Week of January 5-9

Important Dates:

IOWA test next week 1/12-1/16

Classroom Chatter

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a here's to a happy new year 2009!

Ms. Stainman needs parent volunteers to help tie roller skates during PE classes for third grade. She needs help the week of January 5-January 16. You can come as many or as few of times as you want and can go into any other class or your child's own. We have gym from 10:15-10:30 everyday. You can email her at tstainman@ccsd66.org if you are interested. Thanks for your help.

Science

We will begin in our science book ch. 4 (not ch. 1 like I posted in my last blog). Chapter 4-Ecosystems.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling

L. 12 words are past tense words ending in -ed. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test is Friday. This week's homework will be workbook pages 65-68. They are due on Thursday. An ABC order page will come home Thursday.

English
We will spend the week learning about the parts of a friendly letter. Students will also need to know their home address. A good place to write this down is in the front part of their assignment notebook as a reminder. We will have a short quiz on this information next week. Students will keep information about friendly letters in their english folder.

Reading
We will begin summarizing this week. We will be reading the story Lost and Found. Student will have a vocab quiz on Friday. We also will be working on the sequence of events skill as we read.

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

Math

We will finish up the graphs we worked on before break and share them with the class. Students will also be learning about stem and leaf plots, probability, and outcomes. We will take a mad minute on x11's this week.

Week of December 15-19

Important Dates:
*Bowling Monday 12/15
*Bowling Test Wed. 12/17
*School Trip to Tivoli Friday 12/19
*Winter break 12/20-1/4
*Classes resume Monday 1/5


Classroom Chatter




I am greatly touched by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity for the adopted family gifts. We collected so many presents for our "adopted" family and the family shelter. Take a look at what we were able to collect.


The Csorba family was "elfed" this week. Check out this website for a good laugh!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/vU4uOvTj1tTQswVq

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

Friday, Prairieview is off to the Tivoli to see The Grinch as an all school field trip. Remember to bring a sack lunch. We will be eating before we go to the movies. Happy Holidays!!!

Ms. Stainman needs parent volunteers to help tie roller skates during PE classes for third grade. She needs help the week of January 5-January 16. You can come as many or as few of times as you want and can go into any other class or your child's own. We have gym from 10:15-10:30 everyday. You can email her at tstainman@ccsd66.org if you are interested. Thanks for your help.

Science- We will begin Ch. 1-Types of Living things in January.

Social Studies-We will finish up chapter 3 by the end of this week. Remember, there will NOT be a test this unit. Happy Holidays!!

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling- No spelling this week.

English- We will finish up with a Verb test on 12/16. We will finish the week working on some holiday writing. Look for these stories to come home and share with the family!

Reading- We will continue with connections as we read a story called, Pepita Talks Twice. It is a story about a girl who is tired of talking in two languages. We'll focus on connections and problem solving while we read. There will not be a vocabulary quiz on this story's words.

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

Math- We will continue in chapter 4 this week. This week we will work on steam and leaf plots, and problem solving with graphs. We will finish up chapter 4 the week we return from break. We will take the ch. 4 test Thursday, 1/8. We will also be taking a mad minute on x10's.

Week of December 8-12

Important Dates:

*Adopted family gifts due Wednesday 12/10

Classroom Chatter:

Six Flags Reading Club info came home on Thursday. This is optional. If your child wants to participate, please keep track of 6 hours of reading. When completed, turn the form into me. Your child will receive a free ticket to Six Flags Great America. This is due by 2/20/09.

Thank you to Taylor, Teddy, Tyler Sp. and Jack. These students have brought in gifts for our Holiday service project. Here's what we have so far:

Mom-
picture frame

mug with shower gel and lotion

***17 year old girl (cancer patient)
watch

16 year old female

nothing yet for her...

15 year old female

electronic solitaire game

10 year old girl
jewelry
craft

art set and paper

3 year old girl
books

stuffed animal bear

Family Gift-
Yahtzee game
gift cards to: Dunkin Donuts, Mc Donalds, and Pizza Hut

Science

We had a lot of fun last week conducting our science experiment on "bubble colors" in science. Take a look a these scientists:

The test for the introductory unit, "Getting Ready for Science" will be on Tuesday. A study guide went home last week. We are finished with science until "next year!"

Social Studies

We will be spending the next two weeks finishing up chapter 3 in social studies. We will not finish until the day before we break for the holidays. I have decided that we will NOT take a chapter 3 test. I will just have the grades from the 4 in-class lesson reviews for the chapter 3 grades.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling

This week's words will be a holiday list of words. Below is the spelling list. We will have a pretest on Monday. If your child receives a 100% on Monday's pretest, they don't have to take the test on Friday. We will have a homework packet of activities to complete this week. The test is Friday.

*

HOLIDAY LIST: A paper copy will come home Monday.

Santa

stocking

Christmas

reindeer

elves

ice skate

presents

angels

giving

candy canes

snowflakes

garland

icicles

lights

ornaments

family

sleigh

*

*

English

We will finish up verbs. The test is now scheduled for Tuesday, 12/16.

