Wow.. the last week before Winter Break! We are still busy this week and hope to get a few things accomplished.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our Writer's Celebration from 2:15 until dismissal. The children will share their poems that they wrote during our poetry unit and their reading response journals. They have completed their first personal narrative and we hope to be able to show you our hip covers when you come tomorrow. My plan is to have another writer's celebration in late January or early February to show off all our narratives and our realistic fiction piece.
This week we will not have a spelling test or any new map work. The children are to study the map that we completed last week on Waterways of the United States. They will be given an enlarged map on Thursday with a list of 18 bodies of water that they will have to identify. If the children have misplaced their map work from last week, I will be prepared to give them another copy tomorrow. However, it will be their responsibility to come and let me know.
We will complete our work with Lesson 7 in Wordly Wise. The children will have a test on these words on Thursday.
We have completed our study of the Florida Native Americans in the classroom and in the computer lab where they have been doing some additional research. On Wednesday, the children will complete a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting two of the Native American groups. The children will complete a project all designed by them in the classroom that I know will not be completed till after the Winter Break.
We are using our Science book to work on our critical reading skills. The children must read for specific factual information and fill in the blank with the correct word that they find in their reading. There are no word banks so the children really have to read carefully to get the meaning from the text. We have successfully completed one as a class and they were allowed to work together with a reading buddy. My goal is to eventually have the children feel confident in doing this type of reading independently.
On Thursday, the children will do some project work in the morning. Then at about10:15 the children will have a grade level holiday celebration. At 11:00, we will journey up to the Theater to participate in the Holiday Sing. The children will be dismissed at noon.
I know that I have shared this with you before. But I wanted to assure you, in light of the events of last Friday, that my number one concern is making sure that your child is safe and feels safe while here at school. We have procedures in place as an entire school and the children are given opportunities to practice these procedures. It is not my place to have in-depth conversations with your child about what they may have heard or seen over the weekend. Personally I think as the parent, that is your job. You are the one that can control what your child hears and sees and what they don't. However, I will monitor their comments and questions and if I feel your child is having any trouble concentrating at school because of any fear or insecurity that they may have, I will contact you immediately. Also to let you know, I will be using our Morning Meeting in the morning to review the procedures and give them another opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to share this with your child ahead of time tonight, that is fine by me.
I would like to take this time to wish each and everyone a Happy Holiday! May the new year find everyone healthy and happy!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Merry Monday!
Well.. it officially December.... and we're off!
My goal in the next three weeks if to complete two main units of study. The first unit of study that I wish to complete prior to the holidays are Personal Narratives. We had put our narrative writing aside for a while to work on our Poetry unit. You are going to be amazed at the poems that your children have written. Their poems have made wonderful class books that I know you will enjoy seeing. However, each child does have a copy of their poem in the writing workshop binder for safe keeping.
We will also complete our study of the Native Americans indigenous to Florida. Today we began our lesson on the importance of an outline and how to go about creating one. This is a very mature skill and can be challenging for everyone. The lesson to follow on Tuesday and Wednesday helps explain how to organize information from a primary source. I have given the children an outline with certain categories and facts missing. They have to determine what information is missing and complete the outline. We are working on this as a class. You will be able to see this as well when you come to our Author's Celebration on December 18 from 2:15 to 2:50.
Tonight, you will want to look in your child's homework folder. One item that you should find is a mini-adjective booklet. This booklet was used with Chapter 8 in 7*9= Trouble. One cannot expect children to use adjectives, if they are not aware of them in their reading. So they first worked with a reading buddy to read the chapter aloud and out the adjectives in the correct categories. Then we came back together as a group and discussed what they had found or not found. I would encourage the children to continue to be aware that good writing contains descriptive words and they should use them as well in their own writing. As the children read the weekly reading comprehension to you, please stop them to point out good adjectives.
This week, we will begin our next class novel, A Lion To Guard Us. This is an historical fiction book about three children who travel to Jamestown desperately searching for their father. Although Jamestown is not a part of our curriculum, it is in fourth grade. This book is a good book to use to continue our study of characters and how characters can change within a story.
Our spelling list this week included words that have a au and an aw spelling. The words are as follows:
pause, because, author, laundry, auto, August, dawn, drawn, crawl, shawl, brawl, draw, straw, jaw, awful, awkward, awning, squawk, lawyer, haul.
We will complete our Wordly Wise work this week on Lesson 6 and have a test on Friday.
We are working on multiplication word problems in math. Please make sure that your child is reviewing the multiplication math facts 0, 1, 2, and 3 this week. Tomorrow our lesson will be on multiplication arrays. It really does help if the children are confident with these early multiplication facts.
We completed our Comic Life Computer project last week. The children have become quite the Comic Life experts. This week, their poster will come home with a rubric attached. This rubric is comprehensive in that it focuses on the major objectives of this project in an outline of checklist form. Each area was completed reviewed and the children were reminded even again prior to printing, to follow the directions of the project. Each child was even given a checklist of these objectives to have at their computer while they were working. This checklist was to ensure that your child knew the expectation of the project and they could be more independent in helping themselves. The score on the rubric will be reflected in their science grade as well as in the work and study habits portion of the report card.
Again, please make sure that you are signing the reading comprehension activity that is due on Fridays. There were several this week that were not signed. That signature indicates to me that you have listened to your child read this passage.
Our Holiday container is beginning to fill up. Please feel free to send in your packages once you have them ready. Also, we are in the midst of the last contest for Box Tops. We have quite a few already in our little box. But we have until the middle of January to get out hot chocolate and cookie treat. If we win, perhaps we can wear our bedroom slippers that day for fun!!!
My goal in the next three weeks if to complete two main units of study. The first unit of study that I wish to complete prior to the holidays are Personal Narratives. We had put our narrative writing aside for a while to work on our Poetry unit. You are going to be amazed at the poems that your children have written. Their poems have made wonderful class books that I know you will enjoy seeing. However, each child does have a copy of their poem in the writing workshop binder for safe keeping.
We will also complete our study of the Native Americans indigenous to Florida. Today we began our lesson on the importance of an outline and how to go about creating one. This is a very mature skill and can be challenging for everyone. The lesson to follow on Tuesday and Wednesday helps explain how to organize information from a primary source. I have given the children an outline with certain categories and facts missing. They have to determine what information is missing and complete the outline. We are working on this as a class. You will be able to see this as well when you come to our Author's Celebration on December 18 from 2:15 to 2:50.
Tonight, you will want to look in your child's homework folder. One item that you should find is a mini-adjective booklet. This booklet was used with Chapter 8 in 7*9= Trouble. One cannot expect children to use adjectives, if they are not aware of them in their reading. So they first worked with a reading buddy to read the chapter aloud and out the adjectives in the correct categories. Then we came back together as a group and discussed what they had found or not found. I would encourage the children to continue to be aware that good writing contains descriptive words and they should use them as well in their own writing. As the children read the weekly reading comprehension to you, please stop them to point out good adjectives.
This week, we will begin our next class novel, A Lion To Guard Us. This is an historical fiction book about three children who travel to Jamestown desperately searching for their father. Although Jamestown is not a part of our curriculum, it is in fourth grade. This book is a good book to use to continue our study of characters and how characters can change within a story.
Our spelling list this week included words that have a au and an aw spelling. The words are as follows:
pause, because, author, laundry, auto, August, dawn, drawn, crawl, shawl, brawl, draw, straw, jaw, awful, awkward, awning, squawk, lawyer, haul.
We will complete our Wordly Wise work this week on Lesson 6 and have a test on Friday.
We are working on multiplication word problems in math. Please make sure that your child is reviewing the multiplication math facts 0, 1, 2, and 3 this week. Tomorrow our lesson will be on multiplication arrays. It really does help if the children are confident with these early multiplication facts.
We completed our Comic Life Computer project last week. The children have become quite the Comic Life experts. This week, their poster will come home with a rubric attached. This rubric is comprehensive in that it focuses on the major objectives of this project in an outline of checklist form. Each area was completed reviewed and the children were reminded even again prior to printing, to follow the directions of the project. Each child was even given a checklist of these objectives to have at their computer while they were working. This checklist was to ensure that your child knew the expectation of the project and they could be more independent in helping themselves. The score on the rubric will be reflected in their science grade as well as in the work and study habits portion of the report card.
Again, please make sure that you are signing the reading comprehension activity that is due on Fridays. There were several this week that were not signed. That signature indicates to me that you have listened to your child read this passage.
Our Holiday container is beginning to fill up. Please feel free to send in your packages once you have them ready. Also, we are in the midst of the last contest for Box Tops. We have quite a few already in our little box. But we have until the middle of January to get out hot chocolate and cookie treat. If we win, perhaps we can wear our bedroom slippers that day for fun!!!
Monday, November 26, 2012
MOVING ON MONDAY!
I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday! We all have so much to be thankful for! Hats off to all the moms that supplied, cut, and served the delicious pies last Friday. I myself always love dessert first. So, that event was the appropriate kick-off to a "feast" of a week!
First, I would like to share your child's responsibilities for tonight.
Spelling...abc order on the sheet provided
Math...study two sets of practice questions for the test tomorrow...they also have the Orthogonal challenge and the Turkey graph challenge that are due by Friday
Reading Comprehension..Kids in the Gold Fields.. due Friday
Please have your child make some multiplication flash cards for them to practice with at home. Some of the children came to school with their cards. I intended for these cards to stay at home. Each child also needs two packs of 3by3 post-it notes by Wednesday. I also encouraged the children to assess their sharpened pencil supply.
Once we have successfully completed the Math test on Unit 3, we will move onto Unit 4. This unit covers key concepts such as: multiples of equal groups, multiplication arrays and word problems, division ties to multiplication, multiplication and division fact families, and estimating distances with a map scale. Thus, it is very important that the children begin studying the multiplication chart and that I sent home prior to Thanksgiving and using their flash cards.
In Reading we will complete our class novel, 7*9=Trouble. While reading the last half of the book, the children will work more closely with a reading buddy. The two partners will gauge their own reading and responses with the help of mini lessons. I will be working on a list of high frequency words as well. Each child will read from the list. Those children that need additional practice, I will send home the list for the children to practice. I hope to complete this task within the next couple of weeks. We will continue with our character study and sequencing of events.
This week we have traveled to the northern part of Florida near was is today Jacksonville and St. Augustine. We are reading and learning about the Timucua Native American Group. You will want to ask your child about succotash and the nutritional value of the vegetables when you put them all together in a bowl. By the end of the week, we will travel to the Tampa Bay area and across the state where the Tocabaga Native American Group settled. Once we have collected as much factual information that we can, we will spend some time comparing and contrasting these groups.
In Science, we will work on a Comic Life Project using the computer and pictures that the children took while studying Simple Machines with Lego Robotics. This culminating activity will illustrate what your child has learned and the pictures that they have taken to document their learning.
Spelling this week are words that end with the sound of /j/ but spelled either ge or dge. The words are as follows: bridge, fudge, hinge, dodge, hedge, fringe, partridge lodge, wage, cringe, budge, pledge, ledge, gorge, knowledge, binge, huge, smudge, and plunge. These are excellent words to not only know how to read, but to use in their writing as well.
We will begin our Wordly Wise Lesson 6. The words include: chasm, continent credit, enable, foul, gust, ordeal, plateau, rig, schedule.
We will continue practicing our cursive capital letters. You can expect the handwriting workbook to come hom again this week to practice. I had hoped that by the time we return from the Winter Break, that they children would be prepared to at least begin writing the spelling tests in cursive.
This week we will wrap up our poetry unit by investigating Free Verse. The children have been busy publishing, Cinquain, Diamante, Factual Acrostic, and Haiku forms of Poetry. Our last form of Poetry that we will work on is Free Verse. This type of Poetry can be intimidating but it can be the easiest. It is a continual free flowing thought process about any thought or feeling. The fun part is that there are not rules, unlike the other forms of Poetry that we have learned. It will be interesting to see that kinds of topics and feelings that the children choose to write about.
I hope to have another set of papers ready to come home on Friday. I know that report cards should be posted on-line by tomorrow. Please let me know if you feel the need to conference again. However, I would like you to focus on the importance of good work and study habits. Much of how the children are expected to learn and share that information stems from the ability to stay focused and work together with a buddy or small group, as well as listen attentively in mini lessons that will help them in their buddy or group work. I am expecting that every child will do their best to produce quality work whether it is homework or classwork.
Thank you again for support and for taking the time to read all the correspondence coming home via blogs or emails.
First, I would like to share your child's responsibilities for tonight.
Spelling...abc order on the sheet provided
Math...study two sets of practice questions for the test tomorrow...they also have the Orthogonal challenge and the Turkey graph challenge that are due by Friday
Reading Comprehension..Kids in the Gold Fields.. due Friday
Please have your child make some multiplication flash cards for them to practice with at home. Some of the children came to school with their cards. I intended for these cards to stay at home. Each child also needs two packs of 3by3 post-it notes by Wednesday. I also encouraged the children to assess their sharpened pencil supply.
Once we have successfully completed the Math test on Unit 3, we will move onto Unit 4. This unit covers key concepts such as: multiples of equal groups, multiplication arrays and word problems, division ties to multiplication, multiplication and division fact families, and estimating distances with a map scale. Thus, it is very important that the children begin studying the multiplication chart and that I sent home prior to Thanksgiving and using their flash cards.
In Reading we will complete our class novel, 7*9=Trouble. While reading the last half of the book, the children will work more closely with a reading buddy. The two partners will gauge their own reading and responses with the help of mini lessons. I will be working on a list of high frequency words as well. Each child will read from the list. Those children that need additional practice, I will send home the list for the children to practice. I hope to complete this task within the next couple of weeks. We will continue with our character study and sequencing of events.
This week we have traveled to the northern part of Florida near was is today Jacksonville and St. Augustine. We are reading and learning about the Timucua Native American Group. You will want to ask your child about succotash and the nutritional value of the vegetables when you put them all together in a bowl. By the end of the week, we will travel to the Tampa Bay area and across the state where the Tocabaga Native American Group settled. Once we have collected as much factual information that we can, we will spend some time comparing and contrasting these groups.
In Science, we will work on a Comic Life Project using the computer and pictures that the children took while studying Simple Machines with Lego Robotics. This culminating activity will illustrate what your child has learned and the pictures that they have taken to document their learning.
Spelling this week are words that end with the sound of /j/ but spelled either ge or dge. The words are as follows: bridge, fudge, hinge, dodge, hedge, fringe, partridge lodge, wage, cringe, budge, pledge, ledge, gorge, knowledge, binge, huge, smudge, and plunge. These are excellent words to not only know how to read, but to use in their writing as well.
We will begin our Wordly Wise Lesson 6. The words include: chasm, continent credit, enable, foul, gust, ordeal, plateau, rig, schedule.
We will continue practicing our cursive capital letters. You can expect the handwriting workbook to come hom again this week to practice. I had hoped that by the time we return from the Winter Break, that they children would be prepared to at least begin writing the spelling tests in cursive.
This week we will wrap up our poetry unit by investigating Free Verse. The children have been busy publishing, Cinquain, Diamante, Factual Acrostic, and Haiku forms of Poetry. Our last form of Poetry that we will work on is Free Verse. This type of Poetry can be intimidating but it can be the easiest. It is a continual free flowing thought process about any thought or feeling. The fun part is that there are not rules, unlike the other forms of Poetry that we have learned. It will be interesting to see that kinds of topics and feelings that the children choose to write about.
I hope to have another set of papers ready to come home on Friday. I know that report cards should be posted on-line by tomorrow. Please let me know if you feel the need to conference again. However, I would like you to focus on the importance of good work and study habits. Much of how the children are expected to learn and share that information stems from the ability to stay focused and work together with a buddy or small group, as well as listen attentively in mini lessons that will help them in their buddy or group work. I am expecting that every child will do their best to produce quality work whether it is homework or classwork.
