Week 17: December 12 - 16

December 12-16: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Reminders--
Friday, December 16th is a Noon Dismissal day. Please plan accordingly and send a handwritten note with any change of transportation.

Reading, Writing and Social Studies: Holidays around the World will be our focus this week through read aloud, shared reading, and writing.  We will share fiction, nonfiction and poetry from various traditions to teach students about the many ways people around the world celebrate during the winter.  By the week's end students will have heard how some people in and from Israel, Mexico, America, Greenland, Sweden, Australia, Italy, and India celebrate various winter holidays.  At home, please share with your child the origins of your family's traditions and celebrations.  .
Mrs. Cion, our WITS partner, will be with students on Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon for creative writing workshop.  Last week she shared some poetry and discussed personification with our third grade writers.  It was fun to collaborate with them and use our imaginations as we pretended to be various objects and write poems from that object's perspective.

Spelling:  This week we will take an application grade.  We will look to see how your child applies his or her spelling patterns in daily work.
Students will also take the Elementary Spelling Inventory this week.  Teachers will use the data from this inventory to see how your child is progressing in his or her knowledge and application of spelling concepts.  We will readjust spelling groups based on this data for the spring semester.

Math: On Monday, the third grade math teachers will flexibly group our students and review skills for comparing and ordering numbers from our last PSA. On Tuesday, the students will rotate through each third grade teacher to learn about various Holidays Around the World. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will introduce your child to division. We will spend these two days learning about the octopus method for division. This method is used when we know the number of groups. We are looking for the number in each group. On Friday, we will complete our last rotation for Christmas Around the World.

We will have multiplication homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will not have fast facts or problem of the week. 

Science: On Monday in science we will discuss force and the how work is being done on when an object is moved. We will spend time on these vocabulary words:

Motion-is a change in position  

Position-where an object is located

Work-happens when a force moves an object over a distance

Force-is a push or pull that causes an object to move, stop, or change direction

On Wednesday and Thursday, we will discuss friction. This is a term that we have discussed when we studied thermal energy. We will be reminded that friction is the force between an object and the surface it moves over. Friction creates heat and slows an object. We will look at different surfaces to understand the amount of friction that ice, tile, wood, carpet, concrete, sand, pebbles, dirt, grass, metal, playground rubber surface give off.

Week 16: December 5-9

Upcoming dates to put on your calendars:

12/7 - Toys for Tots- Please send a new and unwrapped gift to donate.  Children will get a chance to drop their toy with local firefighters and Santa Claus.  

12/9 - Fun Run at Woodview.  Permissions slips are required for students to ride the bus for this event.  All donations will help support the SPARK PARK at our sister school, Woodview Elementary.

12/16 - Noon Dismissal- Please make arrangements for this different dismissal time.  Teachers will need hand written notes if you are making  a change in your child's transportation schedule.

1/6 - Third Grade Recognition Ceremony for the Second Nine Weeks, 9:00-9:30a.m. in the HCE Cafe

1/10 - STAARY STAARY NIGHT - Informational Parent Meeting covering information on the STAAR test. We will meet in the library from 6:00 - 7:00p.m.

Reading: Readers will continue to read poetry this week.  We will focus our attention on what information in the poem pulls at the reader's sense of hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling, and tasting.  Descriptive details that pull at our senses help the reader visualize while reading.  Later in the week, we will use these sensory details to also help us infer more about the character and situations we read about in poems.

Writing: This is PUBLICATION WEEK.  Writer's will focus on fine tuning their stories to help the reader.  Developmentally, this is a hard skill for third graders.  It's hard to admit that our first attempts are perfect.  Encourage your child at home, by sharing times that you changed your thinking after your first impression or effort.

Spelling: Spelling tests are this Wednesday, December 7.  An application grade of words in daily work will take place between 12/8-12/14.  We will also give the spelling inventory again between 12/8-12/16.  The information gathered will help us readjust spelling groups based on learner's needs.  

Social Studies: Jane Addams will be added to our bank of Good Citizens.  Her work in Chicago made a difference for so many men, women and children as she founded and worked at the Hull House.  We will discuss the many reasons she was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Students will also learn about various ways that people are honored and remembered.  Pointing our monuments, plaques, road markers, and awards that are created in memory and honor of those who make a difference will help our students understand ways we remember and recognize good citizens.

Math:In math this week, we will continue practicing our strategies for multiplication. We will decode word problems to pick out the important parts. We will identify what number in a multiplication sentence tells us the groups and which number shows how many in each group. We will use word problems to reiterate these skills.

