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 24: February 13-17

Reminders and Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

Valentine's Day Parties will be held on Tuesday, February 14th from 2:25-2:55 in your child's homeroom. Please send cards/treats with your child to pass out during the party. Please remember: NO TREATS WITH NUT PRODUCTS! Thank you for keeping our students safe. 

WITS Field Trip to The Menil Collection: Thursday, February 16th from 8:45am-12:00pm. Permission slips were sent home on Tuesday, February 7th. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. 

February

14- Valentine's Day Parties- 2:25-2:55 in homeroom class

16- WITS Field Trip to The Menil Collection 8:45am-12:00pm

17- Noon Dismissal

20- Presidents' Day (No School)

23- 3rd Grade Practice Reading STAAR

24- Go Texans Day

27- 3rd Grade Practice Math STAAR

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will read articles that lend themselves to identifying cause and effect relationships within the text. We will use graphic organizers to represent our thinking and support our ideas. We will also begin looking at STAAR-like nonfiction selections to become more familiar with their length and structure. 

Writing: Writers will continue our persuasive/argumentation essays unit. This week, we will choose our own topic (from a class list we brainstorm together) and will set up the structure of our essay. We will be focusing on creating a strong claim (thesis) to be supported by reasons (support points). Ask your writer what they are choosing to write about first! 

Examples of Persuasive Essay Structure:

Spelling: Students will receive new words on Thursday, February 16th and their test will be on Thursday, February 23rd. 

White group: Students will receive new words on Wednesday, February 15th and their test will be on Thursday, February 22nd. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit, but this week, we start our Econ and Me videos!  ECON AND ME revolves around four children and their invisible friend, Econ, who apply economic principles to individuals, families, and communities. This week, we will study opportunity cost and how the kids learn to be resourceful with money while building their clubhouse.

Math: More fun with fractions this week. Comparing fractions can be a little difficult. The easiest ones are those with the same denominator. Just look at the numerator and see which one is larger. 

It is a little more tricky when the denominators are different and the numerators are the same. Students must think about the denominators and determine how many pieces the whole has been divided into. The larger the denominator, the more parts and the parts are smaller. Just the opposite of what most children think. A whole divided into 4 equal parts has larger pieces than a whole divided into 8 equal parts. Three of those big parts (3/4) is greater than three of the little parts (3/8). Students will be expected to be able to reason these two kinds of comparisons.

When the numerator and denominators are all different, students will h to use a model to visualize the fractions. We use sets, shapes, bars and number lines to show fractions that we are comparing. Here the number line shows that 2/3 is greater than 3/8.

This week we will also learn how to spot and create equivalent fractions. Equivalent fractions show the same amount but use different numerators and denominators. Models help students visualize fractions that are the same.

Eventually students will learn how to create equivalent fractions by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by the same number. 

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. There will also be the usual Fast Fact Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

We are excited to begin using a new online adaptive learning system, Dreambox. Students will have access to it both at school and at home. They will receive their login information in the next few days. We hope you will encourage your child to take advantage of this great resource. Use this link to access the program: Dreambox. It can also be accessed on the blog page entitled Math Websites.  Thank you PTA!

Science: This week we begin a unit on natural resources. Students will learn that all things are made from the gifts that nature shares with us. We will categorize resources as renewable, non-renewable and synthetic. The following vocabulary will be a focus for our learning.

natural resource - materials in nature that living things use

renewable resources - resources that can be replaced or will never be used up; these are found above ground

non-renewable resources - resources that cannot be replaced; once used, they are gone; these are found underground

synthetic resources - resources that are man-made

Week 23: February 6-10

Reminders and Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

Book Fair This Week: HCE will celebrate reading with our annual Book Fair. Students may shop during our class times listed below. Feel free to send any money that your child can spend on books. Parents are also welcome to join us during our class visit. 

Badrak/Jackson  Tuesday 9:15 to 9:45

Rozzell/Scott  Tuesday 2:30 to 2:55

Ford/Duncan  Wednesday 9:15 to 9:45

Behavior Chart Change: In order to save paper and make communication between home and school more simple, we will not be using the printed behavior charts anymore. Instead, teachers will jot down any behavior comments in your child's planner (near the bottom of the day). Please initial the comment so that we know you received our note. Thank you for supporting and reinforcing the work we do at school!

