Week 23: February 12th-16th

Week 23:  February 12th-16th
Reminders:
12th-16th:  Kindness Week
14th:  Valentine's Day parties will be held in your child's homeroom classroom from 2:25-2:55.  
The students can bring Valentines cards or candy, but we ask that you bring something for everyone in the class. The students will make treat bags during the party, so they do not need to bring a container for their treats and cards. Class headcounts are below.
Saint-Val: 20
Badrak: 18
Ford:  20
Duncan: 20
Morphey: 19
Rozzell: 21
19th:  Monday is a student holiday in honor of President's Day.  We'll see you Tuesday!

Reading:  We will shift gears this week to focus on the genre of narrative nonfiction.  Narrative Nonfiction is fact-based storytelling.  The facts about a person or situation are presented in a narrative, or story, format.  Biographies are probably the most common form of narrative nonfiction your readers are familiar with.  We'll start by comparing and contrasting this genre to both fiction and informational types of text.   We will then practice how to gather information from this narrative format to describe events and/or the subject of the text. 
Writing:  We're off to a great start within our expository writing unit!  This week we will continue to build main ideas off of a general prompt.  Some examples include:  Who is an important person in your life or what is something you cannot live without.  Your writers will support their main idea with details.  These details (facts, anecdotes, descriptions, etc) must relate to and explain their main idea.  
Social Studies:  We're spending some extra time on maps to reinforce the skills and concepts learned within the unit.  We will be finished with the unit project this week.    

Math: We will continue to dive deeper into multiplication word problems while using the strategy that works best for each student. Later in the week, we will begin our Division introduction and introduce what Division means. We will also introduce the students strategies on how to solve division word problems and how knowing their fact families will aid their success.
Homework: The Problem of the Week will be sent home on Monday. Please have your child bring it to school on Friday. Homework #1-3 will be sent home Monday-Wednesday. Please have your child be on DreamBox for at least 20 minutes a day at home. 

Science: We will continue to learn more about the different forces that cause the Earth's surface to change such as Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Landslides, Tsunamis, etc. The students will engage in activities that will help the students retain the information and use it in their daily lives and future conversations with others. The Rapid Changes of Earth Quiz is on Friday, February 16th. Please make sure your scientist is studying at least 20 minutes per day!

The Weekly Planner tab (on the right side) in this website is also a resource to communicate the specific homework(s) for the week. 

Week 17: January 3rd-5th

Week 17:  January 3rd-5th 

Happy 2018! 

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday break.  

We look forward to welcoming back your children tomorrow!  

Reminders: 

1/9  STAARY STAARY NIGHT  Third grade will host a STAAR information session Tuesday evening, January 9, to familiarize parents with our May state testing and answer any questions. We will meet in the library form 6:00pm to 7:00pm.

1/10  2nd NINE WEEKS RECOGNITION CEREMONY will be held in the cafeteria from 9:00-9:40am. 

1/10  3rd GRADE AUTHOR VISIT   Mac Barnett, author of The Terrible Two series, will visit our school on Wednesday, 1/10 and spend time with our 3rd graders.  You can purchase a copy of any of his books using the following link through Blue Willow Bookshop.  


Reading:  We have a quick, but action-packed week in reading as we begin our nonfiction genre study. For the next few weeks your readers will immerse themselves in a variety of nonfiction texts to learn about the purpose and structure of the genre. We will launch our unit by reading high-interest informational articles about the Guinness Book of World Records and penguin rescues this week. Reading MAP testing begins this week and will continue into next.

Writing:  Students will review how to story tell by sharing some of their favorite memories from our two week break.  As the week progresses we will shift our focus to our poetry unit of study.  Your writer will begin looking at poetry through the eyes of the writer.  Students will read and study anchor poems that showcase rich vocabulary as well as portray vivid mental images that spark our senses.

Word Work:  We will continue to facilitate independence and confidence as students perfect their spelling skills within their independent writing. 

