Week 21: January 29th-February 2nd

Week 21:  January 29th-February 2nd

Reminders: 
2/2: Spring Group Pictures are this Friday.  These pictures are taken as homerooms.   Time slots are as follows. 10:25 Rozzell/Morphey, 10:35  Badrak/Saint Val, and 10:45 Duncan/Ford.  
2/6 and 2/7:  HCE Book Fair located in library. 
2/8 and 2/9: Noon Dismissal

Reading:  Determining the main idea of a text can be tricky business!  We're going to continue searching for text clues (text evidence) to infer the main idea of an entire or portion of text.  Your readers will see this week that identifying the main idea from several sections of an article will lead to a strong nonfiction summary.  We will conclude the week by introducing cause and effect relationships.  Cause and effect is something we experience in our daily lives.  We will learn tools to identify this relationship within a nonfiction text. 

Writing:  We will celebrate your poet's hard work this week!  Our publishing celebrations are always a wonderful way to unite as a community of writers and "high five" one another on a job well done.  Your children are excited to share their finished anthologies with their peers.  Later in the week we will practice note taking strategies as we read through a nonfiction text and organize our thoughts/reactions and important ideas.  
Social Studies:  We're rounding out our study of maps this week.  Students will apply what they have learned throughout the month to create their own maps.  We're challenging them to include a title, compass rose, legend, map scale, and grid system.  

Math: We will continue to learn many strategies to multiply such as skip counting, number line, area model, and an array model. We will build from easier digits such as 5 and continue to increase the digit to 6 through 9. As it is important to know multiplication facts, we are helping our mathematicians understand and internalize what it truly means to multiply, where they can see it in the real world, and how to apply it in their daily lives. 

Homework: In addition to our Monday-Wednesday regular homework pages, we will begin "Problem of the Week." This assignment will be sent home every Monday and will need to be returned on Friday. This assignment is meant to be a team effort as we would like your student to solve the problem alongside you.  On Friday, we will discuss the many ways your student solved the problem with the support from you all! 
Science: The students will learn and understand how soil is formed and the role of decomposition. Later in the week, the students will explore plate tectonics and its relation to earthquakes and volcanoes. Soil is different in different places because of different rocks in the area and different plants and animals that live there and die and decay. Important concepts to remember:

• Constructive forces build up the Earth
• Destructive forces tear down the Earth
• Earthquake:  A sudden release of energy under the Earth’s surface that makes the ground shake or crack.
• Earthquakes build up the land (constructive) by pushing upward forming mountains and tear down the Earth (destructive) by opening crevices and causing land to fall or slide.
• Weathering: The process that breaks down rocks into tiny pieces over time.
• Erosion:  The carrying away of weathered rock 

 

• 

  Different types of Soil: Sand, Clay, Humus, Loam

Week 20: January 22nd-26th

Week 20:  January 22nd-26th

Reading:  Last week was cut extra short because of our school holiday and ice days.  We were not able to get to everything we needed to because of this, so we're continuing with last week's plan for a portion of this week.  Your reader will continue to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, photographs, and captions within nonfiction articles.  We will discuss how these features support their understanding of the text topic.  As we move forward in the week, we will introduce main idea.  Main idea is the central idea of a text.  Comprehending the main idea is important in order to understand the purpose for writing.  We will be learning tricks and tools to help aid your reader in identifying what an article is mostly, or mainly, about.  

Writing:  We will officially wrap up our poetry unit this week!  Your writers have been hard at work drafting a variety of poems since returning to school in 2018.  We will choose some of our favorites to revise and edit and then publish an anthology using Google Docs.  Our week will end with a celebration of our published work!  

Social Studies:  We will continue using maps as every day tools.  Utilizing map scales will be our focus for this week.  Students will practice using a map scale to calculate distances between cities.    

Math: We will continue to solve addition and subtraction problems regarding time intervals in minutes using pictorial models and/or tools. It is important to remember the danger zone. This is when the minute hand reaches the 50 and 55 minute mark and the hour hand looks like it has reached the next hour. The students will continue to manipulate clocks to deepen their understanding of time. Later in the week, students will be introduced to multiplication. We will be learning specific multiplication strategies such as the array and number line strategies. An array is a group of objects that shows numbers in equal rows or columns.