WITS Field Trip to The Menil Museum: Thursday, February 16th from 8:45am-12:00pm. Permission slips will be coming home in Tuesday Newsday Folders this week. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. 

February

9 - Donuts with Dads 

14- Valentine's Day Parties- 2:25-2:55 in homeroom class

16- WITS Field Trip to The Menil Museum 

17 - Noon Dismissal

20- President's Day (No School)

24- Go Texans Day

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will dive deeper into nonfiction text features. We will learn how to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, and photographs and discuss how the feature supports our learning. Instead of modeling in nonfiction books, we will be focusing on articles this week. 

Essential Question: How does this feature help me (the reader) access information? 

Example of an article with detailed text features:

Writing: Writers will continue our persuasive/argumentation essays unit. We will focus heavily on identifying claims and supporting points in essays we consume, but we will also begin working on our own claims! We know that authors of persuasive essays need support points to "hold up" their claim, so we will find points that strongly support our point of view. 

Author's argument =claim + support

Key Terms:
Argue
Make a Case
Point of View
Claim
Support Points
Fact
Opinion

Spelling: Students received new words on Thursday, February 2nd and will take their test on Thursday, February 9th. 

White group: Students received new words on Wednesday, February 1st and will take their test on Wednesday, February 8th. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit, but this week, we start our Econ and Me videos!  ECON AND ME revolves around four children and their invisible friend, Econ, who apply economic principles to individuals, families, and communities. This week, we will study scarcity. When the children decide they want to build a clubhouse, they discover there is a scarcity of wood. 

Math: In Math this week students will experience fractions on a number line. We will learn how to represent fractions on a number line with a whole located from 0 to 1. The whole can be divided into 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 equal parts. 

Students will learn how to draw and identify fractions by "swishing" the numerator and denominator of a fraction. To represent 2/3, the number line must be divided into 3 equal parts. Starting at 0, swish under the line to confirm that the denominator is 3. Then swish on the top of the line the numerator 2 to locate the 2/3 point. Two-thirds is the piece from 0 to the 2/3 mark.

We will use this "swish" method to compare two fractions that have different denominators but are part of the same size whole.

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. Students will receive a Problem of the Week (POW) on Monday. It is due on Friday. Please work with your child to complete this. Your math conversation can be very helpful. There will also be the usual Fast Fact Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

Science: We wrap up our unit on Rapid Changes to Earth's Surface this week. Early in the week we will explore the constructive and destructive forces of tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes. Midweek we will review for our final quiz on Thursday, February 9. This is a date change from last week. Students should be studying the vocabulary cards and review sheet that went home last week. On Friday, we hope to begin a new unit on Earth's Natural Resources.

2/8-2/12

Note to Parents: With the upcoming excitement of the Super Bowl, we have had an increase in students bringing football and baseball cards to school.  Students have been distracted in class and had some trouble on the playground "dealing and trading" cards.  We ask that you please have your child keep his or her cards at home. 

Language Arts
Reading- While continuing to read non-fiction this week, readers will learn a helpful strategy called determining importance.  As we read texts we will stop, think and discuss what important in important to the text rather than simply interesting.  While this sounds simple, it's a more challenging skill for third graders as they have to set aside their personal opinions and think about the information, just the facts! 

Writing- We are continuing to finish up our work on narratives.  We will focus on getting our own personal narratives on paper and practicing many different types of leads to help our readers get hooked into our stories.

Spelling/Word Work- Application grades will be taken 2/4-2/9.  New words will go home 2/10. Test 2/17.

Social Studies- Students should use the review study sheet for our first assessment on Tuesday, 2/9/16.  They can also use our newspaper, journals and online resource (www.studiesweekly.com) to prepare for our test.  

We've started the second half of our study and have learned about the life and work of Louis Pasteur.  We will also be learning about Jonas Salk, Bill Gates, Maria Mitchell, Henry Ford, and Cyrus McCormick.  You can reference the SOCIAL STUDIES WEBSITES page on this blog for more information and reading.

Math- This week in math we will be diving into graphing. We are still studying pictographs, bar graphs, tally charts, and dot plots.  The students will be taking information in tally charts and pictographs and creating bar graphs and dot plots to match the information.  A test question to access this skill might look like this:

The dot plot graph looks like this:

  

A math worksheet will come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. The Problem of the Week will come home on Monday and will be due on Friday. Please continue to study every night for the Fast Facts quiz. 

