Weekly Wrap Up

Today your child is bringing home a math fact test score report. It includes their monthly fact tests from December until now. I know you see a weekly score on their progress reports. This monthly score report will enable you to see growth each month since they began testing for multiplication and division. If you’re wondering why the scores on the February test might be different from the scores on the most recent weekly tests, it’s because there were different tests given on different days. Please sign it the for this weekend and return it on Monday with your child. 

Do your kids ever complain that they’re bored or there’s nothing to do? Our class website has the answer for you and your child! The Just for Kids section is filled with links to educational activities and games, as well as keyboarding practice. The Safari Scholar section will stretch your child’s brain with 100 unique and challenging tasks!

Conference request forms are due on Monday. If you haven’t returned yours, please do so on Monday. If you lost it, just drop me an email this weekend and let me know what days/times are best for you, and I’ll fit you into the schedule. The choices for conferences are:

• Monday, March 21st in the evening
• Tuesday, March 22nd in the afternoon
• Wednesday, March 23rd in the evening

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Growing theories about characters
• Writer’s Workshop: A little fun story writing followed by the Persuasive Writing unit pretest
• Math: Fractions
• Social Studies: Connecticut 

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education! 

Weekly Wrap Up

I just realized I forgot to post the information from the last newsletter, so this will have info from both.

We recently started something new to help students master their multiplication facts - Multiplication Fact of the Day. Here’s how it works... Assuming that the children have mastered their 0s, 1s, 2s, and 10s, there are only 28 facts to memorize when we take into consideration the commutative property of multiplication (ex: 3x8=8x3). Each day, for 6 out of 7 days, students will have just one multiplication problem to memorize. I’ll write it up on the board that day, and we’ll go over it multiple times during the day. There’s also a home calendar with each fact of the day written on it. I’m asking parents to really go over the problem at home with their child, too. Let them see it, say it, and write it. It won’t hurt to throw in a previous problem of the day, either. I don’t know if this will work for sure, it’s a new idea, but it’s worth a try. If this works, then I’ll do the same thing for division. In case you’re wondering, here are all of the facts that need to be memorized:!

• 3x3, 3x4, 3x5, 3x6, 3x7, 3x8, 3x9 (7 facts)
• 4x4, 4x5, 4x6, 4x7, 4x8, 4x9 (6 facts)
• 5x5, 5x6, 5x7, 5x8, 5x9 (5 facts)
• 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9 (4 facts)
• 7x7, 7x8, 7x9 (3 facts)
• 8x8, 8x9 (2 facts)
• 9x9 (1 fact)

This week the kids took over the newsletter! Here’s what they want you to know...

• Shannon: Today we learned so much about Helen Keller.
• Elizabeth: We watched a clip of the real Helen Keller in her Easton, CT house.
• Ethan: We had popcorn today during the movie.
• Mary: We also saw a cartoon about Helen Keller.
• Rhiana: We did our monthly multiplication and division quizzes.
• Alana: We now have a wall of honor for multiplication and division.
• Maryla: We saw Helen Keller’s CT house in Google Maps street view.
• Addie: We saw Helen Keller’s Alabama house in Google Maps street view, and it’s now a museum.
• Hailey: We’re finishing our information books
• Amelia: Study your math facts!
• Jared: We’ve learned about writing endings for information books.
• Shannon: We finished packet #4 in cursive handwriting. (Mrs. Carnevale says this means they’ve learned all of the lower case letters in cursive!)
• Mary: Next week we start upper case letters in cursive.
• Ethan: Practice reading!
• Maia: We book shopped this week for our new levels of fiction.
• Tyler: We’re starting a new unit in reading.

If you have extras of these at home, we could use them:!

• Paper plates
• Plastic grocery store bags

A few reminders... 

• Wear sneakers on Wednesdays!!
• Bring recorders and music on Tuesdays!!
• Notes are needed every Friday for electronics during Fun Friday!

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reading - Orienting to Fiction at our new levels
• Writing - Finishing (finally!) information books and information writing test
• Math - Fractions
• Social Studies - Connecticut

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education! 

Fractions

We've been busy learning about fractions during math time. Here are our presentations on them, made on the iPads with PicCollage and Educreations.

Weekly Wrap Up

We’ve been busy putting our new knowledge about fractions to work this week. The children have been working in small groups to create presentations on the iPads using PicCollage and Educreations. As soon as each group finishes their project it will be posted on here and on the student blogs. Please stop by your child’s blog, watch their video, and leave them a comment!  

You’ll notice something new on your child’s weekly progress report, a box giving their weekly multiplication and division math facts quiz scores. To help the children track their progress, improve, and know how close they’re coming to meeting the goal score, we’re now doing weekly timed quizzes. Each week I’ll report their scores to you. If your child had 90 or higher on their January multiplication and/or their January division tests they do not have to take the weekly quizzes for that operation. Once your child gets 3 scores of 90 or higher in a row on an operation for the weekly quizzes, they no longer have to take the quizzes. However, if they drop below 90 on their monthly quizzes, then they’ll start taking the weekly quizzes again. I know this might sound a little confusing, so if you have any questions please drop me a note or call.

