January 13th Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, brain teasers and reading
* Writing about our winter break
* Starting a new language arts homework routine with the blue "Main Idea and Summarizing" booklets and working on finding the main idea and supporting detail of a short nonfiction text
* Taking reading placement tests and working on reading comprehension on Moby Max
* Taking vocabulary placement tests and building vocabulary on Moby Max
* Working on the reading strategy of finding word meaning in context
* Reading a story titled "Tamika Goes Kayaking" and working with two-part comprehension questions (RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4)
* Reading informational text and responding to comprehension questions in our purple books
* Building vocabulary by learning about the prefix in-  
* Choosing topics for our informational writing unit and determining the subtopics
* Sharing and teaching our writing topics to our writing partners
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids - it was special edition 2016 in review
* Reading and watching Dr.King's "I Have A Dream" speech
* Watching part of President Obama's farewell address
* Comparing and contrasting Dr.King and President Obama as speakers
* Starting module 3 in math by reviewing the commutative property to find facts (OA.5)
* Warming up with sprints and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Moby Max, Zearn and Tenmarks
* Doing our first MARS tasks "Car Parking Spaces" (this problem gives students a chance to identify and and extend a number pattern)
* Continuing with Typing Training to learn keyboarding
* Learning to recognize and manage our emotions during 2nd Step as we started unit 3

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Monday, January 16th is a day off from school for Dr. King's birthday.
* Wednesday, January 18th is the MAP Reading Test for our class.
* Wednesday, January 25th is the MAP Math Test for our class.
* Friday, January 27th is Institute Day. There is no school for the students.
* Saturday, February 4th is the Lincoln Carnival.
* Thursday, February 16th and Friday, February 17th are half-days of school due to conferences taking place that week. I will send out an electronic sign-up for conferences towards the end of January. Thank you in advance!

December 16th Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Finishing our language arts homework with capitalization, punctuation, spelling, rhyme and rhythm, subject-verb agreement
* Meeting and reading books with our first grade reading buddies 
* Having our first all third grade rehearsal for the Holiday Sing
* Reading and discussing "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?" in 2nd Step with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Reviewing the reading strategies - sequence, cause and effect
* Continuing grammar with combining sentences with nouns and learning to capitalize book titles
* Continuing spelling with three-letter blends
* Building vocabulary by learning about the prefix pre-  
* Finishing and presenting our country projects in social studies - their google presentations are fabulous!  Check out their wonderful research and use of technology in their google drive on their iPads!
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids
* Finishing our current read aloud book - "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire"
* Using place value to round numbers to the nearest 10 or 100 (NBT.1)
* Adding and subtracting numbers within 100 (NBT.2)
* Continuing to work on word problems and showing our thinking
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting, sprints and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks
* Doing our first MARS tasks "Patio Plants" (solving everyday problems) and "Number Cards" (solving problems with numbers and notation)
* Starting a program called Typing Training to learn how to keyboard 

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Friday, December 23rd is the day of our Holiday Sing at 9:30am.
* Friday, December 23rd is the day of our 20th Big Wow celebration. We will have a stuffed animal and movie day. Our students may bring their favorite stuffed animal to school and cuddle with it as we enjoy a surprise "G" rated movie in the afternoon before our holiday party.
* Monday, January 9th is the first day back after winter break.
* Thursday, January 12th is our field trip to the Art Institute. Students need to bring a healthy bag lunch with a drink.

December 2nd Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Continuing our language arts homework with characters, setting, theme
* Participating in brain break stations at our 3rd grade PBIS celebration before Thanksgiving Break
* Going on our first field trip to the Morton Arboretum 
* Focusing on skills for learning (showing compassion) in 2nd Step with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Reviewing the reading strategies - main idea and recalling facts and details
* Reading and comparing the stories "Thank You, Mr.Falker" and "Junkyard Wonders" for our trimester one literary analysis summative assessment
* Publishing our true narrative stories on google docs 
* Continuing grammar with possessive nouns (singular and plural) and spelling with silent letters 
* Building vocabulary by learning about the prefix re-  
* Working on our country projects in social studies - our students picked a country to learn about and to create a google presentation 
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids
* Exploring life cycles and plants with Bill Nye
* Reading our current read aloud book - "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire"
* Learning about how everyday things came to be by doing quick reads from "The Kid Who Invented The Popsicle"
* Continuing module two in math with measurement using kilograms, grams, milliliters, liters, meters, and centimeters (MD.2) and rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 (NBT.1)
* Reviewing place value
* Learning how to use a vertical number line to round to the nearest 10 and 100
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting, sprints and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks
* Doing our first MARS task about "The Baby Dragon" - describing and extending a number pattern

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Friday, December 9th is the day report cards go home.
* Friday, December 23rd is the day of our Holiday Sing (9:30am) and the start of winter break after school.
* Monday, January 9th is the first day back after winter break.

