December News From Room 15

Dear Third Grade Families,
          We have had a busy month in Room 15!  Mrs. Courcelle came to our classroom on Tuesdays and taught us how to use our Chromebooks to highlight and categorize information as we conduct research.

          We begin most math sessions with partner games.  We practice sharing our problem solving strategies with each turn.  Your child has brought home a set of multiplication games to play with you during the December vacation.  Help your child to memorize the "Doubles" (x 2 facts) and "Doubles Plus One Set" (x 3 facts) multiplication facts.  Ask your child to teach you about other multiplication facts and their names using the Multiplication Strategies Booklet that was sent home on Monday.

          The children sang beautifully at the Holiday Sing-A-Long!

          Mrs. Hockenbury joined our class for Number Corner several times this month.  We learned about rounding numbers to the nearest ten and the nearest hundred.  We also found the mass of objects using a balance scale.  

          We use a document camera to enlarge printed documents or student work so that all of the children can see.  

           We are practicing being active listeners.  Students are realizing that they learn more and learning is more fun when they raise their hands and actively participate during lessons.

           Hooray! We are learning cursive handwriting!

           Third graders are able to solve a problem using a variety of different strategies.  Here are the strategies students shared this month.

          Each morning we log in and practice our math facts at www.xtramath.org.  Students can practice at home, too.  

                                               

          We had fun at our holiday pajama and stuffed animal party today!  Thanks to everyone who contributed items for the celebration, and thank you to Verity Lattrelle and Jennifer Roberts for organizing the party and helping at the party!  

Learning Multiplication Facts

Dear Third Grade Families,

          An important part of the third grade math program involves memorizing the multiplication facts. I am sending home a booklet of the strategies children have learned in the classroom and several board games to help students practice using those strategies. 

          Students have learned the 0’s, 1’s, and 2’s, times tables, and it is our goal to have the 3’s times table memorized now. Students have learned that they can use x2 facts to solve x3 facts.  If I know 2 x 8 equals 16, then I know that 3 x 8 is just one more set of 8, and 16 + 8 = 24. 

2 x 8 = 16, so

3 x 8 = 16 + 8 = 24.

          Please let me know if you have any questions about the multiplication strategies in the attached strategy booklet.  It is a different way of learning multiplication facts than the way that many of us learned growing up, but the strategies make sense.  The goal is to use known facts to solve unknown facts.  For example, x5 facts are called “Half Tens Facts.”  I can use 10 x 7 to solve 5 x 7.  I know 10 x 7 = 70, and 5 x 7 is half that number of sevens.  Half of 70 is 35.

10 x 7 = 70

Half of 70 = 35, so 5 x 7 = 35.

          Please help your child to practice the basic multiplication facts by playing the attached board games, building multiplication facts out of blocks or cereal, playing multiplication games online at Mrs. Simpson’s blog, or using flashcards.

                                                                   

Sincerely,

Keelin M. Simpson

Room 15 News

Dear Third Grade Families,

On Monday morning we were very excited to attend a special assembly at which Chamberlin School was awarded a $10,000 technology grant!  Our gratitude to Mrs. Flickinger and Ms. Courcelle, who worked hard on the “Hour of Code” project. This grant money will provide our students with some very exciting opportunities! Madison did a great job reading at the assembly about the coding third graders have been working on.

Mr. Melen has been visiting our class once a week for the last four weeks to teach the "Skills for Growing" program. The children have learned valuable social problem solving skills during these sessions.

         Our class will welcome a student intern from UVM,  on January 4^th, when we return to school. Miss Jessica Ward visited our classroom this fall to meet us. She is excited to work with our class! She will be with us until May 6^th.

          The Holiday Sing-Along was great fun. If you were unable to make it, I assure you the children sang beautifully!

          Chamberlin’s third grade students will be going on a field trip to the Flynn Theater on Tuesday, January ^19th, 2015.  We will be leaving school at 8:30 AM and returning to school at approximately 11:00 AM.  Please make sure your child arrives at school on time.  Thank you! We will be seeing Bob Marley’s 3 Little Birds. This Jamaican adventure story encourages Ziggy, who is frightened of going outdoors, to summon the courage to step outside his comfort zone. This musical is based on a children’s book written by Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella.  We are sorry, but there are not extra tickets available for family members to attend this performance.

          We will be having a "Pajama and Stuffed Animal Party" on Tuesday, December 22nd.  Please remind your child to wear school appropriate pajamas and bring a stuffed animal that will fit inside his/her knapsack to school on Tuesday.  Your child may also bring a board game or card game to play with his/her classmates at our party.  

          We return to school on Monday, January 4, 2016.  I wish you and your family a joyous, restful, and fun winter break!

                                                                   Happy Holidays,

                                                                   Keelin M. Simpson

Room 15 News

Dear Third Grade Families,

We have had a busy week!  Students learned about chick peas and made humus through our Farm to School program.  The class loved the taste of humus on crackers!  Watch for the recipe in Ms. Rouelle's family news email.

We enjoyed a visit from local Rotary Club members, who came to give each third grader a dictionary to take home and use as a tool for learning.

Third grade readers are working hard on reading nonfiction texts.  We are learning to pause after reading a section of text to determine the main idea and supporting details. Ask your child to demonstrate this skill with a nonfiction book at home.

It's time to learn the multiplication tables!  Let's start with the Doubles and Doubles Plus One More Set facts.

Doubles Multiplication Facts (x 2 Facts)
We call the  x 2 facts Doubles Facts because 2 x 9 = 9 + 9.  Ask your child the doubles facts (0 x 2 through 10 x 2).  Can your child solve the problems quickly and out of order?  (3 x 2, 9 x 2, etc...).

Doubles Plus One More Set  (x 3 Facts)
We call the x 3 facts Doubles Plus One More Set Facts because you can solve 3 x 9 by using the doubles fact 2 x 9. I can use two 9's to figure out the total of three 9's. For example:  2 x 9 = 18, and 18 plus one more set of 9 equals 27.

3 x 9 = (2 x 9) + 9

Let me know if you have any questions.  Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Keelin M. Simpson