Highlights of the Week; Nov 19-23

With the afternoon holiday for Thanksgiving yesterday it seems we have more things to do in less time.  The students worked diligently tidying up their folders, including their google folders.  Don't forget, all parents have access to their child's learning folders on the google drive.  Please let me know if you need help with this.

In literacy this week we continued our reorganization of the class library.  We still have more to do, but it is getting much better organized thankfully.  The boys and girls also worked on their persuasive writing skills.  They have been revising and editing their paragraphs they wrote a couple of weeks ago.  They are using the Six Traits of Writing protocols, and the writing process to revise and edit their work.  They will soon be able to compare their two paragraphs, and I am sure they will see much improvement.

In math this week the students continued their mental math  routine.  Today we did a learning activity connected to asking questions, and building understanding about a math concept.  The word "origin" is both a word about time, but also a word with a very specific meaning in math.  It is related to the coordinates of (0,0) on a graph or map.  The students made connections to the global positioning system (GPS) that we use to navigate.  This week we also found some time to write a short test to summarize where they are in grade 3 math expectations.  We also did some computational programming this week, working with the Blue Bots, small computerize gadgets.  The students are learning how to program, and about using coordinates to describe positioning.  Be sure to see the pictures of our Blue Bot Challenge.

Today we went on a field trip to the State Museum of History.  The tour guides were very helpful in helping the students build their understanding for our new unit of inquiry, Where We Are in Place and Time.  We learned about the stone age, the neolithic age, the bronze age, all the way to the science renaissance times of Amir Temur and Mirzo Ulugbek.  

I had the opportunity to go into their Art class this week and see the artists at work.  Ms. Lind begins each class with the students doing some sketching of still objects.  It builds their depth and use of shape, form, line and space. 

See the pictures of our week below!

Pictures for Week of Nov 19-23

Summative Assessments, Library Re-organization and Division!

It has been a very eventful week of learning in 3P. Reaching back to the previous week however, the boys and girls in both grade 3 classes came together to share their learning in the G3-5 PYP Assembly. As we were coming to the end of our Unit of Inquiry (UOI), the students wanted to share their research for How We Organize Ourselves. Their developing research skills were very evident to the grade fours and fives. I was proud teacher as I watched each and every student discuss their work. It was a great warm up for their summative assessment this week, where the students presented their full research projects to their grade three friends. Being able to articulate their ideas and research concisely is not an easy task for grade three students but I was very pleased with their efforts and results. The students took the time to thoughtfully evaluate their peer's presentations, and offered respectful and constructive feedback.

Despite our focus on their research and summative assessments, we managed to do some other learning tasks. In math this week, our focus was division--notably understanding that dividing sets into equal groups, and understanding what it looks like as a "division sentence", and how division is actually reverse multiplication. The boys and girls are understanding that there is more to multiplication and division than memorizing tables. "Mr. Shawn, multiplication is the opposite of doing division."

This week we also found some time to reorganize our class library as a learning activity. Understanding literature genres is not such an easys task. Our non-fiction section of the library has so many groups; from subjects such as transportation to countries and culture, to space and animals/zoology. Likewise, our fiction section now has books sorted by both author and series, to large picture books and chapter books. Finally, as recognition of the importance of multilingualism and home language, we now have a leveled reader section, and even a basket of books in other languages than English. We have also built a pretty comprehensive reference section, including dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases, a math reference series, and some encyclopedias to support their research. While we are not yet finished our library reorganization, the students certainly have greater understanding of the variety of genres.

In language this week students continued in their word study and writing groups. Our common writing focus this week was on persuasive writing.

This week we were finally able to decorate their "discussion jars." Next week, they will bring their jars home with a bunch of questions in them. The idea is that the questions will have some provocative discussion starters for students to ponder with their families, perhaps over the dinner table. Our new Unit of Inquiry, an investigation into Where We Are in Place and Time, begins in earnest next week. The questions will be related to our UOIs.


Four important pieces of information:

1) Next Friday, November 23, grade three will go on a field trip to the State Museum of History.  Permission forms and additional logistical information will go home on Monday.

2) On Thursday afternoon (November 22nd) is a half day due to American Thanksgiving. Students are to be picked up at 11:30 on this day.

