Weekly Update- 10/30

In Social Studies this week, students worked in groups to create world maps.  They practiced identifying and naming continents and oceans while also practicing working and communicating in groups.  Look for a study guide to be going home on Tuesday for a test on November 9th. 

In Fundations we are learning about vowel-consonant-e (v-e) syllable words.  These are words such as like, cake, home.  Students practiced identifying, spelling, and marking these words.  They also learned rules such as to use -ck after a short vowel sound and -k after a long vowel sound.  We will continue practice with these concepts next week.

In reading we read the book, Hiking the Appalachian Trail.  This book was a narrative nonfiction book that told a true story while also including facts about the trail itself.  Students enjoyed hearing about Taylor Witcher and how she, along with her family, hiked the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  It took them 183 days!  They also learned fun facts like the oldest known person to hike the entire trail was 79 years old and the youngest was 6!  With this book the students practiced learning how to summarize what they read.  They learned to use pictures and headings as guides to help them with their summaries.  They also practiced how to identify the most important ideas and support those ideas with supporting details. 

In previous weeks in writing students have taken days to plan their writing, used graphic organizers, and wrote many drafts before completing their final drafts.  This week students practiced writing to a prompt, in which they only had a few minutes to plan and then a limited time to respond.  We identified key words that helped students to determine what type of prompt it was (descriptive, narrative, or persuasive).  We responded to a prompt as a class and practiced using voice, descriptive words, and different types of sentences.  Students were then able to respond independently to a prompt at the end of the week.

In math we continue to practice adding and subtracting larger numbers.  The students are becoming much stronger with their basic facts!  Thanks for your support in helping them to practice at home.

We ended the week with a FANTASTIC Halloween party!  The students came to school dressed in some great costumes!  They showed off their costumes to the other third grade students during our parade and then decorated pumpkins and had some Halloween snacks.  The party ended with 4 stations of games in which the students took turns wrapping each other up like mummies, playing hot potato with a pumpkin, building a spider web using their bodies and some string, and blindly reaching their hands into some containers holding things like "witch's nails".  I'd like to give a special thank you to the class moms and all the parents who helped and donated items for the party!

Remember next week is only 3 days!   Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Weekly Update 10/23

This week we completed chapter 2 in math.  On Monday we will begin chapter 3 which focuses on more difficult addition and subtraction problems.  We will be adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers.  We will also be working with regrouping when subtracting.  This concept is sometimes tricky for students, so  please continue to practice facts at home and review the homework with them. 

I was very impressed with the Simple Machine projects that the students brought in!  They did a great job showing and explaining how their projects made work easier.  Later in the week the students were able to share their projects with the students in Mrs. Moran's class.  They walked through each other's classrooms to see all of the different project ideas.  Mr. Melucci even stopped by to take a look! 

In social studies this week we started to talk about the difference between maps and globes.  We also talked about the continent of North America and how it is made up of 4 different countries.  In addition, we began talking about the 7 continents and we practiced identifying them on a map.  The students also learned a song to help them remember all 7 continents.

In shared reading we read a play called, A Home for Nellie.  As we read through the play we  focused on practicing reading strategies such as rereading to clear up confusion and using the text features and pictures to help understand the text.  In reading groups we also practiced using these strategies and others to help when the text became too confusing or when students came to a word or phrase that they did not know. 

In writing, students completed their personal narratives.  Next week we will learn about different types of writing prompts and how to respond to them.

In fundations we have continued to work with 1-1-1 words (words that have 1 syllable, 1 vowel, and 1 consonant after the vowel ex. grip).  We also learned the rules about adding suffixes to these types of words.  Students also learned how to write a few more lowercase letters in cursive.

We ended the week with a fun Friday!  The students participated in the Alpine Bear Run.  The students were very excited and did a great job during the run.  One of the girls in our class, Casie finished second out of all the girls in third grade!  Max R. finished fourth out of all the boys! 

The students are already looking forward to next Friday which is when we will have our Halloween party and parade!  Since we will be having a party, students do not need to bring a snack on that day.  Please remember that students will not be permitted to leave the classroom to change into their costumes.  They may wear them to school or bring a costume that they can change into in the classroom.  Thanks for your support!

Weekly Update 10/15

Even though it was a short week, we kept very busy!  In math, students learned more mental math strategies and continued to practice their basic facts.  We will be having the chapter 2 math test on Thursday, October 21rst. 

In shared reading we read the book, Lighthouses: Beacons of the Past.  Students learned about the important part that lighthouses played in the past and about the keepers of the lighthouses.  They also read about which lighthouses are still used today.  Students practiced skills such as identifying the author's purpose and looking up words in the glossary of a nonfiction book.  We also talked about how good readers make connections when they read.  Students made connections between their own lives and the book as well as between other subjects and the book.  Many students made the connection that the inside staircase of one of the lighthouses we saw looked like the screw thread on a screw, which we learned about in science.