Thank you again for support and for taking the time to read all the correspondence coming home via blogs or emails.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Twirling Tuesday!
I think I need to buy new running shoes to keep up with everything including Father Time. I cannot believe it's almost Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my children and for you! I appreciate all your support at home with homework and all the many extra things that we do at school.
We are winding down on a few topics and lessons this week. In Math, we will have or Math test on Friday. We have a couple more lessons on circumference, diameter, perimeter, and area. We will practice all the skills of the unit in class and hopefully all will be prepared on Friday for the test.
We will also have a Wordly Wise Test Thursday on Lesson 5. The children have been reading a story about the creation of the basketball game. You may want to ask them about how the weather in New England helped to create the game of basketball. (a good cause and effect example)
Our Spelling words this week are all contractions. The words as follows: doesn't, isn't, didn't, it's, wasn't, aren't hasn't, haven't hadn't, I've, there's, they're couldn't, here's, that's, let's, who's, you're, I'll, I'm. Last night the children had to put the words in abc order and then write them in cursive. They need to be thinking of detailed sentences that they can write on Friday when they have the test.
YEA! We have begun our study of the Native Americans indigenous to Florida. You will want to ask your child how the Calusa learned to catch their fish. You will also be interested in learning that they lived in a Chickee. Ask your child just what that is and you will learn just how smart the Calusa were. During our study, the children will keep a map of where each group lived and we will also make comparisons on not only where each group lived, but what they ate, shelter, and their belief structure.
We will complete our unit of study of Poetry this week. Today we learned about Diamante. This is a type of poetry and begins with a topic and then through the use of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, the poem ends with a topic that is the exact opposite of the one at the beginning. We used the characters in Charlotte's Web to guide our thinking and writing. We will continue with Haiku and end with Free Verse. Once we have completed all our poems, each child will have a booklet of samples that they have written and illustrated. I know this will be a treasure that you will want to keep as a memento of third grade.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, please check over your child's supplies. They may need a couple of newly sharpened pencils or loose leaf paper. I would like each child to return after the break with two pads of 3 by 3 super sticky post-it notes. ( yellow, beige, or green) This will help with our post-it work in reading workshop.
We are currently reading 7*9= Trouble. The main character is having a hard time learning and remembering his multiplication tables. I am hopeful that each child will begin studying their multiplication tables. I did send home a letter tonight reminding everyone to begin to study and encouraging everyone to make some flash cards that they can use for practice.
The children have successfully completed their study of simple machines using lego robotics. I will be sending out an email this week that will have the pictures of each group highlighting one of their projects. The children learned a lot by doing this project. Perhaps the most important thing was how necessary it is to work together if one is to have a finished product.
The children will enjoy an edible Thanksgiving treat on Friday after lunch. Third grade will have a dessert treat including traditional Thanksgiving pies. What fun!
We are winding down on a few topics and lessons this week. In Math, we will have or Math test on Friday. We have a couple more lessons on circumference, diameter, perimeter, and area. We will practice all the skills of the unit in class and hopefully all will be prepared on Friday for the test.
We will also have a Wordly Wise Test Thursday on Lesson 5. The children have been reading a story about the creation of the basketball game. You may want to ask them about how the weather in New England helped to create the game of basketball. (a good cause and effect example)
Our Spelling words this week are all contractions. The words as follows: doesn't, isn't, didn't, it's, wasn't, aren't hasn't, haven't hadn't, I've, there's, they're couldn't, here's, that's, let's, who's, you're, I'll, I'm. Last night the children had to put the words in abc order and then write them in cursive. They need to be thinking of detailed sentences that they can write on Friday when they have the test.
YEA! We have begun our study of the Native Americans indigenous to Florida. You will want to ask your child how the Calusa learned to catch their fish. You will also be interested in learning that they lived in a Chickee. Ask your child just what that is and you will learn just how smart the Calusa were. During our study, the children will keep a map of where each group lived and we will also make comparisons on not only where each group lived, but what they ate, shelter, and their belief structure.
We will complete our unit of study of Poetry this week. Today we learned about Diamante. This is a type of poetry and begins with a topic and then through the use of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, the poem ends with a topic that is the exact opposite of the one at the beginning. We used the characters in Charlotte's Web to guide our thinking and writing. We will continue with Haiku and end with Free Verse. Once we have completed all our poems, each child will have a booklet of samples that they have written and illustrated. I know this will be a treasure that you will want to keep as a memento of third grade.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, please check over your child's supplies. They may need a couple of newly sharpened pencils or loose leaf paper. I would like each child to return after the break with two pads of 3 by 3 super sticky post-it notes. ( yellow, beige, or green) This will help with our post-it work in reading workshop.
We are currently reading 7*9= Trouble. The main character is having a hard time learning and remembering his multiplication tables. I am hopeful that each child will begin studying their multiplication tables. I did send home a letter tonight reminding everyone to begin to study and encouraging everyone to make some flash cards that they can use for practice.
The children have successfully completed their study of simple machines using lego robotics. I will be sending out an email this week that will have the pictures of each group highlighting one of their projects. The children learned a lot by doing this project. Perhaps the most important thing was how necessary it is to work together if one is to have a finished product.
The children will enjoy an edible Thanksgiving treat on Friday after lunch. Third grade will have a dessert treat including traditional Thanksgiving pies. What fun!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Terrific Tuesday!
What a lovely day inside and outside! The children worked well today and we all enjoyed our time outside enjoying the beautiful day! It was such a lovely way to begin the week after so much sadness last week.
As you know, this week is a short week. Tomorrow is the big Fall Festival and the children are so excited. The children should be prepared for tomorrow and I would encourage you to ask them to see how much they remember. But just in case, here are a few guidelines. The children are to come to school in costume. We will have to complete a little morning work before we prepare for the parade at 8:30. Once the parade festivities are over, we will return back to the classroom and the children will change into their spirit clothes to be more comfortable. I shared with the children that they cannot be released until 10:00am when as adult signs them out. If your child is going to leave with another adult tomorrow, I will need a note from you. Thank you for your help. It is so important that the children are safe and under supervision. I did let the children know that if at any time, they become separated or the "plan" falls apart, then they are to return to the room and I will help them. I know tomorrow will be great fun and then it's onto Halloween night! I would prefer the children not bring any candy to school on Thursday.
We have much to accomplish this week despite less time in the classroom. We will continue with our Personal Narratives and then begin our Poetry unit. I do hope to have a couple of Poetry samples by Poetry in the Park. The children will be coming home with their poem to learn tomorrow. We will have a week to learn the poem as Poetry in Park is November 8. I hope you will be able to come!!
Spelling words this week are only 16 strong, but very important. They are plurals that even sometimes adults misspell.
We are finishing up Charlotte's Web. The children are writing scripts to depict one scene from the book. We have a reflection to write and share and then we will be ready to move on to our next class novel, 7*9= Trouble. The children will be more independent in reading this book and working more closely with a reading buddy. I will have several lessons on how to be a reading buddy and how to manage time and producing quality work together.
In Math this week we are learning more about Perimeter and Area as well as Diameter and Circumference. Tonight for homework they are to complete pages 65 and 66. I did give them class time to begin these two pages so I could help them if needed.
Tonight's responsibilities include:
Spelling... abc order on the sheet...they are allowed to write the words in cursive if they want to
Witches Homonym Sheet... circle all the incorrectly used homonyms
Reading Comprehension...Thomas Jefferson and The Big Cheese.. due on Friday and don't forget to sign
Math...Workbook pages 65, 66
I will be busy preparing report cards over the next couple of weeks. I will have many papers that will be coming home. Make sure you look closely at the comments that I sometimes make on papers so that you will know what I would like your child to remember the next time they need to complete an assignment.
Happy Halloween Eve!
As you know, this week is a short week. Tomorrow is the big Fall Festival and the children are so excited. The children should be prepared for tomorrow and I would encourage you to ask them to see how much they remember. But just in case, here are a few guidelines. The children are to come to school in costume. We will have to complete a little morning work before we prepare for the parade at 8:30. Once the parade festivities are over, we will return back to the classroom and the children will change into their spirit clothes to be more comfortable. I shared with the children that they cannot be released until 10:00am when as adult signs them out. If your child is going to leave with another adult tomorrow, I will need a note from you. Thank you for your help. It is so important that the children are safe and under supervision. I did let the children know that if at any time, they become separated or the "plan" falls apart, then they are to return to the room and I will help them. I know tomorrow will be great fun and then it's onto Halloween night! I would prefer the children not bring any candy to school on Thursday.
We have much to accomplish this week despite less time in the classroom. We will continue with our Personal Narratives and then begin our Poetry unit. I do hope to have a couple of Poetry samples by Poetry in the Park. The children will be coming home with their poem to learn tomorrow. We will have a week to learn the poem as Poetry in Park is November 8. I hope you will be able to come!!
Spelling words this week are only 16 strong, but very important. They are plurals that even sometimes adults misspell.
We are finishing up Charlotte's Web. The children are writing scripts to depict one scene from the book. We have a reflection to write and share and then we will be ready to move on to our next class novel, 7*9= Trouble. The children will be more independent in reading this book and working more closely with a reading buddy. I will have several lessons on how to be a reading buddy and how to manage time and producing quality work together.
In Math this week we are learning more about Perimeter and Area as well as Diameter and Circumference. Tonight for homework they are to complete pages 65 and 66. I did give them class time to begin these two pages so I could help them if needed.
Tonight's responsibilities include:
Spelling... abc order on the sheet...they are allowed to write the words in cursive if they want to
Witches Homonym Sheet... circle all the incorrectly used homonyms
Reading Comprehension...Thomas Jefferson and The Big Cheese.. due on Friday and don't forget to sign
Math...Workbook pages 65, 66
I will be busy preparing report cards over the next couple of weeks. I will have many papers that will be coming home. Make sure you look closely at the comments that I sometimes make on papers so that you will know what I would like your child to remember the next time they need to complete an assignment.
Happy Halloween Eve!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Mighty Monday!
Today was a productive day though we do not have much time together on Monday mornings.
We are coming to the end of Charlotte's Web. And though I know the children know the storyline whether by having the story read to them or by watching the movie, they really seem to be enjoying the read. I even have our own Reader's Theatre ready to go once we have completed reading the story. We are doing a great deal of vocabulary detective work and word work activities that I feel has really helped with the understanding of the story. Before they may have heard a person read the word, but now they are responsible to finding the word, understanding what it means, and how it impacts the story. Later on this week, the children will have a writing assignment as if they are a reporter from either the Zuckerman's farm or from the County Fair. They will be expected to use details from the story in their report as well as some of the vocabulary words that they have learned. We will also continue our work on Thick and Thin Questions.
Also today, the children worked in small groups and made paper bouquets of flowers for our sweet friend, Dawn Weinman. We sent her a card last week that had pop up flowers in it. I learned yesterday that it has been one of her favorite cards since she is not allowed to have flowers in her room. So we decided to stay with the flower theme.
This week, our spelling words are all words that are October/Halloween words. Tonight they are to write a story, not just a paragraph, using at least 10 or more of the words on this week's list. I did tell them that the story is not to be full of "blood and guts". They have some special stationery on which to write the rough draft. They will be paired with a writing buddy tomorrow and given time to help each other proofread their work.
In Math, we are beginning our Unit 3, Linear Measures and Area. You should find a Parent Letter in the homework folder tonight that will give you an idea of the concepts we will learn. However, we are continuing our work with the adding and subtracting strategies. We spent a great deal of time today, continuing to review the strategies. Tonight they have the remaining 8 problems on a practice sheet that I hope they will be able to do on their own. They are to only use the Trading Strategy..traditionally known as borrowing and carrying. I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised when I graded the math tests that many of the children did not accurately answer the questions of ballpark estimate and the adding and subtracting. During the practice test they all seemed to understand and very few asked questions. I think that was a learning lesson in itself. The children were much more vocal with their questions today. In all fairness to the children, I plan on giving them a little quiz sometime this week to help their grade a little from their test. After another day or so of practice, I think we will be completely confident!
The children do have a reading comprehension assignment, Senor Coyote, the Judge. There are 4 short questions they need to answer. I suggested to the children that they focus on the questions first before they begin reading. Please don't forget to sign the paper as soon as they have read it aloud to you.
We will have a Wordly Wise test on Friday. Don't forget to ask your child to show you the symbols for our words. This is a new technique that I am finding is a great way for the kids to make associations with the words.
In Computer Lab this week, the children will begin a new project.. I will let them come home and share this with you. It is VERY exciting! Also, the Simple Machine's projects are awesome. We were able to have our Museum on Friday. We have a few children out today, and so I decided to hold off the presentations until tomorrow.
I also wanted to share that the children can bring their library books back to school when they are finished reading. They do not have to wait till a Thursday to return their book. In fact, it helps if they are returned early, then they have more time check out a book on our library day.
We are coming to the end of Charlotte's Web. And though I know the children know the storyline whether by having the story read to them or by watching the movie, they really seem to be enjoying the read. I even have our own Reader's Theatre ready to go once we have completed reading the story. We are doing a great deal of vocabulary detective work and word work activities that I feel has really helped with the understanding of the story. Before they may have heard a person read the word, but now they are responsible to finding the word, understanding what it means, and how it impacts the story. Later on this week, the children will have a writing assignment as if they are a reporter from either the Zuckerman's farm or from the County Fair. They will be expected to use details from the story in their report as well as some of the vocabulary words that they have learned. We will also continue our work on Thick and Thin Questions.
Also today, the children worked in small groups and made paper bouquets of flowers for our sweet friend, Dawn Weinman. We sent her a card last week that had pop up flowers in it. I learned yesterday that it has been one of her favorite cards since she is not allowed to have flowers in her room. So we decided to stay with the flower theme.
This week, our spelling words are all words that are October/Halloween words. Tonight they are to write a story, not just a paragraph, using at least 10 or more of the words on this week's list. I did tell them that the story is not to be full of "blood and guts". They have some special stationery on which to write the rough draft. They will be paired with a writing buddy tomorrow and given time to help each other proofread their work.
In Math, we are beginning our Unit 3, Linear Measures and Area. You should find a Parent Letter in the homework folder tonight that will give you an idea of the concepts we will learn. However, we are continuing our work with the adding and subtracting strategies. We spent a great deal of time today, continuing to review the strategies. Tonight they have the remaining 8 problems on a practice sheet that I hope they will be able to do on their own. They are to only use the Trading Strategy..traditionally known as borrowing and carrying. I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised when I graded the math tests that many of the children did not accurately answer the questions of ballpark estimate and the adding and subtracting. During the practice test they all seemed to understand and very few asked questions. I think that was a learning lesson in itself. The children were much more vocal with their questions today. In all fairness to the children, I plan on giving them a little quiz sometime this week to help their grade a little from their test. After another day or so of practice, I think we will be completely confident!
The children do have a reading comprehension assignment, Senor Coyote, the Judge. There are 4 short questions they need to answer. I suggested to the children that they focus on the questions first before they begin reading. Please don't forget to sign the paper as soon as they have read it aloud to you.
We will have a Wordly Wise test on Friday. Don't forget to ask your child to show you the symbols for our words. This is a new technique that I am finding is a great way for the kids to make associations with the words.
In Computer Lab this week, the children will begin a new project.. I will let them come home and share this with you. It is VERY exciting! Also, the Simple Machine's projects are awesome. We were able to have our Museum on Friday. We have a few children out today, and so I decided to hold off the presentations until tomorrow.
I also wanted to share that the children can bring their library books back to school when they are finished reading. They do not have to wait till a Thursday to return their book. In fact, it helps if they are returned early, then they have more time check out a book on our library day.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Wide Awake on Monday!
