Mrs. Haas' Third Grade News
September 7, 2015
I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! My family and I enjoyed a visit to the beautiful Grinter Farm in Lawrence, Kansas. My first grader said it looked like an ocean of sunflowers, and it sure did. What a beautiful view of Kansas!
MAP Testing
This week students will take the MAP Assessment. We will test on Tuesday and Wednesday this week from 1:20-2:30. On Tuesday students will take the reading portion, and then they will take the math portion on Wednesday afternoon.
Reading
Why do author's write? That is the question we will be answering as we look at a variety of texts this week. Authors write to Persuade, Inform, and Entertain their audience. Students will spend time this week reading and determining the author's purpose. We will also focus on synonyms this week. Students will learn to use the thesaurus to help them replace boring or overused words with more exciting words.
Reading Packets
Last week we spent time on Thursday and Friday doing reading rotations. This is when students rotate to different centers in the room to get extra practice with the reading skills we are working on for the week. The rotations are reading table with the teacher, buddy reading, read to self, and packet work. The packet last week was working on topic and main idea along with categorizing proper and common nouns. Unfortunately the grades on the packet were not very good. I am not going to record these grades, but I would love it if you could take a moment to go over the packet with your third grader. This is a great opportunity to discuss turning in quality work and being proud of the work you turn in. We will spend time in class going over the packet as well, so they know what the class expectations are. Thanks for your help at home!
Writer's Workshop
Students will have one more day to finish up our class sloppy copy. We will send the week discussing pair share and revising. Ask your third grader to share what happens during these steps in the writing process.
Math
Last week we learned about rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. We will spend time reviewing the concept of rounding. Then we will learn how to use rounding to help us estimate sums and differences. When we see the word estimate, the directions is really asking us to round the numbers we are working with to get an answer that is close to the actual. They don't want us to get the actual answer. Instead they are wanting a rounded answer.
Science
Due to MAP Testing, we will not get to much science this week. We will continue our discussion of animals that live in social groups.
Spelling
Due to the short week, there is no spelling this week. Students won't get their tests back until next week. You can see their grade online on ParentVUE.
Student Survey
Don't forget to take a couple of minutes to fill out this survey. It allows me to get to know your child a little more.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19ix-jRysdR0J-0ecj07xuZMXozh2GxTIsznabOoiKTg/viewform
Field Trip Permission Slips and Volunteers
On Friday, your child brought home our first field trip permission slip of the year. We will be visiting the Blue Valley Science Wilderness Center on Friday, October 2. A signed permission slip needs to be at school in order for your child to attend. Please sign the form and send it in with your child as soon as possible. I'm also looking for two parent volunteers to join us on our adventure. We will leave PSE around 11:30 and return around 2:30. Let me know if you can join us.
Are you on twitter? Follow our class @HaasErika. I send out tweets that allow you to see what's happening in our room. As a parent, it's always fun to see the activities that your kiddos do. Sometimes they come home forgetting all the fun and hard work they do all day!
Pete The Cat Performances
Check out our Pete The Cat performances from music class. Thanks Mrs. Trumpp for working so hard with the third graders!
Mrs. Haas' Class Performing Pete The Cat
Wolves Specials Performing Pete The Cat