Week 6: September 25-29

September 25th - 29th
Reminders: Due to growing bodies and changing hormones, please encourage your child to develop the daily habit of applying deodorant.  

Please remember we have students with allergies; pack nut-free snacks.  Snacks should be dry and healthy to promote student learning and not create a mess. 

 Examples: 

• Fresh or dried fruit/vegetable sticks or slices
• Cheese cubed or sliced·        
• Applesauce (in the squeezable containers)
• Goldfish, Cheeze-it or Cheese Nips·        
• Saltines/Graham crackers

Reading: Fix-Up Strategies take center stage this week.  We use fix-up strategies when meaning breaks down during reading.  As adults, these are techniques we do without a second thought.  For third graders, it require much thought, self-awareness and lots of practice!  Note the bookmark we will use in class to help us as we apply this learning.

Writing: Good writers keep a notebook to generate ideas.  This week we will continue to work on ways to get ideas from our brains to our journals.  Storytelling at home is a wonderful way to help students make the connection between school work and the real world.  Specifically this week, we will think about memories that come from our homes.  Is there a room where you remember a funny or poignant story from your life?  Is there a home you have been in that has important meaning to you?  Where have you made memories? Share stories with your child.

Spelling: After reviewing inventories, we have noticed some overall spelling needs.  We will begin our spelling practice with a few whole group lessons to fix-up some grade level misconceptions and then will move into a more targeted and personalized approach to spelling.

Social Studies: Last week, we discussed leadership council and the opportunity it brings to third graders.  Leadership Council representatives will be announced Friday, September 29. In the meantime, we will focus on learning more about our community.  Where do we live? How can we help in our communities?  We will wrap up the week completing a service project that we will share with our third grade friends at Meadow Wood Elementary.

Math: During math this week, we will practice comparing and ordering numbers. Your child will learn several strategies for comparing numbers and justifying how they got to their answer. On Wednesday, we will work to order numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least, our prior knowledge about comparing numbers will help us move through this topic. On Thursday and Friday, we will learn how to put numbers on a number line. We will work to locate a point on the number line when given a beginning and endpoint. Your child will have their first graded fast facts quiz on Friday. A blue paper filled with addition problems was sent home so that you have an idea of what to practice. We encourage you studying with flash cards or apps at home. Paper homework will go home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night.

Science: This week we will be studying the scientific method. We will go through the different parts and understanding what scientist do when conducting an experiment. We've worked on making observation and next we will work on making predictions and hypothesis when answering scientific questions.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will go through all the steps in the Scientific method as we conduct our first experiment. 

Week of October 17-21

Parent/Teacher Conferences are this week: October 19-21.  Use the links below to secure your spot.  We can't wait to celebrate the successes of your child and discuss their goals moving forward. Please remember that Thursday, October 20th and Friday, October 21st are early dismissal days. Students will be let out at 12:00 pm so please plan accordingly! 

• Rozzell/Scott               
• Badrak/Jackson
• Duncan/Ford

Please consider supporting Ms. Jackson’s flexible seating Donors Choose fund: Jackson

Reading: Readers will continue exploring theme in both familiar and non-familiar texts. Each day, we will focus on a new theme and brainstorm books that model each lesson. Themes/lessons we will focus on next week:

• Believing in yourself
• Being happy with what you have
• Accepting others' differences 
• Always acting kind to others

We will also spend time discussing and writing about the differences between plot and theme. We want our learners to be able to not only identify them, but to support it with text evidence. 

Writing: Writers will be introduced to new Stories From My Life (or SFML for short) this week to focus on our core questions with unfamiliar texts. We will work on concise retelling through Q1 (What is happening in this story?) and identifying theme/lesson through Q2 (What does this story mean?). Finally, we will map the story on the narrative arc to identify all of the important elements. Writers will continue exploring SFML narratives in their own writing.

Example Story Arc   

Spelling: Students will get new sorts/words on Wednesday, October 19th. The assessment on those words will be the following Wednesday, October 26th. Remember to utilize the at-home spelling practice if your child could benefit from additional practice at home.

Social Studies: We will continue our unit on famous explorers! We will finish our pop-up book with important facts about Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Lewis & Clark, and Christopher Columbus. Our students have loved learning the details of how these explorers have contributed to our nation and our world. 

