Parents,

Let me begin by thanking Mallory Dietz for the awesome field day shirts! They look great and I can’t wait to see everyone in them on Monday morning. Please remember that field day begins at 9:00 and concludes at 12:00 and you are welcome to picnic together when field day is over. Thank you, Mallory!

 

Our math test was a bit challenging for many of the students and that is because many of them are still working on multiplication facts. Keep working! I am seeing progress and we don’t want to lose ground over the summer. I highly encourage you to have your child practice them for ten minutes each day so they don’t forget during the summer break. Knowing these facts is fundamental to fourth grade. I was proud of how quickly students caught on to fractions! We completed page 157 together and then they flew solo for the substitute worksheet for page 158. This worksheet was sent home today. We also have a fun game of tic-tac-toe identifying various fractions on flash cards. 

 

In social studies this week we focused on learning about the climate and landforms of the West. We added the words “island, volcano, and beach” to our vocabulary folders. We also learned about famous people from this region. We took a closer look at the life of an immigrant that arrived on scene of the Gold Rush just in time to save the trouser problem for the miners, Levi Strauss. We read a picture book about this event, which was a tall tale and then compared it to a short video about his life to determine

which parts of the book were factual and what was exaggerated to make it a tall tale. We also learned of the tailor who helped Strauss create jeans and made them more sturdy by adding rivets. Ask if your student can remember his name:)  Students found this lesson very interesting and funny!

 

In science this week we focused on fossil fuels, particularly oil production. We also learned about how oil spills affect wild life. I adapted our experiment a bit to help students better understand this concept by dipping two feathers in cooking oil and then washing one with water and the other in soap and water. Then they wanted to try it with their hands! So, we gave it a try and everyone concluded that the soap and water worked better to remove the oily feeling. You will find a lab report sheet in your child’s yellow folder for this experiment today.

 

Spelling/chunking schedule for next week:

Monday: Field day

Tuesday: Vowels (yellow) and Bossy r (purple)

Wednesday: Consonants (blue) and Tricky y (green)

Thursday: Endings (pink) and Silent letters (orange)

Friday: all or any your student needs to practice 

 

Please message me if your child’s last day of school will NOT be May 22nd. I want to make sure to send home progress reports and projects we have completed only at school on your child’s last day. Please let me know what day will be his/her last.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Maria

 

Please remember to send math test 9 tomorrow. Also, we will be completing a substitute page in math on Wednesday instead of page 158. Students will bring this worksheet home in their yellow folder. The other third grade teacher and I discussed how the shapes to be divided on page 158 might be confusing since they are on graph paper. The substitute worksheet covers the same concept as page 158. 

See you tomorrow:)

Parents,

We have had a very busy week! We have continued our hard work learning division and building our multiplication skills. I am seeing progress with our flash card practice and filling in a multiplication chart so keep up the hard work. Please make sure you complete the math assignment on the syllabus for this Friday to prepare for our test on Monday. If your child attends school on Friday, we will complete the review in class.

 

We began our reading and novel study on Frindle this week. Each day we add four to five words to our vocabulary list as well as learning the part of speech for each and deciding if the words contain any prefixes or suffixes. We are also learning dictionary skills such as how to use guide words to locate a given word in the dictionary. The students moaned and groaned at first when I introduced this activity but then when they actually had a dictionary in hand, they became so consumed with the hunt! Then, we played a game where we closed our eyes and made our index finger randomly land on a word to learn. Students enjoyed sharing the word they landed on and what it means. 

 

In science this week we learned about alcohols and how isopropyl alcohol is used to kill germs. As soon as student smelled it they agreed that it reminded them of the doctor’s office:) Next, I showed them how isopropyl alcohol  can be used to make perfume. After soaking whole cloves in isopropyl alcohol for seven days, the alcohol drew the oil from the cloves to make it smell spicy. Each student got a small dab of the perfume on their hand then waited for the alcohol to evaporate to smell the sweet, spicy scent. You will find the lab report for this experiment in your child’s text book.

