Week of December 17-21

Important Dates:
*Social Studies Test Tuesday 12/18
*Bowling Test Tuesday 12/18
*Science quiz Wednesday 12/19
*Bowling Thursday 12/20
*Spelling Test Friday 12/21
*Polar Express at the Tivoli Friday 12/21


Classroom Chatter
Ms. Stainman needs parent volunteers to help tie roller skates during PE classes for third grade. She needs help the week of January 8-January 22. You can come as many or as few of times as you want and can go into any other class or your child's own. We have gym from 1:35-2:00 everyday. You can email her at tstainman@ccsd66.org if you are interested. Thanks for your help.


Thursday afternoon, 3rd grade will go bowling for PE. Students are allowed to purchase snacks at the snack bar. You can send your child with money to school Thursday to make a snack purchase. Students need to make sure they wear gym shoes to school that day. They'll be bowling in them.


Friday we are off to the Tivoli to see Polar Express as a school wide field trip. Remember to bring a sack lunch. We will be eating before we go to the movies.



Spelling
This week we will take a break from our spelling workbooks. Students will be studying Egypt words this week. There will be a list of 10 Egypt spelling words. No pretest this week. The test is on Friday. The list is in the spelling folder. Students will have spelling activities this week to practice their Egypt words.



English
We will spend this week writing holiday stories. They will be similar to our wonderful turkey stories. Students will be writing a Holiday story from a Holiday character's point of view. Look for them to come home by the end of the week to share with the family over the holidays! These will not be for a grade.


Reading
We are continuing reading and learning about Egypt. Students will finish up reading our Eye of Egypt books. Students will be learning about time lines to help understand how long ago Ancient Egyptian times were. We also will be learning about hieroglyphics and writing with them.



Science
We will finish up with activity 6 on the space shuttle There will be a short quiz on Wednesday. Wednesday's quiz will cover activities 2-6 in the space book. A study guide and notes will go home on Monday. They will be in the science folder.



Social Studies
We will finish chapter two with a test on Tuesday. The study guide went home last week. It is in the social studies folder.



Math
This week we will work on ordered pairs with graphs and take a checkpoint. We will spend the rest of the week working on a graph project. Students will be taking x7's in mad minutes this week.



Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. See you next year! :)

-Mrs. Csorba

Week of December 10-14

Important Dates:
*English Test Wed. 12/12
*Spelling Test Fri. 12/14
*Spirit Day Friday-Wear Prairieview Shirts
*Movie Night Friday 12/14



Classroom Chatter
*I was so touched by the generosity and thoughtfulness of those of you who donated to our adopted family. We collected gifts along with Mr. Trinco's class for a family of 7 children and a mom and dad. EACH family member will receive several presents to open! How cool is that?!


Here are pictures I took of our presents we collected. Again, thank you all so very much!








*Don't forget Friday is Prairieview Spirit Day. Wear a PV sweatshirt, T-shirt, or our school colors to show your school spirit!

* A Six Flags Reading Log will be coming home on Monday. Your child's 20 minutes of reading can also count towards this. Students who read for 6 hours will earn a free admission to Six Flags Great America. They are due FEBRUARY 22, 2008. This is optional, but I highly encourage everyone to do this, especially since you already read for me AND it is a FREE ticket!

Spelling
Lesson 15's words are spelled with -ing. The test will be Friday. The list is in the spelling folder.


English
We will finish up our Verb unit with a test on Wednesday. We will then work on writing a holiday story till we break for winter.


Reading
We are continuing with our Egypt unit. Students will learn about the steps of making a mummy and work on sequencing skills. We also will learn about Queen Cleopatra. Students will practice self questioning and inferencing skills as we read about her.



Science
We began our space unit. Last week students met Borg and Zard. They are aliens that helped up figure out which way is up. This week students will learn about gravity, weightlessness, and the space shuttle.



Social Studies
We will learn about what an urban community is this week in lesson 3. We will be reading about Chicago to help learn more about urban communities. We will be taking a test next Tuesday 12/18 on Ch. 2. Look for a study guide to come home this week.


Math
We finished up chapter 3 on multiplication and division. We will continue multipliation mad minutes this week. Students will be taking a mad minute on x6's. We also will begin chapter 4: Using Data and Probability. This week students will be collecting and organizing data, making bar graph and pictographs, and understanding and reading line graphs.

Week of December 3-7

Important Dates:
*Adopted Family gifts due Wed. 12/5
*November's Reading Party Thurs. 12/6
*Spelling Test Fri. 12/7
*Spirit Day Friday 12/7Wear RED for Caring
*Movie Night slips due 12/11
*Movie Night 12/14


Classroom Chatter

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Thank you all for your time and support during last week's conferences. It was great to meet with everyone and have a chance to discuss the students! If you have any questions or comments regarding your child's progress in school, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or voicemail. Thank you!