In writing, students continued to work on their personal narratives.  They created lead sentences that would hook the reader in.  We also talked about using time order words (first, next, then, last, finally, etc.) to put the events of their personal narrative in order.  The trait that we are focusing on when writing the personal narrative is the trait of voice.  I am looking for students to put part of themselves in their writing and allowing their personality to come through in their words.  We practiced using similes as a way to use the trait of voice. 

In science, we finished up our unit on Simple Machines.  The students really seemed to enjoy the experiments and activites that we did in class.  I've enjoyed hearing about the projects that they are building at home.  The students will get the chance to present their projects on Monday and Tuesday.  We will also take time to walk around to some of the other third grade classes that did the project at the same time as us.  The students are excited to present their projects and see what their classmates have been working on!  The next unit will be in social studies.  We will be learning about continents, oceans, and working on more map skills.

Millionaire

Today we played Who Wants to Be a MILLIONAIRE!!!!  WE played it to study for our test.We played up to $1,000,000.  The best part was sitting in the HOT SEAT.  It was so much fun. Cassius and I only got 1 wrong.  We had a fun time studying.

Today  we played  a  game  Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  This  helped us study for our science test.

-Jack and  Paige

Weekly Update 10/8

In math we have started chapter 2.  We have been using flashcards to practice basic addition and subtraction facts.  We have played games such as Around the World and Snake in order to become faster with basic facts.  Parts of this chapter focus on Mental Math strategies.  The students and I discussed how everyone's brain works differently and how people use different strategies to figure out problems.  While I teach the different mental math strategies, students are not forced to use this method when solving problems.  If your child is having difficulty with the mental math strategies, let them know that it is okay if they use paper and pencil to figure out a problem. 

In science we have been learning about simple machines.  We have watched videos, completed experiments, viewed powerpoints, and read books about how simple machines make work easier.  We will be visiting the computer lab next week to use the website edheads.com to do more practice with this unit.  We will be having a test on Simple Machines on Friday, October 15th.  Please remember that the Simple Machine project is due on Monday, October 18th.  I am looking forward to seeing all of the projects!

In writing, students are working on personal narratives.  They are really enjoying being able to share stories about their lives.  We have done some prewriting and planning this week.  Students will begin drafting their personal narratives next week!

In reading, we read the nonfiction book, Wild Baby Animals to discuss making predictions and learning about the author's purpose.  We also learned some fun facts about animals such as how a baby koala is only the size of a jellybean when it is born!  We have been working in our reading groups as well.

In Fundations we are practicing adding suffixes to words.  We have also learned how to write the lowercase cursive letters i, t, u, w.  To help students at home you can use the Fundations unit 2 packet that was sent home.  Also, have students practice the cursive letters that we have learned.

The students have been working very hard to earn a class reward.  Our class reached our first goal of getting enough marbles in the jar to fill it to the first line allowing them to get their reward this week!  The students voted and chose to get a homework pass as their reward. 

Besides all of the work we have been doing, we have also been having some fun too!  Mr. Steve from the Young Consumer program came to visit with the students.  Today, Mrs. Bambara's son, Trooper Jim came to talk with the students.  They were even able to get inside his trooper car! Check out some pictures from his visit!

Pulley Experiment

 

  

 Today we did another experiment using simple machines.  Each of the students designed t-shirts with pictures and information about simple machines.  Then we used the t-shirts to make clotheslines using pulleys for our experiment.  Students worked in groups to make a mini clothesline and then we made a class one using all of their t-shirts. 

Cup Stacking

Mr. Steve and Mrs. Sullivan's class did cup stacking fast. We had so much fun having Mr. Steve in our class.  Thank you for teaching us how to go fast at speed stacking! We hope you come again.  -Kara and Alexis

Hi this is Dan and our class broke the school record for fastest speed stacking. The record was 3.48 seconds.  The class was so happy. I hope we keep the record for a long time.

Science Experiment

Hi this is Rachel and Aidan we did a science experiment about the wheel and axle. It was so much fun!!!!!!!!!! We went in the hallway and we used a toy car to see how far it went. It doesn't go very far without tires.Without tires it only got to 22in.With tires it went110in! Not alot of people went through the hallway which was good .

Students talk about Shop Rite!

The ShopRite program was awesome! A man called Mr.Steve came and the class and me did some activties.The first activity was when we did stuff with geometrical shapes.Then something with circles.It was a blast!!!!!!

The Shop Rite program was phenomenal. We got to play a game called pancake.  It is a simple game.  My favorite part was making shapes. The shop rite program was awesome by: max