November 28- December 2

Hello Parents!
Welcome back from the long holiday weekend! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and got some time to think about all the things we have to be thankful for! Now after all that turkey, it is time to get back to business for 3 more weeks!

Permission slips are due NOW!  Our class will be walking to MVHS on Wednesday to have our reader's theater recorded by the video and production class.

December is always a very busy month with lots of things added to our schedules.  Check out the Reminders on the side, to see what's coming up for December. 

Here is what is going on this week!

Math –
We will continue our Geometry unit on two-dimensional shapes and their attributes.  This week we will cover:

• Quadrilaterals, and
• How polygons can be put together or taken apart to make other polygons

Reading –

This week we will start a Rigby theme about Recycling and our comprehension strategy we will focus on is determining importance.

Spelling –

We will continue to have a 15 word Rigby list and the challenge list. This week the prefix is super-, sur- which means over, above, beyond.

The Rigby list is: can, cook, find, your, bigger, bragger, dimmed, dropping, hugging, ripped, splitting, strumming, tripped, wetter, and transferred.

The challenge list is: superb, superimpose, superintendent, superior, supervisor, surcharge, surplus, surprise, surreal, and surtax.

Science –

This week we are starting a new unit on recycling/pollution and inventions. We will only get to introduce this unit but will start more detail and projects next week.

Social Studies –

After so much work from our four wonderful candidates, I would like to announce our President and Vice President after Tuesday’s election…. Cole and Tyler! The class will now start campaigning for Cole to be the president of the entire 3rd grade! We will be working on our campaign all week and the final election is this Friday. 

Grammar –

We will be reviewing adjectives, root words, prefixes, and suffixes. We will be making posters, jingles, and playing bingo!

Have a good week!

November 14-18

Reading-
We will continue to read stories about transportation this week, while practicing how to create images about the text we read. 

Formative Assessments-
We began taking formative assessments, which are practice tests for State Assessments.  We will be taking one in reading and one in math every week.  In reading, the students will be tested on narrative and expository reading passages.  In math, the students will take short quizzes that each emphasize a specific math skill. 

Spelling-
The patterns for this week are:

• silent b,g, and gh (I have added to this list and it will now be a 15 word list)
• prefix- "sub-" which means under

Math-
We completed multiplication today with our Topic 6 Test.  We will be studying geometry for the remainder of the week.  The lessons will include these topics:

• Lines and Line Segments
• Angles
• Polygons
• Triangles

Writing-
We began writing Descriptive Essays last week and will continue to develop them this week.

Social Studies-
We learned about the 3 branches of government last week and will learn about citizenship this week.  Students will understand the differences between Rights and Responsibilities.

November 7-11

You will find some information in your child's Monday folder today about a new program that third grade is sponsoring called Cool the Earth. It is a program where the kids will take an initiative towards helping the earth. The students will come home with a coupon book. They only need to complete a task one time to bring the coupon in. The pledge is for them to try to continue it, but not anything they will need to keep track of.

Also, Prairie Ridge is having their annual food drive to help support the Johnson County Christmas Bureau. 

Here is the list of items we are collecting:
Monday- Pasta
Tuesday- Canned Food
Wednesday- Boxed or Bagged Cereal
Thursday- PB&J
Friday- Cake or Brownie mixes
(please do not send in any glass jars)

Math
This week in math we will continue to work on Topic 6. We will be practicing our multiplication facts and will be completing this unit early next week.

Reading
We start a new unit in Rigby, Theme 6 which is called "Roads to Travel On." This week our comprehension focus will be creating mental images while reading.

Writing/GrammarWe will continue to focus on prefixes and suffixes and how they can change a word.

Social Studies
This week we will start our unit on government. Students will learn government vocabulary and the importnace of documents such as the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and The Constitution.

SpellingThe Rigby Spelling list will focus on silent consonants w, h, b, g, and gh. The Rigby words are room, same, saw, that's, comb, honest, limb, numb, wrist, and tomb. The extension list focus is contra, counter (against, opposite). The extensions words are contraband, contradict, contrarian, contrary, contrast, counterbalance, counterclockwise, counterexample, counterfeit, counterintuitive.

October 31- November 4

Happy Halloween!!!  I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable evening tonight.  There will not be any homework tonight so that you can enjoy this evening with your families!

After last week's full week of activities, we will be getting back to our normal routines this week.  Please look over what we have planned and let me know if you have any questions.

Reading- We will complete Theme 5 on Friday with a Theme test.  Small reading groups will begin meeting again this week after taking a couple weeks off for benchmarking. 

Spelling- The pattern this week is "oy and oi".  The prefix pattern this week is "co- and com-" which means together or with.

Grammar- We will practice combining sentences this week.  This will help devleop the students sentence fluency when they write.

Math- We are contininuing to learn our basic multiplication facts this week.  We will learn how to multiply by 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.  After this week, they will have learned all their facts through 10, so it would be a good time to get some flash cards so they can practice memorizing them at home.

