Ninja Pig News
Mrs. Caldwell's Classroom
Nov. 28th- Dec. 15th
Weekly Hellos
Everyone came back to school from Thanksgiving ready to go and boy have we been doing just that!
We have so much fun crammed into the next 13 days before our semester ends. There's a field trip, a party, and Electronics Day for earning 30 class star cards!! What a way to end our first half of the year together.
Various Things to Read and Respond To
Nutcracker Field Trip
Third graders get to go watch Scene II of Ballet Austin's Nutcracker on Wed., Dec. 7th. Everyone will need a super awesome snack for when we return from our trip. We'll eat lunch around 10:15, go on our trip, then return ravenous! Students may dress up nice or wear holiday colors if they choose. (Changing after we return is always okay with me.)
I can't wait for you to hear all about their experience when we get back!
Winter Party
Our Winter Party will be on Tuesday, Dec. 13th from 9:15-10:45 UPSTAIRS in the third grade rooms. It's a walk about party so the entire grade level will have the freedom to roam from room to room with friends.
This party is planned and funded by the parents and we’d love your help with making this a huge success! You can help by contributing an optional $3 cash donation or whatever amount you would like. Please send your donations in a sealed envelope, to the attention of Mrs. Caldwell’s HRP by December 2nd. If you prefer Paypal, you can send money to sgorlick@gmail.com. Please include your child’s name and teacher in the notes if you use PayPal.
There will be a sign up coming so parents can help work a classroom for a short amount of the party time.
EGGI Week (Education, Go Get It! Week)
Sommer ES will celebrate EGGI week (education go get it) January 16-20, 2017
. The theme is DREAM BIG. We are looking for parent volunteers to come and visit with classes about their job. We are only asking for 1-2 hours of your time. If you are interested please fill out the following form https://docs.google.com/a/roundrockisd.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBiMulvET8I0lURW-9UYpivbnyFdvJBiamTPzGnKgs_tvpqw/viewform
If you have any questions, please contact Iben Dyke at iben_dyke@roundrockisd.org or 512-704-0631.
Science Fair
Science Fair Topic Wizard is a great resource to go ahead and start thinking about the project you want to do this year for science fair. It's not required in third but I highly encourage EVERYONE IN MY CLASS to participate. It's good for your brain!!
Join us in the library for Science Research Night on Thursday, December 8, from 5:30-6:30. We will have books, rubrics and some science project examples displayed to help your child get in their scientific mindset. All grade levels may participate, however, only grades 3-5 will be judged and may progress to regionals. Science fair projects will be due Tuesday, January 17 no later than 7:35am. Judging will take place on Wednesday, January 18. Students will take projects to their classroom. For more information and frequently asked questions, go to http://sommersciencefair.blogspot.com/.
If you are interested in being a science fair judge, please contact Danica Baker at danica_baker@roundrockisd.org.
The Class Would Like...
*Thank you ANA for winter/holiday stickers!!
*Hand Sanitizer
*hand vacuum for spills (I'm not making this up!)
Homework News
Class Events
Writing Workshop- Students will move back into personal narratives for December. We'll work on slowing down moments with important details plus focus on leads (strong beginnings) and endings. We'll also revisit writing friendly letters and creating poems around the seasons/holidays.
Spelling- We are having a lot of fun sorting words then figuring out the spelling rule to go along with them. We also look for words that fit the patterns while reading.
Grammar- We will be concentrating on using all of the conventions learned up to this point. We'll have a big focus on answering questions with complete sentences this month since that's still a forgetful area for many!
Math- We have been rocking the fractions and division units. We have a DCA coming but are preparing daily for it! We will spend the month of December working on geometry. There is a lot of new vocabulary for students to learn plus comparing and sorting 2D or 3D shapes by certain attributes. We'll work on finding the area of rectangles or composite shapes to send us into winter break.
Science: We are beginning a super fun study of gravity, magnetism, force and motion. We have several hands-on activities planned for exploration of these topics.
Handwriting- We are almost half-way through the alphabet!!