Week of 10/26-10/30

Week of October 26 - October 30

RED RIBBON WEEK THIS WEEK.  We will participate in theme days and school wide discussion on the importance of making healthy choices.
Monday- Wear red.  We are "RED"y to lead a healthy life.
Tuesday- Wear pink. "New Friends are all around you."
Wednesday- Wear a college shirt. "My future is bright."
Thursday- Wear a crazy hair style. "Wild about being healthy."Friday- Wear a HCE shirt.  We will give each child a mustache.  I "mustache" you not to bully or do drugs.

READING-We will continue our genre study of realistic fiction.  As we read this week we will learn the difference between a first person and third person narrative.
WRITING-We will continue to map narrative stories.  This week we will look into the author's craft of dialogue.  We will learn to identify dialogue in a story and then begin to critique how and why an author uses dialogue to move the story.
WORD WORK-Students received new words last Tuesday.  On October, 27th we will take an assessment on these words and then work over the next week to  accurately apply these new words to our writing.
SOCIAL STUDIES-Our unit of study, geography, continues.  This week we will work to learn about the four regions of Texas and what landforms can be found in each region of the state.  On Wednesday, we will be shaping our own landforms and noting the differences and similarities between the various shapes in the land.  

MATH- This week during our math time, we will continue learning about subtraction. Last week we subtracted numbers with regrouping in the ones, tens, and hundreds. This week, we will be subtracting across zeros. Later in the week, we will be using our subtraction strategies in word problems. We will decode word problems and decide if we will be "taking away," "comparing," or find the "missing part." I was SO impressed by the math facts quiz last Friday. Keep up the GREAT work and study every night for 5 to 10 minutes. This week, we will have another addition and subtraction quiz. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night your child will bring home a subtraction worksheet. The problem of the week will be due on Friday. 

SCIENCE-During science this week, we will complete our discussion on Mixtures. Later in the week we will begin our unit on Energy. Energy is the ability to move and do work. We will review four forms of energy: sound, light, heat, and mechanical. We will begin with Mechanical Energy and discover that there are two types of Mechanical Energy: Potential and Kinetic. 

We have enjoyed conferencing with some parents on Thursday and Friday and we look forward to meeting with more of you this week!

October 19th - 23rd

Week of October 19th - 23rd

We have lots of news for this upcoming week! 

1) Thursday and Friday are Noon Dismissal Days. Please send hand written notes if your child will be going home a different way from these two days. We look forward to meeting with each of you during our conferences. Please remember to arrive on time as we have back to back conference times. 

2) Socktober Week is this week - remind your child to wear CrAzY socks all week! Our Leadership Council is collected items to donate to the Mission of Yahweh. We are needing items such as: socks, underwear, disposable diapers, and deodorant. 

MATH
Last week in math, we wrapped up our study of rounding. We will continue working on rounding in our daily warm up problems. We discussed how rounding can be applied in many real world situations. I challenge you to ask your child to round the price of items or the amount of items you would need on your next visit to the grocery store. Rounding is a useful tool! This week, we will begin our next unit on subtraction. We will start our week with subtracting without regrouping. Throughout the week, we will subtract in the thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones place. You can expect a Problem of the Week to come home on Monday and it will be due on Friday. A review worksheet for place value will come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Friday, your child will complete a fast facts quiz with addition and subtraction - this will be for a grade.

SCIENCE
On Friday, we completed our unit on Matter. This week we will begin learning about mixtures. A mixture is when two or more substances are combined. I always imagine trail mix as an example. You are able to mix peanuts, M&M's, almonds, cashews, raisins. These things are mixed together, but can easily be taken apart.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading

This week we will wrap up our work on character traits.  Students have been compiling a great list of words to use when describing a character in a story based on what they are thinking or how they are behaving.  We've been mapping, together, how a character changes throughout a story.  This week, students will try this learning on their own during independent reading.

Writing

For many weeks we will discuss narrative structure.  To the right, you will see an example anchor chart used in the classroom to help us move from thinking about the beginning, middle and end of a story and move into thinking about the superstructure of a narrative.  Words and ideas like setting the stage, initiating event, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution will be words that 3rd graders will learn and then be expected to use during discussions on mentor texts.

