Edna Maguire's First Young Author's Fair

Next week, a notice about Edna Maguire’s First Young Authors’ Fair will go home in your child's homework folder. It will be
a morning filled with fun activities for writers: storytelling, bookmark making, a bookmobile tour, and a special visit by author, Mac Barnett on Thursday, April 19th. Children are encouraged to write stories for the fair, but this is optional. I will be working with all of my students to help them choose a story to develop for the fair and I will be providing them time during Writer's Workshop to work on these stories. I will also assist them with editing their stories. I will need volunteers to help type the finished products. If you would like to help with this, please send me an email. The stories will need to be given to Lisa Monge by Thursday, March 22nd, so typing of the stories will happen before this date.
In addition to the support I will be providing in the classroom, students will also be getting:

#1 Library Lessons
Lisa Monge will give each class three lessons during library about developing a plot, writing a title, and brainstorming ideas.

#2 Lunch Time Writing Sessions
Lisa Monge and Adam Sanchez will be in the library during lunch on the following dates to give feedback and allow time for students to write.

Wednesday, February 22nd

Wednesday, March 7th







This event is funded through a Kiddo! mini grant.

Writing Prompt

This week, third graders began working on pre-write activities for a personal narrative writing prompt that all students at Edna Maguire will be completing. The topic is an experience at Edna Maguire they will never forget. I have been reading examples of personal narrative and discussing how the authors use descriptive writing to paint a picture for the reader. Students completed a pre-write that included ideas for the beginning, middle and end of their stories. We listed descriptive language from various texts and then students wrote their own descriptive phrases they could use in their stories. After all students have written their stories, teachers will meet and discuss the results. We use these school wide prompts to inform us about our teaching across the grade levels.

Moon Journal

Beginning on Wednesday, we will take a break from Home Reading Journals and begin writing in Moon Journals. The instructions inside the journal indicate that your child should write something each night. I explained to the class that, for now, I would like them to notice the moon each night, but they do not need to write about it. They should record the phase of the moon and write a long entry (at least a page) Wednesday and Thursday nights. It is a very open writing assignment. They may record observations in a scientific note-taking format. They may write poetry, a story, a letter, descriptions, create artwork, etc. I will write comments once a week in their journals and encourage them to try something new each week. Please don't hesitate to write me a note or ask if you have questions. Thank you for your support with this project.

Leaders for Change

As part of our comprehension study of Big Ideas/Supporting Details, I am reading aloud a number of books that are about individuals who have become leaders for change. Some of the titles we have discussed are Aani and the Tree Huggers, The Ballot Box Battle and Your Move. In addition to rich opportunities to find some big ideas, these books have led to discussions about standing up for what you believe in.

Famous African Americans

After learning about the Civil Rights Movement, each child chose a famous African American to research. They are reading books and using the on-line Encyclopedia to find important facts about these individuals. Each child is creating a card that includes facts. This is an introduction to research for the biography projects students will be completing in a couple of months.

Multiplication Facts

Help! With the exception of a few students, the class needs to memorize their facts. Please help your child make this a priority at home. With the increasing demands for math standards, I cannot use valuable classroom time to practice facts for memorization. Your child will really be behind with 4th grade math if they do not have these facts memorized. The only way to do it is to practice, practice, practice. I recommend requiring a certain amount of time each day to practice and, additionally, use those laptops, Iphones, Ipads, Itouches to download applications that include math facts. Look for the results of our second multiplication facts test in your child's homework folder.

Garden Happenings

Last week in the garden we learned about horseradish root. The kids learned about root vegetables: carrots, turnips, radishes, beets... And about different types of radishes: horseradish, wasabi, common red radish like we grow in our bed, Daikon... Each child then tried to gently pull an actual horseradish root out of the container where it is growing. Not a chance!! They learned that unlike a carrot it does not grow straight down but like a hand in many directions and must be dug out with care so as not to break the many "fingers" holding it tenaciously in the soil. All encompassing fun. Next week we will be making horseradish cream.

Additionally, we began to clean our garden plot, harvesting the last Easter egg radishes we had planted 1 1/2 months ago. Soon we will turn the soil adding new compost and resow the plot with new seeds...