Math and Science for the Week of February 27th-29th

Dear Parents,

Last week in Math we studied 2-D figures, Polygons, and Non-Polygons.  This week we are doing 3-D shapes.  We will become more familiar with terms such as base, faces, vertices, and edges.  We are categorizing our 3-D shapes into 3 categories.

This first category is 3-D figures that have curved surfaces like the sphere, cylinder, and cone.

  Sphere     Cylinder     Cone   

 The next category are prisms such as the cube, triangular prism, and rectangular prism.  Prisms are prisms simply because their faces are either rectangular or square.

Cube     Triangular Prism     Rectangular Prism

The last category we are studying is Pyramids like the square pyramid, the rectangular pyramid, and the triangular pyramid.  Pyramids are simply named by whatever their base is.

Square Pyramid     Rectangular Pyramid     Triangular Pyramid


In Science this week, we will be finishing up our unit on weather.  The students are working on a cloud project this week and will be receiving a Science Project grade on it for the 3rd nine weeks.  The four types of clouds that we are studying are as follows:

1.Cumulus (puffy and white fair weather cloud)
2.Cirrus ( fair weather clouds formed high in the air that look "whispy."
2. Nimbus or Cumulonimbus (puffy on top, gray/purple on bottom rain cloud)
4. Stratus (this cloud looks like a giant blanket in the sky, rain cloud)

Please study the Science study guide sent home last week along with the 18 flashcards to prepare for Thursday's Test.

Thank Ya Kindly,
Mrs. S

p.s. book fair Tuesday at 10:25 for Ford/Skrivanek's class :-)

Math and Science for the Week of February 21-24

Parents,

This week will be a little odd!  We have a four day week as well as a Reading Practice STAAR test this week on Thursday.  

In Math this week, we will be moving on to 2-D shapes.  All students will receive a hole punched sheet with all the shapes that they will be required to know.  This sheet will be put into their green binder that they bring home everyday.  We will be studying the 3 requirements a shape needs in order to be a polygon.  

Polygons must be: 1. Flat, 2. closed, 3. and have straight sides.  All students will need to recognize circles, ovals, triangles, squares, rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, trapezoids, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons.  We will be focusing on certain vocabulary such as sides, vertices, and parallel lines.  Next week we will merge into learning about 3-D shapes.

In Science we will be moving on to studying clouds.  The students worked in groups at the end of last week to learn about 1 certain type of cloud.  They will be teaching the class early this week about their cloud and there will be much discussion.  We will be making an anchor chart together to hang in the classroom and they will use it to complete a cloud project/flip book that we will be working on in Science for the remainder of the week.  The students will be bringing home 18 flashcards and a study guide to study for their test the following week on weather, weather tools, and clouds.  Be looking for it and harass your children for it!

As always, call or email with any questions!

Mrs.S

Catch Up and What's Coming Up

Friends and Family,

Last week was so busy that we got a bit behind!  We've been catching up the last few days and I wanted to let you know what's to come.

In language arts we have been synthesizing with fiction.  We've tried a few different ways to record our learning and thinking.  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.  We've been noticing how your thinking can change as you read a story and how most stories have a theme and/or a moral that you can learn from the story.  We've read some amazing picture books, and I hope your third grader has come home and shared some of them with you.

The kids wrote their first book review this week.  I'll send them home next Tuesday, Feb. 28 in the Newsday folders.  Be on the lookout for a new edition to the blog... third grade book recommendations and reviews!
We've started cursive handwriting.  They've been working on the types of strokes and we will start learning some letters today.

In social studies it is all about MAPS!  We've learned how to read and use a state map, and will look into landform maps the rest of this week.  We will then work with grid maps and eventually compare and contrast maps and globes.  Please take some time to let your child practice real life map skills at home.  This could look a few different ways:

• Let your child be the family guide at the zoo or museum and help navigate you to different areas.
• Print off a map of your neighborhood and let him or her talk to you about what direction (north, south, east, west, northwest, northeast, southwest or southeast) you need to go to get to various destinations.
• Next time you're at the mall, show your child  the mall map and see if he or she can talk about what things would be in which direction.
• Taking a trip to the ranch or Galveston?  Let your child navigate the roads and help see which routes will get you to your destination.

The more reasons your child can see why this skill is so valuable and practice this skill with maps and people that matter, the more learning will sink in!

