Csorba Scoop

Week of January 23-27

2012-01-19T15:08:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 1/23

*District Spelling Bee 1/24

*Happy 2nd Birthday to Jack Csorba :) 1/24

*Early Dismissal 1/25

*Science test 1/26

*Spelling test Friday 1/27

Classroom Chatter:

Don't forget to turn in your Read to Succeed sheets for your free 6 Flags ticket. Due date 2/1.

Nice job to the students for doing such an amazing job on their reading and math MAPS tests. We celebrated Friday afternoon playing board games and enjoying a popcorn treat! ;)

Spelling:

We will take a pretest on L. 14 on Monday and the test and homework will be on Friday.

Reading

We didn't start our novel studies yet. We spent a lot of time talking about questioning and doing extended responses last week. This week we will dive into our new novel and work on making connections. We also just finished a WONDERFUL book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It was my first time reading it and the kids and I LOVED IT! I recommend it to anyone!!! Ask your child about it. It is my new favorite book. :) We will start a new read aloud by the same author, Kate DiCamillo this week: The Tale of Desperaux.

English

We will continue with verbs and work on the verbs in the past tense.

Social Studies

How are the culture day projects coming along? Hopefully well! Looking forward to our culture day on 1/30. In the meantime, we will wrap up chapter 3 with learning how an immigrant becomes a citizen.

Science

We will finish up learning about weather. This will complete chapter 9. A study guide went home Friday in the science folder. The test will be Thursday 1/26.

Math for Mrs. Csorba's class

We will take a mad minute in division 3. We will continue to work on learning about the metric system. We will also work on learning about temperature and time.

Week of January 16-20

2012-01-13T10:45:00.002-06:00

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 1/16

*Spelling Pretest Tuesday 1/17

*Math MAPS test Wednesday 1/18

*3rd Grade Spelling Bee Thursday 1/19

*Spelling Test Friday 1/20

Classroom Chatter

Congratulations to Jordyn and Rebecca! They are the classroom winners of our spelling bee. They will compete in Thursday's 3rd grade spelling bee for a chance to advance to the District Spelling Bee!

We will be taking the MAPS test in Math on Wednesday, 1/18. Let's have some great results like we had in reading!!! I'm super proud of my class and you should be of your child! Thanks for all your support. Remember to get a good night's sleep and eat a really good breakfast Wednesday morning!!!! :)

Spelling

L. 13's words are j, k, and kw sounds. The pretest will be Tuesday. The homework and test will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will start a new novel study in our guided reading groups. While reading our novels, we will practice the questioning strategy as well as review our other strategies.

English

We will continue with verbs this week.

Science

We are working through our unit and this week we will learn about weather!

Social Studies

We will continue with our chapter 3 unit on culture. Students received information about their culture day project last week. Students turned in their ideas to me and they all look great! Looking forward to our culture day on Monday 1/30!!!!

Mrs. Csorba's math class:

We will take a mad minute in division 2's this week. We also will continue with our measurement unit. Tuesday, the class will take a CYP on ch. 6, lessons 1-5. We will learn about the metric system this week.

Week of January 9-13

2012-01-06T17:26:00.002-06:00

Important Dates
*Spelling pretest Monday 1/9
*MAPS test for Reading 1/10
*Practice Spelling Bee Tuesday 1/10
*Classroom Spelling Bee Wednesday 1/11
*Spelling test Friday 1/13

Classroom Chatter:

The students received a list of words to look over and study for the upcoming spelling bee. We will have our classroom spelling bee Wednesday, 1/11. The practice bee will be on Tuesday, 1/10. The top 2 spellers in our classroom will advance to the grade level bee. Then the grade level bee will be held 1/19. The district bee will be 1/24.

Market Day: If you are interested in volunteering for Market Day, please arrive at 8:00 am on Sat. 1/7 at Lakeview. Thank you for your help!

Reading: We will continue with fact and opinion and compare and contrast. We also will be working on extended responses to our reading.

Spelling: List 12 will be this week. The pretest will be Monday. The homework and test will be due Friday.

English: We will continue with our study of verbs. We also will begin writing our autobiographies.

Science: We will continue our study of weather.

Social Studies: We will continue with chapter 3 on culture. Look for information to come home this week about a culture day project to do at home.

Mrs. Csorba's math:
We will take a mix mad minute this week. Please review all facts from x0-x12. We will continue with our measurement unit.

Week of December 12-16

2011-12-09T14:36:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

Monday 12/12 Bowling

Tuesday 12/13 Social Studies Test

Wednesday 12/14 Bowling Test

Thursday 12/15 Math test (Csorba's math class)

Friday 12/16 Spelling Test

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget we go bowling on Monday. It is encouraged for your child to bring a sack lunch since they might be too full to eat lunch after bowling. Students can bring $5 to buy a snack at the bowling alley.

A permission slip is coming home Monday for your child to watch Jim Carrey's, The Grinch. We are doing some Grinch related activities Friday to kick off winter break. Thank you to those parents who are bringing in treats for us on Friday!

Spelling
This week we will have Holiday words to study. Pretest and homework will go home Monday. The homework and test is due on Friday.

Reading

We will spend this week finishing up our novels we've been reading in our guided reading groups. While doing so, we will work on visualizing and evaluating the text.

Science

We will learn about the water cycle this week.

Social Studies

Thank you to Dr. Tiede for coming to talk to our class about being a community leader. We enjoyed your presentation!!! The test for Present Day DG and Chapter 12 (lessons 1 and 2 only) will be Tuesday. Study guide in the social studies folder. We will begin chapter 3, Culture, when we return from break.

Mrs. Csorba's Math class

Students will take a CYP on multiplication of larger numbers on Wednesday and the Ch. 4 test is Thursday. They also should start practicing x12's. They will test on these when we return from break. X11's are this week. We will spend Monday and Tuesday practicing multiplication.

December 5-9

2011-12-01T10:28:00.006-06:00

Important Dates

*Spelling pretest Monday

*Spelling test Friday

*English test Friday

Classroom Chatter

First of all, thank you to all the parents that came in to meet with me at Parent Teacher Conferences. It was a pleasure sitting down with you to discuss your child and their progress in 3rd grade. Don't forget you can always email me or call me if you ever want to talk about any questions or concerns! jcsorba@ccsd66.org 630-783-5092. :)

Second...a special "visitor" arrived in our classroom today (Friday). Our elf will be with us the next 2 weeks, watching who is naughty and who is nice! I hope your child told you about his arrival today. They were SO EXCITED this morning. We still need to give him a name! Help your child brainstorm a good name for our special friend! ;)

Spelling

L.10's words are high frequency words. The pretest will be Monday. The homework packet will come home Monday. The homework and test are due on Friday.

English

We will finish up our Noun unit. The test is scheduled for Friday 12/9. A study guide is in the English folder.

Reading

Today (Friday) we had Mrs. Vanni come speak to the 3rd graders about quilting. It tied in so nicely with the story we just read, The Keeping Quilt. Ask your child about it!

This week we will be evaluating and visualizing while we read Dogzilla and our chapter books!

Science

We will begin our next unit of study on weather!

Social Studies

I am moving the Downers Grove test to 12/13. We are adding lessons 1 and 2 from chapter 12 in our social studies books which talk about local governments. Last week we learned how our local government provides us with the services of safety, transportation, recreation, and education. This week we will learn who our community leaders are. We are very excited for Dr. Tiede to come talk to our class this week. A Superintendent is a community leader. He will come talk to us Thursday!!!

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will continue with multiplication of greater numbers. This week, we will be multiplying by 3 digit by 1 digit, multiplying with money, multiplying 4 digit by 1 digit, looking at patterns in multiplication and estimation with multiplication. The students will take a mad minute in x10's.

We are going to finish chapter 4 before winter break and will be testing on this chapter the week of the 12th. Date still to be determined. We have been playing a lot of games in math to help us practice our basic facts too. :)

Week of November 28 - December 2

2011-11-22T12:07:00.004-06:00

Important Dates:

*Conferences 11/28, 11/29, & 11/30

*Scholastic Book Orders due Thursday 12/1

*Matter Test Thursday 12/1

*Spelling Test Thursday 12/1

*No school Friday 12/2

Classroom Chatter: I wish everyone a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! Please check out our videos of the First Thanksgiving presented by Mrs. Csorba's class. :) Didn't they do a great job?!?

Book orders went home on Tuesday. The are due by Thursday, 12/1. If you are interested in placing an order for a present and want me to set the books aside when they arrive for a later pick up, send me an email. Books make great presents and stocking stuffers! ;)

Parent/teacher conferences are being held this week. Please make sure you arrive at your scheduled time. Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you!

Spelling

This week we will study lesson 9 words. They are spelled with long o. The pretest will be Monday. The test will be Thursday. Homework will come home Monday and due on Thursday.

English

We will continue with nouns. This week, we will study about special plural nouns and singular and plural possessive nouns.

Reading
This week we will continue with our guided reading groups as we discuss the strategies we've learned. We also will start a new story, The Keeping Quilt, to teach author's point of view and author's purpose. We also will be having a guest speaker come Thursday to talk to us about quilting!!!!There will be vocab quiz on the words on Thursday.

Science

We will take the chapter 11 test on Matter on Thursday. The study guide is in the science folder.

Social Studies

We will take the Modern Day Downers Grove test the following week, 12/6.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on x9's. We will learn how to multiply greater numbers this week.

Week of November 21-25

2011-11-18T07:19:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:

No school 11/23, 11/24, 11/25-Thanksgiving Break

Conferences 11/28, 11/29, 11/30

Classroom Chatter

We had a MARBLE-ous time at our 1st Marble Party last week. I'm so proud of my class for earning their 1st party for good classroom behavior. Look at how cute they all are!!!! A special thanks to those who brought in healthy treats for the

class to enjoy.

We also had a WONDERFUL time at our DG field trip today. Thanks to Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Flynn, Mrs. Scheck, Mrs. Socha, Mrs. Williams, and Mrs. Obeid for coming with us! Here is our class picture at Linscott Cemetary! I had a great time with the students today too. It is one of my favorite field trips!!! ;)

Parent/teacher conferences will be held the week of 11/28. Please be on time for your conference...they are only 15 minutes long and it is very easy to get off schedule. I thank you in advance for your cooperation! I am looking forward to meeting with parents and discussing your child's progress thus far in 3rd grade!

Scholastic Book orders will come home Tuesday, 11/22. There are a ton of great chapter books for your child to select from. Chapter books make great presents or stocking stuffers! :) If you want me to set aside any books that you want to give your child as a present, send me an email. When the book orders arrive, I can set aside the books and we can arrange for you to pick them up at our front office.

Spelling

Due to the very short week, there won't be a spelling list this week. We will work on word analogies on Monday and Tuesday.

Reading

We are continuing to read our novels and discussing previous strategies as well as discussing story elements of character, setting, and plot. We also will be working on a reader's theater play on the First Thanksgiving. Tune in next week for the video!!! ;)

English

We will be sharing our Thanksgiving stories this week. The students wrote a story from the turkey's point of view. Ask your child about it. They can share it with the family on Thanksgiving. They did a wonderful job!!!

Science

We will finish up Matter. The test is scheduled for Thursday 12/1. A study guide will be in the science folder.

Social Studies.

We will finish up our Modern Day Downers Grove packet.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

Students will be taking a mad minute on x 0's and x 1's this week. These will be the only facts on the mad minute. We will do some turkey math and start multiplication by 1 and 2 digits this week.

Week of November 14-18

2011-11-08T10:19:00.004-06:00

Important Dates:

*Marble Party Tuesday 11/15

*Trimester 1 ends Friday 11/18

*Downers Grove Field Trip Friday 11/18

Classroom Chatter:
Our class earned their 1st Marble Party for good behavior. We will celebrate Tuesday afternoon over a movie and healthy snacks and drinks. If you can send something in for the class, that would be great!

Spelling

No spelling again this week. We will use this time to learn about antonyms and analogies.Check out our Synonym Rolls we made in class on Friday!

Reading

We will continue with our novel studies. Students will be working on story elements (character, setting, and plot) and reviewing the previous strategies (predicting, summarizing, inferring...etc).

English

We will take a break from our study of Nouns. We will spend this week writing about Thanksgiving from a Turkey's point of view. After the Thanksgiving break, we will resume Nouns!

Science

We will continue with States of Matter and learn how matter changes. We will have the Matter test after Thanksgiving break. It is scheduled for Friday, 12/4.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of modern day DG and chapter 12-local government.

Mrs. Csorba's math class:
We will take a mad minute on all the facts (squares, twos, fives, threes, fours, sixes, sevens, and eights this week. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will do 9's, 10's, 11's, and 12's (one fact each week). Don't forget we will have the Chapter 3 Test on Tuesday and the Trimester test on chapters 1-3 on Friday.

Week of November 7-11

2011-11-04T07:23:00.005-05:00

Important Dates

*Box Top Winner Pizza Party Thursday 11/10

*No School Friday 11/11 Veterans' Day

Classroom Chatter

Parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for the last week of November. Most of you signed up for your conference on Curriculum Night. Today, your child came home with the confirmation sheet. Please confirm our appointment by filling out the bottom portion of the paper and return to school asap! Thanks!

Don't forget that we don't have school Friday for Veterans' Day. Thursday our class will enjoy a pizza party lunch! We turned in the most Box Tops for 3rd grade! Thank you so much for those that turned them in. This has been my 5th year in a row winning!!! ;) Please continue to collect box tops, pop tabs, soup labels, and Promenade Mall receipts!!!! Thanks in advance.

Spelling

This week in spelling we will take a break from our spelling lists and work on synonyms and antonyms. There will not be a packet of homework for "spelling" due this week, but there maybe a homework page the will come home a night or two to practice synonyms and antonyms.

English

We will continue with Unit 2 Nouns. This week we will focus our study on common and proper nouns, nouns in the subject, singular and plural nouns, nouns with -es, and special plural nouns.

Reading

We will begin a novel study. While reading our novels we will focus on story elements such as character, setting, plot, problem/resolution.

Science

This week we will continue our study on solids, liquids, and gases.

Social Studies

We will take a quiz on the History of DG on Thursday, 11/10. A study guide is in the SS folder. We also will continue our study of DG by learning about present day DG. This ties nicely into Chapter 12, Your Local Government, in our textbooks. We will be learning about both at the same time.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on 6's, 7's and 8's. We also continue with chapter 3. This week we will be doing subtraction with regrouping of greater numbers. We are 1/2 though chapter 3 and the trimester is also coming to an end! That means we will be having a chapter test coming up as well as a cumulative trimester test on chapters 1-3. The CYP for lessons 6-9 will be Thursday, 11/10. The chapter 3 test will be Tuesday 11/15. The trimester test will be Friday 11/18. To review for the trimester test on chapters 1-3 practice the problems on the following pages: 64-66, 92-94, and 122-124.

Week of October 31-November 4

2011-10-28T11:32:00.005-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/31

*Happy Halloween Monday 10/31

*Spelling test Friday 11/4

Classroom Chatter

Halloween Monday will be business as usual at school...but we hope to do some fun activities in honor of the day!

We had a great time at our Halloween party on Friday!!!! Thanks to all the moms who planned a SPOOKTACULAR party! It was ghoulish!!!

Check out this fun online pumpkin carving website. Make a jack-o-lantern without any mess! ;)

http://www.onlinepumpkincarving.com/

Spelling

L. 8 words are spelled with a three-letter cluster and unexpected consonant patterns. The pretest will be Monday. The homework will come home on Monday and is due on Friday.

Reading

We will continue with cause and effect this week while we read the story, Cliffhanger. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Thursday. The list will be in the reading folder after Monday.

English

We will begin Unit 2, Nouns.

Science

We will continue with matter. This week we will study the 3 states of matter.

Social Studies

We will continue with our Downers Grove unit.

Mrs. Csorba's math class. We will take a mad minute on 4's this week. We will continue in chapter 3 this week. However, Monday, we will do some fun pumpkin math for Halloween! :)

Thursday we will take a CYP on lessons 1-5.

Week of October 24-28

2011-10-21T14:43:00.007-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/24

*Early dismissal Thursday 10/27

*Halloween parade and party Friday 10/28

*Spelling test Friday 10/28

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget early dismissal Thursday at 11am.

Friday is our Halloween parade and party. The parade will begin at 1:00. Students may bring their costumes to school. We will change in the classroom. We will have the girls in one room and the boys in another room. No one is allowed to go to the bathroom to change.

Spelling

This week's words are Halloween words. We will pretest Monday. The homework is due Friday. The test is on Friday.

English

We will work on descriptive writing by describing our houses! We will share them this week too!

Reading

We will work on the cause and effect strategy. We will practice this strategy when we read the story, Cliffhanger.

Science

We will continue with chapter 11 and learning about matter.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of the history of Downers Grove.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute in with threes. We will begin chapter 3, addition and subtraction. This week we will focus our studies on front-end estimation and addition of larger numbers and regrouping.

Week of October 17-21

2011-10-14T07:25:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/17

*Book Fair Thursday 10/20

*Spelling Test Friday 10/21

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget Thursday evening is our Book Fair in the gym! Come and check it out if you can!!!

Spelling

L. 7's words are spelled with long O. There will be a pretest Monday. The homework will be due Friday. The test will be on Friday.

Reading

We will finish up inference this week. We will be doing some inferencing activities using chapter books and short stories. We also will write an extended response from Mulan.

English

We will spend this week talking and practicing how add description to our writing. For example, we will talk about how we can use our 5 senses when we write to describe things. We will learn about similies and metaphores to help our descriptions too.

