We are in the final stretch! This is the last newsletter of third grade! Next MONDAY, I will send an email with important information as we wrap up our school year.
We took a break from our read-aloud, How to Eat Fried Worms, and we’re back to reading about Billy eating ten worms. I will be sending home a permission slip on Thursday about the movie version of the book. The movie is PG, and I’ve gone through it multiple times, but I still value your input. They are set to watch the movie on June 1 if all goes to plan. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Math: We have a couple more lessons to go through before we begin closing our final math chapter of the year. Please continue to have them practice fractions at home. They can use IXL or Freckle. I can tell that they’ve been practicing as they are rockstars in class. Please encourage them to draw out fraction strips to help visualize the fractions they compare or use. They should always start with one whole and work their way down. Their math test will be Tuesday, May 31, because we had our field trip on Monday. Reading: We are having group discussions about Matilda. This week, we will summarize key parts and talk about the book's theme. We will also talk about our favorite and least favorite parts of the book. Some friends shared their thoughts on the movie throughout last week and compared it to the book. They enjoyed reading Matilda and learning some new vocabulary. They’ve all put together excellent lesson plans, and I can’t wait to see them in action. Here are their teaching days and orders. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
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We are closing in on the finish line! This year has been a great one and has flown by really fast. We've been having such a blast that I can't believe they're less than two weeks away from being 4th graders! Next Tuesday will be the last newsletter. It will include crucial end-of-the-year information.
I am still waiting on Mr. Koehne to update me on the volunteer list. I will send an email on Friday with important field trip information. If you have any questions or concerns before then, please let me know. First through fourth grade have a musical this Friday. They will perform for the school Friday morning and again Friday night for family and friends at 7:00 pm. They need to arrive at school at 6:30 pm and come up to the classroom. Math: We are moving through our fractions unit. We spent a lot of time Friday, Monday, and today learning how to measure things to the nearest ½ inch and the nearest ¼ inch. Later this week, we will move into the conversion (turning improper fractions to mixed fractions) and equivalent fractions lessons. Their test will be on May 27 or May 31. Please continue to have them use IXL and Freckle to practice fractions. Reading: We are moving through our class novel. We should finish the book by the end of the week. Each group will have a chance to put together a presentation to showcase the book and what they learned. It’ll be their final reading project for the year! We’ve reached the point in the school year where I begin to allow students to teach lessons. On Friday, they will bring home their information sheet that outlines what they will be doing. They will start becoming mini teachers Tuesday, May 24. The warm days are here! Yesterday and today were along the warmer side of things. Please continue to send them in cooler clothing. We will go outside since it’s nicer and the building is a little stuffy. We are also running low on wipes, so please send in what you can.
We started map testing this week. We had our math map test today. We will take our reading and language usage map tests on Wednesday and Thursday. Field trip: We are all set for our zoo field trip! It will be a combined trip with 4th grade to Lincoln Park Zoo on Monday, May 23. They are bringing home a permission slip in their Tuesday folder. Please return the bottom portion by Friday, May 20. Both Mrs. Brucato and I will be taking two chaperones, so if anyone would like to chaperone, let me know. It’s free! :) The memory work due May 17 is Genesis 17:9 → God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. Math: We are moving through our fractions unit. We’ve been practicing how to show fractions using fraction pieces and a number line. We will take a small quiz to check in and see how we are doing before we begin talking about equivalent fractions. However, they can always get a headstart using Freckle and IXL. During this unit, we will also look at line plots and discuss how line plots are used and how rulers are a physical number line broken into ¼ pieces. Readings: We are moving into one of my favorite parts of the year, the novel study unit. We will be reading Matilda. We will read this book and practice all of the comprehension skills that we’ve learned all year. We will discuss cause & effect, problem & solution, compare & contrast, theme, main idea, point of view, summarization, characterization, etc. Note: Please remove the sheet on the cover of their Tuesday folder. That is for you to keep at home as it’s set up with reminders for you. Happy Tuesday! Grace started map testing this week. However, we begin next week. We will take our math map test Tuesday at 8:30, so please try to have them at school before 8:20. We will take our reading and language usage tests on Wednesday and Thursday.
