Mrs. Kucharski's 3rd Grade Class

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:26:39 +0000

Reading/language Arts
This week students will be presented a test to demonstrate their knowledge of the skills that have been presented over the past five weeks. We begin our week by taking a pretest on these skills and reviewing anything that needs clarification. This review sheet will come home on Monday to study with. On Tuesday the students will take this test. Wednesday and Thursday has us working on our monthly common assessment. This month we will identify current events and summarizing skills by reading a current event article. The class will read a current event, fill out a graphic organizer, and begin the summary writing process.

Math
Our new chapter on place value begins this week. Chapter 5 finds us reviewing place value through the ten-thousands on Monday. Tuesday we will practice reading, writing, comparing, and ordering numbers less than 100,000. On Wednesday and Thursday we will extend place value to millions along with reading and writing it.

Science
The rocks and minerals test will be on Tuesday. Your child came home with all of the review packets last week to study with. They will have a review game on Monday to help them. Wednesday we start our new science unit on soil. Students will identify common resources and recognize the difference between renewable, reusable, and nonrenewable resources and understand that some resources are mined. On Thursday we will compare different types of soil, identify the different materials in soil and recognize the different layers that soil forms. This will be a two day lesson.

Extras
Tuesday-Science test on Rocks and Minerals.
Thursday-Last set of parent-teacher conferences
Friday-Highland Drive Citizenship Day! The class has earned their 100 gumballs. An e-mail will come home with the details of this day.

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:37:31 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
     This week our story is titled Rosie A Visiting Dog’s Storie by Stephanie Calmenson on pages 258-275. The story is about Rosie, a Tibetan Terrier whose friendly nature makes her a perfect visiting dog. She brings comfort to people in nursing homes and hospitals.
     The skills we will be concentrating on are reading guided comprehension, vocabulary, spelling words with /ou/, decoding long words, classify and categorizing, singular and possessive nouns and writing a How To Essay.
We will also be completing Thanksgiving writing projects from last week. Our end of selection test and vocabulary test will be on Thursday and our spelling test will be on Friday. Students will bring their books home on Tuesday night to reread the story. You can access the spelling words by going to the left side of this page and click on the category spelling lists. Remember, students can also listen to the story at home by clicking on the category- reading stories read aloud on the left side of our web page.

Math
Students will be able to discuss multiplication facts and the number of dots in large arrays along with identifying map scale and estimating differences. We will also review the multiplication/division facts table and fact families; and practice multiplication and division facts. We will discuss the probability of likely events using coins and head or tails experiments. Last, we will test over Unit 4 on Friday. The students will complete a review guide on Thursday and use that to study for their test on Friday.

Science
We will be completing our unit on rocks and minerals and testing over it next Tuesday. The students will complete a review study guide in class and bring it home to use to study for the test next week. We will also look at how erosion and weathering affect rocks and our planet Earth.

Extras

Tuesday, November 11^th - Veteran’s Day - Students will be making flags and learning about the parts of the flag. We will also discuss the importance of this day.
Wednesday-PSO meeting at 9:30 AM.
Thursday, November 13^th – Conferences start for some parents this week and the rest will be next Thursday.

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:35:16 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
This week our story is titled Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie DePaola. When caveboy Little Grunt finds an egg, it hatches into a baby dinosaur he names George. The Grunts let Little Grunt keep George, but he grows too large for the cave and must be exiled to the swamp. Then a volcano erupts, trapping the Grunts, and George is there to save the day.
As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary, word relationships, self-questioning, multiple meaning words, making predictions, synonyms, and author’s purpose. In spelling our pattern will be: words with /oi/. The grammar lesson this week will involve irregular plural nouns. We will also do Thanksgiving writing projects.

Math
Students will be able to discuss multiplication facts and the importance of fact power; and to review fact shortcuts. We will also review the multiplication/division facts table and fact families; and practice multiplication and division facts.

Science
We continue to work on rocks and minerals. Students will be able to identify each mineral by name using an identification sheet. They will use the information they have on their mineral profile sheets to match each of the I.D. cards. The class will also take notes on information they have learned.

Social Studies
Tuesday we will discuss the election process. Voting and electing a President will be one topic. The class will also fill out a voter registration form. Ballots will be passed out on various topics like favorite animal, color, subject, holiday, class reward, food, season, and sport. These will be tallied and the results discussed. We will also turn on CNN and see any Election Day activities.

Extras
**Great Lakes Theater will be here all week. Ask your child to share with you all of the amazing activities they will do!
**Friday report cards come home. Please sign the envelope and send it back on Monday.

