May 24, 2019

End of Year News

Well our hatch was a success! We have 7 healthy chicks. We had 3 chicks waiting for us when we arrived at school on May 22, 3 more when we arrived at school on May 23rd and we were able to see one of the chicks hatch. This was a wonderful experience for our class. We enjoyed tracking their development in their eggs and interacting with them when they hatched. The chickens will be going back to Farmer Meredith where she will give them to a child involved in 4H.

Events

May 28-Game day-bring a board game to school with your name on it to share with your friends. Please make sure you child knows how to play the game and can explain it.

May 29-Reading Summit. Students will need to bring a beach towel to school and make sure that they have a book and snack for some fun filled end of the year reading activities. Students should wear their third grade t-shirts.

May 30-Field Day & End of Year Party/Last Day of School

*Students do not need to bring lunch on the last day of school, lunch will be provided for them. Students also should not bring a bag or backpack with them to school.

July 17-Book Club

Reminders

I have chosen the book for our Summer  Book Club and students will be getting the book along with a reading schedule the last week of school. I have set the tentative date as July 17, 6:30-7:30. The Summer Book Club is completely voluntary and students do not have to participate if they choose not to or are unable to.

I will send out an email  a week before the meeting date to let you know where we will be meeting. If your child is able to come an adult will need to stay at the location during Book Club

Learning Focus

Math

We finished our project based learning activity, Geometry City. We also participated in some learning activities about Mass and Volume which also tied into our Science unit about Matter.

Science

The class participated in a SOLE (Self Organized Learning Environment) as an introduction to Matter.

Language Arts

As a class we have had the opportunity to read many  exceptional novels this school year. I will be sending home a Summer Reading packet that contains ideas to continue and promote reading throughout the summer months.

This has been a wonderful school year for me and I want to thank you for sharing your children with me. We have had many wonderful experiences together. I can’t wait to see them next year as 4th graders.

May 14, 2019

May News

We received 1 dozen chicken eggs to incubate and we currently have at least 8 of them that are fertilized and additionally 4 of them have very dense shells that were difficult to see through when candled. We have a poster in class that shows the development inside the eggs each day, the class has been excited each day to see the development. This week the eggs will be candled 1 more time to determine which ones have continued to develop.

Events

May 21-Field Trip to Progressive Field and Lolley the Trolley

May 23-Hatch Day

May 30-Field Day/Last Day of School

Reminders

Field Trip Reminders: We will go on our field trip rain or shine so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately. Please have your child wear Indians gear or colors. Your child should bring their lunch packed in a brown paper bag and everything should be disposable.

Learning Focus

Math-We are finishing up Area and Perimeter and we will be moving on to Geometry. We will be working on a project based learning activity, Geometry City.

Social Studies/Science-In preparation for our field trip we will be learning more about Cleveland. We will also be wrapping up our Animals unit and moving on to Matter.

Language Arts-The students are finishing up their endangered animals project. We are continuing our Poetry unit and we are working on adding more Poetry to our Spell Books. I have chosen the book for our Summer Book Club and students will be getting the book along with a reading schedule the last week of school. I have set the tentative date as July 17. The Summer Book Club is completely voluntary and students do not have to participate if they choose not to or are unable to.

April 24, 2019

April News

Events

April 26th-Reading Celebration & 200-100% iReady celebration

April 30 & May 1-Math AIR testing

May 2- Field trip Brecksville Metroparks Nature Center

May 3-Earth Dome at Chippewa

May 13-Habitat Project Due (information came home)

May 21-Progressive Field/Lolly the Trolley Field Trip

Reminders

This summer as a way to continue our reading streak I am going to host a summer book club. I am in the process of narrowing down the book we are going to read and all students will receive a copy of the book. I am planning on hosting the book club during the middle of July at a location that has yet to be determined. The book club is completely voluntary and students do not have to attend, however, all students will receive the book club book. More information will be coming home by the last week of school. 

On Friday in celebration of the students earning 200-100% on their iReady lessons they can bring in an electronic device from home if they wish for a short electronic day at the end of the day. Students do not have to bring in a device they will have access to devices in the classroom. Please make sure that if your child is bringing in a device that it is well protected with a case and that all games/apps are school appropriate. 

Learning Focus

Math-We will be coming the iReady Math diagnostic as well as the Math AIR test during April and early May. We will also be participating in review centers as preparation for these two assessments. Following the assessments we will be finishing our final units of Measurement & Data and Geometry. 

Science-We have begun our unit about animals. All students will be working on a Habitat Shadow box project. Information about this project will be coming home this week. Students will be doing research related to their animal at school so that they can begin this project. As part of our study of life cycles we will be getting chick eggs that we will be hatching in the classroom. 

Language Arts-We have continued some more activities with Harry Potter. One will be our 500 Book Celebration. We will have a Herbology class at school on Friday, April 26th. Students may dress or bring items to dress like a character in Harry Potter or as a student at Hogwarts. During this celebration not only will we be having fun but we will also be practicing skills such as cooperation and teamwork along with some volume and mass practice. We have also created Spell Books that we will be using as we explore and create poetry. 

April 2, 2019

April News

Third grade students across the district will take the Language Arts portion of the AIR test on April 2 and 3. Students are well prepared for this and I feel confident that they have gained skills that will help them show growth. Thank you to everyone for sending in an encouraging note for your child. I hope everyone has been enjoying our One School One Book book, Spring According to Humphrey.