Field trip update: We are waiting for the bus company to confirm if they are available on May 26. Once that is done, I will be sending home permission slips and other information. I will need two volunteers to attend the field trip. Due to covid, the zoo had limited slots, so all adults going will have to pay a fee to enter. I’m waiting to hear back if the school will pay or if that is out of pocket for everyone, me included. I apologize for that. Please let me know if anyone would like to chaperone. The memory work due May 10 is Genesis 17:8 (International Children’s Bible Version) → You live in the land of Canaan now as a stranger. But I will give you and your descendants all this land forever. And I will be the God of your descendants. Math: We started our fractions unit last week. We are using fraction strips in class to help us visualize the fractions that we are discussing. They were so excited to use the strips, and they’re looking forward to using the circle fraction pieces. They are doing really well so far. We will be introducing rulers and number lines by the end of the week. So, please encourage them to practice that at home. They can always use IXL and Freckle. Reading: We are starting unit 5 in our Wonders curriculum. This week we will cover summarization using the “Somebody wanted but so then finally” model. Summarizing is something that they struggled with, so I want to make sure that they are solid summarizers as we move h to the end of the school year. Earlier in the year, we learned about the author’s point of view and the narrator’s point of view. So, we will tap into that previous knowledge as we learn about the character's point of view. We will spend some time talking about the first, second, and third person as well. Grammar/Writing: We will work on adverbs this week. Towards the end of the week and beginning of next week, we will start working with adjectives and adverbs. Our how-to essays will come to a close this week. I plan to hang those on the bulletin board over the weekend. They’ve worked so hard on those. Science/ Social Studies: We are finally done with our 3rd chapter in our social studies unit. We will begin working on the unit project Wednesday, which involves them creating their own country. As I said last week, most of them already have their country’s name and other essential details. They will present these early next week. They will take a small quiz on May 10 or May 11. We will end the year talking about climate, life cycles, and the three branches of government. *Note* Please remove sheet on the cover of their Tuesday folder. That is for you to keep at home as it's set up with reminders for you. Happy Tuesday! We are finalizing our poetry books this week. I plan to include a group photo in the back of the book. They took a class vote on Monday, and the color with the most votes was blue. So, please make sure that they wear blue tomorrow so that I can get that picture uploaded to the company for our book. If you would still like to order a book and haven’t returned the form, please send it in tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
The memory work due May 3 is Genesis 17:7 → I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Math: We wrapped up our perimeter unit today. The plan is to move into our fractions unit by Thursday. They had some exposure to fractions during our technology time today, so feel free to allow them to keep practicing on Freckle. Social Studies: We are starting our last lesson in our chapter, which will cover the American Revolution. They are learning about the event differently as we won’t read about it in our books. They will work together to research the information using some links that I provided and create a play. On Friday, we will move into the project aspect of things, and they will begin creating their own country. Some of them have already started thinking about the names of their country and the languages that their citizens will speak. I’m excited to see what they put together. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break and had a chance to relax and enjoy time with your family. I can’t believe we’re down to 6 weeks left in school (not counting this week). It seems like yesterday I was meeting them all for the first time. Now they’re almost 4th graders.
I am planning a field trip to Brookfield Zoo in May. The date has not been finalized, but it will most likely be on a Thursday. This trip happens every year and connects with our science units on weather, climates, and habitats. I will send more details as I finalize things. I will need two chaperones, so if you think that you would like to join us, please let me know. Class Poetry Book: The order form will be coming today in their Tuesday folder. I will need the dorm back by next Tuesday, April 26. The price ranges from $22.95 to $29.95. The orders should arrive around May 5 or a little after. They are super excited, and so am I! Reading: we wrapped up our poetry unit last week, so we’re back into the swing of daily 4. This week we will review expository text and cause and effect. We will learn about homophones and homographs. We will also do some more practice with adjectives. They can practice adjectives, homophones, and homographs on IXL during their downtime at home if they would like. I’ve starred them all for them. Math: We are in the last leg of our perimeter unit. We will begin the review process on Friday. Please have them do some practice on IXL with perimeter to continue to reinforce the skills. They will take the test next Tuesday, April 26. If we need to retake the test, we will review again that Wednesday and test that Thursday. Science: As I mentioned last week, their science test will be this Friday. They took a practice test today and will take another one on Thursday. We will also play a review game that I will post on Google Classroom. In their Tuesday folder, you will find a review sheet that I will also put on Google Classroom. We are cruising through the school year. It feels just like yesterday they were walking through the door for the first time.
