Week of April 27th:

Ms. Vega’s Third Grade News

April 27, 2015       

This week…

*Reading:  Students will continue and wrap up their novel study-“Sarah, Plain and Tall.” Students will work on predicting, inferring, summarizing, monitoring and clarifying, comparing and contrasting, questioning, and evaluating throughout our novel study on “Sarah, Plain and Tall.”  To finalize our novel study, half of the students will work on a timeline of “Sarah, Plain and Tall.”  While the other half of students work on murals they create that reflect important events, symbols, and or themes in our novel.     Wordly Wise words for this week are:  graduate, frustrate, vigorous, stresses, urges, prank, diagram, primary, vacant, risky.   

*Writing:  Students will continue working on their informational writing pieces.  Students will develop their topics and their sections/chapters using a variety of structures (chronological order, compare and contrast, annotated diagram, etc…).  In grammar, students will focus on object pronouns.

*Math:  Students will take a unit five quiz on lessons 5.1-5.5.  Students will work on modeling decimals with base-10 blocks and grids to model tenths and hundredths and write money amounts in dollars-and-cents notation; read and write decimal numbers through hundredths.  Students will use base-10 blocks and grids to represent decimal and fraction equivalencies.  Students will also compare and order decimals.

*Social Studies: Students will also continue, “touring” the Midwest Region.  Students will write a letter reflecting on their tour of the Midwest Region.

*Science:  Students will continue their unit on Plant Pals from The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Reminders:

v Science Fair preparation has begun!  Please see the packet that was sent home on Thursday regarding expectations, due dates, and date of science fair.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.  On Tuesday, April 28^th students will need to turn in their completed project proposal sheet.  Friday, May 1^st students will need to turn in their completed research plan and hypothesis.  I will go through the components of the research plan and hypothesis on Monday and Tuesday.  I will also show students samples of completed research plans and hypothesis to give them a better understanding of what is expected.

v Students should be practicing their math facts everyday!! Students should be building fact power with addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts!!! Students may do flashcards, games online, Think Through Math, or any other type of fact practice.

v Weather permitting; students will go outside for recess, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately!

v Please make sure your child wears gym shoes on Thursdays and Fridays!

v Homework is always dependent on what we get done in class that day! Please refer to your child’s agenda for the most up to date homework assignments!!!

CLASSROOM BLOG:

Please check out our class blog for our weekly newsletter: www.vegablogging.blogspot.com

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Thank you,

Ms. Vega

Week of April 20th-24th:

Ms. Vega’s Third Grade News

April 20, 2015    

This week…

*Reading:  Students will continue their novel study-“Sarah, Plain and Tall.” Students will work on predicting, inferring, summarizing, monitoring and clarifying, comparing and contrasting, questioning, and evaluating throughout our novel study on “Sarah, Plain and Tall.”   Wordly Wise words for this week are:  cable, cathedral, convey, device, freight, landmark, method, rod, shaft, structure.      

*Writing:  Students will continue working on their informational writing pieces.  Students will develop their topics and their sections/chapters using a variety of structures (chronological order, compare and contrast, annotated diagram, etc…).  In grammar, students will focus on object pronouns.

*Math:  Students will work on reading, writing, identifying numbers and their place value to the millions.  Students will also work on using 6 and 7 digit numbers in understanding real-life applications of larger numbers.  Students will study population data about U.S. cities.  Students will compare and order 6 and 7 digit numbers and approximate their own ages to the minute.  

*Social Studies: Students will practice identifying the states and capitals of the Midwest Region.  Students will also continue, “touring” the Midwest Region.

