Category Archives: Home projects

3rd grade parents

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3rd grade students will be participating in a mini science fair on Friday, April 14th.  This fair is being held in the afternoon from 1:00-2:15 p.m.  This fair is related to their studio science class.  Ms. Kaley is organizing the event and has asked for all 3rd grade students to commit to a topic and bring research materials to class on Friday, March 24th and 31st.  The final project is due April 14th.  Below is the topic your child chose to present.  3rd grade students will be excused from April’s home project in order to prepare for their science fair.  I have also given them an extension on their Asia project for this month.  They may present their Asia project anytime between now and the end of April.  If you have questions, please let me know.

Aatiana-gravity

Sophia R. -3 states of matter

Nik-3 states of matter

Aizlynn-sound

Sophia F-3 laws of motion

Harmony-momentum

Lucian-simple machines

I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday!

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Tomorrow afternoon we will be decorating boxes for Valentines.  Students have been asked to bring a box.  Cereal and shoe boxes are ideal and the box must be able to fit inside their lockers.  If you have items you would like to donate for decorating, please feel free to send them.

Class photos will be sent home tomorrow.

Also, don’t forget about our home project for February: “I wonder…”  January projects were so much fun!  I really enjoy seeing their ideas come to life.

I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences next week.

 

Welcome Back!

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I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break.  We had a great first day back, students were working hard and staying so focused.  They were also excited to see missed friends and share their many adventures.

Reminder about this months home project:  In celebration of the New Year, January’s home project will be personal interest based. This is a chance for your child to guide the topic of their choice.  Our goal is to teach students to love to learn.  The sky is the limit on this project.  Projects are due by the end of the month, but encouraged to be completed and presented prior to the last week of January.

Busy Month

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I have a few important key reminders regarding the next couple of weeks.  In the past, I have invited parents during the month of December for a holiday class program.  As many of you may have remembered, we did the fun readers theaters last year.  Since we have the school Winter Choir Concert on Thursday, December 8th, Treehouse Museum field trip on December 13th (permission slips are coming home Monday), and the International Festival on December 19th and 20th (our class presents the 20th, starting at 12:30 p.m.), we have decided to have a class program at a later date.

Please remember that International Festival home projects are due the 15th.  We have already had several students present and their hard work is amazing!  Thank you for supporting your children with this important event.

During the next several weeks our cultural focus will be on the area of history.  Level 1 students are learning to tell time.  Level 2 students are studying our Solar System and creating a booklet. Level 3 students are creating a booklet of research based on the time line of life.  They are really enjoying seeing the evidence of living things that no longer exist on our planet.

Your continued support with reading at home is greatly encouraged.  Don’t forgot to use Myon at home, especially for home project research.  Also, although students do not have formal assignments on IXL for homework, I strongly encourage the use, especially over our long breaks.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, or celebrations, please send me an email at my school email bherrera@mariamontessoriacademy.org

 

International Festival Home Projects

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International Festival is coming up on December 19th and 20th.  Every child is required to research a country.  As you are aware, our classroom is presenting Europe.  Home projects will be researched during the month of November and presentations will start after the Thanksgiving break.  I will expect for all home projects completed and presented no later than December 15th.  This will need to be completed on a 3 part board and show quality and care of work.  The following is a minimum requirement for every child:

Name of Country, map, flag, language, food, famous places/ landmarks, and 10 interesting facts.

If you are uncertain which country your child is researching, please see below.

  • Albania: Austin
  • Andorra
  • Armenia
  • Austria: Aizlynn
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Belgium: Harmony
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria: Daniel
  • Croatia: Cali
  • Cyprus: Christopher
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark: Tiberius
  • Estonia: Eli
  • Finland: Aatianna
  • France: Makinzi
  • Georgia
  • Germany: Amira
  • Greece: Anden
  • Hungary: Eva
  • Iceland: Josh
  • Ireland: Sophia R
  • Italy: Sophia S.
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kosovo
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg: Lucian
  • Macedonia
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Monaco: Maria
  • Montenegro
  • Netherlands: Bea
  • Norway: Ozzie
  • Poland: Rayden
  • Portugal: Kale
  • Romania: Moroni
  • Russia: Izzy
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain: Emma
  • Sweden: Wyatt
  • Switzerland: Matthew
  • Turkey: Vandy
  • Ukraine: Mahki
  • United Kingdom (UK) Nikolas

 

 

Thank You

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I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed visiting with each of you during conferences.  Your children are a delight and I feel fortunate I get to spend my day with each of them.  I look forward to working on the goals we have set in place and at anytime you have a question, concern, or a celebration, please feel free to email me.