All items/gifts need to be turned in by Wednesday for our holiday service project. So far, our class has collected two gifts for the mother, and 2 Target gift cards and a gift for the 4 year old girl. Please help if you can! Whatever you can give would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for helping make this family's holiday a little more bright!
Here is the family information again:



*Cintorion (cancer patient) 2 year old boy

*Caron 9 year old boy

*Cinnica 6 year old boy

*Cinniqua 5 year old girl

*Cinni'ya 4 year old girl

*Darion 6 year old boy

*baby boy 1 month old-no name yet

Mom

Dad


*Bowling: A permission slip has been sent home about our gym field trip to the bowling alley. We will be going bowling in the afternoon on Thursday, December 20th. There is no cost for this trip, but you may send a little money for your child to purchase a drink or snack from the snack bar. Please send the permission slips as soon as possible. Thank you!



*Reading Party: Those students who have completed reading 28 days for the month of November are invited to attend this reading party. Look for more details to be sent home regarding lunch for the party. Thank you!



Spelling:
Lesson 14 is this week. These words are irregular past tense words. The lists are in the spelling folders. The test will be on Friday.



English:
This week we will learn about irregular verbs and contractions. We will finish up the unit next week with a chapter review. The test for verbs is scheduled for Wednesday 12/12. Look for a study guide to come home by the end of this week.





Reading:
Walk like an Egyptian! We are continuing to work on our Ancient Egypt unit. The students have read and learned about the importance of the Nile River. This week we will read about the Egyptian afterlife, mummies, and pyramids. We are continuing to practice various reading skills as we find facts and opinions, compare and contrast present day and ancient Egypt, and find the main idea and details within the book.



Science
We will begin our next unit, Space. We will be learning about space through our hands-on experiments. Students will be completing a space booklet for each activity. I will provide supplemental notes and study guide information. I plan on completing the first five activities before we break for the holidays. There will be a short quiz covering the concepts from these activities in 2 weeks. The quiz is tentatively planned for 12/17. The first lesson teaches us which way is up. Students will use aliens, Borg and Zard to help them learn which way is up!!!



Social Studies:
We will begin lesson 2 this week. Students will learn what an suburban community is as we visit Levittown, New York. We will compare this community to our communities of Downers Grove, Darien, and Woodridge. We will be finishing up chapter 2 before we break for the holidays. I plan on testing out of chapter two the last week of school before break. (12/18 is tentatively planned for the Chapter 2 test).



Math:
We will finish up chapter 3 this week. The test is scheduled for Friday. Students will be taking a checkpoint Thursday for a grade. They will be allowed to use any notes, the book and their multiplication boxes to help them. They will NOT be able to use anything for Friday's test. Students have been introduced and taught all multiplication and division concepts that they will need for Friday's test. If your child does get stuck on a multiplication fact, remind them that they can use repeated addition to help figure out the answer. We will be taking x5's in mad minutes this week.

Week of November 26-30

Important Dates:

*Parent Teacher Conferences: 11/26-11/28

*Spelling Test Thursday 11/29

*Book orders due 11/29 or online by 11/30

*No School Friday 11/30

Classroom Chatter

*Book orders went home last week. I encourage everyone who is ordering to check out ordering online. It is fast, safe, and easy! If you choose not to order online, the paper orders and check is due by Thursday. Online orders will be due by Friday. Thank you.

*Conferences are this week. Please be ontime for you conference. It is only a 15 minute time slot. I look forward to meeting with all parents this week.

*Some changes for second trimester are as follows. The homework grade (late slips) will be 5 points instead of 10. I also will be taking a grade in spelling once a week. This will be either from the spelling workbook or the ABC order sheet.

*Thank you to Maria who donated items to the Treasure Chest. Thank you to Payton for bringing in some gifts for our adopted family.

*I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Check out this website below. The Csorba family was elfed over the holidays. Enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9536328371

Spelling

Lesson 13 is this week. These words are past tense words with a final y. There is no pretest this week. The test is Thursday due to no school on Friday. The list is in the spelling folder.

English

We will continue with verbs this week. We will learn about the special verb be and helping verbs.

Reading

We will be traveling back in time as we explore Egypt. Student will be reading and learning about Ancient Egypt for our next reading unit. This week we will begin by reading a book called, Eye on Ancient Egypt. Students will be working on predictions and main idea this week as we read.

Social Studies

We will begin chapter 2 this week. Chapter 2 teaches us about three types of communities: rural, suburban, and urban. We will be testing out of this chapter the week before we break for the holidays.

Science

We will begin our unit on Space next week.

