Parents,
Well we made it through that crazy week last week with two benchmark tests and a Valentine's Day party! This week on Wednesday will be 3rd grade's planning day and all 3rd grade teachers will be out. The kids will be going to the book fair this Wednesday as well, so if you wish for your child to purchase a book, please send money with them on Wednesday, preferably in an envelope marked with their name.
In Math this week we will be finishing up our fractions unit! Yes the five long weeks of studying fractions are now coming to a close and there is light at the end of this tunnel! 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 5 different levels. The test this coming Friday on the 22nd will be taken for a grade so please study with your child!
In Science, We have moved on to weather. Last week we focused on Weather tools and the students and I made a flip chart together of 9 major tools that meteorologists use to predict the weather. They are as follows:
1. Weather Balloons
2. Thermometer
3. Barometer
4. Hygrometer
5. Anemometer
6. Wind Vane
7. Rain Gauge
8. Weather Satellites
9. Weather Radars/Maps
This is vocabulary that they will most certainly need to know for a future test. This week we will be finishing up studying the Water Cycle and begin studying Types of Clouds. Flashcards will be made here at school and will be coming home in the latter part of the week.
A Weather Test is coming your way!!!
Thanks for reading,
Mrs. S
Friday, February 15, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Language Arts and Social Studies the week of February 11-15
Monday
There will NOT be a reading passage this week since students will be taking both a math and reading benchmark.
Students will need to read for 20 minutes nightly and record homework on the blog or a piece of paper. This week, students will need to share how their thinking about characters, setting, events, or moral of the story changed as he or she read.
In reading, we will review fictional elements and discuss how they can help us create a summary.
In social studies this week, we will begin looking at different types of maps. We will learn how to use the parts of the map to help us read and interpret the information found on the map.
In writing, we will discuss organization for our BIG 6 research paper and begin consuming different examples of research papers.
Tuesday
Students will take the math benchmark from 8-noon. They will test with their homeroom teacher. Please encourage your child to get a good nights rest, eat a healthy breakfast and bring a healthy snack for test day.
Our lunch will stay the same, 12:00-12:30, but we will change our specials time to 1:15.
Wednesday
In reading, we will review strategies needed to help us get the correct answer when reading a passage.
In writing, we will look at an example of a student research paper and begin to notice and name the parts that are done well and what could use some more work.
In social studies this week, we will begin looking at different types of maps. We will learn how to use the parts of the map to help us read and interpret the information found on the map
Thursday
Students will take the math benchmark from 8-noon. They will test with their homeroom teacher. Please encourage your child to get a good nights rest, eat a healthy breakfast and bring a healthy snack for test day.
Our lunch will stay the same, 12:00-12:30, but we will change our specials time to 1:15.
The Valentine's Day party will be from 2:05-2:55. Please remember that we ask that each student bring a Valentine for every student in the class. We will make Valentine bags during our party for students to use as a take home bag.
Friday
We will take our spelling tests.
We will review the results of our reading benchmarks.
We will read to our 1st grade reading buddies.
Students will also present what information they learned from a state map.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Math and Science Week of Feb 11th-15th
Parents,
FRACTIONS, FRACTIONS, and more FRACTIONS!
On Monday we will review comparing fractions that we studied this past Thursday and Friday. Which fraction is greater? Which fraction is less? It's hard for third graders to make the realizations that the larger the denominator is of the fraction, the smaller the pieces actually are.
On Tuesday we will have our Math Practice STAAR test and take break from actual lessons that day. The students will be testing from 8:00-12:00. Our specials that day will be from 1:15-2:05.
All of 3rd grade has been preparing for our Math Practice STAAR Test. The students will be given 4 hours to complete 46 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.
On Wednesday we will take everything that we have learned about fractions and practice them in word problems. The students will review how to read a word problem, decode what it means, decipher what it wants, and draw it out to solve. The kids will also be bringing that home for HW on Wednesday.
On Thursday it's back to testing. The kids will be taking their practice STAAR Reading test from 8:00-12:00. Lunch is from 12:00 to 12:30. Recess is from 12:35 to 1:10, Specials are from 1:15-2:05, and our Valentines Party will be from 2:05-2:55! What a day, huh?
On Friday it's back to normal! We will review fractions and take a Fraction Assessment over all of our Fraction learning. The entire test will be word problems. The students will need to apply the strategies that have been taught to attack these fraction word problems. Look for this assessment in your child's Tuesday News day folder 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.
Our Multiplication Fast Facts are going well. This week's scores will not be recorded in the grade book but please continue to study multiplication fast facts will your child!! It is so important to know them all before entering 4th grade!
