October 17, 2015

It was a quick, but busy week! We went into Starlab this week, which the class loved! We learned about seven different constellations. Maybe your child can take you outside at night this weekend and try to find some!

Upcoming Events:
October 22nd-11:45 dismissal for parent conferences
October 28th-11:45 dismissal for parent conferences

Reading
We finished up the first reading unit, Building a Reading Life. We will be starting a new unit on characters. We are also continuing Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Read aloud is one of our favorite parts of the day! The students have so many interesting ideas and predictions!

Writing
We are continuing the personal narrative unit. This week, we talked about when to start a new paragraph. Students are continuing to revise and edit. They are doing a great job adding details and dialogue!

Math
Last week, we worked on rounding. This week, we'll work on equations and will finish chapter 2. We'll review on Thursday and will take a test on Friday.

Science/Social Studies
Our plants have blossomed into flowers! This week, we learned about pollination and the importance of bees. Students then used a "bee stick" to actually pollinate the flowers! We glued dried out bees to sticks and moved the pollen from flower to flower. Sounds crazy, but the kids love this! The pollinating will help our flowers grow into fruit! In social studies, we continued the geography unit by making landform picture dictionaries.

                                     Nikolai pollinating his flower.

                         Natalie and Harrison pollinating with bee sticks!

October 9, 2015

We had a wonderful week in third grade! We took part in a fantastic community service project and learned about fire safety! Yusei was Student of the Week and we celebrated his birthday on Friday:).
                                               
                                                       Happy birthday Yusei!

I am so impressed with the academic work your children are doing! We are continuing to develop skills in working independently. I am reminding them that it is very important to be responsible, independent workers both here and at home.

Upcoming events:
10/15 is School Picture Day
10/16, 10/22 and 10/28  are 11:45 dismissals for parent conferences. I sent home reminders this week.

The class really enjoyed the quilting activity. They learned about community service and why it's important. Thanks so much for the donations and thanks to our volunteers!

Reading
We finished our first read aloud and started our second read aloud, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. The class is really enjoying it so far! We also started guided reading groups this week.  I will be meeting with each group once a week.

Writing
Students continued working on their personal narratives. This week, we worked on rough drafts and  talked about how to write like a storyteller. Then, students started revising their work to add descriptive details.

Math
This week we started Topic 2. We spent time learning about addition properties and rounding. The class did a scavenger hunt to practice the properties and they had a lot of fun with this! On Friday, the ENL teacher Ms. McCabe brought in a fantastic hands on activity for rounding-check out the pictures below.  Next week, we will continue Topic 2 with addition and subtraction practice.

                                                      Fun with rounding!

Addition properties scavenger hunt

Science and Social Studies
Our plants are continuing to grow! The students are doing a great job caring for them, observing them and measuring them. Next week, the flowers will be blooming and we will be pollinating the plants and learning about bees. In social studies, we learned about maps and globes.

October 2, 2015

We made it through our first five day week! This week, Jimmy was our first student of the week. We also celebrated Jimmy's birthday!

Upcoming Events:

On Tuesday October 6th, we will be making quilt squares with Ann Schwanda. If you'd still like to volunteer to help out with this, please let me know. It will be 9:30-10:30.

Reading

This week, we continued to practice using post its to track our thinking during reading. We also discussed how to talk to our friends about the books we enjoy. Students were set up with a reading partner. They interviewed each other to learn about reading likes and dislikes. Then on Friday, students wrote book recommendations and created book covers for their favorite books! They really enjoyed this!

Jolie and Natalie learned that they both love the Ramona series!

Writing

In writing this week, students chose a seed idea! They looked back over the entries they have written and chose one small moment to publish. We spent time telling these stories orally to writing partners and students worked on writing beginnings. 

Math

In math, we finished Topic 1 and had our first test. Students will get these back next week and are required to get them signed and to correct mistakes. On Monday, we will start Topic 2: Number Sense-Addition and Subtraction. 

Students using the Smartboard during math class!

Working together to solve a math problem!

