Dear Parents,
This is it: the last Monday of J3! In the spirit of the Happiness Habit: Reflect on Happy Memories, I took a moment to read through some of our old morning messages as well as old blog posts. What a year we've had! We welcomed new friends, wrote poems with an award winning poet, explored the zoo, mourned the loss of a fish, enjoyed the arts, and learned a whole lot in-between. In all of that, we learned to become a very blended family of global citizens. It has been a great joy to get to know each of you, so if I don't have a chance to say it before the year ends, THANK YOU for all of your support, for trusting me with your child, and for giving us all the space to learn and grow together. It takes a village to raise a child, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this collective village. This week, though short, is still very exciting. Today we had a great visit from Jazz Reach, an organization that brings in jazz musicians to schools across the US. on Wednesday, we will go to JFK to see the Solar Impulse land, and Thursday is our class party, with dismissal at 11:45. We will leave the school at 8:30 on Wednesday, so please ensure your child is here in class at 8:20. MATH FOR THE SUMMER: Ms. Murry collated great resources for summer Math support. I am adding them to the Math page of our blog. There you will also find a reminder for getting into Dreambox at home- remember that this year's link is different from last year's! I suggest that you also give your child as much opportunity for real world application as possible- and no, I am not making a case for increased allowance so they can learn to budget, as the children requested I do. I am suggesting that they measure, and add, and multiply, and calculate time just as you do in your day to day. :-) READING AND WRITING FOR THE SUMMER: The best thing to do to avoid summer slide is READ! and of course, WRITE! I suggest keeping a summer journal. Here are more ideas on ways to avoid summer slide. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT: Get outside and play as much as possible!!! There is a great deal of increasing research on the importance of connecting with nature to nurture happiness. That said, we also know that there will be times when your child is connected to technology. During those times, it is important that they are kept safe and remain kind. Before I depart, I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about an important developmental topic: the use of technology with the children. In this ever-increasing technology driven world, it can be hard to monitor everything our children do online, and to ensure that they are following safe use protocols. Even though it is challenging, it is important that we do monitor their usage as much as possible, which includes monitoring what they watch, checking in on their email accounts (if they have shown you that they are ready to have one) and ensuring that they do not yet have social media accounts that are intended for children ages 13 and up. While we monitor to ensure that the children are safe, we also monitor to ensure that they are being kind, and not engaging in cyber-bullying behaviors. Here are a few articles that I would suggest you check out as you create a safe user plan for your home:
I have had a lot of "lasts" over the past few weeks, the last time I will write report cards, (I wrote about it in my blog at that link) the last time I will give a math test, the last Monday in the homeroom. The completion of this marks another: the last blog post I will write to parents as a classroom teacher. You will hear a lot from me next year as Service Learning Coordinator, a role I am thrilled to develop here at UNIS. Thank you for making my last year as a classroom teacher so wonderful. With Much Love and Gratitude, Erin M. Threlfall
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Dear Parents, This is the next to last weekly newsletter coming from me- can you believe it?! This time of year I am always a bit sappy. I become so attached to your children and then they just leave me for another grade! As I wrote their reports, I was amazed by how much everyone has grown this year. It s so hard to say what I wish to say in 1,000 characters. I could have written a novel about each child! As you know, we have sports day tomorrow. If your child's shirt is not here at school, please be sure to send them to school in the gray UNIS shirt that was sent home for the Adventure Day. Some of the children are claiming that they lost it- I said: Find it! :-) And if that really is true, please send them in a gray PE shirt. I have jury duty, so Ms. Moore will be accompanying the children while I sit in a courthouse sulking about missing the exciting day. Please remember that the PA will send in pizza and ice cream for the children. If your child cannot have pizza, you will need to send in a packed lunch. For Sports Day, your child should:
We will return them to you very tired and happy, so plan for an early bedtime on Tuesday! That's it from me... Short and sweet today. Enjoy this sunny day! Erin Dear Parents, I hope everyone enjoyed the extra family time over the long weekend. From what I heard during morning share, it seems that most of you managed to get in some nature/family/sun time. It is wonderful to hear about the great adventures! We are on the 'great wind-down' here in J3T. It is really hard to believe that we our year is nearly complete, and that your lovely ones will be fourth graders soon! This morning, we started the conversation about J4, tapping into how the children are feeling and the wonders they have about what lies ahead. They are sharing that they have some anxiety regarding the unknown, and so we will spend time over the next few weeks developing some skills to manage these anxieties. We will also do the work of closing out J3. As someone who has undergone a number of transitions, I can speak first hand of the value of closing rituals and preparing for what lies ahead. I find the material put out through Third Culture Kids to be very helpful, and will use their RAFT practice as we prepare for the transition to J4. During the next few weeks, we will consolidate our learning and wrap up any outstanding units/concepts. LITERACY: In Literacy, the children are busy working to publish their writing of realistic fiction stories. I will also complete final reading assessments with the children. MATH: In Math, The children are consolidating their work in division and multiplication, and will be moving into fractions. Please continue to ensure that your child practices the times tables each evening. For those who are not yet solid with their facts, I have provided a times tables chart to help with the division. It would be better if they were solid in the facts so they could move onto more complex division problems. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING: We will work on strategies for processing big feelings in order to support the transition process that I spoke about above. I think you might find this article: The Misguided Desire of Wanting our Kids to be Happy, to be helpful when thinking about ways to support your child as they process these changes and the feelings they may bring about. MOVING UP: Please be reminded, as shared by Ms. Appana, that you will receive your child's class placement on Friday, June 3. On Thursday, June 9, we will have a"moving up day," during which time your child will get to visit with their class teacher for next year. In the case where the teacher is not yet at UNIS, the new teacher will either SKYPE in or have a video prepared to welcome the children. IMPORTANT DATES:
That's it from me! Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions. Yours in learning and growing- Ms. Erin M. Threlfall P.S. I realize that I did not share pictures from our adventure day, the ELL play, and our visit from the Swiss Ambassador talking about the solar airplane! Here they are... Dear Parents- It's adventure day week here in J3T and that means lots of excitement in the children. As a reminder, on Wednesday, we will leave at 8:30 a.m. sharp, so it is important that everyone is here by 8:20 for prep time. Please remember to send the children to school in their sport's day shirts with sunblock applied, and wearing long, light-weight trousers to help protect against ticks. We are stressing the importance of a nutritious lunch/snack for the day. I will take many pictures, and look forward to sharing stories about our exciting day! In addition to great adventures, we also have great learning happening in the classroom! Here is a snapshot of what's on in J3T. MATH: We are continuing to develop an understanding of the concept of division. The children are making many wonderful and exciting connections. For instance, on Friday they noticed the similarity in the obelus, the symbol used for short division, and the vinculum, (meaning to bond) the line used in fractions. This led to some "AHA!" moments for some children about the relationship between the numerator and denominator in fractions, and what they represent. I was also amazed by some of the questions that came up, such as: "Why would they use the vinculum in subtraction, too? Is it all just the same symbol flipped around to tell you to do different bondings with numbers?" This week, the children are working to understand the relationships between fact families in multiplication and division. Because I know that children will grasp a concept when they get to build an understanding in a wide range of ways, today we worked a bit on "story building," in addition to practicing the skills. To build a story around division (and to take away the mystery) we talked about the developmental stages of understanding math, and how these stages are tied to the way the brain grows. I shared that as young children, they needed concrete examples to build an understanding of representing number and counting, and then they could move to representing number abstractly with symbols, moving to adding, which is a shortcut for counting. Then they could subtract, which was a way of undoing what they did when they added. We talked about how multiplication is a shortcut for adding (and therefore a shortcut for counting), and division is a way to "undo" the work done when multiplying. I love the moments when the children finally "get it," and today we had many "OH MY GOSH! THAT IS SO COOL!" and "I Get it!" and "WOW! I love knowing why you teach things a certain way!" They had a lot of fun then with the fact families between multiplication and division. Parents, you may find this article exciting, I know I did when I read it! LITERACY: We are continuing our creative writing pieces, now with a focus on paragraphing and writing with dialogue. If you read aloud with your child, pointing out the way dialogue is written and paragraphs are formed will help to build an understanding of these challenging tasks. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING: To continue with last week's lesson on mindset, this week the children will practice more strategies for "flipping the script," finding ways to neutralize any teasing comments from others in an effective way so that we do not take someone else's teasing to heart. On another note, some of the the children are going through the developmental stages that tweens go through. For the children, this could mean new (first) crushes, developing bodies that for some leads to a new clumsiness and changes in body chemistry. The kids have been talking about body changes, and I can tell that they have some questions. Today I overheard: "SMELL MY PITS! They smell differently!" I share this as a heads up that if your child hasn't shared any of this with you, it might be on their minds! It is a good time to also talk about hygiene practices for the changing body. The American Girls' Series has a great book for girls called The Care and Keeping of You that helps to facilitate these conversations, and for boys, The Boy's Bodies Book is said to be the boy's version of the American Girls' Series. Dates to Remember:
That's it from me! Have a great week- Sincerely, Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Dear Families of J3T, I hope you had a chance to get out into the world today and take in some of this warmer weather. It is finally spring (again!) and we in J3T could not be happier. Here's what we are happily talking about in class: J3 Adventure Day: Bear Mountain Today, the children are bringing home the permission slips for the J3 Adventure Day trip to Bear Mountain happening on May 18. The slip is attached below, along with the agenda for the day. I have asked the children to return the slip as soon as possible, and no later than Monday, May 16 (Sooner is better!). Thank you to those of you who have offered to chaperone; I really appreciate your willingness to help. Adventure days are a "Parent Free Zone," with the goal of building independence and supporting the "Can Do" spirit that we hope to foster in the children. As you will see in the agenda, we have a strong cohort of UNIS teachers accompanying us for this fabulous day. The children are very excited, and have asked that we start to train for the day. You will notice in the homework menu that I have asked them to work with their parents to plan a nutritious lunch and snack for the day. We have agreed that chips and heavily processed, fatty foods will not be great for our working bodies. I am excited to see what they plan for the afternoon to help fuel them during the climb. MATH: In Math, we continue our work with the "Muffles Truffles" unit that supports multiplicative thinking leading to division. This is a rich unit, full of multiple entry ways for the children to extend their base understandings. Please ensure that your child continues to practice the times tables so that they are solid in their recall of basic facts. LITERACY: The children are so excited about our current writing unit! I have found myself begging them to stop writing so they can go out to play- this is such a luxury teacher problem!!! The children are working to develop their skills in crafting engaging, rich fiction stories. To support this, I have asked them to read as much fiction as possible, paying attention to the ways the author draws them into the story. In reading, we will begin literature circles (book clubs) on Wednesday. The children will be reading and analyzing fiction stories, looking at the plot structure, character development, and author's craft. I have been really amazed by the dialogues the children have been having about our read- alouds. Tiger Rising and Ameilia's Roads have proven to be wonderful stories that help the children show their empathetic sides while also developing strong analytical skills. Sometimes I forget that I am chatting with 9 year olds! SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING: Last week we started the conversation about our mindset, and the way that we talk to ourselves. We have visited this topic a few times, and it seemed to be one the children were ready to revisit. We have been talking about the idea that sometimes we talk to ourselves in ways that we would never talk to others, and if we are to be working on Building Into Relationships and Spreading Kindness, we need to start with ourselves. To that end, we have been practicing flipping some of the "negative talk," that sometimes creeps into our heads. The children have been very receptive to this, and eager to gain strategies to help deal with stress, self imposed pressure, and self esteem. I have also started to tap into their feelings about moving on to fourth grade, and am working to help prepare the children for this exciting transition. Soon, we will send home information about the "moving up" day to take place in June. I will also share strategies that you can do at home to help with the transition process. UPCOMING DATES: May 14: International Food & Fun Day 10:00 - 4:00 detailhere May 18: J3 Trip to Bear Mountain May 25: JS Parent Coffee - Year in Review May 27 - May 30:Memorial Day 4-day Weekend June 2: 11:45 Dismissal for JS (TH Graduation Day) June 3: J2 & J3 Concert - Theatre at 9:00am That's all from me! I hope you get to enjoy some of this gorgeous weather with your families! Yours in Spring Time Happiness- Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Dear Families of J3T:
WHAT A WEEK WE HAD! I don't have words for the excitement, so in the spirit of : "A picture speaks a thousand words," I thought I'd let these images do the talking. I hope you had a wonderful time at the story book character parade and the author's reading! We sure had a blast. Have a great week- Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Dear Parents, Just a short and sweet note this week, as we are super busy in the land of J3T with publishing our poetry chap books and prepping for the big authors' reading while also starting our unit on division. How these little people fit it all in their brains and still have space to sort out the Pokemon thing is beyond me. :-) We have a busy week ahead celebrating Book week. I hope you can join us for the festivities! Here are the dates you are invited to keep in mind: Storybook Parade Thursday, April 28th 8:30am - 9:15am Typically all the students, faculty and staff dress up for the parade as a favourite book character. Parents are invited to watch and then leave after the parade. You can dress up too, if you would like! I will be a box of crayons from "The Day the Crayons Quit!" Book Sale Friday, April 29th 8:00am - 8:30pm As a fund-raiser for school, the children have an opportunity to buy great books! The sale is held in the Lobby and JA Gym
Pick-up after school will be in the classrooms on Friday! J3 Authors’ Reading: Friday, April 29 7:00 p.m. The Authors’ Reading is a time when the children read their work in front of their families. Imagine a poetry reading for kids. They only attend their session, and families are invited to watch. It is a very special tradition at UNIS, and the children love it! The children should arrive around 6:45 so they are ready to start at 7:00. I will find out soon which room we are in! While it is not mandatory, it is so special, we would hate for anyone to miss it. Other Dates:
That's it from me! Next week's newsletter should be packed with great photos from the week's festivities. Have a fabulous day! Ein (OH MY GOSH!!! You know you are up working too late when you typo your own name. I am keeping that there to share with the students. They need to know that I make mistakes as well!) Dear Parents, It was wonderful to have you all in for our student led conferences. During circle time this morning the children offered their feedback on the experience. Here is some of what they had to say: "What was the best part of Student Led Conferences?" Showing my parents the things I have worked hard on. Seeing how much I have learned since the beginning of the year and telling my parents about it. Explaining my work to my parents. Being able to answer my parents questions. Looking at my work again, all in one place. Having you (the teacher) help me to explain. "What was challenging about Student Led Conferences?" Trying to explain everything to my parents. It felt like the time went by too fast. Having parent questions that I didn't want to answer. I didn't like when you (the teacher) jumped in because I felt I didn't know the right thing to say. I would love to hear your thoughts about student led conferences as well. Please feel free to send them to me via email. It is a learning opportunity for all of us so your feedback is valuable. LITERACY This week we will turn our focus onto our unit on self expression. We will begin with a baseline for narrative writing, and then use the information gained to help guide instructions towards writing effective stories. In reading, we will focus on the elements of literature in fiction texts. We will also read poetry to help prepare our budding poets minds! This would be a great time to talk with your child about your favourite stories or poems. MATH In Math, we will be working on area and perimeter as well as volume to close off our unit on Geometry. Next week we will start our work on division. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING This week I will re-introduce the practice of "Looking for the Wow!" This is a strategy that falls under the Happiness Habit: Express Gratitude. As springtime unfolds, it is a great opportunity to shift back into a practice of gratitude. There is so much subtle beauty to notice, and for which to be grateful. I also think that noticing the surroundings will help the children as they develop the ability to establish setting in their writing. If you are interested in writing, this exercise might inspire you while also encouraging you to LOOK FOR THE WOW! and tune into your surroundings. Below is this week's TED talk to inspire you to look around and enjoy the beauty around you. WHAT'S COMING UP.... As a reminder, we have MAP testing this week. As a collective, the grade 3 teachers requested that the MAP test be moved from Tuesday-Thursday to Wednesday-Friday so that the children had an opportunity to settle-in and reflect on the SLCs before jumping into testing. The story book parade will take place on April 28, with the poets reading on the evening of April 29. For those of you new to UNIS, story book parade is an opportunity to dress-up as a favourite book character, and then we parade around the school. It is a really fun day!! Dates to Remember:
That's it from me! Have a beautiful week. This warmer weather makes me smile from the inside out! Yours in Springtime Happiness- Erin Dear Parents,
FOCUS and DETERMINATION Those are the words I would use to describe the chidren today. From the moment they walked in the door, they were eager to get going on their GeoMetro Cities. So much so, in fact, that after Math time was over, we had an attempt at a coup d'état, with the demands to make today an ALL MATH DAY. Evidence is above. I guess this is what happens when you let children know that their voices matter! This week's message is short and sweet, as the work we are doing is all a continuation of last week's post. The children are eager to have you in for the portfolio sharing, during which time I am confident that you will have strong evidence to support your understanding of who your child is as a learner They are truly proud of the work that they will be sharing wit you, and well they should be! They have worked very hard to develop their skills! A new Homestudy Menu is posted on the Home Study page. The children will also receive some math material to support our work in Geometry. Please also continue to support the review of the times tables! Please consider this message from UNIS Fund: Please consider making a gift to the UNIS Fund. We are submitting proposals to foundations for financial support and a high percentage of parent giving is necessary to be considered for funding. Please help us achieve our goal of 80% or higher parent participation this year! (Envelopes can be found in the classrooms for convenience) Dates to Remember:
That's it from me! I look forward to seeing you later in the week. Sincerely, Erin M. Threlfall Dear Parents, Welcome back from spring break! Our morning was filled with wonderful stories about spring break adventures. I am so happy to hear that the children had plenty of time for play and exploration. Compliments of Bella Nadel, we had a great new surprise today: a new class fish! This came as a great relief being that we lost Katut just before break. After great debate, and a series of votes- almost as complex as the US Presidential election process- our fish has a name: Bubbles. If you are the parent of a boy, you may hear Bubbles referred to as Veruca Salt; many of the boys are not pleased with the election defeat and so our fish may very well develop an identity crisis. Such is the life in J3T... This week we will kick back into high gear with learning, while also preparing for the student led conferences. It's a busy and exciting time in here, full of energy. Here's what's ahead.... Unit Studies: We are continuing our unit on Self Expression that we started before spring break. During this unit,students in J3 will experience a range of authentic artistic experiences. From visual art, through drama, dance, music, poetry, storytelling and beyond, students will be given an opportunity to create their own responses inspired by what they have seen, heard and felt. Off-site visits and in- class visitors and workshops will be used to create genuine experiences. The students will understand what it is to be an artist by considering how other artists work is influenced by their experiences and the world around them. Students will ultimately create their own artistic pieces and be able to explain what feelings they hope to invoke in others as well as being able to identify possible motives in classmates’ work. The Conceptual Learning Purpose of this unit is for learners to understand that …
The Competency Learning Purpose is for learners to be able to...
And to develop the following SKILLS
The Character Learning Purpose is for students to develop the value of appreciation, tolerance, and creativity. Literacy: The children have wrapped up the writing process for their reports of information, and have moved into self reflections and goal setting. They are quite eager to share these with you at the student led conferences, and they should be! The children showed remarkable growth as writers, and have taken an important step of moving from writing about what they know to researching a topic and organizing the gathered information into a structured report. To tie-in with our new unit on Self Expression, our new writing genre is Creative Writing. The students will be writing creative narratives as well as poetry. We will focus on developing the writer's voice, and the craft of writing that includes descriptive writing, dialogue, and developing a plot. In poetry, we will explore various forms of poetry, and how we can use a wide variety of poetic forms to express our thoughts and feelings. Math: I would be surprised if you have not heard about the exciting geometry based project during which the children will use 3D shapes to design and build their own city, aptly names: GeoMetro City. After a series of lessons, the children will earn their building permit and will then select a section of the city to design. You can support our Math learning by identifying 2D and 3D shapes in the every day world. You can also play games wondering what something would look like when viewed from above , or on one side. We will move into talking about area and perimeter as the project unfolds. Please also continue to support your child as they review the times tables until they "know them like they know their name." It is important that the children have mastery of facts up to the nines tables to support the work in division that we will take on after GeoMetro City is complete. Social Emotional Learning To support our unit studies, we will focus in on the happiness habit: Build Into Relationships, with a special focus on being self-aware, and advocating for ourselves. Essentially, we are looking at the relationship we have with ourselves. During this focus time, we will talk about setting and respecting personal boundaries. We will then explore how, by knowing ourselves and being confident in what makes us unique, we can be tolerant and appreciate the differences in others. I have found Sarri Gilman and Brené Brown's work on boundaries to be very helpful as I plan for these discussions with the students. I will share two of her videos with you here, as you may find this to be helpful, as well! (These are not videos that I will share with the children- they are just for you!) Dates to Remember:
That's it from me! I look forward to seeing all of you during student led conferences. Yours in Learning and Growing, Erin M. Threlfall |
SnapshotsA peek at life inside of J3T , curated by Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Archives
June 2016
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