In Science next week we will review Weather tools one more time (flashcards were sent home last this past Friday the 8th) and then move on to the Water Cycle! I will teach the kids a really fun song about the water cycle and we will illustrate it in our journals.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Mrs.S
FRACTIONS, FRACTIONS, and more FRACTIONS!
On Monday we will review comparing fractions that we studied this past Thursday and Friday. Which fraction is greater? Which fraction is less? It's hard for third graders to make the realizations that the larger the denominator is of the fraction, the smaller the pieces actually are.
On Tuesday we will have our Math Practice STAAR test and take break from actual lessons that day. The students will be testing from 8:00-12:00. Our specials that day will be from 1:15-2:05.
All of 3rd grade has been preparing for our Math Practice STAAR Test. The students will be given 4 hours to complete 46 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.
On Wednesday we will take everything that we have learned about fractions and practice them in word problems. The students will review how to read a word problem, decode what it means, decipher what it wants, and draw it out to solve. The kids will also be bringing that home for HW on Wednesday.
On Thursday it's back to testing. The kids will be taking their practice STAAR Reading test from 8:00-12:00. Lunch is from 12:00 to 12:30. Recess is from 12:35 to 1:10, Specials are from 1:15-2:05, and our Valentines Party will be from 2:05-2:55! What a day, huh?
On Friday it's back to normal! We will review fractions and take a Fraction Assessment over all of our Fraction learning. The entire test will be word problems. The students will need to apply the strategies that have been taught to attack these fraction word problems. Look for this assessment in your child's Tuesday News day folder 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.
Our Multiplication Fast Facts are going well. This week's scores will not be recorded in the grade book but please continue to study multiplication fast facts will your child!! It is so important to know them all before entering 4th grade!
In Science next week we will review Weather tools one more time (flashcards were sent home last this past Friday the 8th) and then move on to the Water Cycle! I will teach the kids a really fun song about the water cycle and we will illustrate it in our journals.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Mrs.S
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Math and Science Week Of February 4th-8th
Parents,
In Math this week in we will continue our study of Fractions. Students will review Fractions of a Region AND Fractions of a Set in the beginning of the week through Home Work that will be going home. We will mainly concentrate on Linear Fractions this week by teaching the students how to play several fun fraction games! 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. We will teach the kids a fun game called "Fraction Taco," early in the week by which the students will cut and manipulate and make their own fractions to really reach those kinesthetic learners. We will also teach the kids a game called "Fraction War," in which they will flip over two cards with fractions on them and they will have to decide which fraction is larger/smaller. We hope that the kids really make the connection that the smaller the denominator is, the bigger the fraction piece, and the bigger the denominator is, the smaller the fraction piece. It's a hard concept to grasp being that you have to constantly be thinking oppositely. Here is a picture of what we will be working with this week to help us make discoveries about Linear Fractions.
We are already on our 4th week this week in Multiplication Fast Facts!!! Some students have made a 100 all three weeks in a row, and will be studying their doubles this week! This week's FF test will be for a grade, so make sure you study hard with your child!
In Science we finished up our Natural Resources unit, and will be moving on to the study of weather and weather tools. The kids will become familiar with weather balloons, wind vanes, thermometers, barometers, anemometers, hygrometers, rain gauges, and weather satellites. The kids will become familiar with weather and how exactly meteorologists use the tools mentioned above to make some predictions about what our weather will be like tomorrow.
It's going to be a busy week of learning!
Love,
Mrs. S
In Math this week in we will continue our study of Fractions. Students will review Fractions of a Region AND Fractions of a Set in the beginning of the week through Home Work that will be going home. We will mainly concentrate on Linear Fractions this week by teaching the students how to play several fun fraction games! 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. We will teach the kids a fun game called "Fraction Taco," early in the week by which the students will cut and manipulate and make their own fractions to really reach those kinesthetic learners. We will also teach the kids a game called "Fraction War," in which they will flip over two cards with fractions on them and they will have to decide which fraction is larger/smaller. We hope that the kids really make the connection that the smaller the denominator is, the bigger the fraction piece, and the bigger the denominator is, the smaller the fraction piece. It's a hard concept to grasp being that you have to constantly be thinking oppositely. Here is a picture of what we will be working with this week to help us make discoveries about Linear Fractions.
We are already on our 4th week this week in Multiplication Fast Facts!!! Some students have made a 100 all three weeks in a row, and will be studying their doubles this week! This week's FF test will be for a grade, so make sure you study hard with your child!