3) On Wednesday morning there is a book sale in the MPR. Books vary in price from 60,000 to 200,000 cym.

4) I have been asked to post this information about Dita's birthday: Dita is turning 9 and she would like to invite all her classmates to her Birthday Party. Date and time: Sunday, November 25, 2017 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Place: I fly - trampoline center, 41/6 Mirabad Street, Tashkent RSVP: michaela@pospisilovi.eu or +998 90 359 83 46 Please come in sportwear. Invitations were sent home with your child.

I am sorry for the long post. Have a great week ahead. Be sure to see the pictures below! Mr Shawn and Ms Olga

Pictures for Week of Nov 12-16

Pictures; Week of Oct 22-26

Probability; Elapsed Time, and Currency

Math is far more than knowing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  In grade 3P, we spend a fair bit of time practicing these basic math operations, but we also apply our knowledge to other areas of what we call math for everyday living.  This week during our math olympics we were investigating many areas of time and number.  What is the chance that we will roll a 5 on a dice?  If your ideal amount of sleep was 8 and a half hours, and you wake up at 6:15, what time should you go to bed?  How much change would you get if a watermelon was 27,000 cym but you only had a 50,000 cym bill?  These are all relevant questions, even for grade three students.

This week the students also worked hard on researching and writing notes for their time projects.

This weekend is UN Day, one of the best events on the TIS calendar in my view.  It all starts at 10:00 am on Saturday.  The day kicks off with a UN Parade of Nations.  Please ensure your child is dressed in national clothing.  The parade is followed by an assembly of cultural presentations in the gym, and then culminates with a food festival in the park, and country room visits in the secondary building.  It is a fantastic opportunity to learn about other cultures.  I hope to see you there!  And a little bit of selfish promotion...be sure to come shoot a puck in the Canada room!!

Topic Bottles
One final note:  Next week we will ask students to bring in an empty bottle, preferably with a lid.  This is for a learning activity we will begin.  Students will decorate their bottle.  At the beginning of new Units of Inquiry (We are currently on the second of a total of six throughout the year), students will bring home some discussion questions.   The idea is that students will be asked to draw one question out a dinner time for example, and have all members of the family respond and discuss the question.  So please ensure your child brings in a bottle on Monday.  Thank-you! 

Be sure to see the pictures below!  Some of the pictures are from the rehearsal for UN Day.

Student Led Inquiry

For our current unit of inquiry, we in grade 3 have taken a new approach from what we have done in the past.  There is a heavy emphasis on what we refer to as Student Led Inquiry.  Simply put, it is a process of learning that involves a number of important activities for students, including asking their own questions, investigating multiple sources of information for a purpose, thinking critically to make sense of information they’ve found, and establishing and communicating new understandings and knowledge.  Of course these are processes we pursue for all units of inquiry, and this is how it has happened previously.  What makes this more unique this time is that we have presented all of our information much earlier on, so that students have a broad understanding of the central idea from the beginning.  The goal is to make the students much more involved in their personal learning path.  For example, we exposed the students to various "tuning in" resources about our unit, such as videos, books, and discussions.  Our UOI, How We Organize Ourselves, is about how we understand and use time to manage our lives. One student used this preliminary research and knowledge presented, and would now like to pursue knowledge about time zones and the international  date line, and to develop her understanding how it is connected to managing time.  In this way, students build their own repertoire of skills as they research, think critically, and present their ideas.  This way they also link their math and literacy skills which are developing simultaneously. For example, they read, gather and summarize information, both in note and extended form.  They also may build something related to their learning, such as a model of a time keeping device such as a sundial or water clock. They apply their growing math knowledge of time related concepts such as elapsed time, the use of the earth's moving shadow to measure time, and of course how to tell time to the minute. 

This image outlines the research process we use in class.  Students are encouraged to be very participative in class, working and discussing ideas together.  My experience is that during student led inquiries, students gain a great deal of confidence in their research abilities.

In addition to the literacy associated with their research this week, the students were learning about the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising editing and publishing their work.  Most students were in the revising and editing stage, after having chosen a piece of written work they felt they could improve.

In math this week, the students were learning about arrays, area, and grids, and how these terms the are connected to addition and multiplication.

Be sure to see the photos from the week below.

I wish everyone a restful few days with your families.