I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Monday, September 17, 2012

September 17-21

Hello!

We will be taking a Community Walk next Tuesday!  We will be walking through the neighborhood and to our local McDonald's restaurant for a treat.  Your child will be encouraged to bring no more than $5 so they can buy themselves a treat.  I will not be holding onto their money for them.  They will use this as a learning experience on how to order and pay for themselves. 

Picture Day is on Wednesday!  If you are ordering pictures you should send in the order form by Wednesday. 

Common Core Night is Wednesday evening from 6:00-7:00.  If you plan on attending and haven't sent in your RSVP, then please let me know so we have enough space.  Thanks!  :)

Parent Conferences are next week!  I can't wait to meet with each of you to set some goals for the year and to discuss your child's progress with you.

Reading
We are continuing to make connections and ask questions about the text we read.  Ask your child to create a few connections and "I wonder..." questions after he or she reads from a book, and check to see if they can answer their own questions.  Small reading groups began today!

Spelling
The spelling pattern this week contains word families.  Each of the words in the list will contain one of these endings:  -ay, -an, -ip, -old, -ack, and -own.  The spelling test will be on Friday.

Math
This week we will be practicing our mental math skills as well as rounding and estimating numbers.
If your child is struggling with homework and you are not sure how to help, please encourage them to bring their textbook home so that you can reveiw the lesson with them.  This might help some frustration that your child may be havingwith homework.   

Writing
We will be writing a special poem this week.  Biopoems are poems that describe ourselves and our characteristics.  They should be finished in time for you to read at conferences. 

Social Studies
We are still studying communities and will review the differences between urban, rural and suburban communities.

Science
We will continue learning about solar energy by experimenting with sun beads and the effectiveness of UV strengths in various sunscreens.

Monday, September 10, 2012

September 10-14

The students did an awesome job last week as they completed their MAP tests!! I am so proud of them and the hard work that they put into taking the tests.  This was the first time these kiddos ever tested on computers for a long period of time.  They did a great job concentrating, staying focused and trying their best on all three tests.  I will share and review individual results with you at parent confences in a couple weeks. 

Parent Conferences- Parent Conferences are a few weeks earlier this year, Sept. 26 and 27.  If you have not signed up for a conference yet, you will need to sign up for a conference time through our Prairie Ridge website.  Here is the link: http://www.usd232.org/education/components/form/default.php?sectiondetailid=33036&

Lap-A-Thon is this Friday.  Make sure your child wears tennis shoes.  The third grade will be walking/running from 10:50-11:30.  Please feel free to join us at this time.  :)

Book Orders-  I sent home book order forms in Monday folders last week.  I will be collecting orders until Wednesday.  You may also order online if you wish.  Let me know if you have any questions at all.  Thanks for supporting your child's reading with Scholastic! 

Reading- We began Theme 2 today, Life in Many Places.  The reading strategy that we will practice for the next two weeks is "Asking Questions."  We will continue to review making connections as we progress through the various reading strategies.  I will complete benchmarking this week and will begin meeting with small reading groups next week.

Spelling- The spelling pattern for this week is consonant blends.  All of the words will contain one of these blends: cr-,dr-, gr-, pr-, and -st. The spelling test will be on Friday.

Math- We will take our first math test tomorrow on Topic 1.  The students have a practice test for homework tonight.  On Wednesday, we will begin Topic 2.  This week the students will learn about the meaning of addition and subtraction, as well as have the opportunity to practice using mental math to add numbers.

Social Studies- We will continue learning about communities, specifically, the differences between the 3 types of communities- rural, suburuban and urban.

Science- This week we will be making sun prints.  We will also determine the temperature differences between several earth materials like dirt and sand when they are exposed to the sun.

Have a great week!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

September 4

Hello!

Welcome to another week of 3rd grade!  We are off to a great start and have a busy 4-day week ahead of us.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Assessments-  MAP testing begins in 3rd grade!  This is a district tool that is used to help us evaluate the progress of our students from year to year.  Students will take MAP assessments in the fall and in the spring every school year from 3rd grade through 12th grade. 

Our class will take their very first round of these tests this week- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  The students will take 3 tests:  reading, math and language arts so there will be one each day.  I will review the results from this first round of testing with you at parent conferences at the end of September.

Reading-
We are continuing with Theme 1, Community Spirit.  We will keep practicing how to make connections with the text that we read.  Small reading groups will begin in a couple of weeks.

Spelling-
The spelling pattern for this week is "beginning consonant sounds".  The lists contain words that begin with the consonants b, d, f, m and v. Your child's list was sent home with them in their homework folder and should be written in their agenda this evening. The final test will be on Friday.

Math-
We are still learning about place value this week.  We will be comparing numbers, ordering numbers and using an organized list to represent given information in a problem. 

Writing-
Students will prewrite ideas for their story and write a first draft.
We will continue reveiwing nouns and verbs this week, as well.

Science and Social Studies-
We are learning about how the sun is the main source of the solar energy we recieve on earth.  We have several activities planned for this unit in which sunlight is required.  Therefore, we may go back and forth between science activities and social studies based on the sunlight's cooperation. 

We will begin learning about our community in social studies.  By the end of the week, students should know where they live-- on the planet earth, on the continent North America, in the country of the United States, in the state of Kansas, in the county of Johnson, and in the city of Shawnee.  They may even be able to tell you which neighborhood they live in.

Have a great week!