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:16:14 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
            This week, we will be reading Wild Shots by Tui De Roy. In this magazine article, a wildlife photographer describes how she took some of her favorite photos.
          As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary, word relationships, self-questioning, multiple-meaning words, making predictions, synonyms, and author’s purpose.
          For writing we will introduce expository writing (summary). This will integrate well with our birthstone report. The focus in grammar will be singular and plural nouns.
Math
          Students will be able to work on division this week along with multiplication. They will learn about division as equal sharing and equal grouping. They will also model division number stories with arrays, multiplication/division diagrams, and number models. Our 3’s will be the focus this week and the times test will be on Thursday.
Science
          We continue to test the different properties of our minerals. On Monday we will test the hardness of our 12 minerals. Tuesday finds us testing the minerals with a magnet and describing the shapes of these. On Wednesday we will have a visit from our Historical Society during science time. Thursday will be our Halloween Party during science at the end of the day.
Extras
Wednesday-Store!
                  -Historical Society here to visit
Thursday-Halloween party 2:00-2:45 Parade 2:45-3:20

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:05:35 +0000

In Reading Language Arts
This week we continue our second theme “What a Team!” This week will be reading a story called Balto, the Dog Who Saved Nome by Margaret Davidson on pages 184-199. In this narrative nonfiction story, diphtheria has broken out in Nome, Alaska. Teams of dog sleds carry medicine 800 miles over snow and ice to prevent an epidemic.
The skills we will be concentrating on are guided reading, comprehension, vocabulary, spelling words with sh, ch, and tch, word relationships, author’s purpose, making predictions, common and proper nouns, and writing a paragraph of information. (Birthstone report) Our end of selection test and vocabulary test will be on Thursday and our spelling test will be on Friday. Students will bring their books home on Tuesday night to reread the story. You can access the spelling words by going to the left side of this blog and click on the category spelling lists. Remember, students can also listen to the story at home by clicking on the category- reading stories read aloud on the left side of our classroom blog.

In Math we are starting a new unit on multiplication and division. Students will be timed every Friday on a new factor up to twelve. A letter was sent home last Thursday night explaining this. This week we will concentrate on the factors 0, 1 and 2. We will learn that the “X” in multiplication means groups of. For example, 2 x 5 really is saying 2 groups of 5. Multiplication is simply repeated addition. Please reinforce this at home and work with your child on a nightly basis the factor of each week. Next week will be 3 and then 4 the following week up to 12’s.

In Science this week we will continue our unit on rocks and minerals. We will be concentrating on the properties of minerals like streak, hardness and luster. Students will be completing hands on experiments with streak plates, flashlights and nails to determine these properties. Also, we will be going on a field trip to the Natural History Museum for the Making of Rocks and Minerals program on Tuesday, October 21st.

Miscellaneous-
Tuesday- Special Safety Presentation covering our safety standards
Tuesday- Field Trip to Museum
Friday-Fall Festival from 5:00-9:00 here at the school.

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:47:29 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
            This week, we will start our second theme “What a Team!” This theme explores ways that people and animals can work together to accomplish goals. Students discover that cooperation can make a difference in relationships and are encouraged to apply that concept to their own lives.
            We will begin our work in theme two by reading Turtle Bay by Saviour Pirotta. This realistic fiction story introduces us to Taro, a young boy who helps Jiro-San, a wise old man, clean up the beach for the giant sea turtles that swim ashore to rest.
            As we read the story, students will be learning: new vocabulary, classification, categorization, homographs, homophones, compound words, and author’s purpose.
            Writing complete sentences will continue to be the subject of our grammar lessons this week.
            This week, students will be working on words with wr, gh, ph, and kn.

Math
Students will be able to develop the concept of area as measuring with identical squares; and to use number models to model calculating the area of the rectangles. On Tuesday we will fill out a review guide in preparation of the Unit 3 test. This guide will come home on Tuesday to study with for our test on Wednesday. Thursday finds us beginning the concept of multiplication!

Science
This week we begin to explore our collection of minerals! Students will create a venn diagram to list properties of minerals. On Tuesday, we will observe and describe 12 minerals. Students will also practice taking notes on the chapters we have read in class.

Extra News
Thursday-Picture Retake
Friday-No School NEOEA Day

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:38:37 +0000

In Reading Language Arts we will be theme testing over the past 6 weeks of skills. These skills are decoding long words, using a dictionary, narrative elements, sentences, statements and questions, commands and exclamations, and subjects and predicates. The students will be completing a pretest review sheet on Wednesday and then the actual test on Thursday. We will also be completing a writing activity for a grade. There is no story this week or spelling words due to the end of theme in our Reading Series and the Reading Achievement test on Monday.

In Math – we will be concentrating on explorations: exploring perimeter and area of an object and number models for area. We will also review from last week the U.S. customary system of measurement with inches, feet, yards and miles.

In Science we will continue our new unit on rocks and minerals. We will discuss and participate in hands on activities where we explore, observe and categorize the 3 types of rocks- Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic. The students are really enjoying this unit so far. Also, the rock and mineral Natural History Museum Field trip permission slip that was passed out on Monday, October 6^th is due by Monday, October 13^th.

Miscellaneous-
Monday, October 6^th is the Ohio Reading Ach. Test from 9:30-12:00.
Tuesday, October 7^th is the Brecksville City Hall Field Trip from 9:30-1:45.
Wednesday, October 8^th is the PSO meeting at 9:30 AM.

