February 23, 2018

Announcements

It has been a crazy week! Hopefully we can get back into a routine next week. We are trying to reschedule our field trip to the planetarium. I will keep everyone updated if we get a new date.

Our class is in need of 2 liter, clear bottles for an upcoming science project. We won't be needing the bottles until April, but we need quite a few. If you could start collecting them for our class, you can send them in with your third grader so we have them for our project. Thank you in advance!

Weekly Journals were not completed this week.

In the Classroom

In math this week, we finished Unit 6. Students learned the order of operations and how to apply this to 2-step word problems. We assessed over this unit on Friday and will begin Unit 7 next week.

We began our Opinion unit this week in writing. Students took their pre-test on Tuesday. I am excited to read about all their fabulous opinions!

In reading this week, students finished non-fiction summary writing. We read texts about hospital jobs and the great Chicago fire to practice this skill. We will focus on fiction summary writing next week. 

In Economics this week, students learned about opportunity costs, decision making, and taxes. We used a book called Pickle Patch Bathtub to discuss our resources and wants/needs. We will assess over this short unit next week. 

Upcoming Events

Literacy Night-February 27

Spring Pictures-March 15

Comet Culture Night-March 20

Spring Break-March 26-30

February 15, 2018

Announcements

A huge thank you to everyone who helped with the room parties this year! I know the students had a blast and appreciate all the treats and activities. A special thank you to Nicole Flood-Lorber for volunteering to be our room parent coordinator this year and making sure our parties went off without a hitch! 

Here are some pictures from our Valentine's Day Exchange!

As noted on the calendar, we will be going on a field trip to the Rock Bridge High School Planetarium on Thursday. We will leave Paxton around 9:00 and will return in time for lunch and recess. Parent volunteers are not needed for this field trip. 

As this was our last official Parent Teacher Conference, please let me know if you would like to meet again before the end of the school year. 

Friday folders and Weekly Journals were not sent home this week. They will both resume next week.

In the Classroom

In math this week, we continued studying multiplication. Students learned about using a multiplication/division diagram to help with word problems, we talked about larger factors like 5x12, and we explored what parentheses in math mean. Students played a game called Top It to increase their multiplication fact power! We will assess over this unit next week.

We have been working very hard to complete our non-fiction books! With the snow day and late start, we were set back a little, but almost everyone has finished. We will begin our next unit, Opinion writing, on Tuesday.

In reading this week, students worked on writing non-fiction summaries. We learned how to use the main ideas and supporting details to do this.

In Social Studies, we started our next unit covering economics. We discussed what that term means to us as citizens of Columbia. Finally, we discussed the idea of goods and services.

Upcoming Events

Parent Teacher Conferences-February 15-16

No School, Conferences-February 16

No School, President's Day-February 19

Field trip to Planetarium-February 22

Mismatch Day-February 23

February 2, 2018

Announcements

You will find two important papers in the Friday folder this week: 

-your conference date and time. Please let me know as soon as possible if this will not work and we need to reschedule.

-a list of student names in our classroom for Valentine's day. Please note your third grader may make a box or bag to collect valentine's if they choose. It is not required. If they are bringing cards, please use the list to ensure you have one for everyone. Finally, we will be exchanging on Wednesday, Feb. 14th even though our party is Friday, Feb. 9th. 

Weekly Journals were not completed this week.

Please ask your third grader if they need pencils. We seem to be flying through our classroom supply!

In the Classroom

In math this week, we assessed over Unit 5. I will be sharing these tests at our conferences. We also started Unit 6 by discussing a subtraction strategy called trade first and reviewing multiplication facts through a baseball game.

Students were busy revising their expert book this week! They were in charge of self-revising, partner-revising, and finally signing up for teacher revising. Some students started editing their books this week as well. We will begin publishing next week.

In reading this week, we focused on identifying the main idea and supporting details in a non-fiction text. This is in preparation to summarize these texts next week. Students read a non-fiction book about snakes to practice this skill. 

In our Geography unit this week, we finished up our map skills study by creating our own maps. Make sure to check them out in the Friday folder! We also discussed regions. Students looked at regions of the United States, regions we could make for Paxton Keeley, and finally regions of our city. We did an activity Friday where they got to travel around "our city" to learn about different resources the regions of our city provide.

Upcoming Events

No School, Teacher Workday-February 5

Valentine's Room Party-February 9

Parent Teacher Conferences-February 15-16

No School, Conferences-February 16

No School, President's Day-February 19