October 8, 2012

* Just a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, October 12th.

*Students who maintained a clean behavior calendar (one or less infractions) will get treated to popcorn on Wednesday during lunch.

Reading

Our story this week is the nonfiction story about the Olympic Games.  The children will work in groups this week to read this story, document information, and present it to their classmates.  We are learning how to gather information from text to learn something new, not just for enjoyment.  In addition, we will continue to read our chapter book The Haunting of Third Grade.  Thinking about our reading will be stressed as we use meta-cognition while reading our story.  We will discuss the difference between what the text says and how we think about the text.

In writng, the students will be finishing a project on identifying subjects and predicates.  Compound subjects and compound predicates will be introduced.

In math, this week students will use place value to identify addition patterns. We will also work on mental addition strategies. Students will use expanded notation and rounding to help with mental math.

In Social Studies, we are learning about maps, continents, oceans, directions, the compass rose and relative location.  Mrs. Kelley will be coming in on Thursday for a lesson on using self talk.

October 1, 2012

*On Tuesday all third graders will be taking the Ohio Achievement Reading Assessment in the morning.  Please be sure your child has a good night’s rest and nutritional breakfast.  Students are also encouraged to bring in a water bottle (to keep our brain and bodies hydrated).  Results should be back in about 8 weeks.  We will be using this data to provide reading lessons or interventions to promote success on the spring testing in May.

September 24, 2012

School events:

* On Thursday morning this week, we will have an all school assembly presented by the Hill Brothers  titled  There’s No Place for Bullies in our School!!!!

*Thanks to Kate Kern and Sue Nall for volunteering to be our room parents this school year!  An information and sign up form was sent home last week.  Please send in $5 in an envelope with your child’s name and “class money” written on the outside of the envelope. They are already preparing for our first class party which will be our Halloween party on Oct. 31st.

*All third graders will be taking part in hearing and vision screening this week.

*Next Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, the entire third grade will be taking the Ohio Achievement Test.  This test will be administered in the morning.  Please keep your child’s test schedule of Tuesday in mind when making plans for next week.

*Please plan on joining  Highland Drive at Pinnacle Sports inMedina next Thursday, Oct. 4th from 5:30-9pm.  This sounds like a great family opportunity as well as a way to see other Highland Drive friends and families.  This is our BIG fundraiser of the year.  Monies raised during our yearly fall fundraiser go toward items such as school assemblies, to books, or updated technology.  The PSO has provided countless gifts to our students and schools in the past which have contributed to Highland Drive’s success.  Forms for this evenings events can be found on the Highland Drive webpage under the PSO tab.

*Picture day is next Friday, Oct. 5th.  Information on purchasing pictures went home in mailboxes today.  Picture envelopes should be brought in on picture day.

Reading/Language Arts

This week , we continue our theme “Something Special!” by reading Nate the Great San Francisco Detective by Majorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat.  This mystery introduces us to detective Nate who searches San Francisco for a lost joke book.  He discovers that the wrong place can be the best place to look for a lost item.

As we read the story, we will be learning : new vocabulary words, decoding long words, confirming predictions and identifying the narrative elements such as characters, setting , and plot.

The children will be writing their own How To paragraphs near the week’s end.  Their goal will be to include transition words (first, next, then and finally), topic sentence, summary sentence, and descriptive words into their writing.  They will be writing about how to carve a pumpkin.

Math

We are spending our week reviewing rounding to the nearest ten and hundred with some games and small group activities.  We will be taking our Unit 1 test on Friday.  Look for review sheets to be sent home Wed. and Thursday this week.

Science

We will be finishing up our first unit on scientific inquiry on Thursday.  Please review the vocabulary cards that were brought home today.  We will have a quiz on these terms on Thursday.  We will be starting our mapping unit for social studies on Friday.

September 17, 2012

Grade 2-3 OPEN HOUSE is scheduled for this Thursday, September 20th from 5:30-6:30pm.  The children have been working hard and are eager to show off their work and classroom.  All are welcome to attend this event!

If you have not already completed filling out the information on INFOSNAP, please do so this week.  The deadline for this completion is Friday, September 21st.

Reading

This week , we will continue our theme “Something Special!” by reading Pepita Talks Twice.    As we read the story, students will be learning: new vocabulary, how to decode long words, how to use text to confirm meaning, making and confirming predictions, categorization, and dictionary skills.  Our spelling pattern will be: words with short “i”, “o”, and “u”.  We will be reviewing telling and asking sentences and will be introduced to our “daily writing” activity. 

The class has really taken off with our “Read to Self” daily activity.  We now know there are 3 ways to read a book: read the pictures, read the words, and to retell the story.  We have been adding reading strategies to our “Face of a Reader” bulletin board to help with our independent reading.

