Happy Friday!
Your child has their First Quarter report card in their Take Home section of their red folder. We wanted to touch base on a few points.
First off, 3rd Grade has letter grades for the first time. It is an adjustment!
The kids have really been working hard on developing and maintaining a growth mindset about themselves and their learning. They know it's a process...one that they are always getting better at, and that it takes time.
We know grades are a type of marking, but they DO NOT define your child as a learner. Keep in mind the student reflections, their evidence of quality work, and the teacher/student report on where they are in the process of mastering the standards. We strive for the deep understanding where they know concepts so well that they can not just show, but explain, their learning and processes.
Your child knows that their locus of control is their effort in ALL the parts of learning -- engagement, listening, accuracy, questioning, and repeated practices. Models, anchors of support, and multiple opportunities are given before any grade.
We have had a big week in our journey with Red in Wishtree. We held our own "Wishing Day" complete with ribbons, and our very own variation on a tree. The kids have been learning and developing expertise in finding signposts and asking the corresponding questions. These really help us have clarity on the main character's struggle and the author's purpose!
Your child has their First Quarter report card in their Take Home section of their red folder. We wanted to touch base on a few points.
First off, 3rd Grade has letter grades for the first time. It is an adjustment!
The kids have really been working hard on developing and maintaining a growth mindset about themselves and their learning. They know it's a process...one that they are always getting better at, and that it takes time.
We know grades are a type of marking, but they DO NOT define your child as a learner. Keep in mind the student reflections, their evidence of quality work, and the teacher/student report on where they are in the process of mastering the standards. We strive for the deep understanding where they know concepts so well that they can not just show, but explain, their learning and processes.
Your child knows that their locus of control is their effort in ALL the parts of learning -- engagement, listening, accuracy, questioning, and repeated practices. Models, anchors of support, and multiple opportunities are given before any grade.
We have had a big week in our journey with Red in Wishtree. We held our own "Wishing Day" complete with ribbons, and our very own variation on a tree. The kids have been learning and developing expertise in finding signposts and asking the corresponding questions. These really help us have clarity on the main character's struggle and the author's purpose!
We also have been honing our paraphrasing and summarizing skills through CSERT. Character, Setting, Experience, Resolution, and Theme. Knowing these important elements keeps us focused on the main idea rather than getting caught up in retelling details.
In writing, we've been outlining and drafting our pieces for NASA's Name the Rover contest. It's been hard work to make sure that each reason matches the name and the Mission. Not only that, but we are examining our drafts for places we can select PRECISE words to explain! We are anxious to get those typed in...our deadline is this coming Friday!
Math, science, and engineering came together this week in true STEM fashion! Using various pasta shapes, round mints, and lots of glue, our engineers designed and built pasta rovers. We learned that kinetic energy is energy of an object in motion and potential energy is energy of position. With these concepts in mind, we set up a slope and conducted a series of trials to determine which rovers performed best. Some of our rovers covered a greater distance, others were built for speed, and still others were constructed with originality or creative detail in mind. It was a week of building both rovers and resilience -- lots of big work and lots of fun!
We also continue to invest time in building our multiplication and division muscles. We're pros now at representing related multiplication and division equations with arrays. Many students are making connections between their work in the classroom and Dreambox concepts they've worked on at home. Thanks for continuing to support responsible learning habits and student ownership of homework!
Enjoy the weekend!
Jen and Jewellyn
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