Happy Friday 3rd grade families!
Red Ribbon week was a great success. The kiddos seemed to enjoy dressing up, and I'm sure that they are going to love our book character dress up day even more! Mrs. Thorum and I have a big surprise planned for our students in terms of our costumes. I had to search for days for the right socks. Accessories, accessories!
I've been talking to students in our small group math instruction about what their plan is for the future, given our district theme of "What's Your Plan?" Today, one of my students told me they wanted to be a teacher when they grew up, and then proceeded to ask me why I became a teacher. I hate to admit I wasn't completely honest with this student. I told them I became a teacher because I wanted to help people. That I love learning, and love sharing knowledge, and the biggest enjoyment of my day is when a student has an "aha!" moment. But in reality, that's just part of the reason. When I was in 7th grade back home in Seattle, I had a math teacher who was well liked and respected. Everyone thought he was the most amazing teacher, both parents and students alike. I had done well in math all through elementary school, but when I hit junior high, I began to struggle a bit. Algebra was too complex for me at the time, I excelled at reading, but math was my weak point. He would write problems on the board and then call students up to answer them in front of the class. During class one day, he called on me, and I walked up to the board, shaking and sweating with anxiety. I did my best to solve the problem, and turned around to face the class. He began laughing at me, and the whole class joined in. He then proceeded to mock me and degrade me in front of the class. That was my turning point. From that moment on, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher, so that at least in my class, there would never be a student who would feel degraded or humiliated. They would always feel safe to take a chance, to solve something incorrectly, to learn, and be supported.
Of course, there were other teachers as I progressed through school who motivated and inspired me. And I took bits and pieces from things I learned and applied them to my own classroom. I love teaching, and I love each and every one of your kids! So as we move our way through multiplication and (gasp!) division (that sound effect was directly from some of my students!) I hope they feel the excitement of learning new math skills.
We will continue multiplication through November 10th, and then move on to relating multiplication to division. After Thanksgiving, we will work on applying our new skills of multiplication and division to two-step problems. That will continue until Christmas break.
I hope you all have a restful weekend! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Warmly,
Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 31st - Book Character Dress-up Day
November 7th - Early Release
November 7th - PISD Showcase: 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
Our new unit
Hello 3rd grade families!
Today marked the beginning of our new unit, which will be on multiplication and division. I am excited for this unit, and so are the kids! When I asked them to guess what we would be studying next, and someone guessed multiplication, they all cheered! I love their excitement and desire for learning. It's contagious :)
I sent home the optional homework today, which covers some of the things we have learned since school started. There was also a home-school connection letter, which provided you with some ideas on how to help your child with the concept of multiplication. We are starting with multiplication as repeated addition, and then moving on to arrays.
For science, our next unit will be on weather. Mainly, how the seasons change and how meteorologists predict the weather. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the lesson about changing seasons, because here we are almost to November, and it's still 80 degrees outside! I guess we will learn about hypothetical seasons instead!
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
-Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 31st - Book character dress-up day
November 7th - Early Release & Showcase
Today marked the beginning of our new unit, which will be on multiplication and division. I am excited for this unit, and so are the kids! When I asked them to guess what we would be studying next, and someone guessed multiplication, they all cheered! I love their excitement and desire for learning. It's contagious :)
I sent home the optional homework today, which covers some of the things we have learned since school started. There was also a home-school connection letter, which provided you with some ideas on how to help your child with the concept of multiplication. We are starting with multiplication as repeated addition, and then moving on to arrays.
For science, our next unit will be on weather. Mainly, how the seasons change and how meteorologists predict the weather. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the lesson about changing seasons, because here we are almost to November, and it's still 80 degrees outside! I guess we will learn about hypothetical seasons instead!
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
-Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 31st - Book character dress-up day
November 7th - Early Release & Showcase
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Data, data, everywhere!
Good evening 3rd grade families!
This coming Friday will mark the end of our unit on data. However, I will continue to review data throughout the year. Dot plots, pictographs, and bar graphs have all been the topic of conversation in my room this last week. I posted pictures of my two math classes participating in a fitness test, and then using data sheets to make a bar graph. Our next step will be to compile all of our data and share it with Coach Polasek!
I've really enjoyed teaching this unit, and I think that my students have enjoyed it as well. I've postponed the unit assessment for data until October 25th. We will review on the 24th, and then take our test on the 25th. There were many factors that influenced my decision, but mainly because the 3rd grade play is on Tuesday, and we have two learning checks this week (one for math, one for science). The next unit will begin on the 25th, after our test, and it will be on multiplication.
