This week, students will concentrate on story elements. On Monday, we will look for the "where" and "when" a story takes place (setting). For the remainder of the week, we'll concentrate on plot. We'll use a roller coaster as a visual (rising action, climax or turning point, falling action, ending).
As a third grade team, we've noticed a need to work on some word work skills. We will take 4 prefixes this week and use them to define words and expand our vocabulary. Our class will use pre-, re-, un-, and mis- as our prefixes this week. In writing, students will state their opinions as they review a favorite book. Students need to state their opinion, give 3 reasons with details and support, and re-state their opinion. That's the final goal for this 4 week writing unit. Adding temporal words and phrases (finally, next, following this, after this happened, etc.) will enrich their writing. In math, we'll continue with multiplication fluency and distributive property. We will have our final assessment on Wednesday and then move on to patterns. In science, we'll learn about how the sun, the moon, and Earth all relate to each other. Students will build their vocabularies as they apply these new words: rotation, revolve, orbit, seasons, hemisphere, spin, axis, and tilt. Projects have been given to students. Be sure to remind your student to record the phases of the moon daily and begin working on their final project due November 20th. Thank you for all you do at home!!! Amy Flowers
0 Comments
I hope all of you enjoyed your extra day with your kids!
This week, we'll dig deeper into our characters in our books. I'll be using our class read aloud about Humphrey the hamster who shares what he sees in a classroom. Students will be examining characters and their feelings and traits to get an idea of what it's like to "walk in that character's shoes". In writing, we're moving on to opinion writing for the next four weeks. Students will be learning to clearly state their opinion and eventually developing this into a strong 5 paragraph paper (introduction, 3 reasons, and conclusion). In math, we're continuing to work on multiplication and the inverse operation, division. Since students know various strategies for finding the answers, I'm now focusing on real-life problems. For example, if a student has 24 inches of ribbon and needs to split that evenly among 3 children, how much ribbon does each child get? (This would be a division problem since you're dividing the ribbon into equal groups). =) Our social studies projects were awesome and will be on display near the media center near the breezeway. Students were so proud of their NC travel brochures and 3D maps they created. We're now switching back to science for our next unit, Objects in the Sky. This week, we're focusing on the phases of the moon. Students are required to draw in the phases of the moon after daily observations on a month-long calendar. It is really helpful for students to see the changes of the moon first hand and it's a great family project. Along with this, students need to complete two more projects from a list that is given to them in science. You'll have 4 weeks and the ideas are simple and creative! Reminders: PBIS assembly on Friday morning Friday is Wear Orange and Black day. I haven't made any big plans to do a celebration on Friday, but if you want to send in a treat, send me an email =) Thank you for all you do at home to support your child, Amy Flowers [email protected] *We have extended Dragon Fire through Wednesday. Also if we reach our goal of $10,000, Mr Burns is going to dance to the song...Watch Me Nae Nae for us in carpool. Wha re at $8900 right now. So we need to reach our goal so we can watch Mr Burns dance!!