Social Studies:  Students will locate a variety of maps from nonfiction articles we read.  We will study these maps to note their features and specifically define key, compass rose, and scale. 

Math: This week we are focusing on taking the winter MAP test. We will also explore the MAP website as we will use it for additional practice. Then, it is on to measuring and calculating the perimeter of polygons. Perimeter is the distance around the outer edge and the sum of all the sides. Along with this basic knowledge, students will be given the perimeter of an object and the lengths of all but one side. Students must subtract to find the value of the missing side.

Students will only have homework on Wednesday but should study their math facts daily.

Science: We will observe how position and motion can be changed by pushing and pulling objects to show work being done. Some examples include swings, balls, pulleys, and wagons. We will also observe forces such as gravity and friction acting on objects. Gravity is the force that pulls all objects together. Friction is the force between two moving objects that tries to keep the objects from moving freely. We will discuss examples of each.

Week of November 30th - December 4th

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break!

We hope that you enjoyed your time off and got some rest! We have a couple of reminders for this week:

1) On Wednesday, your child will be participating in the Fun Run with Woodview Elementary. Your child should wear tennis shoes and their white HCE Cougar Pride T-Shirt. The third graders from Woodview will be coming over to run with our third graders from 9:10 - 10:00. We are helping Woodview raise money to build a Spark Park. Please send $5 - $10 as a donation.

2) Thursday will be a 1:30 Dismissal Day. This day is set aside as a staff development day. Please send a handwritten note with any change of transportation for this day. Thursday is also the day for Toys for Tots Donations. A fire truck and Santa will be here to collect any toy donations.

MATH:In math this week, we will continuing working on multiplication. This week, we will learn strategies from multiplying by 6,7,8, and 9. Your child has three Mangahigh assignments for homework. The specific assignments can be found on the Weekly Planner page as well as in your child's planner. The problem of the week is coming home today and it will be due on Friday. Your child has a Fast Facts Quiz on Friday that will be a grade. Please check their Multiplication Checklist in their green binder if you are unsure of which multiplication quiz they will be taking.

SCIENCE: During our science time today, your child will be creating a flow chart as a review for their science test. The Energy Test will be tomorrow. Please continue to study the study guide and vocabulary cards. The flowchart will be coming home as an additional resource for studying.

LANGUAGE ARTS

READING- Good readers use clues in a text to help them make meaning of the words the author uses.  This week we will work together with the text, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, to notice the many ways an author uses context clues to help readers make sense of the story.  We will create an anchor chart similar to the one shown here to help us remember what to look for as we are working to learn new vocabulary as we read.

WRITING- Our craft element focus for this week is called SHOW, DON'T TELL.  The writer's we love best use their words to paint a picture and show us what is happening in a story.  Simply reading -- "Mary was sad."  isn't as interesting as reading-- "Mary walked into the room with her head hung and tears still running down her face."  We will start the week off playing emotion charades.  We will jot down the movements and facial expressions our friends use to show and not tell us about emotion.  Then, we will work on moving this element into our own writing.  Finally, we will review some familiar texts to see how the authors we love and know most use this element in their stories.

WORD WORK-New spelling words will come home by 12/2.  We will assess on 12/9.  We work for 10-15 minutes each day to practice our word sorts.  A white copy of your child's words should come home for you to spend time working on at your convenience.

SOCIAL STUDIES- We will work this week to finish our comparison of maps and globes.  We will introduce the vocabulary word compass and talk about how you can use a compass and map together to help you locate and travel places.  The compass allows us time to review cardinal directions (north, south, east and west) and introduce intermediate directions (northwest, southwest, northeast and southeast).  This is a great time to play some Simon Says at home using cardinal and intermediate directions.

Always remember that you have access to our online resource www.studiesweekly.com to help your child review what we have learned in class.  

Update for 11/16-11/20

Language Arts

Reading- In Reading we are still working in the genre of Realistic Fiction working with narrative stories.  This week, students will work to reproduce stories given the events of the story using their knowledge of narrative superstructure.  