Science

We will begin our next unit, States of Matter.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit, Downers Grove.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on "fives" this week. Really, there were only 4 new facts to learn. :)

The mad minute will also have doubles and squares as well. We will finish up chapter two this week. We will take a CYP on the lessons 6-8 on Wednesday, review for the test on Thursday, and Chapter 2's test will be Friday.

Week of October 10-14

2011-10-07T14:30:00.002-05:00

Important Dates:

No school Monday or Tuesday!

*Science test Thursday 10/13

*Vocab quiz Thursday 10/13

*Book orders due Friday 10/14

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget there is no school Monday (Columbus day) or on Tuesday (Teacher Institute). Have a great, long weekend!

Book orders went home today (Friday 10/7). They are due on Friday 10/14. You can order online or send in your order with a check. Thanks!

Spelling

No spelling this week due to the shortened week.

English

We will finish up with our papers we are writing with our Me Bags. We will begin another writing unit at the end of the week. We will spend a week doing descriptive writing.

Reading

Our continued focus will be on inferring this week as we practice using many reading strategies to improve our reading. The inferences we make will be about text, characters and unfamiliar words. There will be a vocabulary quiz (from the story Ballad of Mulan) on Thursday.

This week we learned about "Good Fit" books. Ask your child about it!

Science

We will take a test on Ecosystems on Thursday, 10/13.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit of study, Downers Grove, next week!

Mrs. Csorba's math class:

We will take a mad minute on two's and squares on Wednesday. We also will continue with chapter 2. This week we will learn some more mental math strategies, learn how to estimate sums and differences, and add and subtract money. A look ahead to next week, the week of 17th-21st, we will probably take the next CYP on Wednesday 10/19 and the ch. 2 test Friday 10/21.

Week of October 3-7

2011-09-30T10:38:00.003-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/3

*Spelling test Friday 10/7

Classroom Chatter:

Thank you to everyone who participated in the magazine drive!!!!!!

Spelling:

L. 5 words are more long vowel words. There will be a pretest Monday. The test and homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will focus on the reading strategy inferencing. The students will use basal reading stories, supplemental short stories, and possibly novels to extend their practice of understanding what they read. Students will learn new vocabulary words from stories they are reading. We will also continue to work on an extended response where we use ideas from the text combined with our own ideas to answer a question.

English

We will begin our first writing unit and learn how to write a 5 paragraph paper. You child will be bringing home a "Me Bag" on Monday to help with this assignment. It is a brown paper bag that they will have to fill with 3 things that help describe them. For example in Mrs. Csorba's Me Bag you will find a golf ball, a book, and a camera. :)

Science

We will finish up with chapter 4 lesson 4 and learn how ecosystems can change.

Social Studies

We will have a quiz on Hemispheres on Wednesday. The study guide is in the social studies folder.

Mrs. Csorba's Math:

We will begin multiplication mad minutes on Monday. Students will be quizzed on the "squares" with 50 problems. They will have 3 minutes. They will have Wednesday and Friday to also "pass" the test if need be. We also began chapter 2 on Friday. Chapter 2 teaches about addition and subtraction concepts. There will be a Check Your Progress on Thursday covering material from lessons 1-5. They will be allowed to use their "notes" and textbook. It will be 20 multiple choice questions.

Week of September 26-30

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Johnny Appleseed's birthday Monday 9/26

*Spelling pretest Monday 9/26

*Magazine Turn In 9/27, 9/29

*Picture Day Thursday 9/29

*English test Thursday 9/29

*Spelling test Friday 9/30

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget Monday is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. A note went home last week about how we will celebrate Johnny's pioneer life! Please send in an apple that is peeled, cut, and cored! We will use it to make homemade applesauce! Thanks to Kyle, Gia, and Noah for sending in the supplies we need! ;)

Don't forget to bring your picture day money and your best smile :) on Thursday for Picture Day!

Spelling

L. 5's words are spelled with short and long vowels. There will be a pretest Monday. The test and homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will continue to highlight summarizing and sequencing using materials differentiated for our classroom's various reading levels, and will be extending our knowledge through written responses. We will also assess on their ability to sequence events from text.

English

We will finish up Unit One: What is a Sentence with a test on Thursday 9/29. A study guide is in the English folder. I will send home your child's English textbook to help with studying.

Science

We will continue with chapter 4. This week we will look at lesson 3 and how living things survive in an ecosystem.

Social Studies

We will spend the week learning about the hemispheres of our world.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a CYP on Monday on lessons 6-10. We will play a review game on Tuesday. Wednesday we will take a test on chapter 1. A study guide is in the math folder and went home last week. Use it as a guide to find practice problems to study for. We will start multiplication mad minutes next week (week of October 3). A letter about this will come home on Monday.

Our next unit of study will be Chapter 2, Addition and Subtraction Concepts.

Week of September 19-23

2011-09-16T07:20:00.005-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling Pretest Monday 9/19

*Continents and Oceans Quiz Thursday 9/22

*Spelling Test Friday 9/23

*Magazine Turn In dates 9/27, 9/29

Classroom Chatter

Thank you to the many of you the ordered Scholastic books! I will send them home with your child as soon as they arrive! Book orders for October will come home in the beginning of the month. I usually send order forms home every month!

Spelling

Lesson 4's words are spelled with a vowel-consonant e pattern. There will be a pretest Monday and the test on Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

Now we will start to put the reading strategies we have learned to great use while reading various types of literature. We will always be reviewing/using all of the strategies, but for the coming weeks we will highly focus on the strategies of sequencing and summarizing. The students will use basal reading stories, supplemental short stories, and possibly novels to extend their practice of understanding what they read. As a third grade we are really highlighting oral and written responses to what was read and will integrate this throughout.

English

We will continue with unit 1. We will continue practicing finding the subject of the sentence. We also will work on locating the predicate of the sentence. Check out this song, Mr. Morton, that we sang to help us learn about the subject and predicate of the sentence. Click HERE.

Science

This week we will study lesson 2, What Are Some Types of Ecosystems.

Social Studies

We will take a quiz on the 7 continents and 5 oceans on Thursday. A study guide is in the social studies folder. Your child does not need to know how to spell the names. There will be a word bank. They will be expected to spell them correctly since there is a word bank for them to use. Click HERE to play the Continents Song we sang in class! ;)

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute in subtraction. Students will need to answer 40 subtraction problems in 2 minutes time. We will also spend this week finish up chapter 1. I plan on giving the 2nd CYP next Monday, 9/26. We will play a review game on 9/27. The test for Chapter 1 will be Wednesday 9/28.

September 12-16

2011-09-08T10:29:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

*Magazine Kick-off Monday 9/12

*Spelling Pretest Monday 9/12

*Spelling Test Friday 9/16

*Book orders due Friday 9/16

Classroom Chatter

Scholastic book order forms will come home today (Friday). The due date is Friday, 9/16. Attached to the orders will be a pink information sheet on how to order books online. (We get a free book for the classroom every time a parent places and order online AND it is so much easier for me to place orders!) I strongly encourage you to try online ordering. It is safe and secure. Please know you may still send a check and the paper order to school with your child in an envelope as well and I will enter the orders online! Thanks in advance for your orders! Great books to buy for 20 minutes of reading!

Spelling

L. 3 words are short vowel words. Pretest Monday. The test is Friday. Homework will be due Friday.

English

We will learn about subjects and predicates.

Reading

Next week we will continue to teach the students how to utilize the essential reading strategies. In our classes we will demonstrate how the application of these strategies will maximize student comprehension of a range of literary materials.

Science

We spent last week getting to know our text book with some "textbook mapping" activities. This week, we will begin chapter 4, lesson 1 on ecosystems.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of map skills and learn about the continents and oceans of our world!

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class:

TUESDAY (no math Monday due to Magazine Kick off Assembly) we will take our first mad minute (aka timed test) in addition facts. Students will have 2 minutes to answer 40 basic math facts. If they do not earn 100%, they will have Wednesday and Friday to try again. We also will be taking our first "Check Your Progress" on Tuesday. (I know it says "Monday" in assignment books. I forgot about No Math on Monday). These CYP's are graded assignments. Students are allowed and encouraged to use their "notes" we took in their journals and math text books. For this 1st CYP, I will "guide" them and show them how to look at their textbook and notes for help, if needed. They are usually 20 questions. Please review lessons 1, 3, and 4 (pages 36, 40, and 42) if your child wants to prepare. The problems on the CYP look like the practice problems in the textbook or the workbook pages. Remember there are no retakes on graded work.

We will spend the rest of the week continuing in chapter 1 working with numbers.

Week of September 5-9

2011-09-02T15:56:00.003-05:00

Important Dates

*Mon. 9/5: No School: Labor Day

* Tues. 9/6: Spelling: Pretest List 2

* Thurs. 9/8: MAPS testing: Reading

*Fri. 9/9: Spelling: List 2 Test

Social Studies: Directions Quiz

Classroom Chatter

*Curriculum Night: It was so great to see so many of you at Thursday night's Curriculum Night. Thank you for sharing your night with us as we went over 3rd grade with you. If were unable to come, I sent any notes home with your child today. I will also sign you up for a conference time and notify you of that date as is gets closer. If it does not work for you, we can reschedule. Thank you!

*Donations: If you took a baseball off of our "Can You Pitch in and Help" board at open house or curriculum night, thank you for your donations. You can send in your chosen item at any time. Thank you for "pitching in and helping!"

*A calendar came home Friday (and if you came to Curriculum Night, you received a September calendar). Please initial 20 days that your child reads in the month of September. This is worth 10 points in reading. You may turn it in as soon as 20 days of reading for 20 minutes is complete. The due date will be Monday, Oct. 3.

Our Week:

*Reading: The third grade starts off our reading curriculum by teaching the students to use various reading strategies. We model the use of these strategies while reading high interest picture books to the class. We then will spend the year extending the use of these strategies while reading a variety of literary materials to aid in comprehension. This coming week, we will learn about predicting, inferring, and visualizing.

*English: We will focus on ch 1, The Sentence. We will study the four types of sentences this week. They are statement, question, exclamation, and command.

*Spelling: We will work on list 2: short vowel words. There will be a pretest on Tuesday and the test will be on Friday. Due to the shortened week, your child will have 2 homework assignments due Friday.

*Social Studies: We will continue to work on map skills as we focus on cardinal and intermediate directions and the compass rose. We will have a short quiz on these skills on Friday 9/9. Look for a study guide coming home on Tuesday.

*Science: We will begin our science unit on ecosystems soon! This is chapter 4 in the textbook.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

A "Math News" blue piece of paper came home Friday. Please review the responsibilities with your child (we did go over them in class today). Both parent and child are to sign the sheet and return to school on Tuesday. Don't forget to cover your math textbook!

This week in math we will begin chapter 1, Place Value. Students will also be starting an addition "mad minute" timed test. They will need to answer 40 addition problems in 2 minutes time.

Week of August 29-September 2

2011-08-26T10:56:00.006-05:00

Important Dates:

3rd Grade Curriculum Night Thursday 9/1

Classroom Chatter

It has been a pleasure getting to know your child this week! First two days were filled with getting to know each other and our great school! We have a great class! I know we will have a wonderful year together!!!

My Blog: Each week, I will email you the link to check my blog. I will update what we are learning and upcoming important dates and events. You should also check your child's math teacher's blog. Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments about the blog. This a great way to keep open communication between school and home.

Curriculum Night: Third Grade curriculum night will be on Thursday, September 1st at 6:30 pm. Please meet in the multipurpose/lunch room or gym (there will be signs leading you where to go). This will be an informative night to learn more about third grade. Hope to see you there!

Students have some homework this weekend. I really try not to give homework on the weekends. It isn't due until Tuesday. They have a sheet in their binder: How I spent My Summer Vacation.

Students are also to get the Highlights sheet signed and returned. Mark YES or NO. The class gets FREE stuff even if all responses are NO!!! ;)

Please empty the "KEEP AT HOME" folder in the binder every day! Keep all other papers in the folders. Thank you!

Please have your child bring in a hanger and t-shirt for a project this week. The shirt can be any shirt and won't be "ruined" in the project!

Reading: We will spend this week doing "Recipe for Success" to get us excited for reading.

English: We will begin with Unit 1, which covers the four types of sentences. We will do daily work with various punctuation lessons as we work on our D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language).

Spelling: This week in spelling we will start with Lesson 1. These are "Back to School" words. We will pretest on Monday and pass out a homework packet due Friday. We will be taking one of the homework sheets for a grade. On Friday we will have our first test worth 20 points.

Social Studies: We will begin our maps unit. We will start with directions (north, east, south, west, NE, NW, SE, SW) and the compass rose.

Math-for Mrs. Csorba's math class only
We will have our first class on Thursday. We will begin chapter 1 Place Value. Students should review their addition and subtraction basic facts. We will have our first mad minute on basic addition facts the following week starting 9/6.

2011-08-12T15:30:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday, August 24th, please join us for the District Open House. During the hours of 9-11 a.m. you can come visit our classroom, pick your desk, find your locker, drop off your supplies, and meet your teacher!

I look forward to meeting you!!!!

Week of June 6th

2011-06-03T14:54:00.003-05:00

Important Dates:
School Picnic Monday 6/6

Last Day of School Tuesday 6/7

Classroom Chatter

PICNIC: Our 3rd grade picnic will be on Monday, June 6th. A hot dog lunch will be provided. If your child does not want to eat a hog dog, please send them with an alternate cold lunch. There will not be cafeteria hot lunch service.

YEARBOOKS: Yearbooks will be handed out to students on June 7th. Any students who did not purchase a yearbook may do so on Tuesday; they will go on sale after morning announcements. The cost will be $11.00 and children wishing to purchase should have exact amount. Checks can be made out to Prairieview. There is a limited supply. Prairieview yearbook orders were not paid for at registration. There will also be autograph pages for anyone who did not purchase a yearbook.

Week of May 30-June 3

2011-05-26T10:07:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

*Monday 5/30 No school Memorial Day

*Tuesday 5/31 Talent Show

*Monday 6/6 Picnic

*Tuesday 6/7 Last Day of School and Report Cards

Classroom Chatter

As our year is coming to an end, we will be cleaning up our room and collecting textbooks. Please make sure if you have any library books or textbooks at home, please return ASAP! Thank you!

The raffle for Japan has just begun. A letter was sent home on Wednesday, with the list of raffle items and raffle tickets. If you wish to participate, just fill in the tickets, put them in an envelope with the money, and return it to your classroom teacher. All tickets must be turned in by June 3rd. We will have the raffle at the all school assembly on June 6th. Thank you so much for your support.

Reading

We will spend this week reading the storying, Raising Dragons. Our last day of reading will be on Friday. Students will work on reading strategies we've done all year. We also will be doing Reader's Theater. Thank you to all parents who came to our magic show last week!!! For summer, it is so important that your child continues to read daily for at least 20 minutes!!!

English

We will finish this week up with our descriptive writing of a superhero.

Science

We will spend this week studying about the scientific method and inquiry. We will not test on this unit.

Social Studies

We will spend the week learning some map skills and creating our own map!

Math

We will spend this week reviewing division. If time allows, we will do some algebra. A note will come home with your child's report card regarding their math placement for next year.

Week of May 23-27

2011-05-19T10:12:00.003-05:00

Important Dates:
*Magic Show Tuesday 5/24
*Walk for Japan Tuesday 5/24
*Bowling Field Trip Wednesday 5/25
*Science Test Friday 5/27
*Spelling Test Friday 5/27

Classroom Chatter
Don't forget that we will be going bowling on Wednesday morning from 9-11am.

Spelling
This week's words are more commonly misspelled third grade words. The test is Friday and homework will be due Friday. This is our last week of spelling. The homework will be to write a sentence for each word and abc order.

Reading
Mrs. Csorba's Reading Class of Magnificent Magicians invite you to our Magic Show on Tuesday from 8:30-9:30am. Don't forget to email me by Monday to reserve your seat! jcsorba@ccsd66.org! We will be working on reader's theater this week and finishing up our Magic Unit by practicing all our strategies!

English
We will do some descriptive writing this week!

Science
The test for ch. 14 will be Friday, 5/27. A study guide went home last week and is in the science folder!

Social Studies
Ask your child about the LIFE game we are playing to understand economics better!!! We will also begin a maps skills unit. It will be the last social studies unit of the year!

Math
We will be working on long division this week. Some of the lessons we will cover will be zeros in the quotient, order of operations and finding the mean. We will continue practicing long division with remainders. The following week, we will take a CYP on the lessons we've covered.

Week of May 16-20

2011-05-12T10:16:00.002-05:00

Important Dates:
*Social Studies Test Thursday 5/19

*Spelling Test Friday 5/20

*Magic Show Friday 5/20

*Walk for Japan 5/24

Classroom Chatter

Don’t forget to sign up for the 2 mile Walk Day on Tuesday, May 24^th at Prairieview School. All proceeds from the event will go to the American Red Cross to help the victims of the earthquake in Japan. There will also be a raffle to help raise money for the cause, and any donations would be appreciated. (gift cards, sport items, games, services, small goodies). Anyone who would like to volunteer on May 24^th, please e-mail Mrs. Cavoto ccavoto@ccsd66.org or Mrs. Sulima Ssulima@ccsd66.org to let them know.Let us know if you would like to volunteer on May 24 from 3:30-5:00. We could use the extra help!

PS My son, Jack and I will be there!!!

Spelling

This week is lesson 25. These words are a list of commonly misspelled third grade words. Some may be a repeat of a previous lesson. The homework is due Friday and the test is Friday. This week's homework will be to write the words 3x each in cursive. Also, make a word search using either www.puzzlemaker.com or pencil and paper. I will provide the graph paper.

