October 31, 2016

Report cards went home on Friday, I am hoping this facilitated some good conversations about the positive things that are happening. In our classroom we set Growth Mindset Goals, one of these goals is, instead of thinking: I can't make this better you can think: I can always improve. We are always identifying just one thing we are going to work on doing better, this is a great opportunity to set this goal with your child for the next quarter. 

Math
We finished our chapter about the foundations of multiplication and we are now moving on to the foundations of division. As a whole the class did really well on the summative assessment for multiplication. In Friday Folders a letter came home regarding our Banana Split party for multiplication facts. Students will be taking timed tests on their multiplication facts, as they pass each number set they receive a new topping to add to their banana split. Once the class has earned all of their toppings we will have a Banana Split Ice Cream party at school. We will be making multiplication flash cards at school for the students to take home and practice their multiplication facts. Practicing facts can count as math minutes on students' math log. We will be moving on to the foundations of division, so the more fluent students become with their multiplication facts the easier the transition to division will be. 

On Monday please look for a letter regarding the use of I-Ready at home. I-Ready is a computer program we use at school for reading and math, the letter that is coming home will include your students username and password along with an explanation of how students can use it at home. 

ELA
Last week we began working on the strategies of summarizing and identifying connections within a text. Students are practicing the connections strategy with the text they have chosen to read during Read to Self. The connections they are making include: Text-to-Self, Text-to-Text, and Text-to-World. We practiced summarizing fiction texts and we will be also be summarizing non-fiction text. The non-fiction text we are using will also carry over into our Writing Workshop. In our writing we have been working on producing writing that states and supports our opinion. Last week the students wrote an opinion piece about their favorite candy. Next week we will write an opinion piece using an article about utilizing robots in marine research. 

Science
We are coming to the end of our animal unit. The students are working on finishing their Google Slideshow report about the animal that they made their Habit Shadowbox for and they have been researching. Last week we learned about animal life cycles and we begin to wrap up this unit. At the end of the unit we will have an assessment. If you have a conference scheduled this week or are picking up your child from school, please take that opportunity to take home their animal shadowbox project.

During the days of November 8 and 9 all third graders in the district will be taking the ELA portion of the state mandated AIR Test. It is important that all students be at school on those days, so if you are able to avoid scheduling outside appointments during that time it would be very helpful for everyone. Please make sure that your child gets an appropriate amount of sleep during this time as well as a well balanced breakfast in the morning. 

Important Dates:
October 31-Halloween Party. Please have students bring their costume to school. If there are pieces that they can wear without it interfering with their school day they may wear those to school.
November 2 & 10-Parent/Teacher conferences 4:30-7:30.
November 7 & 8-ELA AIR Assessment
November 23-25-No School-Thanksgiving Break
December 1-Third Grade Concert
January 5, 2017-Current Event Due

Week of October 17, 2016

I would like to thank all families that were able to attend Open House Thursday night, it was nice to see you with your children.

ELA
This week we will be reviewing cause/effect and identifying main idea. We have practiced these skills for 3 weeks using fiction and non-fiction literature and we will have our assessment over these skills on Thursday. We will also be reviewing grammar strategies of multiple meaning words, regular and irregular plural nouns and compound sentences. There will also be a grammar summative assessment on Thursday. At the end of the quarter we have a summative assessment on all vocabulary words, so this week in class we will be doing several activities to practice the vocabulary words we have learned this quarter. Students will be bringing their vocabulary journals home each night to review the words. Another way to review is by having students log into their Google account and going to Mrs. Shields's Google classroom, where I have posted links to a site called Quizlet which provides the students with a variety of activities to practice the vocabulary. 

Math
We are continuing to learn strategies for multiplication such as: repeated addition, equal groups and arrays. This week we are finishing arrays and moving on to using charts and diagrams to demonstrate multiplication. We will have an assessment on this chapter next week.

Science
The habitat projects were due on October 18. These projects will be graded and displayed at school before the students are able to bring them home. We are continuing to study traits and characteristics used to classify animals. We will also continue to learn about adaptations that animals make as we learn more about animals. Students will be able to utilize this information and apply it to their animal of study. The information that they learn will then be put into their Google Slideshow about their animal. 

Upcoming events
October 21-No School-Teacher inservice/work day
October 31-Halloween party and parade

October 4, 2016

Math- The Chapter 2 and 3 assessment went well for everyone and I am proud of all of the students' efforts in their studying. On the assessment students received points for computation as well as their procedures. We have moved on to Multiplication this week. We have also started Math writing. In Math writing students are able to communicate their understanding and thinking when solving and answering Math questions.

Social Studies/Science-This week students will finish their Pirate Maps. We have also begun researching animals for our Science animal unit. In Friday Folders each student received an explanation of the Animal Habitat project that will be done as an at home project. The Animal Habitat project will compliment that Google Slideshow research project they are doing in class. In order to begin their research project I need to have the students return the sheet that states which animal they will be researching for their habitat with a parent signature.

ELA-This week we will be identifying the main idea and supporting details through a variety of different text structures. We will continue to identify cause and effect as a comprehension strategy while reading. This week on Friday we will also have a spelling test and a vocabulary test. Students can access my Google classroom that has a link to Quizlet that has a variety of activities to practice their vocabulary words. 

Reminders:

• Please return animal habitat form.
• Reading and Math logs for October were sent home in Friday folders. Please remember to do some Reading and Math each night in order to keep up with their monthly minutes. Your child is responsible for writing their activities and minutes each night and then get a parent signature. Students can use the time that they use to total their minutes at the end of the month on their Math log either for that month or the next month. 
• No School October 14-NEOEA Day.
• October 20-End of the first quarter
• No School October 21-Teacher Inservice Day.