Math

This week we will be learning how to round numbers to the nearest ten and to the nearest hundred.  We will learn the poem: 4 or less, let it rest, 5 or more, make it score.  As we chant this poem, we will decide whether to round our numbers up or down.  Our centers at the end of the week will help us review and reinforce place value concepts to prepare us for the unit test next week.

Science

We are almost done with our scientific inquiry unit and will have a quiz on the terms next week. Students will use some of our tools this week to practice proper use. We will be conducting experiments with hot and cold water.

Week of September 10

Special Events:

Friday is Elementary Football Night at the Bees Stadium.  Come watch the Brecksville Bees take on Berea (7:00pm) .  Join the tailgate party for pregame fun!(5:30pm)

If you have not already added contact/emergency information to INFOSNAP, please complete ASAP.  It is important for the school to have this information available so that we can contact parents quickly when the need arises. Deadline is Sept. 21st.

Please consider joining the Highland Drive PSO.  Membership is only $5.00.  The first PSO meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday at 9:30.  Babysitting is available for $1.00.  Contact Joanna Hamilton at tomjoham@roadrunner.com.

Bee wear orders are due by Wed. 12th.  Order forms can be found on the Highland Drive PSO webpage.

Reading

 As we read t he story Officer Buckle , students will be learning: new vocabulary, how to decode long words, how to use text to confirm meaning, analogies, synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meaning words and the CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) pattern.  Nouns, verbs, adjectives, punctuation, capitalization will continue to be the subject of our grammar lessons this week.  Students will also begin their guided reading groups.

We DO NOT have new spelling words this week.  Students will be tested on applying last week words while writing dictated sentences on Friday.  

Math

This week in math we will continue to work with place value. Our Rocket Math fluency program is working out very well. Students are working hard to meet their goals and are charting their progress. Please ask them to share with you at home how the program works. We will begin working in math centers this week so that differentiated learning will occur. Students will work with the teacher, conduct a special place value project using a menu, work on math computer programs, reinforce with the use of place value games, develop fluency, and individual work. Simple Solutions will come home for homework Mondays thru Thursdays every week.

Science

Our focus this week will be on inquiry and the scientific method. We begin the week with the question, “How do scientists answer questions?” Next, we will conduct a scientific Method experiment! The rest of the week the class will explore science tools and do an activity with our microscopes.

Week of Sept. 3

This year in Third Grade, students will spend five weeks reading stories that follow a certain theme.  Our first them of the year will be “Something Special.” In this theme, students read about people and characters who discover that their own ideas, interests, and abilities are special.  Discovering their special qualities helps them earn the appreciation of others and gain better understanding of themselves.

We will begin theme one by reading Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman.  This fantasy story takes us along with Officer Buckle as he travels to different school giving safety speeches to the children.  His speeches are a big hit until he finds out that everyone is watching the police dog, Gloria, not him.

As we read the story, students will be learning: new vocabulary, how to decode long words, how to use text to confirm meaning , analogies, synonyms, and multiple meaning words.  Nouns, verbs, adjectives, punctuation, and capitalization will be the subject of our grammar lessons this week.  Students will learn how to Read to Self by first learning how to choose the best book to read.  We will use the IPICK acronym to pick out books.  I = I pick a book. P= purposeWhy do I want to read it?, I=interest, What do I like reading about?, C= comprehension, Do I understand?, K=know, Do I know most of the words?  The 5 finger rule will also be introduced.  Your child will be taught to pick a book, open it up, and start to read.  Every time they get to a word that they do not know, they will hold up one finger.  If you hold up all 5 fingers, the book is too hard.  If they hold up less than 5, the book is just right!  Try using the IPICK or 5 Finger rule at home before reading daily.

On Friday, we will be participating in our annual Fall Dibels Assessment.  This quick 1 minute reading  test will provide us with information on your child’s reading fluency.

Spelling words this week are: sat, felt, last, send , next, best, went, hand, stand, past, grand, stamp, belt, lend, checked.  We will take our first test on Friday.

Math

The class will be introduced to the Mastering Math Facts program.  The children will be practicing their math facts daily with a peer to gain fact fluency.

We will be starting our first unit in our My Math book. This unit will focus on place value, expanded notation, and writing numerals with words.

Science

We will be starting the year with the question, “What do scientists do?”  We will be learning about the questions scientists ask as they observe, predict, and apply skills.  The children will participate in a communication activity where they build a structure and have to verbally tell their partner how to replicate it.

We had a great first day of school! Our first day jitters disappeared with a little help from our Jitter Juice.  We ended our day with a third grade NAMEO activity where we had the opportunity to meet new friends.

Tomorrow evening the PSO is having a Back to School night from 6-8pm.  The PSO will be providing you with information about their organization as well as school sponsored events.  Kids get to enjoy playing in a bounce house and eating ice cream!  Hope you can come!