Math and Science Week of December 2nd

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! I hope you have a wonderful five day break with your families!  We are going to hit the ground running until Winter break.  Let the three week countdown begin!

On Monday, we will start out with a multiplication review of the meaning of multiplication, multiplication arrays, and paired tables with multiplication.  The students will review all old concepts and have a quiz to test their mastery of multiplication on Monday.

On Tuesday, we will be introducing division in third grade.  Our study of division will begin basic, as we plan to use cubes and pictures to represent the process of dividing a larger group of things into smaller equal groups.   Students will practice “acting out” the process of division.  Through a mathematical story, The Doorbell Rang, students will divide Grandma’s 12 cookies equally among 12, 6, 4, and 3 friends.   

 

Fast Fact Friday will  be for a grade this week.  This quiz will be a combination of 10 addition facts and 10 subtraction facts.  Students should continue studying facts each night.  The expectation is that all of these facts are memorized by December.   Starting January, students will begin studying multiplication facts.

In Science last week, we dug into dirt and learned about Weather, Erosion, Soil, and decomposing.  We had a fun time on Friday playing "The Rotten Game," and trying to predict how long it takes certain materials to decompose.  This week will start a weather/ natural disaster unit.  We will learn about Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Landslides this week.  Next week we will study Volcanoes and Earthquakes.  We will watch some really cool "storm chaser" footage that the kids are sure to enjoy.  We will try to link this learning back to last weeks concepts over weathering and erosion, and make the connection that all these things change the surface of our earth. 

I'm expecting it to be a great week!  Thanks for all you do.


Love, 
Ms. S

Math and Science Week of November 25th

Howdy Parents,

November is just flying right on by and here we are already leaving for Thanksgiving!  The two days we will be attending school is always hard to plan for a teacher.  A LOT of students are always out and you don't want to introduce a new concept!    So the Math/Science team has thought up some fun activities/projects for those two days.  

In Math, we will be  reviewing what we have been learning about the last three weeks with multiplication and division.  We will be reading lots of word problems, breaking them down, and figuring out if we need to multiply, divide, add, or even subtract!  The kids love the flip charts that we do together because they get to Activ vote their hypothesis and then we solve the problem.  We will be taking a grade on their problem solving assignment that is broken up over the two days.  Don't worry if you miss, your child will just make it up when they return!

There will be no Homework, Fast Facts, or Problem of the Week in Math this week!!!

In Science,  we will be doing two labs that we haven't had the chance to do.  One will be a Matter Lab in which the students will make a mixture and then choose the appropriate tool to separate it with.  The other Lab will be a Friction Lab in which the kids will use a ramp and a hot wheel car to determine which surface has the least amount of friction.  It gets wild in the classroom, but it's so fun!

I hope everyone has a safe and beautiful Thanksgiving with their family.  I am thankful for this HCE family and my 46 students that keep me on my toes everyday ;-)

Love, 
Ms. S 

Math/Science Week of November 18th

Dear Parents,

In Math last week, we started Multiplication!  The kids are so motivated by this because they finally feel like "big kids."  Last week in Math students practiced representing multiplication using pictures and the traditional multiplication sentence.  We learned that the answer to a multiplication problem is called a “product” and the two numbers we multiply together are called “factors”.  We  started  applying what we learned about multiplication to problems in the real world.  Example:  If there are 5 students in a group and each student holds 3 pencils, how many pencils in all?  Students will have to practice choosing the correct operation to solve a problem now.  Now we will have to choose if it is appropriate to add, subtract, and/or multiply when problem solving. On Thursday, we learned about  multiplication arrays. We learned equal rows of things such as 4 rows with 3 cookies in EACH row ( 4 x 3 = 12).   Please look out for any opportunities at home to point out “arrays” or “groups of” things.  Example:  If your family is making cookies, use multiplication to find out how many cookies are on the pan.  If the football team scored 3 touchdowns, use multiplication to find out how many points in all. 

Using paired tables is a strategy (making a T-Chart)students can use to figure out problem solving problems that contain patterns.  That's what we will talk about at the beginning of this week.  For example, Confetti eggs come in cartons of 8, How many eggs will there be in 3, 6, and 8 cartons.  The students would create a T chart.  On one side would be the # of cartons, and on the other would be the # of eggs.  This is a simple strategy to figure out larger patterns in numbers.  Towards the end of the week we will teach the students a strategy to solve two digit by one digit multiplication problems that they will face in word problems and on the STAAR.  We don't feel at this time they are quite ready to learn the regular algorithm, and therefore won't teach it until May. 