                     

Homework: Students will be given homework Monday - Wednesday. Also, please make sure your mathematician is on DreamBox and SumDog at home.

               
Science: We will continue to observe forces such as magnetism, friction, and gravity acting on objects. Also, we will be learning about specific tools that make work easier such as pulleys. We will then have our Force and Motion quiz on Wednesday, January 24th. Later in the week, we will begin investigating how rocks can break down to form soil. Please make sure your scientist is studying the study guide and vocabulary cards every day.

Week 19: January 15th-19th

Week 19:  January 15th- 19th 
Reminders: 
1/15:  School Holiday We hope you all had a fabulous three day weekend!
Force and Motion Science Quiz is on Wednesday, January 24th!

Reading:  Your readers will continue to dive deeper into nonfiction text features.  We will learn how to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, photographs, and captions and discuss how these features support our understanding of the text topic.  As nonfiction readers, we access information from these various features and tools within the text in a different way than fiction stories and poems we read.  It takes practice!  We will continue to model and think through informational articles about Earth's resources, a tsunami warning system, and sea turtles.

Writing:  We will begin the final stages of our poetry writing unit this week.  Your writers have been hard at work drafting a variety of poems since returning to school in 2018.  We will end our week choosing some of our favorites to revise and edit.  We will prepare some of our best as well as favorite poems to publish using Google Docs.  We will celebrate our hard work within our writing community early next week. 

Social Studies:  We worked our way through academic language associated with maps and map skills last week and will apply what we learned this week.  We will practice interpreting maps of places and regions in order to identify and locate information related to the area.  For example, identifying mountain ranges and rivers in the region or explaining directions from one city to another using a compass rose or other piece of information from the map.  

Math: We will continue to solve addition and subtraction problems regarding time intervals in minutes using pictorial models and/or tools. It is important to remember the danger zone. This is when the minute hand reaches to the 50 and 55 minute mark and the hour hand looks like it has reached the next hour. The students will continue to manipulate clocks to deepen their understanding of time.  

The Danger Zone

Later in the week, students will be introduced to multiplication. Please make sure your mathematicians are on DreamBox and SumDog

Example problem: Melissa has a ballet class at 3:10. Her jazz class starts 45 minutes later. Does Melissa need to add or subtract to find the start time for her jazz class? How do you know?

Science: We will observe forces such as magnetism, friction, and gravity acting on objects. The students will be engaged in activities such as demonstrating how magnets attract and repel as well as using pulleys. We will then have our Force and Motion quiz is on Wednesday, January 24th. Students should be studying the yellow vocabulary cards and information sheet daily for homework until the test. Important concepts to remember:

• Compass needles point north because of magnetism.
• Like poles repel and opposite poles attract.
• Attract is a pull.
• Repel is a push.

Week 18: January 8th-12th

Week 18:  January 8th-12th 
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.  We look forward to this author visit.  You can purchase a copy of any of his books using the following link through Blue Willow Bookshop.  

Reading:  We launched our nonfiction genre unit last week and will continue to immerse ourselves in the genre this week.  We will discuss how text features help us understand and synthesize information as readers.  Text features are additional sources of information beyond the body of the text.  Examples include:  photographs, captions, bold words, subheadings, sidebars, maps, and diagrams.  As nonfiction readers, it is important to know how to read as well as draw conclusions from these added pieces of information throughout the text.  Additionally, we will round out reading MAP testing this week.

Homework Reminder:  Let's start this new year off strong as readers!  This is a friendly reminder that your child must read at home every night as their language arts homework.  We watched this video in the fall and discussed what the words... EVERY SINGLE DAY, NO MATTER WHAT would mean for us as readers.  Volume matters!  Please support your child's reading life at home every single day...no matter what!   

Writing:  Writer's Workshop will be filled with poetry writing this week!  Your children will learn a variety of tools to write poems that convey sensory details using the conventions of poetry.  We will learn to look at the world through a poet's eyes and use language within our poems that show, instead of tell, what they mean.  We will study and work with several mentor poems this week that illustrate wonderful examples of poetic devices and conventions.     

Word Work:  We look forward to getting back in the swing of things this week with our word work routine within Writer's Workshop and guided groups.     