Science

This week, students thinned their plants and wrote observations. They also started measuring the plants and are charting the plant growth on a bar graph!

September 26, 2015

Upcoming events...

On October 6th, the third grade will be working with Ann Schwanda (The Quilt Lady) to make quilt squares which will become a quilt to be donated. Ann and her volunteers make dozens of quilts each year that are donated to local shelters, local hospitals and families in need. This a wonderful community service opportunity for our students and we are so thankful to Ann for volunteering her time to this important work. I need a few parent helpers that morning so if you can help, please send your pink slip back this week. 

Reading

We are continuing to focus on finding just right books and building reading stamina. Students have started using post-its to track their thinking as they read. 

Writing

We have been continuing the personal narrative writing unit. We discussed the hard parts of writing and what to do when you "run out of gas". We also discussed writing more like storytellers and less like news reporters! The class is writing everyday and are really building stamina in writing as well!

Math
Last week we worked on number lines and comparing numbers. This week, we will complete chapter 1-Numeration on Tuesday, we'll review the chapter on Wednesday and we'll have our first test on Thursday.

Science/Social Studies
The students planted the Wisconsin Fast Plants this week. We are already seeing growth! Next week, students will continue to observe and record these observations in their science notebooks. In social studies, we have been studying geography and reviewing the continents and oceans.

September 20, 2015

I can't believe we have only been back in school for 8 days! The class is doing a great job with the new routines. We celebrated five birthdays this week! Happy birthday to Ava, Jonathan, Joseph, Nikolai and Avery!

Reminders:
Wednesday-No School Yom Kippur


This week...

**We will start spelling homework this week. We will create lists Monday and will have a test on Friday.

Reading
We have been working on building stamina in reading workshop. We are working on reading silently for 20 minutes in the classroom each day. I am working on doing reading inventories this week to get to know the kids reading abilities and preferences. We continued reading Justin Case for read aloud.

Writing
This week, we started the narrative writing unit. Students decorated their notebooks and we discussed the dos and don'ts of writer's notebooks. We then started discussing strategies for writing true stories. Students thought of a person and then created lists of memories that they have with that person. They chose one to write about. This week we will continue discussing strategies and will write about places.

                                          Decorating writer's notebooks!

Math
This week, we spent time learning about bigger numbers-numbers into the hundred thousands place. We reviewed place value and played a digit game. We are working on the three forms of writing numbers-standard, expanded and word. This week, we will work on number lines and comparing numbers.

Science/Social Studies
We started the plant unit in science by studying seeds and learning about the parts of a seed. We will be planting seeds this week! In social studies, we are starting a geography unit.

Week of September 15th

Hello all! Thank you so much to everyone who attended Open House! It was wonderful to meet all of you. We had a fantastic first week in third grade. The class is really getting into the swing of things. I stick to a very set schedule during the day so the kids are beginning to know what to expect. As we head into week 2, we will be getting right into the curriculum. We will begin math and reading homework this week. A note will be coming home Monday to explain weekly homework. We will begin spelling homework next week. Please make sure your child brings items to decorate their writer's notebook on Tuesday! I hope you are enjoying the long weekend!

This week:

Reminders:
No school on Monday

Reading
Last week, we spent time discussing "just right" books and how to choose them. We will continue working on this. We also completed reading inventories and made some reading goals. I am going to start reading individually with students this week so I can better know them as readers and can assist them in choosing just right books. We are reading a book called Justin Case, School, Drool and Other Daily Disasters for read aloud. The class is really enjoying it!

Writing
We have started working on a personal narrative unit. Students worked on heart maps, where they thought of "Things they Love" and can possibly use as writing topics. We will be setting up writer's notebooks this week and will begin writing about special "small moments" in our lives.

                                                            Working on heart maps!

Math
We have started unit 1, Numeration. The focus is place value and understanding larger numbers. I will be sending math homework home Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will also be setting up xtramath accounts this week and sending home that information.

Science/Social Studies
This week, we will begin the plant unit in science. We will begin a geography unit in social studies.