Math

We will finish up chapter 3 on multiplication and division. This week we will be learning about division and the properties of division. Students will also be taking the x4 mad minute. We will continue with problem solving by making a table and working on T-charts as well.

Week of November 19-23

Important Dates:
*Thanksgiving Break- 11/21 to 11/23
*Parent/Teacher Conferences 11/26 to 11/28
* Book orders due Friday 11/30
*Yearbook orders due Monday 12/3
*Adopted family gifts due Wednesday 12/5


Classroom Chatter
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy the nice break with your family. This year, I am thankful for my wonderful group of third graders! Don't forget to ask your child to share their turkey story we worked on in english.(It will come home Tuesday after we share them in class). Something the whole family will enjoy! Gobble! Gobble!

*HOLIDAY SERVICE PROJECT: Two notes will come home Monday explaining our school wide holiday service project. Each classroom is assigned a family to "sponsor" this holiday season, as well as work to collect gift cards and money for the Lutherbrook Foundation, a safe home for abused children. As a class, we will be working to make the holidays bright for a family struggling with cancer. We will be collecting gifts for the individual family members and entire family, as well as monetary donations and gift cards for Lutherbrook through Wednesday, December 5th. Please see the note in your child's binder for details explaining these special and incredible projects. Any questions, please contact me. Thank you in advance for your generosity and kindness!

Book orders will be coming home on Monday and available to purchase online again. Please take advantage of online ordering! It helps me out greatly! The due date is Friday 11/30. There is no school that day. Online orders will be due that day. Paper orders need to be in by Thursday 11/29. LOOKING FOR GIFT IDEAS???? Order some books! They make great gifts and stocking stuffers. If you are ordering any books that are to be Christmas/Holiday gifts and you don't want your child to see them, send me an email or a note. I will set those books aside. We can then arrange for a day and time for you to pick them up at school.



YEARBOOKS: Now’s the time to place your orders. Yearbooks are $9.00 and the deadline for your orders is Monday, December 3, 2007. No orders will be accepted after that date. Please make checks payable to Lifetouch. Please make sure your student’s name, teacher’s name and grade level are marked on the order form. Yearbook order forms went home with your child on November 15th and there a few extra envelopes available; please try not to lose them. If your child loses it, you can send an envelope with the following information on it: student’s name, teacher’s name and grade level along with a check made payable to Lifetouch for $9.00. It is very important that you put the information on the envelope; Lifetouch does not know who your child’s teacher is.

Parent Teacher conferences will be held on Monday 11/26, Tuesday 11/27, and Wednesday 11/28. Please remember to be on time for your conference. It is only 15 minutes. I look forward to meeting with everyone!

Week of November 12-16

Important Dates:
*Social Studies test Thursday 11/15
*Spelling test Friday 11/16
*Spirit Day Friday 11/16 Wear favorite sports team
*Trimester One ends Tuesday 11/20
*Thanksgiving Break 11/21-11/23


Classroom Chatter
Thank you to Vivian and Kris . These students donated items to our Treasure Chest last week.

Thank you to Matthew Millbrandt, Mackenzie, Caroline, Sarah, and Payton. These students brought in healthy treats for our Health Fest last Friday. They were delicious.




Spelling
L. 12's words are past tense of words with -ed. The test is scheduled for Friday. The lists are in the spelling folders.


English
We will be putting the finishing touches on our turkey stories this week. We will begin Unit 3 also this week. We will be studying about verbs. This week we will learn what a verb is, verbs in the present tense, and verbs in the past tense.


Reading
We will finish up our animal stories. Students will be sharing and discussing what they read and learned about their animals in groups.


Science
We will begin our next unit of study on Space when we return from our Thanksgiving break.


Social Studies
We will finish up chapter one with a test on Thursday. The study guide went home last week. We will go over it on Wednesday.


Math
After spending a week learning about the relationship between multiplication and addition and talking about multiplication hints and rules, we will begin chapter 3 in our math text book. In chapter 3 we will be studying multiplication and division facts. We will begin this week looking at the relationship between multiplication and division, the properties of multiplication and continue to practice our facts. We will also spend some time doing problem solving by making a table and completing an extended written response with a t-chart. The t-chart information packet will come home this week. It is to help parents understand a t-chart is and gives examples. This will be a useful tool for when t-charts come home for homework. Also, we will be taking a x3 mad minute on Monday.

Week of Nov. 5-9

Important Dates:
*Roller Skating Party Tuesday 11/6
*Science Test Thursday 11/8
*October Reading Party Thursday 11/8
*Spelling Test Friday 11/9
*Health Fest Friday 11/9
SPIRIT DAYS for November/December
Nov. 9 - School Spirit Day (wear PV colors or PV shirt/sweatshirt)
Nov. 16 - Favorite Sports Team Wear
Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day
Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day (wear PV colors or PV shirt/sweatshirt)
Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear


Classroom Chatter
Don't forget the roller skating party is Tuesday.