Science - We will be moving on to Natural Resources in Science.  All students will discuss and learn examples of renewable and non renewable resources and where they originate from.  Students should come to discover that most non-renewable resources come from under the earth.  We will merge into conservation and recycling next week.

Update 2/2/-2/12

Language Arts

Reading- We are moving into a new genre of study for a few weeks.  We will be focusing on nonfiction.  This week we will review and introduce new nonfiction text features.  Text features are things found in nonfiction texts that help the reader understand and synthesize new information.

Writing- We are continuing to finish up our work on narratives.  This week we are reproducing a narrative with dialogue and inner thinking.  We are also working on adding these elements to our own narrative stories.

Spelling/Word Work- Our spelling test is 2/3.  Application grades will be taken 2/4-2/9.  New words will go home 2/10.

Social Studies- We continue to learn about people who have impacted the Story of America. For the first half of our unit we have focused on explorers.  Men and women who were brave enough to go discover new lands! We also spent an entire week on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how his story impacted our history.  Students brought home a study sheet for our first assessment on Monday.  Please use the green sheet, newspaper, journals and online resources to help your student prepare for this test on 2/9.  We will begin the second half of our study with a look into the scientist and inventors whose creations impact our daily lives and health!

Update from Mrs. Ford

Language Arts

Reading

This week in reading, we will start to talk about using context clues when we read to help us determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.  Students will learn a variety of "clues" that good writers often include to help readers make meaning of what's in the story.  We will be using non-fiction this week as begin.

In small groups, students will be reading non-fiction and poetry with me.  In these groups we will be working on a variety of reading topics depending on what your child and their group needs.  I have looked over our benchmark data and will be targeting children's needs.  

Writing

We will focus on developing strong leads this week in our work with personal narratives.  

Last week, students completed postcards to friends and family describing an imaginary vacation.  This writing was integrated with our social studies curriculum.  Students included new learning about how landforms, location and climate can change the activities we choose and the way we dress when we are on vacation.

Spelling

Spelling groups will continue this week.  Please look for new words to come home on Monday nights.  Students have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to complete 8 points on their spelling menus.  The DESK fairy showed up after school on Friday and awarded spelling homework coupons to student's with a clean and organized desk.  If your student has earned a coupon, he or she may staple it into the spelling spiral in place of 4 points of homework.

Social Studies

Geography

Click on the link below to check out this cool new rap and song we've been singing to help us remember the different types of landforms.

http://youtu.be/7v7R2bALbgI

We will continue to learn about landforms.  This week we will start thinking of various ways to describe landforms and bodies of water.  We will read the book, I AM THE OCEAN. It will serve as our mentor test as we begin to create LANDFORM POETRY using personification!

10/28-11/1 Language Arts and Social Studies

LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading

We are still reading non-fiction.  This week we will focus on the facts located in non-fiction texts.  Students will learn to distinguish fact from opinion.  They will also work this week to determine if facts read are important or interesting.  This is a hard concept for third graders.  When most third graders read a fact, if they are interested in the topic, they judge the fact to be important.

Please remember that your child should read nightly for 20 minutes.  They are required to record the title and genre in their third grade planner.

Writing

We will create a narrative criteria chart this week as we start to dissect narratives to find out what makes a narrative interesting and good.  Students will also work with a partner to reproduce a narrative.  Reproduction is like putting puzzle pieces together without looking at the picture.  You have to pay attention to what you know about structure and patterns to make the puzzle (story) make sense. 

Spelling

We had last week OFF from spelling.  This week, your third grader should bring home NEW words on Monday.  8 points for the spelling menu is due on Thursday.  We will test on Friday.

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 we will review many landforms that are, hopefully, familiar to our students.  Our BIG idea in social studies 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   

Update from Mrs. Ford

Language Arts

In Reading this week, we will start our study on Non-Fiction.  We will use non-fiction resources focused on BATS for the next few weeks as an added bonus to our study on non-fiction texts. As adults, we take for granted the many features a non-fiction text grants us as we read.  Third graders will be learning to identify and discuss the purpose of various text features over the next few weeks.  We will be creating an anchor chart similar to this one from the blog, Second Grade Style.

http://secondgradestyle.blogspot.com/2011/10/teaching-text-features.html 

Last week was fun, but we have some catch-up to do in writing.  We will begin critiquing narrative pieces this week.  Students will create their own lists of what narratives may have and must have to make them an entertaining and informative piece for a reader.  