For example: There are 4 groups with 3 strawberries in each group

 On Thursday, we will practice creating our own multiplication word problems to help us understand multiplication even more. On Friday, we will get to solve the multiplication word problems we created the day before. We will have our normal math homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday. We will not have a problem of the week this week. 

Science: On Monday and Tuesday during science time, we will participate in an energy lab. We will apply the information we know about mechanical, thermal, light, and sound energy. On Wednesday, the third graders will take the Science PSA (Priority Standard Assessment). This assessment is created by the district and gives us information on how your child is progressing through the concepts that we have taught so far in science. On Thursday, we will take the Energy Test. We will review in class before the test is given. 

Week 15: November 28 - December 2

Our GALVESTON FIELD TRIP is Friday, December 2. 

Reading: It's time to immerse ourselves in a new genre.  For the rest of November and most of December, we will be reading poetry.  We hope your child has come home excited about some of the poems we have shared together during our daily dose of Focus Poetry.  Our study during the reading workshop over the next few weeks will have us reading more closely and analyzing various aspects of poetry.  Students will learn and apply the poetry vocabulary of stanzas, lines, repetition, rhyme, speaker.

Writing: We will continue to consume author's craft through various mentor texts.  We will look closely at how authors use dialogue, repetition, and descriptive detail to help readers understand and enjoy the story.  At home, you can be sure to notice and share out with your child about dialogue that you read in stories together that helps either move the story along or tell you more about the characters.  Point out details that help you visualize what the characters are seeing and experiencing in the story.

Spelling:  New words will come home on 11/30.  A test will be give 12/7.  An application grade of those words in the context of reading and writing will be given 12/8-12/14.

Social Studies:  As we continue to learn about citizens who played an important role in our communities, we will learn about Jonas Salk.  Salk's research and work with vaccines has made a huge impact on the health of our community.  

Math: Each day in math this week, we will use our multiplication strategies to learn about multiplying by 6's, 7's, 8's, and 9's. Each day, we will listen to a song that helps skip counting by each of the multiples. We will not have a problem of the week this week. We will have a worksheet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Please note that the Fast Facts Quiz will be taken on Thursday due to our Field Trip on Friday. 

Science: In science this week, we will wrap up our unit on energy. On Monday, we will create energy vocabulary cards for the energy test. The energy test is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th. On Tuesday,Wednesday, and Thursday, we will learn about sound energy. Sound energy is the energy of matter vibrating. A few of the important terms we will learn about are pitch and volume. Pitch is how high or low the sound is and volume is how loud or soft. 

Week 14: November 21-22

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Reminders for this week:
- Please turn in permission slips for our Galveston Field Trip on Friday, December 2nd
-Tuesday, November 22nd - Dress the School Day - Wear Camo!
- No School on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday for Thanksgiving Break

Reading: The genre of drama will be introduced this week.  Students will note and notice similarities and differences between the genre of realistic fiction (we've spent a few weeks with this) and our partner plays.  Reviewing terms like character, narrator, actor, setting, and stage will help us prepare as students work in groups to read through, analyze and perform plays based on the topic of Thanksgiving.

Writing: Forget the Houston Escape Room, the turkey needs our help!  Writers will apply author's craft to imaginative stories.  They will focus on creating scenarios that might help the turkey escape becoming our Thursday dinner!

Spelling: We will continue to look for spelling patterns to be applied within the context writing in all content areas.

Social Studies: With help from some primary sources, we will look for elements of historical truths about Thanksgiving in our plays.

Math: During class on Monday, we will review the strategies for multiplying that we've learned so far: repeated addition, equal groups picture, jumping number lines, and arrays. On Tuesday, we will learn about the associative property which states that changing the order that the factors are multiplied does not change the product. We will not have a Problem of the Week or Fast Facts on our short week. Your child will have a subtraction review worksheet that will come home on Monday as homework.

Science: In science this week, we will continue talking about light energy. Light energy is a form of energy that helps us see and comes from the sun. During class, we will discuss the difference between natural and artificial light.

Week 13: November 14-17

Reminders:
We will have an author visit Tuesday, November 15.  Please remember to place your orders for books by Monday, November 14.

Four teachers from HCE's 3rd grade team have been asked to attend a district meeting to discuss PSAs (Priority Standard Assessments).  Ms. Badrak, Mrs. Ford, Ms. Rozzell and Mrs. Scott will be off campus on Tuesday to learn more about these assessments, offer feedback, and help plan how the district will use PSAs to reach each of our learners best.

