation

Today in guidance, students learned about the zones of regulation.