Reading

We will continue with our magic unit. We are reviewing all our strategies we learned throughout the year. Look for information about a Magic Show to come home!!!

English

We will spend the week doing descriptive writing.

Science

We will finish up chapter 14 with how color and light are related.

Social Studies

We will finish up our economy unit with a test on Thursday. A study guide went home last week. It is in the social studies folder.

Math

We will finish longer multiplication this week. We will do a CYP on multiplication of 4 digits by 1 digit and 2 digits by 2 digits on Tuesday. There will not be a test on multiplication. The rest of the week, we will begin long division with remainders. Students will take their final mad minute this week. It is a division mix. Even though we are finished testing multiplication and division facts, it is still very important to keep practicing over the summer!!!

Week of May 9-13

2011-05-05T10:59:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling Test Friday 5/13

*Early Dismissal Friday 5/13

Classroom Chatter:

We have been enjoying Jr. Achievement with Mr. Wilcoxen. He will be coming to our class Monday this week! Ask your child about it!

Don't forget Friday is an early dismissal!!

Spelling

L. 24 words are contractions. The homework will be due on Friday. Please make sure it is in cursive. There will be a pretest Monday and a test on Friday.

Reading

We will finish up fairy tales with some reader's theater. Students will be performing their fractured fairy tale on Tuesday. Wednesday, we will begin a unit on magic! We will continue reviewing all our skills and strategies we learned throughout this year!

English

We will continue expository writing. Students will be writing about a what they would do if they had a robot!

Science

We will learn about light this week.

Social Studies

We will continue with our economy unit and learn about goods, services, supply and demand.

Math

We will take a mad minute in division 12. We will take a CYP on mulitplication of two digits by one digit, multiplication with regrouping and three digits times one digit, and multiply money on Tuesday. We will continue with multiplication this week. We will learn four digit multiplication and multiplication of two digits by two digits.

Week of May 2-6

2011-04-28T10:36:00.002-05:00

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.

Week of April 25-29

2011-04-20T07:34:00.005-05:00

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!

Week of April 18-22

2011-04-15T11:35:00.002-05:00

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.

Week of April 11-15

2011-04-07T15:29:00.008-05:00

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.

Week of April 4-8

2011-03-24T10:05:00.005-05:00

Important Dates:
Monday 4/4 Classes Resume from Spring Break
Tuesday 4/5 No school Teacher Institute
Friday 4/8 Spelling Test and Reading vocab quiz

Classroom Chatter
Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break! Don't forget there is no school Tuesday for Teacher Institute. Enjoy the day off!

Spelling
L. 20's words are spelled with the vowel sound in sound and bought. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.

Reading
We will reading the story The Mysterious Giant of Barletta by Tomie DePaola. While we read, we will review metacognition, sequencing, and making connections. We will also review compare and contrast as we look at some other stories by Tomie DePaola. There will be a vocab quiz Friday on the words from the story, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta. The vocab list will come home Monday in the reading folder.
***ALSO, please have your child bring their biography scrapbook back to school. I would like to display them at Open House. ANOTHER THING, please send in a favorite recipe. We need it for an activity on following directions! Thank you!

English
We will begin expository writing this week.

Science
We will continue with chapter 13. This week we will study magnets in lesson 2.

Social Studies
We will continue our study of Chicago. We will finish up talking about the history of Chicago this week. Students received information about a Chicago Mobile project to work on at home. They are to pick 3 Chicago landmarks to make for their mobile. The rubric and instructions page is in their social studies folder. This is due April 11.

Math
We will take a mad minute in division 7 this week. We will continue with fractions this week. We will learn how to compare and order fractions. We will do some problem solving this week too. The chapter 8 test is scheduled for Friday, 4/8.

Week of March 21- March 25

2011-03-17T10:57:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

English test Friday 3/25

Spelling test Friday 3/25

Geometry projects due 3/25

Spring break 3/28-4/1

Spelling
L. 19's words are spelled with the vowel sounds in tooth and cook. There will be a pretest Monday. The test will be Friday. The homework is due Friday.

Reading

We will finish up biographies this week with sequencing, main idea and connections. Students will be sharing their biographies to the class on Monday. They are encouraged to dress up like their person for their presentation, however it is their choice! Their biographies will came home to practice reading out loud. We will also be reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 this week.

English

We will finish up pronouns with a test on Friday. A study guide will come home Monday.

Science

We will learn about magnets this week!

Social Studies

We will continue with Chicago by learning about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871! Students will receive information about a Chicago's Landmark's mobile project they are to work on at home over the next several weeks.

Math

We will take a CYP on Monday over lessons 1-5. This week we will learn about factors, lowest terms, and mixed numbers. We will take a CYP on lessons 6-8 on Friday. We will take a mad minute in division 6's. Geometry projects are due Friday!!!

Week of March 14-18

2011-03-09T12:05:00.008-06:00

Important Dates:

*Science Test on Energy Tuesday 3/15

*Reading vocab Quiz Tuesday 3/15

*St. Patrick's Day Thursday 3/18

*Spelling Test Friday 3/18

Classroom Chatter

Lorin was a lucky winner of a fire truck ride here at Prairieview. He was selected because he does an outstanding job demonstrating being respectful, being responsible, and being safe! Way to go Lorin!

Spelling

L. 18's rule is changing y to an i. The prestest will be Monday. Homework will come home Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will take a quiz on Tuesday over the 5 biography words. The page to study is a workbook page in your child's reading folder. We will continue with sequencing of events, as well as finding facts, as we work on our biography scrapbooks this week. Your child selected a biography to read at home. They should be reading it every night until it is finished. They are also supposed to use a post-it to book mark 6 important events they will want to include for their scrapbook. We will work on the scrapbooks in class together. Any questions, email me! jcsorba@ccsd66.org

English

We will continue with Unit 6's study of pronouns. This week we will do some writing with pronouns, learn how to use I & me, possessive nouns, contractions, and using there, their, and they're.

Science

We take the chapter 12 test on energy on Tuesday.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit, Chicago. It's my kind of town!

Math

We will take a division 5 mad minute this week. We will begin chapter 8, fraction concepts. Don't forget that the geometry projects are due Friday 3/25. They may be turned in earlier if finished before then! We will take a CYP on lessons 1-5 on Monday 3/21!

Week of March 7-11

2011-03-03T09:57:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

No school Monday 3/7 Pulaski Day

ISAT test Wednesday 3/9

Egypt test Thursday3/10

Classroom Chatter

All of third grade will be taking the last math ISAT test on Wednesday.

Spelling

L. 17 this week deals with prefix and suffix. The pretest will be Tuesday. The test will be Friday. Homework this week will go home Tuesday and due on Friday.

Reading

While reading some short biographies in our basal, we will be focusing on sequencing events. Students will also be selecting their own biography this week to read at home. They will be locating 6 important events to make a biography scrapbook in class. More info about this will come home next week!

English

We will begin unit 6, Pronouns! We also will be finishing typing our autobiographies.

Science

We will take the ch. 12 Energy test on Tuesday, 3/15. A study guide went home on Thursday. It is in the science folder.

Social Studies

Our Ancient Egypt unit has come to an end. We will take the test on Thursday 3/10.

Math

Information about the geometry project came home last week. Please let me know if you have any questions! Have fun with it. It is due Friday, 3/25. Please turn in the green rubric with it. If your child finishes early, they can turn it in at any time! We are taking the final ISAT test on Wednesday. Thursday, we will play a review game. Friday is the chapter 11 test. We will be catching up with division mad minutes. Next week (3/14), we will start division 5's. ***I've added 3 links to some math games online. Gamequarium is a great place to play mulitiplication and division AND other math concepts! Have fun!

February 28-March 4

2011-02-25T16:02:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:
ISAT testing begins: 3/1
P/T Conferences 2/28, 3/1, 3/2, 3/3
Report cards 3/1
No school Friday 3/4
No school Monday 3/7

Classroom Chatter:

If you have not already, please send a letter of encouragement, for the ISAT tests, sealed in an envelope to school on Monday with my name on it. The letters will be distributed on Tuesday for the students to read.

ISAT testing begins this week. The schedule is as follows:
Monday Feb. 28: No testing
Tuesday March 1: Reading I
Wednesday March 2: Reading II, Math I
Thursday March 3: Reading III, Math II
Friday March 4: No school!
Monday March 7: No school!
Tuesday March 8: No Testing
Wednesday March 9: Math III

ISATs: Please take some time to check out the Illinios State Board of Education (ISBE) website below for important information regarding the upcoming ISAT test your child will be taking starting March 1, 2011. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) measures individual student achievement relative to the Illinois Learning Standards. The results give parents, teachers, and schools one measure of student learning and school performance.

Click here to find sample books for this year and previous years. These sample booklets will show you the types of questions your child will be answering in reading and math.
http://www.isbe.net/assessment/htmls/sample_books.htm

Click here for more information regarding the ISAT and student assessment.
http://www.isbe.net/assessment/isat.htm

We are now in our 3rd trimester. Reports will come home Tuesday. Today, your child came home with their MAPs scores. Please look in their binders for them.

Please mark your calendars for March 15th for the Parent Connect meeting to learn more about how to interpret your child's MAPS scores.

Spelling
No spelling this week due to ISAT testing.

Reading
We will continue to review for the ISAT tests this week as well as take the reading portion during our scheduled reading time. See schedule above!

English
We will finish typing our final copies of our autobiographies.

Science
We will finish up our energy unit with lesson 3. Students will learn about fossil fuels and renewable and non-renewable resources.

Social Studies
We will finish up our Egpyt unit this week. We will be taking the Ancient Egypt test after ISAT testing is over with. It is tentatively planned for Thursday 3/10. This week I'll send home a study guide.

Math
We will take a mad minute in division 4. We will have the chapter 11 test on Friday, 3/11. We will actually finish the chapter this week, but due to ISAT testing and a day to play a review game, the test is scheduled for after ISAT's. Also, information about your child's geometry project will come home. It will be due Friday 3/25.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO DO THEIR BEST ON THE ISAT'S! REMEMBER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP AND HEALTHY BREAKFAST!!!!

Week of February 21-25

2011-02-17T07:38:00.006-06:00

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 2/21 Presidents' Day

*End of Trimester 2 - Friday 2/25

*ISAT testing begins the week of 2/28

*P/T Conference week of 2/28

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget to have your child return conference forms.

Spelling

No spelling this week. We will be using this time to work on prefix, suffix, and base words.

Reading

We will continue working on extended response. Your child learned a song and a small "dance" to remember the steps to writing an extended response. Ask them about it! Maybe they'll "dance" and "sing" it for you!

English

We will begin writing our autobiographies this week!

Science

We kicked off chapter 12 by learning about energy. We learned about kinetic energy and potential energy. Your child should bring in 4 pictures of examples of kinetic energy and 4 pictures of examples of potential energy from magazines, the internet, or handmade. This week we will learn all about how energy can be used.

Social Studies

We are continuing with our study of Ancient Egypt. We didn't get a chance to start our new book, Tut's Mummy Lost and Found. We will this week.

Math

We will take a division 3 mad minute this week. We started chatper 11: Perimeter, Area, and Volume. This is a continuation of geometry. At the end of this unit information about a Geometry Project will come home. There will be a check your progress on lessons 1-3 on Tuesday 2/22. Just a reminder with CYP's, they are NOT tests. They are assignments done in class for a grade. Students can use their notes in their spiral and textbooks to help them and ask me questions!!!

Students also are working on making solid figures. They were sent home on Friday to assemble. We will be making some solid figures with toothpicks and marshmallows on Tuesday!!!

Week of February 14-18

2011-02-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

Matter Matters Monday 2/14

Valentines Day Party Monday 2/14

English test Wednesday 2/16

Spelling Test Friday 2/18

Classroom Chatter

Monday we will make up the inschool field trip, Matter Matters. It was canceled due to our snow day.

Monday, students will have an opportunity to pass out Valentine's to the class. We have 26 students. Students should just sign their own name. They do not need to put students' names on Valentines. Please do not send in any candy for your child to pass out. Thanks. We also will have our party in the afternoon!

Spring Conferences are going to be held the week of 2/28. Information about them will come home today, 2/11/11.

Spelling

We will not have a regular spelling list this week or next week. We will spend the next two weeks working on prefixes, suffixes, and base words. There will be a test on this Friday, 2/28. We will keep all information in our spelling folder to study.

Reading

We will spend this week writing extened responses. While working on these responses we will focus on making inferences, locating text proofs, and interpreting.

English

We will take the Unit 5 test on capitalization and punctuation on Wednesday. A study guide is in the English folder.

Science

We will begin chapter 12 on energy.

Social Studies

We will begin a study on King Tut. We will read, Tut's Mummy Lost and Found.

Math

We will take a division 2 mad minute. There will be a test on Geometry on Wednesday 2/16.

Week of February 7-11

2011-02-04T10:58:00.002-06:00

Important Dates

*100th day of School Wed. 2/9

*Spelling Test Friday 2/11

Classroom Chatter

Hope everyone enjoyed the snow days! We rescheduled our in school field trip, Matter Matters, for Monday, 2/14.

Spelling: This week's list is L. 16 "adding endings" to words. The test is Friday. Homework is due Friday.

Reading: We will continue working on identifying main idea and details this week. We will also work on writing some extended responses to text we read.

English: We will spend this week learning about introductory words, commas in a series, writing good sentences, and quotation marks. We are coming to the end of this unit. I have the test tentatively planned for the following week. Right now it is scheduled for Wednesday, 2/16.

Science

We will begin chapter 12 on energy!

Social Studies

We will spend this week learning about Cleopatra and King Tut.

Math

We will finish up taking a mad minute in mixes. Start practicing division facts for the week of 2/14! We will study similar figures, flips, slides & turns, coordinate graphs, and some problem solving with and without extended responses to finish up chapter 10.

Week of January 31-February 4

2011-01-28T15:15:00.002-06:00

Important Dates:

*Matter Test Tuesday 2/1

*Matter in-class field trip Wed. 2/2

*Spelling Test Friday 2/4

Classroom Chatter

We are excited for the scientists from High-Touch High-Tech to come to our classroom for Matter Matters presentation. Ask your child about it! They come on Wednesday!

Spelling: This week we will focus on List 15: vowel plus r sounds. The homework will be sent home Monday and due Friday. The graded test will be on Friday.

Reading: We will continue working on all of our reading strategies, especially identifying main ideas and details as we use various reading materials (novels, short stories, and leveled readers). We will also be working on writing extended responses to texts.

English:

We began Unit 5 Capitalization and Punctuation last week. This week we will learn about abbreviations, book titles, introductory words, commas in a series, and practice writing good

sentences.

Science

We will finish up Matter with a test on Tuesday. The in-class field trip is Wednesday on Matter Matters.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of Ancient Egypt! We are reading a non-fiction book called Eye on Ancient Egypt. Ask your child about it and what they've learned about the pyramids, pharoahs, and the after life! Oh MY!

Math

We will take a mad minute in mix this week. We also will continue with our geometry unit. This week we will study polygons, quadrilaterals, and triangles. I tentatively have the test planned for Friday, 2/11. Also, information about the Geometry project will come home the following week!!

Week of January 24-28

2011-01-21T11:30:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

*Friendly Letter Test Tuesday 1/25

*District Spelling Bee Tuesday 1/25

*Spelling Test Friday 1/28

Classroom Chatter

I'd like to give a big congratulations to Maks for winning our 3rd grade spelling bee! He advances onto the District Spelling Bee this week on Tuesday! Good luck Maks!!!

Matter Presentation: We will have an in school "field trip" about matter on Wed. 2/2 about matter. The cost of the presentation will be covered with the money from last years canceled field trip (when your child was in 2nd grade).

*Reading: We will continue to work on our novels as we practice the strategy of making connections.

*Spelling: This week we will focus on List 14: homophones. The homework will be sent home Monday and due Friday. The graded test will be on Friday.

*English: The test on Friendly Letters will be Tuesday. We then will begin Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

*Science: We will finish up matter with lesson three: How matter changes. The test is scheduled for Tuesday 2/1. A study guide will come home Monday to help prepare. This will be our first test in science we will take this year.

*Social Studies:

We will begin a study of Ancient Egypt!

*Math:

We will take a mad minute in x12. We will begin chapter 10 on geometry.

Week of January 17-21

2011-01-13T10:12:00.005-06:00

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 1/17 Martin Luther King

*Culture Day Thursday 1/20

*Friendly Letter Test Friday 1/21

*Spelling Test Friday 1/21

*Book Orders due Friday 1/21

Classroom Chatter

Scholastic Book orders went home on Friday. They are due 1/21. Info about online ordering was attached to the packet! Thanks in advance for your orders!

Spelling

We are back to our normal spelling routine next week with Lesson #13. We will pretest on Tuesday and assign the corresponding homework. The spelling challenge students will only have to pick two assignments from the list and all other spelling students will have a shortened assignment as well due to the 4 day week. The homework will be due on Friday and we will have the test that day also!

Reading

As we begin/continue our novel studies this week we will be targeting the reading strategy of questioning. As always, we will also continue to review and refine our work with the other strategies that we have already introduced, but will highlight questioning this week.

English: We will finish up our Friendly Letter unit with writing a friendly letter to someone. You child will come home with an envelope this week (probably Thursday). It will just need a stamp. We will mail our letters at the end of this week.

Science: This week we will learn about solids, liguids, and gases in chapter 11 lesson 2.

