1. Crandall Chronicle November 2012
Classroom News from 3-1
After a long month filled with helped out here in the
lots of hard work, we classroom. The students
celebrated with a frighteningly definitely deserved to celebrate
fun Halloween Party! The class after all of their hard work. I
dressed up in costumes, posted a photomontage on our
paraded around the blog featuring photographs from
neighborhood, ate treats and our Halloween parade and party.
did several fun activities. We all If you have not yet had a
had a great time and would like chance to view them, please
to thank all of the parents who take a moment to see the fun
donated items for our party or that the students had.
What We’re Learning
Reading t We’re Studying
In this issue:
Reading 1 The Treasures Literacy context clues, dictionary
Reading Cont. 2 Program consists of six units, usage, homographs, and
Writing 2 each containing six weeks of multiple-meaning words.
instruction. The last week of Students were also
Writing Cont. 3
each unit offers an introduced to text features
Science 3
opportunity to review the key like bar graphs, timelines,
Science Cont. 4 strategies and concepts diagrams, and dictionary
Math 5 covered throughout the unit. entries. At the end of each
Reminders 5 In the first unit, the students unit, students complete a
Web Updates 6 worked on comprehension unit assessment that shows
Dates/Events 6 strategies that included which skills and strategies
Student identifying characters, they have become confident
setting, plot, main ideas, in applying. The second unit
Challenge 7
details, problems, and assessment will be shared
Race Across the
solutions. They also learned with you at parent-teacher
States 7 vocabulary skills that conferences, so that we can
included compound words, discuss your child’s progress.

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Reading Continued
Today we completed the fourth week They practiced identifying parts of the
of unit two. So far in this unit, stories that could be real compared to
students have been introduced to the those that were strictly fantasy. We
genre of fantasy through plays, short have also studied facts and opinions
stories, and informational articles. through a variety of activities.
Writing Every other week, the students
choose one selection that they would
Our writing program, The Writers’ like me to read and comment on.
Express, or WEX as we refer to it in Six separate excerpts are chosen each
class, incorporates many different week from different students’ binders
aspects of the writing process into to be displayed on a wall in our
each daily lesson. Lessons begin with classroom. These excerpts are
a skill drill, during which time examples of good writing that focus
students learn a new writing skill and on the targeted skill addressed that
receive time to practice it. A few week. Juicy words used in student
individuals are then provided with a writing are also displayed for all to
chance to share their work with the see. These displays are a visual
class and receive positive comments reminder to the class of what good
from peers. writing looks like and provide them
with some examples that they can use
The students then apply their newly in their own writing.
attained skills in a longer piece of
writing. After a verbal warm-up, The lessons in Unit 1 of WEX have
which helps the students to begin concentrated on building the skills
thinking about the writing prompt, necessary to write short personal
they begin their writing, focusing on narratives. The students have been
the particular targeted skill that was learning to focus their writing on one
addressed in the lesson. While the specific moment instead of several
students are writing, I walk around different events. This helps the
and provide over-the-shoulder- students to write specific details
conferences, giving students instead of general statements. It also
comments about their writing and enables their readers to better
offering guidance. Once the specified understand the main idea of their
amount of time is complete, a few writing. The students also continue to
students then share their writing and use descriptive words to show their
receive comments from peers. ideas instead of just telling about
them.

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Writing Continued
Monthly Writing Words
Another way students practice
recently learned skills is through Every month the students receive a
revision assignments. While list of writing words that they are
making comments on their writing, responsible for learning how to spell.
I will also identify an area in which The cumulative test is given towards
they can apply the targeted skill. the end of each month. The test at
During the week, the students are the end of November will be on all of
given time to complete the the words from October and
assignment and improve their November. Remember, once they
writing.The students will now be have been tested on a set of words,
introduced to the extended WEX they are held responsible for spelling
writing process, which consists of them correctly on all assignments.
selecting a previously written One point will be deducted on graded
passage, revising to develop ideas, assignments for having a misspelled
making revisions, and editing and writing word. Therefore, please
writing a final draft. encourage your child to look over his
or her work carefully to check for
This will be the first time that the correct spelling, capitalization, and
third graders will take a piece of punctuation!
their writing through all of the steps
in the publishing process. I look
forward to reading their finished
personal narratives!
Science
Students dove right into our first containing a variety of different items
science unit: The Solar System! ranging from containers of water,
I introduced the unit by asking the crayons, and toy cars, to magnets,
students to draw a picture of what spring scales, and marbles. The
they think a scientist looks like. students were asked to create a
The children discovered that the question that had about the
majority of them had drawn materials. One example was:
scientists that were men wearing When released, will a pull-back truck
glasses in a white lab coat and that is attached to a spring scale go
holding beakers. The students then further than a regular toy truck? I
completed an inquiry-based was so impressed with their
activity in which they designed inquisitiveness. They then performed
an experiment themselves! Each the experiment to find an answer,
group of children received a bag and they recorded their observations.