 

In social studies this week we continued our study of  the West. Our focus was on labeling a map of this region, watching a video about volcanoes, completing a volcano project, and reading about the resources of this region. We also took a deeper look at two animals of the West with fact reports on the California condor and bighorn sheep. Students divided into two groups and each group worked to read a book on their given animal and write interesting facts about it. Each group then presented their facts to each other. They worked very hard! We concluded that bighorn sheep have strong necks and that condors are gross.

 

Spelling chunking schedule for next week:

Monday: vowel (yellow) and Bossy r (purple)

Tuesday: consonant (blue)

Wednesday: Tricky y (green) and endings (pink)

Thursday: silent letters (orange)

Friday: all chunks or any your child needs to practice

 

Please note:

Our syllabus has a creative book report listed for May and you are welcome to complete that assignment to bring to school to share BUT I will be teaching students how to write a book report in class when we complete Frindle. This in-class report can take the place of the one on the syllabus if you would like to make that substitution. However, your child can do both and I will make sure he/she has an opportunity to share the at-home report. Please reach out to me with any question you may have.

 

Send math test 9 on Monday:)

 

Happy weekend,

Ms. Maria

Parents,

It was another busy week in 3rd grade! Students are showing progress with division and it’s exciting to see them make the connections between multiplication and division as we move through our lessons. We practice multiplication everyday at school so please do that at home as well. 

 

Our poetry unit went very well this week and students quickly caught on to the concept of “tone.” It was easy for them to read my tone when speaking in different ways but a poet isn’t around to convey tone with his/her voice inflection so we have to use clues to determine the tone of the poem. We reviewed the concepts of personification, simile and metaphor as we read each poem to discover the tone the author wants to convey. We then challenged ourselves to write a poem with either a scary, angry or cheerful tone. Students then shared these poems with the class as we all listened to “name that tone.”

 

In science this week our experiment focused on fats. We discussed how all organic compounds contain carbon and that the foods we eat are made of organic compounds. We read a short article on the basic food groups and discussed the food pyramid in relation to a healthy diet. Unfortunately, the science experiment from the textbook was not successful so we did another one called “Rainbow Milk.” This experiment showed how the fat particles in milk (with drops of food coloring) reacted to dish soap by changing the surface tension. You will find a completed lab report on this experiment in your child’s yellow folder today.

 

In social studies we began our final region, the West. We completed the last section of our torn map project and focused on learning the names of the 11 states in this region by playing, “Name the States.” We got it on our first try! It was great!! We also read an article about the West and each student listed three facts and labeled a map of the region. Next week we will learn about volcanoes and animals of this region.

 

Spelling (chunking) schedule for next week:

Monday: vowels (yellow)

Tuesday: Bossy r (purple)

Wednesday: consonants (blue)

Thursday: Tricky y Guy (green), endings (pink), and silent letters (orange)

Friday: all chunks or any your student needs to practice

 

We are continuing to do an extended activity for spelling on school days. This goes home each day in your child’s yellow folder. 

 

We had a great celebration today for filling our star jar. Yum!  Keep up the hard work!!

 

Have a great weekend,

Ms. Maria

 

Reminders:

*Please send your child’s yellow folder to school.

*Please send the poetry book this week to school and follow the modified schedule. 

*Please send your child’s white t-shirt (field day shirt)  this week if you would like Mallory to tie-dye it for you.

 

*Starting April 22nd, third grade will be reading Frindle by Andrew Clements in class. This book will take the place of The Tale of Despereaux. However, we will still be using the Lightning Literature book to complete the grammar portion of the curriculum. If you would like for your child to have a copy of Frindle to read along during class, please purchase one this week. 

 

See you tomorrow,

 Ms. Maria

Parents,

We had a very exciting week with the eclipse and our Southwest party! It was a bit challenging to get all our work accomplished but I think we did it:)

 

Please be sure to look at your child’s math test that went home on Monday. This was a tough chapter because it introduced so many units of measurement in such a short amount of time. Also, some of the questions could have multiple answers depending on your child’s real world experiences with measurement, which varies greatly among students so I encourage you to review these concepts in daily life activities so they make those connections. For example, when driving, ask your child estimate the miles to your destination. When doing laundry, have your child measure the detergent. It’s also great to have them read recipes and measure the correct amounts of ingredients. 