Parent Teacher conference forms went home today. Please confirm your appointment with me by checking over the date and time. Send back the bottom portion and checking either "appointment confirmed" or "time conflict-reschedule". Please send these back asap! I look forward to meeting with all of you in a few weeks at our conference.

The reading party for the month of October is Thursday. Students who read for 28 days in the month of October will be able to attend.


Don't forget to wear your Prairieview School sweatshirt or t-shirt or colors Friday to show your school spirit.


Spelling
L. 11 words are spelled with double consonants in the middle of the word. The test is Friday. The lists are in the folders.


English
This week we will spend some time writing turkey stories in honor of the upcoming holiday, Thanksgiving. Students will be writing a Thanksgiving story from the point of view of a turkey. We will share these stories in class after I've graded them. Look for them to come home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.


Reading
We will finish up lesson 3 this week in our workbooks. There will be a practice packet to come home to prepare for the quiz. The quiz is scheduled for Friday.

We also will be reading animal stories this week. Students will be working on comprehension skills and some higher level thinking questions and responses.


Science
We will finish up our unit on health. The students will have a test on Thursday. The study guide went home last Friday. It is in their science folders. I will go over the answers on Wednesday. We will finish up our health unit with a Health Fest on Friday. A note about this will come home today. Please let me know if you can send in healthy treats on Friday for us to eat. Some ideas would be: ants on a log, apple slices, spinach dip and crackers, veggies and dip, 100% fruit juice, chocolate milk, water, etc.



Social Studies
We will be studying the community of Astoria, Oregon. We learn about the location and history of Astoria and what people do for fun. We will compare this community to El Paso and our own communities.


Math
This week we will begin multiplication. This is chapter 3 in our textbooks. We will be referring to the 3rd grade textbook to begin learning about multiplication in addition to the 4th grade book we currently are studying in. Students will be taking the x2 mad minute. They will have a minute and a half to complete 26 problems. Next week begins x3's. Student will also be viewing a School House Rock video for each multiplication fact to help them learn these facts. We also are going to begin working on completing t-charts. We use t-charts to explain our thinking when we problem solve. I will be sending home information about t-charts this week.

Week of Oct. 29-Nov. 2

Important Dates:
*No School Monday 10/29 Teachers' Institute
*English Test Tuesday 10/30
*Halloween Wednesday 10/31~Robert Crown, parade & parties
*Spelling Test Friday 11/2

Classroom Chatter
HALLOWEEN is on Wednesday. We will be going to Robert Crown in the morning. We will miss our lunch period, so we'll be eating lunch in our classrooms. Please send your child a lunch that day. Students should bring their costumes to school in a bag with their name labeled on it. Try to have them dress so that their costume can go over their clothes and little makeup. We will be changing in our classrooms. Boys and girls will be in different classrooms. They will not be allowed to go to the bathroom to change. Please save guns, swords, knives, and other weapons for trick-or-treating at home. They are not appropriate for school.

Parents who are running the party can come by 1:15. Our school parade begins at 1:15. The party will begin at 1:30 and end at 2:15. Students will be sent home in their costumes.

Parents & Students... check out this fun Halloween website. You can carve your own pumpkin and watch it light up. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

To carve your pumpkin,

click the link below,
Carve your pumpkin then
press done,
watch it light up.

http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Spelling

This week is L. 10 words. We skip the L. 9 writing unit. Lesson 10's words end in double consonants. There is no pretest this week due to no school on Monday. The workbook pages 55-58 will be assigned today and due on Thursday. There will not be spelling tomorrow due to our field trip and Halloween. The test is on Friday. The lists are in the spelling folders.

English

Today we took our Nouns test. Next week we will be spending some time on writing.

Reading

We finish Hey, New Kid last week. I've collected the journals and will be grading chapters 7-13. We will continue with Lesson 3 in our reading workbooks. Students also will be reading a Halloween story this week. It is a Choose Your Own Adventure Book called, Haunted Halloween Party.

Science

We will begin lesson 3 in science. We will learn about illegal drugs, tobacco, and prescription drugs.

Social Studies

We will finish up lesson one by making El Paso, Texas brochures.

Math

We will be taking our math test today. We will be doing some problem solving this week. Students will learn how to use logical reasoning to problem solve. Next week we will begin chapter 3, multiplication. We will begin taking mad minutes on multiplication. We will begin with times 2's. Any number times 2 is doubled.

Week of October 22-26

Important Dates:
*Spelling test Friday 10/26
*Slipper Day Friday 10/26
*No School Monday 10/29
Teacher's Institute
*Picture Retakes Tuesday 10/30



Classroom Chatter

PICTURE RETAKES: are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 30th . Students must have original picture packets in hand to have a retake. If your child was absent on the first picture day, they will have to have their original order envelope with them at the time of retakes.