Social Studies

We will wrap up Chapter 3 with Culture Day on Thursday, 1/20. We look forward to learning more about our classmates!!

Math

We will take a mad minute in x11 this week. We will have a test on chapter 7: Statistics and Probability on Thursday 1/21.

Week of January 10-14

2011-01-06T16:31:00.004-06:00

*English Test Tues. 1/11

*MAPS testing 1/11 and 11/14

*Juggling assembly 1/12

Classroom Chatter

Spelling Bee: Before winter break, a word list was sent home with your child to help them prepare for the spelling bee. We will have a "practice" bee on Tuesday and our classroom spelling bee will be on Friday. The top 2 spellers will advance to the grade level bee, which will take place on Wed. 1/19. The top 2 spellers in the third grade will then move onto the district wide spelling bee which will take place the week of 1/24.

Our school earned a PBIS assembly for good hallway behavior. On Wednesday, we will have an assembly with a juggler!!! Ask your child about it!

This week our class will be taking a MAPS test in reading and math on Tuesday and Friday. There will not be math and reading on those days.

*Reading: We will continue to work on the reading strategies of monitoring and clarifying what we read as well as distinguishing facts and opinions while concluding our work with the story Nights of the Pufflings or starting a novel study. We will also be reviewing various other reading strategies to comprehend our reading materials.

*Spelling: Due to MAPs testing this week, we are working on synonym practice during spelling. We will not have a test this week or spelling homework. We will be working on a unit of "snowy synonyms". We will be back to working on Lesson #13 the following week.

English

We will take the test on adjectives and adverbs on Tuesday, 1/11. A study guide went home in the English folder last week. We will then begin a unit on Friendly Letter writing.

Science

We will continue learning about matter. This week we will learn about solids, liquids, and gases.

Social Studies

We will finish up Chapter 3 with lesson 4: A New Life in America. Our culture day will be on Thursday 1/20. Information about Culture Day came home this week. Please let me know if you have any questions! We look forward to a fun day learning about each other! I enjoyed reading everyone's idea sheets!

Math

We will continue with chapter 7. We are taking mad minutes in x10 this week. We will be finished soon. I tentatively have the test scheduled for Thursday, 1/20.

Week of January 3-7

2010-12-17T10:30:00.002-06:00

Important Dates

Winter Fluency benchmark Tues. 1/4

Spelling L. 12 test Friday 1/7

Classroom Chatter

I hope everyone has a wonderful HOLIDAY and a HEALTHY and HAPPY New Year!!!

Classes resume Monday, January 3rd. Tuesday, January 4th will be our winter fluency benchmark. We will not have reading on Tuesday.

Spelling - We are on list 12: words with the vowel sounds plus r. A pretest will be on Monday. Homework will be given Monday and due Friday. The final test will be on Friday.

Reading - We will start working on the strategy of monitoring and clarifying as we read using the story "Nights of the Pufflings". We will then extend our strategy use while working on a novel study. All the while, we will also be distinguishing fact and opinion. As always, we will continue to utilize strategies from previous weeks.

English

We will learn about adverbs this week.

Science

We will begin a new unit, States of Matter. This is chapter 11 in our textbook. This science unit will have our usual notes and graded assignments. We will be having our first science test now that we're in trimester 2. This is weeks away. As time draws near, we will be reviewing in class and a study guide will come home a week prior to the test to help with studying.

Social Studies

We will begin the 2nd part of our culture unit. Chapter 3 lesson 3 teaches us about immigration and being a citizen.

Math

We will be taking a mad minute in x9's this week. We also will begin chapter 7 on statistics and probability. We will be doubling up on some lessons, so your child may have 2 workbook pages to complete for homework. We will also be learning how to write an extended response using a t-chart in the next couple of weeks.

Week of December 13-17

2010-12-09T11:49:00.006-06:00

Important Dates:
*Holiday Service Project items due Monday 12/13

*PE test on Bowling Tuesday 12/14

*BOX TOP turn in by Thursday 12/16

*All school field trip to Tivoli Friday 12/17

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget about our Holiday Service Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. All donations are due on Monday, December 13. Thank you for opening up your hearts to help make the holidays a happy one for those who are less fortunate.

A permission slip went home Thursday for our school field trip to Tivoli movie theater. We are going to the Tivoli in lieu of a classroom party. Please sign and return the permission slip. Send in $3 and the slip in an envelope marked with the following information: Your child's name, Mrs. Csorba, 3rd grade, Tivoli

We would like to wish Miss Boyer the best of luck! Her last day with us was Thursday. We enjoyed having her in our classroom and learned so much! Wewill miss her very much!

Spelling

L. 11's words are words with vowel sound in clown and lawn. The pretest will be Monday. The test and homework will be due on Friday.

English

We will work on our holiday stories and share them in class. I hope to send them home by the end of this week to share with the family!

Reading

We will continue working on visualization and evaluating text. We will be reading some short stories to help with these strategies.

Science

We will finish up our space games. One lucky student from each group will get to take the game home!

Social Studies

We will continue with chapter 3 culture. This week we will talk about customs and ethnic neighborhoods in lesson 2.

Math

We will finish up ch 6 time and measurement. The test will be Wednesday. We will take a x8 mad minute.

Week of December 6-10

2010-12-02T10:52:00.004-06:00

Important Dates:

*Miss Boyer's last day :( 12/9

*Spelling Test Friday 12/10

Classroom Chatter

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com to make an snowflake online!!!

It was great meeting with all the parents this week for conferences. Thank you for your time!

We would like to wish Miss Boyer the best of luck as her student teaching ends this week. We loved having her in our classroom. We are going to miss her very, very much!

*Reading: We will begin a new strategy focus as we learn about evaluating text and visualizing as we read. We will use the story Dogzilla as well as other novels and text as we apply these skills. We will also work on strategies from previous weeks.

*Spelling: We are on list 10: words with the vowel sound in "join". A pretest will be on Monday. Homework will be given Monday and due Friday. The final test will be on Friday.

*English

We are going to take a break from adjectives. We will resume learning about adjectives when we return from winter break. We will spend the next two weeks creating, revising, and sharing our holiday stories.

*Science

We will finish up our space unit with some fun activities. Students will be creating space games using what they learned from the unit.

*Social Studies

Chapter 3 teaches us about why people move to new communities!

*Math

We will spend this week studying about temperature and time. We will take a x 7 mad minute.

Week of November 29-December 3

2010-11-29T07:32:00.003-06:00

Important Dates:

* Mon. 11/29-Wed. 12/1: Conferences after school

* Thurs. 12/2: Spelling: List 9 Test

*Fri. 12/3: No School

Classroom Chatter:

* Fall conferences will be held the week of 11/29-12/1. Please be on time for your conference...they are only 15 minutes long and it is very easy to get off schedule! Thank you in advance for your cooperation! I am looking forward to meeting with parents and discussing your child's progress thus far in 3rd grade!

*Paper recycling: Don't forget to take advantage our our Paper Retriever recycling bin in Lakeview's parking lot. This is a great way to recycle and help our schools earn money. Thank you!

*Reading: We will be focusing on author's point of view and purpose next week as we read The Keeping Quilt. If you have a quilt at home you can send it in with your child.

*Spelling: We will work on list 9: long i sound. A pretest will be given Monday. Homework will be sent home Monday as well. The final test and homework is on Thurs.

* English: We will begin our unit on adjectives.

*Science: We will continue with our study of planets.

*Social Studies: We will begin a new chapter on culture and immigration (ch. 3).

*Math: This week we will focus on measurement with the Metric System. We will be taking a mad minute in x6.

Week of November 22-26

2010-11-18T12:36:00.004-06:00

Important Dates:

11/23 English Test

11/24-11/26 No School Thanksgiving break

11/29-12/3 P/T conferences

12/3 No school Friday

Classroom Chatter

*I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy your time with your family!

*The students of Project Challenge grades 3-5 are participating in a Lion's Club Holiday Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. If you wish to participate you will need to bring the donations in by December 13. Remember that some of these families live right here in Darien. So let's help these families have a happy holiday season.

*Paper Recycling Fundraiser Comes to Prairieview: We are happy to announce we can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! You can help us out, too! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (office and school paper, newspaper, magazines and catalogs, and construction paper---no cardboard!) and send it in with your child to school or drop it off at the green and yellow Paper Retriever bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment! Thank you!

Spelling

No spelling this week. We will pick up with Lesson 9 next week.

English

We will finish up our verb unit with a test on Tuesday.

Reading

We will be doing some reading activities with a Thanksgiving theme. These activities review the different skills and strategies we've been working on this year.

Science

We will learn about the planets.

Social Studies

We will begin chapter 3 on culture next week.

Math

We will take a check your progress on lessons 1-5 in chapter 6 on Tuesday. Next week we will start x6 mad minutes.

Week of November 15-19

2010-11-12T08:33:00.006-06:00

Important Dates:

*Report cards Tuesday 11/16

*Thanksgiving break 11/24-11/26

*Parent/Teacher conferences 11/29-12/1

*No school Friday 12/3

Classroom Chatter

We had a great field trip to Downers Grove on Friday, 11/12. Thanks Mrs. Nicholson for coming on our trip. Here is a picture of us at Prince Pond.

On Friday, your child came home with a Parent/Teacher Conference Notification form. Please review the date and time. Fill out the bottom portion and return to me. You can either confirm our conference or reschedule. Most of you signed up for the date and time at Curriculum Night at the beginning of the year. If you did not sign up, I just assigned at date and time. Please get this form back to me asap so if there are any conflicts, I can reschedule appointments asap! Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to meeting with you all very soon!

Spelling: We will continue to focus on synonyms and antonyms analogies this week. There will be a graded review on Friday.

Reading: We will continue to focus on our reading strategies as we apply them to our reading. We will focus on making inferences, summarizing, predicting, using background knowledge, and applying our knowledge about synonyms and antonyms. We also will focus on character traits, problem/resolution, and setting as we finish up our novel study.

English

We will continue with our verb unit. We will finish up this unit before Thanksgiving break with a test on 11/23. A study guide will come home this week. It'll be in their English folder come Tuesday.

Science

We will still be working with the moon. We also will begin studying about the planets.

Social Studies

We are going to read in chapter 12 about communities and relate what we read to the community of Downers Grove.

Math

We will take a mad minute in x5's. We will continue with chapter 6 working with measurement. We will be looking at capacity. We plan to have a "check your progress" on Tuesday 11/23

Week of November 8-12

2010-11-04T08:46:00.005-05:00

Important Dates:

*Roller skating Monday 11/8

*PE test Wednesday 11/10

*Veterans' Day Thursday 11/11

*DG field trip Friday 11/12

*Book Orders due Friday 11/12

*Picture Retakes Tueday 11/23

Classroom Chatter

Students attending the roller skating party on Monday, 11/8, will need to report to school at 3:45 pm to check in and have their hands stamped before boarding buses. Students should bring in their fast pass with them at check in, which will go home with them on Monday. Please remember not to park in the bus lanes when dropping and picking up your child. Thanks.

A study guide came home today for the PE test. It is on Wednesday.

Don't forget no school Thursday for Veterans' Day.

Book orders came home today. The deadline to order books will be Friday, 11/12. I encourage everyone to try online ordering. It is safe, fast, and easy! Plus, it gets the classroom FREE BOOKS! Thanks in advance!

Friday we will be takin our field trip to Downers Grove. If you are a chaperone, information will come home Monday with your child as to what time to arrive and your field trip group and a schedule of the day. Please dress for the weather. We will be outside for half of the field trip. Don't forget you can send your child with $5-$8 for spending money at the shops in DG after lunch. Parents, if you are not chaperoning and would like to meet us for lunch, we will be at Giordano's at 12:15 or shortly after.

GUESS WHAT? Our class collected the most BOX TOPS labels for third grade! That means we won a pizza lunch party! Way to go!!! Our lunch pizza party will be Tuesday 11/23. Congrats and good job well done!!!! Now, keep those Box Tops and Tyson labels coming in. There's a second contest in the spring!!!

Tuesday, 11/23 will be picture retake day. Any student that did not have their picture taken prior to this date may do so. They will be required to have a picture envelope with money to have a picture taken. Any student that wants a picture retaken will have to return the original packet for a retake.

Spelling:
We will continue our study of analogies. This week and next, we will focus on synonym and antonym analogies. Therefore, we will not have a spelling test this week nor next week. We will have a graded assessment on analogies the following week.

English

We will continue with verbs. This week we will study the verb be and helping verbs.

Reading

We will continue with our novel study while focusing on character traits, problem/resolution, and setting as well as predicting, summarizing, and making inferences as we read!

Science

We will be learning about the moon.

Social Studies

We will continue with our study of present day Downers Grove. Our Downers Grove field trip is Friday!!

Math

We will take a break from mad minutes this week. Please continue to study facts. The week of 11/15 we will start x5. This week, we will begin chapter 6 on time and measurement.

November 1-5

2010-10-28T12:31:00.009-05:00

Important Dates:

*Teacher Institute Tuesday 11/2

*Analogies test Friday 11/5

Classroom Chatter:

Don't forget Tuesday is no school for Teachers' Institute.

We had a SPOOKTACULAR time at our Halloween Party. Thank to Mrs. Berg and Mrs. Drazenovic for our party! It was ghoulish!

Happy Halloween! Hope your day is ghoulish! Click HERE to carve your own pumpkin!

Spelling: This week the students will focus on solving part/whole analogies. We will work on this skill every day. A packet will be given to the students on Monday. We will work on the packet in class and some pages will be homework. This packet can be studied and reviewed for Friday's graded review on part/whole analogies.

English

We will continue with verbs this week.

Reading

We will be focusing on the following skills and strategies as we begin a novel study this week: identifying character traits, setting, and problem/solution, summarizing, predicting, and making inferences.

Science

We will study the phases of the moon this week.

Social Studies

We will begin learning about present day Downers Grove.

Math

We will be taking a mad minute in x4. We will begin chapter 6 on measurement and time.

Week of October 25-29

2010-10-22T13:22:00.002-05:00

Important Dates:
*MAPS testing Monday 10/25
*Downers Grove Quiz Wednesday 10/27
*Halloween parade and parties Friday 10/29

Classroom Chatter
Students have been doing a great job with the MAPS tests. Our last test will be Monday.

Don't forget the Downers Grove permission slip is due Friday 10/29. If your child wants pizza, send in $7 to cover the cost of lunch. They are welcome to bring a sack lunch that day too.

Our Halloween parade will begin at 1:00 on Friday, 10/29. Classroom parties will begin at 1:30. Students not to wear costumes to school. They will change into them in the afternoon. Please send costume in a bag with their name on it. Thank you! Any questions, send me an email!

Spelling
This week we will work on Halloween words. There will be a homework packet given to the students on Monday. The homework is due Friday. There will not be a pretest nor a spelling test this week.

Reading
We will be focusing on predicting, making inferences, and cause and effect as we continue with Cliff Hanger and other stories. The students will be applying the above comprehension strategies as they read.

English
We will finish up our Haunted House descriptive writing papers. We will begin Unit 3 verbs this week.

Science
We will begin Space.

Social Studies
We will be finishing up the history of Downers Grove. We are building our background knowledge of this great community to prepare us for our upcoming field trip to DG on 11/12!
We will be taking a quiz on the history of Downers Grove Wednesday 10/27. A study guide went home on Thursday in the HOMEWORK pocket of the binder. It is a blue half sheet of paper. Have you seen it? Use it a a guide as your child studies.

Math
We will be taking a mad minute in x3's this week. Students will be working on subtraction with regrouping and across zeros. There will be a Check Your Progress for lessons 6-9 on Thursday for a grade. The following week will be the chapter test. Date TBA!

Week of October 18-22

2010-10-15T08:40:00.005-05:00

Important Dates:
*Early Dismissal Wednesday 10/20
*Spelling Test Friday 10/22
*Happy Bus Driver Day Friday 10/22

Classroom Chatter:
Please note there was a typo in the permission slip for Downers Grove on the portion that is returned to me. It says at the bottom of the slip we are going Tuesday, 11/9. Please note that date is incorrect. My class is going FRIDAY, 11/12. I also only have 2 parents who are joining us as chaperones. If you're interested in being a chaperone, please send me an email at jcsorba@ccsd66.org

We will be having MAPS testing on Tuesday of this week and Monday of next week. A letter regarding this test came home with your child explaining this test. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Don't forget we have 11 am dismissal on Wednesday, 10/20!

Spelling:
We will work on list 8 this week. The rule for this week is three letter clusters and unexpected consonant patterns. The pretest will be Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will come home Monday and due on Friday.

Reading
We will continue to work on cause and effect, as well as making predictions and inferences as we read, Cliff Hanger.

English
This week we will do some descriptive writing with haunted houses!

Science
This week we will continue with chapter 9, the water cycle. We will finish the chapter with a cloud activity and water cycle activity. We will not be having a chapter test.

Social Studies
We will finish up the history of Downers Grove. A study guide will come home this week to help prepare for a quiz. The quiz is scheduled for Wednesday 10/27.

Math
This week we will take a mad minute on x2's. This week we will adding large numbers, adding 3 addends, and a graded assignment (Check Your Progress) on Friday for lessons 1-5.

Week of October 11-15

2010-10-08T11:58:00.004-05:00

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 10/11 Columbus Day

*English Test Thursday 10/14

*Spelling Test Friday 10/15

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget there is no school Monday for Columbus Day! Enjoy the long weekend!

Spelling

We are on list 7 this week: the long o sound. We will take a pretest on Tuesday. The homework will go home on Tuesday and will be due Friday. The test will be Friday.