Reading: Inferences will take center stage in reading this week.  Students should know by now that we infer when we take what's in the text, add what we know (in our brains) and then draw conclusions or infer.  We will continue with our picture of the day warm-up this week.  Students will then get loads of practice in their guided reading groups.  Please make sure book bags that come home are getting back to school each day.

Picture of the day is a great activity to promote language development, conversation and inferring skills at home. Some sentence stems we use in class that can get things going at home are:
I see ________________.  I infer _________ because _______.  I wonder __________ because ____________.  Looking at a picture you can infer location, temperature, season, time of day, sounds, thoughts, actions, reactions, and conditions.  You can find picture of the day resources on Wikipedia (please monitor for appropriateness).  Photos from magazines and books work well too.

Writing: Onomatopoeia, ellipse, and dialogue will be three author's craft elements that we focus our writing eye on this week.  We will read and critique pieces from published and familiar authors to see how these elements help improve the story and experience for the reader.
We have very much enjoyed our last two weeks with Mrs. Cion, our WITS (Writer's in the Schools) partner.  The children have dug deep into their favorites and created portraits in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo.  It taught all of us more about each other and reminded us how important details are to help others understand and appreciate our work!

Spelling:  Students will receive an application grade on spelling words this week.  Please continue to help them practice and understand spelling patterns at home.  We will not send home new words until 11/30, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Instead, we will be focused on pushing students to apply their spelling patterns in their reading, writing, spelling and social studies assignments.

Social Studies: Our focus on good citizens this week turns to Harriet Tubman and Clara Barton.
Harriet Tubman was a brave woman who used her resources to escape slavery through the Underground Railroad.  She then risked her life to help others do the same.
Clara Barton founded the Red Cross.  We will discuss, in class, how the Red Cross and other non-profit business work for the common good.

Math: In math this week, your child will begin studying multiplication. At the beginning of our unit, we will be learning to create multiplication sentence and drawing pictures of these sentences to get a visual of multiplying. Throughout the week, we will be learning to create equal groups, repeated addition, skip counting on a number line, and arrays. All of these methods will help our gain a foundation of multiplying.

Equal Groups

Skip Counting on a Number Line

"4 jumps of 2"

Repeated Addition

Arrays

For math homework this week, your child will receive a worksheet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday. A problem of the week will be given on Monday and it will be due on Friday. 

Science:  During our science time this week we will begin studying Thermal Energy and Light Energy. The important information that we will learn about Thermal (Heat) Energy are the sources of heat, insulators, and conductors. An insulator is a material that does not allow heat to pass along it easily. A conductor is a material that allows heat to pass along it easily. We will discuss examples of each. For light energy we will discuss the sources of light, how light is used, what the words transparent, translucent, and opaque mean. We will begin our science project in class which is a foldable which includes examples of the four forms of energy that we study. 

Week 12: November 7 - 11

Reminders for November 7-11:

11/7 - Third Grade Recognition Ceremony at 11:00 in the Discovery Center - we will be recognizing students who receive attendance or honor roll awards based on their 1st 9 weeks report card.  Parents and family members are welcome to attend.

11/8 - Election Day at HCE - 

Please pack a nut free lunch this day.  

We will be eating in our classrooms 

while voting is taking place in the cafeteria.

11/11 - Veterans Day Program at 9:00 in the cafeteria - please have your child wear red, white, and blue. Progress Reports for the 2nd 9 weeks will be sent home this day.

Reading:  Students will start to learn to notice when they infer while reading.  Inferring is something we do ALL the time.  You notice that your friend isn’t as talkative and you ask what’s wrong.  You see a picture of people bundled up and comment that the weather must have been cold.  These sorts of thoughts are what we call an inference.

In third grade, we use our schema (background knowledge), plus text clues to help us make an inference about characters, settings and events in the stories we read.  Some sentence stems we use to help us organize our thinking are:

I see (or I read) ________________________.  I know ____________________.  So, I can infer_______________________.

Writing: We’ve worked hard to understand the structure needed to share a story worth telling and writing.  The next few weeks we will begin to dig into mentor texts to examine author’s craft (the author’s style of writing). Each day we will either focus on a particular author or craft and to read, notice, analyze and then try to apply in our own writing.

Spelling: Spelling words went home on 11/2.  Spelling test on 11/9.  An application of spelling grade will be given sometime between 11/10-11/22, so please keep practicing words at home.  We don’t want students to just memorize words, but we hope they will internalize spelling patterns and begin to apply them in their daily work.

Social Studies: HCE students will participate in our first book election.  Our two candidates are the Book of the Month stories – Fine, Fine School and “Let’s Get A Pup!” said Kate.  Students will individually vote electronically on November 8 and the winner will be on the morning announcements on Wednesday, the 9^th. The winning book will be displayed in library! 