November 11th Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Continuing our language arts homework with plot
* Focusing on skills for learning (accepting differences) in 2nd Step with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Strengthening reading comprehension of informational text in guided reading groups with stories titled "Elephant Tales," "Panda Power," and "Rainforest Habitat"
* Working on reading comprehension, analyzing characters, figuring out theme, determining main idea, providing text evidence, establishing author's point of view, considering our own points of view, determining cause-effect relationships 
* Reading and comparing "The Great Kapok Tree" and "A River Ran Wild"
* Learning about the pollution of the Nashua River, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, purple loosestrife invading our wetlands, and alien fish impacting our waters
* Discussing the human impact on our natural waters and the effect of pollution on our ecosystems
* Taking the Research Simulation Summative Assessment in language arts using informational texts read and discussed in class
* Publishing our true narrative stories on google docs - revising and editing
* Continuing grammar with plural nouns and spelling with long e
* Continuing social studies with learning about landforms by making landform vocabulary cards and about communities (rural, urban, suburban) by making a flip book
* Learning about the election process in our country
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids
* Exploring life cycles - beans, butterflies, frogs
* Finishing our read aloud book - "Robi Dobi, The Marvelous Adventures of An Indian Elephant"
* Continuing module two in math with telling time to the nearest minute and showing intervals of time on a number line (MD.1), measuring solids with kilograms and grams (MD.2)
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting, sprints and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Tuesday, November 15th is our field trip to the Morton Arboretum. 
* Tuesday, November 22nd is the end of trimester one.
* Wednesday, November 23rd - Sunday, November 27th is Thanksgiving Break.

October 28th Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Continuing our language arts homework with sequencing, telling apart genres, determining author's point of view and author's purpose
* Focusing on skills for learning (showing empathy and considering others' perspectives) in 2nd Step  with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Reading a Filipino fable titled "Auac Lamiran" and writing our first essay comparing it to "Fox and the Crow"
* Strengthening reading comprehension of informational text in guided reading groups with stories titled "Spot the Species" or "Habitats"
* Working on reading comprehension, analyzing characters, figuring out theme, determining main idea, providing text evidence, establishing author's point of view, considering our own points of view 
* Beginning a close reading of "The Great Kapok Tree"
* Learning about making revisions, developing the heart of the story, and determining paragraph breaks in writer's workshop while we continue to work on writing our true narrative stories
* Continuing grammar with common and proper nouns and spelling with long e
* "Building Vocabulary" by learning about the prefix -un
* Continuing social studies with reading maps with cardinal and intermediate directions and creating a landform map of the United States
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids
* Making mini-seed sprouters and recording observations daily
* Answering our focus question - what effect does water have on seeds?
* Learning about seed dispersal and germination
* Continuing our read aloud book - "Robi Dobi, The Marvelous Adventures of An Indian Elephant"
* Finishing our first unit in math and taking the end of module assessment on understanding multiplication by thinking about groups of objects (OA.1), understanding division by thinking about how one group can be divided into smaller groups (OA.2), using multiplication and division to solve word problems (OA.3), applying commutative and distributive properties of multiplication to multiply and divide (OA.5), finding the answer to a division problem by thinking of the missing factor in a multiplication problem (OA.6), multiplying and dividing within 100 (OA.7), solving two-step word problems (OA.8) 
* Starting module two in math with telling time to the nearest minute and showing intervals of time on a number line (MD.1)
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting, sprints and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks
* Exploring and bookmarking a variety of sites on our iPads

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Tuesday, November 8th is Institute Day. There is no school for the students.
* Tuesday, November 15th is our field trip to the Morton Arboretum. 