The children certainly got some rest over their long weekend. We were quite lively today! I know this will be another full week, so the more energy they have the better!!!
This week, our spelling list includes words that have a sound that is spelled with either a K or CK. Tonight for homework, the children are to put the words in alphabetical order on the sheet provided. The words are: black, cheek, crack, mark, sock, smoke, duck, check, blink, sunk, make , brick, blanket, spooky, market, rocket, milk, snack, neck, and sick.
Today we worked on identifying subjects and predicates in sentences in hopes of seeing how a good detailed sentence is formed. Once we found the complete predicate, we focused on the main verb and made decisions on whether or not the verb gave a good mental picture of the what the subject was doing in the sentence and if it didn't, what other word we could choose.
This week we will continue with our Charlotte's Web reading. We are going to focus on details from the story that make the story move along in the book. We will store our details in a paper bag puppet of Wilbur which will later become the main prop for writing their own scripts for certain events in the book.
Today, we completed our Pumpkin Science experiment. You will want to ask your child if our pumpkin floated and how, or if it sank. We are going to extend the experiment by getting a larger container that will hold more water. Your child may also ask you for some corn oil and maple syrup to complete and experiment that we discussed to day in class. Don't forget the Science project is due on October 19. I can't wait to see their Simple Machine creation!
Instead of the traditional reading comprehension activities this week, the children are coming home with a poem entitled, A Halloween Scene. They have to answer 10 short questions, create and illustrate a scene that represents the poem as much as possible, and then complete a crossword puzzle using the bolded words from the poem. This reading activity is due on Wednesday. I encouraged them to at least complete the questions and plan out the picture tonight. They also have a poem that will be recited in front of the class by October 19. I an going to share with the children that they don't have to wait until Friday to recite the poem if they are prepared ahead of time. They just to let me know in the morning so I can find small windows of time for them to present.
I will hopefully be sending home our Poetry in the Park poem by early next week. I always try to find a fun poem that hasn't been performed by my class before. So I am on the search!!! Once I have successfully found a poem, I will send it home for the children to begin learning the words. We will work on the "feeling" part of the poem in school. There may a prop or two, but I will certainly let you know that as well once the poem has been chosen.
Tomorrow in Math, we will check over some work that we did today and take a practice math test for Unit 2. We will review the test and should have plenty of time for the children to ask questions. The children have learned three strategies to add and subtract large numbers. They have also learned with the help of a diagram, how to organize informtion/numbers in a word problem. I will give the Unit 2 math test on Wednesday.
This week, the children will divide up into groups according to their interest in a topic. We are going to take the main topic of Florida, which we have already been reading and learning about. But then under the main topic there will be sub-topics such as animals, places to visit, and important landforms. The children in each group will be given a small amount of time to complete research on their one topic. Then they will plan how that can share that information with the rest of the class. I am going to try and give them as much time in class that I can, but they may have to continue some of the work at home as homework. I will keep you posted!
Please make sure your child has turned in ALL the Fall Festival forms and money this week. Also, please make sure that your child knows who is coming that day and how they are getting home. There will be a sign up sheet on my classroom door that day. Each child should be with an adult and must be signed out that day before they are allowed to leave the classroom.
This week, our spelling list includes words that have a sound that is spelled with either a K or CK. Tonight for homework, the children are to put the words in alphabetical order on the sheet provided. The words are: black, cheek, crack, mark, sock, smoke, duck, check, blink, sunk, make , brick, blanket, spooky, market, rocket, milk, snack, neck, and sick.
Today we worked on identifying subjects and predicates in sentences in hopes of seeing how a good detailed sentence is formed. Once we found the complete predicate, we focused on the main verb and made decisions on whether or not the verb gave a good mental picture of the what the subject was doing in the sentence and if it didn't, what other word we could choose.
This week we will continue with our Charlotte's Web reading. We are going to focus on details from the story that make the story move along in the book. We will store our details in a paper bag puppet of Wilbur which will later become the main prop for writing their own scripts for certain events in the book.
Today, we completed our Pumpkin Science experiment. You will want to ask your child if our pumpkin floated and how, or if it sank. We are going to extend the experiment by getting a larger container that will hold more water. Your child may also ask you for some corn oil and maple syrup to complete and experiment that we discussed to day in class. Don't forget the Science project is due on October 19. I can't wait to see their Simple Machine creation!
Instead of the traditional reading comprehension activities this week, the children are coming home with a poem entitled, A Halloween Scene. They have to answer 10 short questions, create and illustrate a scene that represents the poem as much as possible, and then complete a crossword puzzle using the bolded words from the poem. This reading activity is due on Wednesday. I encouraged them to at least complete the questions and plan out the picture tonight. They also have a poem that will be recited in front of the class by October 19. I an going to share with the children that they don't have to wait until Friday to recite the poem if they are prepared ahead of time. They just to let me know in the morning so I can find small windows of time for them to present.
I will hopefully be sending home our Poetry in the Park poem by early next week. I always try to find a fun poem that hasn't been performed by my class before. So I am on the search!!! Once I have successfully found a poem, I will send it home for the children to begin learning the words. We will work on the "feeling" part of the poem in school. There may a prop or two, but I will certainly let you know that as well once the poem has been chosen.
Tomorrow in Math, we will check over some work that we did today and take a practice math test for Unit 2. We will review the test and should have plenty of time for the children to ask questions. The children have learned three strategies to add and subtract large numbers. They have also learned with the help of a diagram, how to organize informtion/numbers in a word problem. I will give the Unit 2 math test on Wednesday.
This week, the children will divide up into groups according to their interest in a topic. We are going to take the main topic of Florida, which we have already been reading and learning about. But then under the main topic there will be sub-topics such as animals, places to visit, and important landforms. The children in each group will be given a small amount of time to complete research on their one topic. Then they will plan how that can share that information with the rest of the class. I am going to try and give them as much time in class that I can, but they may have to continue some of the work at home as homework. I will keep you posted!
Please make sure your child has turned in ALL the Fall Festival forms and money this week. Also, please make sure that your child knows who is coming that day and how they are getting home. There will be a sign up sheet on my classroom door that day. Each child should be with an adult and must be signed out that day before they are allowed to leave the classroom.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Marvelous Monday!
What a great day! Let's get some rest again tonight and we ready to go tomorrow!
It was nice to get to spend some time with each of you over the course of last week for conferences. As I may have stated, we can always conference again if needed. Your child will make many strides as the days and months progress and there may be times when added practice is needed at home. I will always keep you posted of all aspects of your child's progress including both academics and behavior. If you would ever like to have another conference, please don't hesitate to ask.
Tomorrow we have our first Picture Lady visit. I know that the children will remember their "guest speaker" manners! This is always a fun learning experience for both the children and me.
We completed our Bouncing Balls experiment today. YEA! We had been trying to get outside during Science class a couple of days last week and Mother Nature didn't cooperate. The children did a fabulous job of working together to gather data of the many bouncing balls. Sorry, the teacher forgot her camera.No worries, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see your little scientist at work. Tomorrow we will share our data and form our conclusions. Then we will move onto to another experiment called Floating Pumpkins. Based on what they already know about pumpkins and water, the children will form their own hypothesis on whether or not they think the pumpkin will float steam up, steam down, or sideways!
In Social Studies, we are going to devote another week to learning more about Florida. Last week, the children completed informational webs in computer lab with main topics being Fun Facts, Geography, and Places to Visit. The focus of that activity was to have the children learn how to use the program Inspiration using their knowledge of what they had learned about Florida in class. I would like to take this idea one step further and divide the children into groups according to their own interests. The group will focus on one of the three specific main topic and research specific facts under that topic. The group will then have to decide how they wish to present their material. For example, they have learned how to use Comic Life and Wordle in computer lab, but they may choose another way to persent the information such as create a brochure or poster.
This weeks spelling words are short vowel followed by a double consonant words. Tonight for homework they are to write each word twice on loose leaf paper. They can write the words in color or use certain fonts if they choose to type the words on the computer. The test will be on Thursday since the children are not in school on Friday.
The Reading Comprehension activity this week, Ice Can Scream, continues with out poem theme. This week the children are to find the verbs in the poem and then add additional verbs that would also be an action of ice. I asked them to try and think of two extra verbs.The children should also focus on the pattern of the stanzas while they are reading them. Don't forget to sign the activity sheet as soon as your child has read it to you. We will be working on a Poetry Unit a little before Poetry in the Park. The reciting of our poem on that special day will be our culminating activity.
The children also have a poem for October called Trick-Or-Treat. This poem is due on October 19. I did tell the children that this time they could add a small prop to the poem. The prop can be something to hold or wear on the top of the head. No masks!
In Math, we will work on our last Algorithm, Trade First Method, continueBallpark Estimates, and solving word problems with three or more addends. Tonight for homework, the children must complete Home Link 2.3, a review of "What's My Rule".
Tomorrow we will read the story in our Wordly Wise workbook, Roundup Time in Virginia. This is one of my favorite stories because not only do I have the famous books that were written about this event, I actually have a picture to share with the kids. This is a special event to Virginians and it is absolutely amazing to watch. I will do my best to bring this story to life for the children. They will be coming home with a few questions to answer for homework. We will restate the questions in class, but then they will have to use the details from the story in the answers. We will have our Wordly Wise test on Thursday. The children will be coming home with the index cards to help them study at home.
We are moving right along in Charlotte's Web. We have reached Chapter 10. The children are becoming quite good at finding important vocabulary. One question thus far has been, why Fern's mother was more worried about her than her dad. You may want to ask your child that questions just to see what they had to say. The follow up question was, Why do mom's seem to worry more than dad's? I am sure this question will make you smile and perhaps chuckle. We will be working on how to be more specific when responding to literature whether in complete sentences or by using a sticky note to make a prediction or make a connection.
By the end of the week, we should be finished with our first personal narrative. We will spend a little bit of time editing and revising before we move onto our second writing sample. The second personal narrative will focus more closely on a specific event or memory, using the five senses to describe and reflect on that one event.
Please make sure that the paper envelopes have been signed and returned. In your child's papers, you may have seen an end of the year second grade assessment. If you did not see this last Friday, you will see it in the next round of papers. I gave the children some time in class last week to complete this assessment. I felt like I needed to know areas of strength and weaknesses. Some of the skills from second grade were not meant to be mastered. But they will be expected to master those skills from that assessment by the end of third grade.
We have art on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Also, once your child has finished with his/her library book, they can bring it back to school and turn in before it's our scheduled library time. This can sometimes keep books from getting lost.
It was nice to get to spend some time with each of you over the course of last week for conferences. As I may have stated, we can always conference again if needed. Your child will make many strides as the days and months progress and there may be times when added practice is needed at home. I will always keep you posted of all aspects of your child's progress including both academics and behavior. If you would ever like to have another conference, please don't hesitate to ask.
Tomorrow we have our first Picture Lady visit. I know that the children will remember their "guest speaker" manners! This is always a fun learning experience for both the children and me.
We completed our Bouncing Balls experiment today. YEA! We had been trying to get outside during Science class a couple of days last week and Mother Nature didn't cooperate. The children did a fabulous job of working together to gather data of the many bouncing balls. Sorry, the teacher forgot her camera.No worries, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see your little scientist at work. Tomorrow we will share our data and form our conclusions. Then we will move onto to another experiment called Floating Pumpkins. Based on what they already know about pumpkins and water, the children will form their own hypothesis on whether or not they think the pumpkin will float steam up, steam down, or sideways!
In Social Studies, we are going to devote another week to learning more about Florida. Last week, the children completed informational webs in computer lab with main topics being Fun Facts, Geography, and Places to Visit. The focus of that activity was to have the children learn how to use the program Inspiration using their knowledge of what they had learned about Florida in class. I would like to take this idea one step further and divide the children into groups according to their own interests. The group will focus on one of the three specific main topic and research specific facts under that topic. The group will then have to decide how they wish to present their material. For example, they have learned how to use Comic Life and Wordle in computer lab, but they may choose another way to persent the information such as create a brochure or poster.
This weeks spelling words are short vowel followed by a double consonant words. Tonight for homework they are to write each word twice on loose leaf paper. They can write the words in color or use certain fonts if they choose to type the words on the computer. The test will be on Thursday since the children are not in school on Friday.
The Reading Comprehension activity this week, Ice Can Scream, continues with out poem theme. This week the children are to find the verbs in the poem and then add additional verbs that would also be an action of ice. I asked them to try and think of two extra verbs.The children should also focus on the pattern of the stanzas while they are reading them. Don't forget to sign the activity sheet as soon as your child has read it to you. We will be working on a Poetry Unit a little before Poetry in the Park. The reciting of our poem on that special day will be our culminating activity.
The children also have a poem for October called Trick-Or-Treat. This poem is due on October 19. I did tell the children that this time they could add a small prop to the poem. The prop can be something to hold or wear on the top of the head. No masks!
In Math, we will work on our last Algorithm, Trade First Method, continueBallpark Estimates, and solving word problems with three or more addends. Tonight for homework, the children must complete Home Link 2.3, a review of "What's My Rule".
Tomorrow we will read the story in our Wordly Wise workbook, Roundup Time in Virginia. This is one of my favorite stories because not only do I have the famous books that were written about this event, I actually have a picture to share with the kids. This is a special event to Virginians and it is absolutely amazing to watch. I will do my best to bring this story to life for the children. They will be coming home with a few questions to answer for homework. We will restate the questions in class, but then they will have to use the details from the story in the answers. We will have our Wordly Wise test on Thursday. The children will be coming home with the index cards to help them study at home.
We are moving right along in Charlotte's Web. We have reached Chapter 10. The children are becoming quite good at finding important vocabulary. One question thus far has been, why Fern's mother was more worried about her than her dad. You may want to ask your child that questions just to see what they had to say. The follow up question was, Why do mom's seem to worry more than dad's? I am sure this question will make you smile and perhaps chuckle. We will be working on how to be more specific when responding to literature whether in complete sentences or by using a sticky note to make a prediction or make a connection.
By the end of the week, we should be finished with our first personal narrative. We will spend a little bit of time editing and revising before we move onto our second writing sample. The second personal narrative will focus more closely on a specific event or memory, using the five senses to describe and reflect on that one event.
Please make sure that the paper envelopes have been signed and returned. In your child's papers, you may have seen an end of the year second grade assessment. If you did not see this last Friday, you will see it in the next round of papers. I gave the children some time in class last week to complete this assessment. I felt like I needed to know areas of strength and weaknesses. Some of the skills from second grade were not meant to be mastered. But they will be expected to master those skills from that assessment by the end of third grade.
We have art on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Also, once your child has finished with his/her library book, they can bring it back to school and turn in before it's our scheduled library time. This can sometimes keep books from getting lost.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Mighty Monday!
I do hope that everyone had a great weekend! Though this week is a four day week for the children, we will still have much to accomplish.
The Geography projects are wonderful! We haven't been able to get to everyone yet to share. But I can tell that every child is so proud of their work and so complimentary of the work of others. The children are getting a taste of presenting to the class. They are sharing two of their favorite physical features and explaining how they came up with the ideas for the finished product. They also have to share one thing that they learned while completing the project. Many have learned how to cut and paste, find pictures using Google, and different ways to illustrate the geographic feature. We will finish sharing tomorrow and the projects will be on display for you on Thursday.
The children were assigned new lunch tables today. This month they are mixed in with other third grade friends from other classes. We hope that this will encourage new friendships outside their own classroom.
This week in Spelling the children have a group of words that have a Soft and Hard C and G sound. The words are listed on the side of the blog and can be found on Spelling City under that name. Tonight they are to write the words in ABC order on the sheet that was given to them in class. The 50 point spelling contract last week seemed to really pay off. I had very good spelling grades as a whole from the class. I will tell you that I am not going to expect the children to do that kind of a project every week. But it will come home again from time to time and the children will be expected to choose projects that they haven't done.
