Ms.

Gutierrez

Grade 3

WEEKLY NEWS
Juliette Low Elementary School | Friday, February 5 | Issue 14

This Week
We were quite busy this week!
We progressed in our book
discussions, are plotting out
our realistic fiction stories
before we dive into writing our
first drafts next week, practiced
various strategies for solving
multiplication problems, met
with our buddies, and started
Star of the Week! The week
capped off with the Talent
Show on Friday night. I look
forward to meeting with you all
on Wednesday and Thursday
to celebrate the growth of
each of your kiddos and what
the next steps in their
educational development will
be!

How to Reach Me
gutierrez.elisa@ccsd59.org
(847) 593-4383
http://low.ccsd59.org/
teachers/gutierrezelisa/
(In the top right corner you will
see Connect with Ms.
Gutierrez. Click on the W to
link to my website!)

Book Clubs
The clubs received their books this week! As I have mentioned
before, this unit in reading focuses on book series discussed in
book clubs. The students are learning not only how to have a
deeper book discussion, but also how to be part of a book club.
Both of these skills will be increasingly important as students
continue through their educational careers. During reflections
the students have pointed out that when people in a group always
agree, it leads to a very boring conversation. Further, when two
people disagree, it is vital to go back into the text to find proof
for their opinion and explain yourself clearly. The students have
been doing a wonderful job with this during their first week of
clubs. Most importantly, they are learning how to stand up for
themselves if they feel that their voice is not being heard in a
group. It is wonderful to see the class grow both academically as
well as with their maturity and communication skills.

Ms. Gutierrez

Grade 3

Multiple Strategies

Star Student
As you saw from the note I sent
home, we have begun Star
Student this week. The kids are so
excited to be highlighted for a
week and to learn more about
their peers. Marco did a fantastic
job kicking off the first week. It
was extra special for me as a
teacher when he brought in
Calvin and Hobbes as his favorite
story to share and the stories
inspired kids who love writing
graphic novels to incorporate
more imaginative characters.
Students also made connections
between Marcos cousins in his
pictures to a story he had written
months ago involving one of the
cousinshow wonderful it was to
have students recall Marcos
work!

Calendar Reminders
February 10: Evening Conferences
February 11: No School/Conferences
February 12 and 15: No School
February 16: Jump Rope for Heart
collection envelopes due
February 17: Last Day for Box Tops
February 26: Fun Fair
February 29: Six Flags Reading Log
Due

As we near the end of Units 3 and 4 (the units were combined

across the district due to how interconnected they are), we have
focused our attention on practicing multiple strategies for solving
multiplication problems. The more tools the students have in
their tool box for how to solve, the greater comfort they will have
when problem solving. Further, these strategies help show the
relationship between numbers. It was great to introduce a new
strategy and be told by a student working on his 9x tables, Ms.
Gutierrez, this is so easy because I know my 10x tables and you
just take away a group and you have your answer. This week we
focused on our 3s, 4s, 5s, and 9s for new strategies. Next week we
will focus in our 6s, 7s, and 8s. In addition to these, another
strategy I showed the class was the old way to do stacked
multiplication, or vertical multiplication, when multiplying a twodigit number by a one-digit number. The kids were quite proud of
themselves because they quickly felt confident in this type of
multiplication because they built on their existing fluency of onedigit by one-digit multiplication. We will be finishing up
multiplication and division this coming week before moving onto
fractions!