October 14th Update

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Continuing our language arts homework with making inferences, drawing conclusions, distinguishing between fact and opinion and comparing and contrasting
* Focusing on skills for learning (planning ahead and showing empathy) in 2nd Step  with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Electing student council representatives
* Reading "Encounter," a story about Columbus from the perspective of a Taino boy
* Working on reading comprehension, analyzing characters, figuring out theme and providing text evidence  
* Writing true stories about ourselves in writer's workshop and working on our first piece to publish
* Learning strategies for bringing out our storyteller voice in writer's workshop
* Continuing grammar with compound sentences and spelling with long o and i
* "Building Vocabulary" by dividing and conquering three syllable compound words
* Continuing social studies with reviewing parts of a map, continents and oceans and learning to read maps using cardinal directions
* Learning about seeds as organisms and parts of a seed in science
* Continuing with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids
* Reading our first chapter read aloud book called "Robi Dobi, The Marvelous Adventures of An Indian Elephant"
* Continuing with our first unit in math with understanding multiplication by thinking about groups of objects (OA.1), understanding division by thinking about how one group can be divided into smaller groups (OA.2), using multiplication and division to solve word problems (OA.3), applying commutative and distributive properties of multiplication to multiply and divide (OA.5) 
* Working with manipulatives to help us in our understanding of multiplication and division
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting and math talks during math
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks
* Setting up our iPads with gmail and using them in class

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Thursday, October 20th is a half-day for parent-teacher conferences. Dismissal is at 11am.
* Friday, October 21st is a half-day for parent-teacher conferences. Dismissal is at 11am.
* Monday, October 24th is the day that our 3rd graders will start bringing home their iPads and that will begin their nightly homework of charging their iPads at home. They will bring home chargers for their iPads. Please find a safe spot for your third grader to charge their iPads at home nightly and to keep their devices in a safe spot.
* Tuesday, November 15th is our field trip to the Morton Arboretum. Permission slips are going home today.

September 29th Update

Happy Fall! We are in the routine of school and having a great time learning and challenging ourselves together.  

Here's what you can ask your 3rd grader about:
* Starting off our day with morning work - analogies, math skills review, brain teasers
* Continuing our language arts homework with choosing the right texts, asking questions, using graphic organizers, and finding main idea and supporting details
* Focusing on skills for learning (listening, focusing attention, using self-talk, being assertive) in 2nd Step  with Mr.Wiza and Ms.Rajashekar 
* Reading stories called "Wolf," "My Very Own Room," and "My Diary from Here to There" and reviewing the story elements, determining the central message or theme of the story (RL.2), analyzing characters (RL.3), considering our own points of vies (RL.6) and comparing texts by the same author (RL.9)
* Reading "The Way I Act" and "The Way I Feel" to learn about character traits vs. character feelings
* Writing true stories about ourselves in writer's workshop
* Learning strategies for finding ideas for true stories (small moments about a person or a place) in writer's workshop
* Developing our storyteller's voice in our writing
* Continuing grammar with subject and predicate and spelling with long a and final e sounds
* "Building Vocabulary" by dividing and conquering compound words
* Continuing social studies by defining what is social studies and getting an introduction of our social studies topics for the year
* Learning about different communities and communication technology by reading texts about a whaling community, the Red Cross and the invention of communication technology that changed our lives
* Starting with current events as part of social studies with Time for Kids magazines - headlining articles in the issues we've read focused on the Olympics and the Presidential Election
* Beginning our first chapter read aloud book called "Robi Dobi, The Marvelous Adventures of An Indian Elephant"
* Continuing with our first unit in math with understanding multiplication by thinking about groups of objects (OA.1), understanding division by thinking about how one group can be divided into smaller groups (OA.2), applying commutative and distributive properties of multiplication to multiply and divide (OA.5) 
* Watching learnzillion videos to better understand multiplication (OA.1) and division (OA.2) and multiplication properties (OA.5)
* Working with manipulatives to help us in our understanding of multiplication and division
* Warming up with bubbles, group counting and math talks during math
* Practicing multiplication facts in our practice packets
* Getting more math practice on Zearn and Tenmarks
* Setting up our iPads with gmail and using them in class

Upcoming Events and Dates:
* Friday, September 30th is Picture Day.
* Wednesday, October 5th is Walk to School Day.
* Monday, October 10th is Columbus Day. There is no school.
* Thursday, October 20th is a half-day for parent-teacher conferences. Dismissal is at 11am.
* Friday, October 21st is a half-day for parent-teacher conferences. Dismissal is at 11am.