Weekly Update-9/30

This week in math we learned how to use different strategies.  One of the strategies that we focused on was mental math. We practiced different methods such as the break-apart method and the making a ten method. You can help at home by using flashcards to review basic facts.  Students can also use the following website to help them practice their facts.

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

Another concept we focused on this week was rounding.  The students practiced rounding to the nearest ten and the nearest hundred.  They used the rhyme, "5 and above, give it a shove.  4 and below, keep it low" to help them remember the rules of rounding.  On Thursday, the students worked in centers and completed worksheets, rounding games, and practiced using the Pearson website to take a quiz on what they had learned.  We will be having the Topic 2 test on Friday, 10/7.  A study guide will be going home on Monday.

In science we started our unit on States of Matter.  The students learned that matter is anything that takes up space and has mass.  We created a K-W-L chart and the students filled in what they already knew about matter and what they want to know about matter. We watched a video about solids, liquids, and gases, and completed experiments as well.  The students have been taking notes, writing reflections, and organizing their worksheets in their science notebooks.

In reading we read a few poems including; Fireflies, The Family of the Sun, Earth's Most Delicate Things, and Hot Enough to See.  We discussed how to appreciate others' opinions about stories, books, and poems.  We also discussed strategies to use when you get confused or your mind wanders while reading.  The students finished reading the book, The Chalk Box Kid.  We discussed the story and then each student createded a comic strip and made their own chalk drawing.

In writing we started writing descriptive paragraphs.  In addition, the students learned about the trait of ideas.  We looked at samples of descriptive paragraphs and the students scored them on a rubric.  As a topic for their descriptive paragraphs, the students are writing about their favorite place.  They brainstormed some places, picked one, and created a detail web in which they put the details that they will write about.  We are focusing on "showing, not telling" when they write.  The students began drafting their paragraphs and we will continue to work on them next week.


In Fundations we are practicing adding suffixes to words.  We also learned a few more "sound alike" words (some, sum, son, sun). 


In grammar we learned about simple and complete predicates and practiced when to use capital letters.  We will be starting Spanish next week!


For those of you who ordered from Scholastic, our order has shipped and will be in sometime next week.  I will send the books out as soon as I get them!  Just a reminder that picture day is next Friday, 10/7.  Please remember to send picture money in with your child.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to  Lola today and to Emily tomorrow!!

The Third Week of School!

We had a fun 3rd week of school. We just finished the Chalk Box Kid book. I am reading Frindle right now. We are learning about Matter. It is fun. We are working on descriptive paragraphs. by Debbie

Weekly Update 9/23

In math we finished Topic 1 and took our first test.  We started working on Topic 2: Number Sense- Addition and Subtraction.  The students worked with counters to practice with fact families and they also learned the 3 properties of addition; Commutative, Associative, and Identity.


In reading we read the book, New Language, New Friends.  While reading this book we discussed the author's purpose in writing the book.  The students decided that the author had several purposes.  One was to persuade people to learn new languages, another was to give people information about other languages, and lastly, the author helped students to learn new information about different languages.  The class also started reading the book, The Chalk Box Kid.  They will continue reading this book and answering comprehension questions next week.

In writing we began our descriptive writing unit.  We looked at examples of descriptive free verse poems, wrote a descriptive poem as a class, and then the students created their own poems. 

This was our class's descriptive poem:
Green looks like a tiny tree frog hopping under the rainforest's canopy.
Green sounds like grasshoppers chirping in the high, blowing grass at night.
Green feels like a slimy snake slithering slowly.
Green smells like freshly picked basil out of the garden,
And tastes like a sour granny smith apple with a dab of lime.

Next week, we will continue with this unit and the students will begin writing descriptive paragraphs.

In Fundations, we completed unit 1.  In unit 2, they will be learning about adding suffixes to words.

In social studies, the students worked in groups to create community posters.  They also created their own community maps and we reviewed for their quiz. Today, we finished our social studies unit on communities and map skills. 

On Monday, we will be starting our first science unit on Matter.  We will spend a few weeks doing experiments, research, and completing activities related to this topic.  The students will be keeping all of the information that they gather in their science notebooks.  Their notebook will be graded at the end of the unit.