Thank you to Vivian and Ashley. These girls donated to our Treasure Chest last week. Mrs. Csorba's wallet and our class thank you!

Spelling

L. 8 is a review unit. Please review the rules for lessons 1-7 for Friday's test. I sent home a practice test to help study for Friday's test. It is just for practice. It does not need to come back to school.The test this week is a different format from our weekly tests. It will be just like the practice test sent home but with the words from lessons 1-7. The test is Friday.

English
We will be learning about special plural nouns this week. We also will be learning about singular and possessive nouns this week. The unit 2 test is scheduled for next Tuesday, Oct. 30th. A study guide will come home this week to help prepare for the test.


Reading
Hey, New Kid will be finished up this week. I will be grading chapters 7-13 in the journals. We will begin Lesson 3 in our ISAT workbooks. I will rip out the pages and staple them into a packet. They will be kept in the reading folders. In lesson 3, we will be making predictions and using illustrations to help understand the text. We will learn how to read charts, graphs, and diagrams when reading informational texts. We will be comparing and contrasting different types of reading selections. We also will be using graphic organizers to help us comprehend what we are reading.



Science
We will finish up lesson 2 in science this week. Lesson 2 talks about what germs are. We will learn how germs harm the bodies. We will learn how the body fights disease germs. We also will learn ways to keep germs from spreading.

Check out LearntobeHealthy.org and http://www.3aday.org/ for some great health websites for parents and kids too! Enjoy!



Social Studies
We began our first chapter in our social studies book last week on communities. This week students will continue learning about El Paso, Texas. We will finish up lesson one by making a travel brochure on El Paso, Texas.



Math
We will finish up chapter two this week. We will do some more practice with money. We will be making change and using money to problem solve. We will be taking the test on Tuesday, Oct. 30th. We will be starting multiplication mad minutes soon. Please have your child study their facts daily. To study for the test pages 76-79 in the text book has some extra practice problems to work on.

Week of October 15-19

Improtant Dates:

*Early Dismissal Wed. 10/17

*Spelling Test Fri. 10/19

*Crazy Hat Day Fri. 10/19

*Reading Quiz Fri. 10/19

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget that there is an early dismissal Wednesday. Students will be dismissed at 11am.

Book orders were sent home today for October. I'm trying a new online ordering option this month and if all goes well, I will continue this every month I send home book orders. Please read the note that went home today regarding how parents can order online at home and pay with a credit card instead of tallying up totals and sending in a check to school! Any feedback is appreciated too! Again, this is optional. You have the choice to do book orders online by following the directions on the note sent home or just fill out the order and send in a check to me.

Crazy Hat Day will be Friday's spirit day. Come to school in any hat! Crazy or not!

Spelling

Lesson 7's words are irregular plurals. The list is in the spelling folders. The test will be on Friday.

English

We will be continuing with nouns this week. Students will be working on singular and plural nouns this week. Your child's first paper on their three things they wrote about went home Friday. I hope they shared them with you. They did a great job on their papers and their self portraits. We shared them in class last Friday.

Reading

We will continue with Hey, New Kid. My goal for the students is to have the book completed by Friday. They will be working on journal responses for the chapters in class. I will be grading chapters 7-13's responses for a reading grade. I will be looking for complete sentences in addition to a correct repsonse. We also are continuing with lesson 2 in the reading packet that is in their reading folder. This week we will be learning about synonyms and antonyms and how to select the right word in a sentence. I made up a review that is very similar to how the quiz will be layed out for L. 2. It will come home for homework on Tuesday and is to be completed to help prepare for L.2's quiz. The quiz is scheduled for Friday.

Science

We will continue with our health unit by reading about Bad Habit Harry. We will make a class book retelling Harry's story. Look for it to come home with your child.

Social Studies

We will begin chapter one in social studies about communities. This is the first chapter in our textbook. We will begin chapter one by learning about the community of El Paso, Texas and how people live, work, and have fun there. Students will learn about El Paso's location and its history.

Math

We will be working with subtraction across zeros this week. We will also be doing some problem solving & mental math strategies.

Week of October 8-12

Important Dates:

*Visit Ide's playground Wed. 10/10

*Spelling Test Fri. 10/12

*Prairieview Spirit Day Fri. 10/12

Classroom Chatter:

Thank you to Sarah and Ashley. These girls donated items to our Treasure Chest. Thank you to Mackenzie and Kris who brought in a Halloween movie for our reading party. Thank you to Jenna who brought in an extra treat for our reading party last week. The next reading party for October is scheduled for Thursday, November 8.