Reading

We will learn about cause and effect. We will begin reading the story, Cliff Hanger.

English

We will finish up Unit 2 Nouns. The study guide went home last Thursday. The Unit 2 test on Nouns is scheduled for Thursday 10/14.

Science

We will continue with Chapter 9. Students will be learning about

Social Studies

We will continue to learn about the history of Downers Grove.

Math

We will begin chapter 3 this week with Addition and Subtraction. We also will be taking a mad minute on x0 and x1's. Students must complete 16 problems in 90 seconds.

Week of October 4-8

2010-10-01T10:23:00.002-05:00

Important Dates:
Book orders due Friday 10/8
Spelling Test Friday 10/8

Classroom Chatter

October Scholastic book orders went home on Friday. The deadline to order will be Friday 10/8. I encourage anyone who is interested in purchasing books to try ordering online. It is very simple and safe! I attached the directions to the book orders. Thanks!

Spelling:
We are on list 6 this week: more long vowel words. We will take a pretest on Monday. Homework will be sent home on Monday and due Friday. The test will be Friday.

English:
We will continue with Unit 2, Nouns. This week,we will learn about plural nouns, plural possessive nouns, and special plural nouns. Student will also be sharing their Me Bag essays. Their essays will then be placed into their writing portfolios. You will see these portfolios at conferences. They are not going to be graded.

Reading:
We will continue to work on the comprehension strategy of making inferences this week.

Science
We finished chapter 4 on Ecosystems. There will not be a chapter test. We began Chapter 9 this week. Chapter 9 teaches us about weather.

Social Studies
This week we will begin learning all about the history of Downers Grove.

Math
This week we will finish up chapter 2 with a check your progress on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will play a review game. Friday will be chapter 2's test. Students in the "Challenge Group" that received -1 or -2 can take the test to improve their grade. The better of the two grades will be recorded. A multiplication packet went home this week. Start studying multiplication facts! The week of 10/11, we will begin multiplication mad minutes. Students will only have 16 problems to answer in 90 seconds. The first test will be on x0 and x1. The following week, we'll start x2 and continue a new fact each week. Students have 3 chances to earn 5 points for each fact. Every day after that, a point is lost.

Week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 1

2010-09-23T10:01:00.009-05:00

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.

Week of September 20-24

2010-09-17T07:27:00.003-05:00

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.

Week of September 13-17

2010-09-09T15:00:00.003-05:00

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

September 6-10

2010-09-03T21:01:00.002-05:00

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.

Week of August 30 - September 3

2010-08-26T16:44:00.003-05:00

Important Dates:

3rd Grade Curriculum Night 8/31

Spelling Test Friday 9/3

Classroom Chatter

It has been a pleasure getting to know your child this week! Our busy week was filled with getting to know each other and our great school! We have a great class! I know we will have a wonderful year together!!!

My Blog: Each week, I will email you the link to check my blog. I will update what we are learning and upcoming important dates and events. You should also check your child's math teacher's blog. Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments about the blog. This a great way to keep open communication between school and home.

Curriculum Night: Third Grade curriculum night will be on Tuesday, August 31st at 6:30 pm. Please meet in the multipurpose/lunch room. This will be an informative night to learn more about third grade. Hope to see you there!

Introducing Miss Boyer: Miss Boyer, my student teacher, has joined our classroom from Eastern Illinois University where she is an Elementary Education major. She will be in our classroom until December. We are so happy to have her in our class!

Reading: This week we will start 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.

English: We will begin with Unit 1, which covers the four types of sentences. We will do daily work with various punctuation lessons as we work on our D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language).

Social Studies: We will begin our maps unit. We will start with directions (north, east, south, west, NE, NW, SE, SW) and the compass rose.

Math-for Mrs. Csorba's math class only
This week we will begin chapter 1 Place Value. Students should review their addition and subtraction basic facts. We will have our first mad minute on addition facts the following week.

Welcome to Third Grade!

2010-08-03T23:29:00.000-05:00

On Monday, August 23rd, please join us the District Open House. During the hours of 9-11 a.m. you can come visit our classroom, pick your desk, find your locker, drop off your supplies, and meet your teacher!

I look forward to meeting you!!!!

Week of May 31-June 2

2010-05-31T09:38:00.000-05:00

Important Dates
School Picnic 6/1
Last day of school 6/2

Classroom Chatter

PICNIC: Our 3rd grade picnic will be on Tuesday, June 1st from 8:30am-10am. A hot dog lunch will be provided at 11:05am. If your child does not want to eat a hog dog, please send them with an alternate cold lunch. There will not be cafeteria hot lunch service.

DONATIONS

YEARBOOKS: Yearbooks will be handed out to students on June 2nd. Any students who did not purchase a yearbook may do so on a first-come-first-serve basis on June 2nd; they will go on sale after morning announcements. The cost will be $10.00 and children wishing to purchase should have exact amount. Checks can be made out to Prairieview. There is a limited supply. Prairieview yearbook orders were not paid for at registration. A note was sent out on November 12, 2009 and orders were due by Tuesday, December 9, 2009.

DONATIONS: We are working with several organizations who help provide less fortunate school children with school supplies. I will take any used school supplies you wish to donate. Please send these in before the last day of school.

LAST DAY: Our last day of school will be on Wednesday, June 2nd. Report cards will be issued, and the students will be dismissed at 9:30am.

Thank you to all the parents and students for a great year! I wish you all a fantastic summer. Don't forget to visit next year!

Week of May 24-28

2010-05-21T10:46:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:
*Bowling Tuesday 5/22
*Magic Show Thursday 5/27
*2nd grade pen pals Thursday 5/27
*Boat Trip Friday 5/28

Classroom Chatter
This week will be filled with wrapping things up for the year! We have two field trips this week. Tuesday we are bowling from 9-11. Please send a sack lunch this day. That way, if your child is too full from bowling, a hot lunch won't go to waste. Please limit the amount of money that is sent that day for your child to buy a treat. Thanks!

Friday is our boat trip. Dress for the weather. Remember, it is cooler by the lake. Dress in layers. Right now, 10 day forecast is calling for a high of 76 and a 30% chance of storms. Yikes!
Hopefully this will change!!!

Spelling
No spelling this week. We are done for the year!

English
We will be typing our autobiographies in the computer lab this week.

Reading
We will be watching the biography of Harry Houdini. We will spend time getting ready for Thursday's magic show! Don't forget to send me an email to reserve a seat! Show begins at 9am!

Social Studies
We will spend the week learning about present day Chicago and end our unit Friday with our boat trip at Navy Pier!

Science
We will spend this week finishing up science chapter 14. No chapter test.

Math
Our last day of math will be Tuesday 5/25. We will spend Monday and Tuesday working on multiplication of greater numbers and long division. A note will come home by the end of the year letting your child know of their math placement for next year!

Week of May 17-21

2010-05-12T14:49:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:
*Spelling Test Friday 5/21
*Chicago Quiz Friday 5/21

Classroom Chatter
The year is winding down. Our units are coming to an end. Please note some changes in plans.

Spelling
L. 32's words are possessive form of nouns. Test will be Friday. Pretest on Monday. The list is in the spelling folder.

English
Students will be writing their autobiographies this week.

Reading
Instead of the mystery unit, we will begin a magic unit in reading. We will be reading about The Great Houdini. Students will be putting on a magic show next week. The date will be Thursday May 27th! Mark your calendar. Parents are welcome. Time: 9am? Maybe?? I'll send home more info as the date gets closer!

Science
We are continuing in our Heat, Light, and Sound unit in chapter 14. We will not be having a chapter test. The students will be having 4 chapter reviews for a grade. Each are worth 10 points. This is our final science unit.

Social Studies

We will finish up Chicago. There will not be a unit test. We will be having a quiz on Friday on the history of Chicago. Students can take a Chicago book home to study. We will be doing a crosswork puzzle this week that can be used as a study guide. Also, review info in the journal that is in the social studies folder.

Math

We will finish up our decimal unit. The test is scheduled for Friday 5/21. We will be taking division mix mad minutes this week. Our last week of mad mintues. Please have your child continue to practice their multiplication and division over the summer!!!!!

Week of May 10-14

2010-05-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Bubble Wonder Assembly Tuesday 5/11

*Spelling test Friday 5/14

*Early Dismissal Friday 5/14

Classroom Chatter

It is great to be back at school and working with your children. Everyone greeted me with smiles and hugs. I can't believe how much they've grown! Looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks wrapping things up for the summer. We have a lot of fun things to look forward to!

We will have a special assembly called Bubble Wonder on Tuesday. Ask your child about it!

Don't forget Friday is early dismissal. Students are dismissed at 11am.

This week Prairieview is collecting gym shoes in any shape and all other shoes that still have "some life in them" for Character Counts. We want to help cut down on the amount going into landfills. The shoes will be either donated to places that help people or will be sent to Nike's recycyling center. Here they recycyle gym shoes into a variety of objects including floor mats. Please tie the shoes together or put them in a plastic grocery bag so that they do not become separated. Thank you for your support. At Prarieview school...Character Counts!!!

Spelling

L. 31's words are on contractions. There will be a pretest Monday and the test is on Friday.

English

We will be working on writing persuasive papers this week.

Reading

We will begin a new mystery unit!

Science

I spoke too soon. 4th grade extensively covers electricity and magnets so we will move on to Ch. 14. Chapter 14 covers Heat, Light, and Sound. This will be our final unit.

Social Studies
We will continue studying the history of Chicago. This week we will learn about the great Chicago fire!

Math

We will be taking a mad minute in division 12's this week. Next week, will be our final week of mad minutes with division MIXED! Continue to practice all division facts!

We began chapter 10 decimals last week. We will continue this week with the unit. This will be our last chapter we will test on. The test isn't for a few weeks. After we test on chapter 10, we will spend the rest of the year working on higher level multiplication and long division. I want to introduce this to the students. We won't test on it though.

2010-04-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF APRIL 3-7

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
WE WILL CONCLUDE OUR JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT ON FRIDAY. IT WAS REALLY FUN AND INFORMATIVE. THANK YOU TO OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEER!
I WANT TO THANK ALL OF THE STUDENTS AND THE PARENTS!
WHAT A JOY IT HAS BEEN TO WORK WITH SUCH A WONDERFUL GROUP OF STUDENTS! I ENJOYED GETTING TO KNOW EACH AND EVERYONE, AS WELL AS MANY PARENTS. OUR FUTURE IS IN GREAT HANDS WITH SUCH A CONSCIENTIOUS, CURIOUS AND TALENTED YOUNG GROUP. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!!!

SPELLING:
L. 30 PREFIX -ER PRETEST IS ON MONDAY

ENGLISH:
WE COMPLETED UNIT 6 AND WILL BE WORKING ON PROPER SENTENCE STRUCTURE. WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THIS IN OUR PERSUASIVE WRITING.

READING:
WE WILL BEGIN MULAN THIS WEEK. THE STUDENTS WILL WORK ON THE CONCEPTS OF INFER AND SUMMARIZE.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
CHICAGO IS OUR NEXT UNIT. THE CLASS IS VERY EXCITED! WE WILL BEGIN WITH THE EARLY YEARS.

SCIENCE:
OUR CHAPTER 12 TEST ON ENERGY IS MONDAY. PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR STUDENTS TO REVIEW THEIR NOTES. CHAPTER 13 ON ELECTRICITY WILL FOLLOW.

MATH:
CHAPTER 9 FRACTION TEST IS ON MONDAY. PRACTICE, PRACTICE , PRACTICE!
THE STUDENTS SHOULD REVIEW THEIR R-9 WORKSHEETS. DECIMALS CHAPTER 10 WILL BEGIN THIS WEEK.

2010-04-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF APRIL 26- APRIL 30

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
THE CLASS WILL BE WRITING PEN PAL LETTERS TO A SECOND GRADE CLASS THIS WEEK. THEY WILL ENJOY TELLING THE NEW CLASS OF STUDENTS WHAT FUN PRAIRIEVIEW IS. THIS WILL ALSO REINFORCE THEIR LETTER WRITING SKILLS.

SPELLING:
L.29 PREFIX-UN PRETEST IS ON MONDAY

ENGLISH:
WE WILL BE ENDING OUR UNIT 6 ON PRONOUNS THIS WEEK. WE WILL REVIEW HOMOPHONES AND THEN HAVE OUR CHAPTER TEST ON TUESDAY.

READING:
WE ARE CONTINUING OUR MONITOR AND QUESTION CONCEPTS. THE STUDENTS ARE COMPLETING THEIR POETRY BOOKS THIS WEEK. THEY ARE VERY CREATIVE AND HAVE BEEN DOING A WONDERFUL JOB. THEY ARE A CLASS OF POETS!

SOCIAL STUDIES:
WE WILL BE COMPLETING OUR EGYPT UNIT THIS WEEK. A VOCABULARY QUIZ IS ON MONDAY. OUR UNIT TEST WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY OF THIS WEEK. THEY HAVE STUDY GUIDES FOR BOTH. WE WILL END OUR UNIT BY WATCHING THE PRINCE OF EGYPT.

SCIENCE:
WE ARE CONTINUING OUR UNIT ON ENERGY.

MATH:
THIS WEEK WE WILL LEARN HOW TO SUBTRACT FRACTIONS AND MIXED NUMBERS, ADD AND SUBTRACT FRACTIONS WITH UNLIKE DENOMINATORS AND PRACTICE FRACTION PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS. THE STUDENTS NEED TO PRACTICE THESE SKILLS TO REINFORCE WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED.

2010-04-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF APRIL 19 - 23

IMPORTANT DATES: THURSDAY, APRIL 22 EARLY DISMISSAL (EARTH DAY)

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
Wow! what a great week. Thursday we had our Egypt Unwrapped in school field trip.
The students learned many interesting facts and wrapped a mummy! Our Open House was the same night and it was lots of fun. It was wonderful to see the students so excited to show off their school. Mrs. Csorba came and brought her adorable son. I really enjoyed meeting everyone's family. I can see why the students are so awesome!

SPELLING:
L. 28 Silent Letters --- Pretest is on Monday.

ENGLISH:
Unit 6 continued. We will learn about contractions and the difference between there, their, and they're. We will have an open book review on Thursday.

READING:
We are working on the concepts of QUESTION AND MONITOR. We are also continuing our Poetry unit. We will share examples of different poems. We will also be writing Shape Poems, Sensory Poems and a Haiku.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We are continuing our Egypt unit. We will be reviewing vocabulary. A unit study guide will be coming home this week. Both will be helpful for the unit test.

SCIENCE:
In chapter 12 this week we will talk about ways to use and measure energy.

MATH:
Chapter 7 Fractions. We will work on <, >, and = fractions, add and subtract fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers. CHECKPOINT WILL BE ON TUESDAY 4-20.

2010-04-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF APRIL 12-16

IMPORTANT DATES:

Egypt Unwrapped in school field trip - April 15

Prairieview School OPEN HOUSE - April 15

CLASSROOM CHATTER:

Happy Spring! Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. The students came back so excited to see each other! Our Junior Achievement Representative started on Friday. She will be here every Friday for the next five weeks. We are looking forward to her visits. We are all excited for the OPEN HOUSE on Thursday. The students are looking forward to sharing their school!

SPELLING:

This week we will have spelling words from our Egypt unit. Spelling test is on Friday.

ENGLISH:

We are continuing our Pronoun Unit.

READING:

Monitor and Question are the skills we are working on. We are also finishing our Biography Unit. The students have done a great job with their presentations. Many have dressed up like their person. We have heard many interesting life stories. This week we will begin our POETRY unit. This is also the theme for our April book report. Information went home last Thursday.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We are continuing our unit on Egypt. This week we will write a short paper about King Tut, write an extended response, and act out Chapters 4 and 5 in our King Tut book.

SCIENCE:

We will begin Lesson 2 of our Energy unit. Last week we learned about KINETIC and POTENTIAL energy.

MATH:

We our continuing our unit on FRACTIONS. This week we will learn about equivalent fractions, fractions in the simplest forms, compare and order fractions, and greater than or equal to. The students have a yellow sheet that is titled NOTES ON FRACTIONS. This has examples of everything we will learn this week.

2010-03-26T07:24:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF APRIL 5-9

IMPORTANT DATES:
Spring Break starts after school on Friday, March 26
Classes Resume on Monday, April 5

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
We had a wonderful presentation on Egypt this week. Megan's aunt, who had just traveled to Egypt, shared her experience with us. She brought in pictures, artifacts and books. She even wore a traditional garment from Egypt. What a treat it was! I want to wish everyone a FUN
spring break. Enjoy your time together!

SPELLING:
L. 26 - No pretest because it is a review unit. Reviewing units 19-25.
Test is on Friday.

ENGLISH:
We are finishing Unit 5 . We will have a test on Tuesday, April 6.
A study guide went home on Friday before Spring Break.
Next, we will begin Unit 6 on Pronouns.

READING:
We are working on monitor and question concepts this week. We will also be finishing our Biography's this week. The students will do a presentation in class. (Remember to dress like the person!) STUDENT POETRY CONTEST!!!! Information sheet was sent home friday!!!! What a great opportunity to show your talent!!!

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We finished our EYE ON EGYPT books and our learning about KING TUT this week.
10 extra credit points will be given to those who venture to the Egypt exhibit. Just bring in your ticket and tell me all about your day!

SCIENCE:
We will begin our unit on ENERGY Chapter 12 on Monday.

