Learning from a Mechanical Engineer

ROBOT VISITS OUR CLASS
Thank you Mr. Gustafson for teaching us about how engineers design, build and use robots!

We Love Science

We created electromagnets by wrapping wire around an iron nail then attaching it to both ends of a battery. The nail became magnetized. Then we noticed that the more times we wrapped the wire around the nail the more powerful the magnet became. 

Click below to watch our Video.

Happy Halloween!

 

                       

 Thank you to Mrs.Brooks and to all of our Team Jordan Families for making our celebration a success! Have a wonderful weekend!

    

Character Study

Over the past few weeks, we have learned how to build theories about characters. Below are the questions and ideas that we used for this assignment.   What are the character's traits?  What does the character do and say that helps you to decide who they are as person? Find evidence in the text to support your thinking. How would the story be different if the character was different?
We have also talked about how our own actions and words let others know who we are as people. What kind of character do you want to be? We will continue to discuss these ideas throughout the school year.  We hope you enjoy our characters. 

   

As we presented we shared the title of the book, the traits of our character and the evidence that proves the character's trait. We also gave a book recommendation. Everyone did a fabulous job! We look forward to becoming even better at presenting our work and sharing our learning with each other. 

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

A September to Remember

Please enjoy the video below as a window into our classroom in September. 

You will see that we are working as a team to learn, explore, investigate and share our thinking. We have established routines and rules to help create a safe and fun learning environment. We are using effective effort and role model behaviors. 

Thank you Team Jordan families for your continued support to help us as we grow socially and academically.

September News and Thank you!

I enjoyed meeting so many of you last night! I know I didn't have the chance to talk to everyone so if you have any quesitons please let me know. I am really excited to work with you this year to support your child's growth both socially and academically!

Thank you to Mr. Connelly for taking the time to share about medical devices you helped engineer.
It was great for Team Jordan and Mrs. Surprise's class to see some things that engineers create.

As I mentioned last night, anyone who has a career in science, technology, engineering, math or any other area that ties into our learning is welcome to come in and share. Send me an email and I will set up a time at some point that aligns with our curriculum.

Welcome to Our Team

I am excited to welcome you all to our team. I hope you have had a fantastic summer. I look forward to working with you. It is going to be a great year!
If you have any questions please email me.
mjordan@topsfieldps.org

Have a Wonderful Summer!

Reminders for Next Week

Monday Fancy Game Day

Tuesday Field Day -Grade 3 wears green

Thursday-Steward School Spirit Day & Step Up for grade 3 students (visit to Proctor)

Poetry Celebration

Thank you for joining us to celebrate all of our hard work. 
Click on the video below for a slide show of our team and their guests.

Poetry Share Reminder

Poetry Celebration and Important Dates You’re invited to our Third Grade Poetry Celebration
Who: Grade 3 Families                 What:  A celebration of poetry Where:  Our classroom            When:  Thursday,  May 25th at 9:00 A.M. Why:  To share our love of poetry

DASH

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to make DASH a success. Team Jordan knows a lot more about what it's like to be deaf because of the lessons you taught us. We also learned a lot about sound. We will be wrapping our sound unit this week.

Important Dates

Poetry Celebration and Important Dates You’re invited to our Third Grade Poetry Celebration
Who: Grade 3 Families                 What:  A celebration of poetry Where:  Our classroom            When:  Thursday,  May 25th at 9:00 A.M. Why:  To share our love of poetry
There are a lot of fun events at the end of the year. Below are all of the events that have been scheduled at this time.
4/6 Parent Teacher Conferences (Delayed Opening @ 10:45) 4/7  Parent Teacher Conferences (Early Release @ 12:00) 4/10 MCAS:ELA 4/12 MCAS:ELA 4/15 MCAS:ELA 4/17-4/21 April Vacation 4/27 Spirit Day: Career/Future Day 5/10 MCAS: Math 5/12 MCAS:Math 5/24 Discovery Science Museum - Weather Program (Enrichment) 5/25 Poetry Celebration @ 9:00 (Parents invited) 5/25 Spirit Day: Crazy Hair/Mismatch Day 5/26 Early Release @ 1:15 5/29 No School (Memorial Day) 6/1 Field Trip: Tour Of Topsfield and Proctor Play 6/9 Field Trip: Boston Tea Party Museum 6/13 Field Day 6/14 Field Day (rain day) 6/15 School Spirit Day: Show you Steward School Spirit 6/19 Fun Finale  6/20 Fun Finale  (rain day)

What's your favorite Dr.Seuss book?

Seussical Spirit Days & Read Across America

There are many March Madness Spirit Days ahead. Please mark your calendar.
Wednesday, March 1st Kick off for Read Across America Thursday, March 2nd - Crazy Hat Day Wednesday, March 8th - Wacky Wardrobe Wednesday, March 15th - Crazy Socks and Shoes Wednesday, March 22 - Inside Out and Backwards Wednesday, March 29th - Dress like a Dr. Seuss Character
Every Friday in March beginning on March 10th students should submit their reading minutes!  (I will send home more information this week.)
Thank you for reading with your child, filling in the reading forms and for encouraging your child  to read!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Team Jordan had a great day celebrating love!

Highlights of Global Play Day

Click on the video below to see how much fun we had for Global Play Day.

Team Jordan MCAS Dates

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

MCAS DATES FOR TEAM JORDAN

Please note that the dates and times may be different for each class.

ELA - April 10th,12th and 14th

Math- May 10th and May 15th

I will send home more information as the dates get closer. As always please email me with any questions.

January 2017 Curriculum Update

January 2017 Curriculum Update

Math

In math we are learning more about division. The quotient is the answer to a division problem. We can use what we know about multiplication and place values to divide mentally. We are also learning how to use bar models to solve multi-step word problems involving multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. We will do an introduction into long division. Please note, this is difficult for most students as it is a 4th grade standard. However, we introduce it for those who are ready and to show how important it is to learn your multiplication facts before 4th grade. Students will be expected to learn long division and to know their facts next year.

Reading

As always, we are working consistently using comprehension strategies, accuracy, fluency and building vocabulary.We are wrapping up a unit on Traditional Literature. It was great to to hear the children discussing morals and lessons in folktales. This week we read tall tales. Students enjoyed the exaggerations. We also practiced using evidence to support our thinking. Our next genre unit will be nonfiction.Throughout this unit we will learn how specific text features help the reader comprehend.

Writing

In writing, we are continuing to create opinion pieces. During our writing block we are working on editing for spelling and grammar mistakes. One way to help your child with grammar errors is by modeling sentences. Try not make a big deal out of a mistake just model the correct way to say something. I notice students still say the incorrect tenses while speaking. I model, “you brought your lunch.” When I hear a child say, “I bringed my lunch.” To help with spelling errors ask your child if a word looks right. You can have them write all the different ways they think a word could be spelled and then ask them to chose the one that looks best.

Science

In Science, we have been using new materials that are part of the programs we are piloting. The children are learning about setting up experiments, keeping track of information and explaining their findings. We will continue to learn about matter, force and motion this month. Mr. Prazar was in this week to do some demonstrations and he will be back several times this month to do some more hands on experiments.