Math: Last week we began our study of subtraction with simple subtraction without any regrouping and regrouping in the hundreds and thousands places. This week we will review and then begin to subtract over zeros where multiple regrouping is necessary. As they progress right to left from the ones place, to the tens, to the hundreds and then to the thousands, students have to continually ask themselves "Can I do that?" in order to assure that the top number take away the bottom number actually works. If not, then regrouping or borrowing has to be done. Many are familiar with the rhyme "More on the floor, go next door" as a way to help determine if regrouping is needed. In applying subtraction to everyday life, students will examine word problems and differentiate among the three types of subtraction. "Take away" subtraction is the one with which kids are most familiar. Given a total number of items, a part is taken away leaving a remaining part. "Compare" subtraction presents students with two numbers where they are to find the difference between them. Words such as "how many more", "how much longer", and "how many fewer" are our key to this kind of subtraction. Often times, the comparative or "er" form of an adjective is used, such as taller, heavier, shorter, and farther. The third kind, "Missing Part" subtraction, gives the student the total number of items and describes a part and then asks what the other part might be. Here are some examples:

Take away:  643 students attend Hunters Creek Elementary. If 97 students transfer to another school, how many students will remain at the school?   643 - 97 = _____

Compare:  HCE has 643 student and MDE only has 477. How many  more students does Hunters Creek have than Memorial Drive?   643 - 477 = _____

Missing Part:  Ms. Rozzell has 41 students in both Math classes. 17 of them are girls. How many boys are in her classes?     41 - 17 = _____ 

Whether your child is on addition, subtraction, or multiplication facts, always study daily for FFW and/or FFF. Addition and subtraction have an extra opportunity for success on Wednesday and will not have to study for a Friday quiz if they make a 90% or above mid week. There is a POW that is due on Friday. Please take this opportunity to work with your child and discuss strategies for finding a solution.

Science:  We wrap up our study of Matter this week with a review of vocabulary and concepts and a unit test on Wednesday. Students have had vocabulary cards and a study guide for almost two weeks and we hope they have reviewed them nightly. After parent conferences, we will take a look at mixtures and then it is on to an extensive study of the different kinds of energy around us.

LA/SS 4/26-5/6

REMINDERS- WITS Anthology Celebration is Wednesday, May4.  Mrs. Duncan’s homeroom class will celebrate and share from 10-11am in Mrs. Ford’s Classroom.  Mrs. Ford’s homeroom class will celebrate and share from 1-2p.m. in Mrs. Ford’s Classroom.  Parents and family members are welcome to join us for an exciting hour of readings, reflections and fun.  If you would like to contribute to our “THANK YOU” gift to our WITS instructor, Carolyn Bolton, please send $1.00 with your child to school by Friday, April 29.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading- This week we will wrap up our review of poetry.  Next week, students will work through a synthesizing menu to apply the reading skills and strategies we have learned this year.  Readers synthesize when they take information they know, strategies that support their reading and actively monitor and change their thinking while reading.

Writing- Students have done a terrific job of finishing up our criteria charts for a story from our life.  This week I will model the steps a writer goes through when trying to create an INCREDIBLE story from my life.  As I model, students will have a chance to reflect and respond to my choices in hopes to help them make great choices when they launch their own story.  Next week, students will begin the writing process and proceed at the pace that works best for them.  I can’t wait to hear and read some excellent stories!

Word Work- New words will come home 4/27.  A spelling test will be given on 5/4.  An application grade of those words will be taken 5/4-5/11.

SOCIAL STUDIES

If you haven’t caught an episode of ABC’s Shark Tank, I hope you will.  Below you will find a short clip of some of the most famous Shark Tank Jr. competitors.  Students will work in group over the next two weeks to complete and compete in a Shark Tank Jr. Challenge.  Today they met in their groups to start thinking about problems kids face and how they might offer and create a creative solution that could turn into a business opportunity!

MATH
In math this week, we will continue to review all of our math concepts from the entire school year. We will spend a day reviewing addition, subtraction, place value, and estimation. On Wednesday, we will review the different types of graphs we have learned this year. On Thursday and Friday, we will do a review circuit. We will have a POTW due on Friday and a Fast Facts quiz on Friday. The homework this week is all review. Your child will have 3-4 problems each night. Please make sure your child is doing their homework so they are getting extra review before STAAR next Monday.

SCIENCE
During our science time this week, we will review mass, weight, and capacity. These concepts are used in science and math. We will also practice using a ruler as we prepare for the Math STAAR.

4/4-4/8

REMINDERS:
NOON DISMISSAL on Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8.  If you will need to change your child's transportation those two days, please send a handwritten note each day.  Thanks!

