Thursday, September 23, 2010

Week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 1

Important Dates:
*Picture day Thursday 9/30
*Spelling test Friday 10/1
*Progress Reports 10/1

Classroom Chatter
We had a great day celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Thursday. Check out our class picture of us wearing our apple glasses! The recipe we used to make our homemade applesauce came home on Thursday too.




















The third graders are invited to sign up for a free intramural program. During this program, students would stay after school and play games in the gym. Permission slips are available this week and due back to Mrs. Cushing by Friday. The program will start some time in October. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Cushing at tcushing@ccsd66.org Thank you!

Spelling
We will work on list 5: more long and short vowels. We will have a pretest on Monday. The students will be given their homework on Monday. The test will be on Friday and homework due on Friday.

Reading
We will begin working on making inferences this week. We will be using the story, Mulan.

English
This week we will begin Unit 2, Nouns. This week, we will learn about nouns, common and proper nouns, nouns in the subject, and singular and plural nouns.

Science
This week we will finish Chapter 4, lesson 4: How Do Ecosystems change?

Social Studies
We will begin our next unit of study on Downers Grove. We will spend the next few weeks learning about this history of Downers Grove. Students will be provided with a learning log and packet. This must stay in their social studies folders.

Math
We will begin chapter 2 this week. Chapter 2 teaches us about addition and subtraction concepts. The class took a pretest last week. Some students received an "A" by getting -0, -1, or -2 on the pretest. They will be in the "challenge" group this chapter. They can choose to take the end of the chapter test to improve their grade. The challenge group will hear the day's lesson and then work on enrichment activities in class or for homework. The rest of the class that received 3 or more wrong will be in the book group. The will also hear the day's lesson and work on the workbook pages like normal. The whole class will listen to the lessons each day since there is information in the chapter that they need to know, but were not tested on. For example, the chapter has vocabulary terms and strategies that they are required to know.

We will begin multiplication mad minutes in a few weeks after chapter two. I will be sending home a packet of math facts for students to begin studying. On our 3rd grade school supplies list, flash cards were suggested to be purchased for home study. Those can be used as well.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Week of September 20-24

Important Dates:
*Hemisphere Quiz Wed. 9/22
*PE soccer test Wed. 9/22
*Spelling test Thurs. 9/23
*No school Fri. 9/24 Teachers' Institute
*Johnny Appleseed's Birthday Saturday 9/26

Classroom Chatter:

*The PTO would like you to know about this great rebate program through Ultra Foods! Ultra Foods is inviting you to take part in the Ultra's Smart Shopper Program, and educational rebate program that generates CASH BACK to your school for educational needs. It's EASY! Shop your local Ultra Foods store from SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 through DECEMBER 31, 2010. Save your receipts and have your child turn them in to their teacher. At the end of this program, your school will submit a grand total of receipts collected and Ultra will remit a check for %5 of that total back to your school! WOW!!!!!!

*The PE study guide for the soccer test went home on Thursday. Have you seen it yet? If not, please ask your child about it. The PE soccer test will be on Wednesday. Please help your child review for this test.

*Johnny Appleseed's birthday falls on a Sunday this year. We will be celebrating his birthday on Thursday, 9/23. Information about our celebration will come home this week. One of the things we will be doing on Thursday is making homemade applesauce! Please send your child in with an apple that has been cored, cut, and peeled!

*No school Friday for Teachers' Institute. Enjoy your day off!

Spelling
This week we will be working with words that have a vowel-consonant-e pattern. Homework will be send home on Monday and due on Thursday. The test will be on Thursday.

English
We will begin our first writing unit. Students will have homework Monday night. They will be making a "ME BAG" to bring to school. Information about this assignment will come home Monday. They will be using their Me Bags to help write a 5 paragraph paper in class.

Reading
We will continue to focus on summarizing and sequencing this week. We will work on applying this strategy to different texts.

Science
We will learn about lesson 3 in science. This lesson teaches us how animals survive in ecosystems.

Social Studies
We will finish our map skills unit with a Hemisphere Quiz on Wednesday. A study guide is in the social studies folder. Review the study guide and papers on hemispheres in your social studies folder. Also a Map Essentials book went home on Friday to help with studying!

