December 16, 2022

 Announcements

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Winter Open House! 

Our school had the opportunity to have the district's big MO map last week! We reviewed the skills we learned in geography by identifying the major cities and rivers in our state. We stood on our 8 border states, and we practiced our cardinal and intermediate directions by playing four corners. It was such a neat experience!

In the Classroom

We have spent the last two weeks studying Economics. Students learned about wants and needs, as well as the types of resources. We also studied supply and demand. 

We completed our Government magazine by reading about fighting for voting rights. Students used the various texts to practice comparing/contrasting, finding the main idea, and putting events into sequential order. We will start our next unit after Winter Break.

Students worked hard to finish their informational pieces about their person. We took this piece through all of the writing stages; brainstorming, research and note-taking, organizing facts, rough drafts, editing and revising, and finally publishing and illustrating!

We finished Unit 3 in math last week. It focused heavily on addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We started Unit 4 this week and will be studying measurement and geometry. We will finish this unit after Winter Break.

Upcoming Events

Winter Break begins-December 22

School Resumes-January 4

No School, MLK Jr. Day-January 16

Early Release at 12:50-January 24

November 22, 2022

 Announcements

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I am so thankful for this amazing group of 3rd graders and their families. : )

Thank you for for attending Parent-Teacher Conferences last week! Please let me know if you have additional concerns/questions before our next round of conferences in early March.

During library checkout, students have been learning about the different sections in the library. They work really hard on setting their purpose for choosing books each Monday, and then practice knowing where to find those books. Students did a team relay game to practice using the call numbers on books to find the matching section in the library.

We had a wonderful time on our field trip last week to the Missouri Theater! Students enjoyed the architecture of the building, watching the conductor work, and listening to the story of Peter and the Wolf.

When we participated in Media Literacy week, we entered a raffle to win a prize. Our class won! On Thursday, Mrs. Hanson brought us warm apple cider and popcorn to enjoy during our independent reading time.

I recently wrote a grant to gain new Geography materials. Our main focus in Geography is on the state of Missouri, but I wanted to allow students to travel much further away! Each month, we will be traveling to a different country to learn about the current and past culture. This month was Egypt! We were able to go on a virtual field trip to the pyramids, create a craft using a traditional artistic method called quilling, and write our own message using hieroglyphics. We also spent time exploring the many books about Egypt we have in our classroom and the school library.

In the Classroom

We have been studying various systems in our bodies for Health. Students have learned about the Respiratory, Cardio-respiratory, Nervous, and Digestive Systems. We will look at diseases after Thanksgiving Break.

In reading last week, students learned how to identify cause and effect. We also introduced summarizing by reading an article about voting rights. 

Students have started their next informational piece in writing. They have each chosen a person who has positively changed the world. We started researching by finding reliable digital sources. After break, we will continue researching with print sources, and then start organizing our facts. 

In math, students have been learning strategies for 3-digit addition and subtraction. This is just an introduction to these strategies, as we will study them again throughout the year. 

Upcoming Events

Winter Open House-December 16

Winter Break begins-December 22

School Resumes-January 4

October 28, 2022

 Announcements

You will find a yellow form in the Friday Folder with the date/time of your conference. Please let me know as soon as possible if this does not work and we need to reschedule. It is a Paxton expectation that I have 100% attended conferences. Thank you in advance for helping me reach this goal!

The optional October reading logs are due on Monday. The November log is in the Friday folder.

There will be no November book order because of the school book fair happening conference week. Make sure to stop by to pick up some great books and support Paxton!

This week has been Media Literacy week! We have done a different activity each day to promote media awareness. If you are interested in learning more about discussing this topic with your 3rd grader, check out this guide.

We had a great Fall Party! 

In the Classroom

We wrapped up our Life Cycle unit last week by studying the chicks! They hatched earlier than anticipated, so we were able to have them in our room for the whole week. 

This week, we went back to Ecosystems. We did a Mystery Science that involved digging for fossils to see how an ecosystem may have changed over time. 

We also learned how people, nature, and animals can change ecosystems. Next week, we will study Heredity. 

In reading this week, we read about King Midas. We used this myth to practice inferring, identifying plot elements, and comparing/contrasting. In writing, students are analyzing opinion pieces. We learned how to state your opinion, organize your reasons, and support with evidence from the text. 

We finished Unit 2 this week in math! I will keep these tests to share at our conference. This unit concluded with division work where students learned how to use arrays to divide with and without a remainder.

Upcoming Events

Picture Retakes-November 3

No School, Teacher Workdays-November 7-8

Conference Week-November 14-17

Field Trip to Missouri Theater-November 17

No School-November 18

Thanksgiving Break-November 23-25