Social Studies:  We will continue studying map skills this week.  Technology has allowed us to have directions and maps at our fingertips.  But what happens if we were lost with an uncharged phone?  We will learn how to utilize a map to help us navigate a place and find our way to our destination.  Important terms we will learn throughout the week include:  grid, map, globe, longitude, latitude, compass rose, cardinal directions, hemisphere, key, symbols, legend, equator, city, continents, states ocean, geographer, and Columbus.  

Math: We will continue to calculate and determine 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. We will also continue using the MAP skills website to grow their understanding and skills in specific math areas. Later in the week, students will determine the solution to addition and subtraction problems of time intervals in minutes using pictorial models or tool. Students will receive homework Monday-Wednesday, but should study their math facts daily.  

Science:  We will observe forces such as magnetism, friction and gravity acting on objects. Students will be engaged in activities this week such as a friction lab, a demonstration on gravity, and comparing friction in a Venn Diagram. Gravity is the force that pulls all objects together. Gravity pulls on similarly shaped objects at the same rate regardless of mass or weight. Friction is the force between an object and the surface it moves over. Friction creates heat and slows an object. It is a pull. We are sending home yellow vocabulary cards and a yellow paper that has all the vocabulary words this week. Please have the students study them daily.

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 16: December 11-15

We wish our students and their families a safe, relaxing and wonderful winter break!

12/12  Students will have an Energy Assessment this Tuesday. They have had a set of vocabulary cards and a study guide for several weeks. 

12/15  Classroom Parties and Noon Dismissal for winter break and Report Cards go home. 

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 6:00 to 7:00.

HCE Dads' Club is recruiting new members.  They do several projects to support the students and teachers at HCE. If you are interested in how to join and when they meet, email warrensloan@allstate.com.

Parents are graciously volunteering for lunch duty the week before winter break. If you are interested in joining in, here is the link for sighing up.        http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4faaa822a13-teacher 

READING: Third graders will be practicing synthesizing text when responding to a short story. The process of synthesizing occurs when different ideas about a text lead to new thinking. We compare it to baking a cake. Every ingredient separately is important to the cake batter and the frosting, however when combined together something new and different is the result. The teachers will model this process, allow the students to work in collaborative groups, and then in small guided groups to refine the skill. Short stories from Cynthia Rylant's Children of Christmas will be anchor texts.

WRITING: As our children are coming to the final stages of publishing their self-selected pieces, they are becoming more aware of the importance of the revision process and how it is about the quality of their changes as opposed to the quantity. For example, instead of saying, My family likes to play board games, it is much more powerful to say, My family loves board games; our favorite is Monopoly. Third graders will be coming together to celebrate the completed final drafts in groups. We will end the week with "Fantasy Friday" writing. Our passionate authors have a special appreciation for fantasy writing, and it is something they truly look forward to composing and sharing.

WORD WORK: As students perfect spelling skills, it is important to encourage them to use independent strategies while writing. Instead of spelling words for our children, we need to respond by having them write the word the way they have seen it in text on a Post It Note or piece of paper. Guiding questions such as, Does that word look correct? or Did you spell it  a syllable at a time? help facilitate confidence and independence.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will focus this week on appreciating many different holiday celebrations around the world.  Students will learn about traditions from Mexico, Greenland, Sweden, Israel, India, and Australia by engaging in a variety of experiences incorporating art, music, and literature. On Wednesday and Thursday, students will visit each third grade classroom, focusing on the culture and ways each celebrates. Anyone interested in adding to our study, please submit your FLIPGRID video by Thursday. An email went home with instructions. Shhhhh!!

MATH: This week students will finish working with 2D and 3D shapes. 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. With this basic knowledge, students will also be given the perimeter and all but one side and will have to subtract to find that missing side.

                  

There will be no FFF quiz this week due to early dismissal on Friday for Winter Break.

SCIENCE:  We conclude our study of Energy with a final assessment on Tuesday. Students have had a review sheet and vocabulary cards for two weeks. Plus, we have spent two days engaged in a six station, hands on lab that has demonstrated basic concepts for each kind of energy we have studied. Students have compiled a four section booklet displaying their knowledge.

Week 15: December 4-8

REMINDERS:

This week and next, we are wrapping up grades for this nine weeks. Report cards are going home soon. Thank you so much for making every effort to have your child in school all day, every day! 