The warm days are coming, so please begin to send them with warmer clothing as we will go outside often (lunch, recess, walks, and maybe even class). I found a company called Student Treasures that allows classrooms to become published authors. Since we are in our poetry unit, we will be creating our own poetry book. Luckily since they are a small class, they will each get to publish two poems. Each poem will also include a drawing. Next Tuesday, I will send home order forms with them in their Tuesday folder. The company only plans to send the classroom book, but they can order one for themselves as a keepsake. The price ranges from $22.95 to $29.95. We’re all so excited to put together this book. Math: We started our perimeter unit last Thursday. They like this unit, as they focus on adding and nothing else. However, they sometimes find the area instead of the perimeter. Over Easter break, please have them spend some time on IXL practicing perimeter things. After Thursday, we’ll only have 1.5 more lessons. We will begin reviewing for the test next Friday and take the assessment the following Tuesday, April 26. Science: We are wrapping up lesson 3 in our science chapter this week. Next week, we will move into the review stage of things. We will take two practice tests, one in the book and one outside the book. We will also play a review game. The test will be next Friday, April 22. Mr. & Mrs. Worthy would like to order pizza for everyone on Thursday to celebrate Shania's birthday. So, please do not send a packed lunch that day. A simple snack would be fine. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Break! Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your spring break vacation. I loved hearing about all of the fun things they did while away. They all seemed very excited to be back. Outside lunch will start back this week. As long as the weather is nice, we'll go out for lunch. Please send a blanket or a towel for them to use to sit on as we eat outside. I will do my best to send them home on Fridays for cleaning. Reading: April is National Poetry Month, and I adore poetry. It's one of my favorite forms of writing. So, we will spend the next two weeks reading and writing different poems. At the end of the month, we will work together to create a class poetry book that we'll keep in our classroom. I am working on a way for them each to receive a copy. I also would like for them to practice having a poetry slam. They thought it was a great idea! The smiles, the laughter, and the excitement told me that they were going to have fun! Math: I graded our area test over spring break, and it was clear that the test was a little confusing for them. So, we spent some time reviewing the test and retaking it. Around Wednesday/Thursday, we will start our new unit on perimeter. I am hopeful that the perimeter unit will be a little easier for them. Science: We are moving through chapter 3. This week, we will review lessons 1 and 2 and then move into lesson 3. When we first started this chapter they were really excited to learn about hazardous weather. We will dive a little deeper and talk about ways people can stay safe. I would anticipate that we start reviewing for the test next Thursday, and the following Monday. Spring break is next week. I hope you all get a chance to do something fun! I can’t wait to hear all about the fun things you do when they return on April 4.