Events

April 2 & 3 Language Arts AIR test

April 5 Social Studies Government & Democracy Test

April 5 Spelling test

April 10 Wax Museum

April 12 Multiplication Sundae Party & Harry Potter Movie

April 15-22-Spring Break

Reminders

Our Wax Museum will be held April 10th, 9:45-10:15 a.m. The Wax Museum will be held in the gym and parents are invited to attend. Students should bring what they will be wearing for their Wax Museum character to school that day. If you and your child have not yet discussed what they will be wearing please take some time to discuss it and find things around the house that they can incorporate into their costume. 

Learning Focus

Math-We finished up our unit on Fractions and have been working on some Geometry centers. We will be moving on to Area and Perimeter next. We will be having our Multiplication Sundae Party on April 12. Please look for a sign up genius that will be coming out Wednesday with supplies we will need for this party. 

Social Studies/Science-Our Social Studies test that covers Government and Democracy will be Friday April 5th. Students will be bringing home a study guide to help them study. Next we will be moving on to Animals and Life Cycles in Science.

Language Arts-We have been enjoying our Harry Potter Book study. The students did research about owls and created their own owl that is hanging above their desks. Last week one of our parents who is a Naturalist brought in two owls to show the class. She shared wonderful information and kept the students engaged with wonderful owl facts. We will have our culminating activity of watching the first Harry Potter movie. Each student brought home a permission slip for parents to sign giving permission for them to watch the movie, if you would prefer your child not watch the movie we will find a different movie for the class to watch.

March 19, 2019

March News

Our Hot Cocoa Bar was a success. Thank you to everyone for your help making this such a success. Everyone got the opportunity to order and purchase their hot cocoa and then they also got the opportunity to work at the Hot Cocoa Bar. While students ordered and worked at the Hot Cocoa Bar the other students were participating in a book tasting to choose their biography for their Wax Museum project.

Events

3/20 End of third quarter

3/21-3/22-No School-Records Day/Teacher Inservice Day

3/25 One School One Book begins

3/29 Report cards available online

4/2 & 4/3 Third Grade ELA AIR Test

4/10 Wax Museum

4/15-4/22-Spring Break

Reminders

Students have been reading and researching the person they chose for their Biography/Wax Museum project. Most parts of this project will be completed at school. At home please help your child find things they can use for their costume for the Wax Museum.

Report cards will be available on Progress Book again this quarter. Please make sure that you are able to access Progress Book in order to view your child's report card.

Learning Focus

Math

Our current math unit is fractions. We currently learning about equivalent fractions.

Social Studies

Our current unit is about Democracy and Government.

Language Arts

We have been having so much fun with Harry Potter. The students have been sorted into houses. In their houses they were able to determine the common character traits of the members and develop a house crest. We also did research about pet owls, each student chose the type of owl they wanted, wrote an informational paragraph and constructed an owl.

February 26, 2019

February News

Your child has been working on a math enrichment project throughout the month of February. Students have used multiplication, division, graphing and "business" thinking to design their own Hot Cocoa Bar business.

Now it's time for them to put their hard work into practice. Our class will be setting up their very own Hot Cocoa Bar for their classmates. They will be in charge of making their signs, advertising, serving customers and counting change. Please look for a Sign Up Genius to sign up to help stock our Hot Cocoa Bar with supplies.

Events

3/6 Hot Cocoa Bar

3/7 Rocks and Minerals Assessment

3/8 Vocabulary Quarter Assessment

3/20 End of third quarter

3/21-3/22-No School-Records Day/Teacher Inservice Day

3/25 One School One Book begins.

Reminders

This time of year can be tough for students to keep their focus and continue to persevere. AS a class we have reviewed what we would like to see, hear, and do more of in the classroom as well as the feelings we would like to feel more of when we are at school. We have also discussed what we need to see, hear, and do less of to avoid uncomfortable feelings. Please take a moment to review these with your child and encourage them to continue to do their best and persevere. 

Math

Our current math unit is all about Fractions. Students have learned about fractions of a whole and fractions of a set. We have practiced fractions on a number line and will be moving onto equivalent fractions.

Social Studies/Science

This week we will be wrapping up our study of Rocks and Minerals. Our next unit will be a Social Studies unit about Government. 

Language Arts

We have been working on practicing skills such as asking and answering questions about informational text. We have also been working on using text evidence and context clues to help us determine the meaning of technical words in information text.

Beginning in March we will begin to explore biographies of people who had made an impact in our world. Each student will pick a person to study utilizing the book series Who Is/Was?

January 6, 2019

Valentine's Day

A note went home this week with information regarding the Valentine's Day party. Our party will be on Thursday, February 14 at 2:45 p.m. Students can either make their own Valentine's day box or bag or if they let me know I can provide the with materials to make a bag. Any student that wishes to bring in VAlentine's to exchange with the class needs to make sure they have one for each student in the class.

Events

February 8-Vocabulary Test

February 11-Word Study Test

February 14-Valentine's Day Party

February 15-Spelling Test

February 18-No School

February 19-Chris Van Allsburg Slideshow and Choice Board Activities due.

Reminders

Officer Mark has been coming to our class on Tuesdays for DARE.

Mrs. Clapper has been joining us on Wednesday for some Guidance Lessons.

Math

We will be finishing Unit 3: Two step word problems with 4 operations. Our next unit will be Unit 4 : Fractions.

Science

We started our Rocks and Minerals unit this week with a mineral exploration. We will be learning about the different types of rocks next.

ELA

We have been moving forward with our Chris Van Allsburg author study. In class we have been participating in mini lessons to practice skills that students are applying with their books of choice in their Book Study Slideshow. We have also begun researching Chris Van Allsburg's life in preparation to write a biography about him.