Hello families! October is upon us! We have many new things happening in our classroom this week. This week is Farm to You Week and the Regional Food Bank will be doing a presentation in our class on Tuesday afternoon discussing pollination and germination. A perfect presentation to kick off our pollination unit in science! On Monday we will be planting our own seeds to learn about and watch the life cycle of a plant. In social studies we will begin to look at the geography of South America and use our knowledge of a compass rose to navigate through this continent. In reading workshop, we will begin an in depth study of character. We will use the text Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo to learn about how understanding characters are the key to understanding a text. We will collect memories in writing workshop for our personal narrative. Singular and plural nouns will continue to be our focus in word work. We have learned three important rules so far and will learn three more this week! We are moving on to a new topic in math. This week we'll be focusing on addition properties and subtraction strategies and rounding to estimate sums and differences. We will also take our first math fact quiz on Friday on both addition and subtraction facts with 10s and 11s. Look for your child's first math chapter test to come home this week on Place Value for you to view, sign, and return for me to keep for my records.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
We're off and running...
Wow! Hard to believe school just began three weeks ago! We have accomplished many things in our short time together. This week will be just as busy! In math we will finish Place Value and take our first math chapter test at the end of the week. During reading workshop we will continue book talks with a partner and learn how to write about our "reader's voice". We will also set up guidelines for our reading workshop so we can do our best reading and writing without being distracted by others. In writing workshop we will begin a unit on "Personal Narrative." We will begin collecting significant memories from our lives to write and share with each other. Our noun study continues with singular and plural nouns and how there are different rules associated when changing a singular noun to its plural form. A quiz will be given later in the week on the rules adding an s, when to add an es, and when the noun is both singular and plural (for example: sheep, deer, etc.).
A note about spelling: This past Friday, your child came home with their first spelling list for this week. Their homework Monday night will be to write each spelling word in a sentence. We will begin this assignment together in class and they will have to finish it. A list of spelling guidelines will be glued to the inside front cover of their spelling notebook. Please review these guidelines with your child! Their spelling test will be this Thursday.
Reading Log and Current Events:
Your child's first reading log is due tomorrow. They should fill out the title, author, minutes read, and have you initial for each day on the reading log. They are required to read 5 out of the 7 nights and can write "OFF" on the two nights they take off. Please note: Last week we had Monday off from school so we didn't start the log until Tuesday. I told them all that Monday was a "free night off" and so the calendar they're handing in tomorrow could have 3 nights off.
Our first Current Events Calendar for the month of October came home last week. The requirements for the assignment is written at the top of the calendar. We did a sample current event together as a class on an article titled Wild Thing, which was about a Dutch artist who makes beach animals in hopes to preserve the sand from the rising ocean water. We also viewed a video. Click on the link if you'd like to see the video I shared with the class: Strandbeest
I have included links to current events resources that are kid friendly on the sidebar of the blog. Please let me know if you have any questions.
And lastly, a thank you to Mrs. Kate Kloss, our first MYSTERY READER! Mrs. Kloss read Smile a Lot by Nancy Carlson. It was a fun book with the lesson to always remember to smile a lot, even if things don't always go your way! We also learned about one of Mrs. Kloss' hobbies which is letter boxing! I'm sure many of you already heard all about it! I know we all were intrigued.
A note about spelling: This past Friday, your child came home with their first spelling list for this week. Their homework Monday night will be to write each spelling word in a sentence. We will begin this assignment together in class and they will have to finish it. A list of spelling guidelines will be glued to the inside front cover of their spelling notebook. Please review these guidelines with your child! Their spelling test will be this Thursday.
Reading Log and Current Events:
Your child's first reading log is due tomorrow. They should fill out the title, author, minutes read, and have you initial for each day on the reading log. They are required to read 5 out of the 7 nights and can write "OFF" on the two nights they take off. Please note: Last week we had Monday off from school so we didn't start the log until Tuesday. I told them all that Monday was a "free night off" and so the calendar they're handing in tomorrow could have 3 nights off.
Our first Current Events Calendar for the month of October came home last week. The requirements for the assignment is written at the top of the calendar. We did a sample current event together as a class on an article titled Wild Thing, which was about a Dutch artist who makes beach animals in hopes to preserve the sand from the rising ocean water. We also viewed a video. Click on the link if you'd like to see the video I shared with the class: Strandbeest
I have included links to current events resources that are kid friendly on the sidebar of the blog. Please let me know if you have any questions.