The Energy Test was a success!  It was clear to me that most kids took their learning more seriously on this 2nd test and we had outstanding scores!  In Science this week, we will be learning about  weathering (the breaking apart of rock into small pieces) and watching a video called “Weathering and Erosion.”  The students will look at all different pictures and examples of weathering and erosion on a flip chart and discover some of the most amazing landscapes that erosion and weathering create.  In their journal, students will define weathering and erosion (the carrying away of weathered rock)  and list the many agents of weathering: wind, water, temperature, plants, animals, chemicals, man. The student bring in a rock no bigger than a quarter for Science HW this week.

A special thank you for all you parents reading this and keeping up with the daily happenings of the classroom.  It takes a village!

Ms. S

Math/Science Week of November 11th-15th

Parents,

Happy Veterans Day!  Thank you for your service veterans and all you sacrificed.  We hope to see all of you on Monday at 8:30 in the cafeteria for the Veteran's Day program put on by our 3rd and 4th graders.

In Math this week we will be moving on to a new concept.......Multiplication!!!  Students will brainstorm things that come in groups: 2 eyes, 3 wheels on a tricycle, 8 sides on an octagon, etc.  We will discuss that multiplication is actually just equal “groups of” things.  Through a game called “Circles and Stars”, students will represent 5 “groups of” 3 with 5 circles and 3 stars in each circle.  Students will use repeated addition    ( 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15) to discover the total amount of stars.  We will then connect this to the multiplication sentence of 5 x 3 = 15.  You will see this coming home on Tuesday night for HW.  The latter part of the week I will be introducing  multiplication arrays.  We will learn equal rows of things such as 4 rows with 3 cookies in EACH row ( 4 x 3 = 12).   Please look out for any opportunities at home to point out “arrays” or “groups of” things.  Example:  If your family is making cookies, use multiplication to find out how many cookies are on the pan.  If the football team scored 3 touchdowns, use multiplication to find out how many points in all. 

This week for Fast facts will be for a grade and it will be addition and subtraction. 

We are wrapping up our study on Force, Motion, and Energy.  Your child should have brought home their Science Journal to study, flash cards, and their green study guide that is glued in their Science Journal.  They also should have brought home a flowchart on the four energies Thursday to help them study!  Read pages 15-23 in their SBISD white Science Study guide to assist you.  The test will be on Wednesday and will consist of only multiple choice questions.  Happy studying!  Use these YouTube videos to assist you as well.  It's going to be a great week of learning!  
Ms. S

Update from Mrs. Ford

Language Arts

Reading

This week in reading, we will start to talk about using context clues when we read to help us determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.  Students will learn a variety of "clues" that good writers often include to help readers make meaning of what's in the story.  We will be using non-fiction this week as begin.

In small groups, students will be reading non-fiction and poetry with me.  In these groups we will be working on a variety of reading topics depending on what your child and their group needs.  I have looked over our benchmark data and will be targeting children's needs.  

Writing

We will focus on developing strong leads this week in our work with personal narratives.  

Last week, students completed postcards to friends and family describing an imaginary vacation.  This writing was integrated with our social studies curriculum.  Students included new learning about how landforms, location and climate can change the activities we choose and the way we dress when we are on vacation.

Spelling

Spelling groups will continue this week.  Please look for new words to come home on Monday nights.  Students have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to complete 8 points on their spelling menus.  The DESK fairy showed up after school on Friday and awarded spelling homework coupons to student's with a clean and organized desk.  If your student has earned a coupon, he or she may staple it into the spelling spiral in place of 4 points of homework.

Social Studies

Geography

Click on the link below to check out this cool new rap and song we've been singing to help us remember the different types of landforms.

http://youtu.be/7v7R2bALbgI

We will continue to learn about landforms.  This week we will start thinking of various ways to describe landforms and bodies of water.  We will read the book, I AM THE OCEAN. It will serve as our mentor test as we begin to create LANDFORM POETRY using personification!