Week 22

The first month of 2020 is already done! How time flies!
February is a short but intense month. We are starting our Social Studies unit on China. We've begun our work by learning about traditions associated with the Lunar New Year. We are looking deeper into how this ancient culture has influenced our lives by examining how ideas and object were traded.  This week, we learned about the Silk Road. Here is a link to an interactive game we played in class: https://www.learningliftoff.com/2nd-grade-history-learning-activity-the-silk-road/

We're also bringing our work on Information Writing to its culmination by having students write about topics we have learned in our previous unit on Culture. We are in the editing process now and have used the following video as a resource and movement break:
https://family.gonoodle.com/activities/by-bye-buy?utm_content=teacher&utm_medium=8303135&utm_campaign=share_link&utm_term=by-bye-buy&utm_source=clipboard

Here's what else is happening in the upcoming week:

• Please send in the trip slip and $12 for DanceAfrica early this week of you have not done so. We must send payment to Dance Africa by Friday. Thank you for your cooperation!
• The Mid Module review will be returned to your child by Tuesday of Next week. Here are some links to help preview the upcoming lessons:

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/find-the-area-of-rectangles-word-problems
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/find-the-area-between-two-rectangles
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/find-the-area-of-complex-figures

• We are going to Brooklyn Museum this Friday at 9:30am to view artifacts from China. The goal is to better understand how a country's art can help us to better understand the country. 
• We will also have Family Friday this week. Please join us from 8:45-9:20am as we discuss Let the Children March by Monica Clark- Robinson.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Chen Dance Center trip rescheduled

Sadly, we will have to reschedule our trip to Chen Dance Center. There was a fire in the building where the studio is located. Fortunately, the dancers are all well and unharmed. The coordinator will update us when she has a better sense of when the studio can be reopened. We will let you know when  we have a new date for this trip. Thank you for your understanding.

Week 21: Happy Lunar New Year!

Congratulations to Mateo who won the book mark contest for the third grade. We've all received a copy of the bookmark. There were so many beautiful entries in this contest, it must have been difficult to choose! Kudos to all our participants!!!

This is the final week of the READathon. Please make sure your child has tallied up the minutes and is ready to turn in the reading log. The last day to turn it in is Thursday.

As we finish up January, we are moving forward in our Social Studies work. Soon, we will take a deeper dive into our unit on China. Using the reading and writing skills we've practiced in the past month, we will learn about the culture and geography of this enormous country.

Here's what to expect for next week:

• On Friday, we will take the MidModule 4 assessment. Students have been learning about area and how space is measured in square units. This unit also provides practice with multiplication facts as some children have already begun using the base x height strategy to find the area of rectangles. Here are some links to provide  a preview of next week's work: 
• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/find-the-missing-side-length-of-a-rectangle
• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/find-the-area-of-rectangles-and-squares

Here is also a link to the homework pages in Module 4: 

https://webassets.zearn.org/resources/G03M04_Homework.pdf

Finally, the Music Share was such a wonderful event! The kids put on an excellent showing and we had a great audience. The performance is on our playlist at the top right of this page. Please note that the whole performance has been uploaded to YouTube in two parts.

Have an excellent weekend!

Week 20: Music Share

Thank you for turning in the Chen Dance Center trips slips quickly. We were luckily able to get the last available tickets for this show and needed the payments quickly to hold onto the reservation. If you have volunteered to chaperone this trip, your child has a note for you confirming whether you have been chosen or not. There were only two parent slots available for our class due to the extremely  limited ticket availability.  

Next week, your child will also have a trip slip for DanceAfrica which is a performance in May. We also have to turn in the payment by the first week of February in order to hold onto the reservation. Please send in the slip and payment as soon possible. Thank you!

We've got a short but full week coming up:

• Schools are closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 
• On Tuesday, we are headed to the Armory. Please have your child wear sneakers and comfortable clothing for physical activity.
• On Thursday, there will be a music share. This is an opportunity for parents to drop by and see our music class in progress. We will start at around 1:05 in the MMR. Please drop by if you have some free time.  There will be a larger Music performance May 15th. 
• We will start our new Math Module, which applies Multiplication to Area problems. This will also give us some practice with shapes. Here are some links to preview next week's work: 

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/select-two-figures-with-the-same-area
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/tile-a-rectangle-and-find-the-area

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/create-rectangles-with-a-given-area

Keep warm and have a cozy weekend!

Week 19

The first week of READathon is in the books! Please take a moment during this weekend to check in with your child to look over the log sheet and make sure times are recorded. It might also be a good thing to add up the minutes so far. Some children have ramped up their reading time so it will be interesting to see how it's going.

Here is what's happening next week:

• On Wednesday, PS 154 is having its annual Pajama Day event. Show your school spirit by allowing your child to come to school in their PJ's. The kindergarten classes are also accepting donations of new pajamas to send to local shelters in need. 
• On Friday, we will have have the Module 3 End Assessment. Children have been working on the times tables and transferring it to division facts. Students have also applied these facts to help them solve story problems with multiple steps. Here are some links for additional practice: 

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/multiplication-and-division-word-problems
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/two-step-multiplication-and-division-word-problems

Have an excellent weekend!

Happy New Year! Welcome, 2020!

After a long relaxing break, we return to a new month and a new decade! It was a lovely Thursday morning as we greeted each other with hugs and smiles. The children have had many happy events to recall and some new family members to tell about (congratulations to the new aunts and uncles)!

Of course, we have another busy week ahead of us as we launch into January:

• On Monday, we will begin our school wide READ-athon. This exciting event is a great way to inspire children to read more as it helps our school to raise funds for the wonderful enrichments we enjoy. Even if you are not fund raising, the children enjoy participating in this community event. Please remind your child to record his or her reading times daily in the next three weeks. Reading sheets should be kept in the homework folder. 
• We have been connecting our writing work with our content studies. This week, we'll focus on learning about and teaching others how homes reflect our cultures and environment. In the past weeks, children have been writing about clothing, holidays, and food as a reflection of our culture.
• After taking a break to prioritize our Social Studies work, we are coming back to our science unit, Balancing Forces. Next week, we'll focus on non touching forces which includes, magnetism and gravity. We have also practiced writing connections by taking our information writing skills to write a scientific explanation. 
• Please keep an eye out for the two trips slips that are coming home on Monday. We will visit Chen Dance Center on January 28th. This organization puts on a wonderful show to help launch our Social Studies unit on China. We will also visit Brooklyn Museum on February 7th to look at artifacts from China. This trips will support the learning we will be doing in the February and March. 
• Here are some math links to support our continued practice of multiplication and division: 

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/division-facts-for-6-7-8-and-9
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/division-facts-up-to-10-find-the-missing-number
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/multiplication-facts-for-6-7-8-and-9-find-the-missing-factor

Have a restful weekend!