News+12-19


 * Brown’s Blurb**
 * December 19, 2007**


 * I WISH YOU ALL A PEACEFUL AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!

THANKS, BECCA BROWN**

We have been reading many different books about colonial times. We are working in guided reading to pick important information from the text and then highlighting this information to help us defend our answers to comprehension questions. Students are also spending a great deal of time reading these books independently as they research specific topics about colonial times.
 * Reader’s Workshop:**

We read //The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,// in preparation for our field trip to see the play at the Fox Theater.

Throughout November and December, mini-lessons during class focused on the comprehension strategy, summarizing. Students practiced paraphrasing, getting the gist, picking out the important information in a text, while continuing to monitor their comprehension by tracking their thoughts.


 * Writer’s Workshop:** Students wrote journals as if they were The Pilgrims experiencing the New World. It was wonderful to see how the children took their new learning and created their own historical fiction pieces.


 * Social Studies:** We have completed our Colonial America Wiki and are in the process of editing together as a class. Students worked in pairs to become experts on one or two topics of choice. The pairs researched and created projects based on their learning. These projects included: writing summaries on Word 2007, creating pictures on Kidpix, making graphic organizers on Kidspiration, creating a replica of the Mayflower with Model Magic, drawing pictures to be scanned, and also writing their own Pilgrim journals. Please take a few minutes to browse our wiki with your child at home. We are all very proud of our work!

-- access our blog: [|**http://brownthird.blogspot.com**] -- access our wiki: [|www.colonialthirdgrade.wikispaces.com]
 * Technology:**

--LS Christmas Program- Powell Theater, Friday, Dec. 21st (Please drop your child off at their classroom after 8:30 and please pick your child up from their classroom after the program at 10:30) --School resumes on Monday, January 7th
 * Reminders:**