LANGUAGE ARTS
READING- Author's Purpose will be our work this week.  We will discuss how Author's Purpose can be as easy as PIE (Persuade, Inform, Entertain).  Around the table at home, discuss things you have read or seen on TV and what the purpose might be for those texts.  You can also check out the sites listed on Language Arts Websites and scroll down until you see Author's Purpose.
WRITING- Studies engaged in great discussion last week as they read other people's narratives and decided if they were good or bad examples.  We learned that text structure can really make or break a story.  This week, we will create a class critera chart for a good narrative and begin making some of our own.
SPELLING- Words went home last week.  Spelling Test 4/6.  Application grade 4/7-4/12.

SOCIAL STUDIES- We are knee deep in economics.  A few of our new concepts and vocabulary words are free enterprise, consumers, supply, demand, budget, wants, needs, spending and saving.  Remember to have your child use his or her log in on studiesweekly.com to review and preview concepts.  Our economics unit covers weeks 19-23.

MATH-On Monday, we talking about congruent figures and we learned that congruent figures must be the same size and the same shape. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be learning about 3D Shapes. We will classify the shapes on Tuesday by curved surfaces, prisms, and pyramids. On Wednesday, we will learn about faces, vertices, and edges.

This is how we identify faces, vertices, and edges

Prisms and Pyramids 

Curved Surfaces 

On Thursday and Friday, we will be discussing lines of symmetry. On Thursday, we will learn about shapes with just one line of symmetry. On Friday, our students will work with shapes that have more than one line of symmetry. 

This week, your child will have review homework for area, perimeter, and a mixed review. The problem of the week will be due on Friday and the fast facts quiz will be taken on Friday. On Thursday, your child will be quizzed over 2D shapes. In class each day, we will review the 2D shapes with a game. Please spend time at home learning about these polygons. 

SCIENCE- In Science, we are starting our space unit!  The kids love this time of year!  In the beginning of the week we will study the sun and all its wonder.  The kids will discover these very important facts:

1. The sun is only a medium sized star.

2. The sun looks so big because its our closest star.

3. Other stars look so small because they are so far away.

4. The sun is made of hydrogen and helium.

5. The temperatures of the inner core and surface of the sun.

6. The sun is 4.6 billion years old and halfway through its life.

7. The sun gives us heat and light.

8. The sun drives the water cycle.

9. The sun gives us gravity and keeps us and all the other planets in orbit.  

Tuesday and Wednesday we will learn about the moon.  The last part of the week we will discover the intricate relationship of the sun, moon, and earth.  

3/28 - 4/1

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

  

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.


Math: During our math time this week, we will be wrapping up our unit on fractions. We will spend Monday reviewing equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and fractions on a number line. On Tuesday, we will be taking a fraction assessment as we finish out our unit. The rest of the week, we will begin our next unit on geometry. We will be working to identify 2D shapes. We will identify sides and vertices on these polygons. This week, we will have our usual homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will continue to practice with money and fractions. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday and we will have a problem of the week due on Friday. 

Science: In science this week, we will continue working on weather and begin discussing types of clouds. This past week, we discussed the water cycle and reviewed the weather tools that help our meteorologist give us information on the weather. Your child has been tracking the temperature, wind speed, and humidity in various cities. They will continue to track the weather this week. A review and vocabulary cards went home on Thursday for our upcoming weather quiz. We will take our quiz on Friday. 

Reading We transition this week from Informational nonfiction to Narrative nonfiction.  These selections are written like a story, but are about a true topic. Please look for homework coming home this week about Jessica The Hippo.  This is an excellent example of narrative nonfiction and a fun story for you to discuss with your child.

Writing- We have worked this year to implement a new framework to our writing curriculum called CCP (Consume, Critique, Produce). This week we will focus on the critiquing part of the writing process.   Students will read good and poor examples of narratives and create their own criteria for what makes a good story from your life.

Spelling Last week we used our spelling time to start work on parts of speech.  We will work the beginning of this week on parts of speech and finish the week with new spelling words.  New words come home 3/30.  Test on 4/6.

Social Studies We've launched our study on economics.  Last week we had some great discussion on needs vs. wants.  We also talked about how important it is to make a plan for how you will spend and save your money using a budget.  This week, we will focus more on how our society is a free enterprise.  Students will discuss good and poor choices they have made as consumers.

March 7-11

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.

Language Arts

Reading- This week we will continue our work on writing and revising summaries with non-fiction.  

