Math and Science Week of March 3-7

Parents,

My how time flies!  It's already March!  This week will be another unusual week because of STAAR practice testing.  Our 3rd graders will take the Math practice STAAR on Tuesday and the Reading practice STAAR on Wednesday.  I am giving no written homework for the week because there will be two days that I will have minimal time with both classes.  All students will remain in their homeroom on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8-12:30.  Please make all efforts to have your child at school on those days.

In Math last week we studies Polygons and 2D shapes.  The kids had fun learning the Polygon song!

This week we will start this week out learning about one and two lines of symmetry.  We will create things with symmetry as well as draw lines of symmetry on certain objects.  The kids will also work in groups and study each letter of the alphabet, drawing and agreeing among their peers how many lines of symmetry each capital letter has.

In Science last week, we finished up our unit on weather.  The students completed a cloud project last week and will be receiving a Science Project grade on it for the 3rd nine weeks.  The kids did really well on our Science exam last week and I thank all of you who took the time to practice studying the flashcards and the study guide over our study of weather.
In Science this week, we will be moving on to studying about Space.  This week we will direct our focus to the Sun.  Next week we will direct more focus onto the moon, the Earth, and other planets.

Thanks for reading and staying updated!
Ms. S

Mrs. Ford's LA and SS Class 2/24-2/28

LANGUAGE ARTS
Spelling
We WILL have spelling this week.  Please make sure to help your child learn his or her spelling words and their sort.  Homework is due Thursday.  Test day is Friday.  

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 record our thinking as we read. Their notes will cover the sequence of events that happen in the story.  Their thinking may include connections, predictions, questions and inferences.

We will also 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 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, therefore, requiring us to synthesize all the information to make new meaning.

Writing
Mrs. Jenny Holter is now helping us work with procedural texts.  A few weeks ago she shared a great book, How to Babysit a Grandpa.  The kids were able to see how procedural texts can hit lots of different topics, not just food assembly!  She will visit all classes again this week to help us notice and name important parts of a procedural text.

SOCIAL STUDIES
STORY OF AMERICA

We will be learning about America's Artists this week: Bill Martin Jr., Laura Ingalls Wilder, Phillis Wheatley and Carmen Lomas Garza.
A review for our second assessment will come home this week. Students at HCE learn 10 states every year so that they will know the location of each state by the time they leave HCE. We will send home the 30 states your child is responsible for knowing/learning this year. You will get a blank map and a completed map to help with test preparation.

Math and Science Week of February 24th

Parents!

Yeah!  We made it through NRT testing!  I am very glad to be back to a normal routine this week.

In Math we will wrap up fractions on a number line on Monday and move on to Polygons and 2D shapes on Tuesday. All students will receive a hole punched sheet with all the shapes that they will be required to know.  2-D shapes will be on the front and 3-D on the back.  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.  At the latter end of the week we will focus on congruent shapes what what congruent means.  If two shapes are congruent, it means that they are exactly the same size and same shape.  Students will understand that congruent shapes can be flipped, turned, or upside down, yet they are still congruent.  Next week we will merge into learning about 3-D shapes as well as take our PRACTICE STAAR Reading and Math tests Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

In Science this week, we will finish up our unit on weather.  Monday will be the day we play some games to help us prepare for the Weather Test on Tuesday.  The rest of the week the students will complete a cloud project and will be receiving a Science Project grade on it for the 3rd nine weeks.

This week we will have a library and counselor lesson on Wednesday.  It will be a fun week of learning.

Love,
Ms. S

Math and Science Week of February 17-21

Parents,

Another three day weekend and four day week! This week will be crazier than the last!  We will be out on Monday and NRT testing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Please try to have your child here at school every day the entire day so that they will not have to make up the test at a later time.  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 not be taken for a grade as I entered last weeks score.  Please continue to study nightly.

We will postpone science this week due to NRT testing all week.  Your child SHOULD have 9 green weather tools flashcards, 5 yellow water cycle flashcards, and 4 blue cloud flashcards in their red HW folder.  Please start flashing those cards to get them ready for the upcoming Science Test.   Email me if your child cannot find their cards to study.  It would also be helpful to read the WHITE SBISD Study Guide at home for nightly reading.  Pages 38-42.  

Thanks!
Ms. S

Math & Science Week of February 10th

Parents,

This week will be crazy.  We will be NRT testing on Wednesday and Thursday this week and also will have our Valentines Party on Friday!  Please make all efforts to have your child at school all week and not to schedule any doctors appointments in the afternoon on Wednesday and Thursday especially.  If this cannot be avoided, your child will make up the portion of the test they missed with the principals at a later time.

On Monday and Tuesday  we will review comparing fractions that we studied on 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 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. Thursday is designated for NRT testing.  On Friday, 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.

A multiplication Fast Facts test will still be given on Friday and will be inputted into the grade book.

Science will be very limited this week and next due to NRT testing.  Monday and Tuesday we will be studying the types of clouds and be adding facts to our cloud book that we will begin making.

Thanks for reading,
Ms.S