EGG DROP CHALLENGE!

Dear Third Grade Families,

          Third grade scientists have been experimenting to learn about magnetic and electromagnetic forces. They are learning about friction, gravity, and Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion. Now they are about to face a new engineering challenge… THE BIG EGG DROP!

           Next week, students will be challenged with building a structure that will protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from the roof of Chamberlin School. Safety note: Only adults will be on the roof. Students will build their protectors at school next week, and we will drop their egg protectors from the roof on Friday, October 25th, at 9:00 AM. Family members are welcome to come and support the third grade engineers as they watch to see if their designs are able to successfully protect the eggs.

           Please help us to gather supplies. We need enough materials for more than 20 projects! Here’s a list of needed materials. Please send in supplies by 10/22/19. Thank you for your help!!!

Egg Drop Supplies 
Plastic sandwich bags
 Cotton balls
 Empty cereal boxes
 Plastic grocery store bags
 Rolls of paper towels
 String
 Yarn
 Boxes of toothpicks
 23 plastic eggs (the kind used for Easter for practice)
 5 ounce Dixie Cups
 Paper towel tubes
 Toilet paper tubes

                                                                                       Sincerely,
                                                                                       Keelin Simpson and Ashley Cota

Third Grade News - September 13th

 Dear Third Grade Families,

 Third graders did a great job during our first full week of school! We attended the first Chamberlin School Assembly of the year. Third graders traded in over 2,000 Bee Bucks for honey cells to help fill our school’s Bee Hive! In celebration of earning so many Bee Bucks, third graders were invited to eat lunch in the classroom today. They also had extra recess time with the whole school in the afternoon! Here’s some information about what your child has been learning this week. Social/Emotional Skills 
Third graders learned about positive self-talk this week. Self-talk means talking to yourself in your head or with a quiet voice. Positive self-talk can help students to focus, stay on task, and handle distractions. Self-talk can help students to manage strong emotions and make good decisions.
Math 
Third grade mathematicians reviewed the different types of addition facts within 20. See the attached Addition Facts Table. Ask your child to show you examples of the different types of math facts on the table. Ask your child to share his/her strategies for solving some of the facts. Ask your child to explain the Commutative Property of Addition (5 + 3 = 3 + 5). Ask him/her to define the word sum. Ask your child questions such as, “What’s the sum of 3 + 17?” “Are the sums of Doubles facts odd numbers, even numbers, or both odd and even numbers?” We learned that when we count by 2’s those numbers are even numbers, and when we can divide a number into two equal groups, that number is even. During Number Corner, students are learning about various ways to model multiplication facts. They have looked at examples of ratio tables, arrays, pictures, and loops and groups models for multiplication.
 Reading 
 During reading this week students learned about our “mini-lesson” structure. They learned that both our reading and writing lessons are short or mini and that they have three jobs during a mini-lesson to keep the lesson short. For example, holding their questions until the end of the lesson, turning and talking, and finally they must be hyper-focused on the learning at hand. Students also discovered their new just-right reading spot in the classroom and worked on their A-Reading computer assessment this week. In addition to this, third graders are now reading independently and quietly in class for 25 minutes! You have worked very hard building up your reading stamina! Nice work third graders! Writing 
 During writing students made a writing heart map that they will glue into their writing notebook. A heart map is a tool we will use this year during writing. It has labels and drawings of places, people, food, pets, memories, etc. that we care about and/or are important to us. This tool will help us come up with ideas for writing our own personal narrative, the first writing unit of the year. In the next upcoming weeks, students will be selecting small moment stories from their lives that they can write about. For example, the time I won a pizza eating contest, or the time my cat got locked in the closet, or maybe even a memory of watching leaves fall off trees. Students will be brainstorming more ideas next week in class. We have included an extra heart map in case you want to create one at home. Science 
 This week, third grade scientists conducted experiments with magnets and balloons to observe that electric and magnetic forces between objects do not require that the objects be in contact. Students observed that the force between two magnets depends on their orientation relative to each other (north pole to north pole, north pole to south pole, etc…). Students also learned the following vocabulary words: push, pull, repel, and attract.

There is an Early Release Day on 9/20/19 Friday, September 20th, is an early dismissal day for students. Students will eat lunch in the classroom to be ready for dismissal at 12:30 PM. If your child will be ordering school lunch on this date, please complete the attached lunch order form. Thank you! Upcoming Events
September 20th – Early Release, 12:30 PM Dismissal for Students
 September 28th – PTO Harvest Festival
 September 30th – PTO Fall Catalog Fundraiser Begins
October 2nd – International Walk to School Day

 Thank you to families who sent in crackers for students who have needed a snack at snack time. We are in need of baby wipes for wiping desks. if you have a spare pack at home to send in, your help would be appreciated. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Keelin Simpson and Ashley Cota
 kmcgrath@sbschools.net
acota@sbschools.net

THIRD GRADE NEWS

Dear Third Grade Families,

 It has been an amazing first two weeks of school! We have a wonderful group of third graders! During the first few weeks of September, our activities largely revolve around the following three themes- Getting to Know Each Other, Agreements and Routines, and Getting Ready to Learn. We practice Chamberlin School’s “Three Bees”: Be Responsible, Be Safe, and Be Respectful in all of the places and spaces in our school. By taking the time at the beginning of the school year to establish a caring learning environment in which expectations are clear, we ensure future learning will proceed in a productive manner. Here are the latest updates from our first two weeks together in Third Grade! 

