Kimochis

We are loving our new Kimochis program in third grade!  A few times a week, learners have an opportunity to practice important skills with the Kimochis.  Some of the activities we did as a class include acting out emotions, recognizing facial expressions and posture, using appropriate, kind language to bring off-putting expressions or tone to someone's attention and using non-verbal cues to kindly communicate with others.  Students are also using the Kimochi feelings to let teachers know when they need a check in for a distracting feeling.  

Math Problem Solving

Mathematicians in Room 25 use a variety of methods to learn about and solve number story problems.  Students look at a story problem together and solve it independently using white boards.  They articulate their thinking and share their drawings and number sentences with the class.  Students have practiced solving story problems using all four operations and many different strategies.  A big focus in third grade is drawing pictures as well as identifying equations to solve problems.

Thinking Spots

Room 25 readers have been discussing their thinking spots for a variety of texts. Children have shared their thoughts about fiction and non-fiction books and are noticing how these thoughts differ. They are talking about thinking spots when reading with their partners, as well as recording them when they read independently.   They are focusing on two part sentences that include information from the text.  The codes we are using to identify thinking spots are:

C- for connection

O- for opinion

L- for new learning

*- for something important

P- for prediction

?- for a question

Next week, students will begin recording thinking in their Home Reading Journals. Encourage your child to stop and record and to write 4 different types of thinking spots.

Miwok Research

Third graders are busy reading and taking notes about the Miwoks.  Each child is working in a group and reading material that is "just right" for them to understand.  After several whole class lessons about note-taking with me and Ms. Monge, our librarian, they have an overall idea of how to find information and determine what is important to record.  This is a new skill for third graders that requires significant assistance.  I am helping them decode written material about the Miwoks and checking for understanding.   They are being guided through determining which information is important and interesting.  They are then putting this information in their own words.  The notes will be used for a final project that will require their group to be the "experts" on the topic they are researching.