No memory work this week as we will finish moving through unit 5 in our religion curriculum before we begin our Easter unit when we return. We are wrapping up our units for math and reading. We take our math test on Friday. It will only cover area using unit squares, irregular shapes, and DPOM. They will take two practice tests, one in the book and one on Savvas. Both of which they will be able to have access to starting tomorrow. We will also wrap up our literature circle unit on Friday. They will all be presenting their books, and I will record them for you!. They had a lot of fun reading their books and discussing what was happening. I’ve even had some of them request literature circles for the rest of the year. We will move back into our Wonders curriculum for a little and then finish the year with literature circles! Yay! We started chapter 3 in both science and social studies this month. We will finish lesson 2 in both of those units this week. Our science chapter is shorter than our social studies one, so I would anticipate us closing that chapter early in April. As always, I'll let you know the dates as we get closer. Happy Tuesday! We had a ton of fun last week, and I hope you all heard about all of the fun things we did. I think everyone’s favorite day was Tuesday, Superhero Day. The memory verse for the week comes from 1 Peter 2:11 → Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Math: We are moving along in our area unit. We will begin reviewing for our test next Monday. The test will be next Friday. This week we spent a lot of time finding the area of shapes using DPOM. We’ve also started finding the area of irregular shapes. We talked about the three steps that they need to do:
Reading: We are wrapping up our literature circle unit. Each group will complete their books Wednesday night, and we will begin moving into the project phase. As we wrap up the week, they will vote on a project and begin planning. Next week, we will continue working on the projects, but head back into our Wonders curriculum. Next Friday, March 25, they will present their literature circle projects to the class. Spring break begins on March 28. I will send home progress reports next Tuesday so that you have an idea of how they are doing. Happy Tuesday! I enjoyed meeting with all of you last week! The sessions are always short, so if there is anything that you would like to finish discussing, please let me know.
This week is Lutheran Schools Week. It’s essentially a spirit week where we dress up and do all kinds of fun activities. Monday was animal print day and we got to see some cool animals and play some animal games. Today was Superhero day. We spent some time completing an obstacle course. Wednesday is Pajama day and it will be a pretty relaxed day. The special treat that day is Nachos (chips with cheese). They should still bring something to go along with it. Thursday is bright colors, wacky tacky, and crazy hair day. Mrs. Rentieria will lead us in an Encanto-themed dance. They will also get a nice treat at the end. I will continue to send pictures to GroupMe! Friday is Grandparents day with a live-streamed musical showcase! The memory verse for the week comes from 1 Peter 2:10 → Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; Once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. Math: We are deep in our area unit. We have been working with area using unit squares. As we move throughout the unit, we will start finding the area using length times width. We will spend some extra time on that this week and start wrapping our heads around the connections between area and DPOM. Once we “close” out area, we will then focus on perimeter and how it’s related to area. They’ve already deemed perimeter to be easy. Please feel free to have them work on IXL during their free time on the different area and perimeter things. Social Studies: We are starting chapter 3 in our curriculum books. There are about six lessons, and we will cover a lot of information. We will learn about the different explorers, the different Native American tribes that inhabited the land, the Declaration of Independence, and many more people and things that shaped our country. Instead of a test, they will complete a project using what they've learned to create their own country. They will also take a 20 question quiz. Science: We start starting chapter 3 this week. In this chapter, we will be learning about weather. We will learn about the water cycle, the different seasons, and the forms of hazardous weather. By the end of this chapter, they will be able to explain the parts of the water cycle, explain why different parts of the world have different weather patterns, explain how the weather is predicted, and explain how to stay safe during hazardous weather. Happy Tuesday Thank you for sending in wipes! Parent-teacher conferences are this Thursday. They begin at 1:00 and are about 10-15 minutes in length. Report cards and MAP scores are in their Tuesday folder. I will email all of you the zoom information you will need. See you tomorrow! Lutheran Schools Week is next week (March 7-March 11). A flyer went home last week. There are so many fun things planned, and I can’t wait to see them all dressed up. I will try to take pictures and send them to GroupMe!