On Wednesday, the third grade will bus over to Ide and enjoy the playground for some time. We are looking forward to our visit. Mrs. Csorba will take some pictures of the experience.

Friday will be a Prairieview Spirit Day. Students should come to school dressed in a Prairieview shirt or the school colors of gold and green. We are planning on having some type of spirit day every Friday of the year.

Spelling

L. 6's words are plurals of consonant + y words. Words that end in a consonant plus y need to change the y to an i and add es to make plural. There was no pretest this week due to no school on Monday. The test is Friday.

English

Students will be sharing their 5 paragraph essays we wrote last week. Their 3 items they brought in a brown bag will come home once they share their paper. We will begin Unit 2 on Nouns this week. Students will learn what nouns are, common and proper nouns, and nouns in a subject this week.

Reading

We will continue reading our chapter book, Hey, New Kid and working in our journals.

We will begin L. 2 in our reading workbooks. Lesson 2 teaches us about words in context. Lesson 2's pages have been ripped out and stapled and are in your child's reading folder. We will be talking about appositives, context of words, and synonyms & antonyms this week.

Science

Last week we had a guest speaker who is a nurse, Mrs. Jeka, come in to talk to us about smoking and the negative effects on our bodies to begin our health unit. This week we will talk about nutrition and the food guide pyramid.

Social Studies

We will finish up our map skills unit with an activity. Students will create a continent this week and begin working on it in class. If time does not allow, students will need to finish up their project at home Wednesday night.

Math

This week students will be learning about subtracting of two, three, four, and five digit numbers. Students will also be subtracting across zeros. Students need to continue studying their basic facts of addition and subtraction especially now that we are working with adding and subtracting of greater numbers.

Week of Oct. 1-5

Important Dates:

*Goo, Glob, & Guts Wed. 10/3

*L.1 Reading Quiz Thurs. 10/4

*September Reading Party Thurs. 10/4

*Spelling Test Fri. 10/5

*Hemisphere Quiz Fri. 10/5

*Spirit Day Friday 10/5




Classroom Chatter
We will be having our inschool field trip on Wednesday. A scientist from High-Touch High-Tech will present to the class Goo, Glob & Guts. Ask your child about their experience!


We will have our first reading party at lunch on Thursday with Miss Carlstrom's class. Students who have read for 28 days in the month of September will be able to come to our party. I will do a final folder check Thursday morning. Please send in a Rated G movie if you have one. Maybe even a Halloween video?? Thanks


Spirit day is Friday. This week's spirit day is to wear green for this month's Character Counts pillar, Respsibility.



Spelling
L. 5's words are plurals of vowel + y words. The list is in the spelling folder. Please keep the list in the folder. The test is Friday.


English
This week we will be doing an expository writing essay to learn how to write in paragraph form. Our papers will have an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each paragraph will be indented. Students were asked to bring in 3 favorite things in a brown paper bag that represents them. Students will be using these items to help create ideas for their paper.



Reading


We will continue working in our ISAT reading book. We have been ripping out the completed pages and saving them in our reading folder in our binders. There will be a short quiz on Thursday covering the concepts learned. Please review the pages in the reading folder to prepare for the quiz. We also will begin our first chapter book. Students will be reading the book, Hey, New Kid. We will read together in class. We also will be completing journal responses after each chapter. The first 6 chapter's responses we will do together. The rest of the chapters will be done on their own for a reading grade.



Science

We will begin our next unit in science on Health. Students will be learning about ways to stay healthy and how to make healthy choices. We will begin with lesson one that teaches us about the food guide pyramid and making good food choices.











Social Studies



We will finish up the hemipshere unit. The study guide went home today. It is in the social studies folder. The quiz will be on Friday. We will review the answers to the study guide on Thursday. Please review the sheets and the Map Essentials book to help prepare for the test.




Math

We began chapter 2 at the end of last week. We learned about fact families and estimating numbers by rounding to the nearest ten or hundred. This week students will be doing some problem solving with exact numbers vs. estimated numbers. We also will be adding two and three digit numbers. We will take a checkpoint at the end of the week for a grade. We won't begin mad minutes for multiplication until we begin chapter 3 on multiplication. However, this doesn't mean your child shouldn't start studying flashcards. Multiplication and division flash cards were on the supply list for third grade. They are to be used at home to study. I would begin by pulling all the cards that are multiplied by 2. When those facts have been mastered, pull all the cards that are multiplied by 3. Keep practicing the rest of the facts in this order.

Week of Sept. 24-28

Important Dates:

*Johnny Appleseed's Birthday Wednesday 9/26

*Science Test Thursday 9/27

*Spelling Test Friday 9/28

Classroom Chatter

We will be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Wednesday. A note about the day's activities went home today. Don't forget to send in an apple on Wednesday, sliced, peeled, and cored for our applesauce. If anyone can send in bowls, spoons,

or apple juice, send me a note or email. Thanks!