I remember when I was in school (probably 3rd or 4th grade), and had to learn my multiplication facts. I struggled to memorize them, and I couldn't for the life of me memorize the 8's and 9's. No matter how many songs or rhymes the teacher taught me, I could not commit it to memory. It took time and a lot of patience from both my parents and my teacher, but I finally mastered them!
I know there will be students who will struggle with the concept of multiplication, and there will be those that pick it up quickly. No matter where they are on their learning journey, I will do my best to help them build confidence and guide them on their way.
I hope you have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 18th 9:30 a.m. - 3rd grade play
October 31st - Book character dress-up day
This coming Friday will mark the end of our unit on data. However, I will continue to review data throughout the year. Dot plots, pictographs, and bar graphs have all been the topic of conversation in my room this last week. I posted pictures of my two math classes participating in a fitness test, and then using data sheets to make a bar graph. Our next step will be to compile all of our data and share it with Coach Polasek!
I've really enjoyed teaching this unit, and I think that my students have enjoyed it as well. I've postponed the unit assessment for data until October 25th. We will review on the 24th, and then take our test on the 25th. There were many factors that influenced my decision, but mainly because the 3rd grade play is on Tuesday, and we have two learning checks this week (one for math, one for science). The next unit will begin on the 25th, after our test, and it will be on multiplication.
I remember when I was in school (probably 3rd or 4th grade), and had to learn my multiplication facts. I struggled to memorize them, and I couldn't for the life of me memorize the 8's and 9's. No matter how many songs or rhymes the teacher taught me, I could not commit it to memory. It took time and a lot of patience from both my parents and my teacher, but I finally mastered them!
I know there will be students who will struggle with the concept of multiplication, and there will be those that pick it up quickly. No matter where they are on their learning journey, I will do my best to help them build confidence and guide them on their way.
I hope you have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 18th 9:30 a.m. - 3rd grade play
October 31st - Book character dress-up day
Sunday, October 2, 2016
October
Hello 3rd grade families!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This week is full of activities! Tuesday we have our awards assembly, Thursday will mark the beginning of our life skills classes, and Friday we have a unit assessment and an author's visit. Our unit assessment on Friday will be over addition and subtraction, this unit will end Thursday and we will review then for the test Friday. Our next unit starts Monday, October 10th. During this unit, students will learn about pictographs, bar graphs, and dot plots. This unit will end mid-October, and then we will begin multiplication!
For science, we finished our unit on properties of matter, and will be moving into investigating matter and change. We will complete a short unit on weather during the second six weeks grading period.
Our guided math framework is up and running fairly smoothly, and the students are really enjoying all the different activities. During guided math, the students rotate through four different stations. The math facts station gives them the opportunity to build fact fluency. Right now, we are working on mastery of addition facts. The teacher's choice station is where I hold small-group instruction, and the hands-on station is where students can work with manipulatives or other "outside the box" math tools to practice what we are working on in class. The last station, the at your seat station, is where students will practice what they have learned at the teacher's choice station. We rotate through each station about every 20 minutes, so it provides variety and a change of activity to keep them engaged and excited about math.
If you have any questions for me, or need anything, please do not hesitate to call or email. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 3: Booster Club Paint Party Fund Raiser
October 18: 3rd Grade Musical
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This week is full of activities! Tuesday we have our awards assembly, Thursday will mark the beginning of our life skills classes, and Friday we have a unit assessment and an author's visit. Our unit assessment on Friday will be over addition and subtraction, this unit will end Thursday and we will review then for the test Friday. Our next unit starts Monday, October 10th. During this unit, students will learn about pictographs, bar graphs, and dot plots. This unit will end mid-October, and then we will begin multiplication!
For science, we finished our unit on properties of matter, and will be moving into investigating matter and change. We will complete a short unit on weather during the second six weeks grading period.
Our guided math framework is up and running fairly smoothly, and the students are really enjoying all the different activities. During guided math, the students rotate through four different stations. The math facts station gives them the opportunity to build fact fluency. Right now, we are working on mastery of addition facts. The teacher's choice station is where I hold small-group instruction, and the hands-on station is where students can work with manipulatives or other "outside the box" math tools to practice what we are working on in class. The last station, the at your seat station, is where students will practice what they have learned at the teacher's choice station. We rotate through each station about every 20 minutes, so it provides variety and a change of activity to keep them engaged and excited about math.
If you have any questions for me, or need anything, please do not hesitate to call or email. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Mrs. Ebel
Upcoming Events:
October 3: Booster Club Paint Party Fund Raiser
October 4: 1st 6 week Assemblies K-2 8:00, 3-5 8:30
October 10: No School
October 18: 3rd Grade Musical
October 21: Picture Day
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