 

Our science experiment this week built upon the one we completed last week. This week we tested the ph of vinegar (acid) and baking soda water (base) and then counted how many milliliters of baking soda water it took to neutralize the vinegar. They again loved watching the litmus paper change colors. You will find the completed lab report in your child’s textvbook.

 

I would like to thank Kristy Lowery and Paullette Barton for hosting our Southwest party to end our unit of study on this region. Students tried some cactus candy as well as some spicy food from this region. Each student also potted a small succulent to take home. Thank you, ladies!

Next week, we will begin our study of the West.

 

Spelling chunking schedule for next week:

 

Monday: chunk vowels (yellow) and Bossy r (purple)

Tuesday: chunk consonants (blue)

Wednesday: Tricky y Guy (green) and endings (pink)

Thursday: silent letters (orange)

 

Important Reminders:

 

*Send the poetry book to school next week and remember to follow the schedule that went home last week and was posted.

 

*Send a white t-shirt to school by next Wednesday for field day. Mallory Dietz has kindly volunteered to tie dye them for our class. 

 

*Star jar celebration is next Wednesday (I will provide lactose free ice cream sundaes).

 

*PLEASE remember to send the yellow folder to school each day so you don’t miss important papers and information. 

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ms. Maria

 

 

 

Parents,

It was so good to be back at school and we were off to a very busy start today!

We began with our math warm-up by going through our multiplication flash cards and then a timed test on those facts. Keep working on these as we will begin division next week. We then learned about ml and L with the very recognizable “medicine dropper.” They were all very familiar with the dropper and the medicine cup. I showed students how small the volume is of a milliliter with water as compared to a liter bottle of water.  Students learned the conversion to be 1000 ml to make 1 liter. Next, we compared the liter bottle to a 2L bottle and made the conversion between ml and liters.  Students caught on quickly. Lastly, we completed a worksheet with pictures of items to cut and glue in the appropriate column for the unit we would use to measure the volume. I must say, several students shared with me that they have giant shampoo bottles and theirs needed to go under liters! (Sam’s/Costco shoppers:)

 

*Please remember there is a math assignment on the syllabus for Friday to prepare for our upcoming test on Monday. Please send test 8 to school Monday morning in the yellow folder. 

 

We also completed our science experiment by testing the ph of vinegar, ammonia and tap water. The students really enjoyed watching the litmus paper change colors. You will find the completed lab report in your child’s textbook. Each child went home today (in yellow folder) with three litmus paper strips and a ph scale to test items at home. I reminded them to ask your permission first. Several are really wanting to test their spit!

 

We had an extra lesson today about the upcoming solar eclipse. (Remember we will be dismissing Monday at 12:30 for this event.) After watching a brief video about the solar eclipse, students then read and colored a book to illustrate what happens during this special time. Thank you to Amy Howard for providing our class with the special glasses to view the eclipse safely. This book and the glasses went home today in the yellow folder.

 

Here is the spelling schedule for the week of April 8th:

 

Monday- read, write, chunk vowels (yellow), extended activity

Tuesday- read, write, chunk Bossy R (purple)

Wednesday- read, write, chunk consonants (blue), extended activity

Thursday- read, dictation, chunk silent letters (orange)

Friday- read, write, chunk all or any your child needs to practice

 

*YAY!! Our class has filled the star jar and they voted to have an ice cream sundae party and game time. I plan to have this celebration on April 17th. I will provide lactose free ice cream, Hersey syrup and sprinkles. Please let me know if you DO NOT want your child to eat this and that you will be sending an alternative treat for him/her.

 

*Field day is around the corner (May 6th) and third grade has decided to wear tie dye shirts! Mallory Dietz has volunteered to dye the shirts for our class so please send a white t-shirt to school by April 17th so she has plenty of time to work on those. Thank you, Mallory!