Next week we will be having an "in-school" field trip. Students will experience a Goo, Glob, & Guts presentation in our classroom next Wednesday. This is a great way to end our Human Body unit in science. A note about this experience went home today. The cost is $7. Please have your child's money turned in by Friday.

Our school is participating in a contest. Each classroom is competing for a pizza party and extra recess. All the students need to do is turn in Box Tops for Education and Tyson labels which are used to earn money for our school. The classroom with the most collected wins. A note about this fundraiser went home on Friday. It was a green sheet in the binders. Thanks in advance for your support.

A special thank you to Tim Pan for donating items to our treasure chest. Also a special thank you to Payton Froats for donating some books to our classroom library! Your generosity is always appreciated!

Spelling

Lesson 4's words are spelled with s and es. The pretest was today. The lists are in the students' spelling folders. The test will be on Friday.

English

We took the Unit 1 test today. I hope to have the tests graded by tomorow. I will pass them back and go over the answers with the students. Next week we will begin our first writing unit on a narrative essay.

Reading

We finished up being introduced to the reading strategies we will be working on all year. This week we will begin working in our reading workbooks. This workbook introduces reading concepts that we will use throughout the year and that will be on the ISAT tests in the spring. Lesson one teaches us about word analysis. Students will be working with prefixes, suffixes, affixes, base words, sounds, letters and compound words. We will be working on the lessons in class. We will rip out the pages as we go through the book. They will be kept in the reading folder to study for a test.

Science

Thursday in the human body test. Wednesday, we will go over the science study guide that went home Friday. It was assigned to be completed as homework and is due on Wednesday. Please make sure it is in the science folder for Wednesday. Students will also be working in groups making a model of the human body.

Social Studies

We will begin the last part of our map skills unit. Students will learn about the hemispheres of our world. We will learn about: the 4 hemispheres, Equator, Prime Meridian, & what continents are in which hemispheres.

Math

We will be having our first test tomorrow. A study guide went home last week. We also began subtraction mad minutes this week. Next week we will begin learning about multiplication and taking a mad minute on x2's. A multiplication packet went home last week of the facts. Students should be studying daily. Times twos are easy. Any number times two is just doubled. Students will have a minute and a half to finish 26 problems. We will move on to x3's the following week and so on.

Week of Sept. 17-21

IMPORTANT DATES:

*Early Dismissal Tues. 9/18

* OLSAT test Wed. 9/19

*Picture Day Thurs. 9/20

*Continents & Oceans Quiz Thurs. 9/20

*Spelling Test Fri. 9/21

*English Test Mon. 9/24

*Science Test Thurs. 9/27

CLASSROOM CHATTER

Don't forget there is an early dismissal Tuesday at 11a.m.

Can anyone Pitch In and Help? I'm still in need of a few items for our classroom. Any donations are greatly appreciated! I am in need of paper plates. I am always looking for Treasure Chest donations all year long. Don't forget to check out the dollar isle at Target or the Dollar stores.

Thank you to my mom, Patty Wills & Morgan Meyer who brought in some items for the Treasure Chest. Thank you to all who already donated items at the beginning of the year!

Please start studying for the upcoming tests. Study guides are sent home as a "guide" to help the students. Please review all notes in the folders and the textbook.

We also will be taking the OLSAT (Otis Lennon Scholastic Achievement test) on Wednesday. To prepare, just make sure you child gets a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. Just like every other school day!!

Spelling

Lesson 3's words are spelled with ou. We took the pretest today. Students who received 1 wrong or 100% on the pretest will have a new set of words for the week and a list of the daily assignments. Please keep the spelling list and the daily assignment page in their spelling folder. Thank you. If your child has 2 or more wrong on the spelling test, they will be working with the list from the book plus the five extra words I've added. These are not "bonus" words and they need to study them. This list is in their spelling folder and should come to school everyday until I have the class put it in the To Be LEFT at Home folder on Friday. Their work will be in the spelling book with homework on Tuesday and Wednesday and an ABC order sheet on Thursday. Spelling tests be on Friday.

English
We will finish up Unit One, The Sentence this week. Students will learn about run-on sentences. We will be taking an in-class unit review for a grade. They will be allowed to use their textbook and any notes. A study guide went home today. It is in the Language Arts folder. The test is scheduled for next Monday, 9/24.

Reading

This week's reading strategies we will focus on are: monitor/clarify, summarize, and question. The monitor/clarify strategy is when we reread, read ahead, and use illustrations to understand the text. Summarizing retells the story by the main, important events. The questioning strategy is when you ask yourself questions about what you are reading and what you want to know about the text. We also began TFK, Time for Kids last Friday. I usually do TFK's on Fridays. Sometimes students will have 10 multiple choice questions to answer for a grade after they read. They will always be allowed to use the TFK to help them with their answers.