We have parent/teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Since Thursday and Friday will be half days, we will NOT have spelling words this week.  Please look for new spelling words to come home on MONDAY, OCTOBER 28.

We took our first social studies test last week.  We will spend time in Social Studies this week focusing on daily topics associated with RED RIBBON WEEK.  HCE commits to being drug-free (alcohol, to

bacco, and drugs) by accepting and signing the pledge card at school and home with a parent

Monday, Oct 21:   Wear RED to celebrate red ribbon week.

Tuesday, Oct 22: Wear your favorite Sports Team Shirt

Wednesday, Oct 23: Wear crazy socks or shoes.  Go crazy against drugs!

Thursday, Oct 24: Join the fight against drugs and Wear CAMO!

Friday, Oct 25: Wear a hat or fun hair accessories to school!  Hats off to healthy living!

Update for 10/31-11/4 LA and SS

Language Arts:  - We are still reading non-fiction.  This week we will focus on the facts located in non-fiction texts.  Students will learn to distinguish fact from opinion.  They will also work this week to determine if facts read are important or interesting.  This is a hard concept for third graders.  When most third graders read a fact, if they are interested in the topic, they judge the fact to be important.

We have started talking about features that make personal narratives interesting.  Ask your student to tell you the backstory of a character in their book or in their lives.  We discussed this idea and read examples from great writers.  In the week to come, we will focus on the craft of inner monologue and how this adds to the richness of a personal narrative.

 Social Studies: Our unit on economics continues.  This week we are leaning about the vocabulary bank, deposit, savings, interest, investment and budget.  Some kids do not realize you can make a deposit into a checking or savings account at a bank.  Many think you can only do this through an ATM.  If you happen to have the time to take your children inside a bank, I think this would be a great connection to our learning in economics.  Also,  talk to you student about reasons your families saves or budgets.  This will help make learning practical and useful.

LA and SS for the week of 10/24

Parents and Friends,

Below you will find a brief summary of what's to come in LA and SS during the week of 10/24-10/28.  I have also included some activities that would support our learning in SS this 9 weeks.  Thank you for supporting learning at home!

Omi Ford 

Reading

We will continue working with non-fiction features.  Students will learn how to use a FQR (Facts, Questions and Responses) chart this week as a note taking tool and helpful tool to solidify comprehension.

We will finish our guided reading groups and discover "who-dun-it" in the mysteries we've been reading the last month.  

Students will be bringing home a BAT poem later in the week.  We introduced the poem on 10/19.  We have used the poem to practice reading with expression, think about context clues and learn all about alliteration.

Writing

Students have been learning about the structure of a narrative.  They have learned about the parts of a narrative arc and even reconstructed a narrative noticing and discussing narrative arc features.  We will spend the next week looking at different ways authors start their stories (we call these leads).

We've discussed verbs and will learn about nouns and adjectives in the weeks to follow.

Spelling

Students will have spelling words this week.  Please make sure that they bring home their spelling spirals and complete 10 points of spelling homework by Thursday.  Tests will be given on 10/28.

Social Studies

We are starting a new unit of study, economics.  For the first half of the 9 weeks we will learn about personal economics.  Students will learn to differentiate between wants and needs.  We will also learn to use the vocabulary words producers and consumers to talk about people who contribute to our economic system.  

Over the last few years, I've noticed that some third graders are lacking in background knowledge when it comes to economics.  It would benefit our classroom discussions and learning if you could talk to your child about how your family chooses to spend money.  Talk to them about the NEEDS that you pay for (shelter, clothing, utilities, food, ect.) and then talk about how you decide when to spend money on WANTS (toys, trips, electronics, candy, etc).  

In November we will start talking about how to create a budget.  If you can allow your child an opportunity to create a budget or spending plan, this real world application will benefit them greatly.  Maybe the next time you go out to dinner you can tell your student how much you would like to spend for dinner and have him or her help you make menu selections that fit within this budget? Maybe give your student a proposed amount of money to spend on a birthday gift for a friend?  Have him or her think about choices needed to either choose a more expensive gift and less expensive gift wrap or maybe a less expensive gift and more expensive card.    Anytime you can talk to your child about how you are choosing to spend your money and how you cam to that decision the more CONCRETE this very abstract concept will become.