As we continue to consume and work in this genre, we are noticing craft elements.  This week we will begin to learn about and watch for backstory.  Backstory allows the reader to know a piece of the characters past that may help us understand the characters feelings, actions and motivations.  Super heroes have RICH backstory.  We will look into a few of our favorite super heroes pasts to help us understand this craft element.

Writing- We are spiraling back to review and practice conversations.  You can help us at home!  We are trying to talk without raising our hands about what happened in the story this week.  We read The Old Woman Who Named Things last week and will work in that book this week to understand the plot and theme of the book.  

 Word Work-Thank you for talking about how words work at home!  We will have our spelling test on Tuesday, November 17.  

Remember, that we work each day in class and November 18-November 24 I will be looking for students to apply their spelling words correctly in their reading and writing.

Social Studies- We will have our landforms and geography quiz on Friday.  A review sheet went home on Friday, 11/13.  Please use the discussion questions, notes from our social studies journal, graded papers and our online resource www.studiesweekly.com to help your child review what we have learned in class.  

We are moving onto maps and globes! What if you were lost at sea with no technology?!  We will learn the important impact of these tools on helping us navigate our  way home.

Here is some academic language that you can discuss and study at home to support your learner through this unit: grid, map, globe, longitude, latitude, compass rose, cardinal directions, hemisphere, Columbus, key, symbols, legend, equator, city, continents, states, oceans, and geographer.

From Mrs. Ford

Language Arts

Reading- In Reading we are still working in the genre of Realistic Fiction.  Students are really starting to take ownership of noticing and naming the superstructure of a narrative story (setting the stage, initiating event, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution). 

As we continue to consume this genre, we are noticing craft elements.  This week we will wrap up our work on dialogue and inner thinking.  Yesterday, we shared our own inner thinking and reflected on how this helps us know more about one another.  Students then dove into their independent reading to see how the inner thinking of our book characters can help us know more about who they are, what they think and how they feel!  As we move through the week, we will start to look for and discuss the imporatance of backstory in narrative.

Writing- We are spiraling back to review and practice conversations.  You can help us at home!  We are trying to talk without raising our hands about our favorite part of a book.  Students are great at coaching each other about how to make the discussion go better.  We are just working on taking our own words of wisdom and applying in the situation! J  Students will work this week to identify voices an author uses to tell a story.  We will take a close look at how to use a narrator and dialogue in our own writing. 

 Word Work-Students will receive new spelling words for their word work this week.  Your support at home helps them internalize the spelling and patterns of words they encounter in their reading and writing.  Thank you for talking about how words work at home!  We will have our spelling test on Tuesday, November 17.

Social Studies-Students did an AMAZING job last week writing their first expository essay about geography and landforms.  It was BIG work!  This week, we will focus on the celebration of Veteran’s day with our performance on Wednesday at 8:30 in the café.  We will then move onto discussing the importance of maps and globes through a fun imaginative scenario.  What if you were lost at sea with no technology?!  Here is some academic language that you can discuss and study at home to support your learner through this unit: grid, map, globe, longitude, latitude, compass rose, cardinal directions, hemisphere, Columbus, key, symbols, legend, equator, city, continents, states, oceans, and geographer.

Update from Mrs. Ford

It's December!

This is a busy week, so I hope everyone had a very restful holiday.  Our family counted you and your family in our blessings over the Thanksgiving break!  We are so fortunate to be part of such an amazing school.

LANGUAGE ARTS
Spelling
The HCE Spelling Week is on Thursday, December 5.  Information went home in the Tuesday Newsday folders about 3 weeks ago to allow student the opportunity to practice and sign up for early morning workshops.  Students are required to participate in the classroom bee.  I will, as always, stress that this is a learning opportunity.  Not all of us are SUPPER spellers (do you see what I did there)-- but everyone will be allowed the opportunity to see what a spelling bee looks and feels like.
Since we will be focusing on the spelling bee, there will NOT be any individualized spelling lists this week.