Word Work

Last week students took their first spelling tests and did very well.  This week, we take an application grade and introduce a new spelling pattern.  You are welcome to continue practicing at home.  We will continue to practice 10-15 minutes each day in class.  Teachers cannot email or post spelling lists due to copyright issues.  Please talk to your student about the importance of keeping up with and bringing home their spelling practice list.  

SOCIAL STUDIES

Landforms

We are starting a new unit in Social Studies, Geography.  Our geography unit is made up of two parts, landforms and map skills. We will start the unit with a look at landforms.  This week and last we review many landforms that are, hopefully, familiar to our students.  

The BIG idea in social studies that we will try to drive home is that our daily life is affected by the land surrounding us.  When we plan vacations, what we pack, what we do, and our travel are all determined by the land and water features surrounding our destination.  

Some of our upcoming vocabulary will be:

Geography-the study of Earth’s features

Landform- natural features, or shapes, of the land including mountains, valleys, plains, plateaus, etc.

Climate- the kind of weather a place has over a long period of time

Human Feature- something that people add to the landscape, such as a building

     Adapt- change to fit the environment

We've used this video and songs to help us remember the different types of landforms.

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Week of 10/4-10/9

NEWS-- This week is Generation Texas Week.  We will spend the week focusing on discussions about why and where we might want to continue our education after high school.  
From Mrs. Glass--

This week, in class, students will be researching different colleges and learning what each school has to offer and what makes the school special.  They will hear their teachers explain why they chose their college and we will have activities all week relating to post-secondary education and careers.  It’s never too early to think about the future! 

Please spend some time this week with your child talking about the importance of college and their career goals.  Take some time to tell them about your experiences! 

Thanks and Gig’ em!

Allyson Glass

READING AND WRITING

We will continue to combine our work in Reading and Writing Workshop this week.  While students read independently this week, I will pull small groups of students to work on a variety of reading strategies and skills.

Last week, we shared some folktales together and discussed how many cultures have used these stories as a way to teach or explain things to people (folk). This week, we will dive into the genre of myths.  Myths are stories that seek to explain, like folktales, but they focus on explaining the beginning of the world or human behavior. As students work with folktales this week, they will continue to track their thinking using symbols and sticky notes. These tracks in our text allow us to notice how an author is engaging his or her audience.  We will eventually apply these findings to our own craft of writing.

WORD WORK/SPELLING

This Wednesday will be our kick-off of our Spelling, vocabulary and word work program, Words Their Way.  Your child will be introduced to a new spelling sort on Wednesday, in class.  Home-study is optional this year.  We will send each child home with a HOME-STUDY MENU and a copy of his or her words for the next 10 days.  Students will spend 10-15 minutes each day practicing their new pattern (sort) in class to prepare for their first spelling test on Wednesday, October 14.  Due to copyright law, I am unable to post spelling words/lists to the blog or email them to you.  If you would like to help your child practice at home, please let him other know to bring home a copy of their words for at home practice. I will do my best to encourage such choices in as we prepare our homework each day.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will begin to wrap up our study on Community, Citizenship and Government. We will continue to talk in class about how the United States government is set up.  There is a RED review sheet coming home this week to help students prepare for our first Social Studies test.  Our first Social Studies test on Community and Government will be on Tuesday, October 13.

MATH
Last week in math we wrapped up our unit on addition. We finished our week off with a review of expanded form and notation and comparing three or more digit numbers. This week, we will begin our study of rounding. On Monday, we will discuss what rounding is and how it can be used in our daily lives. On Tuesday, we will round two digit numbers to the nearest 10. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will round three digit number to the nearest 10 and 100. To end our week, we will have a problem solving day of using addition with estimation. The homework for the week will include: review worksheets on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, Problem of the Week due on Friday, and study math facts. This week, the math facts won't be taken as a grade.

SCIENCE
Last week in science, we completed reflections over our properties of matter lab. We began studying how to classify matter. This week, we will continue learning about the states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. We will complete multiple demonstrations that will help our understanding. On Wednesday you can expect a Matter Study Guide to be come home. During our class time, we will work on vocabulary cards that can be used as another tool to study for the science test. The science test will be given on Friday, October 16th. Please study a few minutes every night. 

Below are links to a few States of Matter games that we have played in class:

Solids, Liquids, and Gases

Solids, Liquids, Gases 2