Science

Students will be finishing up learning about the human body. We will learn about the digestive, nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular(circulatory) systems this week. A study guide will come home at the end of this week. This study guide should be completed over the weekend for homework. It will be due on Tuesday and I will go over the correct answers. The test is scheduled for Thursday, 9/27.

Social Studies

We will finish up continent and oceans with a short quiz on Thursday. A study guide went home on Friday. Have you seen it? It is in the social studies folder. Students do not have to memorize the correct spellings of the continents and oceans. There will be a word bank to help them spell correctly.

Math

We will begin this week by exploring patterns. We will then work on rounding numbers. Finally we will finish up with bar graphs and taking a checkpoint at the end of the week. Students should begin studying for the Chapter 1 test. It is scheduled for next Tuesday, Sept. 25th. Students also will be taking addition mad minutes this week. They took a practice one last Friday. They have to complete 40 addition facts in 2 minutes time. I will be giving a mad minute on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week. All students should pass out of addition mad minutes by Friday. To pass out of a mad minute, means to get a 100%. We will move on to subtraction next week.

ALSO... I have decided to only require a parent signature on graded work that is a C+ and below. Thank you.

Week of Sept 10-14

Important Dates:
*Directions Quiz Tues. 9/11
*Spelling Test Fri. 9/14
*Book Orders due Fri. 9/14

CLASSROOM CHATTER

It was a pleasure talking to all the parents last week at Curriculum Night. Thank you for taking the time to come and meet with me.

Book orders went home today. They will be due by Friday. Please send in a check for your order(s). NO CASH, PLEASE. One check will do for multiple orders.

SPELLING

Lesson 2 words are spelled with oa. We took a pretest today. The test is scheduled for Friday. The list is in their spelling folders.

ENGLISH

We will continue with Unit 1 this week. Students will be learning what a subject and predicate is of a sentence. The subject tells us whom or what the sentence is about. The predicate tells us what is happening in the sentence. Please review subjects and predicates at home. This can be difficult for the students.

READING

We will be reading some books as a class to work on reading strategies. The following are some examples of what we'll be reading. My Lucky Day to learn more about predictions and Two Bad Ants to practice inferences. Students will also be make definition cards of each strategy. At the end of this week or early next week, these cards will be brought home for students to use when they read at home. This will reinforce the reading strategies we work on at school.

SCIENCE

We will continue with our study on the human body. Students will be learning more about the muscular and skeletal systems and how they work together.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will take a short quiz on directions on Tuesday. Then we will begin the next part of our map skills unit by learning about the continents and oceans of our world.

MATH

Here I will be writing about math for my math group. To read about what your child is doing for math, you will have to visit your child's math teacher's blog. You can do this by going to our District website: http://www.ccsd66.org/ , click on Prairieview, click on 3rd Grade, then click on your child's math teacher's name. Their blog will come up. Find the teacher's math section to read about what your child will be doing in math class.

This week, we will continue with chapter one, Place Value. Students will be comparing numbers, exploring exact vs. estimate with problem solving, and millions this week. We will also be taking a checkpoint for our first grade. Each chapter has 2 checkpoints per chapter in the textbook. Students will be allowed to look back in the book to help them if need be.

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

IMPORTANT DATES:
*Curriculum Night Tues. 9/4 7pm
*Spelling Test Fri. 9/7

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
Welcome to Mrs. Csorba's Scoop. I will be posting information every Monday to communicate to parents what is going on in the classroom.

Don't forget to meet me Tuesday Night for Curriculum Night at Prairieview at 7pm. See you then!

Just a friendly reminder...when sending in money to school or important information, please put it in an envelope with the following written: Your child's name, CSORBA, 3rd grade, and what it is for. For example:
Sue Smith
Csorba
3rd Grade
Lunch Money

SPELLING

We will begin Lesson 1 this week. There will not be a pretest this week due to the shortened week. The test will be Friday.

ENGLISH

This week we will begin Unit 1 in our english books. Unit 1 teaches the different types of sentences and what a sentence is. This week we'll learn about statements, questions, commands, and exclamation sentences.

READING

We will start reading this year by talking about the 6 reading strategies every good reader practices while reading. Such strategies include: visualizing, summarizing, inferring, self-questioning, connecting, and predicting.

SCIENCE

Our first unit teaches us about the human body. We will learn about the body's systems and all the parts that make up a system. We will learn about cells, tissue, and organs in a body system as well.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we will begin our first unit in social studies, map skills. Students will learn about the continents, oceans, and what makes up a map. I will be providing the students with the material they will need for studying. They will not be using their social studies text book for this unit.