Math :: Mrs. Csorba's math class
We will play a review game on Monday. Tuesday is the Chapter 1 test. A study guide went home in the math folders last week. Have you seen it? We will take a mad minute timed test on subtraction on Monday. 40 problems in 2 minutes. Thursday we will begin Chapter 2: Addition and Subtraction Concepts.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Week of September 13-17

Important Dates:
*Magazine Kick-off Assembly Monday 9/13
*Continents & Oceans Quiz Tuesday 9/14
*Spelling Test Friday 9/17
*First Magazine Turn-in Friday 9/17
*English Test Friday 9/17


Classroom Chatter

*CALLING ALL BOX TOPS & TYSON A+ LABELS! We are collecting Box Tops and Tyson labels in hopes to win a pizza lunch party and extra recess. Please send in these items if you have them! The deadline is October 15th! (Mrs. Csorba's class has one the last 2 years in a row!)


Spelling
L. 3 focuses on more short vowels. The pretest is scheduled for Monday, 9/13. If a student gets a 90% or higher (two or less wrong) they will be in the challenge group and will not be required to take the final test. Students with three or more wrong on the pretest will take the final test Friday, 9/17.

Reading
This is an exciting week! Third grade will start switching for reading! We will be reading The Lost and Found by Mark Teague as we focus on the summarizing strategy and our sequencing skills.

English
We will finish up Unit 1-What is a Sentence by reviewing subjects and predicates. We will also learn what run-on sentences are. The test is scheduled for Friday 9/17. A study guide went home Friday 9/10. It is in the English folder. Have you seen it? The english text book came home this weekend to begin studying. Please send the textbook back to school Monday. Your child is welcome to take it home daily to study.

Science
We will being Chapter 4, lesson 2 this week. Lesson 2 teaches about what types of ecosystems.

Social Studies
We will finish Continents and Oceans on Tuesday with a quiz. We the will begin the last part of our map skills unit with hemispheres.

Math

We will take our first addition Mad Minute on Tuesday. Students will need to complete 40 addition problems in 2 minutes. We also will finish chapter with comparing money and problem solving. I plan to do another "Check Your Progress" at the end of the week for a grade. We will play a review game at the end of the week. I plan on testing on Chapter 1 the following week.
Friday, we played a great game on the computer to help practice counting back change. Check it out! FUN BRAIN CHANGE MAKER





Friday, September 3, 2010

September 6-10

Important Dates:
No school Monday 9/6 Labor Day
Spelling Test Friday 9/10

Classroom Chatter

Curriculum Night: Thank you to everyone who came to 3rd Grade Curriculum Night this week. It was so great to see so many of you. If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to email or call me. I am looking forward to a wonderful year together with you and your child!

Late Slips:
Third grade will begin using late slips for homework that is not complete or handed in at the time it is due. Each student will receive 3 "breaks" for Trimester 1. Upon the fourth time they have not completed homework, one point will be taken away from their homework bank in the appropriate subject. You will notice that each subject has a "homework bank" comprised of 5 points. Late slips will be sent home with students for a parent signature which is due back the very next school day with the completed homework assignment. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Spelling: This week is Lesson 2. This lesson will focus on words with short vowels. We will pretest on Tuesday and assign the homework for the week. The homework will be due Friday. We will take one of the assignments for a grade. The test will be Friday.

English: We will continue with Unit 1 and learn about subjects and predicates.

Reading: This week we will continue introducing the reading strategies that we will be utilizing throughout the rest of the year using picture books. The strategies are predicting, inferencing, visualizing, monitoring/clarifying, phonics/decoding, summarizing (fiction and non-fiction), questioning, connecting, and evaluating.



Science: This week we will begin our first unit in science. We will begin chapter 4 living things.

Social Studies: We will continue with our map skills unit and learn about continents and oceans.

Math-For Mrs. Csorba's math class
On Friday, students came home with a "Check Your Progress" graded assignment. They were allowed to use their textbook and notes we took in our math journals. Plan on 2 of these each chapter. The first one is 1/2 way through the chapter and the 2nd one is a day or two before the chapter test. This week, we will continue with the 2nd half of the place value chapter. We will look are comparing and ordering numbers and working with money. Students should review their addition facts for a mad minute. We will take a practice mad minute this week and take an addition mad minute the following week. 40 problems in 2 minutes.