The memory work for the week comes from 1 Peter 2:9 due March 8 → But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life. Math: We started our area and perimeter unit this week, and so far they seem to like the concept. In this unit, we learn how to find the area of a shape by multiplying the length by the width, and by counting unit squares. We will also learn how to use DPOM (the distributive property of multiplication) to find the area of a shape. We will also spend some time learning how perimeter is related to area, and how certain shapes can have the same area and same perimeter. They are looking forward to building area and perimeter robots, and I’m looking forward to seeing how creative they can get! We will likely, work through this unit until spring break. Social Studies: We will wrap up our BHM unit this Thursday. My friends will take a small quiz on the things and people we learned about. Next week, we will start chapter 3 in our curriculum book, which covers early American history. So, we will learn about the different explorers and the different things they did on their journey. We will also learn about events such as the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party, and the establishment of the declaration of Independence. We will also carve some time in our day to learn about some important women in history such as Sonia Sotomayor, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren since March is Women's History Month. Happy Tuesday! I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! Just as a reminder, parent-teacher conferences are on March 3. Dismissal will be at 11:30 AM. We are running low on Clorox wipes. We use the wet wipes about 3-4 times a day. We would appreciate it if you could send some more in for us. Thank you! On Thursday, the 4th-grade class will be selling chips and lemonade during lunchtime to raise money for the Grace refugee families. Chips are $1 and a cup of lemonade is $.050. Friday is also pizza lunch! MATH: We are finished with topic 5. We spent some time Friday and today reviewing the material. We will take our practice test tomorrow. They will take their test on Thursday. Our next topic is a combination of topic 6 and topic 16, which covers area and perimeter. We will work on those two units up until spring break. READING: We are starting our literature circle unit this week. They're broken into groups, and each selected their book on Friday. Every night they will read a certain set amount of chapters (between 1-3) and complete an assignment related to what they read. It's very important that they read the chapters as we discuss them together when we meet. At the end of the unit, the groups will create a project to show the other groups what their book was about and what they learned. SOCIAL STUDIES: As we begin to wrap up our Black History Month unit, we will start reviewing for a small quiz that we will take next week. We will review as we normally would for anything else. With March being Women’s History Month, we will take a deep dive into the different women in history that have been a part of some amazing events in history! SCIENCE: We will start our third science chapter next week, which covers weather. We will also discuss the water cycle, the four seasons, and how the weather is predicted and measured. We will also talk about hazardous weather, such as hurricanes and tsunamis. Happy Tuesday! We are approaching the end of trimester two, which is February 25. Parent-teacher conferences are on March 3. Dismissal will be at 11:30 AM. I look forward to talking with all of you!
Their Black History Month projects are due Tuesday. They can start bringing those in as they finish them. They should turn in their poster, research guide, and actual report. We are running low on Clorox wipes. We use the wet wipes about 3-4 times a day. We would appreciate it if you could send some more in for us. Thank you! Math: We are working our way through topic 5. We are spending a lot of time using the multiplication table and understanding how to use it. We are also taking some time to look for patterns in the table that would help us understand multiplication even more. This topic has also forced us to refer to the many properties of multiplication we learned, which many of my friends have forgotten. So, please have them do some practice with:
Reading: We are wrapping up unit 3 this week. We are still reading expository text but, we are focusing more on story sequencing. We spent some time talking about sequencing events and time-order words. This week we are also reviewing prefixes and suffixes with us zeroing in on un-, dis-, non-, -ful, and -able. Next week we will start our first literature circle unit. So, their reading homework will look a little different and will sometimes involve them reading a set number of pages/chapters. Happy Tuesday! We have a pretty relaxed week ahead of us this week. We are finishing up our map test this week. So, we will take a break from daily-four rotations. We will use the time that we have to review the grammar things that we've covered this year and finish up our friendly letters. The goal is to have those completed by Friday.
Their progress reports are in their Tuesday folder, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Although there is snow on the ground, we still go out for recess. We are permitted outside if the weather is 20 degrees or above. For the most part, my friends tend to have their things. Please remind them to bring those every day. If they do not need their snow gear at home, they can leave it in their lockers. Math: We are starting topic five this week, which is our last multiplication and division unit. It will focus on looking for patterns inside a multiplication table. We will also discuss how we can look for ways to use some of the properties we learned inside the table. This topic will also cover multiplication and division word problems. Social Studies: We started our Black History Month unit this week. We will spend some time learning about how Black History Month started, and we will navigate through the different big moments in history. We will also spend some time learning about some of the other people on the list that they didn’t choose. Normally, we take some time to make mini-posters for our bulletin board, so we will try to do a few of those as well. Their posters, report, and research guide will be due on February 22. We will start presentations on the 23rd. The goal is to have those completed by the 25th. |
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