Mrs. Fox's Third Grade: April 2018

Friday, April 27, 2018

April 27, 2018

Announcements

One week of MAP testing done! On Monday, we will begin the Language Arts portion. Please make sure your child is here on time and ready to go on Monday and Tuesday mornings.

Make sure to use the link below to sign up for our poetry breakfast next week!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0845a9a729a6fa7-poetry

We are still looking for 1-2 parent volunteers for our field day on Wednesday, May 16. Please use the link below to sign up.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4eafa62fa5fc1-field2

Make sure to check out the blue form in the Friday folder about the variety shows taking place during music class! Our students will have an opportunity to present on Monday, May 21st.

Ms. Fitzgerald also wanted me to share a video of the students showing off their amazing musical skills.

We have another opportunity for you to help out our class on May 21st. Students will be taking part in our annual cooking day. Use this link to find out how you can help.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0845a9a729a6fa7-cooking2

Weekly Journals were not completed this week.

Last week, students did a breakout box with Mrs. Finke to prepare for the MAP test. She said they did an awesome job!

In the Classroom

In math this week, we finished preparing for the MAP test prior to testing on Wednesday and Thursday. We will begin our final unit next week.

Students continued writing poetry this week in writing. We learned about making line breaks, acrostics, limericks, and cinquains. On Friday, we chose our poem to take through the publishing process. We are excited to share them with you at our Poetry Breakfast next week!

We started a whole class book club with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing this week. Students are reading the book in a variety of ways and participating in discussions and conversations.

We finished our ecosystem unit this week. Students enjoyed observing our bottles everyday, even though we didn't have the best luck with our fish. On Friday, we went on a virtual field trip to observe some different ecosystems. Students got to observe pandas, sharks, penguins, and more.

We will begin our final unit on life cycles next week. We will have some new friends in the classroom that I know the students will be excited about. : )

Upcoming Events

3rd Grade MAP testing-April 30 and May 1

Paxton Keeley Color Run-April 27

Poetry Breakfast-May 4

Field Trip to Runge Nature Center-May 15

Field Day-May 16

Last Day of School-May 22

Friday, April 20, 2018

April 20, 2018

Announcements

You should have received a note about our upcoming Poetry Breakfast in the Friday folder last week. Please use this link to sign up for a food item.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0845a9a729a6fa7-poetry

You also saw a yellow form to volunteer for our field trip to the Runge Nature Center next month. If you missed this form and are interested, please let me know.

Paxton Keeley 2018 Field Day is approaching on Wednesday, May 16th! Our class needs 1-2 parent volunteers to run our class game. Our time slot is from 12:40-2:20. The class will be starting at this game, but will be moving to the next station. You would be getting other 3rd grade classes and possibly other grade levels. Please let me know if you are interested in this opportunity.

This will be the last week for word work. From now on, we will use this time to practice grammar and sentence structure.

Students will not have homework for the two weeks of MAP testing. Please use this time to ensure students are relaxed, get to bed early, and eat a protein-filled breakfast.

MAP testing begins next week. We will be testing on Wednesday, April 25th and Thursday, April 26th. The Language Arts portion will be Monday, April 30th and Tuesday, May 1st. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Please check with your third grader about ear buds for the MAP test and pencils. We have quite a few 3rd graders that are completely out of pencils.

We had one final health lesson. A special guest from Nutrition Services came to discuss My Plate. We then made a salad that contained something from every food group.

In the Classroom

In math this week, we practiced for the MAP test. We reviewed things we have been working on all year. We have also been focusing on our multiplication facts. Now that we have a deep understanding of the concept, we are working on fact fluency. Please consider extra practice at home through apps, games, or flashcards. We used a game called Knock It Off to practice in class.

We are busily creating poems in room 215. This week we studied alliteration, concrete poetry, haikus, and inference poetry. Next week, we will be choosing a poem to take through the publishing process.

We continued practicing for the MAP in reading. Next week, we will begin a whole class book club.

Our ecosystems have grass! Unfortunately, some of our fish have died, but we are still observing the decomposing process. This week we learned all about animal adaptations. We will finish this unit next week.

Upcoming Events

3rd Grade MAP testing-April 25, 26, 30 and May 1

Paxton Keeley Color Run-April 27

Poetry Breakfast-May 4

Field Trip to Runge Nature Center-May 15

Field Day-May 16

Last Day of School-May 22

Friday, April 13, 2018

April 13, 2018

Announcements

We have the official dates for 3rd grade MAP testing. We will be doing the Math portion of the test on Wednesday, April 25th and Thursday, April 26th. The Language Arts portion will be Monday, April 30th and Tuesday, May 1st. Please refrain from scheduling trips or appointments on these days. We will be testing mainly in the morning but students are allowed to keep working if they are making forward progress. If a student misses one of these days, they will need to make up the testing when they return. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Please check with your third grader about ear buds for the MAP test and pencils. We have quite a few 3rd graders that are completely out of pencils.

Make sure to check the Friday folder for information about our Poetry Breakfast on Friday, May 4th.

On Monday, we had the opportunity to complete a Makerspace challenge in the library called Litter Bug. Students were expected to engineer a bug made from "trash" such as empty egg cartons, soda bottles, and scraps of paper. They were so creative!

In the Classroom

In math this week, we continued to focus on multiplication and division. Students learned a new game called Factor Bingo to practice these skills.

We assessed over this unit on Thursday. We will spend the next couple of week preparing for the MAP test.

In writing this week, students wrote biopoems and learned about similes and metaphors. Ask your third grader about small poems. It has nothing to do with the length of their poem!

Students continued practicing for the MAP this week. They worked in small groups to discuss strategies and complete more practice with various texts.

We had an exciting week of science! Groups of students created their own working ecosystem. We made a two-level ecosystem that contains animals, plants, decomposers, and non-living materials. Hopefully our ecosystems will thrive and everything inside will survive and grow!