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...
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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 |
SnapshotsA peek at life inside of J3T , curated by Ms. Erin M. Threlfall Archives
June 2016
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