Students will also be practicing for and performing in a Veteran’s Day performance this week.  This a wonderful way to learn about and honor the men and women who defend and protect our country.  This will help us move into our work on Good Citizen’s for the rest of the 9 weeks grading period.

Math: On Monday, your child will take their subtraction test to finish our subtraction unit. We will continue to practice subtraction in class with our daily problem solving as well as through homework. The rest of the week we will begin learning about rounding numbers. We will round two and three digit numbers to the nearest 10 or 100. Along with rounding, we will also learn strategies for adding and subtracting rounded numbers.

Examples:

Numbers rounded to the nearest 10: 24 is rounded to 20. 78 is rounded to 80. 312 is rounded to 310.

Numbers rounded to the nearest 100: 345 is rounded to 300. 876 is rounded to 900.

We will have a problem of the week come home on Monday and it will be due on Friday. Please study fast facts daily. A review worksheet will come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Science: In science this week, we will learn about mechanical energy and thermal energy. We will review kinetic and potential and discuss examples of what each type of energy looks like. As a class we will go to the playground and discuss when potential and kinetic energy is used while we are on the playground each day. We will have groups discussing when potential and kinetic energy is used on the swings, slide, monkey bars, soccer, and football. For thermal energy we will discuss the sources of heat that we use and things that are insulators and conductors.

Week 11: October 31st - November 4th

Parents,

Thank you for supporting our classes during Field Day. It was a fun filled day and we appreciate your added spirit.

Reminders for this week:

Mrs. Ramos spoke with students on Friday and told them about how children in her court celebrate adoption day.  She encouraged them to bring a stuffed animal from home to donate to children serviced in the courts.  Mrs. Ramos explained to us how this day becomes just as special as a birthday for many children.   This is often also the first toy the child will have ever received.  We appreciate any and all stuffed animal donations.. Donations due 11/4.  We love when the real world and our learning tie together.  This is a BEAUTIFUL real world example of what good citizens do- something we will study in Social Studies over the next few weeks.

- Friday, November 4th is a Noon Dismissal. Please remember to send a note with any change of transportation on that day. We will have an alternate schedule that day.

Reading: Good readers use context clues to help them make meaning of the words in the text.  This week we will work together in a variety of text to notice the many ways an author uses context clues to help readers make sense of the story. The example on the left shows you some of the things reader can use to help make meaning of new terms and vocabulary.  Be sure to talk to your reader about new, multilple meaning and difficult vocabulary words as they read at home each night.

Writing: We continue to analyze stories from our lives to make sure they are a story worth telling.  Stories worth telling follow the narrative structure.  We will read, summarize, analyze and determine theme for a few more stories this week.  Practicing storytelling at home can be a fun and meaningful way to connect learning at school to home.  This also helps when students move to write in workshop-- this way they have stories to pull from!

Spelling:  Continue to practice spelling words from last week at home.  At the beginning of this week, in class, teachers will be observing and assessing how students are able to apply spelling patterns in their work.  New spelling words will come home on November 2 and be assessed on November 9.

Social Studies: We've wrapped up our learning on early explorers and will spend the next few weeks thinking about what GOOD CITIZENS do! Good citizens work to make their communities a great place to be.  We will discuss many ideas over the next few weeks like-- voting, obeying laws, keeping promises, serving on a jury and volunteering.  

Students will have a chance to learn about why it is important for citizens to vote this week.  We hope to give them a small taste of what Election Day is like with our very own HCE favorite book election.  We will hear from people supporting both the candidates (book choices!).  Stay tuned, as November 9 we will learn which book of the month students have enjoyed most!

  

Math: In math this week, we will be finishing up our unit on subtraction. On Monday and Tuesday, we will walk through the steps for a two-step problems. Here is an example of a two-step problem that you can expect your child to see: There were a total of 689 fans who came to the first three basketball games. One hundred forty-two came to the first game and 136 came to the second game. How many fans came to the third game?

On Wednesday and Thursday, we will review all of our subtraction skills. On Friday, we will take our subtraction test. *SUBTRACTION TEST IS MOVED TO 11/7*

We will NOT have homework on Monday! Happy Halloween! On Tuesday, a worksheet will go home that reviews analog clocks. On Wednesday, a worksheet with subtraction practice will go home. Please study for fast facts on Friday. We will NOT have a Problem of the Week this week.

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

*mechanical energy- the energy of moving objects

*kinetic energy- the energy of motion

*potential energy- the stored energy or possible energy depending on its position