Week of November 16

We have been hard at work this week in third grade.

Math-In Math, the students have learned two new games.  The first game is go collecting and is a different version of Go Fish.  In this game, students use rounding to find out how many hundreds their pair has.  This led us into a discussion about how to round.  Our class has become GREAT rounders.  Ask them about Bob and his bossy neighbor.  Our second game is very similar to Memory only it uses our collecting cards.  After our matches are made, students then must add how many their pair equals.  Some students are still having difficulty adding three digit numbers.  Please check in with your child and work on this.

Reading-Students have learned that every book has a Climax and Falling Action (some chapter books may have more).  We have read “Casey at Bat” and the new Chester the Raccoon book about bullies (thanks, Jordan!).  These two books allowed us a closer insight into what climax and falling actually looks and sounds like.

Writing-Students have been hard at work on their animal research papers.  It is our goal to have them completed by Thanksgiving break.  Students each selected an animal, did research online, and then wrote a 5-6 paragraph report about the animal.  They are turning out great!  I will post them in the hall when they are finished.

Social Studies-We are working on a unit about government.  Students will be learning about the three branches of government and the voting process.  We will be conducting a Candy Bar Election in the next few weeks.

Other-We work several times a week on our spelling words doing various activities.  Students also enjoy the activity “Making Words” and putting their letters into their parking garage and pulling them out.  This is a fun way to learn how letters inside words are closely related.  We have taken one – two letters a week to learn cursive handwriting.  We are making our way through the lower case alphabet and should be moving on to capital letters after Christmas.

Misc.-Thank you to Josie Morrison, Zach’s mother, for stepping up to be our room mom.

*Mid-Term grade reports were sent home today.  Please sign and return these forms.

*I will not be sending home study guides on Friday because their will be no tests next week.  However, these study guides will be sent home on Tuesday for the tests on December 4th.

 

Week of October 19th

This week we will be learning several new things.

Reading:  We are reading the book, Dr. DeSoto.  Students are learning how to anticipate events in the book by understanding the writing strategy that good things happen when we do good things and bad things happen when we don’t.

Math:  We are continuing to collect data.  Students have now learned how to collect numerical data and place it on a line plot.  We are working on labeling our graphs so that strangers would know what we are talking about. 

Science:  We are learning about ecosystems.  So far, the students have learned about ecosystems that have few trees (tundra, grassland, desert) and ecosystems that are forests (coniferous, deciduous, rainforest).  Next, we will learn about places that are wet.

Writing:  Last week students got their creative writing juices flowing by creating a “scene” using graham crackers, icing, and animal cookies.  They used this “scene” to prewrite for their story.  We are still working on those stories this week.

Thank you SO much for your prompt responses to parent/teacher conferences. 

It looks as if I will be the homeroom mom this year.  If anyone else would LOVE to take this duty, please let me know.  I will be getting handouts delivered to you by this weekend.  Our fall party will be held Wednesday, October 28th.  I am scheduling the party from 2:30-3:30.

I truly appreciate your patience with me this year.  If the kiddos haven’t told you, I am finishing up my Master’s degree in December.  This semester I am interning with Mr. Suits, so my daily breaks have been EXTREMELY limited, and my level of forgetfulness has certainly increased.  It is my hope that after December 18th, I will be much more prompt writing on this blog.  If you ever have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Just FYI…I will be gone ALL day Tuesday, October 20th, for a Math meeting and during the afternoon on Friday, for a Communication Arts meeting.

Tiger Pride Assembly is THIS Friday, October 23rd, at 2:00.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher conferences will be held October 27th and October 29th.  I will be sending home a questionnaires to request  a date and time.  Slots will be assigned in the order in which I receive the forms.  I will try my hardest to get everyone a time that words the best.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Please have all questionnaires back to me by Monday, October 12th.

Science Test

There will be a chapter 2 science test this Friday.  The students are bringing home their Science book for review.  It might be helpful to review p. 32 & 33.

Reminders and Other Info

 

*PTO fundraising  goodies are due this Friday

*Crochet Club forms are due this week.

*We have started a new unit in Math.  The next couple of weeks, we will be focused on obtaining data and learning what to do with it.  We will be making bar graphs, line plots, and learning how to interpret this information.  A parent letter was sent home yesterday and there are a couple more that will be sent during the course of this unit.  Please keep your eye out for these PINK sheets. They will give you a little more insight into what we are learning in class.

*Ask your child what camouflage is and why animals use it

Pinwheels for Peace and Tiger T-Shirt

 

Pinwheels for Peace will be held this Friday at 3:00.  Students will outline a gigantic peace sign in honor of International Peace Day. 

Also, I have been getting many questions regarding Tiger T-Shirts.  These shirts will be handed out Friday for the celebration.  For those of  you who are new to Tiger T-Shirts, these shirts are provided free of charge from our PTO and are worn every Friday to show our school’s unity.

Week of September 8th.

We made it through yet another fantastic week.  Here is some insight into classroom happenings:

 

Reading-We are currently working on putting together our reading journals which will hold all of the reading that we do.  We have talked about abandoning books as well as the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

Writing-  We have been working our way through the writing process.  We learned to prewrite, draft, edit, revise, and publish.

Handwriting-  The third graders have been learning the cursive strokes and will begin learning the lowercase alphabet next week.

Math-This week we have been learning about the ones, tens, and hundreds place values.  The kids have also been learning how to choose two different sets of two digit numbers to get as close to 100 as possible.  Estimation has been used.  We also learned a new game called “Close to 100″.  Creative name, huh?

Science-  In science we are wrapping up plants.  We talked about plant parts, how a plant makes food, two ways to classify plants, and the use of fossils.  The kids ended this unit by putting together a week long science project to document the germination of different types of seeds.

Other-

      *Please make sure your child is studying for his/her DOG every week

      *I am in need of snack size and sandwich size ziplock baggies for our class.  If you are able to donate these, that     would be GREAT!!!

      *I have such a wonderful group of kiddos this year.  Thank you for sharing them with me!!!

Homework

Your child may have homework p. 33 and p. 34.  Please check with your child to see if this work needs to be worked on.

Book Orders

Book orders are due tomorrow, August 28th.  I will be placing the order tomorrow afternoon.

STAR Notebooks

Just a friendly reminder that agendas need to be signed every night. Also, please look in the yellow folder to see if your child has homework for the night.