We have a lot of birthdays coming up in late winter and spring. If you plan to send something to school with your child, please remember that we have food allergies in the room. My policy is that any food treats that come in need to be tree nut free and peanut free, as well as shellfish free. If you make them at home, they can't be made in/on equipment that might contain any trace of tree nuts or peanuts or shellfish. If you make them, please send me a note that they're allergen free so I can get the parental permission of the children with food allergies. If you buy them, please make sure I can see the ingredients labels on them. Also, if you buy them, the label shouldn't say they're made in a facility or on equipment that also processes the allergens due to cross contamination that can happen. I know this can be confusing, so as an alternate, non-food treats are always great.  Please contact me ahead of time if you plan to send something in.  Thanks!

A couple of reminders:

• Please sign your child’s behavior calendar at the end of each week. Students get Tiger Tickets for signatures.
• Have you looked in your child’s backpack lately? I sometimes notice food in their desks and lockers, you might want to check their bag if you haven’t in a while.  :)

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop: Cross text synthesis while writing information books
• Math: Fractions
• Social Studies: Connecticut

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

This week we started our new topic of study in math, fractions. Students are learning that fractions are equal parts of a whole, of a set, or of a length. This week they learned to name fractions with the help of M&Ms! That made for yummy math!  :) Next week they’ll learn to locate fractions and mixed numbers on a number line. At home you can help by asking your child to identify fractional parts of a set. For example, you could ask them what fraction of the silverware on the table are forks, or what fraction of items (such as toy cars or rubber bands) are a certain color. Keep the objects in the set to 12 or less, and ask your child to also use the fractions 1/6, 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 to identify the fractional set when possible. Example: Of the 12 rubber bands, 6 are red, so 6/12 or 1/2 of the rubber bands are red.

Also this week, your child learned a framework to use when summarizing a narrative (fiction) or narrative nonfiction (biography) story or chapter. It’s one you can ask them to use at home when they talk about their reading with you. We'll continue practicing this framework next week.

Don't forget that Curl Up and Read is next Friday, January 29! Please join us from 2:45-3:15.

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

We’ve been working hard on identifying main idea and supporting details! It’s an important third grade skill. We’ll keep working on it in the classroom, and here are a few ways you can help your child practice at home:

• After your child has completed their daily reading, ask them to tell you the main idea of what they read, and at least three details that tell more about the main idea.  
• Let your child read an age/content appropriate news article of interest to them. Three good online sites are dogonews.com, timeforkids.com, and htekidsnews.com (still monitor the content though since third grade is on the young end for some material). Ask them to write down the main idea and three supporting details. Count their reading time towards their reading log.
• After your child has listened to a story or news article (or watched one on TV), ask them to tell you the main idea of what they heard. Ask them to tell you some details they heard that tell more about the main idea.

As a reminder, we have snack around 9:45 each day. Please send 1 or 2 healthy snacks with your child - enough to keep them going until lunch at 12:30. While we do have a school share box for snacks, there’s not always something in it.

Also, music is on Tuesdays. Your child should bring their recorder back to school that day, along with their music. Other days it can stay at home for practice.

New pictures will be added to our online class photo album before the end of the long weekend! You can find them on the Class Photo Albums page on our class website.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Summarizing biographies
• Writer’s Workshop: Writing information books
• Math: Fractions
• Social Studies: Connecticut

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy New Year! I hope that the holidays and vacation were fun and restful for all families!  We are totally back in the swing of things, and your kids have been focused, hard workers this week! You should be a fly on the wall to see their amazing effort and focus!

Early next week we have our January timed addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tests. After I correct them I’ll send a score report home to you so you know how they did. Remember, goal is 80% or higher. Next week is our last week with division, then we move to fractions! Wow! So far this year the children have learned place value to the hundred thousands, adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers w/regrouping, multiplication, and division! 

Your child has PE every Wednesday. Please make sure they are wearing sneakers on that day, or have them in their bag to change into. Speaking of changing into shoes, at some point we’re going to have snow, and that means big winter boots. Once that happens you’ll want to make sure your child has their sneakers or other shoes in their bag if they’re not going to wear their boots all day.

Just a reminder that students are expected to read at home 5 nights a week for at least 20 minutes a night. They need to fill out their reading logs for each night. Also, students are expected to practice their basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) at least 10 minutes a night, 5 nights a week. They need to fill out their math logs for each night. Thanks for helping monitor your child’s home reading and home math.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Reading biographies

• Writer’s Workshop: Note taking on information writing topic, maybe start writing

• Math: Finish division, topic 8 test and start Fractions

• Social Studies: Connecticut

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!