Reading

This week we will begin a new reading strategy, connections. When we read, we will be making 3 types of connections: text to text, text to self, and text to the world connections. We will be reading the Mysterious Giant of Barletta. We will have a short quiz on vocab from this story on Friday.

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

Math

We will begin chapter 4. Chapter 4 teaches us about data and probability. This week we will learn about bar graphs, pictographs, line graphs, and ordered pairs. We will be taking a mad minute this week on x9's.

Week of December 1-5

Important Dates:
*Conferences the week of 12/1-12/5
*Report Cards Tuesday 12/2
*Holiday Service project gifts due 12/10
*No school Friday 12/5


Classroom Chatter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Conferences are being held this week with your child's reading teacher. Please be on time for you conference. It is only a 15 minute time slot. We look forward to meeting with the parents of our reading students this week.


Science
We will finish up the introductory unit in science this week. A study guide will come home this week to help your child start studying. The test is scheduled for Tuesday 12/9.


Social Studies
We will begin chapter 3. In chapter 3 we will learn why people move from place to place. We will begin by talking about what an opportunity is and why people in a community may have come from different places.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling
L. 11's words are spelled with double consonants in the middle of the word. The list will go home Monday. The test is Thursday (no school Friday). There will not be a pretest this week. The homework will be due on Wednesday. The workbook pages are p. 60-63. The abc order sheet will come home Wednesday and is due on Thursday.


English
We will resume learning about verbs. This week we will study about verbs in the future tense, helping verbs, and the special verb form of be.


Reading
This week we will continue with the self question strategy. Students will be reading a new story called Grandma's Records. We will have a vocabulary quiz on Thursday.


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 3. We will take the 2nd checkpoint on Tuesday 12/2. The chapter 3 test is scheduled for Thursday 12/4. We will take a mad minute in x8's this week.

Week of November 23-28

Important Dates:
*Thanksgiving Break 11/26-11/28
*Conferences the week of 12/1
*Report cards Tuesday 12/2
*Cancer family gifts due 12/10



Classroom Chatter
I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for the terrific group of third graders I have for students! Enjoy your time with your family!!



Conferences will be held the week of December 1st. This year, conferences will be held with your child's reading teacher. Report cards will come home on Tuesday 12/2.


Last week information went home about Prairieview's Holiday service project. Each year Prairieview runs a service project around the holidays. Our efforts will benefit two organizations: a cancer family and a family shelter. Each classroom at Prairieview has a family that is in need at this time. In addition to the cancer families, we will also be making donations to Family Shelter Service.

This year our class has a very special family.
Our family includes:
~Mom
~17 year old young lady (cancer patient)
~16 year old sister
~15 years old sister
~10 year old sister
~3 year old sister

Sadly, the seventeen 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 could send in a NEW, not used, present for one or more of the family members, that would be appreciated. You may also send a “family gift.”
Directions:
*Please wrap the gift
*LABEL the item with what it is with a Post-It (so I know what it is and then can remove the post-it)
*Use a name tag sticker and write who it is for (example: Mom, 3 year old girl, 16 year old girl)


Some ideas for NEW (not used) gifts include, but are not limited to:
age appropriate games/toys, books, crafts, puzzles, winter hat/gloves, socks, winter hat/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, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, K-Mart, Sears, JC Penney’s, Carson Pierre Scott, Chili’s, TGIFridays, Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, ETC.

Gift for the Family Shelter
We are accepting Cash or checks (payable to Family Shelter Service) gift cards in any denomination. NEW toys, games, books, puzzles, sports equipment, jewelry/other accessories, warm gloves and hats. Please DO NOT wrap these gifts for the family shelter.

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

Science
This week we will read lesson 3, the scientific method.

Check out this recipe to make GIANT soap bubbles!

Required ingredients and supplies to make 2 ¼ cups of liquid for blowing giant soap bubbles: You'll need ¼ cup of liquid dish washing detergent, 2 ¼ cups of distilled water, and 2 tablespoons of glycerin. You can buy glycerin at major craft supply stores, drug stores, or online. Glycerin is nontoxic and safe for use around children and pets. You'll also need a mixing bowl, spoon, a plastic container for storage, and bubble wands of your choice.


Procedure: Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl by stirring them gently. Avoid creating bubbles while stirring, and remove any foam that forms on the surface. Pour the liquid into a properly labeled container with a tight fitting lid until ready to use. It will keep indefinitely when properly stored after each use.

Giant Bubble Maker:
If you want to make giant soap bubbles, try using ordinary cotton string. Simply make a large loop with sturdy cotton string, and allow it to soak in a shallow pan filled with the bubble solution. After allowing it to thoroughly soak into the material, remove it from the liquid by holding it taut from opposite sides. Slowly open the circle until the strings are about an inch apart while keeping it taut and raise it into the air to form a giant soap bubble. It may take a little practice, but using this method, you can make amazingly giant soap bubbles.

