March 27, 2020

Announcements

If your third grader is not using EPIC yet, it is a wonderful reading resource. You can download the app or use the site getepic.com. Use our class code, ezh2384 to see the book collections I have assigned students. 

Here are Naeyana and Hayden doing some learning and snacking!

Here is Vanessa hard at work!

Hadley and her sister made a Countdown to School chain!

Jun has a new friend! My son Eli made me show him these pictures multiple times. : )

Here is Lilly doing some outside learning!

Here is Harper enjoying our Zoom read aloud!

March 20, 2020

Announcements

Apparently, I began the outline of this blog update last Friday. Yesterday, I was so emotional as I had to delete everything the students and I were supposed to do these past few days. I cannot believe how much has changed in a week. We will keep going one day at a time, and I know this wonderful, creative group of third graders and their parents are going to make the best of this tough situation!

If you are on Facebook and have not joined the Paxton Keeley PTA page, please consider doing so. There are many ideas, resources, and activities being posted daily. It is also a great place to stay in touch with the PK community.

If you have not already, please consider downloading the Zoom app and signing up for an account for your third grader. I am in the process of training with this program, and will be using it to keep us all connected. It is free to use, and has been fairly easy to navigate. I'll be doing 2 practice sessions next week to try it out with students. Look for an email link to meet Monday at 1:00 and Wednesday at 3:00. These are just to see how the program works for us and catch up! Your third grader can come to one, both, or none if that does not work out.

The packets that were sent home this week are also located in digital format on the CPS Covid-19 page located here.

Finally, I received a few pictures of students at work from home.

Here is Flynn working on a writing piece!

Here is Maddy completing the Mystery Science called Can We Make it Rain?

Here is a video of Harper doing a colorful art experiment!

Please make sure to send me your pictures so I can post them! 

Upcoming Events

Comet Culture Night-April 15

Paxton Color Run-April 24

March 6, 2020

Announcements

Thank you to everyone who attended Parent Teacher Conferences last week! As that was our last scheduled meeting, please let me know if you would like to have an additional conference before the end of the year.

Please remember there is no school Wednesday, March 11th, as it is a teacher workday.

Don't miss out on the Spring Dance next Friday, March 13th! The event goes from 6:00-9:00. This is a parent-attended event, so please do not drop off your student. 

This week, we finished our read aloud called No Talking. If your 3rd grader has not mentioned it yet, this book centers around a group of fifth graders that decide to have a boy vs. girl competition to see who can make it through 2 days without talking. They have to be creative with communicating with each other and their teachers. The students loved the book, so we decided to do a modified version on Friday. The class competed against me to see who could use the fewest amount of words while we were in the classroom. (specials, lunch, and recess were our breaks from the activity) We were able to have such an interesting and productive day learning! This included lots of writing, gestures, and laughing. My favorite part was read aloud where I got to read some fabulous word less picture books!

In the Classroom

In math this week, we studied volume, time, and fractions. Students also reviewed their estimation and word problem skills. 

Our focus in reading this week was on making connections. Students worked really hard on determining if something is a connection or just a coincidence. Make sure to ask your third grader to give you some examples!

We finally finished our non-fiction writing projects! Students brought these home on Wednesday after our class celebration. We also began our next unit on opinion writing. 

In science this week, we continued our study of forces. Students used their knowledge about balanced forces to design and experiment with penny bridges. 

We also discussed gravity and friction. We will explore static electricity and magnetism next week.

Upcoming Events

No School-March 11

Spring Pictures-March 12

Spring Dance-March 13

Spring Break-March 23-27

Comet Culture Night-April 15

Paxton Color Run-April 24