**Sally Foster will be accepted as late as Tuesday morning if you still have one to turn in.

Weekly Newsletter

Elena Kucharski — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:39:29 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
This week, we will continue our theme “Something Special!” by reading The Olympic Games: Where Heroes Are Made by Nicholas Camacho. This expository nonfiction story teaches us how the Olympic Games have grown and changed since the first contests were held in ancient Greece. However, one aspect of the games remains the same – their ability to inspire amazing performances from the world’s best athletes.

As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary, practicing syllabication, making inferences, and using antonyms. Writing our book reports this week will be our writing focus. Students will need to state the author, genre, purpose, and audience in their report. They will then present their book report to the class and answer any questions the class may have.

Many parents ask about how they can help their child become a better writer. The answer is simple, the more they write, the better they become. Set aside 20 minutes one night to discuss the day’s events, but instead of oral language, communicate through written language only. Children quickly see the importance of writing skills when they can only communicate this way!

Math
We begin our new unit on measurement this week. Students will explore the need for standard units of measure and create our own special unit of length based on our shoe size! Wednesday the class will choose the appropriate measuring tool to complete a task. Thursday finds us reviewing U.S. Customary and Metric Units of length. Our end of the week consists of measuring polygons and finding perimeters.

Science
In science, our unit on rocks and minerals begins on Monday! The class will form a model rock in class to use in future observations. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the students will explore, observe, and describe 12 different rocks.

Extras
Tuesday-No school due to Waiver Day.

Friday-Sally Foster sale ends. Please send in all materials by Friday.

**Next Monday, October 6^th, is the Ohio Reading Achievement Test. Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest Sunday night and eats a good breakfast Monday morning. Snacks will be provided by our PSO on Monday morning.

Weekly Newsletter for September 22, 2008

Elena Kucharski — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:31:29 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
Our story this week is titled Allie’s Basketball Dream by Barbara E. Barber. This is a story about a girl whose father gives her a basketball for a present. She would love to play but she is afraid of the boys at the playground. When she tries to practice they make fun of her. See what happens to Allie when her friend helps her learn the game. This is a good story about practicing something you really want to do and finally learning how to do it well. Allie is very happy at the end of the story and her father is very proud of her.

Starting this week, students will bring home their reading books. This will be on Tuesdays. I would like for them to re-read the story or follow along with the story on audio from my blog. Every Thursday there is an end of selection test based on the story of the week. Students are allowed to use their book on this as well.

The main focus this week will be on: vocabulary, using the dictionary, narrative elements, and writing a sentence with subjects and predicates. Ask your child to share with you the Mr. Morton Song!

The spelling words this week focus on words with long i and o.

Math
            Students will continue to work with subtraction of 3-digit numbers. On Tuesday, we will explore regrouping with zeros. Wednesday has us solving number stories having three or more addends. On Thursday we will review for our math test on Friday. This review will come home on Thursday. Friday will be our test on chapter 2.
Social Studies
            Students will be able to explain the major functions of local government. We have a book provided by the CVCC that goes over our standards. The class will work on this and bring it home to share. We will also continue to finish our Brecksville Township book which is also a great keepsake about the history of Brecksville/Broadview Heights. Our test on chapter 1 will be on Thursday.
Extra
Monday and Tuesday-I will be at a district training session on these two days. I will check my e-mail at night for any questions you may have.
Thursday-Social Studies test on chapter 1
Friday-Math test on chapter 2

Elena Kucharski — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:51:39 +0000

Reading/Language Arts
This week, we will continue our theme “Something Special!” by reading Nate the Great San Francisco Detective by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat. This mystery introduces us to detective Nate the Great 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, students will be learning new vocabulary and will continue to practice decoding long words.

Writing complete descriptive sentences will continue to be the subject of our grammar lessons this week along with questions and commands. Our spelling pattern will be: words with the long “a” or “e” in them.

Social Studies
Students will continue to identify different landmarks and places in Brecksville this week. Our focus will be the use of the grid system with the x and y axis. Not only will they do this with various maps but our Smart Board also has an interactive lesson on this! The class will also recognize communities exist in different countries all over the world. On Wednesday, it is Constitution day and we will learn about this. I will read the Charlie Brown book on the Constitution and project a Brain Pop lesson with this topic. Thursday has us identifying different ways to learn about your community. We end the week with learning about the major functions of local government. Your child will bring home this book soon for you to see what it consists of.

Math
The class will be able to review basic addition and subtraction facts involving larger numbers. On Tuesday, the concept of “What’s My Rule?” will be introduced along with finding patterns. Parts and Total Diagrams will be used on Wednesday to solve number stories. Another diagram used with problem solving will be comparison diagrams which will be used on Thursday. Friday has us rounding and regrouping large numbers. **We are back in the Everyday Mathematics book now. Look for the blue skills book to come home for homework most nights. Please make sure it comes back the next day. Also, we will have a Math 4 Today sheet coming home each week. When that comes home, your child is to review it and they will have a quiz on it the following day.

Extra

Wednesday-PSO meeting at 9:30 AM