Social Studies
When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will begin Chapter 3 in social studies. In this chapter we will learn why people move from place to place. To begin, we will learn about opportunity, immigrants, customs and ethnic groups.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
No spelling this week.


English
This week we will be sharing out 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 work on similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, and author's purpose. Don't forget to continue working on your book reports. They are due December 18th.



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





Math
We will do some problem solving and dividing by 7, 8 and 9. There will be no mad minutes this week.


Next week after break, we will start x8's. We will finish up chapter 3 with a checkpoint on Tuesday and then the test on Chapter 3 on Thursday, 12/4

Week of November 17-21

Important Dates:

*Roller Skating Party Tuesday 11/18

(Mrs. Csorba will be chaperoning!)

*New Kids Assembly Wednesday 11/19

*Trimester One ends Friday 11/21

*Thanksgiving Break 11/26-11/28

* Yearbook orders due by 12/1

Classroom Chatter

We will be having an assembly in 3rd grade Wednesday. Students will be learning about students with special needs. Please ask your child about it! Due to this assembly we will not be switching for reading/english/spelling.

Announcing Prairieview 2008-2009 Yearbook. Order your yearbook today!!! The cost of the yearbook is $10.00 and make payments to Lifetouch. Order deadline date is December 1, 2008. No orders will be accepted after that date. Parents just a reminder-- Prairieview yearbooks are not paid for at registration. Please place your order now. Yearbook order forms went home with your child on November 14th and there a few extra envelopes available; please try not to lose them. If your child loses it, you can send an envelope with the following information on it: student’s name, teacher’s name and grade level along with a check made payable to Lifetouch for $10.00. It is very important that you put the information on the envelope; Lifetouch does not know who your child’s teacher is. Students will receive their yearbooks in June!

Science

We will continue with the introductory unit to science with lesson 2. Lesson 2 teaches us about inquiry skills. Students will be completing another investigate (experiment) with bubbles this week. Our class did a SUPER job last week with our first bubbles investigate.

Social Studies

We will take the Downers Grove/Chapter 12 test on Friday 11/21. A study guide went home on Friday. Use the study guide, learning log, yellow Downers Grove packet, lesson reviews and notes (in the social studies folders labeled "save to study") to help prepare for the test.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling

This week we will have a Thanksgiving spelling list. The test will be on Friday. I will be giving a pretest on Monday. If your child receives a 100% on Monday's pretest, they don't have to take the test on Friday. The homework for this week is a little different too. There will be a list of different spelling activities your child can pick for homework. It will come home on Monday with the students and will be due on Friday.

English

This week we will be spending a week on writing. Students will be writing a Thanksgiving story from the point of view of a turkey. This ties in nicely to what we're doing in reading with author's point of view.

Reading

We will be reading The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco this week. While we read, we will practice the self-question strategy. Students will also learn about author's viewpoint and how the author's opinion effects how the story is written. If you or anyone you know who is a quilter and would like to come in to our reading class to talk about quilting, please contact me. We would love to hear more about this special talent!

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

Math

We will continue with chapter 3. This week we will talk about division. We will not finish chapter 3 before the Thanksgiving break. I tentatively have the test planned for Thursday 12/4. I will keep you posted as we get closer to the date. This week we will be taking a mad minute on x7's.

Week of November 10-14

Important Dates:
*Veterans' Day No school Tuesday 11/11
*Book orders due Thursday 11/13
*Roller Skating Party Tuesday 11/18
*New Kids Assembly 11/19
*End of 1st Trimester 11/21
*Thanksgiving Break 11/26-11/28


Classroom Chatter
Thank you to the many who have donated books to our Book Angels book drive. The book drive ends on Friday 11/14.

Book orders for the month of November and December went home on Friday. Don't forget you can view and order them online as well. They will be due by Thursday. Books make great presents or stocking stuffers! If there are any books you order as gifts and want me to set them aside for you to pick up when your child is not around...just send me an email. I'd be happy to do so!

The Social Studies Committee is looking for two parents who have an educational or history background to be involved in the adoption of new Social Studies textbooks. You would have to meet with the committee and provide input for choosing our next textbooks for the coming years. The committee will be meeting once every month for the next 2 years. Please email Ms. Pellin if you would be interested in joining the committee. Thank you. mpellin@ccsd66.org



Science
Information went home last week with your child's user name and password to view the textbook online. Students were shown this in class last week as well. We will finish up the first lesson in the introductory unit this week by taking some notes and doing an open book review. We will complete this as a class. I will show the students how to use their notes and book to help them answer the questions.


Social Studies
We will be finishing up our Downers Grove unit in the next two weeks. I am planning on giving a combined test on Present Day Downers Grove and Ch.12 (lessons 1 & 2 only) on Friday 11/21. Students will get a study guide at the end of this week to help them start studying.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling
This week we will begin lesson 10. There will be no pretest due to no school on Tuesday. Lesson 10's words are spelled with words that end in double consonants. The list will come home on Monday. I will go over workbook pages 55, 56, & 58 (skip 57) on Monday. They will be due on Thursday. Students will have an ABC order on Thursday for homework. The test is on Friday.