Weekly Update 9/16

We have finished our first full week of school!  This week in math we continued to learn about place value.  In addition, we also learned how to compare and order numbers.  Next week, we will do a problem solving lesson on how to make an organized list.  We will be taking the practice test in class on Tuesday and our Topic 1 test will be on Wednesday.

In reading we read a nonfiction book called, Zebras.  We learned about zebra's stripes, diet, family, and migration patterns.  The students found it interesting that zebras are known to graze and get water alongside wildebeests and ostriches.  Each of these animals has a strong sense (hearing, sight, smell) and they warn each other if predators are near.  While reading about zebras, the students came up with some great questions that weren't answered in the book.  They have been working on using the Netbooks in the classroom to research and find the answers to their questions.  Some of their questions included; "Are zebras black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?", "How old are baby zebras when they leave their mother?", and "How tall/ long do zebras grow?"  In reading, the students also finished the book, Freckle Juice.

In Fundations we are reviewing closed syllable words (words like cat that have one vowel closed in on the end by one or more consonants).  The students also learned when to use a -k or a -ck at the end of a word as well as when to use -tch or -ch in a word.

In writing we talked about ways to be respectful listeners when other students are sharing their work.  We also talked about ways to give critiques of others' writing.  The students were each given their writing folder and we discussed how it will be used during the writing process.  As a fun writing activity, the students paired up and began a Classmate Interview.  We will be working on this again next week.  We also started to review printing in our handwriting books.  The students did a great job writing neatly!

In social studies we are completing our unit on communities and map skills.  Today we learned about the three types of communities; rural, suburban, and urban.  We will be doing different activities related to these communities next week.  We will also be reviewing for our first quiz, which will be on Friday.

Today we took a trip to the computer lab and began making a PowerPoint.  The students worked on their first slide which included their name and a picture of themselves.  They practiced changing the font, size, and color of their name and the students learned how to insert a picture into their presentation.  This is a project that we will be adding to throughout the year.

Since the class did such a great job with following directions and working together, they earned their Friday reward.  At the very end of the day we used our iPad!  Since we have been learning about communities in social studies, we used an app called BigCity NY.   In this app, we traveled through different parts of New York City (an urban community) and completed tasks and brain teasers along the way.  We started in Times Square and made our way to Little Italy.  We used a projector to project the app onto the SMARTBoard and the students worked together to complete these levels. 

Student Update

We are learning how to use the netbooks and more about the class by the second! It is a lot of fun.
Everybody is getting to know each other really well. We're starting to work on projects.  by Cullen

Weekly Update 9/9

Despite our "flood day" we still managed to accomplish a lot this week!  In addition to all of our get-to-know-you activities and discussions we started right in with our academic work.

In math, we started learning about place value and writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word form.  The students worked with place value blocks to help them with these concepts. 

In social studies we discussed rules and the importance of them.  We also started our first lesson in the Map Essentials book.  Today, we talked about the cardinal directions (North, South, East, West) and how to use a compass rose.  The students learned the phrase, "Never Eat Soggy Waffles" to help them remember the position of the directions on the compass rose.  We will continue this lesson next week when we will learn about the intermediate directions.  The students will also be making their own compass roses.

We started reading the book, Freckle Juice and the students practiced making and revising predictions as we read.  We will continue with this book next week.

In writing, we talked about using descriptive words.  The students began a writing activity in which they are writing about a trip they took this summer.  They are using sense words and vivid descriptions to help paint a picture in the reader's mind. 

Today we visited the computer lab.  The students practiced logging in and they learned how to change the font, size, and color of text in a Word document.  The students also practiced accessing my website online and using the "helpful websites" link on the site.

Enjoy the weekend!  Hopefully it will be a dry one!

First Day!

We had a great first day today!  The students spent a lot of time listening to the rules, regulations, and routines of third grade.  Much of our day was focused on our new character education concept, "How Full is Your Bucket?"  Mr. Gregory read the story to the class, we discussed it, and the students practiced filling each other's buckets. 

 Just some reminders: 

*Please fill out all forms by Friday, September 9th

*Cover math book (no book socks, please)
*We have a peanut allergy in the class so please make sure to send in peanut free snacks
*If you have not sent in supplies with your child, please do so by the end of the week
*Remember your sneakers for gym tomorrow!

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you soon and I'm excited for a great year!