MATH:
We are finishing Chapter 9 this week. We will have a checkpoint on Monday after Spring Break.
We will have our Chapter test on Wednesday April 7. I have handed out review sheets for the class. They should review their study guides and their R-worksheets for the test. We will then begin Chapter 9 - FRACTIONS

2010-03-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

WEEK OF MARCH 22 - MARCH 26

IMPORTANT DATES:

SPRING PICTURES ARE DUE BACK TO SCHOOL BEFORE/ON MARCH 25!

SPRING BREAK BEGINS AFTER SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, MARCH 26!

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
Our CHARACTER COUNTS ASSEMBLY on Wednesday was great! The class enjoyed all the performances. Ask your child what he liked best. We concluded our busy week with lunch and a movie in the classroom on Friday. They have been working hard and deserved a special lunch.
I want to wish everyone a fun and relaxing spring break!

SPELLING: L.25 -igh words. Pretest on Monday.

READING: We will focus on visualizing and predicting this week. We are reinforcing these skills in our Biography Unit. The students are working on a BIOGRAPHY SCRAPBOOK in class. Please remind them to bring their Biography with them on Monday.

ENGLISH: We are continuing our Unit 5 in English. This week we will work on introductory words, commas in stories and quotation marks.

SCIENCE: We will be completing our unit on the WATER CYCLE this week. A study guide will be sent home on Monday. Our Chapter test will be on Wednesday.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are continuing our Egypt Unit. We will begin our King Tut series this week.

MATH: In Chapter 7 we will be focusing on metric ruler, kilograms, grams, liters milliliters, and degrees celsius.There will be a checkpoint on this the week we get back from Spring Break.

2010-03-11T16:34:00.000-06:00

WEEK OF MARCH 15-19

IMPORTANT DATES:

March 16 * SKATE PARTY

March 17 * CHARACTER COUNTS ASSEMBLY

CLASSROOM CHATTER:

Wow! did we have a wonderful surprise on Friday! Mrs. Csorba and her beautiful son Jack came in for a visit. They spent the afternoon with us and stayed to enjoy our Party.They both are doing great and the class was so surprised and glad to see them. The class earned a marble party on Friday for their good character and we had such a great time. A big thanks to the parents' who sent in snacks both for the party and for ISAT's.

SPELLING: We are on Lesson 24 -ear words. There is a pretest on Monday.

READING: We will focus on visualizing and predicting this week. We will use biographies to reinforce these skills.

ENGLISH: We will begin Unit 5. We will work on correcting sentences, capitalization's and abbreviations.

SCIENCE: We are continuing our unit on the WATER CYCLE.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are continuing our unit on EGYPT. We will learn about Cleopatra and Hieroglyphics this week.

MATH: We are on Chapter 7. This week we will cover cup, pint and gallon measurements as well as temperature. We will have a checkpoint review on Wednesday of this week. So encourage your students to start to review the different measurements.

2010-03-04T16:29:00.000-06:00

Week of March 8 to March 12

IMPORTANT DATES :

Conferences : Week of March 8

Report Cards: March 9

No School Friday March 12

CLASSROOM CHATTER:

Monday to Wednesday of this week we will be completing the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT). Thursday is the make-up day for any missed sections of the test. Spring conferences are this week with your childs' homeroom and/or math teacher. Our new book report for March is Fiction and Fantasy. The students seem to easily find a book they are interested in reading!!! There mobiles for the Jan/ Feb reports were so creative. They are in the classroom . Take a peek when you come for your conference. Please remember for birthdays and special treats they are to be healthy snacks (crackers, pretzels, fruits and veggies are great!) also a great idea is to pass out pencils or stickers for a birthday.

SPELLING: No pretest due to the shortened week. L.23 -er -est words.

READING: We are focusing on the strategy of visualizing and predicting.
We are also working on Extended Responses.

ENGLISH: We are focusing on Expository Writing

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are continuing our EYE ON EGYPT unit. We are learning about mummies and what a sarcophagus is. The students are really enjoying this unit!

SCIENCE: We will be finishing Lesson 2 on WATER CYCLE.

MATH: No Mad Minute this week. Next week our mad minute will be dividing by 5.
We are continuing our time and measurement unit. The geometry projects are wonderful!! What a creative group. They are really enjoying the presentations. No two are alike so it is very interesting.

2010-02-25T15:49:00.000-06:00

Week of March 1-5

IMPORTANT DATES:

* No School Monday March 1 Pulaski Day

* ISAT Testing March 2 - March 5

CLASSROOM CHATTER:

We have had a busy week and the students did an amazing job!
We are really excited about the new units that we are beginning!
Ask them to tell you all about them. ISATS start on Tuesday and they will be taking them in the morning. Make sure they are well rested and have a good breakfast.

SPELLING: No spelling unit this week.

ENGLISH: We will be reviewing our EXPOSITORY WRITING. Working on correct punctuation and form. They have really begun to master this!

READING: WE WILL BE TAKING ISATS DURING THIS TIME.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Our unit on EGYPT has begun. They are very curious and have wonderful prior knowledge on many facts. We learned where it is located and what bodies of water surround it. They are looking forward to learning more!!!

SCIENCE: WATER CYCLE. We will learn this week about condensation , precipitation and evaporation.

MATH: GEOMETRY PROJECT is due March 2. Have fun with it! I am really looking forward to seeing all your wonderful work! We began our new unit on TIME AND MEASUREMENT. We will work on problem solving, time of all ages and measuring with your hands, feet and forearm.

2010-02-18T14:49:00.000-06:00

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 22-29

IMPORTANT DATES:
Spring Picture Day 2/25
Book Reports Due 2/26
Movie Night 2/26

CLASSROOM CHATTER:
Spring Picture Day : Thursday 2/25. Look before you buy. Send no money now. See your portraits first. Simply return any unused portrait sheet with your payment.*PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU DO NOT WANT AN INDIVIDUAL PORTRAIT TAKEN. Additional fliers will be sent home on Tuesday, February 23. Kids on The Block came and taught us about the hearing impaired. We learned many words in sign language. The students really enjoyed this! ISATS are coming soon so please have your student practice healthy habits: getting lots of rest, eating healthy, washing hands and getting exercise!

SPELLING: L22 words ending Y. We will have a pretest on Monday.

ENGLISH: We will continue to work on EXPOSITORY WRITING this week. The students worked together in groups to write about the differences between Prairieview and Elizabeth Ide. They will be presenting their paper to the class. Next week we will work individually on how they could help a new student at Prairieview?

READING: We will continue working on EXTENDED RESPONSES. We have some short stories that we will read and then write and extended response.

SCIENCE: We are finishing Chapter 10 with our unit test on Tuesday 2-23. A study guide was sent home on Friday. We will begin our unit on the water cycle next week.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are finishing our unit on Making Choices and have our unit test on Wednesday. We will then begin our unit on Egypt. The students will learn many fascinating things and will really enjoy this unit.

MATH: We are having our Chapter test on Geometry on Monday, February 22. It is a big chapter with many different things to know. The students have a review sheet with all the terms on it . Please have them review it over the weekend. Our Geometry Project information and Rubric was sent home on February 17. The project is due Tuesday, March 2. The students should have lots of fun being creative. I have shown them many examples and they can always see me if they have any questions...HAVE FUN WITH IT! We will begin our unit on Measurement this week.

2010-02-11T14:58:00.000-06:00

Week of February 15 -19, 2010

IMPORTANT DATES:

Monday Feb. 15 NO SCHOOL Presidents' Day

Wednesday Feb. 17 Kids on the Block

CLASSROOM CHATTER:

Thank You! to everyone who helped out with the valentines' party. It is such a treat for the students to have such a special time with their friends.
ATTENTION Pringle potato chip eaters!!! We are in need of PRINGLE canisters for our Science project on Space. We need one for each student. They can come to school full or empty! Please have them at school by Tuesday, February 16.

SPELLING:

Lesson 21 nouns formed with -er.
No pretest due to the shortened week. Spelling test is on Friday.

ENGLISH:

We have been working on EXTENDED RESPONSES. How to turn a question around, look for clues in our reading and support it. We will continue working on EXPOSITORY WRITING next week. I am sending home a sheet with ideas on how to support good writing habits at home.

READING:

We have read "The Desert Giant, The World of The Saguaro Cactus" and "Happy Birthday Basketball". We have written Extended Responses for both. They are doing a great job!!!

SCIENCE:

We are finishing our unit on the Solar System. We will learn more about inner and outer planets, sun facts and the constellations. Ask your child what "My very educated mother just served us nachos " means.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We will be finishing up Chapter 9 this week . We will be talking about: supply and demand and profit.

MATH:

We are continuing our Geometry Unit. We will be learning about volume and space figures.
We will have a "Geometry Project" that will be lots of fun for the students. Information will come home this week. The students should be reviewing their Geometry Notes for vocabulary. OUR CHAPTER TEST will be coming soon.

2010-02-04T14:33:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:

*Spelling Pretest on Monday 2-8

*Valentine Day Party on Friday 2-12 at 1:30

Classroom Chatter:

I sent home a list of all the students in our class for Valentines Day.

Remember, your child does not have to bring in a valentine, but if they do please bring one

for everyone in the class. The class went to our district Spelling Bee on Thursday and Emmanuelle did great!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Remember if you need to reach me my email is: Mrs. McHale mmchale@ccsd66.org

Spelling:

This week our words will be Lesson 20, spelling words with -er.

The pretest is on Monday and the spelling test is on Friday .

English:

We will continue working on EXPOSITORY WRITING.

We will also work on EXTENDED RESPONSE.

We will talk about the difference and

get lots of practice using both styles.

Reading:

We finished our unit on Stone Fox.

We are writing an extended response to complete our unit. The students also enjoyed seeing
the movie Stone Fox. They all noticed the differences between what the book said and how the movie portrayed it. ( they have a great eye for detail!)

We also finished a FLIP BOOK which they will enjoy sharing with you.

Science:

We will begin our lesson on the Solar System.

What is the Solar system? What is an inner planet and an outer planet?

These are some of the questions we will answer this week.

Social Studies:

We are continuing Chapter 9, which is all about making good choices with our money.

We will also talk about community businesses.

Math:

We are continuing our Geometry unit.

This week we will introduce Perimeter and Space figures.

2010-01-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

Important Dates

*Vocab quiz Monday 2/1

* No school Tuesday 2/2

Teachers Institute Day

*District 66 Spelling Bee Thursday 2/4

Classroom Chatter

Mrs Csorba and her adorable son are doing GREAT!

The class is so excited for her and we can't wait for the day

they come for a visit.

It has been a great week getting to know all of the students.

They are a wonderful group! If you need to contact me ,

my email is Mrs. McHale mmchale@ccsd66.org

Spelling

L. 19 is the unit we are working on next week. We will not have a pretest on Monday because of the shortened school week. We will be working on -or words. Test is on Friday.

English

We are continuing Expository Writing (Expository Writing defines,

describes, explains and gives information). This week we will be focused on finishing our rough draft .

Reading

Vocabulary Quiz on Chapters 5-7 in Stone Fox is on Monday.

This week we will be finishing the book with chapters 8-10.

Vocabulary list for these chapters will come home Monday.

We will also be watching the movie Stone Fox.

Science

We are learning how the earth and moon interact and we will be finding out "What is our Solar system". Cosmic Capers came on Wednesday ..we learned a lot and fun was had by all!

Social Studies

We are working on chapter 9 and learning skills on budgeting and managing our money.

Math

We will continue our unit on Geometry. We learned about Radius, diameter and circumference along with congruent and symmetry. This week we will learn about shapes in motion and problem solving using logical reasoning.

Week of January 25-29

2010-01-21T14:34:00.000-06:00

Important Dates

*Vocab Quiz Monday 1/25

*Cosmic Capers Wednesday 1/27

*Spelling Test Friday 1/29

Classroom Chatter

If you haven't heard from your child by now, today (Friday) 1/22 will be my last day. I was sad to announce this to the class Thursday. I will be in touch via email with updates and pictures once Baby Csorba is delivered. Thank you for all your well wishes and support. We are very excited to start this new chapter in our lives!

Congrats to Emmanuelle! She was the runner up in today's 3rd grade spelling bee. She will participate in the District's spelling bee 2/4/10!

Spelling

L. 17 is a review unit of Lessons 10-16. There isn't a pretest this week. The test will be on Friday. A practice test will come home Monday.

English

We will continue with expository writing. Last week, we learned what expository writing and the parts of an expository composition. We then focused on writing HOOKS...which is the attention getting sentence. This week we will focus writing the introductory paragraph.

Reading

We will take the quiz on Chapters 1-4 vocabulary. This week we will be reading chapters 5-7. The vocabulary list will come home Monday for the words in these chapters. The quiz will be next Monday.

Science

We are still in chapter 10 lesson 1. This week we will discuss seasons. Scientists from High Touch High Tech are coming on Wednesday for our Cosmic Capers in-school field trip experience. It'll be "out of this world!"

Social Studies

We will begin chapter 9 on economy.

Math

We will be taking a mad minute in x12. We will continue with our geometry unit. This week we will learn about circles (circumference, radius, and diameter), congruent and similar figures, symmetry and slides, flips, and turns.

January 18-22

2010-01-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
* No school Monday 1/18 MLK
*Friendly Letter Quiz Tuesday 1/19
*Culture Days 1/20 & 1/21
*Spelling Test Friday 1/22

Classroom Chatter

I am very happy to announce that Mrs. Marge McHale will be taking over for me while I'm on maternity leave. The students met her last week when she came in for the day. She is very excited to be a part of our Prairieview family! I know you will be happy with her!

Spelling
L. 16's words are 1+1+1 words that end with and -ed or -ing. Remember, 1+1+1 words have one vowel, one consonant after the vowel and one syllable. When these words need an -ed or -ing ending, you double the final consonant before adding -ed or -ing. There isn't a pretest this week due to the shortened week. The test is Friday.

English

We will be finishing up our Friendly Letters. Students need to fill out the envelope they received Friday to mail to the person they wrote their friendly letter to. Please include a stamp so we can mail them too!

We will work on expository writing this week. We will begin with writing hooks. Hooks are the attention getting sentence we want to start our papers off with.

Reading

This week we will begin reading the novel, Stone Fox. We will be completing journal response sheets after every few chapters. Students will have a vocabulary quiz next Monday 1/25. The list will come home Tuesday. There are 10 words from the first 4 chapters they will learn.

Science

We will begin space this week.

Social Studies
We look forward to our culture days on Wednesday and Thursday of this week! We also will be watching the movie An American Tail as our culture/immigration unit in chapter 3 comes to an end. By chance, does anyone own this on DVD? Can you send it in? Thanks in advance.

Math

We will begin ch. 11 geometry this week. Students will also be taking a mad minute in x11.

Week of January 11-15

2010-01-06T10:43:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
*IOWA testing this week 1/11-1/13

*English test 1/13

*Spelling test 1/15

*Cosmic Capers money due 1/15

Classroom Chatter

This week students will be taking IOWA tests in reading and math. Like everyday, students should get a good night's rest and eat a good breakfast!

A very BIG thank you to all of my students and parents for throwing me a baby shower Friday afternoon. It has been so wonderful having a terrific group of students and parents to work with. It is going to be VERY DIFFICULT to say good-bye soon for my leave. I will plan on coming in for a visit with baby, once I recover, to introduce him or her to the class! I also will plan on emailing the news too!

Spelling
L. 15's words are spelled with -ing endings. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test is on Friday.

English

We will be taking the unit 4 Adjective/Adverb test on Wednesday.

Reading

We will be taking IOWA tests this week (Monday-Wednesday) during our reading (and math) block. We will spend the rest of the week working on writing extended responses.

Science

This week we will begin our study on Space. It's going to be "out of this world!" Space is chapter 10 in our science books. We also have Cosmic Capers on Wednesday 1/20.

Social Studies

We will be finishing up chapter 3 this week with lesson 4. Students should be turning in their plan sheet for their culture day on Monday. Culture day is scheduled for 1/20 and 1/21. Students have already been assigned their date.

Math

We will be taking IOWA's in math this week. We will finish up our graphs. The ch. 4 test is scheduled for Friday. We will be taking a mad minute in x10's this week.

Week of January 4-8

2010-01-02T13:30:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
*Spelling test Friday 1/8

Classroom Chatter
Happy New Year! I hope 2010 brings you all happiness and good health! 3 weeks until my due date.... 1/23/10. I plan on working up to and maybe even past my due date unless baby comes sooner! My leave officially starts February 1st.

Hot Lunch: Please be advised that as of January 4, 2010 there will be a price increase in the student hot lunch program. The price of hot lunch will be $2.50 per meal.

Roller Skating: The children will be rollerskating in gym class in January. Mrs. Stainman is looking for parent volunteers to help tie up some laces throughout the day. If you would like to volunteer for this, please contact Mrs. Stainman at tstainman@ccsd66.org.

Spelling
L.14's words are irregular past tense. There will be a pretest Monday. The test will be Friday.

English
We will resume our adjective/adverb unit. We will learn about adverbs this week. We also will learn how to write a friendly letter. Expository writing begins this week as well.

Reading
We will begin a new story, Lost and Found. We will work on the reading skill sequence of events. There will be a vocab quiz Thursday. The list will go home on Monday. It will be in the reading folder. Information about the next book report will come home this week too.

Social Studies
We will continue with chapter 3 lesson 3 this week. Information about Culture Day will come home this week too. This project will be in lieu of a chapter test.

Science
We will begin our next unit of study the following week.

Math
We will continue with chapter 4 this week. We will learn about stem and leaf plots, probability, outcomes, and problem solving with graphs. We also will continue working on our graph projects in class that we started before break. This week's mad minute will be x9's. Next week we have IOWA testing during math. The chapter 4 test is scheduled for Friday, 1/15.