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Science Continued
We also explored various forms of We began our UbD project in the LMC
modeling like mental models, a few weeks ago and are in the final
pictorial models, physical models, and stages of the project. UbD, which
even digital models that we created stands for Understanding by Design is
using a computer program called a research project focusing on an
Animation-ish. essential question. Students were
taught and practiced effective research
We began our study of the solar strategies while investigating the
system by focusing on the causes essential question: “What makes your
daytime and nighttime. Our class planet unique?”
made frequent trips outdoors to
observe the apparent movements of Small groups of children worked
the sun, the movements of the moon, cooperatively to research one of the
and patterns with shadows. We have eight planets. Once the research and
had many rich discussions about how note taking was complete, they
these different parts of the system organized their notes by categorizing
work together and have cleared up them. These categories were divided
many misconceptions that the up among the students in the group,
students originally had. who used the notes to write a script
for a newscast. We are in the process
The class learned about the moon’s of filming the newscasts in front of a
movement, its composition, and its green screen to create the effect that
phases. The students brought home a the students are reporting live from
calendar several weeks ago to record their planets. Once the films are
their moon observations for the complete they will be viewed in class
month. We have been discussing their and used as a tool to teach the other
observations almost daily and groups about the various planets.
recording their findings on a class
moon calendar. The students are very Our culminating activity for our science
excited to see the various phases that unit will be a Solars (like the Oscars)
take place during the lunar cycle! award ceremony! Based on the facts
provided in the student films, the
We recently did an activity to discover children will vote for planets to win an
just how vast our solar system is and award for various categories. The
to gain a better understanding of the winning planets will be announced at
relative sizes of the planets, moon, our award show, which will be
and sun. Several student volunteers complete with paparazzi, a red carpet,
made a short film to demonstrate what and acceptance speeches! Everyone is
we learned. Please take a moment to really looking forward to this fun
view the film, which is posted on our student-only celebration. More
class blog. Not only will you be information about this event will be
entertained, but you might just learn sent home soon!
something new!

5. PAGE 5 OF 7
Math skills to guess and find the lengths of
items around the classroom. They
Several weeks ago, we completed Unit also explored the perimeter and area
2 of Everyday Math. We reviewed of different polygons. Using cans of
several strategies for adding large varying sizes, the students learned
numbers, including the partial sums how to measure diameter and
method (finding the sum of the circumference. They learned a trick to
hundreds, the tens, and the ones, and make measuring the circumference a
then adding these “partial sums” bit easier. Ask your child to tell you
together) and the “carrying” or about our special “about three times”
“regrouping” method. The students rule!
practiced using both methods, but they
On Monday, the students took a
chose to use whichever method was
cumulative test over the first three
easiest for them. The students learned
math units. The purpose of this
the “trade first” method to subtract
assessment is to see which skills the
large numbers. This method involves
students have retained since the
trading 1 ten for 10 ones, or 1 hundred
beginning of the year, and which ones
for 10 tens. We also used several
need to be reviewed. These will also
different diagrams to organize and
be shared with you at conferences.
solve story problems.
We recently began our fourth math
Last week the students took their Unit
unit, which focuses on multiplication
3 test, which focused on measurement
and division. The students will be
and its different applications.
learning new strategies to help them
Throughout this past unit, the students
perform these mathematical
used their estimating and measuring
operations.
MONTHLY REMINDERS
* I will be sending home a set of book order forms at the beginning of December.
Please do not feel that there is any obligation to place an order. If you do
choose to order books as a holiday gift for your child, I can send them home in
a sealed package to help keep them a surprise. Please just send me a note
requesting this. You may send in the order forms with your payment or order
online to receive a coupon for a free book. Our online activation code is GRNPB.
* Our class is doing an excellent job of remembering to read 100 minutes each
week. Keep it up!
* Please make sure that your child is coming to school dressed for the weather!

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Class Website Updates!
Visit our class blog and check out these recently added items:
Photographs from the Halloween party
Videos of last month’s Student Challenge Projects
Halloween Poems - Fluency
Race Across the States
Math Fact Practice / States & Capitals Practice
WEX Excerpts
Student Techspert Reports
Class Pet Stories
IMPORTANT DATES & UPCOMING EVENTS
November 6 - Election Day (No School)
November 7 - Photo Retakes
November 8 - Book Club
November 14 - 3rd Grade Musical (2:30 and 7:00)
November 15 - Book Club
November 16 - Solars Awards (Student-Only Event)
November 16 - Progress Reports
November 19/20 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
November 21-23- Thanksgiving Break
November 29 - Book Club
November 30 - Dryden Spirit Wear Day

7. Reading OF 7
PAGE 7
Continu
Student Challenge ed
To complete this month’s challenge you might need to get a
little messy. Your challenge is to create a model of our solar
system!
You may choose to create either a digital model or a physical
model that includes these objects: sun, 8 planets, our moon
(Feel free to add any other objects that belong to our solar
system too!)
Be prepared to present your model to the class.
You may let your creativity go wild. If you are creating a
physical model you may use any materials that you would
like. A digital model can be created on an iPad or other similar
device or on the computer.
Please see me if you have any questions!
Race Across the States Update:
The class has received 86 postcards from 30 different states, 14
foreign countries, and our nation’s capital! We are still in need of
postcards from the following states:
Arkansas Louisiana North Carolina
California Maryland North Dakota
Connecticut Mississippi Rhode Island
Delaware Montana South Carolina
Georgia Nebraska Utah
Idaho Nevada Virginia
Kansas New Jersey
If you know anyone in one of these states who would be willing
to send us a postcard telling us a little bit about their state, the
class would really appreciate it! Please forward our thanks to
everyone who has spent the time to jot us a note and send us a
postcard. We have all learned some really interesting facts!