3rd Grade Begins

Here's a little bio of Boylee's teacher:

I was raised in a small mining town of union workers. My parents taught me and my siblings the importance of faith and hard work. We loved keeping active in mind and body, and I spent a great deal of time living and learning in the desert. At the University of Arizona I studied education and sociology, and in high school I was very interested in world history.

Schools build community and help define us as a society. They are essential to maintaining a strong democracy and providing the skills that spur innovation. As a teacher, I feel I am fulfilling my civic duty. Input from parents, administrators, and teachers help build quality schools. 

I think it’s important that schools work as teams. I welcome volunteers into my classroom, and I appreciate when coworkers share feedback and information. Education and learning have helped make me a happy and healthy person. 

My favorite classrooms channel a child’s energy into learning. The ideal school engages students through varied stimuli and it honors each student’s distinct abilities. I think children learn effectively as they work together in groups and that this maximizes student engagement. I hope to encourage risk taking among learners with varied skill levels. When learning content, practice and memorization have a place, but students need authentic learning experiences. 

I enjoy running and better living through healthy eating. My wife and I enjoy practicing yoga, and we have worked through injuries with our practice. We spend a great deal of time going to movies and reading, but we live in a full house where there is no lack of distraction. We also share a great love of music.

And here's our first Friday update about what the kids have been learning lately:

In an effort to increase communication between home and school, the 3rd grade team will begin sending home an e-mail each Friday highlighting the Guiding Questions (GQ) and Essential Questions (EQ) for each subject area of our homeroom curriculum. ‘What are these questions?’ you may wonder... We will use an analogy to explain. The guiding question is like a rainbow where you can see all the beautiful colors. A guiding question is the over-arching idea or the big picture concept. An essential question is like each distinct color in the rainbow (ROY G. BIV= red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). Each essential question is a zoomed-in, closer look at the content area. Enjoy reading each week about our rainbow of learning!

Handwriting GQ= How can I print letters, words, and sentences legibly? EQ= How can I print capital letters F, E, D, and P? How can I print capital letters B, R, N, and M? How can I print capital letters H, K, L, and U? How can I print capital letters V, W, X, Y, and Z? How can I print capital letters C, O, Q, and G? 

Reading GQ= What does Reader’s Workshop look like? EQ= What does it look like to silently read? What is my responsibility during Reader’s Workshop? What do you think about when you choose a book to read? How do I choose a just right book? Why would you abandon a book? How do I think about my reading? How do I talk to others about my reading? What is the difference between a fiction and non-fiction book? What are the different kinds of fiction books? What are the different kinds of non-fiction books? What can I do to celebrate after finishing a book? What have we learned about our role as a reader? 

Writing GQ= How can I get ideas for writing? EQ= What do I already know about narrative writing? How can I plan to write about a person who matters to me? How can I plan to write about a place that matters to me? How can I plan to write about a thing that matters to me? How do I zoom in on a small moment? How can I use sequence of events to write my small moment? How do I fill in the gaps in my small moment narrative by using exact details? How do I talk about my writing? How do I edit my personal narrative?

Math GQ= What is multiplication? What is the place value of each digit to the ten thousands? EQ= Where can we see real life examples of multiplication in groups? How can I represent multiplication in different ways? How can I represent multiplication in different ways? How can I use an array to skip count? How can I memorize my multiplication facts? How can I practice my facts with a partner? How can I use a bar model to solve a math problem? How do I identify the place value of a digit? How can I use a place value mat to represent numbers? How do I write numbers in expanded and standard form? How do I identify the place value of a digit?

DWOK GQ=How are we linked together as a community? EQ= How do we honor our similarities and differences? How am I linked to my classmates? What makes me special? How am I linked to my classmates? How can we celebrate what we have learned about how all our classmates are linked together? How do special qualities come together to make a recipe? How can we use symbols to represent our special qualities?

One thing we learned at Back-to-School Night is that this focus on handwriting is to prepare them for cursive, which will start in a few weeks. (I remember not doing cursive till 4th grade, and also I clearly remember doing the times table then, not in 3rd.)