Week of December 14-18

2009-12-11T10:05:00.000-06:00

Important Dates

*Bowling Tuesday 12/15

*Book Report due Thursday 12/17

*Science Test Thursday 12/17

*Spelling Test 12/18

*Tivoli 12/18

*Winter Break 12/21-1/1

*Classes resume 1/4

Classroom Chatter:

Parents and students,
I was to thank you for your generosity during this holiday season. We were able to collect so many gifts for our "adopted family" this year! Take a look at these pictures. You all are angels!

We will be bowling on Tuesday morning. Students are able to bring money to buy a snack at the snack bar. It is highly recommended that students bring a sack lunch this day versus buying a hot lunch. In the past, many hot lunches have gone to waste because a student signs up for hot lunch and then after bowling, decides not to take a lunch because they're too full. If they bring a sack lunch and don't feel like eating it, they can take it home. Thank you.

Don't forget Friday is our all school field trip to Tivoli to see Unaccompanied Minors. We look forward to the fun day to kick off our winter break.

When we return from winter break, the students will be roller skating for 2 weeks in gym class. Ms. Stainman is asking if there are any parents who would like to come during our gym time to help tie skates. If you are interested, please send her an email at tstainman@ccsd66.org

We have gym daily from 10:40-11:05. Thanks!

Please be advised that as of January 4, 2010 there will be a price increase in hot lunch program. The price of hot lunch will be $2.50 per meal.

Spelling

We will have a pretest on Monday on Holiday words. If your child receives a 100%, they don't have to take the test on Friday. We will do special activities this week using these spelling words.

English

We will finish up our holiday stories. Students will be sharing them with the class this week. Look for them to come home at the end of the week. Enjoy!

Reading

We will be reading the story, Pepita Talks Twice. There won't be a vocabulary quiz this week. We will continue making connections while we read this story.

Science

We are finished with Chapter 5. The study guide is in the science folder. The test is scheduled for Thursday.

Social Studies

We began chapter 3 this week. We will be half way done with this unit before we break for the holidays. We will finish up the unit when we return in January. There will not be a chapter test for this unit since we will have the 2 week break in between this chapter. I will just take a grade on the open book reviews. There will be a project that will be coming home in January about Culture Day. This will be taken for a grade in place of the test.

Math

We will be taking a mad minute this week in x8's. This week students will be working on a graph project in the classroom. Homework will be very light, if any at all, so use this "free" time to take advantage of mastering those multiplication facts!

Week of December 7-11

2009-12-02T15:46:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
*Holiday Service Project Gifts due Tuesday 12/8
*Vocab Quiz Thursday 12/10
*Spelling Test Friday 12/11
*Bowling Field Trip Tuesday 12/15
*Science Test Thursday 12/15
*November/December book report due Thursday 12/17
*Tivoli Movie Friday 12/18
*Winter Break 12/21-1/1
*Classes resume 1/4

Classroom Chatter
It was great meeting with everyone this week at our parent/teacher conference!

Attached to my e-mail about my blog being updated, I listed all the wonderful gifts we received for our adopted family. Some gifts were from our classroom and some were from Mrs. Spakausky's class. Remember, we are both collecting for the same family since this family is made up of 8 people. If you happen to be holiday shopping this weekend and can donate a gift for the family, it is greatly appreciated. All gifts are due to school by Tuesday 12/8. Thank you in advance for your generosity! Thank you to those of you who have already donated!!!!

Spelling

L. 13's words are spelled in the past tense with final y. We will take a pretest on Monday and the test will be Friday. Now that we are in the 2nd trimester, I will also start taking a spelling grade on either a workbook page or an ABC order sheet.

English

We will finish up with the first part of Unit 4 this week on adjectives. We will then hold off on the 2nd part of unit 4-adverbs until we return from winter break. We will begin writing a holiday story similar to our turkey stories.

Reading

This week we will focus on the reading strategy, connections. We will read the story the Mysterious Giant of Barletta. We will have a vocab quiz on the words on Thursday. The list is in the reading folder. Don't forget November/December's book reports are due Thursday 12/17.

Science

We will learn about food chains and food webs this week. We will test on Ch. 5 on Thursday 12/17.

Social Studies

We will begin chapter 3-People move from place to place. This week we will learn why people move to new communities.

Math

We will begin chapter 4 in math. Chapter 4 teaches us about data and probability. This week we will focus on different types of graphs. We also will be taking a mad minute in x7's.

Week of November 23-27

2009-11-19T18:35:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
*Verb Test Tuesday 11/24
*Thanksgiving break 11/25-11/27
*Parent Teacher Conferences 11/30-12/2

*YEARBOOK ORDERS due 12/1

*Report Cards Tuesday 12/1

*Cancer family gifts due Tuesday 12/8

Classroom Chatter
I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, and DELICIOUS Thanksgiving. I am thankful for my awesome 3rd grade class and what's to come in January...BABY! Enjoy your time with your family!

Conferences will be held the week of November 30th. I'm looking forward to meeting with you all at our conferences next week. Report cards will be coming home on Tuesday. Please keep them at home and just sign and return the envelope the report card come home in. Thanks.

On Friday, information went home about Prairieview's Holiday service project. Each year, Prairieview runs a service project around the holidays. Our effort will benefit a family that has a member with cancer. Each classroom at Prairieview has a family that is in need at this time.

This year our class has a very special family.

Our family includes:

-Mom

-Dad

-8 year old girl (cancer patient)

-9 year old sister

-4 year old sister

-3 year old sister

-11 year old brother

-19 year old brother

Sadly, the 8 year old girl has cancer. Not only does this family struggle with the stress of treatments and illness, but they are less fortunate than us financially too. In order to make this a special holiday, we have "adopted" them. If you are interested in sending in a NEW, not used, present for any one or more of the family members, that would be appreciated. You may send a "family gift."

Directions:

*Please wrap the gift

*LABEL the item with a POST-IT saying what it is (so I know what you bought and then I will remove the post-it)

*Use a name tag sticker and write who it is for (example: Mom, 8 year old girl, 19 year old brother)

Some ideas for NEW (not used) gifts include, but are not limited to: age appropriate games/toys, books, crafts, puzzles, winter hats/gloves, socks, bath and body, perfume, jewelry, candles, kitchen accessories, picture frames/albums, gift certificates, gift baskets, slippers, etc.

Gift cards to consider:

Jewel, Best Buy, Kohls, Wal-Mart, Target, Toys-R-Us, K-Mart, Sears, JC Penny, Carsons, Chili's, TGIFridays, Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

Thank you in advance for your support and generosity!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spelling

No spelling this week.

English

We will be sharing our turkey stories we wrote last week. Look for these wonderful stories to come home. Have your child share them with your family! Gobble! Gobble!

Reading

This week we will be reading A Turkey is for Thanksgiving. We will do some activities with this story.

Don't forget to be working on book reports. November/December's book report on a non-fiction story is due Thursday 12/17.

Math

We will be taking the mad minute for x5's on Monday and Tuesday if need be. We will be doing some problem solving and turkey math this week.

Next week after break, we will start x6's. We also will spend the week working on problem solving and learning how to write written responses using t-charts.

Week of November 16-20

2009-11-12T11:20:00.000-06:00

Important Dates:
*Science test Wednesday 11/18

*Spelling test Friday 11/20
*Trimester 1 ends Friday 11/20

*English test Tuesday 11/24

*Thanksgiving break 11/25-11/27
*Yearbook orders due Tuesday 12/1

YEARBOOK: Now is the time to place your orders. Yearbooks are $10.00 and the deadline for your orders are Tuesday, December 1, 2009. NO ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE! Please make checks payable to Lifetouch. Please make sure your child's name, teacher's name, and grade level are marked on the order form. If you have multiple children with orders, please fill out an order for each of them. Yearbook orders went home on Thursday, November 12th and there are only a few extras. Please try not to lose them. If your child loses the order form, all you need to do is send in an envelope with the following information on it: "Yearbook order", student's name, teacher's name, and grade level along with a check made payable to Lifetouch for $10.00. It is very important that you put this information on the envelope; Lifetouch does not know who your child's teacher is. Prairieview Yearbook orders are not paid for at registration!

On Monday, I will be sending home parent conference confirmation sheets. Please return it to school promptly in case any conferences need to be changed. Thank you. I look forward to meeting with you all in a few weeks!

Spelling

This week's words will be Thanksgiving words. There will not be a pretest this week. The test will be Friday. This week's assignments will not be in the spelling workbook. I will provide the assignments.

English

We will finish up our verb unit. Our test is scheduled for Tuesday 11/24. We will begin turkey stories.

Reading

We will be talking about similes and metaphors this week. We will use them in our turkey stories. We will be reading some Thanksgiving stories about Thanksgiving from a person's point of view. Students will be writing turkey stories from a turkey's point of view. We talked about author's point of view when we read the story, The Keeping Quilt last week.

Science

We will take the chapter 4 test on ecosystems test on Wednesday 11/18.

Social Studies

Chapter 12, lesson 2 teaches us about community leaders. Dr. Tiede is a community leader. As we all know he's our Superintendent of our schools. He is going to come into our classroom and talk with us about his role as Superintendent. We look forward to his visit!

Math

We will finish up chapter 4 on multiplication and division with a test on Friday 11/20. We will be taking the x4's mad minute this week. I do plan on taking the x5 the following week, which is only a 2 day week. I'm confident that with the x5's, students will pass the test on Monday or Tuesday. If they need a 3rd day to get their 5 points, I will give it to them after the break.

Week of November 9-13

2009-11-06T10:16:00.001-06:00

Important Dates:

*Downers Grove Field Trip Tuesday 11/10

*No school Wednesday for Veterans' Day 11/11

*Spelling Test Friday 11/13

*Vocab quiz Friday 11/13

Classroom Chatter

We had a great time at our first Marble Party on Friday! Great job earing those marbles with good classroom behavior!

Don't forget we have our Downers Grove field trip on Tuesday from 9-2. Parents, if you are not a chaperone, but would still like to meet us for lunch, please do! We should be at Girodano's by 11:45 for lunch. Hope to see you there. Don't forget your child may bring $5-$8 to spend at the local shops after we eat lunch! We look forward to a fun and rewarding day. Hopefully, we'll have good weather too.

As we reach the Thanksgiving break, many units are coming to an end. That means tests! I am planning on testing out of science and english before the Thanksgiving break. We will hold off on the Downers Grove test until after the Thanksgiving break.

Spelling

L. 11 words are spelled with double consonants in the middle. There won't be a pretest due to the shortened week. The test will be Friday.

English

We will continue with the Verb unit. I plan on finishing this unit and having the verb test the Tuesday 11/24 before Thanksgiving break.

Reading

We will be reading the story The Keeping Quilt. We will be talking about author's viewpoint. Students will have a vocab quiz on Friday. The list is in their reading folders.

Science

We will finish up chapter 4 and learn how ecosystems can change. The chapter 4 test is scheduled for Wednesday 11/18.

Social Studies

We will start finishing up our Downers Grove unit by learning about local governments in our social studies textbook. We will be looking at Chapter 12- Your Local Government: Lesson 1 this week. Lesson 1 teaches up about how local governments provide services to communities.

Math

We will finish up chapter 4 with division these next 2 weeks. We will be taking the chapter 4 test on multiplication and division on Friday 11/20. Students WILL be allowed to use their multiplication box to help them, since we are still in the process of mastering our math facts. We won't test on x4's until the week of 11/16.

Week of November 2-6

2009-10-29T11:00:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Vocab quiz Monday 11/2

*Spelling test Friday 11/6

Classroom Chatter

3rd Grade Team Picture Class Picture

Thank you to Mrs. Scehovic, Mrs. Paskvan, Mrs. Pileggi, Mrs. Arce, and Mrs. Daniele for helping us decorate pumpkins at our Halloween Party. We had a spook-tacular time! Congrats to our very on Alyssa! She one 1st prize at the pumpkin decorating contest!

I hope everyone enjoys the day off tomorrow. Have a happy and safe Halloween!!!!

Check out this great website to carve your own pumpkin! http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Spelling

This week's words are from lesson 10. The end in a double consonant. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test will be Friday.

English

We will begin Unit 3 Verbs. This week we will learn about verbs, verbs in the present, and verbs in the past.

Reading

We will finish up Cliffhanger vocab quiz on Monday. We will also do an extended reading response on Cliffhanger. Students will also share their book reports with the class. Nice job! Information about November/December's book report will come home Monday.

Science

This week, our focus will be chapter 4 lesson 3-How Living Things Survive in Ecosystems. We will learn about adaptation, instincts, hibernation, migration, mimicry and camouflage.

Social Studies

We will continue with our study of Downers Grove. Next week is our field trip!

Math

We will finish up the first half of chapter 3 which teaches multiplication. We also will be taking a mad minute on x3's. We will begin the second part of chapter 3 next week and focus our studies on division.

Week of October 26-30

2009-10-21T10:11:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Book reports due Thursday 10/29

*Spelling test Thursday 10/29

*Matter Matters in-class presentation 10/29

*Halloween party and parade Thursday 10/29

*No school Friday 10/30 Teacher's Institute

Classroom Chatter

We have a busy and exciting week to look forward to. Hopefully, your child has been thinking about creative ways to decorate/dress up his or her pumpkin for the contest on Thursday. A note went home last week about this. The students will need to bring in items from home to decorate a pumpkin, provided by the PTO, Thursday, 10/29.

Guidelines--- There is no paint allowed in the classrooms and sharp objects such as knives and scissors are also prohibited. There is to be no "carving" of the pumpkins and they must remain intact.

So what do I send in???
Ideas---

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLR&um=1&q=pumpkin+decorating+%2B+no+carve&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20

toothpicks to hold things in place
pipe cleaners
cotton
thumbtack/pushpins
different colored foam
dried fall corn cobs
googly eyes
hats
shoe/footwear, if your pumpkin will have feet
hair
feathers
leaves
twigs
bottle caps
vegetables
rocks/stones
glasses

Maybe brainstorm some kind of theme they could follow for their pumpkin.
BE CREATIVE!!!

Here are some ideas we found when we googled images at:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLR&um=1&q=pumpkin+decorating+%2B+no+carve&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20

Have fun with your design!!

Your child may bring their costume to change into on Thursday. We will change into them (boys and girls separately) after lunch/recess. Students will go home in their costumes.

Don't forget that Friday is no school for teacher's institute.

Spelling

This week we won't have a pretest due to the shortened week. We will have Halloween spelling words this week. The list will come home Monday. The test will be Thursday. This week's homework I will provide. It isn't in the spelling books.

English

This week we will spend on descriptive writing.

Reading

Cliffhanger is the next story we will read. We will work on the skill cause and effect.

Science

We will continue with chapter 4. This week, lesson 2 teaches us about specific types of ecosystems like the desert, grasslands, and forest.

Social Studies

We will continue with Downers Grove. Students received a new DG packet and learning log. It is in their social studies folder. This covers present day Downers Grove.

Math

This week we will continue with multiplication. We will learn about the properties of multiplication. We also will be doing some Halloween math.

Week of October 19-23

2009-10-16T10:24:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*DG History Quiz Monday 10/19

*Art to Remember due 10/20

*Early Dismissal Wednesday 10/21

*Noun Test Thursday 10/22

*Book Fair Thursday 10/22

*Spelling Test Friday 10/23

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget on Wednesday we have early dismissal. Students will be dismissed at 11 am!

Thursday is our Book Fair from 6:30-8 pm. I won't be sending home scholastic book orders for the month of October due to the book fair.

I am all set with my chaperons for Downers Grove next month. I would like to still invite any parents that would like to join us for lunch. You can meet us at Girodano's pizza at 11:45. You are also welcome to join your child's group as the tour downtown DG to visit the local merchants and Main Street Cemetery.

Spelling

This week is lesson 8. It is a review of the rules from lessons 1-7. There will be a practice sheet that will come home Monday to practice the format for Friday's test.

English

We will finish up Unit 2 Nouns with a test on Thursday. The study guide went home on Friday. It is in the english folder.

Reading

We will continue with the monitor/clarify strategy as we read the story, Seal Surfer.

Science

We will begin chapter 4 this week. Chapter 4 is all about Where Living Things are Found. This week we will learn about ecosystems.

Social Studies

We will take a quiz on Monday on the history of Downers Grove. We will continue learning about Downers Grove as well as chapter 12 in our social studies textbook. Chapter 12 teaches us about local governments.

Math

We will begin chapter 3 this week on multiplication. We will also begin our multiplication mad minutes. We will begin with x0's and x'1s this week. There will be a mix of x0's and x1's on the mad minute. Students will have 2 minutes to complete 26 problems. Check out the following website to help practice your multiplication facts:

www.multiplication.com (flash cards can be printed from here)

www.coolmath4kids.com (click on "times tables")

www.aaamath.com/grade3.html (click on multiplication and/or multiplication facts

Week of October 12-16

2009-10-07T10:11:00.000-05:00

Important Dates
*No School Monday 10/12-Columbus Day
*Vocab quiz Wednesday 10/14
*Science test Thursday 1/15
*Spelling test Friday 10/16

Classroom Chatter
Don't forget no school on Monday for Columbus Day! Enjoy the day off!

Third Grade Intramural Games will be starting for all third graders in November. Permission slips are available through the PE department this week. If your child is interested in this before school program, please have your child bring home a permission slip. Thanks!

Spelling
L. 7 words this week are irregular plurals. There will not be a pretest this week due to the shortened week. The test is Friday. The list will come home Tuesday.