I am totally amazed at how quickly these students have caught on to multiplication. Last week, we spent time showing all sorts of strategies to get our answers: placing items in groups and in sets, using repeated addition, building towers, and skip counting. Students learned the inverse operation of multiplication is division. I showed them a couple of different ways to express division. They mastered these concepts with ease. Finally, I shared "the spider" method of doing division and they loved how easy that was! This week, we'll continue practicing those multiplication and division skills. We'll have an assessment on Tuesday to give me a head's up on places I need to re-teach. I'll be encouraging students to memorize 0's, 1's, and 2's this week. It is incredibly helpful for students to memorize all facts by 4th grade. In reading, we're still looking for the central message/lesson/moral but will be examining myths and folk and tall tales along with our fables. They struggled a bit to get the "bigger" picture for the central message. Example: Sometimes I got the grasshopper was lazy in the fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. I wanted: It's better to be prepare for the future. More practice this week will help! In writing, we're revising our narratives on feelings. We took time last week to build our simple sentences into super sentences by drawing attention to descriptive words that give more detail and word phrases that tell when and where something occurred. They were successful and I'm hoping to see this in their narratives. In vocabulary, we're adding these words: prevail, humble, confident, pledge, faithful, overlook. We act them out, use them in sentences, and have fun with these words all week. Our goal is to expand our usage of words. It's working =) In social studies, we've covered so much. Last week, students were given absolute locations (latitude and longitude) to find various countries on our globes and world maps. This week, I plan to cover cultures of other countries by integrating art. Should be educational and really fun! **Projects for social studies brochure of North Carolina are due this week. Students are welcome to ask for supplies and I'll give it to them. Brochures need to show the 3 regions of NC, showing landforms characteristic to that region, and animals that would be found in each region. Students are also to include the name of cities and towns found in the 3 regions (mountains, piedmont, coastal plains). For extra credit, students can select another state or a country and create another brochure or make a 3-D map out of play dough or salt dough. I included a recipe below: Play-Dough 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of salt 2 tsp of cream of tartar Mix in pan. 1 cup of water 1 Tbsp of oil Food coloring Mix and add to pan. Cook over medium heat until it looks like mashed potatoes. Dump on plate to cool and knead a few times. Store in a plastic bag. Does not need refrigeration and can last for months. Thanks for all you do at home! Keep your children reading at home! Amy Flowers [email protected] This week, we will be working on new topics!
In reading, students will read and listen to a variety of fables. We will focus on understanding the central message/moral/lesson of the fable and using key details to support our thoughts. We'll also add to our word wall with new vocabulary words used during reading instruction. In writing, students will finish their second narrative pieces. They have selected a feeling and shared about a time when they experienced this feeling. We continue to work on developing engaging beginnings, strong endings, dialogue, correct punctuation and mechanics. In math, we have discussed repeated addition and multiplication as seeing items placed in groups of the same number. This week, we continue with reinforcing this concept. (example: 5 groups of 3, 5 sets of 3, 3 plus 3 plus 3 plus 3 plus 3, and 5 x 3) In social studies, students will have a short quiz on absolute and relative location, cardinal and intermediate directions, and landforms. Please help your student with the travel brochure of North Carolina regions. That project is due next Wednesday. ***Friday is Pink Day and Early Release! Thank you for all you do, Amy Flowers [email protected] Hi, wonderful parents!
This week, students will finish up learning about how a character feels and contrast this with character traits. Character traits are words that describe the character over a long period of time (courageous, determined, optimistic, hard-working are examples). It's a challenging concept for students Try to bring it up in conversations at home (I felt _____ when ______ happened-feeling. vs. I've noticed he/she is always showing _________-character trait. In writing, we continue these ideas. We will be producing personal narratives where students write about a time they felt ___________. They will share about what happened and include a "turning point" (key moment when the events changed for the student). In math, we finish up our 2-D geometry unit and take an assessment on Tuesday. Following this, we will start on repeated addition and multiplication. As teachers, we are strongly encouraged to be sure your child understands the concept of multiplication before memorization of facts. I agree with that. As soon as students grasp that concept, I'll be sending home math facts to learn. Knowing those facts gives students a huge leap in fourth grade =) In social studies, students will look at the geography of NC and understand how NC is unique. Projects information will go home on Monday and will be due in 2 weeks. Things to know: CogAT is an assessment used to determine which students qualify for the Academically Gifted program. Students will be assessed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. There is no way to prepare for this test other than being on time (we start at 9:30) and providing a great breakfast for your child! Picture Day is Wednesday. Our class will take their pics following lunch. Thank you for all you do! Amy Flowers [email protected] |
AuthorHi! I'm Amy Flowers-mom to four great kids and one energetic puppy. I've been in education fifteen plus years and am passionate about igniting a love for learning, not just filling a bucket.. Archives
June 2018
Categories |