 

Thank you to Amy Howard for supplying our class with a great selection of chapter books this past month. Please continue to send a book to school with your child each day for our silent reading time. I keep a supply in the classroom but some students prefer a book from home. We just want to encourage reading as much as possible. Good readers make good writers! 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you Monday!

Ms. Maria

 

 

 

 

Parents,

This post is a little late but I wanted to share with you some important information about last week and the upcoming week. Unfortunately my husband is dealing with some complications from his surgery and was placed back in the hospital all last week. He is now home with home health care and is slowly getting back on track to recovery. I so appreciate your prayers as he continues to heal.

 

Last week, students focused on measuring pounds, ounces, grams and kilograms. I highly encouraged them to memorize the conversions of these units so we will revisit them as a part of our math warm up in the days ahead. 

 

To connect our writing to our novel study, students completed “Story Maker” by writing a first person narrative as if they met Janus in his backyard for the first time. Since Janus is a changing character, students were to decide if he was still a mean, bitter man or if he was a kinder, helpful man upon their encounter with him. Students then shared their stories with the class.

 

Our science experiment was a little stinky this week as students used cabbage water as an indicator to show the presence of an acid (lemonade). I appreciate Mrs. Johnson demonstrating this experiment for our class since I was away. Please see the lab report in your child’s book.

 

In social studies we completed our look at the climate and landforms of the Southwest. We added the words “plateau” and “canyon” to our vocabulary book. This week we will begin using an atlas to learn about each state in the region.

 

I would like to thank Paulette Barton for providing our special Easter snack on Wednesday. The students love these special treats!

 

Please note the changes for the upcoming week:

 

Math:

p. 113-114 will be taught with an alternative activity.

Please notice that there is a math assignment on the syllabus for this Friday to prepare for test 8.

 

Spelling schedule change:

Tuesday: read, write, chunk vowels

Wednesday: read, write, chunk Bossy R and consonants, *extended activity

Thursday: read, dictation, chunk endings and silent letters

Friday: read, write, chunk all or any your student needs to practice

 

Science: We will complete the experiment in the book but will use litmus paper in place of cabbage paper as the indicator. I will also send home a ph scale and litmus paper for students to test items at home to extend this learning.

 

I hope you all had a wonder Easter and I look forward to being back at school on Wednesday!

Ms. Maria

 

 

Parents,

Please note the following changes to our upcoming math schedule this week.

Due to the nature of the activities on pages 104 and 107, we will not be completing these pages at school. Please complete them at home based on your child’s academic needs.

Thank you,

Ms. Maria

Parents,

Let me begin by thanking each of you for your prayers and encouragement during this challenging time for my family. I also want to express my appreciation for Mrs. Christman’s willingness to step in and teach our class this week. She bragged on our class and looks forward to having any or all of them next year! She relayed to me that completing the math lessons this week was a challenge due to the nature of the lessons. Mrs. Johnson (the other 3rd grade teacher) and I have discussed this and plan to meet this weekend to possibly modify the upcoming lessons in the measurement unit. We will be posting any changes on Sunday afternoon so please be watching for that message. These changes will come in a post and not be on the actual syllabus.

 

Please note the following is the schedule we will follow for spelling next week:

Lesson 28

Monday: write, read, chunk vowels (yellow), *create list, sentences, and challenge

Tuesday: write, read, chunk Bossy r (purple)

Wednesday: write, read, chunk consonants (blue), *create list, sentences, and challenge 

Thursday: dictation, read, chunk Tricky y Guy (green)

Friday: write, read, chunk all or any your student needs to practice

 

*In class we are adding extra practice to our spelling lesson by creating a list of the words containing a chunk in our lesson each day. Then students are writing at least three sentences using three of those words from the list. Lastly, we do a spelling challenge to see if students can write the words from memory. They grade their own work from the original list they made. 

*As always, I appreciate any feedback you have on changes to our lessons.