Third graders have been learning several different skills to help increase learning including: how to focus our attention and how to listen respectfully. Check out the attached family letter for more information about what students have learned as part of our Second Step program for positive social-emotional growth.
Math
Third grade mathematicians have created and interpreted scaled picture and bar graphs. Students have worked on making agreements about what our classroom will look and sound like during partner and group work times. Students have shared about their learning preferences by organizing and representing their information as a glyph and a picture graph. Students have created a survey and are collecting data to be shared as a scaled bar graph with several categories. Ask your child to teach you how to play Make the Sum at home. We learned how to play the original version and “variation C” on the attached instructions.
Writing
During Writing students have worked on their Star Student Poster. This poster will be displayed in the hallway and teaches others about what makes each third grade student unique. Spelling and Reading We have taken spelling assessments with Ms. Cota to learn our just-right level. During reading, students have learned how to find just-right books. We have also had lessons on fake versus real reading. Right now students are working on building up their reading stamina. Both classes can already read for 20 minutes comfortably in their selected reading spots. Nice job third graders! Science 
During Science students learned how to respectfully collaborate with a group while completing two exciting experiments last Friday. The first experiment was called Save Fred. Fred is a gummy worm who needed help getting his life jacket on. The challenge was we could not touch Fred with our hands, we could only use paper clips and support each other! The second experiment was an engineering task called The Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge. Students were challenged to build the tallest possible tower that could support a marshmallow using a limited supply of materials. This Friday we began exploring the idea of life cycles. Students have enjoyed observing our class caterpillars journey through their life cycle towards becoming Painted Lady Butterflies.
Upcoming Events: 
September 10th – Welcome Assembly, 8:10-8:30 AM, Kindergarten and New Family Welcome Coffee, 8:00-9:00 AM
Picture Day is on Wednesday, September 11th. Order forms were sent home last Friday. Let us know if you need another copy.
September 17th – Buzz Assembly, 8:10-8:30 AM

Happy Friday!
 Keelin Simpson and Ashley Cota
 kmcgrath@sbschools.net
 acota@sbschools.net

August 12 Third Grade News

Hello, Third Grader!

We hope you’re as excited as we are about the start of the school year. We are going to have a great year together! There are two Third Grade Teachers this year. Mrs. Simpson will be teaching math and Ms. Cota will be teaching literacy (reading and writing). Ms. Cota and Mrs. Simpson will be teaching science and social studies together.

A Note From Mrs. Simpson
I have enjoyed the sunny days this summer with my family. I have two boys, Braden and Liam. Braden is going into 7th grade, and Liam will be in preschool. We also have a bunny named Thumper. The boys love to play outside, swim, and ride bikes. We have had fun family gatherings and roasted marshmallows by the campfire. We are looking forward to ending our summer break with a trip to Maine to spend time by the ocean and go to the zoo.

A Note From Ms. Cota
 I can’t believe how quickly this summer flew by! It was a blast but I’m ready to meet and get to know all of you! This summer I spent a lot of time enjoying Lake Champlain. Did you have time to visit the lake? I went paddle boarding, swimming, and I also read interesting books by the water. My favorite memory from this summer was visiting my mother’s camp in Montgomery, Vermont. I saw geese, deer, a beaver, and even woke up to a mouse running in the walls. I didn’t go to sleep after that. Some of my other interests include: snowboarding, playing tennis, hanging out with my friends, and traveling. I can’t wait to meet you and find out more about your interests.

 We hope that you have had a terrific summer vacation! We can’t wait to hear about it! We look forward to seeing you at Open House on August 26, from 1:30-3:00 pm. Please remember to bring a snack and a water bottle to school each day. Enjoy the remainder of your summer!

Sincerely,
 Ashley Cota & Keelin Simpson
 acota@sbschools.net
kmgrath@sbschools.net

WELCOME TO THIRD GRADE!!!

Welcome back to school!  We are looking forward to a great year of fun and learning with you!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Simpson
Ms. Cota

Thank You

Dear Third Grade Families,

It is hard to believe that the end of the year has arrived!  It has been my pleasure to work with such a great group of bright, kind, enthusiastic learners!  I will surely miss them all next year!

 I have enclosed a review packet of multiplication, division, fraction, and geometry activities in your child's summer envelope, and Mrs. Buley has placed a summer reading packet in the envelope, too.  Keep practicing the multiplication facts and read each day throughout the summer.  Do the worksheets on rainy days, if you have a chance.

Third graders had a grand time at Field Day this week.  Enjoy the photos below!

  

   

 
       

       

     

What a great group!!!

Have a wonderful summer!!!

Sincerely,
Keelin M. Simpson

Classroom News

                                         

Dear Third Grade Families,

We are finishing up our science units about inherited traits, life cycles, and plant and animal adaptations this month.  Third graders have conducted research about a Vermont bird to learn about habitats, life cycles, adaptations, and inherited traits.  Students chose a way to present their research.  Third graders chose to create slideshows, skits, cartoons, posters, and games to present their research. 

We learned about the life cycle of chickens and were visited by chicks and chickens from Shelburne Farms this spring.

         

                                              

Third graders also completed the assignment of inventing a bird.  Students chose one of Earth’s biomes and invented a bird that would have the behavioral and inherited adaptations to survive in that biome.  After each student sketched their invented bird, he/she worked with Ms. Terracino to create a 3-D model of their invented bird out of paper mache, paint, and other supplies. 

                        

In social studies, students were involved earlier this year in producing "green screen" videos of the explorers upon which they did research reports. 

​

The children would love to share their work on these projects with you. Please stop by your child's Home Room classroom whenever it is convenient for you between 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM on Thursday, June 14^th.  

Remember that we will also be having a Pizza Party to celebrate our year in third grade on June 14th.  Children will not need to bring a lunch that day. Children are invited to bring a card or board game from home to school to play with their classmates during the party.  Please click on the link below if you are able to sign up to contribute an item for the party.  Thank you!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0B4CA9AB22AAF94-celebration   

Sincerely,

Keelin Simpson