News From Mrs. C
Our class news for the week of Feb. 19-22nd
Tidbits From the Teacher
Hello There,
Our party was fantastic! A great big thanks to Angie, Kristi, and the other awesome parents who made such a fun party for the class. It was so much fun that I forgot to open my valentines, my presents AND I forgot to hand out my gift to the children. Now that's a good party!
The 3rd grade Economics Fair is the 20th. Send in quarters or dollars for your child to spend. The third graders learn the basics of economics while your children scores interesting little treasures created by those students. Just send money in a baggie and an empty sack/bag for collecting those goodies.
Field Trip forms went home. Please return them plus $4 as soon as you can. If you want to go with us to help, make sure you have had a background check through the district. Also keep in mind that younger siblings can't join us. This is a fun but working field trip to reinforce concepts we'll be teaching in science. (Clipboards and cameras will be used!)
Things to Return:
-Homework on Tuesday
-Field Trip Form and $4
-money & a bag if your child will buy things on the 20th
Dates to Remember
Feb. 18th: No School for students
Feb. 20th: Third Grade Economics Fair
Feb. 22nd: Six Flags Reading Logs due today or sooner
Mar. 6th: Early Release @ 12:45
Mar. 11-15th: Spring Break!!!
What We'll Be Learning...
**What you can do at home: practice place value skills using the website recommended or other favorites you have. Students should work with 3 digits (ones, tens, hundreds) but go on to 4-6 digits if your child is ready!
Science- The class is loving the idea of being meteorologists. We started charting the weather conditions on Wednesday. Not only are we checking cloud coverage, wind, and precipitation-we're watching the temperature in Farenheit and Celsius. The class LOVES knowing the temp using the metric measurements. They are getting very good at figuring out the current temp in Celsius using prior information! We'll add how seasons play their part in the weather patterns in our part of the world next.
**What you can do at home: watch or find out about the weather with your child. How are the seasons different in other parts of the world? They enjoy coming in with information about a topic we are studying.
Writing- Students are writing some of the best stories right now. They are really enjoying slowing down a moment and zooming in on the details. What we've realized as writers is that our day is full of moments worth writing about. I love having my daily conferences with students. They are very receptive to writing advice and getting to really talk with them about their writing just feels so right. I like this unit a lot!
What you can do at home: Ask them what they are writing about. Then ask them which part are they slowing down. When they tell you, see if they are adding details and telling you step by step about that moment.
Reading- Students have been working on rhyme, repetition, and sensory language in poetry. What we've discovered along the way is that some parts of poetry show up in stories that aren't poems. Each week we look at 1-2 poems and try our hand at analyzing or using various reading comprehension skills on them. We'll do this all year.
Up next is looking closer at the language in poetry while learning about idioms and figurative language.
What you can do at home: Find examples in your own language or while reading that show idioms or other non-literal uses of language. (example: I laughed my head off. -We don't literally laugh our heads off. It's an idiom.)
Spelling/Handwriting- We are slowly working through the handwriting book. I'm trying to be firm but fair about handwriting skills.
What you can do at home: If you notice your sweetie not gripping a writing tool correctly, gently tell them to "check your grip." I have other tricks if you need help with this. Just email me and let me know!
Spelling is also coming along. Students should really know what vowels and consonants are. They should be able to point out patterns studied in words read during reading times.
What you can do at home: Ask your child what spelling rules he/she is studying. Can he/she talk to you about the words being sorted?
Class Wish List
The class has requested:
-Thank you Noah and Brandon for the sweet new "no jam" staplers!
-Thanks for the tape friends!!!
-Thank you Noah for the pens!
-smelly stickers (Mardel and Lakeshore carry these.) **Thanks Val for the cool stickers!**
-Woo Hoo! We have small glue sticks again. Thank you!
**We'll take gift cards in small amounts too! Those add up and can buy lots of things for us.**