English
We will continue with Nouns in Unit 2. This week we will study plural nouns, special plural nouns, and singular possessive nouns.

Reading
This week we will continue with the monitor/clarify strategy and fact/opinion skill. We will finish up with Nights of the Pufflings by taking a vocabulary quiz Wednesday. We also will be doing an extended reading response on puffins.

Science
We will be having the Ch. 11 test on Matter on Thursday 10/15. The study guide went home last week. It is in the science folder. Have you seen it?

Social Studies
We will continue with our study of Downers Grove. This week students will learn about John Manning, Dicke Tool Company, and the Tivoli movie theater. Our field trip to Downers Grove is booked for November 10th. Look for a permission slip to come home this week!

Math
We will finish up chapter two with making change with money. The chapter 2 test is scheduled for Friday, 10/16.

Week of October 5-9

2009-10-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

Spelling Test Friday 10/9

Matter Monday due 10/13

Classroom Chatter

The Rotary Club of Darien dropped by the third grade this past week. They donated dictionaries for each child in third grade. These dictionaries have the longest word in the English Language on the last page. Can you pronounce it?

Spelling

L. 6 words are plurals of consonant plus y. There will be a pretest on Monday and the test is Friday.

English

We will begin Unit 2 Nouns this week. We will learn about nouns, proper & common nouns, and nouns in the subject.

Reading

We will begin a new strategy this week: monitor and clarify. We will also work on fact and opinion. We will do this while reading a non-fictional story on Puffins.

Social Studies

Last week students learned about Pierce Downer, who was the founder of Downers Grove. We will continue with our study about the history of Downers Grove.

Science

We will finish with matter in chapter 11. This week we will read lesson 3 to learn how matter changes. We will be having a test on matter on Thursday 11/15. I'll send a study guide home this week to help with studying.

Math

We will explore subtraction across zeros, problem solving, mental math strategies, and making change with money. Don't forget, we start multiplication mad minutes in chapter 3. Practice those flash cards!

Week of September 28 to October 2

2009-09-24T14:12:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*9/29 Tuesday Magazine turn-in day

*10/1 Thursday Picture Day

*10/2 Friday Spelling Test

Classroom Chatter

We had a great time celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Friday. Thank you to those who sent in juice, bowls, and cups!

Spelling

Lesson 5's words are vowel + y words. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test will be Friday.

English

We will spend this week writing a narrative essay. Students will learn about indenting paragraphs and how to write a narrative with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Reading

We will begin our first novel, How to Be Cool in Third Grade. We will be reading chapters in class and completing journal response questions.

Science

We will continue with our Matter unit. This week, we will learn about the three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases.

Social Studies

Downers Grove and Chapter 12 will be our next unit. We will begin learning about the history of Downers Grove, present day Downers Grove and Local Government in Chapter 12 .

Math

This week we will continue with chapter two. Students will be adding and subtracting two and three digit numbers as well as greater than 3 digit numbers. We will be taking a checkpoint this week on Wednesday.

Week of September 21-25

2009-09-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

*Magazine Turn-In Monday and Friday 9/21 & 9/25
*Vocabulary Quiz Monday 9/21
*Early Dismissal Tuesday 9/22
*English Test Wednesday 9/23
*Hemisphere Quiz Thursday 9/24
*Spelling Test Friday 9/25
*Reading Quiz on Friday 9/25
*Johnny Appleseed's Birthday 9/26 (celebrating 9/25)

Classroom Chatter
Thank you to everyone who have sent in Treasure Chest items! The kids and I really appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. It makes the end of the day fun when I pick names for the Treasure Chest and the kids are excited about its contents!

Saturday is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. It is a tradition in 3rd grade that we honor this day. We will be celebrating on Friday, 9/25. Information about Friday's celebration will come home Monday of this week. Don't forget on Friday to send in an apple that has been peeled, cut, and cored so we can make homemade applesauce! Is anyone willing to send in 100% apple juice boxes or bowls? Please send me an email. I have spoons and napkins. Thanks in advance. We look forward to an "apple"solutely wonderful day!

On Monday, information about a program called, "Lunch in the Library" will be coming home. Mrs. Walsh-Rock is our librarian aide. She is starting a program where students can come to the IMC during their lunch time to talk about books while munching on lunch with other readers. Students will have an opportunity to hear about other books they might be interested in reading. If your child is interested, the first Lunch in the Library is Friday, 10/8. Please fill out the information sheet that will come home Monday and return to Mrs. Csorba by 10/1.

Don't forget Tuesday is early dismissal. Students will be dismissed at 11am! Enjoy the half day!

Spelling
No pretest this week due to the early dismissal. L. 4's words are spelled with -s or -es. The test will be Friday.

English
Unit One's test is scheduled for Wednesday 9/23. A study guide went home last week. It's in the english folder. Have you seen it? Encourage your child to bring their textbook home to study!

Reading
We will take a vocabulary quiz on Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip on Monday. We will continue working on predictions while reading a story called, South Pole Bound. We also will be doing some work in our Illinois Reading Workbooks. Lesson 1 is called Word Analysis. We will be talking about words that have prefixes, suffixes, words that sound the same, and compound words. We will rip out these pages and keep them in our reading folder to study. There will be a short quiz on Friday covering Lesson 1.

Science
We will begin our next unit in Science. Chapter 11 teaches us about the properties of matter. We will begin with lesson 1: What is Matter?

Social Studies
We will finish up our map skills unit with a quiz on hemispheres.

Math
We will begin chapter 2 this week. Chapter 2 teaches about adding and subtracting whole numbers and money. We will not start multiplication mad minutes until Ch. 3 Ch. 3 teaches multiplication. However, your child should start practicing and learning their multiplication facts. We will start with x0's and x1's. A multiplication packet of facts from x2-x12 went home on Friday to help with studying. You should also have flash cards at home.

Week of September 14-18

2009-09-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Vocabulary Quiz Monday 9/14

*Continents & Oceans Quiz Tuesday 9/15

*Science Test Wednesday 9/16

*Spelling Test Friday 9/18

Classroom Chatter

Mrs. Heckman, our school nurse, will be talking to the class on Monday regarding hygiene. We want to remember to encourage our children to constantly wash our hands with soap and water several times a day. Also, hand sanitizer is in the classroom for us to use as well.

Spelling

This week's words are spelled with -ou. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test will be Friday. You child's spelling list will come home Monday. It will be in the spelling folder.

English

We will finish up unit one, The Sentence this week by reviewing subjects and predicates. We will talk about run-on sentences. Next week, the test is scheduled for 9/23. A study guide will come home this week.

Reading

This week we will focus on our next reading strategy, predictions. We will begin predictions with a story called Yumni and Halmoni's Trip.

Science

We will take the Introductory to Science test on Wednesday. It is open book and open note. It will be graded. A study guide went home last week in the science folder. You also may view the science textbook online. Directions on how to view the text book and your log in and password went home Friday. It is a great tool we have. I hope you find it useful and fun!

Social Studies

Students will be working on an in-class project to end our study of the continents and oceans. We will then move our study to the hemispheres of the world. The quiz on Continents and Oceans is Tuesday.

Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.

Math

This week we will finish up chapter 1 by taking a checkpoint on Wednesday. We will do some extra practice this week and play a review game on Thursday to prepare us for Friday's test. We also will be taking subtraction mad minutes this week. Ch. 1 test is Friday 9/18. There are some great extra practice pages in the text book. I encourage students to do the problems at home. Pages 32-35. Chapter One begins on page 2-31. There are problems in each lesson to do as well.

Week of September 7-11

2009-09-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*No School Monday 9/7 Labor Day

*Scholastic Book Orders due Friday 9/11

*Bingo Night Friday 9/11

Classroom Chatter

We are off to a great start to 3rd grade. It was a pleasure seeing everyone at Curriculum Night last week. Thank you for coming. Thank you to the parents who donated items from Open House from our "Pitch in and Help" board. It is very much appreciated!

Scholastic book orders went home on Friday 9/4. I strongly encourage everyone to try to order online. It is so easy and safe! It helps me out too. Orders online or paper orders are due by Friday, Sept. 11.

Spelling

L. 2's words are spelled with oa. There isn't a pretest this week due to the shortened week. The test will be Friday.

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

This week we will be reading a story called, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chis Van Allsburg. Vocab words from this story will come home this week and a quiz on them will be next Monday. In addition to working on visualizations we will continue discussing the setting of the story, the characters, and the plot. Book report information went home on Friday 9/4. Your child has until 9/11 to choose a book for the book report and have it approved by me. Information about all the book reports is in the binder to be left at home. Keep it somewhere safe to refer to. Information about September/October's report is already in the reading folder. It is to be turned in with the project on 10/29. Also, in your child's reading folder is a large sheet of white construction paper to complete the project. Your child can remove this paper out of the folder and keep it at home until it is done.

Science

We will finish up our introductory unit to science this week with lesson 3, The Scientific Method. The following week, the students will be taking the test in class as an open note/open book. It will be graded. Since this is the first test, I will allow for open book and notes. I will send home a study guide next week.

Social Studies

We will spend this week continuing our map skills by learning about the continents and oceans of our world. We will have a quiz on the following Monday 9/14. Students will need to ID the continents and oceans. They will have a word bank.

Math

This week we will be working with numbers in the millions, finding patterns in numbers, rounding and problem solving using patterns and bar graphs. We also will be taking our first mad minute in addition facts on Monday. The students will need to answer 40 facts in 2 minutes.

Week of August 31-Sept 4

2009-08-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:
Tuesday 9/1-Curriculum Night at 6:30 for 3rd Grade

Classroom Chatter

Parents,

Welcome to Mrs. Csorba's Scoop! This is where you can find important information going on in my classroom. I strongly encourage you to visit this blog weekly as well as the blog of your child's math teacher for information about their classes.

Curriculum Night is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st starting at 6:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room. This is a very important evening that will highlight some important 3rd grade information. You will have a chance to meet all of your child's teachers. I hope you can make it!

If you ever need to contact me, the easiest way is through email – jcsorba@ccsd66.org .

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 spelling this week with lesson 1-words spelled with silent e. On Monday we will take a pretest. If your child receives a 100% or minus 1, they'll be in the "pretest" group. They will get a new set of words spelled with silent e and and a list of homework assignments for the week. If you child receives 2 or more wrong on the pretest, they will be in the "book" group.
They will have the regular spelling list and homework in the spelling workbook and and ABC order sheet on Thursday. Everyone will take a test on Friday with their spelling words. The first spelling test with be this Friday. A spelling list will always go home in the spelling folder on Monday. It should stay in the spelling folder. We use them in class. Feel free to make a copy of the list for home. During 4 day weeks, there will not be a spelling pretest.

English
We will begin with Unit 1-The Sentence. This week we will learn about what makes a sentence and the different types of sentences.

Reading
We will begin with the reading strategy visualize. Students will read the story, Dogzilla to help with learning this strategy. A vocabulary list from this story will go home Monday in their reading folders. We will have a short quiz next Tuesday over these words. Please keep the list in their reading folder in the binder. You may take it out to study but please return it to the binder so we have it for class. Thanks.

Science
Last week, we began with the Introductory Unit to Science. Students learned about some inquiry tools that are used in science. Some of these are a microscope, measuring cup, hand lens, and pan balance. We took some notes in class and you can find these in their science folder in the binder. These notes should stay in the folder to help study for the test.

Social Studies
We will begin with Map Skills. This week, students will learn about the 8 directions: north, east, south, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. This unit is not in the social studies textbook. I will provide the students with the materials they will need to study. They will keep them in their social studies folder in their binder. We will have our first quiz on the 8 directions this Friday. A study guide will come home this week along with information to help your child prepare for Friday's quiz.

Please visit the blog of your child's math teacher to find out information for that math class.

Math
We will begin our study of Place Value this week. Students will also be starting mad minute timed tests the following week. We will begin with addition facts to review. Students are required to finish 40 addition problems (like 9+5 or 7+8) in 2 minutes time. We will take a practice test this Friday to prepare for Tuesday's mad minute (9/8/09). We will move on to 40 subtraction facts the following week.

August 24, 2009

2009-08-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Don't forget to come to our Open House on Monday, August 24th from 9-11 a.m. You and your child will have a chance to meet me, visit our classroom, drop off their supplies, find their locker, and pick a desk!

I look forward to meeting everyone! Here's to a great year!

Mrs. Csorba

Last Day of School

2009-06-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

School's Out for the SUMMER!

Dear Parents and Students,

I can't believe this year has come to an end. It is bittersweet. I'm sad to say goodbye, but I'm ready for a relaxing summer filled with golfing, a family vacation to Michigan, and starting to prepare for Baby Csorba!

We had a great year! It was challenging first with the traveling to different classrooms. You all made me proud. It was great to see everyone grow this year!

A special thank you to all of you for my end of the year gift. I was deeply touched by your generosity and kind words to me and to Baby Csorba! Thank you again.

Please have a wonderful, safe, and fun-filled summer! Come back and visit next year!!

Love, Mrs. Csorba

Week of June 1-5

2009-05-27T11:54:00.001-05:00

Important Dates:

*Monday 6/1 Bowling

*Monday 6/1 Clash Day

*Matter Presentation-"What's the Matter?"

*Tuesday 6/2 Chicago Boat Trip

*Tuesday 6/2 Crazy sock day

*Wednesday 6/3 Stuffed Animal Day

*Thursday 6/4 Picnic and Bike Show

*Thursday 6/4 Vacation Outfit Day

*Friday 6/5 Last day of school!

*Friday 6/5 Repeat your favorite spirit day

Classroom Chatter

We will be going bowling on Monday, 6/1. Students are allowed to bring money to purchase a snack at the snack bar. Since we are bowling in the morning, please have all students bring a sack lunch this day. Last year, we had several students sign up for hot lunch and not take a lunch because they ate too much at the bowling alley. To prevent this hot lunch going to waste, we are asking for all students to bring a sack lunch. That way, if they don't want to eat their lunch, they can bring it home. Thank you for your cooperation.

YEARBOOKS: will be handed out to students on June 5th. Any students who did not purchase a yearbook may do so on a first-come-first-serve basis on June 5th; they will go on sale after morning announcements. The cost will be $10.00 and children wishing to purchase should have exact amount. Checks can be made out to Prairieview. There is a limited supply. Prairieview yearbook orders were not paid for at registration. A flyer was sent out on November 13, 2008 and orders were due by Monday, December 1, 2008.

I'm sad that our year together is coming to an end. I have enjoyed working with all of the students and parents this year. We've had such a wonderful time together! I hope everyone has a safe, fun-filled, wonderful summer! Don't forget to COME BACK AND VISIT NEXT YEAR!!!

Thursday is our school picnic. Each student will receive a hot dog, chips, water, and an ice cream treat. Students who do not wish to eat a hot dog, should bring their own lunch. They can still have the chips, water, and ice cream treat.

Report cards will go home on Friday. Students will be dismissed at 9:30 a.m.

Week of May 25-29

2009-05-22T09:41:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*5/25 Memorial Day-No school

*5/26 Slipper Day

*5/27 Chicago Quiz

*5/27 Crazy Hair Day

*5/28 Sports Day

5/29 Munchies & Movie Day

Classroom Chatter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Hard to believe we just have 9 days left until summer vacation!

We are enjoying our ten day countdown. Students can bring in an extra healthy treat for themselves for Friday's Munchies and a Movie. If someone can send in a rated G movie for us, that'll be great. We'll watch the movie the last half hour of the day!

Science

This week we will read from chapter 12 about energy, why it is important and how it is used. We also will begin chapter 11 on matter. There will not be any more grades taken for science. However, we will continue learning about science until the end of the year!!

Social Studies

We will finish Chicago with a quiz on Wednesday the 27th. This will be our final social studies grade.

Spelling

We will take our final test on L. 30 this week. If your child receives a 100% on Tuesday's pretest, they don't have to take the test Friday. I sent the list home Friday. This week's words are spelled with the prefix re-. This week's homework will be workbook pages 157-160 and an ABC order.

English

We will work on writing persuasive papers this week.

Reading

We will finish Ramona this week.

Math

We will finish up our final week of math with more practice of longer multiplication. I will also introduce long division.

Week of May 18-22

2009-05-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

Important Dates:

*Pen pal visit Monday 5/18

*All books due to IMC by 5/22

Our pen pals from 2nd grade will be coming to visit on Monday, May 18th. We look forward to meeting with them and showing them Prairieview.

The last day to turn in books checked out from the IMC will be Friday, 5/22. Thank you!

Science

Last week, we began reading Chapter 14, lesson one on heat. We will breeze through chapter 14 this week and learn about light and sound from lessons 2 and 3. At the end of this week we will take a 10 point open book review on the entire chapter. Students can use their book and their notes to help. There will not be a chapter test.

Social Studies

We will finish up Chicago this week. I am planning on ending the Chicago unit with a short quiz on Chicago May 27th.

Spelling

L. 29 words are spelled with the prefix un-. The test will be Friday. There will not be a pretest due to the magic show. The workbook pages for this week will be assigned on Tuesday. They are pages 152-155. There will be an ABC order that goes home on Thursday.

English

We will finish up unit 6 on pronouns. The test is scheduled for Wednesday 5/20. This will be our final english test for the year.

Reading

We are very excited for Monday's Magic show! For our final 8 days of reading (can you believe it?) we will be reading the novel, Ramona Quimby, Age 8.

Math

We will be taking the decimal test on Tuesday, 5/19. We will begin multiplication of greater numbers. We are all done taking mad minutes. Your child should continue to practice multiplication and division facts.