Atkinson Gazette
Room 203's Weekly Newsletter
What's UP in Room 203?
I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I did! Over the weekend, Brad and I got engaged! We are super excited for our journey ahead of us :)
(I just ask that you don't tell the kids yet, I want to share the news with them tomorrow! I know they will be ecstatic!!)
Super Student: N/A
Pawsitive Panther for April - Effort/Performance: Sona
Academic News
Math
For the remainder of the year, students will be learning skills to help them for end of year MAPS testing as well as learning skills that will be helpful for them upon entering 4th grade.
Last week, students did a great job learning about all four quadrants of a coordinate grid. We practiced with games and a coordinate grid picture of flowers, which is now on their lockers!
This week, we will focus on double-digit multiplication. We will spend our time learning how to do the algorithm and practice through activities. I'm not sure if this will take us all week, but I want to make sure each child feels comfortable with the skill before moving on! After all, this is to help our MAPS scores :)
Keep in mind, students will continue to have daily math homework to reinforce skills learned in class as well as Daily 6 Review on Thursday nights. Also, please please please continue to work multiplication facts at home.
Reid & Charlie
Thomas & Tyler
Alex & Jackson
Language Arts
Over the next 7 days, our students will be rotating to each 3rd grade classroom from 10:30-11:30 for a grammar lesson. Each teacher will be focusing on a different grammar skill, as well as a cursive lesson.
Adjectives - Miss Boelens
Adverbs - Mrs. Moore
Prepositions - Mrs. Meeks
Possessive - Mrs. Olmos
FANBOYS/Conjunctions - Miss Atkinson
Transitions - Miss Davison
- Cursive - Miss Cornett
We decided that getting our kids up and moving will help them stay engaged! Your child will go to each lesson to help us improve our writing.
In our other ELA block time, we will focus on our COLAR writings. Last week, students had lessons on leads and conclusions for their pieces. Just by having those two lessons, their writing has improve tremendously! I'm excited to see how these pieces turn out.
Cursive started last week. Students were introduced to the different types of strokes and some lower case letters. This week, we will continue with lower case letters. Some of this may be coming home as homework. (The kids asked for this!)
Spelling
We took our spelling test on Friday and they did very well! I passed the tests back to them to take home. We will begin Rule #5 Monday with a test this Friday. We will have a spelling lesson each day in order to prepare your children.
Spelling Rule #5:
Rule: Some words are spelled with three letter clusters.
Examples: bridge, screwdriver, and stretch
Non-Negoitable Words: something, form, enough, country, since
Please remind your child that these words are not just to be memorized for the test on Friday's then forgotten. They need to be transferred and used in every subject, and most importantly WRITING!
Science/Social Studies
STEM: As we finished up Frog Parachutes, students were put into new groups and asked to brainstorm a STEM idea they would like to do next. Each member of the group brought some ideas and they talked it out and narrowed it down to 1. We now have a list of 10 possible topics. Students will vote on Monday, and then we will design our project!
In science lab, students began investigating simple machines. Below are some pictures of the hands-on fun!
Sona, Charlie & Thomas
Reed
Maddox, Yash & Brayden
Genius Hour
We will have Genius Hour this week as well. Jackson presented his project on NASCAR legend Matt Kenseth. He did a great job! Students will be given a full hour of research time this week.
*If you student is ready to start creating, make sure they bring their materials to class Friday so they are not wasting an hour. Many are choosing to do digital components, which is great, but some are needing poster board and other things.
Classroom News
No People in Stands in Baltimore
There were no people in the stands of a baseball game in Baltimore because there were some riots and it was unsafe.It was the first time in baseball history for no one to be in stands.they by the score 8-2.
This is news reporter Jackson Dean inside UP!
Important Dates
UP Field Day
Friday, May 22, 2015, 08:00 AM
University Park Elementary School, Amherst Avenue, Dallas, TX, United States
Last Day of School (Early Release!)
Friday, May 29, 2015, 02:00 PM
University Park Elementary School, Amherst Avenue, Dallas, TX, United States
About Miss Atkinson
Email: atkinse@hpisd.org
Website: http://up.hpisd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=419982&type=u
Location: 3505 Amherst Avenue, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: (214) 780-3400