In Science we finished up our Natural Resources unit, and will be moving on to the study of weather and weather tools. The kids will become familiar with weather balloons, wind vanes, thermometers, barometers, anemometers, hygrometers, rain gauges, and weather satellites. The kids will become familiar with weather and how exactly meteorologists use the tools mentioned above to make some predictions about what our weather will be like tomorrow.
It's going to be a busy week of learning!
Love,
Mrs. S
Friday, February 1, 2013
Feb. 4-9
LANGUAGE ARTS
READING
Synthesizing and Summarizing are still on our list of things to do well in Reading over the next few weeks. This week we will work with FICTIONAL texts. We will use a few different graphic organizers to help us notice text elements and thinking as we read.
One strategy we will use is just like what kids did in class this week. They will record their notes and thinking as they read. THIS WEEK their notes will cover the sequence of events that happen in the story. The thinking that they may record can be connections predication, questions and inferences.
Then we will begin to notice how thinking may change as you read a text. We will use a graphic organizer called I'm thinking...now I'm thinking... and now. We will read some picture books together that do a great job of demonstrating how our thoughts about the plot or characters may change as we read a text.
WRITING
This week in Writing, we will finish our how-to essays. Then, we will start talking about what work will need to go into our BIG 6 research project. BIG 6 is a great organization tool for research.
SPELLING
Spelling continues to be more of the same. Students should bring home new spelling words on Mondays. Homework is due on Thursdays. We will take our test on Friday.
SOCIAL STUDIES
GEOGRAPHY
This week students will learn the parts of a map. Some of the vocabulary we will cover is: map key, map scale, compass rose, intermediate directions, cardinal directions, scale and symbols. Over the next few weeks, we will learn about different kinds of maps and globes. At home, please talk to your child about when you use a map. Let your child plug in an address the next time you use a navigation system. Maybe you could have your child serve as a guide the next time you are at the mall or zoo.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Language Arts and Social Studies
LANGUAGE ARTS
READING
In Reading over the next few weeks we will be synthesizing our reading. My concrete example for synthesizing is this...
Think about when you make pasta. You have to boil the water, add the dry noodles and then cook them, but that's not the way we eat our pasta. We have to strain the noodles to get rid of the water but keep the REALLY good pasta. It's the same when we synthesize our reading. We have to read the whole book, and even let it boil for a while, but synthesizing happens when we strain the information and we are left with the REALLY good stuff.
This week we are working with non-fiction. Your children are reading texts and trying to distinguish the FACTS (to record in their notes) from their THINKING (connections, thoughts, ideas, questions).
WRITING
This week in Writing we are working on how-to essays. We have reviewed the features of this text. Over the next few days, we will consume some good examples and create a class essay. Then, students will work to create a how-to essay to teach us how to play his or her favorite game.
SPELLING
Spelling continues to be more of the same. Students should bring home new spelling words on Mondays. Homework is due on Thursdays. We will take our test on Friday.
SOCIAL STUDIES
GEOGRAPHY
Students will have a geography quiz on Friday. It will cover the first half of our unit of study. Please make sure to look over the review sheet sent home last Friday. Students have also been encouraged to take their Social Studies Journals home each night to aide in preparing for the quiz.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Math and Science Week of Jan 28-Feb 1st!
Dear Parents,
Last week in Math, we introduced fractions and spent the week talking about unit and non-unit regional fractions which look like this:
Last week in Math, we introduced fractions and spent the week talking about unit and non-unit regional fractions which look like this:
This week we will be spending some time on fractional parts of a set, which look like this:
Looking at this picture you might ask your child, what fraction of these objects are blue? What fraction are NOT red? What fraction of these objects are green and yellow? Fractional parts of a set are just that, something in a set that can be divided into categories or non-categories. On Friday, the kids will be assessed on their mastery of regional fractions and fractional parts of a set. Next week we will continue our study of fractions, but move on to linear fractions.
The kids are really enjoying these multiplication fast facts are some are really taking their learning seriously! They are super motivated to "move up to the next level," and I can tell there is some serious studying going on at home at night! Thanks for flashing all those cards every night! This week's test will not be for a grade or recorded in the grade book online.
In Science last week we briefly touched on our earths renewable and non-renewable resources. We discovered that most, if not all, non-renewable resources are found under the earth. We talked about ways to protect our natural resources, like turning off the water when you are brushing your teeth, or using a cloth rag instead of a paper towel every time because this creates more trash. Lastly, we talked about the meaning of the arrows in the recycling sign and discussed the three R's....REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE! We will have a short quiz at the end of the week on renewable vs. non-renewable resources..
Here is a song for your enjoyment titled, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE!!!
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Mrs. S
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