Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Welcome to 3rd grade!  Thanks for visiting my blog.  Here you will find weekly blog entries, photos, and videos connected to what is happening in our classroom.  Today, I want to share a little bit about myself.  This is my tenth year of teaching!  I currently live in Newington with my husband and two daughters.  You will get to hear a lot about them during the school year!  Brooklyn is 3 and Camryn is 1.  During the summer, we spent everyday doing something FUN!  We spent two weeks at our beach cottage, days at the local park, evenings getting ice cream at Carvel,  a day at the farm, and we read lots and LOTS of books!  Both of my daughters love to "read!"  I am sharing a summer mosaic of pictures from our beach vacation of Brooklyn, Camryn, my cousins Emi and Dori, and my nephew Mason.  Enjoy!  I look forward to a SUPER school year with all of you!

Also, check out a video of myself that I created last year!

 

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today I have two great books to share with you!  The first one is a collection of poetry that we will study throughout the week as part of our morning work.  It is from a book called Mirror Mirror and it features poetry written in "reversible verse."  Ask your child what this means!  Today we read "In Reverse," which introduces the craft of the book to readers.  Throughout the rest of the week, we will read, study, and reread "Cinderella's Double Life," as another exposure to a version of Cinderella and two different point of views on the fairy tale.  At Reader's Workshop time, we started the book The Egyptian Cinderella.  As we read this text we are noticing how culture impacts the setting, characters, archetypes, and events of a fairy tale.  Throughout this week, our focus will be noticing cultural effects on fairy tales.  Happy Reading!   

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today we did a variety of activities during reader's workshop.  First, we read and explicated the "May" John Updike poem.  We are certainly ready for spring and this warm weather that has finally arrived!  Mr. Updike does a beautiful job describing the "growing season" that spring is!  We then started the fractured fairy tale, Sidney Rella and the Glass Sneaker.  We read chapter 1 and we are already noticing the changes that the author makes compared to the original version and what she keeps the same.  Tomorrow we will organize our thoughts on a Venn Diagram.  Happy Reading!
 

Math Centers

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today students took the Blue Ribbon reading test, so we did not get to share a good book.  However, we did have the end of our Reader's Workshop block of time to begin our new genre study of fairy tales!  We will end the school year with a close study of the fairy tale genre, including a study of its special elements, fractured fairy tales, and even spend some time rewriting fairy tales!  It will be a fun, magical way to end the year!

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

In our final week studying Social Change, we read Nadia's Hands by Karen English.  This book is one of my favorites, as its message encourages readers to think openly about other cultures.  The story tells about Nadia, a Pakastani girl, who will be her aunt's flower girl in her upcoming wedding.  Prior to the wedding, Nadia's hands are painted with mehndi, a paste made from the leaves of the henna tree.  Nadia worries about what her classmates will think.  What would you think?  Ask yourself, what makes your culture unique?  At the end of the story, Nadia feels confident about going to school with her mehndi hands, as they are an important part of her culture and heritage.

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

This week we are continuing our genre unit of study on Social Change.  We will be studying the life of Jackie Robinson throughout the week by reading a variety of non-fiction and literary non-fiction texts.  Today we started with Teammates.  This is a book about Jackie's start in the Major Leagues with the help of Branch Rickey and teammate Pee Wee Reese.  The book describes Jackie Robinson as a hero for not only breaking the color barrier in baseball, but for enduring the abusive fans in the stadium while he played.  We will also read Testing the Ice, a TFK biography on Jackie Robinson, Promises to Keep, and A Negro League Scrapbook.  We will compare and contrast the information that we learn in each text.  We will also study digit resources, including Jackie Robinson's official website, photos, and videos.