English
We will learn about verbs in the past tense this week. Just a heads up, we will be having an open book graded review on Thursday covering the first 5 lessons on verbs. Students are welcome to bring their textbook home to review. After this, we will be done with verbs until after Thanksgiving break.


Reading
Parent/Teacher conferences for December are being held with the Language Arts teacher this year. Most of you signed up for a conference at Curriculum Night. On Monday, I will be sending home a confirmation sheet. Please look over the date and time and confirm your conference with me by filling out the bottom portion and returning it with your child as soon as possible.

We will be taking a vocabulary quiz on Monday on Cliffhanger's words. We will begin our next strategy self question. A good reader always asks themselves questions as they read and can find answers as they read. We will read The Keeping Quilt. We will also learn about metaphors/similes, alliteration, personification, and onomatopoeia.

Check out www.puffinpalooza.com to view our Mrs. Csorba's students' drawings online!


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


Math
This week we will cover x5, x7, x8, x9, and x10. We will spend a day on problem solving. Students will be taking the first checkpoint in chapter 3. Feel free to look over the checkpoint in the textbook this week. The checkpoint can be found on p. 100-101 in the textbook. We will be taking mad minutes x6's this week.


“We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box.” (Quote borrowed from Ms. Steka's blog)

Week of November 3-7

Important Dates:
*Teachers' Institute No school Tuesday 11/4
*Veterans' Day No school Tuesday 11/11

Classroom Chatter:
Thank you to Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Smiles, Mrs. Olsen, and Mrs. Maas for throwing us a spook-tacular Halloween party! A special thanks to Mr. Olsen for taking such boo-tiful pictures of us at the parade and the party. If you'd like to check them out click below!
http://olsens.homeip.net/20081031%20Prairie%20View%20Halloween/album/

There will be no school on Tuesday due to Teachers' Institute. Enjoy the day off!

We will continue to collect new or gently used books for our school's Book Angels drive. If you have books at your home that your children doesn't want or read anymore,we would greatly appreciate any donations.

Science:
We did not start our new unit in science last week. We will begin it this week. Students will be receiving a new science textbook for this unit. We will use these books for science for the remainder of the year. We will begin with the introductory unit on science. Students will be learning about inquiry tools and the scientific method. We also are fortunate enough to view our textbook online! Students will be receiving a user name and password. An email regarding this and directions to view this book online, was sent to parents via email on Friday, 10/31.
Please let me know if you have questions. Explore this site. It is fantastic. There are printable study sheets, a vocabulary list, and much more.

Social Studies
We are reading chapter 12 in our textbooks this week to help us better understand government and the government of Downers Grove.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
L. 8 is a review unit. Please review the rules for lessons 1-7 for Friday's test. I sent home a practice test to help study for Friday's test. It is just for practice. It does not need to come back to school.The test this week is a different format from our weekly tests. It will be just like the practice test sent home but with the words from lessons 1-7. The test is Friday.
Homework for spelling this week will be workbook pages 44-47. I will go over the directions on Monday. These 4 pages are due on Thursday.



English
We will move into the next unit in our english textbook on Verbs. I plan on covering lessons 1-6 before we break for Thanksgiving. I will be doing some Thanksgiving story writing with the students as well. We will then finish the remainder of the unit on verbs which will bring us to our winter break. I tentatively plan on the Verb test to be the Monday before we break for the holidays. This week we will learn about what a verb is and verbs in the present tense.

Reading
We will read our last story to practice the monitor/clarify strategy this week. We will read Cliffhanger. While reading this story we will also work on the skill cause and effect. Students will be taking a quiz on the vocabulary for this story next Monday, 11/10. Look for the vocab words to come home in their reading folders on Wednesday.


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


Math
We spent last week talking about rules and hints of multiplication. These hints/rules can be found in their spiral notebooks. Students have learned a few multiplication games to practice their facts. Students also received a multiplication box to help them with their facts. This week we will learn about how multiplication and division are related and talk more about each multiplication fact. We will also resume taking mad minutes. This week we will take x5's.

Week of October 27-31

Important Dates:
*Robert Crown field trip-Friday 10/31
*Halloween parade and parties Friday 10/31

Classroom Chatter
HALLOWEEN is on Friday. We will be going to Robert Crown in the morning. We will miss our lunch period, so we'll be eating lunch in our classrooms. Please send your child a lunch that day. Students should bring their costumes to school in a bag with their name labeled on it. Try to have them dress so that their costume can go over their clothes and little makeup. We will be changing in our classrooms. Boys and girls will be in different classrooms. They will not be allowed to go to the bathroom to change. Please save guns, swords, knives, and other weapons for trick-or-treating at home. They are not appropriate for school. Parents who are running the party can come by 1:15. Our school parade begins at 1:15. The party will begin at 1:30 and end at 2:15. Students will be sent home in their costumes.

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

To carve your pumpkin,
click the link below.