Writing-  Students will put their narratives on hold as they work to publish pop up books this week on the Scientist and Inventors we have learned about in Social Studies.  I love it when we can combine our reading skills, writing skills and knowledge from Social Studies to create!  We will share our pop-up books at Publisher's Picnic in May.


Spelling/Word Work- We will take spelling application grades March 7-11.  During stations on Fridays, I've taught everyone how to play scrabble.  After a few weeks of practice it has been fabulous to see who can apply their spelling vowel patterns to help them build and create words.  Here's a snapshot of one of our boards and the group of kids who worked hard to create these words.  BIG WORK!

Social Studies-   I can't wait for your to read their work on these people; Jonas Salk, Maria Mitchell, Cyrus McCormick, Bill Gates, and Louis Pasteur.

Math- In math this week, we will continue studying about fractions. On Thursday, we began our units on fractions. We discussed the different parts of a fraction. On Friday, we worked with non-unit fractions. This week, we will continue practicing drawing and writing fractions. 

The homework this week will be a review of addition, subtraction, and fractions. We will NOT have a problem of the week. Please note that the Fast Facts Quiz will be on Thursday.

Science- During our science time this week, we will wrap up our discussion on generating electricity. Last week, we learned the steps that are involved for us to turn on the light. The next unit we will be starting is weather. We will learn about weather tools and your child will be in charge of tracking weather during our unit. They will be assigned a different city around the United States and they will work on noticing the weather patterns. 

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!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
Thank you for offering your children life experiences and a chance to read over the break!

Please make sure to reference the email from Mrs. Ford about upcoming assessments.  We will be giving a NRT assessment and CoGAT over the next two weeks.  Testing will require us to move schedules around, so our blocks of learning will be modified over the next few weeks.  The information below will catch you up on the learning that we will cover from 1/11-1/22.

Language Arts
Reading- We have entered the second C in the CCP process.  Students have consumed (read) many great examples of narrative.  We will spend the next few days reading like critiques to determine if an author uses various craft elements to enhance their story.  The next few days we will look at ways to use dialogue to move a story rather than just using dialogue for the fun of making commas and quotation marks!
Writing- Students will begin using the narrative arc to help them plan out a story before writing. This pre-writing tool is helpful for writer's to use to see if a story is worthy of taking to publication.  If the parts of a narrative aren't clear, it might be a story simply worth remembering but not taking through the writing process to publication.
Spelling-Your children completed a midyear inventory last week in Word Study.  I was so pleased to see how they have progressed in their knowledge of spelling concepts.  We will reorganize ourselves into new spelling groups this week.  New spelling words will come home on 1/13.  Our test will be on 1/20 and an application grade will be taken between 1/21 and 1/26.  Your support at home with spelling concepts is appreciated.

Social Studies
The third 9 weeks brings us to our unit called, Story of America.  You may remember it as history! :)  Last week we discussed the terms; past, present, future, year, decade, century and millennium.  We will use the next few weeks to think about the time and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Students will work to complete a learning menu.  Activities on the menu will challenge them to think about their dreams for our country, how MLK Jr.'s life and death impacted the way we do things today and ways we can honor those who have made a difference in the history of our country and world.

Math
In math this week, we will continue working on multiplication and division. On Monday, we will play the game kahoot which will review the vocabulary and skills from multiplying and dividing. On Wednesday, we will review for our test on Thursday. We will prepare in class for our test so no review will be sent home. On Thursday we will take our multiplication and division test. Due to testing this week, we will not have a problem of the week. On Monday, your child will come home with an addition and subtraction review worksheet. We will have our normal Mangahigh homework on Tuesday and Wednesday night. We will still have our fast facts quiz on Friday. It will not be a grade this week.

Science
In science this week, we will begin keyboarding. We will spend the three days that we are not testing learning how to keyboard. We will work on the proper keyboarding posture and we will work on using the home row keys. We will spend these days doing lessons and practice building keyboarding skills.

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.

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

Synthesizing, Economics and Research Writing

Fun Things to Share for you to use at home:
During our STAAR party, I introduced Mad Libs.  The kids had a GREAT time working with partners and creating funny stories.  Here are some links to sites where you can print more mad libs to enjoy as a family at home.

• CLASSROOM JR.COM
• MAD LIBS WEBSITE AND APP INFO
• FILL THESE OUT AND READ ONLINE (warning- there are ads on this site.)
• ONLINE MAD LIBS CALL WEB TALES

I also introduced them to a childhood favorite, READING RAINBOW.  