 

High lights from this week:

*Students learned about high tide and low tide in conjunction with chapter 8 of our novel study by reading an article and completing a worksheet illustrating the change in tides.

 

*Students read about Georgia O’Keefe’s life as an artists and how the landscape of the Southwest inspired her famous work. Students then created their own water color painting inspired by her artistic style.

 

*Students learned about Woody Guthrie from Oklahoma who wrote “This Land Is Your Land.” They listened to the song and then reviewed the various land forms we have learned about throughout the year so far. They also complete a color sheet with the lyrics to the song.

 

*Students completed and decorated a guided drawing of a crystal. This was a step by step activity where students had to follow directions from a worksheet to complete the drawing. This activity focused on the importance of details in following directions and also illustrated how crystals form in a repeating pattern.

 

These activities will be going home in yellow folders soon. 

 

I would like to than Sarah Crum for the awesome set of library books this month! The were extremely helpful to our studies:)

 

I hope you all have a great weekend and I will see you Monday.

 

Ms. Maria

 

 

Parents,

Unfortunately my husband has had some set backs following his surgery so I won’t be at school this week. Thankfully, Mrs. Christman, one of our 4th grade teachers will be subbing for me so your students will get a 4th grade preview :)

Please read the following information about the upcoming week.

 

*Please use the following schedule for spelling lesson 27:

Monday: read, write, and chunk vowels and Bossy R only

Tuesday: read, write, and chunk consonants only

Wednesday: read, write, and chunk endings only

Thursday: read, dictation, and chunk silent letters only

Friday: read, write, and chunk any sounds your child needs to work on more or attempt them all.

 

*Also, for science we will be doing an alternate activity this week in place of the experiment. Over the break Mrs. Johnson and I tried three different experiments on growing crystals and they were not successful. The one in the textbook requires boiling water so feel free to try it at home but during class students will watch a short video about crystals and complete a guided drawing to show the repeated pattern of a crystal. 

 

*Please send a measuring tape labeled with your child’s name to school on Wednesday for our math lesson.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful spring break and I can’t wait to see everyone soon!

Ms. Maria

 

 

 

Parents,

What a wonderful spring day we had! We started our morning with our math test. This test was very challenging and I wish we had more time to focus on the concepts of area and perimeter before moving on to measurement. However, I will make these concepts a part of our math warm-up so we can continue to review them. Making corrections on the test with students will greatly help them learn from their mistakes. Please take a few minutes to either complete or correct the math test with your child. As always, corrected and signed tests returned to school earn our class a star in our reward jar!

 

In grammar today we did a quick review on linking verbs. Last week as we introduced helping verbs, some students struggled to differentiate between linking and action verbs. After a little practice, it all came back to them! You will find a worksheet on linking verbs in the yellow folder today. We then went on to learn about homophones. Students quickly realized how important spelling is when reading sentences with the incorrect homophone. 

We also discussed how to create an interesting title for our stories and compositions. We looked at a few titles and book covers to decide if we would be interested in reading each book based on the little information we get as a reader simply by seeing the cover of a book. Then, each student created their own title and book cover to present to the class in hopes that it would be interesting enough for classmates to read it. Our students are very creative and several of them have kept their covers at school because they want to write a story. I love it! 

 

In social studies we concluded our study of the Grand Canyon by watching a short video on weathering, erosion, and decomposition. I then challenged students to think of an event that would combine all three to create a canyon so large. It took a few hints and then they figured it out. This sparked an interesting discussion about the age of the Earth and the world wide flood. We completed an art project on the Grand Canyon labeling the parts of a canyon and added it to our social studies notebooks. 

 

Please make sure you noted the change in our spelling schedule. In addition to our copy work and reading the article, we identified vowel chunks, wrote each word containing a vowel chunk, wrote a sentence using the words and then tried writing each word from memory. I’m hoping this schedule change will help students focus more on the letters and sounds for each chuck we identity. Tuesday is Bossy R, Wednesday will be consonant chunks and Thursday will be silent letters. Please use Friday to chuck all colors or review the ones your child needs to practice most.