Carve your pumpkin then press done. Watch it light up!

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

Science
We will move into new science textbooks for our next unit. We will be working out of this textbook for the remainder of the year. Our first unit is an introductory unit to science. We will be doing different experiments with bubbles. Students will learn about inquiry tools and the scientific method.


Social Studies
We will continue with our Downers Grove unit.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
This week we will have a list of Halloween words for our spelling list. We will be taking the test on THURSDAY this week. We will not be switching on Friday due to the Robert Crown field trip. The list will go home Monday with the homework assignments for this week. They are due on Thursday.


English
The test is scheduled for Tuesday on Nouns. A study guide went home last week. It is in the english folder.


Reading
We will continue with the monitor/clarify strategy. We will read a story called, Cliffhanger. Students will be working on the skill cause and effect. Don't forget the book report is due Thursday, 10/30. Your child may turn it in early if they would like.



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


Math
This week we will begin chapter 2. In chapter 2, we will learn about multiplication. Students will have one more week off of mad minutes. Start studying x5's. We will take them next week. I want to get into this chapter more in depth and then continue with mad minutes. To help practice mad minutes, here are some helpful sites. We played these games last Friday at the computer lab.

www.multiplication.com

http://www.gamequarium.com/

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Mathmagician/cathymath.html

Week of October 20-24

Important Dates:
*Early Dismissal-Wednesday 10/22
*Health Fest-Thursday 10/23
*Science test-Friday 10/24
*Robert Crown-Friday 10/31

Classroom Chatter
A BIG thank you to our Downers Grove field trip chaperones: Mrs. Raso, Mrs. Reynolds, Mr. Olsen, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Arquilla, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Smiles. Thank you to Mrs. Poynton for meeting us for lunch! We had a wonderful time seeing our history lessons come to life as we traveled to many historic landmarks around Downers Grove. Here is a class picture at Pierce and Lucy Ann's final resting places at the Linscott Cemetary. Robert Crown Field Trip: We will be going to Robert Crown Center on the morning of Friday, 10/31. This will be an extension of our health unit in science. Due to the nature of the trip, no chaperones are needed.

*Halloween Party: We will be having a classroom party during the afternoon on Friday, 10/31. If your child wants to dress up for our school parade, they may bring a costume to school. We will change into it after lunch. It is best to send a costume that your child can get into by themselves. Students will be sent home wearing their costumes.

Thank you to Cate, Tyler Sm., Taylor, Sophia, and Clayton. These students bought our class a book from the Scholastic Book Fair.

Science
Information about the 2008 Health Fest will come home on Monday. Our health fest will be on Thursday. Such activities include eating healthy snacks, taking a five minute nap, exercising, and brushing our teeth. Parents, if you can send in a healthy snack for us to eat, that would be great (fruit kabobs, veggies & dip, cheese & crackers, chocolate milk, or whatever you can think of!). Thanks in advance. Students can bring their toothbrush and toothpaste, pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal for the Health Fest on Thursday too. All this information will come home on Monday. The chapter 2 test on Health is scheduled for Friday. The study guide went home Friday 10/17. It is due on Tuesday. Students should start studying. Their books came home this weekend.

Social Studies
We will move onto modern day Downers Grove and local government (ch 12 in our textbook).
We will discuss our nation's upcoming election!

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
L. 7 words this week are irregular spelling of plural nouns. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test is Friday. Here is an overview of the homework for this week:
Tuesday: pages 39-40
Wednesday: p. 41-42
Thursday: ABC order
Friday: Test

English
We will finish up our noun unit. The test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28. A study guide will come home this week.

Reading
The students enjoyed learning about puffins as we reviewed fact and opinion. Check out this video we watched in class.
http://www.puffinpalooza.com/a-puffling-heads-to-sea/ We did our first extended response to a story. An extended response is where we combine the author ideas with our own ideas to answer a question. Our class response and information about extended responses will come home on Monday. Our next focus will be on compare and contrast.
Also...don't forget....fiction book projects due 10/30! If your child finishes early, they can turn them in early.

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

Math
We will finish up chapter 2 on Monday. Students will be taking a checkpoint on Tuesday for a grade. We will play a Jeopardy review game on Wednesday. (We are scheduled to still have math even though it is early dismissal). The test is scheduled for Thursday. Students should start studying chapter 2. Extra practice can be found on pages 76-79 in the textbook. We will take a break from mad minutes this week. Students should still start times 5's. We will begin times fives the week of October 27th.

Week of October 13-17

Important Dates:
*No school Monday-10/13
*Downers Grove Field Trip Thursday-10/16
*Book Fair Thursday-10/16


Classroom Chatter
Christopher Columbus Day is Monday and we have no school! Enjoy the day off. We will see you on Tuesday.