And lastly, a thank you to Mrs. Kate Kloss, our first MYSTERY READER! Mrs. Kloss read Smile a Lot by Nancy Carlson. It was a fun book with the lesson to always remember to smile a lot, even if things don't always go your way! We also learned about one of Mrs. Kloss' hobbies which is letter boxing! I'm sure many of you already heard all about it! I know we all were intrigued.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Our 4 day week!
Hello parents! Hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall-like weekend! I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for attending Open House this past Thursday evening. There were a lot of topics covered during that time, so please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I'm excited that all of our Mystery Reader slots filled up and look forward to this starting!
This week is going to be a busy one! In reading we will learn about our "Reader's Voice", the voice we hear in our head as we're reading that tells us we've read something funny, interesting, sad, or confusing. We will also begin to have book talks with a partner discussing this reader's voice.
During math we'll expand our place value concepts to larger numbers and look at number lines. In writing we'll discover how writer's get their ideas and look to some mentor authors for examples of this. Our social studies discussions will focus on North America where we'll decide the hemisphere it's located in, the countries that make it up, look at the placement of the Equator, and review a compass rose. During word work our focus this week and last was on the difference between common and proper nouns. We will have a short quiz this Friday.
This week our first Reading Log will come home as well as our first Current Events calendar for the month of October. Be on the lookout for these two important pieces of paper! Don't forget to send in the Friday Letter tomorrow. Take care!
This week is going to be a busy one! In reading we will learn about our "Reader's Voice", the voice we hear in our head as we're reading that tells us we've read something funny, interesting, sad, or confusing. We will also begin to have book talks with a partner discussing this reader's voice.
During math we'll expand our place value concepts to larger numbers and look at number lines. In writing we'll discover how writer's get their ideas and look to some mentor authors for examples of this. Our social studies discussions will focus on North America where we'll decide the hemisphere it's located in, the countries that make it up, look at the placement of the Equator, and review a compass rose. During word work our focus this week and last was on the difference between common and proper nouns. We will have a short quiz this Friday.
This week our first Reading Log will come home as well as our first Current Events calendar for the month of October. Be on the lookout for these two important pieces of paper! Don't forget to send in the Friday Letter tomorrow. Take care!
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Off to a great start!
Hello! I hope you all are enjoying this weekend. We have completed our first week and are off to a great start! Yesterday your child brought home a Friday Letter notebook. Inside this notebook is their first letter to you about what they experienced in school during this first week. Attached to the inside front cover is a letter to you explaining the many purposes of this Friday letter. I am requesting that you respond in a letter format back to them each week. You may respond on the same page under their letter, or on the next page. I thank you in advance for your responses. It is my hope that this increases your child's communication with you about their time in school and at the end of the year, they will have an entire notebook filled with memories from third grade!
We have a busy week ahead! Last Thursday we made globes and we will be painting them early this week. In addition, we'll learn some vocabulary associated with maps and globes. In reading, we'll learn how our classroom library is set up, how to choose appropriate books, and how to write what we're thinking as we're reading. In math, we'll be expanding place value concepts to numbers in the thousands. We will soon be having weekly addition and subtraction math fact quizzes. Please be sure you are practicing these facts with your child.
I look forward to seeing all of you at Open House this Thursday, the 13th, at 6:00pm.
We have a busy week ahead! Last Thursday we made globes and we will be painting them early this week. In addition, we'll learn some vocabulary associated with maps and globes. In reading, we'll learn how our classroom library is set up, how to choose appropriate books, and how to write what we're thinking as we're reading. In math, we'll be expanding place value concepts to numbers in the thousands. We will soon be having weekly addition and subtraction math fact quizzes. Please be sure you are practicing these facts with your child.
I look forward to seeing all of you at Open House this Thursday, the 13th, at 6:00pm.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
First Day of School!
We had a terrific first day of school! I'm looking forward to such a fun and exciting year ahead! It was so nice to hear about all of your family adventures over the summer. If you have not had a chance to send in a picture from the summer, please do as soon as possible. We will be doing a writing activity with these photos in class. Your son/daughter brought home their steno pad which will act as their assignment pad for the year. It is my hope that they asked you to sign it. I sent home a blue letter yesterday explaining this and if you have any questions about it please feel free to contact me! I will be explaining this process further at Open House next week. Here's to another great day in 3P!
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