This week for the at home Reading Comprehension, the children are to compare two different styles of poetry. We discussed what couplets are in poetry and that when they are asked about the similarities and differences of each poem, they should focus on the main idea or the overall theme of the poem and not necessarily the words.
We have begun our Personal Narrative unit in Writing Workshop. Today we worked on our list: "Memories that are close to my heart!" I encouraged the children to ask you for perhaps a couple of special events or moments that perhaps the children have forgotten about that they can add to their page. We discussed how this list which includes special events and people could help springboard their writing in the near future. So better to have many ideas from which to choose.
In Math this week we are working on strategies to help with organizing information for word problems. Strategies include the Part-Part Total , the Start-Change-End and the Quantity-Quantity-Difference method. So far the children seem to understand how these strategies can be helpful when solving word problems. Two new terms today were deposit and withdraw. They had to understand these words in order to know what operation to use while solving the problem. This in turn led to an interesting conversation about ATM machines. Smiles! We read a Math book on Friday called, Only One. The children are going to create their own page for our class book. The format is :
There may be __________.
But there is only one __________.
This is a great book written by Marc Harshman. I will often include a math story along with out class lessons that do reinforce a math skill in some way.
We are continuing our reading of Charlotte's Web. Tomorrow we will be reading Chapter 6. The children are responsible for vocabulary words and writing responses in their reading journals. We are also keeping a story map going that outlines characters, events, problems, and solutions. Our class discussions are based on the information that the children find while they are reading. This week, we will begin the art of "sticky notes" where the children will make connection to the text. These connections fall into three categories. (text to self, text to text, and text to the real world) Please remember to sign the weekend reading comprehension activity that comes home.
Last week we completed our Inspiration Maps on FLorida and our Simple Machines posters, thanks to Comic Life. The children have learned how to use these computer tools to share information that they have learned. We will continue to use this knowledge throughout the year with partner projects.
The Science Water Experiments are due on Wednesday. The children were to choose two and complete each experiment using the attached format of the Scientific Method. Each project should be completed on a separate sheet of paper. We are completing our "Bouncing Ball"experiment this week.
I did assign that Stages 4,5, and 6 should be completed this week. Please make sure that your child dates when they have completed that particular stage. You need to sign as well to verify that your child did the stage in its entirety.
I sent out a couple of group emails last week. Please let me know if you did not receive a single email. I entered all the email addresses that were given to me at the beginning of the year. A few emails did return to me as undeliverable. If you are one of these people that did not receive a single email from me last week, please write your email address down in your child;s agenda or email me from your home so that I may double check the address. Thank you very much!
I look forward to meeting with you all on Thursday. I wil be discussing your child's progress, work and study habits, and behavior. I will do my best to stay on time. To help with that, you may want to pre-think any questions or areas of concern and having them written down so that we can make sure we cover as much information as we can.
We will miss Library check out on Thursday due to Conference Day. The children can return their book anytime this week and I will make sure it gets back to the library. We will just have to wait till next week to check out new books. We were scheduled to have a library lesson. I will see if by chance we can find another time to have our lesson. The children really enjoy going to library!
This week begins our ART rotation. The children will go to art class on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for the next three weeks!
I do plan on having the children order books from one of the book clubs. However, I have not received one yet that includes the types of books that I would like to have my children buying and reading. I expect that one will arrive soon and I will send it home for your "shopping pleasure'.
Please make sure that your child is following dress code when coming to school. Pants or shorts with loops need belts and the shirts need to be tucked in when they arrive in the mornings. In class we call this "dressing for success".
The Geography projects are wonderful! We haven't been able to get to everyone yet to share. But I can tell that every child is so proud of their work and so complimentary of the work of others. The children are getting a taste of presenting to the class. They are sharing two of their favorite physical features and explaining how they came up with the ideas for the finished product. They also have to share one thing that they learned while completing the project. Many have learned how to cut and paste, find pictures using Google, and different ways to illustrate the geographic feature. We will finish sharing tomorrow and the projects will be on display for you on Thursday.
The children were assigned new lunch tables today. This month they are mixed in with other third grade friends from other classes. We hope that this will encourage new friendships outside their own classroom.
This week in Spelling the children have a group of words that have a Soft and Hard C and G sound. The words are listed on the side of the blog and can be found on Spelling City under that name. Tonight they are to write the words in ABC order on the sheet that was given to them in class. The 50 point spelling contract last week seemed to really pay off. I had very good spelling grades as a whole from the class. I will tell you that I am not going to expect the children to do that kind of a project every week. But it will come home again from time to time and the children will be expected to choose projects that they haven't done.
This week for the at home Reading Comprehension, the children are to compare two different styles of poetry. We discussed what couplets are in poetry and that when they are asked about the similarities and differences of each poem, they should focus on the main idea or the overall theme of the poem and not necessarily the words.
We have begun our Personal Narrative unit in Writing Workshop. Today we worked on our list: "Memories that are close to my heart!" I encouraged the children to ask you for perhaps a couple of special events or moments that perhaps the children have forgotten about that they can add to their page. We discussed how this list which includes special events and people could help springboard their writing in the near future. So better to have many ideas from which to choose.
In Math this week we are working on strategies to help with organizing information for word problems. Strategies include the Part-Part Total , the Start-Change-End and the Quantity-Quantity-Difference method. So far the children seem to understand how these strategies can be helpful when solving word problems. Two new terms today were deposit and withdraw. They had to understand these words in order to know what operation to use while solving the problem. This in turn led to an interesting conversation about ATM machines. Smiles! We read a Math book on Friday called, Only One. The children are going to create their own page for our class book. The format is :
There may be __________.
But there is only one __________.
This is a great book written by Marc Harshman. I will often include a math story along with out class lessons that do reinforce a math skill in some way.
We are continuing our reading of Charlotte's Web. Tomorrow we will be reading Chapter 6. The children are responsible for vocabulary words and writing responses in their reading journals. We are also keeping a story map going that outlines characters, events, problems, and solutions. Our class discussions are based on the information that the children find while they are reading. This week, we will begin the art of "sticky notes" where the children will make connection to the text. These connections fall into three categories. (text to self, text to text, and text to the real world) Please remember to sign the weekend reading comprehension activity that comes home.
Last week we completed our Inspiration Maps on FLorida and our Simple Machines posters, thanks to Comic Life. The children have learned how to use these computer tools to share information that they have learned. We will continue to use this knowledge throughout the year with partner projects.
The Science Water Experiments are due on Wednesday. The children were to choose two and complete each experiment using the attached format of the Scientific Method. Each project should be completed on a separate sheet of paper. We are completing our "Bouncing Ball"experiment this week.
I did assign that Stages 4,5, and 6 should be completed this week. Please make sure that your child dates when they have completed that particular stage. You need to sign as well to verify that your child did the stage in its entirety.
I sent out a couple of group emails last week. Please let me know if you did not receive a single email. I entered all the email addresses that were given to me at the beginning of the year. A few emails did return to me as undeliverable. If you are one of these people that did not receive a single email from me last week, please write your email address down in your child;s agenda or email me from your home so that I may double check the address. Thank you very much!
I look forward to meeting with you all on Thursday. I wil be discussing your child's progress, work and study habits, and behavior. I will do my best to stay on time. To help with that, you may want to pre-think any questions or areas of concern and having them written down so that we can make sure we cover as much information as we can.
We will miss Library check out on Thursday due to Conference Day. The children can return their book anytime this week and I will make sure it gets back to the library. We will just have to wait till next week to check out new books. We were scheduled to have a library lesson. I will see if by chance we can find another time to have our lesson. The children really enjoy going to library!
This week begins our ART rotation. The children will go to art class on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for the next three weeks!
I do plan on having the children order books from one of the book clubs. However, I have not received one yet that includes the types of books that I would like to have my children buying and reading. I expect that one will arrive soon and I will send it home for your "shopping pleasure'.
Please make sure that your child is following dress code when coming to school. Pants or shorts with loops need belts and the shirts need to be tucked in when they arrive in the mornings. In class we call this "dressing for success".
Monday, September 24, 2012
Merry Monday!
We are off to a great week! We have a several projects that we are completing this week. The children will complete the Simple Machines work in Computer Lab and make posters that we will display in the classroom. The children should be working each night on the Geography Project. I am hopeful that all they have left to do this week is create a cover.
This week we have our first Guidance Class. The children always love this time learning about ways to respect and have fun with their friends. This year, the teacher, Kate Fierce, will come visit our classroom since she does not have her own classroom. Our guidance time will be every other week when we do not have a library lesson. I know the children are excited and they are going to love it!
This week in Spelling we are studying words that contains a Diphthong syllable. That is how the list of words are labeled in Spelling City. The rule for a Diphthong syllable is: A diphthong syllable usually has two vowels together that have one special sound. The children are to put the words in alphabetical order tonight on the sheet provided. I will be sending a spelling contract home tomorrow where the children are expected to earn/complete activities that equal or greater than 50 points. Tonight's abc order is worth 10 points. I will go over this contract full of activities with them tomorrow so they can continue the work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. Hopefully by the time they have completed a few activities, they will not have to study as hard for the test on Friday. This week they will be asked to write the rule as a part of dictation. They will also have a couple of sentences to write that contain a few of the spelling words both from this week and past weeks.
We are moving along with lower case cursive letters. Tonight they are practicing all the lower case letters that we have worked on in class. The homework states that they are to complete page 38 in the workbook. They are to write each letter 5 times and each combination of letters at the bottom only once. Please make sure when they are practicing at home, that they are sitting properly in a chair with the workbook on a table or desk an not in their lap.
The children have a reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday as well called the Golden Touch. It's a great story about what happens when one makes decisions based on greed. We reviewed what the objective was for this week. The children are to write their own definition or sentence that explains what the vocabulary words means as a result of reading the word in the story using their context clues. They are not to look the word up in the dictionary.
We are continuing our word work with our Lesson 2 Wordly Wise words. The story that goes along with our vocabulary words is about the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque. I believe that if you Google Search this event, you will find a video of some of the balloons going up. Amazing sight!!!
The children also have some map work for tonight's homework. I will often just have them do these activities in class. However, I am sending home a couple of the easier ones so that they can have some practice in following directions on their own. You may want to take a peek when your child is finished and check for spelling and completion of answers which includes that challenge portion of the map.
We are continuing with our study of Florida. We have completed our reading and discussion of the economy and the environment. Today we discussed the importance of the Coral Reefs. You may want to ask your child how long it takes a coral polyp to grow. No wonder there are so many rules for snorkeling at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Tonight the children are to identify certain aspects of the state of Florida. We began the work in class and so they shouldn't have much to complete. I did allow them to take their Florida books home. Please make sure that these books are returned tomorrow. Your child will need that book to continue our scavenger hunt.
In Science, we will learn about variables in an experiment by using a variety of balls according to size and bounce. I have some experiments ready to come home for the children to try that revolve around water and sunlight. They will be expected to complete two of the four. If they choose to go "beyond the call of duty" then they can do more for extra credit.
We have completed Muggie Maggie. Tomorrow our reading work will focus on the main events and character traits. The children will be put into groups and they will have time to create a mind map of all the information they wish to share about the story. They will be working with other classmates so they will all have to contribute. This is an excellent strategy as all the children will benefit from the details that each child can remember. They will be expected to incorporate some of the vocabulary that they have learned by reading this book. We are moving onto Charlotte's Web. I know that they have had this book read to them in first grade and then probably have read this book independently as well. However, the activities that are designed around this book are for third grade minds and will require a little more inferencing and writing. At some point, we will work together with the first graders and complete a project using the Charlotte's Web book. I will make sure that I take lots of pictures to share with you. It is so heart warming to see the third graders and the first graders working together.
In Writer's Workshop, we are publishing our first reflection using Muggie Maggie as our spring board. They had to compare the story to a time when they themselves had to do something that they really didn't want to do, but were made to. These will be out in the hallways tomorrow and you will get to see them at conference time. We are also beginning our personal narratives where the children will be asked to reflect on special moments in their lives.
We are beginning our work in Unit 2 in Math. In this unit, the children will be adding and subtracting whole numbers using basic facts and fact extensions. We will review fact families, What's My Rule, and Parts-and-Total Number Stories. These Parts-and-Total Number is a strategy to help organize information for a word problem. We will even begin our work with Partial-Sums and Subtraction Algorithms. The children will be adding and subtracting large numbers. The Family Letter will be coming tomorrow. You will want to take a look at what your child will be expected to learn.
I decided not to send papers home today. I wanted to go ahead and grade the math test that they took today and send all the papers home at one time. There are quite a few. Please make sure your child looks over them carefully at home so that they can learn from their mistakes.
Please make sure that your child is reading at least 15-20 minutes each night. By the end of this week they should work up to 25 minutes. I am using a time log in school. My hope is that they will become more aware of exactly how much time they are truly focused on their reading. We are continuing to work on choosing "Just Right" books at school. At home, they should be reading books that are easy for them to read. The children should not be struggling with vocabulary. If you are unsure, you can have your child read a page orally to you. If they struggle with more then 3 words on a page, do not read smoothly or without expression, and if they can't tell you one thing they remember from that page, then perhaps the book is "Not Right".
The children did a lovely job with their Peace Rock. I am going to be taking some pictures tomorrow and I promise I will get these pictures on the blog soon.
Please continue to send in Box Tops!!!
Thank you again for your support at home. Have a wonderful week!
This week we have our first Guidance Class. The children always love this time learning about ways to respect and have fun with their friends. This year, the teacher, Kate Fierce, will come visit our classroom since she does not have her own classroom. Our guidance time will be every other week when we do not have a library lesson. I know the children are excited and they are going to love it!
This week in Spelling we are studying words that contains a Diphthong syllable. That is how the list of words are labeled in Spelling City. The rule for a Diphthong syllable is: A diphthong syllable usually has two vowels together that have one special sound. The children are to put the words in alphabetical order tonight on the sheet provided. I will be sending a spelling contract home tomorrow where the children are expected to earn/complete activities that equal or greater than 50 points. Tonight's abc order is worth 10 points. I will go over this contract full of activities with them tomorrow so they can continue the work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. Hopefully by the time they have completed a few activities, they will not have to study as hard for the test on Friday. This week they will be asked to write the rule as a part of dictation. They will also have a couple of sentences to write that contain a few of the spelling words both from this week and past weeks.
We are moving along with lower case cursive letters. Tonight they are practicing all the lower case letters that we have worked on in class. The homework states that they are to complete page 38 in the workbook. They are to write each letter 5 times and each combination of letters at the bottom only once. Please make sure when they are practicing at home, that they are sitting properly in a chair with the workbook on a table or desk an not in their lap.
The children have a reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday as well called the Golden Touch. It's a great story about what happens when one makes decisions based on greed. We reviewed what the objective was for this week. The children are to write their own definition or sentence that explains what the vocabulary words means as a result of reading the word in the story using their context clues. They are not to look the word up in the dictionary.
We are continuing our word work with our Lesson 2 Wordly Wise words. The story that goes along with our vocabulary words is about the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque. I believe that if you Google Search this event, you will find a video of some of the balloons going up. Amazing sight!!!
The children also have some map work for tonight's homework. I will often just have them do these activities in class. However, I am sending home a couple of the easier ones so that they can have some practice in following directions on their own. You may want to take a peek when your child is finished and check for spelling and completion of answers which includes that challenge portion of the map.
We are continuing with our study of Florida. We have completed our reading and discussion of the economy and the environment. Today we discussed the importance of the Coral Reefs. You may want to ask your child how long it takes a coral polyp to grow. No wonder there are so many rules for snorkeling at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Tonight the children are to identify certain aspects of the state of Florida. We began the work in class and so they shouldn't have much to complete. I did allow them to take their Florida books home. Please make sure that these books are returned tomorrow. Your child will need that book to continue our scavenger hunt.