Thursday, my class and Mrs. Olsen's class will have their field trip to Downers Grove. We will leave around 9:15 that morning and return around 2pm. If your child did not pay $7 for pizza, don't forget to send a lunch with them. If you would like to meet us for lunch, I'm estimating that we'll be at Girodano's Pizzeria between 11:35 and 11:45 am. Please feel free to meet us for some good eats! You may also then join your child's group for some shopping at the local stores. Students are allowed to bring in $5-$7 that day to buy something on their field trip. I will not be collecting this money. They will be responsible for it. Thanks to Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Morton, Mr. Olsen, Mrs. Raso, Mrs. Arquilla, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Smiles for volunteering their time to chaperone. We look forward to a great day!

Our first box top turn in day was on Friday. Please continue to send them in. We are always collecting them.

Science
This week we will finish up chapter 2. We will learn in lesson 3 about safe medicine use, harmful effects of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. The science test is scheduled for Friday, 10/24. A study guide will come home at the end of this week to help with studying. On Tuesday a permission slip for Robert Crown will be coming home. The cost is nothing. I just need a parent signatuare. We will be going to Robert Crown Center the morning of 10/31. Please sign and return this slip asap. Thanks.


Social Studies
We will continue with our study of Downers Grove. Students will be doing an Internet activity on the Tivoli theatre in the computer lab this week. We also will begin learning about what Downers Grove is like today and how it has changed from the past. Our field trip to Downers Grove is Thursday.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.



Spelling
There is no spelling this week.


English
We will continue with our study of nouns. This week we will learn about nouns in the subject, singular nouns, and plural nouns.


Reading
We will continue with the monitor and clarify strategy. While reading some non-fiction text, we will finish up with fact and opinion. Don't forget our first book report is due Thursday, October 30. Fiction- "Advertise a Book" Poster.



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 2. Students will be learning about money and counting back change. We will do some problem solving with money too. The test is scheduled for the following week on Thursday 10/23. We will begin x4 mad minutes. I also wanted to correct a mistake in my blog from a few weeks ago regarding mad minutes. There are 26 problems on the test, not 16. Students have 90 seconds to complete the test. Sorry for the mistake.

Week of October 6-10

Important Dates:
Downers Grove permission slip/money due Friday, 10/10
Downers Grove field trip-Thursday 10/16



Classroom Chatter:
This week is bullying prevention week. Here is a great website for students and parents to check out. It offers games and activities: www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org

A permission slip for the field trip to Downers Grove went home Friday. I can take 6 chaperones. Please fill out the bottom portion of the permission slip with your name, email, and phone number. I will be contacting the first 6 parents I hear from. I also would like to invite any parents who don't chaperone to meet us for lunch at Giordano's.


Science
This week we will learn about germs in lesson 2 of our health unit. Students will learn what harm some germs can do, how the body fights these germs, and how to keep germs from spreading.


Social Studies
We will continue our study of Downers Grove which we started last week. Last week we learned about the Pierce Downer. This week we will focus our studies on, Potawatomi Indians, Chief Waubonsee, Israel Blogett, the Underground Railroad, Prince Pond, Dicke Tool Company, and Tivoli Theater.



Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling
Lesson 6's words are plurals of consonant + y words. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test will be on Friday. Here is an overview of this week's spelling homework:
Tuesday: workbook p 34-35
Wednesday: workbook p 36-37
Thursday: ABC order
Friday: Test


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


Reading
This week we will begin with the strategy of monitor/clarify. This means while we read, we will need to ask ourselves if what we read makes sense. If we don't understand what we're reading, we should reread, read ahead, or use illustrations to help us understand what we're reading. We also will be working on fact and opinion. The first story we'll read a non-fictional story called Nights of the Pufflings.

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

Math
This week we will learn to subtract across zeros, problem solving, and mental math strategies. Students will take the mad minute on times 3's this week.

Week of September 29 to October 3

Important Dates:
*Last Magazine turn in Tuesday 9/30
*Movie Night Friday 10/3

Classroom Chatter
We had a great time celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Friday. Thank you to: Natalie O. for donating apple juice, Taylor for the bowls, and Teddy for the spoons!
















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







Social Studies
We will have a quiz on hemispheres on Tuesday. A study guide, papers, and map essentials book are in the social studies folder for your child to study.



Downers Grove will be our next unit. We will begin learning about the history of Downers Grove. This is not in our textbook. I will supply the materials to read and study for this unit. We will keep it in our social studies folder.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling
Lesson 5's words are vowel + y words. The test is on Friday. The list is in the spelling folder. Here is the homework for this week:
Tuesday: p. 29-30
Wednesday: p. 31-32
Thursday: ABC order
Friday: Test

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

Reading
This week we will finish up with predictions. We will read a novel to continue our work on predicting. We also will be having a quiz, on Monday, over prefixes, suffixes, root words, compound words, words with same vowel sounds, and words with same beginning sounds. This word work is in a packet in the reading folders. A review packet for this word work came home last Thursday for homework. This packet is very similar to the format of Monday's quiz. We went over the answers to the packet on Friday.



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


Math
This week we will begin multiplication mad minutes. We will begin with x2's. We will continue working in chapter 2. This week we will be adding greater numbers. We will take a checkpoint on Wednesday. Towards the end of the week, we will work on subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers and greater numbers.