*Science:  Students will begin Plant Pals from The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Reminders:

• Spirit Week is this week!
• Monday-Favorite Character Day
• Tuesday-Pajama Day (I have already spoken to the students regarding this due to our field trip.  They may bring their pjs for after our field trip.)
• Wednesday-Favorite Sports Team Apparel Day
• Thursday-Mix/Match Day
• Friday-Coonley Spirit Day
• Field Trip to Botanical Gardens.  Disposable bag lunch needed! -Tuesday, 04-21-15
• Students should be practicing their math facts everyday!! Students should be building fact power with addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts!  Students may do flashcards, games online, Think Through Math, or any other type of fact practice.
• Weather permitting; students will go outside for recess, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately!
• Please make sure your child wears gym shoes on Thursdays and Fridays!
• Homework is always dependent on what we get done in class that day! Please refer to your child’s agenda for the most up to date homework assignments!

CLASSROOM BLOG:

Please check out our class blog for our weekly newsletter: www.vegablogging.blogspot.com

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Thank you,

Ms. Vega

Week of April 13th-April 17th:

Ms. Vega’s Third Grade News

April 13, 2015

This week…

*Reading:  Students will begin a novel study-“Sarah, Plain and Tall.”  Students will build background knowledge in preparation for our novel.  Students will discuss the meaning of home; discuss differences between New England and Kansas, and work on vocabulary for “Sarah, Plain and Tall.”  By end of week, students will have read up to chapter 4.  Students will work on predicting, inferring, summarizing, monitoring and clarifying, comparing and contrasting, questioning, and evaluating throughout our novel study on “Sarah, Plain and Tall.”   Wordly Wise words for this week are:  cable, cathedral, convey, device, freight, landmark, method, rod, shaft, structure.      

*Writing:  Students will continue working on developing their informational writing pieces.  Students will continue developing their topics and their sections/chapters using a variety of structures (chronological order, compare and contrast, annotated diagram, etc…).  In grammar, students will focus on subject pronouns.

*Math:  Students will begin unit 5.  Unit 5 focuses on place value in whole numbers and decimals.  Students will review place value up to 5-digit whole numbers.  Students will read, write, compare, and order these numbers before they begin to explore larger numbers. To understand real-life applications of larger numbers, students will study population data about U.S. cities.  Students will also approximate their own ages to the minute.  

*Social Studies: Students will be skipping to chapter 8, which focuses on the Midwest Region.  Students will be introduced to the states and capitals that make up the Midwest Region.  Students will learn and practice identifying the states and capitals of the Midwest Region.

*Science:  Students will begin Plant Pals second week of fourth quarter.

Reminders:

v Please sign up for a 10 minute conference to discuss your child’s progress on Thursday, April 16^th if you haven’t already done so. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4aaaa72da4fd0-3rdquarter

v Report Card Pick Up Day is Thursday, April 16th

These will only be 10-minute conferences. If you know you are going to need more than 10 minutes please let me know so we can reschedule. I want to be respectful of each person’s time.

v Published Young Authors are due Friday, April 17th

v Weather permitting; students will go outside for recess, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately!

v Please make sure your child wears gym shoes on Thursdays and Fridays!

v Homework is always dependent on what we get done in class that day! Please refer to your child’s agenda for the most up to date homework assignments!!!

CLASSROOM BLOG/Quad-Blogging Update:

Please check out our class blog for our weekly newsletter: www.vegablogging.blogspot.com

We did a fantastic job commenting on the blogs of our fellow bloggers!!  We will continue posting our happenings on  our blog!  Feel free to comment on our blog or have your child comment as well.  When your child is commenting on our blog or one of the other classroom blogs please remind them of the following “Good Blogger Tips”:

Good Bloggers:

·         use only their first name or initials and never their whole name

·         always say where they are from

·         never post pictures of classmates without the teacher’s permission

·         don’t reveal personal information like their address or phone number

·         never pretend you are someone else on a blog

·         write sentences with capital letters and proper punctuation

·         are polite!  We can offer “praises” and “pushes” but should never try to hurt someone’s feelings

·         are positive and have fun!

Additional awesome tips from Mr. Gasciogne on how to leave a quality comment:

1. Compliment the writer in a specific way.

2. Add new information

3. Make a connection

4. End with a question.

5. Proofread your comment

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

Thank you,

Ms. Vega