In Science, we will learn about variables in an experiment by using a variety of balls according to size and bounce. I have some experiments ready to come home for the children to try that revolve around water and sunlight. They will be expected to complete two of the four. If they choose to go "beyond the call of duty" then they can do more for extra credit.
We have completed Muggie Maggie. Tomorrow our reading work will focus on the main events and character traits. The children will be put into groups and they will have time to create a mind map of all the information they wish to share about the story. They will be working with other classmates so they will all have to contribute. This is an excellent strategy as all the children will benefit from the details that each child can remember. They will be expected to incorporate some of the vocabulary that they have learned by reading this book. We are moving onto Charlotte's Web. I know that they have had this book read to them in first grade and then probably have read this book independently as well. However, the activities that are designed around this book are for third grade minds and will require a little more inferencing and writing. At some point, we will work together with the first graders and complete a project using the Charlotte's Web book. I will make sure that I take lots of pictures to share with you. It is so heart warming to see the third graders and the first graders working together.
In Writer's Workshop, we are publishing our first reflection using Muggie Maggie as our spring board. They had to compare the story to a time when they themselves had to do something that they really didn't want to do, but were made to. These will be out in the hallways tomorrow and you will get to see them at conference time. We are also beginning our personal narratives where the children will be asked to reflect on special moments in their lives.
We are beginning our work in Unit 2 in Math. In this unit, the children will be adding and subtracting whole numbers using basic facts and fact extensions. We will review fact families, What's My Rule, and Parts-and-Total Number Stories. These Parts-and-Total Number is a strategy to help organize information for a word problem. We will even begin our work with Partial-Sums and Subtraction Algorithms. The children will be adding and subtracting large numbers. The Family Letter will be coming tomorrow. You will want to take a look at what your child will be expected to learn.
I decided not to send papers home today. I wanted to go ahead and grade the math test that they took today and send all the papers home at one time. There are quite a few. Please make sure your child looks over them carefully at home so that they can learn from their mistakes.
Please make sure that your child is reading at least 15-20 minutes each night. By the end of this week they should work up to 25 minutes. I am using a time log in school. My hope is that they will become more aware of exactly how much time they are truly focused on their reading. We are continuing to work on choosing "Just Right" books at school. At home, they should be reading books that are easy for them to read. The children should not be struggling with vocabulary. If you are unsure, you can have your child read a page orally to you. If they struggle with more then 3 words on a page, do not read smoothly or without expression, and if they can't tell you one thing they remember from that page, then perhaps the book is "Not Right".
The children did a lovely job with their Peace Rock. I am going to be taking some pictures tomorrow and I promise I will get these pictures on the blog soon.
Please continue to send in Box Tops!!!
Thank you again for your support at home. Have a wonderful week!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Terrific Tuesday!
We have gotten off to a great week! We will be much more on our schedule this week given that last week was our first full week of school. I think the children and the teachers needed some 5-day training. Smiles!
First, let me apologize for the Geography Project Blunder. I had posted that a project would be coming home and even posted the date it was due. However, time always seemed to run out the last couple of weeks and I couldn't find enough time to do the project justice. I don't like to assign things unless we have had some time to review and make connections in class. I did tell the children to let you know that we would still do the project but that it would come home later in the month. You will see the project sheet this week.
This week in Spelling we are continuing our work on silent e and words that have a short and long vowel sound. I am challenging the children to find other words that completely change their sound and meaning simply by adding an e. You will find the list of words this week to the right of the blog.
We have a couple more lessons to complete in Math. Thus I will not be giving the Math test until Friday. We will spend Thursday's math time reviewing and making sure that the children have plenty of time to ask questions. We have had a little difficulty with numbers in patterns. But with further practice, I believe the skill is getting easier. Please continue to review basic addition and subtraction facts at home.
We have completed our Peace poems and illustrations in preparation for Peace Day on Friday. I made a copy of the poems without the illustrations so that you can see what your child accomplished and what is being displayed here at school. The illustrated versions will come home at some point for you to cherish. They are wonderful! We will also decorate our Peace rocks that will be used in our Shorecrest Rock Garden. We are also writing stories of us which will be displayed in the hallway so that you can see and read them on conference day.
I have been completing some reading assessments during our day as well. I will share this information with you on conference day. This will help guide both of us in helping your child choose "just right " books for independent reading. We are working on a new reading log in class. It asks the child to keep track of not only the number of pages but the time as well. As I explained to the children, this is for them to see their own growth and how well that are able to maintain their reading focus during our independent reading time. Hopefully this will help with the home reading as well.
We are continuing reading our class novel, Muggie Maggie. This character has really gotten herself into a little trouble with her indignant attitude about learning how to write and thus read cursive. Our main skill while reading this book has been to find specific details including specific vocabulary words in order to fully comprehend what we are reading. On Tuesday night, the children will have a homework assignment which will require just that. Please know that the children are to respond to the questions in complete sentences. I will review the first couple of questions with them so that you will have an example at home in case you need to help them.
Also in Reading Workshop, we are learning how to "buzz" about a book. This is an excellent way to share books with other children in the room and make recommendations of good books to read.
We have begun our first steps with lower case cursive writing. We began with letters that have an "uphill stroke". These letters include: l, h, k, t, i, u,e, j, and p.
We will begin Lesson 2 in Wordly Wise. These words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite, reverse, signal, steer.
We have completed our introduction to the History of Us book. We will now become the experts on the History of Florida. We will study the geography and its economy and people, past and present. The children have booklet that they have designed which will keep all the information that we learn and study organized. There may be an activity or two that may come home. However, most of our work will be completed in the classroom in groups and individually.
This children produced their first flow chart using the Scientific Method information that they have learned. I was so impressed. I have saved a copy to place in their Science journals, but am sending home a copy for you to see as well. You can expect to see a science experiment activity coming home this week as well. They will then have to put to use some of the procedures that they learned about the the Scientific Method.
We are continuing our work on Simple Machines in the computer lab this week and in the classroom. This week, the children will be using digital cameras to take pictures of simple machines that we find around our Shorecrest campus. They will then design a poster, all computer generated, that displays what they have found and learned. We should have these ready to be displayed by conference time as well . You will be amazed!
Please remember that when you child comes home with the weekly reading comprehension activity, that you are to listen to them read this passage orally at least once and sign at the bottom of the page.
I want to close by sharing some great personal news. Many of you have been concerned and have been very sweet to inquire and have shared encouraging words. We learned yesterday that my husband received a clean bill of health from his doctor. It looks as if the chemotherapy did it's job and if he can continue down this positive path or two years, then he can be considered "cured" from this form of cancer. Again, thank you to many of you that expressed your concern and care.
First, let me apologize for the Geography Project Blunder. I had posted that a project would be coming home and even posted the date it was due. However, time always seemed to run out the last couple of weeks and I couldn't find enough time to do the project justice. I don't like to assign things unless we have had some time to review and make connections in class. I did tell the children to let you know that we would still do the project but that it would come home later in the month. You will see the project sheet this week.
This week in Spelling we are continuing our work on silent e and words that have a short and long vowel sound. I am challenging the children to find other words that completely change their sound and meaning simply by adding an e. You will find the list of words this week to the right of the blog.
We have a couple more lessons to complete in Math. Thus I will not be giving the Math test until Friday. We will spend Thursday's math time reviewing and making sure that the children have plenty of time to ask questions. We have had a little difficulty with numbers in patterns. But with further practice, I believe the skill is getting easier. Please continue to review basic addition and subtraction facts at home.
We have completed our Peace poems and illustrations in preparation for Peace Day on Friday. I made a copy of the poems without the illustrations so that you can see what your child accomplished and what is being displayed here at school. The illustrated versions will come home at some point for you to cherish. They are wonderful! We will also decorate our Peace rocks that will be used in our Shorecrest Rock Garden. We are also writing stories of us which will be displayed in the hallway so that you can see and read them on conference day.
I have been completing some reading assessments during our day as well. I will share this information with you on conference day. This will help guide both of us in helping your child choose "just right " books for independent reading. We are working on a new reading log in class. It asks the child to keep track of not only the number of pages but the time as well. As I explained to the children, this is for them to see their own growth and how well that are able to maintain their reading focus during our independent reading time. Hopefully this will help with the home reading as well.
We are continuing reading our class novel, Muggie Maggie. This character has really gotten herself into a little trouble with her indignant attitude about learning how to write and thus read cursive. Our main skill while reading this book has been to find specific details including specific vocabulary words in order to fully comprehend what we are reading. On Tuesday night, the children will have a homework assignment which will require just that. Please know that the children are to respond to the questions in complete sentences. I will review the first couple of questions with them so that you will have an example at home in case you need to help them.
Also in Reading Workshop, we are learning how to "buzz" about a book. This is an excellent way to share books with other children in the room and make recommendations of good books to read.
We have begun our first steps with lower case cursive writing. We began with letters that have an "uphill stroke". These letters include: l, h, k, t, i, u,e, j, and p.
We will begin Lesson 2 in Wordly Wise. These words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite, reverse, signal, steer.
We have completed our introduction to the History of Us book. We will now become the experts on the History of Florida. We will study the geography and its economy and people, past and present. The children have booklet that they have designed which will keep all the information that we learn and study organized. There may be an activity or two that may come home. However, most of our work will be completed in the classroom in groups and individually.
This children produced their first flow chart using the Scientific Method information that they have learned. I was so impressed. I have saved a copy to place in their Science journals, but am sending home a copy for you to see as well. You can expect to see a science experiment activity coming home this week as well. They will then have to put to use some of the procedures that they learned about the the Scientific Method.
We are continuing our work on Simple Machines in the computer lab this week and in the classroom. This week, the children will be using digital cameras to take pictures of simple machines that we find around our Shorecrest campus. They will then design a poster, all computer generated, that displays what they have found and learned. We should have these ready to be displayed by conference time as well . You will be amazed!
Please remember that when you child comes home with the weekly reading comprehension activity, that you are to listen to them read this passage orally at least once and sign at the bottom of the page.
I want to close by sharing some great personal news. Many of you have been concerned and have been very sweet to inquire and have shared encouraging words. We learned yesterday that my husband received a clean bill of health from his doctor. It looks as if the chemotherapy did it's job and if he can continue down this positive path or two years, then he can be considered "cured" from this form of cancer. Again, thank you to many of you that expressed your concern and care.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Can you believe it's Monday?
Wow! Our first Monday of school! The children were able to get to Music class today. Don't forget to send in the order form for the recorders. Ms. Diaz Leroy wants to make sure that she has enough for all the children.
We ran out of time last week and some topics have been carried over to this week. They will get the Geography project instructions tomorrow and the children can begin as soon as they want to.
Our spelling words this week are Vowel Consonant-e Syllable words. The rules are:
1. the final e is silent
2. the silent e at the end of the word makes the vowel before it have a long sound
Tonight for homework the children are to write the words in abc order on the sheet that with the list of words. The children have written the words and rules in their notebooks and are also allowed to write the words for the week in their agenda.
We began our weekly reading comprehension activity. The title of this week's reading is And You Think Your Mom is Strict. I went over the entire activity today and we talked about how to compare and contrast. They are to give real examples as to the chores that they do at home. They are not allowed to write, the pilgrim children take care of farm animals and I don't.... pilgrim children may take care of farms animals, but your child may take care of dogs and cats..... I did tell the children that they can ask for parental assistance. However, I would encourage you to lead them to the ideas through the reading and let them try and discover the comparison on their own. Don't forget to sign the paper as soon as your child has read it to you.
Also tonight is something new that we do once a week. Sometimes we only do the activity in class.. Sometimes it takes the whole week, and sometimes I send it home for homework as I did tonight. They are to make sure that they are using their paper for correct spellings and to make sure they don't leave out the challenge request.
We have completed the Scientific Method outline and watched a couple of Brainpops that really helped them to further understand what the Scientific Method is and how everyone can use that process for many things. I will be sending home and experiment at some point for the children to try at home, following the process that is outlined in their science journal.
We will continue our Florida study. The children are going on a book scavenger hunt this week to locate specific information that not only will help them learn about their state, but give them practice on how to use a book and main idea and details.
In Math, we will be working on Finding Differences, Calculator Riddles, and Money. We hope to complete our first unit by Friday. We will then review for our test on Monday and the test will be either on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how far we get this week.You can check on this by looking at your child's agenda.
Our class novel, Muggie Maggie, will lead us to some interesting conversations about cursive handwriting. We will begin our instruction of cursive strokes this week.
The children will have their first Wordly Wise test on Friday. I will have them bring home their index cards and workbooks to help them practice matching the definitions and words.
Tomorrow we will begin our Poetry Unit. The goal is to have each child write and publish two pieces of poetry. One piece will be about Peace and the other will be about something special to them. You are going to love these poems!!!!
Please make sure that you sign the paper envelope that is coming home tonight. As time goes on, there will be more papers to come home and more to review. Thank you in advance for your support!
Tomorrow is picture day! Smile pretty!!
We ran out of time last week and some topics have been carried over to this week. They will get the Geography project instructions tomorrow and the children can begin as soon as they want to.
Our spelling words this week are Vowel Consonant-e Syllable words. The rules are:
1. the final e is silent
2. the silent e at the end of the word makes the vowel before it have a long sound
Tonight for homework the children are to write the words in abc order on the sheet that with the list of words. The children have written the words and rules in their notebooks and are also allowed to write the words for the week in their agenda.
We began our weekly reading comprehension activity. The title of this week's reading is And You Think Your Mom is Strict. I went over the entire activity today and we talked about how to compare and contrast. They are to give real examples as to the chores that they do at home. They are not allowed to write, the pilgrim children take care of farm animals and I don't.... pilgrim children may take care of farms animals, but your child may take care of dogs and cats..... I did tell the children that they can ask for parental assistance. However, I would encourage you to lead them to the ideas through the reading and let them try and discover the comparison on their own. Don't forget to sign the paper as soon as your child has read it to you.
Also tonight is something new that we do once a week. Sometimes we only do the activity in class.. Sometimes it takes the whole week, and sometimes I send it home for homework as I did tonight. They are to make sure that they are using their paper for correct spellings and to make sure they don't leave out the challenge request.
We have completed the Scientific Method outline and watched a couple of Brainpops that really helped them to further understand what the Scientific Method is and how everyone can use that process for many things. I will be sending home and experiment at some point for the children to try at home, following the process that is outlined in their science journal.
We will continue our Florida study. The children are going on a book scavenger hunt this week to locate specific information that not only will help them learn about their state, but give them practice on how to use a book and main idea and details.
In Math, we will be working on Finding Differences, Calculator Riddles, and Money. We hope to complete our first unit by Friday. We will then review for our test on Monday and the test will be either on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how far we get this week.You can check on this by looking at your child's agenda.
Our class novel, Muggie Maggie, will lead us to some interesting conversations about cursive handwriting. We will begin our instruction of cursive strokes this week.
The children will have their first Wordly Wise test on Friday. I will have them bring home their index cards and workbooks to help them practice matching the definitions and words.
Tomorrow we will begin our Poetry Unit. The goal is to have each child write and publish two pieces of poetry. One piece will be about Peace and the other will be about something special to them. You are going to love these poems!!!!
Please make sure that you sign the paper envelope that is coming home tonight. As time goes on, there will be more papers to come home and more to review. Thank you in advance for your support!
Tomorrow is picture day! Smile pretty!!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Happy Tuesday!
We had a very productive day today. Though we are not quite into the rhythm of our schedule, we were able to complete more tasks today than we were last week. In truth, it will probably take another week before we are all settled and comfortable with our daily schedule. This week, we will begin our library class and we hope to begin our guidance classes soon.