Week of September 22-26

Important Dates:

*Goo, Glob, & Guts- Wednesday, Sept. 24

*Johnny Appleseed's Birthday-Friday, Sept. 26

Classroom Chatter

Thank you to everyone that continue to send 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!

Wednesday will be our in class science experiment with Goo, Glob, and Guts. We look forward to meeting the scientist and exploring the body systems and animal guts!!!

Friday is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. Information about how we will celebrate Johnny's life came home Friday. Don't forget to send in a cored, cut, and peeled apple so we can make homemade applesauce. If anyone can send in 100% apple juice boxes, bowls, or spoons please send me an email! Thank you in advance.

We look forward to an "apple"solutely wonderful day!

Science

We will have our first science test on the human body on Thursday. A study guide went home last week. It is in the science folder. I will give the answers to the study guide on Tuesday.

Social Studies

We will finish up our map unit by learning about the hemispheres of our earth. Students will also learn about the Equator and Prime Meridian. We will have a quiz the following week. I tentatively have the quiz planned for Tuesday 9/30.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling

This week's words end with -s or -es. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test will be on Friday. The list will come home on Monday in the spelling folders. I've decided to list the homework for the week for spelling to try to help with homework organization.

Tuesday: workbook pages 25-26
Wednesday: workbook pages 27-28

Thursday: ABC order sheet

Friday: Test

English

We will have our first test in English on Wednesday, 9/24. The study guide is in the english folder. It went home last week. Also, please look for some books we've published in class that will come home for a night with your child.

Silly Sentences-A book about mixed up subjects and predicates and

The No Good Rotten Run-On Sentence book retold by Mrs. Csorba's class. Please feel free to share with the family and send back to school the next day. We hope you enjoy our books!

Reading

We will continue to work on predictions this week. Students will have a vocabulary quiz on Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip on Wednesday. The vocab list is in the reading folder. We will also be doing some word work this week. Students will be working on prefixes, suffixes, base words, affixes, sounds & letters, and compound words.

On Friday (9/19/08), I send home information regarding book reports. This is in their reading folders in their binders. You may keep this information at home. The white page that has the rubric should be turned in to me with the project. The first book report is due Thursday, 10/30/08. The genre is Fiction. Students need to have the book approved by me first. Have fun and happy reading!

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

Math

We will begin chapter two this week. Chapter two teaches us about addition and subtraction of whole numbers and money. This week we will learn about fact families, estimate sums and differences, and add numbers with 3 digits or more. We will take a week off of mad minutes to prepare for multiplication. Students will have their first multiplication mad minute on Monday 9/29. They will have 90 seconds to complete 16 problems. We will begin with x2's. This week I will send home a multiplication packet. We will also discuss tricks and hints of x2's.

Week of September 15-19

Important Dates:
Tuesday, 9/16-Early Dismissal


Classroom Chatter
Don't forget Tuesday is an early dismissal. Students will be dismissed by 11 am.

Information about Goo, Glob, & Guts went home on Friday. This in-school science experience will be Wednesday, September 24. The money is due on Friday, September 19th.



Science

This week we will finish up chapter 1 of the human body. Students will learn about the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems in lesson 3. The test is scheduled for Thursday, September 25. A study guide will come home this week.


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.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling

This week's words are spelled with ou. We will not have a pretest this week due to the early dismissal schedule. We will not have Spelling on Tuesday. The list will be in the spelling folder on Monday. The test is Friday.

English

We will finish up Unit 1 with some additional practice of subjects and predicates. We will learn about run-on sentences this week too. The test is scheduled for Wednesday, September 24. A study guide will come home by the end of the week. It will be in their folders.

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.


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 Monday. 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.

Week of September 8-12

Important Dates:
Monday, September 8-Curriculum Night for 3rd Grade 7:00pm
Thursday, September 11-Book orders due

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget Curriculum Night is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 8 at 7:00 pm. We will start in the multipurpose room. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Thank you to everyone who donated items from Open House's Pitch in and Help board. The supplies are much appreciated!

Scholastic book orders went home last week. 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 Thursday, Sept. 11.

Don't forget we're always collecting box tops and pop tabs. Information about Prairieview's box top contest went home last week. A classroom can win a pizza party and extra recess for collecting the most Box Tops and Tyson Labels. Please send them in if you have them at home! I also donate pop tabs to the Ronald McDonald House.

Science
This week we will continue learning about the body systems. This week we will concentrate on the skeletal and muscular systems and how they work together.

Social Studies
Our next lesson in our map skills unit will teach us about the continents and oceans of our world. We will have a quiz on Friday. Students will need to ID the continents and oceans. They will have a word bank.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling- This week's words are spelled with oa. The list will go be in the spelling folders on Monday. The test is Friday. We will have a pretest on Monday.

Language Arts-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 finish up learning about visualizations. We will take a quiz Monday on the vocab words from Dogzilla. 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.


