Week 27: March 19 - 23

Week 27: March 19 - 23

Reminders:

3/20 - Third Nine Weeks Recognition Ceremony @9:00 in the cafeteria
3/30 - Good Friday (No School)


Reading: This week in reading students will dig into the data from their Practice Reading STAAR and set personal goals.  Reflection and goal setting are key components to our learning.  We will dive deeper into expository reading and learn about a variety of topics including- marine animals, cultural holidays, animal adaptations, how things are made and the solar system.

Writing: Students will finish up lessons on craft elements they could use while revising one of their expository essays.  We will also try out this week was to add details, anecdotes and thoughtful reasoning to support our claims in writing.

Social Studies: The fourth 9 weeks brings us to our study of Economics.  This week students will discuss needs and wants.  You can watch BRAIN POP JR. videos at home to further learning and discussion at home.


Math: This week in math, we will begin our unit on fractions. On Monday, we will introduce fractions and the vocabulary that goes along with this unit. On Tuesday, we will talk about unit fractions where the numerator is always one. On Wednesday, we will go beyond unit fractions and talk about non-unit fractions. On Thursday and Friday, we will use unifix cubes to create fractions and understanding the numerator and denominator.

For homework this week, we will have a worksheet come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will also have a problem of the week come home and it will be due on Friday. Our fast facts quiz will also be on Friday.


Science: Before spring break, your child came home with a Solar System review sheet and vocabulary cards. The solar system test will be on Friday, March 23rd. During our science time this week, we will discuss the relationship between the sun, Earth, and moon. We will notice the limitations of the models of the solar system that we see. On Monday and Tuesday, we will learn the order of the planets. In groups, your child will make a mnemonic device to help them remember the order of the planets. On Wednesday, we will create planet bracelets. These bracelets will have beads that represent each of the planets. On Thursday, we will review for the solar system test playing our Jeopardy game. 

3/28 - 4/1

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

  

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.


Math: During our math time this week, we will be wrapping up our unit on fractions. We will spend Monday reviewing equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and fractions on a number line. On Tuesday, we will be taking a fraction assessment as we finish out our unit. The rest of the week, we will begin our next unit on geometry. We will be working to identify 2D shapes. We will identify sides and vertices on these polygons. This week, we will have our usual homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will continue to practice with money and fractions. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday and we will have a problem of the week due on Friday. 

Science: In science this week, we will continue working on weather and begin discussing types of clouds. This past week, we discussed the water cycle and reviewed the weather tools that help our meteorologist give us information on the weather. Your child has been tracking the temperature, wind speed, and humidity in various cities. They will continue to track the weather this week. A review and vocabulary cards went home on Thursday for our upcoming weather quiz. We will take our quiz on Friday. 

Reading We transition this week from Informational nonfiction to Narrative nonfiction.  These selections are written like a story, but are about a true topic. Please look for homework coming home this week about Jessica The Hippo.  This is an excellent example of narrative nonfiction and a fun story for you to discuss with your child.

Writing- We have worked this year to implement a new framework to our writing curriculum called CCP (Consume, Critique, Produce). This week we will focus on the critiquing part of the writing process.   Students will read good and poor examples of narratives and create their own criteria for what makes a good story from your life.

Spelling Last week we used our spelling time to start work on parts of speech.  We will work the beginning of this week on parts of speech and finish the week with new spelling words.  New words come home 3/30.  Test on 4/6.

Social Studies We've launched our study on economics.  Last week we had some great discussion on needs vs. wants.  We also talked about how important it is to make a plan for how you will spend and save your money using a budget.  This week, we will focus more on how our society is a free enterprise.  Students will discuss good and poor choices they have made as consumers.

March 7-11

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.

Language Arts

Reading- This week we will continue our work on writing and revising summaries with non-fiction.  

Writing-  Students will put their narratives on hold as they work to publish pop up books this week on the Scientist and Inventors we have learned about in Social Studies.  I love it when we can combine our reading skills, writing skills and knowledge from Social Studies to create!  We will share our pop-up books at Publisher's Picnic in May.


Spelling/Word Work- We will take spelling application grades March 7-11.  During stations on Fridays, I've taught everyone how to play scrabble.  After a few weeks of practice it has been fabulous to see who can apply their spelling vowel patterns to help them build and create words.  Here's a snapshot of one of our boards and the group of kids who worked hard to create these words.  BIG WORK!

Social Studies-   I can't wait for your to read their work on these people; Jonas Salk, Maria Mitchell, Cyrus McCormick, Bill Gates, and Louis Pasteur.

Math- In math this week, we will continue studying about fractions. On Thursday, we began our units on fractions. We discussed the different parts of a fraction. On Friday, we worked with non-unit fractions. This week, we will continue practicing drawing and writing fractions. 

The homework this week will be a review of addition, subtraction, and fractions. We will NOT have a problem of the week. Please note that the Fast Facts Quiz will be on Thursday.

Science- During our science time this week, we will wrap up our discussion on generating electricity. Last week, we learned the steps that are involved for us to turn on the light. The next unit we will be starting is weather. We will learn about weather tools and your child will be in charge of tracking weather during our unit. They will be assigned a different city around the United States and they will work on noticing the weather patterns. 

The Week 2/22 - 2/26

Hello Parents! We have a very busy and exciting week!

-Tuesday, February 23rd is the Book Fair and PTA Dinner at 5:30-7:30

-Wednesday, February 24th is Breakfast with Buddies - from 7:15-8:00 your child can browse the Book Fair and enjoy a doughnut provided by Dad's Club. This day is also Duncan/Ford time to go to the Book Fair. Our class will be in the library from 9:15 - 9:45. Please send money if you would like your child to purchase any books.

