Math and Science Week of March 31st-April 4th

On Monday,  I am going to review area.  Now that our students know how to find the distance around an object (Perimeter), I taught them how to find the measurement INSIDE an object (Area).  We are measuring in square centimeters, to coincide with our study of the metric system last week.

                                          
In Math this week we are still learning about measuring.  Instead of using the United States Customary System with inches, feet, yards, and miles, we are now measuring in The Metric System.  The students have now become familiarized with words like millimeter, centimeter, meter, and kilometer.  We will be measuring things all around the room using The Metric System and trying to apply it to our real world.  It is rather confusing for a third grader to switch back and forth between The Customary System and The Metric System.  Any real world applications that you can use from home would be awesome!  I remember being in Canada two Summers ago thinking, "I know it says 30 more Kilometers until Banff, but what does that mean?"  "How far is 30 Kilometers, and how fast are we really going?!!!"  We have been studying the metric system since last week and will have a short assessment on it Tuesday.

 On Wednesday we will review Time, Temperature and Money.  Then on Thursday, the students will take another Objective Quiz on Time, Temperature, Money, Area, and Perimeter.

 On Friday we will introduce probability to the students and use the vocabulary certain, impossible, likely, and not likely.

                         Fast Facts will not be taken for a grade this week.

In Science last we we learned about the relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth.  The students constructed a small 2-D model in class to show this representation.  This week we will move into the planets and the correct order of the planets.  I will teach them a fun acronym to help them remember the correct order of the planets from the sun.  It is...."My very excellent mother just served us nachos!"  Here are two fun videos we will watch about the planets.

Students will be placed in groups Wednesday and Thursday to work on a planet project together.  Your student will be given a study guide AND flashcards this week to prepare them for the Solar System Science Test next week.  Please help your child study!!!

Love,
Ms. S

Math and Science Week of March 24th

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the grind!  I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun break.

This week in Math we will be finishing up our unit on 2D, 3D, congruence, and symmetry.    This week marks the beginnings of getting prepared for the STAAR exam the kids will take in April.  Each week we will review old skills and the students will take a "mini practice" exam to give them exposure to what might be expected of them on the real STAAR exam. Then, we will go over the questions with the kids and talk about strategies to solve each kind of problem.  This Tuesday will be our first of many practices.  After being checked by me, and then double checked by your child, they will be sent home for you to go over with your child as well.

Fast facts are starting back up and I hope you're ready for them.  This week's test will be for a grade!

Before the break we spent an entire week studying characteristics of the Sun.  This week we will spend some time learning about the moon. Then we will be learning the relationship between the sun, the moon, and the earth.  The students will be constructing a small 2-D model in class to show this representation.  We will then move into the planets and the correct order of the planets next week.

Again, Welcome back and feel free to email or call with any questions or concerns!

Love,
Ms. S

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States Road trip, Synthesizing to Summarizing and Procedural Text

Spelling
We WILL NOT have spelling this week.

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 NON-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 also include connections, predictions, questions and inferences.

Writing
Mrs. Jenny Holter will help us finalize our work with procedural texts.  She will visit all classes again this week and help us create some shared writing!

SOCIAL STUDIES
STORY OF AMERICA

Our states QUIZ is this week.  Please make sure that your child has been studying the name and location of the 30 states sent home in the review 2 weeks ago.  This week students will participate in a grade level road trip.
Students will travel to other third grade teacher's classrooms and visit a few well known states.  While there they will virtually visit popular tourist destinations in these states.  To record the journey, they will create scrapbooks with photographs and journal entries.  Everyone will also collect souvenirs from each state trip.  

Math and Science Week of March 10th

Parents,

Now that Practice STAAR is over and we have collected data, 3rd grade will hit the ground running trying to ferociously get our kiddos ready for the real STAAR exam in late April.

In Math this week we will begin the study of 3-D shapes in Math.  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.

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.

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.  Pyramid faces are always triangular with a point at the top:

Fast Fact tests are still every Friday.  Please continue to study with your child.  The goal is that they will know ALL their fast facts quickly before they enter 4th grade.

This week we will direct our focus to the Sun and Moon.  When the kids return from Spring Break, we will direct more focus onto the moon, the Earth, and their relationship.  Third grade is going to be trying something new in the next week or two by assigning online Science lessons over space on Learning.com.  Wish us luck!

As always, thank you for reading and have a wonderful Spring Break.  These kiddos have worked hard and deserve a break!

Ms. S