May Dates & Notice

Important Dates in May

Friday 13th:  Student Council 8:00 a.m. (rescheduled)

Monday 9th:   EARLY RELEASE 1:15 pm PD

Tuesday 17th:  Box Top Collection Day

Friday 20th:Team Jordan Poetry Celebration 9:15 a.m. 

A formal invitation will be sent home next week.

Friday 27th: Memorial Day Assembly 9:15 - 10:15     (Veterans  welcome)

Monday 30th:   NO SCHOOL Memorial Day

Important June Events

June will be even busier! Please reference Mrs.Costa's News Letters for up to the minute dates and times of future events.

June 2nd -Tour of Topsfield & Proctor Play

June 8th- Boston Tea Party Museum

Permissions slips will be sent home at a later date
June 10th- trip to Proctor to meet 4th grade teachers

June 14th- Field Day

June 16th- Fun Finale (3rd grade only)

We have two field trips in June. If you are interested in attending you must have an updated CORI. Please call the office to check with Mrs. B. if you are unsure.

Communication

This week we wrapped up our unit on sound with a wonderful DASH speaker and concert.  KR is an amazing story teller. Thank you to TESPTO for bringing her to Steward so that she could share her experiences with the children. We all enjoyed hearing her stories and learning more signs.   

KR Telling a story using sign language. 

I also wanted to thank all the DASH volunteers for bringing so many hands on experiences to our classroom.

Learning about Hearing Aids

Lastly, thank you to Ms. Swanson who supported us by using music to teach about sound. The concert was wonderful. I was very proud of the children during the performance.
Please click on the link below to see a snapshot of our learning. Learning to Communicate.

Telling Time

Our homework is to respond to the questions on the Padlet below. Be sure to include your first name.

Others are also welcome to add their thoughts.

Created with Padlet

We created our own bingo cards. When we played bingo it was very important to listen carefully to the times as they were called. It was an engaging way to practice telling time.

Let the Research Begin!

What are you interested in?  Do you think others would like to learn more about it? What questions do you hope to answer?
Now let's use safe search to find articles about the topics we are curious about.The IPads is a useful tool to investigate possible research topics. It is important that today's students know how to safely navigate the internet. We can get so much information but we need to be thoughtful in our searches. What are we trying to find out?
Included in our third grade standards is to: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers & to read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
Click the link below to find out about your child's research assignment.
Research Letter for Parents

Team Jordan Presents Text Features

For the past several weeks we have been immersed in reading nonfiction text. We spent some time thinking about the text features that help the reader locate, understand, and interpret information. We know that this time was well spent because as life long learners we will use our understanding of text features to navigate all types of informational text.
 We hope you enjoy and learn from our broadcast!


One of the speaking and listening standards that we will continue to work towards is being able to report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

March Enrichment Menu

Click below for March Enrichment Menu
March Enrichment

What Does it Mean to Fight?

Rachel Platten is a talented and bright songwriter,  however her music wasn't getting the recognition that she wanted. It wasn't until she created this anthemic piece from her heart that her voice was finally heard. 

We analyzed Rachel Platten's Fight Song by close reading, discussing, drawing, writing, and acting.  We thought about the GRIT that this artist used to reach her dreams. Being smart and talented are not enough to achieve great things. Everyone has moments when they want to give up. If you believe in yourself, work hard and persevere nothing can stop you! 

Below are just a few wonderful responses taken directly from my students writing. All of my students wrote thoughtful responses and I am extremely proud of their effort and maturity while studying this poetic and inspirational song.


When asked about the meaning of "Like a small boat on the ocean, sending big waves into motion." 
"A person who feels small can make a big difference. She starts to realize that she is important."
"It tells the reader that even though you feel sad or alone you can still make a big impact. And you should realize that you are very important." 
"It is the first lyric in the song because a small boat sounds like a person crying all over the ocean making all the waves come into motion. Or it may be like if you're sad or alone on your own boat on the ocean thinking that you're nothing. There probably is a difference that you can make."
How is the author feeling and how do you know? 
"She feels sad and alone. She feels like she is going to explode because no one believed in her."
"She was scared but she persevered and she feels proud because of her song." 
"I think she feels like happiness and I love it. She is smart because she listened to the good side of her brain."
"The author is feeling sad and alone because there must be a lot of hard things going on in her life. Like people are telling her she can't do it or a voice in her head telling her to stop because she will mess up."
What is the message of this song?
"The message of the song was anyone can make a difference in the world. The theme is bravery. A phrase that tells me that is I only have one match but I can make an explosion."
"The message of the story is to be strong and not give up."
 "Be kind because it says a single word can make a heart open." 
"The message of this song is if you are feeling sad or alone you can change and make a difference. I think the theme could be courage because she was confident that her song was going to be good even though some people said it wasn't going to be."

I know my team inspired me throughout these lessons and while creating our video. We hope you enjoy it.

Throughout these learning experiences students met the following standards.: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations. What do you think about our work and the message of this song? Please leave us a comment below.

Created with Padlet