Week 25: February 26th- March 2nd

Week 25:  February 26th- March 2nd

Reminders:
26th:  Math Practice STAAR
27th:  Reading Practice STAAR
Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast at home or at the school cafe these two days of testing.  A rested body and full belly will make a huge difference as we tackle these practice tests.

28th:  Field Trip to Houston Museum of Natural Science
We're excited to head to HMNS on Wednesday!  Please have your child wear their #cougarstrong school t-shirt on Wednesday for the trip.  We also request all children bring a lunch packed in a bag that can be thrown away after use.  We will be eating lunch on our field trip and returning to school later in the afternoon.

Reading:  We will tackle note taking strategies using informational texts once we resume our normal schedule on Thursday.  Determining importance and synthesizing information is an important skill for our readers to learn.

Writing:  We will continue our expository writing unit this week.  We're drafting essays to form a collection in our Writer's Notebook.  We're already flagging essays we look forward to publishing at the end of our unit.

Math: The students will continue to build their problem solving skills by identifying word problems and exploring different types of division word problems and strategies. One of the most important parts about identifying a word problem is NOT finding a keyword. Students must find the key concepts and determine how they are to solve the problems. There will be a fast facts quiz this friday.

Science: Your scientist will be given their unit vocabulary cards and study guide later in the week. We will continue learning about the characteristics of the sun, moon, and earth. Please make sure they are studying 20 minutes a night.

Week 28: March 20 - 24

Week of March 20-24
Reminders:  Third graders will have a visit from our school counselor, Mrs. Chvatal this week.  Her guidance lesson will focus on helping students think through problem solving conflicts with friends.

Reading: As we transition back to work and off of a break- we will take the week to review what good readers do and reestablish reading workshop expectations.  Some of the areas we will focus our attention this week are:

• A community of readers cares for thier books and shares titles with one another
• Good readers pick books that meet their needs and wants
• Good readers think about what they are reading and stop and jot to note and remember
• Good readers keep track of their reading and read from a variety of genres

Writing: Students have drafted essays.  This week we will focus on craft elements that help make an essay fantastic.  Specifically, we will focus on elements that grab a reader's attention and keep them engaged in a text.  First, we will focus on elements a writer can add to their introduction to hook a reader.  Some authors use quotes, others facts, or even a small moment from their lives.  Then, we will focus on using transition words.   Finally, we will focus on our conclusions and helping one another during writer's workshop think through effective ways to restate the claim.
This is BIG work.  Encourage your writer that writing is a process.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Spelling: New words will come home on Thursday, March 23.  They will be tested on Thursday, March 30.  March 31-April 6, teachers will be looking for students to apply those spelling patterns correctly in their reading and writing work.

Social Studies: As we enter into the last grading cycle, we want to make sure that we end our year as strong as it started.  We will spend this week reviewing our class contract and practicing routines and procedures that help our classroom community be a place that is safe and conducive for learning and risk taking.

Math: On Monday, we will finish up our unit on graphing. Before spring break, our students created a survey and they surveyed another third grade class. They took the data from the survey and created one of the graphs we have been studying in class. Starting on Tuesday, we will be jumping into our geometry unit. We will be working to identify 2D shapes. We will identify sides and vertices on these polygons. On Thursday and Friday, we will begin classifying 3D shapes. We will categorize them by pyramids, prisms, and curved surfaces. This week, we will have our usual homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday.



Science: During our science time we will start learning about the moon. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be discussing the relationship between the sun, moon, and Earth. On Wednesday, we will also make our vocabulary cards and send home a review for the solar system unit. Towards the end of our week, we will learn about the planets. As we are studying the planets, we will learn the order and the important characteristics of each. We will teach the students 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!"

4/11 - 4/15

Update for Week of April 11th - 15th

MATH: In math this week, we will continue learning about 3D shapes. We will work to classify our 3D shapes by prisms, pyramids, and curved surfaces. Another way we will learn about our shapes is by their faces, vertices, and edges. Please continue to review these at home. Flashcards went home on Tuesday. This Tuesday, your child will be quizzed on identifying the 3D shapes. We will continue to practice in class. The rest of the week, we will be discussing time. We will spend Wednesday reviewing time by the hour and minute. On Thursday and Friday, we will learn two different strategies for figuring out elapsed time. Your child will be given a start time and end time and they will learn to find the about of time that has passed. The homework for this week will be a review of 2D and 3D shapes, symmetry, and congruence. You can also expected a homework reviewing graphing. As we get into the STAAR season, we are encouraging your children to not use homework passes, but rather complete the homework as it is an important review. The fast facts quiz will be on Friday and the problem of the week will be due on Friday.

SCIENCE: During our science time we will start learning about the moon. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be discussing the relationship between the sun, moon, and Earth. Towards the end of our week, we will learn about the planets. As we are studying the planets, we will learn the order and the important characteristics of each.

Math and Science for the Week of March 19th-23rd

Parents,

Welcome back from Spring Break!  It was a nice break and it was good to catch up on some rest.  Now we are ready to hit the ground running for the next 11 weeks!

This week in Math we will be focusing on the concept of rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.  Some students catch on really fast, and others are confused about the concept of rounding up or down and need a little extra guidance.  Today we used the "rounding roller coaster" to explain the rounding rules.  A student came up with this helpful rhyme:

"If it's 1 to 4, go to the back door.  If it's 5 or more, run out the front door!"

Here is also a helpful three minute video to explain rounding to the nearest 10.



Later on in the week we will work on Rounding to the nearest 100.  We will use the same "Roller Coaster" concept to help the kids understand rounding.  Here is another helpful video to show your kids on rounding to the nearest 100.



Also in Math this week our Objective review will be focusing on reviewing customary and metric measurement, as well as finding perimeter and area.  We will have another objective quiz this Friday, and we will be reviewing it together the following Monday.  Again these Objective reviews are intended to prepare our 3rd graders for the Math portion of the STAAR Exam coming next month.

In Science this week, 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.  I will teach them a fun acronym to help them remember the correct of of the planets from the sun.  It is...."My very excellent mother just served us nachos!"

The kids also had the privilege of meeting Ruby Bridges' mother this afternoon in the library and have a short Q & A with her.  Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to integrate into white schools in New Orleans.  The kids were very interested and asked really amazing questions.

Tomorrow (Tuesday)  we will be watching Motivational Productions.  Motivational Productions is a program that comes every year to discuss bullying and strategies to deal with the ongoing issue in schools.

If you are busy at home helping your child raise money for the K-9 Angels Rescue Foundation, please send money by Friday.

Have a wonderful week ;-)
Mrs. S