-Thursday, February 25th is a 1:30 Dismissal Day - Please send a handwritten note if your child will have a change of transportation.



Math- In math this week, we will continue learning about graphs. Last week we worked on pictographs, bar graphs, and tally charts. We will finish up our study with dot plots. On Thursday and Friday, we will begin our unit on fractions. We will start our lesson with unit fractions and on Friday we will talk about non unit fractions. On Monday, you child will bring home a POTW that is due on Friday. The homework this week will be a review on perimeter, area, and graphing. The fast facts quiz will be on Friday.

Science- On Thursday, your child will be taking a quiz on the flowchart that was sent home on Tuesday. The quiz will be the exact same flowchart and your child will need to fill in the information using the word bank. Leading up to the quiz, we will continue talking about natural resources (sun, soil, plants, animals, coal, natural gas, minerals, water) and how to conserve our natural resources.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE VIDEOS

The Three R's

Going Green Song

Week of January 30th-January 3rd

This is our last week of studying fractions!  The first thing we will focus on is teaching the students how to write a mixed number and that there is such thing as 4 1/4 or 5 1/2.  This week the students will learn how numbers can be broken up on a number line and how the space between 1 and 2 can actually mean 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, and then 2.  We will relate this to money ($1.25, $1.50, $1.75, and $2.00) and Linear Fractions as a whole.  We will teach the students the "swishes" method so that they can properly identify the spot on the number line and write the mixed number.

Our Multiplication Fast Facts are going well.  This week we will have students on 4 different levels.  The test this coming Friday on the 3rd will be taken for a grade.

The students had a Fraction Assessment this past Friday.  The entire test was word problems and I was pretty proud that the students used and applied the strategies that were taught all week to attack these fraction word problems.  Look for this assessment in your child's Tuesday News day and look over it with your child. Talk with your child about the importance of reading very carefully and how 1 word, like NOT, can change the entire meaning of a word problem.

All of 3rd grade is preparing for our Math Practice STAAR Test on February 8th.  The students will be given 4 hours to complete 47 Math Word Problems on anything from counting money to reading a graph to fractions on a number line.  We don't expect all students to Ace this test.  It will be used for data purposes only to figure out who possibly might need a little extra Math help before the actual STAAR in April.

In Science this week, we will continue our study of Natural Resources and Conservation.  Last Friday the 27th, all students brought home 2 paper books and a flow chart to help them study.  We will have a Science Test over this content this coming Friday, February 3rd.

Its going to be another great week of learning!!!

Math and Science for the Week of January 23rd-27th

Fractions, Fractions, and more Fractions!!!  We are still working on......you guessed it, Fractions!  We started our really basic two weeks ago and reviewed some 2nd grade concepts of what a fraction is (part of a whole) and we revisited how to write fractions in several different ways.  Last week we focused on comparing fractions.  Which fraction is larger or smaller or equal?  We played Level 1 of our Fraction Taco game last week and really had a blast.  We had a short assessment this past Friday on Fractions of a Whole, Fractions of a Set, and Comparing Fractions.  Look for that in your child's Tuesday Newsday this week.
     This week we will concentrate on making equal fractions.  We we will learn why 1/2 and 2/4 are indeed the very same thing.  We will practice this concept by playing level 2  in our Fraction Taco Game!  We also will be talking about making models with fractions.  You will see this in your child's HW this week.  They will need to read a word problem very carefully and illustrate exactly what it says, so that they can answer the given question in the word problem.  I tell the kids that the most important thing in Fractions is to read the directions very carefully and identify exactly what the problem is asking for.  So many want to skim over the directions and make an educated guess as to what they are supposed to do.  It has proven disastrous when working with Fractions!

Last Thursday we finished devoting class time to our Landform project and moved on Natural Resources on Friday.  The kids really seemed to have a firm grasp on what a Natural Resource is and I was really pleased with some of their insightful comments during discussion.  This week we are going to dive a little further and learn about renewable and non-renewable resources, where these things are found, and how we can conserve on Earth.

Looking forward to it!  Any questions about content, please just shoot me a quick email and ask. :)

Math and Science for the Week of January 17th-20th

This short week in Math we will continue our study of Fractions.  Students will review Fractions of a Set in the beginning of the week.  We will mainly concentrate on Linear Fractions this week by teaching the students how to play "Fraction War."  The kids will be comparing Linear Fractions to decide if 1/3 is less, more, or equal to 1/2. They will be given a visual tool to help them make these decisions.  Towards the end of the week we will teach the kids another fun game called "Fraction Taco,"  by which the students will cut and manipulate and make their own fractions to really reach those kinesthetic learners.  Friday will be an assessment of fractions of a whole, fractions of a set, and comparing fractions.

  Please continue working with your child on the concept of money.  The district did not allot a good chunk of time for us to reinforce money in their road map. I feel its very important to take a step back and review money, being that we only touched the surface for three days at the beginning of this semester.

*******This week for fast facts students that made a 100 on their 0's,1's, and 10's, will be given the flashcards for 2's this week.  They will be tested on their 0's, 1's, 2's, AND 10's this Friday.

Students that did not receive a 100, will continue to study their 0's, 1's, and 10's and will be given the same test this Friday. This week's test will be recorded for a grade.

In Science we are still working on our Landform power point project.  The kids have really enjoyed working on the computer and learning how to research.  I have about 6-8 kids in each class completely finished and enjoying some free time on the computers!  For those students substantially behind, I will be contacting parents to make morning time arrangements to catch up.  Ideally, we want to all be finished by Wednesday and print on Thursday.  We shall see if it happens!  Usually when it comes to teaching, nothing ever works out as planned!

Looking forward to another great week of learning. :-)

Mrs. S