I have posted the spelling words on the side of the blog and in Spelling City. If you click on my link within the Spelling City program, it will take you to the lists of words that I have already made. The lists may not go in the same order as last year, but the children should always know the title of the words for the week. Just click on that list and all the words will appear and give you options for games. I told the children to take a peek at Spelling City this week just to get used to some of the games and test the print function before I begin assigning homework. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. This week they have Open Syllable words. There are three rules that apply to this list. I have told the children that for dictation this week, they will have to write at least two of the three rules. They have written these rules in their notebook. But the rules are as follows:
1. An open syllable ends with a vowel
2. The vowel has a long sound
3. An open syllable can be just one letter if that letter is a vowel
From time to time this year, I will give the children a poem to learn. These are poems in addition to the one that they will learn for Poetry in the Park. I find that not only are these poems fun, they help ease the children"s fears of speaking in front of a crowd as well as "train the brain" to remember words and phrases. You will find a poem, Keep a Poem in Your Pocket, in the homework folder tonight. The children will be asked to recite this poem on September 14 in front of their classmates. We will also begin our Poetry Unit in Writing along with preparing our "special moments" personal narrative writing. The children will write a couple of poems. One of the poems that they will publish is a poem about Peace. This topic will connect to our observation of International Peace Day on September 21.We will share out poems with the school on that day by putting them on display. I will make sure that each child has a copy of this poem to bring home to share with you.
This week, I assigned several pages of manuscript practice. In fact, the children will review all the letters of the alphabet both upper and lower case. I told the children that they could manage their own work but that all the circled pages in their workbook needed to be completed by Friday. You may want to ask to see this work. I will not assess it until Friday upon which time if I find that any of the writing has been done in haste, the children will be asked to complete the assignment again.
Both tomorrow and Thursday, the children will attend their Art class. There will probably be a notice coming home, but I would like the children to try and bring in a rock by Thursday to take to Art class with them. The rock should be one that can fit in the palm of their hand and carried with ease. I have not discussed this with them, but will do so tomorrow morning at Morning Meeting.
I do have some graded reading and spelling papers that I will return to you as soon as I can set up my grade book. Once the papers do come home, please have your child look over them paying close attention to any mistakes that are made. As I tell the children, mistakes are good if they learn something from them.
This week in Math, we will work on equivalent names, discuss probability, and finding differences with larger numbers. We worked on math boxes today in class. Something that I forgot to mention at Back to School Night are the math box pages in the workbook. The directions on these pages are sparse if not from time to time non-existent. This is intentional and a very good way to assess what your child has learned from the lesson that day. I want to assure you that if and when these math box pages are assigned for homework, that I will review the activities with the children and allow time for questions before the assignment ever comes home. I know that some of you are familiar with the routines and expectations of our Everyday Math program. But I realize that at times it is difficult for you to know exactly how it is taught at school. I will do my best to eliminate any confusion or anxiety for you and your child. I would also encourage the children to go ahead and either find some multiplication flash cards or make some themselves. We do not get into the formal teaching of this concept for a while, but it always helps to have some background knowledge of these basic facts.
We will begin our Scientific Knowledge work this week. I will be sending home an activity that asks the children to form their own hypothesis about a few topics. They don't actually have to do the experiment unless they want to. But, they should be able to write an hypothesis once we have practiced in class. As I mentioned at Back to School Night, the children will keep a Science journal that will stay in class. You can request to see this during our conference if you so desire.
This week I will be reviewing our first third grade project on Landforms. I have all the expectations detailed in a project letter that will come home. Giving the fact that it's the first project of the year, I have outlined some of my expectations and objectives, but have also given the children some choices to make on their own. Again, once you see it and have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. But please know that I will review this at length with your child so there really should not be any reason your child cannot explain it to your satisfaction.
We have completed our first Class Novel. As a class, we came to the conclusion that if everyone were perfect, than the world would be boring. And that if we were all perfect at everything, that we would miss out on friendships formed by helping each other strive to be better. We will compose another response in our response journal this week and then move on to our next novel, Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary. The main character of this book, decides that she does not want to learn cursive handwriting. This is an appropriate book giving the fact that we will begin cursive handwriting next week. Let's just hope we don't have any "Muggie Maggies" in our room. Smiles! we will spend some time on character development and outlining the basics to a story in identifying the beginning, the middle, and the end.
I have been very impressed with the children's grammar abilities. We review certain skills such as capitalization, punctuation, and commas where they are needed. I look forward to learning more about your child once we are in full swing of Writer's Workshop. We did take some time last week for the children to repsond to some questions on both reading and writing. These surveys gave me some insight as to the perceptions that your child has about his or her ability in both areas. They all seem to love to read and write, but are less confident in their ability as a whole. This is where I will begin my work! I am sure it is of no surprise to you when I say that children are so much more accepting to learn when they are comfortable and are confident. And though I don't want to give them false praise, I do want them to receive as much positive feedback as possible. When you are working with your child at home, please try and compliment on even the smallest of things such as expression, pausing at periods and commas, and attempts to sound out a word even if the end result is not the correct pronunciation. Thank you in advance for your support!!!
Tomorrow the children will come home with a Time Capsule Sheet. They will have until Friday to complete the questions. Each child will put his/her sheet in a can and we will keep them safely stored until the end of the year. It will be interesting to see if with another year of learning and maturity how if any their interests will change.
Thank you to all of you that came to Back to School Night. If you were not able to sign up for a conference, please email me as times are limited and I would like to have the schedule in place in order for me to plan ahead of time. Many thanks!
I have posted the spelling words on the side of the blog and in Spelling City. If you click on my link within the Spelling City program, it will take you to the lists of words that I have already made. The lists may not go in the same order as last year, but the children should always know the title of the words for the week. Just click on that list and all the words will appear and give you options for games. I told the children to take a peek at Spelling City this week just to get used to some of the games and test the print function before I begin assigning homework. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. This week they have Open Syllable words. There are three rules that apply to this list. I have told the children that for dictation this week, they will have to write at least two of the three rules. They have written these rules in their notebook. But the rules are as follows:
1. An open syllable ends with a vowel
2. The vowel has a long sound
3. An open syllable can be just one letter if that letter is a vowel
From time to time this year, I will give the children a poem to learn. These are poems in addition to the one that they will learn for Poetry in the Park. I find that not only are these poems fun, they help ease the children"s fears of speaking in front of a crowd as well as "train the brain" to remember words and phrases. You will find a poem, Keep a Poem in Your Pocket, in the homework folder tonight. The children will be asked to recite this poem on September 14 in front of their classmates. We will also begin our Poetry Unit in Writing along with preparing our "special moments" personal narrative writing. The children will write a couple of poems. One of the poems that they will publish is a poem about Peace. This topic will connect to our observation of International Peace Day on September 21.We will share out poems with the school on that day by putting them on display. I will make sure that each child has a copy of this poem to bring home to share with you.
This week, I assigned several pages of manuscript practice. In fact, the children will review all the letters of the alphabet both upper and lower case. I told the children that they could manage their own work but that all the circled pages in their workbook needed to be completed by Friday. You may want to ask to see this work. I will not assess it until Friday upon which time if I find that any of the writing has been done in haste, the children will be asked to complete the assignment again.
Both tomorrow and Thursday, the children will attend their Art class. There will probably be a notice coming home, but I would like the children to try and bring in a rock by Thursday to take to Art class with them. The rock should be one that can fit in the palm of their hand and carried with ease. I have not discussed this with them, but will do so tomorrow morning at Morning Meeting.
I do have some graded reading and spelling papers that I will return to you as soon as I can set up my grade book. Once the papers do come home, please have your child look over them paying close attention to any mistakes that are made. As I tell the children, mistakes are good if they learn something from them.
This week in Math, we will work on equivalent names, discuss probability, and finding differences with larger numbers. We worked on math boxes today in class. Something that I forgot to mention at Back to School Night are the math box pages in the workbook. The directions on these pages are sparse if not from time to time non-existent. This is intentional and a very good way to assess what your child has learned from the lesson that day. I want to assure you that if and when these math box pages are assigned for homework, that I will review the activities with the children and allow time for questions before the assignment ever comes home. I know that some of you are familiar with the routines and expectations of our Everyday Math program. But I realize that at times it is difficult for you to know exactly how it is taught at school. I will do my best to eliminate any confusion or anxiety for you and your child. I would also encourage the children to go ahead and either find some multiplication flash cards or make some themselves. We do not get into the formal teaching of this concept for a while, but it always helps to have some background knowledge of these basic facts.
We will begin our Scientific Knowledge work this week. I will be sending home an activity that asks the children to form their own hypothesis about a few topics. They don't actually have to do the experiment unless they want to. But, they should be able to write an hypothesis once we have practiced in class. As I mentioned at Back to School Night, the children will keep a Science journal that will stay in class. You can request to see this during our conference if you so desire.
This week I will be reviewing our first third grade project on Landforms. I have all the expectations detailed in a project letter that will come home. Giving the fact that it's the first project of the year, I have outlined some of my expectations and objectives, but have also given the children some choices to make on their own. Again, once you see it and have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. But please know that I will review this at length with your child so there really should not be any reason your child cannot explain it to your satisfaction.
We have completed our first Class Novel. As a class, we came to the conclusion that if everyone were perfect, than the world would be boring. And that if we were all perfect at everything, that we would miss out on friendships formed by helping each other strive to be better. We will compose another response in our response journal this week and then move on to our next novel, Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary. The main character of this book, decides that she does not want to learn cursive handwriting. This is an appropriate book giving the fact that we will begin cursive handwriting next week. Let's just hope we don't have any "Muggie Maggies" in our room. Smiles! we will spend some time on character development and outlining the basics to a story in identifying the beginning, the middle, and the end.
I have been very impressed with the children's grammar abilities. We review certain skills such as capitalization, punctuation, and commas where they are needed. I look forward to learning more about your child once we are in full swing of Writer's Workshop. We did take some time last week for the children to repsond to some questions on both reading and writing. These surveys gave me some insight as to the perceptions that your child has about his or her ability in both areas. They all seem to love to read and write, but are less confident in their ability as a whole. This is where I will begin my work! I am sure it is of no surprise to you when I say that children are so much more accepting to learn when they are comfortable and are confident. And though I don't want to give them false praise, I do want them to receive as much positive feedback as possible. When you are working with your child at home, please try and compliment on even the smallest of things such as expression, pausing at periods and commas, and attempts to sound out a word even if the end result is not the correct pronunciation. Thank you in advance for your support!!!
Tomorrow the children will come home with a Time Capsule Sheet. They will have until Friday to complete the questions. Each child will put his/her sheet in a can and we will keep them safely stored until the end of the year. It will be interesting to see if with another year of learning and maturity how if any their interests will change.
Thank you to all of you that came to Back to School Night. If you were not able to sign up for a conference, please email me as times are limited and I would like to have the schedule in place in order for me to plan ahead of time. Many thanks!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Terrific Tuesday!
We had a great day! We are slowly getting used to our schedule. Of course, recess and lunch are the "hit' subjects. Smiles!
The children are coming home with a sheet with this week's spelling words on it. These words were written in their notebook as well. I suggested to the children that they have someone call the words out to them tonight to see which words they need to work on. They can write these words in their agenda so they remember to study those words every night prior to the test on Friday. Tonight for homework, they are to put the words in abc order. We began this process in class today to review this skill. They are to return with this completed sheet tomorrow to check. Every week I post the words as well on the blog so that your child should never be without a list of spelling words to review.
Other responsibilities tonight include:
Wear a stalk of broccoli..we are reading the class novel, How to Be Perfect in Just Three Days.. on day one, the main character learns that he must wear a stalk of broccoli to school... you will want to ask your child why Milo wants to be perfect....
Look for Box Tops
Read the Math Parent Letter
Work on the elephant challenge.. I told them they could ask for "parental assistance" but please try not to do the whole thing for them (due by Friday)
Please remember to turn in your Class Money to Mrs. Camp
Don't forget that Back to School Night is this Thursday night beginning at 7:00pm in the Janet Root Theater. This is a big night for me to share important information with you that could help you and in turn help your child throughout the year. There will be much to share, so please try and get to the room as soon as possible after the all school meeting. At that time, I will have some things for you to take home. The room mothers and dads will also have some things to share with you as well. You may want to begin thinking what event for which you would like to volunteer. I cannot express how much volunteers are needed to help make the different events fun smoothly for the children and for the teachers. Thank you in advance for all your help!
You will sign up on Thursday night for the Parent Teacher Conference on October 4, 2012. Please remember that whatever time you choose, is the time set for both conferences both in October and February.
Again, I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday night. Thank you for sending me such lovely children.
The children are coming home with a sheet with this week's spelling words on it. These words were written in their notebook as well. I suggested to the children that they have someone call the words out to them tonight to see which words they need to work on. They can write these words in their agenda so they remember to study those words every night prior to the test on Friday. Tonight for homework, they are to put the words in abc order. We began this process in class today to review this skill. They are to return with this completed sheet tomorrow to check. Every week I post the words as well on the blog so that your child should never be without a list of spelling words to review.
Other responsibilities tonight include:
Wear a stalk of broccoli..we are reading the class novel, How to Be Perfect in Just Three Days.. on day one, the main character learns that he must wear a stalk of broccoli to school... you will want to ask your child why Milo wants to be perfect....
Look for Box Tops
Read the Math Parent Letter
Work on the elephant challenge.. I told them they could ask for "parental assistance" but please try not to do the whole thing for them (due by Friday)
Please remember to turn in your Class Money to Mrs. Camp
Don't forget that Back to School Night is this Thursday night beginning at 7:00pm in the Janet Root Theater. This is a big night for me to share important information with you that could help you and in turn help your child throughout the year. There will be much to share, so please try and get to the room as soon as possible after the all school meeting. At that time, I will have some things for you to take home. The room mothers and dads will also have some things to share with you as well. You may want to begin thinking what event for which you would like to volunteer. I cannot express how much volunteers are needed to help make the different events fun smoothly for the children and for the teachers. Thank you in advance for all your help!
You will sign up on Thursday night for the Parent Teacher Conference on October 4, 2012. Please remember that whatever time you choose, is the time set for both conferences both in October and February.
Again, I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday night. Thank you for sending me such lovely children.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Friday Fun!
We had another great day today! The children loved sharing their "Me Bags" and I so enjoyed getting to know each of them a little better. We made lots of positive connections to each other when we discovered that many enjoyed water and snow skiing, gymnastics, reading, soccer, baseball, and cheerleading. We also learned that some of us like origami, playing the violin, piano, and tennis. What a talented group!
I did ask them to do a little thinking over the weekend. The boys and girls were put in groups today and they were to list as many things that they could think of where numbers were used. I asked them to go home this weekend and be more aware of numbers at home and around town. They are to try and find two more ways that numbers are used and write it in their agenda. On Monday, we will add these ideas to the math charts that we started today.
I hope that everyone will take the time to check my blog even when I don't remind the children. In the event of bad weather on Monday and Tuesday, I may send a couple of things that I would like the children to work on... that is if we have electricity. But most importantly, be safe and have a great weekend!
I look forward to another super week!
I did ask them to do a little thinking over the weekend. The boys and girls were put in groups today and they were to list as many things that they could think of where numbers were used. I asked them to go home this weekend and be more aware of numbers at home and around town. They are to try and find two more ways that numbers are used and write it in their agenda. On Monday, we will add these ideas to the math charts that we started today.
I hope that everyone will take the time to check my blog even when I don't remind the children. In the event of bad weather on Monday and Tuesday, I may send a couple of things that I would like the children to work on... that is if we have electricity. But most importantly, be safe and have a great weekend!
I look forward to another super week!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
First Full Day of Fun!