Science- This week we will be learning about weather.

October 24-28

I really enjoyed getting a chance to meet with each of you last week to discuss your child's progress.  Thank you all for attending.

This will be another exciting week with a lot of fun things planned!

It is RED RIBBON WEEK!! Here is a list of the spirit wear days!
Red Ribbon Week Spirit Days:
Monday, October 24:
Wear your favorite team sports jersey or T-shirt to "Kick Off" Red Ribbon Week and to Team Up Against Drugs!
Tuesday, October 25:
Wear RED to show your support for Red Ribbon Week!
Wednesday, October 26:
Wear Sweats today, because saying NO to drugs and alcohol is "no sweat!"
Thursday, October 27:
Wear Crazy Socks to "Sock It" to drugs!
Friday, October 28:
Wear your favorite hat because we are "putting a lid on" drugs and alcohol!

On Wednesday, October 26, the third grade will have their Tourism Day. You are welcome to attend. It will run from 1:00-3:30. You can stop by and see how your child has become "An Expert" on their state.

Halloween Parade and Party
Friday, October 28
Students can bring their costume to school to dress up for the parade and Halloween Party.  We will change into costumes around 2:30 and be ready for the parade at 2:45.  The party will be from 3:00-3:40.  If you are able to come help out, please stop on by. 
Math
We will be finishing up Topic 5 this week and will have the test this Friday. The last few lessons include how to multiply with multiples of 10 and using problem solving to figure out two step story problems. I will be assigning the topic readiness test Wednesday night online.

Reading
We will continue Theme 5 "Times Have Changed" in Rigby. The comprehension strategies we will continue to focus on are monitor understanding and reviewing synthesizing.
The Rigby Spelling list will focus on the ou, ow, oy, and oi patterns. The Rigby list is first, fish, live, pick, pouch, allow, ounce, growl, proud, and mountain.
The extension list focus is quad (four). The extension words are quadrangle, quadrant, quadrennial, quadriceps, quadrilateral, quadrilingual, quadrisect, quadruped, quadruple, and quadruplet.

Social StudiesWe will continue our geography unit where the students have began doing research on an assigned state. The culminating Tourism Day is on Wednesday from 12:30-3:30.

Have a great week!

October 17-21

Hi Families,

This will be a short update since we have a short week.

The Book Fair started today!  Our class will be visiting the Book Fair tomorrow morning.  If you would like to send money with your child, they will have the opportunity to buy some books then.  Otherwise, they can make a wish list for you and you can visit the Book Fair when you are here for conferences.  The students in my class will recieve a $5 gift certificate for bringing in the most money for Lap-A-Thon.  I will give those to the kids tomorrow before they go to the Book Fair.  They can either spend it then, or you can take it with you when you go.

Parent Conferences are Wednesday evening and all day Thursday.  I am pretty sure I have everyone scheduled.  So I look forward to meeting with you later this week.

Students do not have school on Thursday or Friday this week!

A quick look at our learning for the week:
Reading- We began Theme 5 today--Times Have Changed.

Math- We are continuing to learn different multiplication facts.  This week we will learn 1, 0, and 10.

Social Studies and Writing- The boys and girls began doing research on a state last week.  We will continue to gather information this week as well.  They will be presenting the information that they collect on Tourism Day, which is scheduled for next Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Science-  Solar Houses are due on Monday, October 24th!

Halloween Party and Parade-- next Friday, October 28th; parade is at 2:45 followed by the party at 3:00

October 10-14

This is the last week of the 1st quarter!!  Can you beleive how fast it has gone?!  There will be no school for students this Friday.  This will be a teacher work day in order for us to finish up our 1st quarter grades and get prepared to meet with you for Parent Conferences next week. 

Here's a look at the learning that will happen this week in our class:
Reading
We are still practicing how to "synthesize" information when we read.  This is when we put ideas together to create new ideas. 
Our Theme Test will be on THURSDAY this week.

I will not be meeting with small groups this week or next week.  I will be benchmarking students to get their current reading level so that I can re-evaluate reading groups for the 2nd quarter.

Spelling
The patterns this week are:
   1.  ie, igh, oa, and ow
   2.  "tri-" which means three.
The test will be on Thursday this week.

Writing
We are publishing our "I Am" poems and our sequences this week. 
In grammar we will be learning about imperative and exclamatory sentences.  Ask your child if they can tell you the difference between the two types of sentences.

Math
We did a review lesson today and will be taking our Topic 4 test tomorrow.
We will begin Topic 5 on Wednesday. The lessons in this topic focus on multiplication facts and patterns.

Social Studies
We are continuing to study maps and will begin a state research project later this week.  The majority of this project will be completed at school.  The 3rd graders will be hosting a "Tourism Day" on October 27.  This is the culminating event for this project.  Students will have the opportunity during our "Tourism Day" to share all the information they learned about the state they researched.

Science
Reminder:  Solar Houses are due on Monday, October 24th.