HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone will be safe and sound over the next few days! I hope we'll see each other on Wednesday. I still plan to have our Halloween celebration on Wednesday, so if anyone has had time to buy treats, please send them!

  Please do a review of the "reteaching" pages (59 - 60) in the math text so things will be fresh on everyone's mind for the math test on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

Tonight's homework is to complete the practice math test on pages 60-61 numbers 1-7, 8, 10, 13.
Read the tall tale and answer questions on the 2nd page.

The kids worked on strong beginnings for their personal narratives and on "showing, not telling" in their writing.
In science today, we read and discussed thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.Might be just in time for some real world experience with the storms predicted for next week!
No spelling test AND no weekly ELA test this week!  The chapter math test will be on Monday. We reviewed today and will do so tomorrow as well.  

My apologies for not sending home reading logs on Friday!  They went home today.  The children completed their unit test in ELA and continued to work on writing independent projects. We began planning, and drafting personal narratives earlier this week.  Hopefully everyone will complete drafting and revising this week.
Our math lesson today was on using "reasonableness" to check sums and differences.

Today's homework is to read for 20 min and complete both sides of the 2-9 worksheet.

Today we practiced some 3rd grade algebra!  18 = 10 + n and similar problems. Students who aren't quick with basic math facts yet will have a harder time to solve these equations.  We practice 100 addition facts almost every day and beginning next week it will be 50 addition and 50 subtraction.  If you have access to a computer AAAmath.com is a great, simple site to practice all kinds of math.  Flash cards are excellent also.

Tonight's homework is to review with you  and ask you to sign the folder for the weekly ELA quizzes. There is a math sheet labeled Daily Common Core as well.

     We have finished our first unit in ELA and I am sending home the weekly quizzes the children have taken so far. There are 20 multiple choice questions and a timed writing activity each week. You will probably note that the questions are very challenging in keeping with the higher level of complexity required by the new Common Core Standards. To succeed on assessments like these, we will continue to practice "close reads" of our stories, going back into the selection to reread and provide proof that an answer is correct.
  I give two grades for the writing. One grade is for the content of the answer, the other is for the mechanics. I label the mechanics "cops" for capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling. Writing is grade on a scale of 1 - 4. A grade of 3 or 4 meets or exceeds standards.    

Tonight's homework is to review rounding and estimation for a quick quiz tomorrow, and to complete the reading packet (2 stories with questions).

FRIDAY! We had a fun assembly today to celebrate reaching a school wide goal of 80% of Park kids having a library card.  The Uncle Brothers Band had some funny singalongs to celebrate reading and smart kids.
  Back in the classroom we continued estimating in math, took a spelling test, began personal narratives, visited the school store, and practiced paraphrasing factual material in anticipation of research projects ahead.
    Next week we'll begin a lengthy unit test for ELA after brushing up a bit more on grammar and vocabulary.   Best news of the week? There is no spelling list to practice next week!  yay!
    Have a great weekend and don't forget the children will be dismissed at 2:15 on Monday!

     The kids really worked hard today! To prepare for the big unit test in ELA they worked on vocabulary, challenging comprehension exercises  and writing responses to questions about reading.  It is so important that everyone answer the question AND provide details from the text to support their answer.  Writing at that level of detail is very challenging for the beginning of 3rd grade so we will keep practicing!
     We read about how the president is elected, including the electoral college's role. I helped them use highlighters to mark the most important facts in the passages.  Tomorrow they will use their notes to write sentences (without copying word for word!) about how we elect a president.
     Tonight's homework is to read our old Social Studies text book, pages 152 - 157, study for the spelling test, and log their reading.  Reading logs are due tomorrow!

I think the kiddoes had some fun today sharing their realistic fiction pieces.Picture Day went well. Everybody looked great. I hope all of the portraits come out well.  A little more rounding and estimating on the horizon  Tomorrow we're going to use estimation to solve addition problems.
     Tonight's homework is a reading comprehension worksheet, review the spelling list, and a rounding math sheet for a few students.

Tomorrow is Picture Day!  We will have our pictures taken at about 11:15. That's before P.E.,recess, and lunch.
Tonight's homework is a math sheet (Quick Check 2-5), review spelling words, and read for 20 minutes.
 

Tonight's homework is a math worksheet on rounding, practice spelling review words, and read for 20 minutes. Please remember to log your reading.

     Today we begin two weeks of review, writer's workshop and assessments of all the skills and strategies we have practiced in our first ELA unit.  Children will be rereading the stories, revisiting comprehension strategies, revising and publishing writing drafts, and taking a unit test.  Everyone will plan, draft, revise and publish a personal narrative for assessment during our writer's workshop.
     Since our spelling list is also a review, there is no assigned spelling homework this week. Please go over the list with your child each evening to be ready for the quiz on Friday.
     We will continue to practice rounding and estimating in Math.  This is always a challenging skill for many children so I will spiral back to practice it for the next week or two.  You may also find some additional practice sent  for homework if your student needs it.
   

Today we began learning about rounding to the nearest 10 and nearest 100 using number lines.  Tomorrow we will use place value to round.  The next several math lessons are based on knowing how to round numbers so it's very important that everyone get a big slice of practice on this.
Student's wrote a quick advertisement for a student to do small jobs for you at home. They went home today, and some of them were very cute!
We'll have the usual weekly spelling test tomorrow but the weekly ELA reading comprehension and phonics assessment  is postponed to next week. There's just so much to learn and practice that a four day week just isn't enough this time!
Next week we begin a week or so of review and writer's workshop in ELA.  We'll go back over all of the phonics grammar, and comprehension skills we've done since September!

The question of the week is "What do we need to know about saving ans spending?". We began a realistic fiction writing exercise today about saving and earning to buy something really worthwhile. Students took a short quiz today on the addition and subtraction lessons we've been working on.  I hope to have them graded tomorrow.Today  Mrs. Vanderkruik began our library lessons for the year. The children are learning where to find the various kinds of books based on the call number on the spine. They'll also learn how to use the computers to look up book titles.    

Tonight's homework is to do the 3 times each spelling practice page and read the short selection student's brought home/  They are to read it aloud, hopefully to a listener, 3 times to practice fluent reading.

The new spelling and vocabulary lists are on the spelling page.

My apologies for not posting this week. This is the first night we've had internet access. Time for a new modem!  The children brought home their first math test of the year.  Many of the children needed to go back over their work to complete questions they skipped or misread. Please sign and return the test on Tuesday.  The children can make corrections to earn extra points on their score. They brought home their math books to help. Each question is followed by textbook lesson number in parentheses. Corrections are optional.
I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!