Reading
We have been working on reading and producing plays.  Students have learned new vocabulary like: narrator, actor, characters, setting, stage directions and dialogue.  
We will continue to discuss drama or plays but will be focusing on poetry as well.  Please NOTE that your child will be bringing home a poetry worksheet to complete every night this week.  I encourage you to talk to your child about each of the poems.  We will add more vocabulary to our ever expanding repertoire.  
Be ready to discuss the following terms:

• rhythm -  the beat or cadence of poetry Example:  But soft! What light through your window breaks?
• stanza-part of a poem that is made up of lines that are put together in a particular pattern
• imagery- words used to create a picture in the reader's mind
• narrative poem- a poem that tells a story.  some narrative poems are myths.  narrative poems may rhyme, but do not have to.
• line- a row of words in a poem
• rhyme -   two or more words which match in the same last sound  Example: cat/bat  or  flew/grew
• repetition – using a key word several times through a poem  
• free verse – a flowing poem that does NOT have a particular pattern
• alliteration- words in a poem that are placed near each other and start with the same sound

Your child will need to complete the poem practice and 

read for 20 minutes each night this week. 

We will NOT have spelling homework, 

so the time dedicated to homework should balance out.

Writing
We are working hard to finish up our narratives.  
Students have also explored using figurative language to write landform poetry.  
After we consume more poetry, students will be given opportunity to write a variety of poems.
Students will also start working in small groups to research a cultural holiday.  They will work with their groups to take notes, and organize a presentation to teach the class about their learning the week before Winter Break.  Please let me and your student know if you will be leaving early that week.  We want to make sure that he or she gets the chance to contribute to the group project.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Map Skills
Last week we used our knowledge about landforms to jump into our work in map skills.  We looked over a variety of landform maps.  This week we will review map skill vocabulary on Monday.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we will learn how to read and use a grid map.  On Friday, students will start on their grid map project.  They will get to design a city of their very own and put some of our new found map skills to use!

Feb. 4-9

LANGUAGE ARTS

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 thinking as we read.
  
One strategy we will use is just like what kids did in class this week.  They will record their notes and thinking as they read.  THIS WEEK their notes will cover the sequence of events that happen in the story.  The thinking that they may record can be connections predication, questions and inferences.

Then we will 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 some 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.
WRITING
This week in Writing, we will finish our how-to essays.  Then, we will start talking about what work will need to go into our BIG 6 research project.  BIG 6 is a great organization tool for research.  

SPELLING
Spelling continues to be more of the same.  Students should bring home new spelling words on Mondays.  Homework is due on Thursdays.  We will take our test on Friday.

SOCIAL STUDIES

GEOGRAPHY

This week students will learn the parts of a map.  Some of the vocabulary we will cover is: map key, map scale, compass rose, intermediate directions, cardinal directions, scale and symbols.  Over the next few weeks, we will learn about different kinds of maps and globes.  At home, please talk to your child about when you use a map.  Let your child plug in an address the next time you use a navigation system.  Maybe you could have your child serve as a guide the next time you are at the mall or zoo.  

Language Arts and Social Studies

LANGUAGE ARTS

READING

In Reading over the next few weeks we will be synthesizing our reading.   
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. 
This week we are working with non-fiction.  Your children are reading texts and trying to distinguish the FACTS (to record in their notes) from their THINKING (connections, thoughts, ideas, questions).

WRITING
This week in Writing we are working on how-to essays.  We have reviewed the features of this text.  Over the next few days, we will consume some good examples and create a class essay.  Then, students will work to create a how-to essay to teach us how to play his or her favorite game.

SPELLING
Spelling continues to be more of the same.  Students should bring home new spelling words on Mondays.  Homework is due on Thursdays.  We will take our test on Friday.

SOCIAL STUDIES

GEOGRAPHY

Students will have a geography quiz on Friday.  It will cover the first half of our unit of study.  Please make sure to look over the review sheet sent home last Friday.  Students have also been encouraged to take their Social Studies Journals home each night to aide in preparing for the quiz.  

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!