12/5  Toys For Tots and our local fire station will collect new and unwrapped toys the morning of December 5. Students will deliver donations with their class to the hardtop where Santa and the fire truck will be stationed.

12/6  All six classes of third graders will join together for one big Grade Level Photo on Wednesday at 9:00. This is separate from the class pictures that will be taken in the Spring.

12/8  HCE Spelling Bee is scheduled for Friday morning, December 8 in the cafeteria. We wish our third grade classroom winners good luck as they compete against winners from 4th and 5th grade classes.

12/12  Students will have an Energy Assessment next Tuesday. They have had a set of vocabulary cards and a study guide for a week now. Please help your child study for this upcoming test.

12/15  Classroom Parties and Noon Dismissal for winter break

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 6:00 to 7:00.

HCE Dads' Club is recruiting new members.  They do several projects to support the students and teachers at HCE. If you are interested in how to join and when they meet, email warrensloan@allstate.com.

Parents are graciously volunteering for lunch duty the week before winter break. If you are interested in joining in, here is the link for sighing up.        http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4faaa822a13-teacher 

READING:Third graders will be practicing synthesizing text when responding to a short story. The process of synthesizing occurs when different ideas about a text lead to new thinking. We compare it to baking a cake. Every ingredient separately is important to the cake batter and the frosting, however when combined together something new and different is the result. The teachers will model this process, allow the students to work in collaborative groups, and then in small guided groups to refine the skill. Short stories from Cynthia Rylant's The Children of Christmas will be highlighted during this week's study.


WRITING: As our children are coming to the final stages of publishing their self-selected pieces, they are becoming more aware of the importance of the revision process and how it is about the quality of their changes as opposed to the quantity. For example, instead of saying, My family likes to play board games, it is much more powerful to say, My family loves board games; our favorite is Monopoly. Third graders will be coming together to celebrate the completed final drafts in groups. We will end the week with "Fantasy Friday" writing. Our passionate authors have a special appreciation for fantasy writing, and it is something they truly look forward to composing and sharing.

WORD WORK: As students perfect spelling skills, it is important to encourage them to use independent strategies while writing. Instead of spelling words for our children, we need to respond by having them write the word the way they have seen it in text on a Post It Note or piece of paper. Guiding questions such as, Does that word look correct? or Did you spell it  a syllable at a time? help facilitate confidence and independence.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will continue our focus this week learning about the many different Cultural Celebrations that Texans observe.  Students will complete their 2nd 9 weeks Social Studies Project by choosing the celebration that they find most interesting and planning an imaginary event to honor the occasion.  We will end the week with a quiz on Winter Holidays. Remember that Social Studies Weekly is always available to students at home.  Log in information can be found in your students green binder.  Information can also be found in the Social Studies Website Resources on the right hand side of the blog. We will finish off the week by completing a Brain Pop quiz on Winter Holidays.

MATH: We continue our study of 2D shapes this week, specifically polygons which must be flat, have straight sides, and are closed. Polygons are named by the number of sides they have and there are several quadrilaterals, or 4 sided polygons, that students must remember. They include square, rhombus, rectangle, trapezoid, parallelogram. We will use vocabulary such as parallel sides, right angles and vertices (vertex) to distinguish one from the other.

 

The list of required polygons also includes triangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, nonagon, and decagon.

Students will have a short quiz on Friday on these shapes. They have cards and class notes to study. As usual, there is written Math homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. Their Fast Fact Friday (FFF) quiz is on Friday. 

SCIENCE:  We are in full swing with our Science unit on Energy. We have already learned about Mechanical, Thermal, and Light energies and are currently focusing on Sound. Sound is vibrating matter and oddly enough, sound travels best through a solid, then a liquid and worst through a gas. All of this is because of the molecules of each state. Vibrations can spread easily through a solid's close molecules but not so easily through a gas with molecules spread far apart. This week we will spend two days on a hands on lab about all four kinds of energy. Students will work with tuning forks, reflecting light, wind up cars, and lots more. Thank you to parents who have donated Amazon cards so we could restock our Energy lab supplies. On Monday of next week, we will review for our final assessment Tuesday on all four energies. We hope everyone has been reviewing the vocabulary cards and study guide that was sent home last Monday.