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

Math
This week we will continue our study of place value. We will explore the millions place, patterns with numbers, rounding numbers and problem solving using bar graphs. We also will begin mad minutes this week. Students will be taking an addition mad minute. We will then move to subtraction next week. We will be taking a test a week from Friday on Chapter 1.

Week of September 1-5

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

IMPORTANT DATES:
Thursday, September 4th – RTI Parent Information Night – 7:00 pm
Monday, September 8th-3rd Grade Curriculum Night-7:00 pm



Parents,
Welcome to Mrs. Csorba's Scoop! This is where you can find important information going on in my classroom and the classes your child has with me. I strongly encourage you to visit this blog weekly as well as the other teacher's blogs your child has for information about their classes.



This week I will be sending home important information about birthday treats and our class Treasure Chest. Please look for this information.


The "Treasure Chest" will be used as a reward system in my homeroom. A student can earn a goody ticket by showing good behavior, remembering to get a signature when needed, showing good character, following directions, etc. Three students’ names will be drawn out of a container each day to pick out of the treasure chest. Donations throughout the year are always appreciated!


Curriculum Night is scheduled for Monday, September 8th starting at 7:00 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



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


Social Studies
This week we will begin our first unit in social studies, map skills. Students will learn about the 8 directions (north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest), continents, oceans, and what makes up a map. I will be providing the students with the material they will need for studying. They will not be using their social studies text book for this unit. The textbook may come home this week with a book sox to be covered. We will have our first quiz on Friday on the 8 directions. A study guide will come home this week along with information to prepare for the quiz.




Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling- The first spelling test with be Friday. The list will always go home in the spelling folder on Monday. It should stay in the spelling folder. Feel free to make a copy of the list for home. During 4 day weeks, there will not be a spelling pretest.


Language Arts-We will begin with Unit 1 The Sentence in our English books. Students will learn what a sentence is, the different types of sentences, subjects & predicates of a sentence and run-on sentences.


Reading-We start off reading with Visualizations. We will be reading the story Dogzilla this week to help us with this strategy.



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 Monday's mad minute (9/8/08). We will move on to 40 subtraction facts the following week.

Last Day of School

Dear Parents and Students,

Thank you all for such an amazing year! I can't believe we're all done. What a year it has been. We learned so much and had such a great time doing it! I will hold a special place in my heart for all of you. Thank you all for the gifts, warm wishes, and thoughtful letters from both parents and students. They mean so very much. Today was bittersweet. I'm excited for the summer but will miss you all. Please come back and visit me next year! Have a great summer!
Love,
Mrs. Csorba

Week of June 2-6

Important Dates:

*Culture Day Tuesday 6/3

*Picnic Wednesday 6/4

*Last Day of School Thursday 6/5

*First Day of Summer Vacation 6/6

Classroom Chatter

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 in November and orders were due by Monday, December 3, 2007.

I'm sad that our year together is coming to an end. I have enjoyed working with all of the parents and the students. This year has been a wonderful year! I hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled, safe summer! Don't forget to come back and visit next year!

This week we will have Culture Day on Tuesday. Students are to share something from their family's culture. Some examples were food, clothing, a story, or they can interview a relative. Students will share on Tuesday.

Wednesday is our school picnic. Each student will receive a hot dog, chips, water, and ice cream treat. Students who do not wish to eat a hot dog, should bring their own lunch. They still can have the chips, water, and ice cream treat.

Report cards will go home Thursday. Students will be dismissed at 9:30 a.m.

Week of May 26-30

Important Dates:
*No school Monday for Memorial Day 5/26
*Boat Trip Wednesday 5/28
*Social Studies Test Thursday 5/29
*End of the Year Reading Pizza Party 5/29
*Marble Party Friday 5/30

Classroom Chatter

Center Cass School District #66 is in the process of implementing an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) mandate, Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is an array of procedures that can be used to determine if and how students respond to specific changes in instruction. RTI provides an improved process and structure for school teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational interventions.
Please look for the additional information on RTI, which will be included with your child’s end of the year Report Card.

We are looking forward to our boat tour of Chicago on Wednesday. Please dress accordingly. Remember it is cooler by the lake! Dress in layers! Students are allowed to bring in $5 that day to buy ice cream on Navy Pier after the boat ride.



Thursday will be our end of the year celebration pizza party at lunch. Students who participated every month and read for 20 minutes will join me in the classroom for a pizza lunch. My treat!



The class has earned a Marble Party for good classroom behavior. Students have selected a summer vacation/favorite animal theme party and would like to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. A permission slip will come home Monday. The movie is PG. The class decided to bring in a beach towel and pillow to lay on for the movie along with their favorite stuffed animal. Please send in a healthy snack for the class to share. Thank you!

Reading
We will finish the year by reading some Incredible Stories from our basal readers.

English
Students will be doing some creative writing.

Science
We will do some activities with States of Matter this week.


Social Studies
We will finish chapter 3 with a test on Thursday.



Math
We will finish the year with double digit multiplication and long division. Students will take their final mad minute this week on division mix.