 

I want say happy birthday to Dylan who turned 9 over the weekend but he tells me the party is still going:)

 

I would also like to thank each of you for your words of encouragement, prayers, the snack basket, and gift card you shared with me as my family faces some challenging times. I will be out of school the rest of the week due to my husband’s surgery. Ms. Lori will be there to sub and the children all know her well. 

 

I pray you all have a wonderful spring break!

Ms. Maria

 

Parents,

I would like to make a change in our spelling lesson for next week. I am seeing that the students are more concerned about finding the correct number of chunk colors than they are focusing on the actual letters and sounds. They even race each other:) Imagine that!  The following is what I would like for us to try in order refocus on spelling:

 

Monday:  Read the passage

                Identify vowel chunks only (yellow)

                Copy work

 

Tuesday (home): Read the passage

                            Identify Bossy r chunks only (purple)

                            Copy work

 

Wednesday:     Read the passage

                         Identify consonant chunks only (blue)

                         Copy work

 

Thursday (home): Read the passage

                             Identify silent letters only (orange)

                             Dictation

 

Friday:  Read the passage

              Chunk all colors (or the colors your child found challenging in the 

              Dictation exercise)

               No rules activity

 

My hope is that this change will allow us to focus more closely on how these chunks work in each word of the passage rather than how many there are to find. As always, please let me know if you have any questions. I would love feedback on how this works for you as the home teacher.

 

Thank you,

Ms. Maria

                    

 

 

Hello parents,

First of all, your students did such a great job with the wax museum! I was so proud of their hard work and enthusiasm for this event. Thank you to Amy Howard, Kati Hurst, and Kasia Chrusciel for helping with the set up and clean up for our fun morning. 

 

We have continued working hard on perimeter and area problems in math this week. I am seeing progress but please make sure to complete the chapter review this Friday before our test on Monday. If your child attends school on Friday, we will complete it at that time. This practice is so important for your student to come to the test feeling confident and prepared. Please notice the post-it-note in your child’s math book reminding you to send test 7 to school on Monday. 

 

I know some of you are still waiting for copies of The Wheel on the School so I have made adjustments on our comprehension questions in class to not spoil parts of the story. They are all very interested in Janus! Try to get caught up on the reading as quickly as possible. There is a free pdf copy on-line if you need to use it while waiting on delivery of the book.

 

In grammar this week we reviewed types of verbs (linking/action) and introduced helping verbs. Students were a bit unsure about identifying linking verbs so we will review that next week to sharpen that skill. They caught on quickly that a helping verb always helps an action verb.  We also worked hard on learning how to write a paragraph this week. You should find in the yellow folder a fun sandwich activity we did today to review the parts of a paragraph. I have also been using grammar worksheets to help students learn to read directions and follow them. This has been a bit challenging for many because I think they are so used to relying on an adult to explain the instructions. Please work on this concept at home because it is a valuable classroom skill, especially as they approach fourth grade. We have also been working on following three step verbal commands. This too is a valuable skill for school and life!

 

We completed our science experiment on mixtures this week by creating a solution with water and grape powered Kool-aid. They all wanted to smell it:) Students observed how the powder created streams of purple as I slowly added it to the water. Eventually the entire glass of water turned black due to the concentration of grape Kool-aid. We then discussed solvents and solutes. You will find the completed lab report in your child’s text book. 

 

In social studies this week we focused on the largest attraction in the Southwest, the Grand Canyon. We read a library book giving us details and facts about this awesome landform. I challenged students to write three facts they felt were important for third graders to know as I read the book. We will use these facts to complete a project on Monday. 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Ms. Maria

 

Important reminders:

Please send yellow folders to school each day.

Please send math test 7 to school on Monday.

Please remember to send forks, spoons, and napkins in lunch boxes.

(Also, I think many of our students are in a growth spurt. Some are telling me that they are still hungry after finishing their lunch. I’m afraid they are turning into fourth graders before our eyes!:)