Welcome moms and dads to Third Grade! I wanted to give you an update and share some things that we have been doing over the last couple of days. We have been busy getting our desks organized, learning the new rules of the classroom, and getting to know our classmates during our morning meeting. I will send a blog home once a week to share our learning objectives and give suggestions on how to help our child at home.
We started math today using our number sense and reviewing basic addition facts. Then the children practiced counting in a sequence into the hundreds and thousands. I was very impressed with their adding and subtracting ability. We also read a math adventure entitled, Once Upon a Dime. You will want to ask your child how the tree bloomed with different kinds of fertilizer, especially when Farmer worth used bull chips. Tomorrow they will create their own flower using a dime.
After watching a Brainpop on writing a friendly letter, the children wrote a letter to me telling me a little about themselves inside and outside of school. I also asked to write a little bit about their favorite summer experience. I loved reading the letters and look forward to learning about your child in other writing pieces.
On the first day of school, I read the book, You Are Special but Max Lucado. You will want to ask your child was the lesson or the message behind this story and the importance of the dots and stars. It is a lovely story about a little wooden boy, Punchinello, who feels like he is not good enough or special enough. But he discovers in the end that he is special as we all are no matter what we can and can't do. We used this story to springboard into a conversation about feelings and how easily ones feelings can be hurt by using the wrong words. One of our classroom goals this year is for each child to compliment a classmate's work or manners at least once a day.
If you are reading this blog, then you have successfully completed your homework assignment for the evening. The children's job was to let you know that you needed to try and get to the blog. There are some things I need to update for this year which I hope to get completed next week.
I look forward to seeing everyone at Back To School night next Thursday. I will have lots to share!
I told the children to look for a question. Once they have read the question, have them put the answer in their agenda on Friday's date.
Cheers to you for sending me such delightful children!
We started math today using our number sense and reviewing basic addition facts. Then the children practiced counting in a sequence into the hundreds and thousands. I was very impressed with their adding and subtracting ability. We also read a math adventure entitled, Once Upon a Dime. You will want to ask your child how the tree bloomed with different kinds of fertilizer, especially when Farmer worth used bull chips. Tomorrow they will create their own flower using a dime.
After watching a Brainpop on writing a friendly letter, the children wrote a letter to me telling me a little about themselves inside and outside of school. I also asked to write a little bit about their favorite summer experience. I loved reading the letters and look forward to learning about your child in other writing pieces.
On the first day of school, I read the book, You Are Special but Max Lucado. You will want to ask your child was the lesson or the message behind this story and the importance of the dots and stars. It is a lovely story about a little wooden boy, Punchinello, who feels like he is not good enough or special enough. But he discovers in the end that he is special as we all are no matter what we can and can't do. We used this story to springboard into a conversation about feelings and how easily ones feelings can be hurt by using the wrong words. One of our classroom goals this year is for each child to compliment a classmate's work or manners at least once a day.
If you are reading this blog, then you have successfully completed your homework assignment for the evening. The children's job was to let you know that you needed to try and get to the blog. There are some things I need to update for this year which I hope to get completed next week.
I look forward to seeing everyone at Back To School night next Thursday. I will have lots to share!
I told the children to look for a question. Once they have read the question, have them put the answer in their agenda on Friday's date.
Cheers to you for sending me such delightful children!
Friday, June 1, 2012
A Third Grade Farewell
"All the flowers of all tomorrows are in the seeds of today." All my little seeds have been extremely busy throughout the entire year. I have enjoyed teaching and learning with your child. This year has been a wonderful and rewarding year. I sincerely hope that it has been a fun year for your child as well. Each child in my room has made a special and worthwhile contribution. They have worked very hard and have accomplished a great deal. As I reflect on this year, I have a good feeling about the academic growth that I have observed in everyone. Each child has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. I hope that I have challenged the strengths and improved upon the weaknesses. I also hope that your child will have happy memories of third grade at Shorecrest. I know I will have happy memories of your child as a special person.
I would encourage each child to establish a quiet reading time at least once or twice a week during the summer. Perhaps a special time could be spent between you and your child discussing the books that are read. Whether you visit the library, the bookstore, or download books on a kindle, make sure the books are "just right" books. A review of basic multiplication and division facts, using flashcards could help keep the cobwebs out of the "summer brains". I would also encourage the children to work on some of the incomplete math workbook pages.The children can also use the remaining pages in their response journals or writing binder to keep a summer diary of all their special adventures at home, camp or along family trips. They could apply the Wordly Wise vocabulary from our workbook to enhance the writing as well. I am sure that at the beginning of fourth grade they will be asked to recount a summer experience.
You will want to look through the many papers that were sent home as well as the guides that are in their Writing Workshop binder. There are useful charts and "hints" to help while writing that may come in handy at home and in fourth grade. We have spent a great deal of time this year studying the process of writing and these charts and guides along with vocabulary lists can only enhance what they have already learned.
I know many of you have adventures planned this summer. I told the children that I love getting postcards and letters from camp or along family vacations. I am including my mailing address at the close of this entry.
I do wish every child much success in fourth grade. I hope they will study hard and remember his or her good work and study habits. And remember, when in doubt of what to do, READ!
I have enjoyed this year and I will always remember this special group of children.They are capable and hardworking student that should achieve great success in the future. I will also remember you, their parents. Thank you very much for your kind words and prayers this past month. Mr Hensler and I are very fortunate to have been surrounded by such caring people. We appreciated your generosity and your patience when I had to be away from the classroom. You will always be remembered!
I have downloaded many pictures from throughout the year. Just click on photos and enjoy! Your child should remember most of what was going on in each picture. I also included a few Sawgrass pictures. The children took all the pictures that day and I ended up with over 150 just about Sawgrass. So, I only included a few that I thought captured the unique environment of Sawgrass.
I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing summer!
Your child's third grade teacher and friend,
Renee Trump Hensler
3926 West Granada Street
Tampa, Florida 33629
rhensler@shorecrest.org
I would encourage each child to establish a quiet reading time at least once or twice a week during the summer. Perhaps a special time could be spent between you and your child discussing the books that are read. Whether you visit the library, the bookstore, or download books on a kindle, make sure the books are "just right" books. A review of basic multiplication and division facts, using flashcards could help keep the cobwebs out of the "summer brains". I would also encourage the children to work on some of the incomplete math workbook pages.The children can also use the remaining pages in their response journals or writing binder to keep a summer diary of all their special adventures at home, camp or along family trips. They could apply the Wordly Wise vocabulary from our workbook to enhance the writing as well. I am sure that at the beginning of fourth grade they will be asked to recount a summer experience.
You will want to look through the many papers that were sent home as well as the guides that are in their Writing Workshop binder. There are useful charts and "hints" to help while writing that may come in handy at home and in fourth grade. We have spent a great deal of time this year studying the process of writing and these charts and guides along with vocabulary lists can only enhance what they have already learned.
I know many of you have adventures planned this summer. I told the children that I love getting postcards and letters from camp or along family vacations. I am including my mailing address at the close of this entry.
I do wish every child much success in fourth grade. I hope they will study hard and remember his or her good work and study habits. And remember, when in doubt of what to do, READ!
I have enjoyed this year and I will always remember this special group of children.They are capable and hardworking student that should achieve great success in the future. I will also remember you, their parents. Thank you very much for your kind words and prayers this past month. Mr Hensler and I are very fortunate to have been surrounded by such caring people. We appreciated your generosity and your patience when I had to be away from the classroom. You will always be remembered!
I have downloaded many pictures from throughout the year. Just click on photos and enjoy! Your child should remember most of what was going on in each picture. I also included a few Sawgrass pictures. The children took all the pictures that day and I ended up with over 150 just about Sawgrass. So, I only included a few that I thought captured the unique environment of Sawgrass.
I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing summer!
Your child's third grade teacher and friend,
Renee Trump Hensler
3926 West Granada Street
Tampa, Florida 33629
rhensler@shorecrest.org
Monday, May 21, 2012
The Last Monday
Wow! It is so hard to believe that today is the last Monday of the school year! We need to have a productive week in order to prepare for your visit on Friday. The children were rather restless and quite chatty. Help me get them through this week and we can relax the last two days of school next week!
We are completing our Real-Fantasy-Real stories. This time the children will have additional illustrations including a creative cover. We will share these with you on Friday during our writing celebration.
In Social Studies, the children are to find 5 effects of Hernando Cortes arrival in Mexico in 1519. We read the Chapter in class last week and discussed along the way. Tonight, I would like them to practice their strategic reading skills to find specific information.
We have begun our third grade reflections. Today I asked the children to make a list of all the learning experiences, activities, programs, visitors and events that they could think of. Well, as you can imagine, the list grew and grew. I was pleased to see all that each child could remember. It was interesting though to discover which experiences were the most popular and then how much diversity there is amongst the group according to interests. I will have the children share these with you also on Friday. However, I will need to save them and put them in their reflection folder for next year.
This week for Math homework, I have given each child a letter of the alphabet. They are to write at least 5 math vocabulary words or more that begin with that letter. Then they are find 3 pictures to go with the words that they have chosen. I asked them to use magazines and newspapers and not to draw their own this time. Some children graciously accepted the duty of completing two letters as were were 7 people short of a full alphabet.
The children do have their last reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday. The reading portion this time is very short, but the performance part is very specific and covers many facts. The children must take the facts and place them in the correct category. Another strategic reading exercise.
We are working on our Sawgrass project. Today, we successfully completed our technology component to the project. Tomorrow, the children will begin organizing their information and begin designing the poster or whatever they have chosen to share their knowledge. We have worked in groups for various things this year, but this is truly a lesson in division of labor and productivity.
There will not be a spelling list or test this week or next.
I will send out an email later on this week to remind you of our events on Friday. We hope you can join us for lunch at 12:10 and then stay with us through the afternoon. However, if this is not an option, our first event begins promptly at 12:45. I believe the I-Movie presentation will be in the room next to Mrs Lippincott's Guidance room called the Children's Studio.
We are completing our Real-Fantasy-Real stories. This time the children will have additional illustrations including a creative cover. We will share these with you on Friday during our writing celebration.
In Social Studies, the children are to find 5 effects of Hernando Cortes arrival in Mexico in 1519. We read the Chapter in class last week and discussed along the way. Tonight, I would like them to practice their strategic reading skills to find specific information.
We have begun our third grade reflections. Today I asked the children to make a list of all the learning experiences, activities, programs, visitors and events that they could think of. Well, as you can imagine, the list grew and grew. I was pleased to see all that each child could remember. It was interesting though to discover which experiences were the most popular and then how much diversity there is amongst the group according to interests. I will have the children share these with you also on Friday. However, I will need to save them and put them in their reflection folder for next year.
This week for Math homework, I have given each child a letter of the alphabet. They are to write at least 5 math vocabulary words or more that begin with that letter. Then they are find 3 pictures to go with the words that they have chosen. I asked them to use magazines and newspapers and not to draw their own this time. Some children graciously accepted the duty of completing two letters as were were 7 people short of a full alphabet.
The children do have their last reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday. The reading portion this time is very short, but the performance part is very specific and covers many facts. The children must take the facts and place them in the correct category. Another strategic reading exercise.
We are working on our Sawgrass project. Today, we successfully completed our technology component to the project. Tomorrow, the children will begin organizing their information and begin designing the poster or whatever they have chosen to share their knowledge. We have worked in groups for various things this year, but this is truly a lesson in division of labor and productivity.
There will not be a spelling list or test this week or next.
I will send out an email later on this week to remind you of our events on Friday. We hope you can join us for lunch at 12:10 and then stay with us through the afternoon. However, if this is not an option, our first event begins promptly at 12:45. I believe the I-Movie presentation will be in the room next to Mrs Lippincott's Guidance room called the Children's Studio.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Merry Monday!
Wow.. only a few more Mondays to go! It is truly hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the year and your children will be heading to fourth grade. I need the children to continue to focus and do their best work.
This week we are back to our normal schedule with just a couple of changes to the schedule. This week we have Guidance class on Thursday along with the First Grade Rehearsal show. Then on Friday, we visit the fourth grade classrooms and teachers. This gives the children time to ask questions and observe what a fourth grade classroom looks like.
We will have our Spelling test on Friday. The children are also coming home with a Reading Comprehension activity on an Italian Race Car Driver. This comes on the heals of our Science cars that we "fine tuned" and added a sail to on Friday. The children had to work together in small groups to decide if they needed or wanted to redesign their car, knowing that a sail made out of cardboard had to be added. The wind did cooperate with us on Friday. I hope to get one more run in before we reflect on this project.
We will begin Lesson 11 in Wordly Wise. The children will be bringing this workbook home this week for homework. If you would then encourage you to take 5 minutes to practice matching the words and the definitions for a test on Friday.
We will complete our Real-Fantasy-Real writing samples this week. The children will organize their stories and begin writing tomorrow. They will probably bring home their story one night this week and read it to you. You will want to focus on the exact moments when the story moves from the real to fantasy and back. AND, ask the children to explain the "thread" that exists throughout the entire story. We worked on that element today in writer's workshop. We read the story, Where the Wild Things Are specifically listening to the how or what the writer uses as the common thread in the real and in the fantasy.
The children were given a new class novel today, Caleb's Story. This time they are allowed to read any and all the book on their own terms. However, it would be the expectation that all the children would be completely finished with the book by Friday. There is plenty of independent reading time built in the day. So this is not an unrealistic goal.
Tonight for homework, the children have a social studies activity about Christopher Columbus. They are to use their social studies book and practice the critical reading strategies that we have been discussing in class. I did put them in groups on Friday to get started. Some are finished, but others need to finish tonight for homework. The words that go in the blanks have to be words from the reading and have to tell a true story of Christopher Columbus's travels.
We will have our Math Test tomorrow. The children have a practice study test in their homework folders. We reviewed each skill and they had plenty of time to ask questions. Our next unit will explore more multiplication and division algorithms, positive and negative numbers, and sharing money, with a review of fractions, arrays, and area.
This week we are back to our normal schedule with just a couple of changes to the schedule. This week we have Guidance class on Thursday along with the First Grade Rehearsal show. Then on Friday, we visit the fourth grade classrooms and teachers. This gives the children time to ask questions and observe what a fourth grade classroom looks like.
We will have our Spelling test on Friday. The children are also coming home with a Reading Comprehension activity on an Italian Race Car Driver. This comes on the heals of our Science cars that we "fine tuned" and added a sail to on Friday. The children had to work together in small groups to decide if they needed or wanted to redesign their car, knowing that a sail made out of cardboard had to be added. The wind did cooperate with us on Friday. I hope to get one more run in before we reflect on this project.
We will begin Lesson 11 in Wordly Wise. The children will be bringing this workbook home this week for homework. If you would then encourage you to take 5 minutes to practice matching the words and the definitions for a test on Friday.
We will complete our Real-Fantasy-Real writing samples this week. The children will organize their stories and begin writing tomorrow. They will probably bring home their story one night this week and read it to you. You will want to focus on the exact moments when the story moves from the real to fantasy and back. AND, ask the children to explain the "thread" that exists throughout the entire story. We worked on that element today in writer's workshop. We read the story, Where the Wild Things Are specifically listening to the how or what the writer uses as the common thread in the real and in the fantasy.
The children were given a new class novel today, Caleb's Story. This time they are allowed to read any and all the book on their own terms. However, it would be the expectation that all the children would be completely finished with the book by Friday. There is plenty of independent reading time built in the day. So this is not an unrealistic goal.
Tonight for homework, the children have a social studies activity about Christopher Columbus. They are to use their social studies book and practice the critical reading strategies that we have been discussing in class. I did put them in groups on Friday to get started. Some are finished, but others need to finish tonight for homework. The words that go in the blanks have to be words from the reading and have to tell a true story of Christopher Columbus's travels.