• YOU TUBE CHANNEL with videos
• INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO GET THE APP OR ORDER THE VIDEOS

READING AND WRITING
We will get back into a more normal classroom routine this week.  We will focus in reading on synthesizing.  I love this time of year and reading strategy.  This is when the kids get a chance to apply all their thinking to a text.  We begin to notice how a text can change our thinking as we read-- so powerful!  This week we will focus on synthesizing nonfiction.  We will start by using The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown as our reading and writing model for synthesizing facts.  
This leads us nicely into finishing up reading many nonfiction sources as students work on their Planet Research.  After a few days to finish up research and note taking we will begin writing our informational expository texts on the planet your child is researching.  This is a new genre of writing for us, so we will look carefully to some mentor texts to see how veteran authors organize and structure their informational writing.  

SPELLING
New spelling words will go home on Wednesday.  The spelling homework menu is due on the following Tuesday (4/5) and the test will be on that Wednesday (4/6).  If you need support with spelling, please email me.  If you child looses his or her spelling words, please look at the spelling spiral as we write them down as part of our lesson on Wednesdays.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week's work in Social Studies will have us focus on the economic concepts of: scarcity, opportunity cost, consumption, production and interdependence.  We are moving out of our work in personal economics and focusing more on business economics as we finish up our lessons.  We will be using these oldies, but goodies (ECON AND ME) to review concepts and promote discussion in class. 

HOMEWORK
Thank you for supporting good study and reading habits at home.  Students will have 20 minutes of nightly reading this week.  They should record the title and genre in their planner or a piece of paper at home to share with me the next day. 

LA and SS March 23-27

READING
This week we will review main idea.  Students will read from nonfiction texts and determine the main idea of sections of text.  We will work to have fun while reviewing using this rap to keep us on track!  

Mrs. Henley has worked with us the last two weeks to help us see how our reading strategies apply to the genre of standardized tests.  She will be with us for a final lesson this Friday.

A reading passage will come home on Monday.  Please encourage your child to practice the suggested reading strategies as he or she works through that reading.  The passage is due on Friday.  Children have 20 minutes of nightly reading everyday this week.


WRITING
This week we will begin a new genre of writing.  We will work to consume examples of fun and practical procedural texts.  After spending an hour and a half over spring break helping Isabella put together Leo Friends, there's a new reality for me on the importance of well written and illustrated procedural texts!
Mrs. Bolton, our WITS instructor, will be with us on Tuesday as we continue to add to our writer's tool box.  We all love the energy and new ideas she brings to our instruction and learning.  

SPELLING
New spelling words will go home on Wednesday.  The spelling homework menu is due on the following Tuesday (3/31) and the test will be on that Wednesday (4/1).  If you need support with spelling, please email me.  If you child looses his or her spelling words, please look at the spelling spiral as we write them down as part of our lesson on Wednesdays.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will move into a new unit of study for the 4th 9 weeks.  We will focus on Economics.  Yes, you read it correctly.  This week we will focus on some big ideas in economics: needs, wants, spending and saving.  This time of year it always becomes very clear which families discuss money with their children.  Please use the next few weeks to talk to your children about how you decide when to spend and when to save your money.  Discuss with them reasons you have a savings account.  Help reshape their cries for what they "need" and discuss what are our REAL needs and wants.

HOMEWORK
Thank you for supporting good study and reading habits at home. 

Update for 3/9-3/13 from Mrs. Ford

READING
This week we will finish up our review of inferring with fiction texts and move into thinking about how to create a summary of a fiction text.  We will introduce a strategy called CPR.  Students will learn that there are some necessary elements to include in a summary- characters, problem, resolution.
 
WRITING
Your children have written some FABULOUS expository essays.  This week we will finish up revising and editing these pieces so we can publish them to share with you at Publisher's Picnic.
Mrs. Bolton, our WITS instructor, will be back with us this week.  We all love the fresh new ideas she brings to our instruction and learning.  

SPELLING
The spelling homework menu is due on the following Tuesday (3/10) and the test will be on that Wednesday (3/11).  If you need support with spelling, please email me.  If you child looses his or her spelling words, please look at the spelling spiral as we write them down as part of our lesson on Wednesdays.

SOCIAL STUDIES
All third graders will take a quiz on 3/10 on the inventors, scientists and founding fathers we have covered over the last few weeks.  Please encourage your child to bring home his or her social studies journal.  They have been working hard to complete guided notes on each historical figure.  You can also reference the Social Studies Links page on this blog for more information.

HOMEWORK
Thank you for supporting good study and reading habits at home.