Thank you for your support at home.
A few upcoming dates to remember:
Monday, February 20- School Holiday
Thursday, February 23- Reading STARR Practice Test
Thursday, February 23- Charles Fay, co-founder of Love and Logic at HCE
Friday, February 24- Go TEXAN Day, wear your western clothes and show off your TEXAN PRIDE
Tuesday and Wednesday, February 28 &29- Book Fair HCE Cafe

Math and Science for the Week of February 13th-17th

Dear Parents,

This week in Math we will be studying a culmination of things.  We are going to finish up learning about Area and have a day of Problem Solving to go back over deciding on an operation.  Then we will be moving on to Geometry for the next couple of weeks.  In the later part of the week, we will be learning about congruent shapes.  All students will identify congruent and non-congruent shapes.  Two shapes are congruent when they are identical in shape and size. In other words, if you place an object in front of a mirror, the image that you see is congruent or " equal " to the object.  The students should pick up on this math concept fairly quickly.  


We have moved on to weather in Science.  Last week we focused on Weather tools and the students and I made a flip chart together of 8 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


This is vocabulary that they will most certainly need to know for a future test.  This week we will be studying the Water Cycle and Types of Clouds.  Flashcards will be made here at school and will be coming home in the latter part of the week. 


The kids will have a counselor lesson this week and we will be dedicating some time to a typing technology that we must implement into our classrooms for the remainder of the year.  It should be fun!


Love, Mrs. S

Math and Science for the Week of February 6th-10th

Well, we finally finished up our four week unit of Fractions!  YIPPEE!!!  This week is going to be a culmination of things.
On Monday, I am going to introduce area.  Now that our students know how to find the distance around an object (Perimeter), I am going to teach them how to find the measurement INSIDE an object (Area).  We will measure in square centimeters.
On Tuesday, we will focus on old concepts that we have taught throughout the year to gear up for the Practice STAAR test the following day.  We will be going over old strategies such as counting money, finding the perimeter, and reading a thermometer.  There will be no HW on Tuesday!  Make sure that your child gets a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, we are blocking off 8am-12pm for our Practice STAAR test.  All 3rd graders will have 4 hours to complete 47 multiple choice word problems.  This is just a practice.  No grade on this will be recorded.  The students' grades will be used for data purposes only to determine who might need help in the coming weeks to gear up for the real deal test.
The rest of the week, we will be going back to Area and learning the counting squares strategy.

We have completed our unit on Natural Resources and are moving on to Weather.  We will begin studying and observing weather patterns in the latter part of the week.  We even have a mini weather station that we will be messing around with!

Don't forget that Tuesday is our individual Spring pictures and our class photo day.   I look forward to seeing all my students looking sharp!  The Valentine's Party will also be held around 2:15ish on Friday.  Please make sure your child has a box or bag in which to receive Valentines.

It's going to be a great week. As always, feel free to email with any questions. :)

Love, Mrs. S

What's Going on in Mrs. Ford's Room?

Friends and Family,
I apologize for my late start to keeping you updated for the week, so I'll let you know what has been going on this week and what's to come next week.
Thanks for your patience!  Mrs. Ford

LANGUAGE ARTS

Spelling
We're still working hard to sort and spell our words. Please remember that spelling homework is due on Thursdays and our tests are in class on Fridays.


Writing
We had a fun lesson this week thinking about book reviews.  In most of the book reviews read, the writer offers up his or her opinion of the book.  We noticed that their opinions are supported with evidence from the text.  We used a dictionary and some markers to see how important support can be when making your opinions stick!  We will continue consuming reviews, and later this month, we will publish some reviews for your reading enjoyment.


Reading
We're finishing up QAR this week.  Students have been posting on the homework blog and really perfecting this skill!
Remember that passages will come home on Mondays and be due on Fridays.  These will help us build reading comprehension and exercise some of our newly acquired reading skills.
Next week we will start our work on synthesizing.  Synthesizing isn't easy, but man is it important!  We will look at various ways to monitor our thinking while reading as well as ways to sum up what we've read and learned from a story.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We've started our work on maps.  This week we worked on some of our map skills vocabulary:

• map title
• map key or legend
• compass rose
• cardinal directions (N< S< E< W)
• intermediate directions (NW< NE< SW< SE)

Next week we will start looking at different types of maps.  First we will look at state maps and notice what towns, cities, bodies of water and other important information these types of maps include.  Then, we will see how the landforms that we just learned about can be shown on a map with different colors and patterns.


Fun times in third grade.  I love the Spring Semester when the discussions become more meaning-filled and the sharing of ideas is second nature!

Don't forget to check out the THIRD GRADE THOUGHTS blog.  

It's written by your students and fills you in on what things they 

think are important about third grade!

Love and Logic

Don’t Miss It!

An evening with Dr. Charles Fay,

co-creator

of Love and Logic

Where:  HCE Cafeteria

When: Thursday, February 23rd, 6-8 p.m.