Reminder that we are nearing the end of the month and home projects are due.  Next month we will be working on our Europe projects for the International Festival held in December.  Start thinking which country your child would like to research.  I will begin a sign up sheet inside the classroom.  You can send me an email or they can come and tell me.  It will be on a first serve bases.  This is our most in depth project of the year.  For those of you new to the International Festival, it is like a science fair for country studies and a big school wide event.  Your child will need a 3-part display board for this project.  We will not be having a formal project due in December, but I would encourage these to be completed by the end of November.  Please see our page on home projects for additional information.

Thank you for your continued support with the roaring readers club.  Please send back folders tomorrow morning.

Peaceful Place

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We had a busy week last week.  We enjoyed the peace celebration and focusing on what peace means in many different aspects.  We experienced what peace sounds like, looks like, and feels like, when we are working in the classroom.  We had conversations about perspective and created watercolor artwork which represents how everyone can look at the same thing and see something different.  We talked about how this relates to our interactions with others and to be respectful of others thoughts and opinions, because we all “see” things differently.  We celebrated our differences and created a unified peace symbol that related to our geography studies. The students have been holding classroom meetings where they take time to compliment one another and problem solve class issues as a team.  They individually offer solutions and then we review them to see if they are related, realistic, and respectful.  Students then vote for which solution they feel will work best to solve the problem we are experiencing inside the classroom.  The students solved their first issue, visiting with friends at circle, they voted to create a seating arrangement.  I love that the students know that the classroom is their work environment and they take ownership of that environment.  They write their own class rules, learn to problems solve, recognize the wonderful things that are happening, hold each other accountable, and take care of the classroom in which they work.

Reminder that this week is the last week of September.  Home projects need to be completed and presented by Friday.  Please do not wait until Friday.

We will start our studio classes on Friday.  Students will visit 3 different classrooms during our studio rotation.  They will be grouped according to grade level with other lower elementary classes.  They will enjoy classes focusing on art, science, and social studies.  This is a great opportunity for the students to create friendships with students outside of our classroom.

A great week

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Last week was a wonderful week.  Our highlight was our visit from local author, Gary Hogg.  We have been reading one of his book in our classroom and were really excited to have him come and visit our classroom and help us improve our writing.  Third grade students were also invited to an additional workshop with him.  My favorite moment was inviting one of our second grade students, who has a strong love of writing, to the additional workshop.  Our cultural lessons were focused on history.  Level 1 students focus on the concept of time and have been reviewing days of the week, months of the year, and completing a monthly calendar.  Level 2 students focused on the birth of our universe and the different states of matter.  Level 3 have started their focus on the time line of life.  They worked together to build the large time line and focused on how old the earth was before life began.  I have been busy completing math and reading assessment.  This has been an added obstacle to our regular work cycle and a key part of our normalization.  I am pleased to announce they are now complete and we are working hard toward a full regular work routine.  The reading team is still working to complete our dibles testing and we are gearing up to send home reading assignments for students who are reading at or below a first grade reading level, so please be on the look out for these assignments.  These reading assignments will be in addition to our monthly home projects.  Reminder that these are due and should be brought in as soon as they are completed.

Reminder that you can visit our classroom page at anytime to see our monthly projects and view our dates for field trips, etc.  We will be adding a few more dates as students complete their ideas for service learning opportunities and such, but this does offer a good idea of what is coming.  I also wanted to extend an invitation to any families or friends who have lived or visited countries in Europe.  We will be studying Europe between now and winter break and I would love to invite guests into the classroom who have personal experience.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or celebrations, please send me and email.

One last thing, if you have magazines that are classroom appropriate that we could use for some cutting work, would you please send them in.  We will be using them for finding letters.  Thank you.