We will have our Math Test tomorrow. The children have a practice study test in their homework folders. We reviewed each skill and they had plenty of time to ask questions. Our next unit will explore more multiplication and division algorithms, positive and negative numbers, and sharing money, with a review of fractions, arrays, and area.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
ERB Tuesday!
Today was another successful day of testing. I sensed that the children were more at ease today since they knew what to expect. That in turn also recreated a more attentive rest of the day and we were able to dive more into fractions in math. You will want to look in the homework folder and take a look at a sheet that we worked on today. Very "big time" stuff!
As you are already aware, we will not have a spelling test this week and we will hold off on our Math test until next Tuesday. We will review this week in class and I would expect that the children will want to practice at home. But, we decided as a grade that we would not give any other tests this week, thinking that the ERB's are more than enough.
Third Grade is celebrating the Kentucky Derby on Friday. The children are to design and create a hat that depicts the nature and excitement of the Kentucky Derby. With your permission, I told the children that they should go on-line to find out the names of the horses that are running and maybe design a hat around a horse, especially for the boys since I am sure they will no want flowers on their hats. Smiles!
The children will be completing their Explorer project this week. They will work on the finishing touches in computer lab this week by making a video. We have worked on the sets and scripts in class and now it's time for the video and music. We will share these projects later on this month, hopefully on the same day as our Writer's Celebration. We have a couple of writing pieces to revise and edit and then we will be ready to share both our Writer's Workshop pieces and our Reading Response Journal.
May 18 is the big Splash Day for the children. Each child has a letter in their homework folder explaining the details of that day. I will remind them again as that day approaches. The children are encouraged to wear their bathing gear under their uniform clothes on that day. We will not be giving them extra time to change clothes. But when they return, they will be allowed to take the wet clothes off and put dry uniform clothes back on.
As you are already aware, we will not have a spelling test this week and we will hold off on our Math test until next Tuesday. We will review this week in class and I would expect that the children will want to practice at home. But, we decided as a grade that we would not give any other tests this week, thinking that the ERB's are more than enough.
Third Grade is celebrating the Kentucky Derby on Friday. The children are to design and create a hat that depicts the nature and excitement of the Kentucky Derby. With your permission, I told the children that they should go on-line to find out the names of the horses that are running and maybe design a hat around a horse, especially for the boys since I am sure they will no want flowers on their hats. Smiles!
The children will be completing their Explorer project this week. They will work on the finishing touches in computer lab this week by making a video. We have worked on the sets and scripts in class and now it's time for the video and music. We will share these projects later on this month, hopefully on the same day as our Writer's Celebration. We have a couple of writing pieces to revise and edit and then we will be ready to share both our Writer's Workshop pieces and our Reading Response Journal.
May 18 is the big Splash Day for the children. Each child has a letter in their homework folder explaining the details of that day. I will remind them again as that day approaches. The children are encouraged to wear their bathing gear under their uniform clothes on that day. We will not be giving them extra time to change clothes. But when they return, they will be allowed to take the wet clothes off and put dry uniform clothes back on.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Terrific Tuesday!
Today was a great day! I trust that everyone had a fun and relaxing long weekend. The children were very welcoming to our visitor who will be with us again tomorrow. They were quite impressed with his ability in PE class.
We began our review for the ERB testing that will take place next week. We will use a sample booklet as well as complete a few worksheets as morning work just to reinforce the "art" of bubbling in an answer. I will also send home some review sheets for homework so that you can see some of the focus of these tests as well.
We will complete our Native American Essays and begin writing our Real-Fantasy-Real stories. You will want to ask your child was a "thread" is with this genre of reading and writing.
In Math, we will continue our work on fractions. It was my hope that on Friday we would spend our math time working on equivalent fractions. However, with the remaining portion of my class on Friday, I decided to wait until this week to tackle this skill. We will also work on long division and one last strategy called Lattice Multiplication to help with long multiplication problems.
Today our reading lesson revolved around how to write thick and thin questions while reading. These questions should also be a basis for good conversation in reading partnerships. In fourth grade, many of the reading activities are done in book clubs. So being able to carry on conversations about what one is reading is very important. I am hopeful that the work that we are doing in third grade now will reflect well in fourth grade and give them a solid foundation.
This week we will also begin looking at rubric that fourth grade uses within the Reading Workshop times that itemizes certain reading behaviors. I am going to give a rubric to each of my children and individually talk about not only what I think their strengths and weaknesses are, but to also give them time to assess themselves. We are now setting goals for ourselves for the remaining weeks of school. This rubric can potentially help them set goals for themselves to help their independent reading.
We will attempt our field trip again this Thursday. We will leave school around 9:50 and return by lunch time. Please make sure the children wear tennis shoes and are dressed in appropriate dress code attire.
We began our review for the ERB testing that will take place next week. We will use a sample booklet as well as complete a few worksheets as morning work just to reinforce the "art" of bubbling in an answer. I will also send home some review sheets for homework so that you can see some of the focus of these tests as well.
We will complete our Native American Essays and begin writing our Real-Fantasy-Real stories. You will want to ask your child was a "thread" is with this genre of reading and writing.
In Math, we will continue our work on fractions. It was my hope that on Friday we would spend our math time working on equivalent fractions. However, with the remaining portion of my class on Friday, I decided to wait until this week to tackle this skill. We will also work on long division and one last strategy called Lattice Multiplication to help with long multiplication problems.
Today our reading lesson revolved around how to write thick and thin questions while reading. These questions should also be a basis for good conversation in reading partnerships. In fourth grade, many of the reading activities are done in book clubs. So being able to carry on conversations about what one is reading is very important. I am hopeful that the work that we are doing in third grade now will reflect well in fourth grade and give them a solid foundation.
This week we will also begin looking at rubric that fourth grade uses within the Reading Workshop times that itemizes certain reading behaviors. I am going to give a rubric to each of my children and individually talk about not only what I think their strengths and weaknesses are, but to also give them time to assess themselves. We are now setting goals for ourselves for the remaining weeks of school. This rubric can potentially help them set goals for themselves to help their independent reading.
We will attempt our field trip again this Thursday. We will leave school around 9:50 and return by lunch time. Please make sure the children wear tennis shoes and are dressed in appropriate dress code attire.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Mighty Monday!
Wow.. what a day! We were able to get a lot accomplished today in hopes that every day this week will be the same. This week is also Celebrate the Arts week. We will get the opportunity to listen to a storyteller, keep the rhythm with live banjo players, and learn from our artist teach-ins at the end of the week. Please remember that you are invited on Friday to see the children sing, share in their art work, and have lunch outside. Bring your picnic blanket!
Please remind your child to keep reading the Sunshine State Books. They must have read at least 3 books in order to vote on April 19 and 20 and April 24 and 25. They can vote in the library on these days from 7:30-2:45.
Today we began looking at how to take a multiple choice test and how one can eliminate answers that don't really relate to the question. We had a class discussion about sometimes it's not ALL about knowing the answer quickly that make a good test taker. Sometimes a good test taker is one that is able to evaluate and eliminate choices that leads to a correct answer. You will want to take a look in your child's homework folder for the multiple choice activity that we completed. The two skills today were main idea and combining two choppy sentences into one more appropriate sentence. We have done quite a bit of this in class this year, but the presentation of the skill has been different. I wanted the children to be familiar with the approach that you will see on their paper.
We are currently working on our Native American Realistic Fiction Essays. The children have chosen one of the Native American groups that we have been studying. They are a Native American child and are writing from their perspective. In the essay, they must weave as many facts as they can into the essay, BUT without ever mentioning the name of their group such as Northwest Coast, Inuit, etc. The children will share these essays in hope that we will be able to tell which group they are from simply by the facts they reveal in the writing. I told the children that this is a test of knowledge but they get to use the book and their charts to show me what they have learned. We will share these with you at our next Author's Celebration that will come mid-May.
We are still working on fractions. We will spend time this week learning how to reduce simple fractions and identify equivalent fractions. We will apply this knowledge with word problems as well. Please continue to review multiplication and division facts.
This week's spelling words are homographs. These are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced in two different ways depending on how they are used in the sentence. The words are as follows: buffet, conduct, content, defect, desert, excuse, house, minute, object, produce, record, refuse, separate, subject. There is dictation this week that will be recorded in notebooks for classwork tomorrow. I will have the children bring home the sentences to practice writing in cursive for the test on Friday. I will send home a few sheets of writing paper for practice at home during the week.
The children have a reading activity this week entitled, Want Fries With That? Please make sure your child read this once orally to you and then independently. Please don't forget to sign the paper when they have completed the task.
We are beginning our Real-Fantasy-Real Unit this week in both reading and writing. This will be our last formal unit of study of the year. However, there will be other outlets for writing creatively and responding to our class literature. We have almost completed Skylark, the sequel to Sarah, Plain, and Tall. There is one more book to the sequel called Caleb which we will also read with our Buddy Readers.
We spent some time today discussing two historic events this weekend. One of these is the sinking of the Titanic. The other is that all baseball players on the field yesterday were wearing the number 42 thanks to Jackie Robinson. You will want to ask your child what was one thing that Jackie Robinson was afraid of that had nothing to do with baseball.
Tonight's homework responsibilities are as follows:
Spelling...write each word in cursive 1x on the paper provided
Reading...complete the Dad, Jackie, and Me Chronological order activity.... the children are to list the 5 events that they found the most interesting... they must be events with action, not just a detail.. then they are to order according to how they were presented in the story and then rank 1-5 of most importance being 1 to least important being 5 according to how they feel as a reader
Math.. workbook page 190.. some completed this in class
Take another look at the 50 states.. we started our map work without help this afternoon and will hopefully finish tomorrow.. so they get another night of review
Please let me know if you would be interested in having another conference as soon as you can. I like to have these conferences completed prior to the last two weeks of school as my other duties are pressing at the very end of the year. Thank you for your continued support! Hope to see you on Friday at the picnic!
Please remind your child to keep reading the Sunshine State Books. They must have read at least 3 books in order to vote on April 19 and 20 and April 24 and 25. They can vote in the library on these days from 7:30-2:45.
Today we began looking at how to take a multiple choice test and how one can eliminate answers that don't really relate to the question. We had a class discussion about sometimes it's not ALL about knowing the answer quickly that make a good test taker. Sometimes a good test taker is one that is able to evaluate and eliminate choices that leads to a correct answer. You will want to take a look in your child's homework folder for the multiple choice activity that we completed. The two skills today were main idea and combining two choppy sentences into one more appropriate sentence. We have done quite a bit of this in class this year, but the presentation of the skill has been different. I wanted the children to be familiar with the approach that you will see on their paper.
We are currently working on our Native American Realistic Fiction Essays. The children have chosen one of the Native American groups that we have been studying. They are a Native American child and are writing from their perspective. In the essay, they must weave as many facts as they can into the essay, BUT without ever mentioning the name of their group such as Northwest Coast, Inuit, etc. The children will share these essays in hope that we will be able to tell which group they are from simply by the facts they reveal in the writing. I told the children that this is a test of knowledge but they get to use the book and their charts to show me what they have learned. We will share these with you at our next Author's Celebration that will come mid-May.
We are still working on fractions. We will spend time this week learning how to reduce simple fractions and identify equivalent fractions. We will apply this knowledge with word problems as well. Please continue to review multiplication and division facts.
This week's spelling words are homographs. These are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced in two different ways depending on how they are used in the sentence. The words are as follows: buffet, conduct, content, defect, desert, excuse, house, minute, object, produce, record, refuse, separate, subject. There is dictation this week that will be recorded in notebooks for classwork tomorrow. I will have the children bring home the sentences to practice writing in cursive for the test on Friday. I will send home a few sheets of writing paper for practice at home during the week.
The children have a reading activity this week entitled, Want Fries With That? Please make sure your child read this once orally to you and then independently. Please don't forget to sign the paper when they have completed the task.
We are beginning our Real-Fantasy-Real Unit this week in both reading and writing. This will be our last formal unit of study of the year. However, there will be other outlets for writing creatively and responding to our class literature. We have almost completed Skylark, the sequel to Sarah, Plain, and Tall. There is one more book to the sequel called Caleb which we will also read with our Buddy Readers.
We spent some time today discussing two historic events this weekend. One of these is the sinking of the Titanic. The other is that all baseball players on the field yesterday were wearing the number 42 thanks to Jackie Robinson. You will want to ask your child what was one thing that Jackie Robinson was afraid of that had nothing to do with baseball.
Tonight's homework responsibilities are as follows:
Spelling...write each word in cursive 1x on the paper provided
Reading...complete the Dad, Jackie, and Me Chronological order activity.... the children are to list the 5 events that they found the most interesting... they must be events with action, not just a detail.. then they are to order according to how they were presented in the story and then rank 1-5 of most importance being 1 to least important being 5 according to how they feel as a reader
Math.. workbook page 190.. some completed this in class
Take another look at the 50 states.. we started our map work without help this afternoon and will hopefully finish tomorrow.. so they get another night of review
Please let me know if you would be interested in having another conference as soon as you can. I like to have these conferences completed prior to the last two weeks of school as my other duties are pressing at the very end of the year. Thank you for your continued support! Hope to see you on Friday at the picnic!
Monday, April 2, 2012
No April Fools!
Tomorrow is a big day! We begin our WraP , the writing portion of the ERB test. We will spend two days writing, revising, editing, and publishing stories. We will work an hour tomorrow and then an hour on Wednesday. I have explained to the children that they will work for a solid hour They can't just finished in 15 minutes and tell me that they are "done". Once they receive the topic for tomorrow's prompt, they will plan and begin writing the story. The second day they will revise and edit and publish. I will keep them on a time schedule so that they don't get to the end and don't have time to publish. I asked each of them to bring two #2 sharpened pencils with good erasers on them. I also asked them to make sure they are well rested. I think that some were still groggy from the weekend's events.
Homework will be light this week. Tonight's responsibilities are as follows:
Spelling... write each word in cursive on the sheet provided
Math...Workbook page 178 and a Shamrock challenge that is due on Wednesday
Look in the homework folder for a Celebrate the Arts letter
We will probably have a math test toward the end of the week. However, we will spend plenty of class time reviewing the skills.
The boys and girls will use their creativity one more time for the benefit of the community. Each child will design and illustrate a spring mural on a place mat that will be laminated and given to the Meals on Wheels organization. All the third grade children did this in January and we received many thank you notes from the recipients. It would bring a tear to your eye to read some of the thank you notes in telling us how we made their day and loved using the decorated place mats.
We are beginning a new writing genre known as Real-Fantasy-Real. Once we complete our Wrap work we will begin this writing unit.
Our next class novel is Skylark which is the sequel to Sarah, Plain, and Tall. I may have the children bring this book home for homework to complete a couple of assignments. Thus, they can count the reading of this book on their nightly book log.
Homework will be light this week. Tonight's responsibilities are as follows:
Spelling... write each word in cursive on the sheet provided
Math...Workbook page 178 and a Shamrock challenge that is due on Wednesday
Look in the homework folder for a Celebrate the Arts letter
We will probably have a math test toward the end of the week. However, we will spend plenty of class time reviewing the skills.
The boys and girls will use their creativity one more time for the benefit of the community. Each child will design and illustrate a spring mural on a place mat that will be laminated and given to the Meals on Wheels organization. All the third grade children did this in January and we received many thank you notes from the recipients. It would bring a tear to your eye to read some of the thank you notes in telling us how we made their day and loved using the decorated place mats.
We are beginning a new writing genre known as Real-Fantasy-Real. Once we complete our Wrap work we will begin this writing unit.
Our next class novel is Skylark which is the sequel to Sarah, Plain, and Tall. I may have the children bring this book home for homework to complete a couple of assignments. Thus, they can count the reading of this book on their nightly book log.
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