Thursday, April 28, 2011

Week of May 2-6

Important Dates:
*Reading vocab quiz Wed. 5/4
*Spelling test Friday 5/6

Classroom Chatter
We began Jr. Achievement last week. Mr. Wilcoxen is our volunteer. He taught us about zones this week. We learned about some zones like farming, industrial, residential, business, and multipurpose. Ask your child about it. He will visit our class 4 more times this year!

Spelling
This week's words begin with a or be. There will be a pretest on Tuesday (since Monday there is no reading due to MAPS tests). The test is Friday. The homework is due Friday. Remember, all spelling homework and tests are done in cursive now.

Reading
We started our Fairytale unit last week after we finished up some poetry work. I pushed back the vocab quiz for fairy tales to Wednesday, 5/4. The list is in the reading folder in the binders.


English
We will continue to work on expository writing. We finished our pen pal letters to 2nd grade and will mail them this week. We look forward to hearing from them!

Science
We will begin the next unit of study of heat, light, and sound. This is chapter 14.

Social Studies
We will continue with the economy unit. Lesson 2 teaches us all about making economic choices and what opportunity cost it.

Math
We will begin ch. 4 multiplication. We will not cover everything in this chapter. The check your progresses and chapter test will be modified by me, based on what I will be teaching. Feel free to do any of the lessons or pages we skip! We will take a mad minute in division 11.


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Week of April 25-29

Important Dates:
Spring Maps Testing 4/27 & 5/2
Thursday 4/28 Science Test
Thursday 4/28 Take Your Child to Work Day

Classroom Chatter
This Wednesday and next Monday our class will be take the spring MAPS test. We will do the reading portion on Wednesday of this week. Next Monday will be the math MAPS test. Please encourage your child to do their best and review their goals they made with their reading and math teacher to increase their scores!

Thursday is Take Your Child to Work Day. If you child is planning on going to work with Mom or Dad, please let us know! What a great opportunity!!! We also will be taking the science test that day. Please know that they can just make it up on Friday. No worries!

Spelling
L. 22 words end in er or le. The test will be Friday. We will be sending home a cursive practice page of the spelling words. All homework and tests will be written and graded using cursive from now on.


English
We will continue working on expository writing. Students will also begin writing a letter to their 2nd grade pen pal! We are writing to Mrs. Oliver's class. 2nd grade will be coming to visit us in May.

Reading
We will begin a new unit on fairy tales. We will be reviewing some of our strategies and skills we learned this year throughout this unit like character, setting and plots of fairy tales. We also will talk about what elements make a story a fairy tale. There will be a quiz on Friday on the vocabulary words. The list is in the reading folder.

Science
Our next unit of study will be chapter 14: Heat Light and Sound.

Social Studies
We will begin Ch. 9 on economy. It is a chapter in our textbooks. It will be our last social studies unit in our textbooks!!!

Math
We will continue with ch. 9. This week we will finish up ch. 9 with a test on Wednesday. We won't have math on Thursday due to Wheel of Wisdom assembly. Friday, we will begin ch. 4 on multiplication. The plans for the rest of the year are to learn the basics of higher level multiplication and division in chapters 4 and 5. I don't "plan" on covering every lesson in these chapters. The plan is to cover just what they are expected to "master" this year which is multiplication of higher numbers by 1 digit and 2 digit. Division by 1 digit divisor with remainders. We will be taking a mad minute in division 10 this week. Almost done! 10's, 11's, 12's and mix!!! As a friendly reminder, stay on top of those multiplication basic facts. They are SO IMPORTANT for when we start ch. 4 and 5!!!!

ALSO FYI:
McGraw-Hill is offering the EM Games Apps for iPads and iPhones/iPod touches. The apps are available for $1.99.
The games that will be available include:
  • Addition Top-it
  • Subtraction Top-it
  • Beat the Computer
  • Name that Number
  • Equivalent Fractions
  • Tric-Trac
  • Monster Squeeze
  • Baseball Multiplication 1-6 Facts
  • Baseball Multiplication 1-12 Facts
  • Divisibility Dash
Check them out!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Week of April 18-22

Important Dates:
*Early Dismissal Thursday 4/21
*No school Friday 4/22

Classroom Chatter
Our class has earned a marble party for good classroom behavior. Information about this special party will come home Monday!!!! Good job third graders!!!

Thanks for everyone who came to our Open House last week. It was great to see everyone!

Spelling
There is no spelling this week due to the shortened week.


Reading
We will continue with our poetry unit. We will continue to discuss stanza, rhythm, and rhyme while we work on our poetry projects in class. Students will be sharing their favorite poem from their project on Wednesday for a "Poetry Cafe" in our room!!

English
We will continue with expository writing. We also will be writing letters to 2nd graders.

Science
We will finish up magnets and electricity this week. The test is scheduled for Wednesday, 4/27. A study guide will come home this week in the science folder.

Social Studies
We will begin a new unit the following week. It is a unit on economy and we will use our textbooks.

Math
We will take a Check Your Progress on lessons 1-5 on Monday. We will learn about multiples and how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Thursday we will take a CYP on lessons 6-8. Friday, we will study probability. We will take a mad minute in division 9's this week.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Week of April 11-15

Important Dates
*Chicago Mobile Due Monday 4/11
*Open House Thursday 4/14
*Social Studies Quiz Thursday 4/14
*Spelling Test Friday 4/15
*Reading vocab quiz Friday 4/15

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget that Thrusday in our Spring Open House and Book Fair. Stop in and see our classroom from 6:30-8! It's CHICAGO theme in 3rd grade...so come in your favorite sport's team gear! :)

In music class, Ms. Wyse is done with the recorders for now. She is holding on to them in her room for safe keeping. If you child still has theirs at home, please bring it in. Thanks.

Spelling L. 21 words are spelled with the VCCV (vowel, consonant, consonant, vowel) pattern. The test is Friday. Homework is due Friday.

Reading We will spend the next two weeks on a poetry unit. There will be a quiz on the vocab words for poetry on Friday.

Science We will finish up Chapter 13 with lesson 3: How electricity and magnets related.

Social Studies We will have a quiz on the History of Chicago on Thursday. A study guide is in the social studies folder. The Chicago Mobile is due on Monday. Please have your child turn in the rubric with their project. Thanks!

Math We will begin chapter 9: Addition and Subtraction of Fractions. We will take a mad minute of divion 8. There will be a CYP on lessons 1-5 on Friday.