Hello! I'd like to say THANK YOU for the gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week. I love the hand-written notes, artwork, candy, and gift cards! 

This week is very busy, both academically and recreationally. Each day of the ABC Countdown brings something new, state and end-of-year testing is in progress, much of the curriculum is tying concepts together with projects, and third grade special events are happening soon!

Upcoming Events:

• Tuesday and Wednesday, May 9 and 10: Ohio State Test (Math)
• Wednesday, May 10: Field trip permission slip and fee due
• Friday, May 12, 6:30-8:00: THIRD GRADE AMAZING RACE - Come to the Lewis playground for an evening of games, dancing, and snacks. Please join the other third graders and most of the teachers too - it will be a great time!
• Tuesday, May 16: Field trip to Cleveland Botanical Gardens. So far, there are 11 volunteers to chaperone, but we can only take 3. This Friday, I will email everyone that volunteered to let them know whether or not they were selected.

A note from the Lewis PTA:

School Supplies 2023-2024

The Lewis PTA has partnered with 1st Day School Supplies to get a jump start on ordering for the 2023-2024 school year. Order your child’s kit online and they deliver directly to your home before the start of the school year! Click the link to get started:

Order 2023-2024 School Supplies Today!

 

In the Curriculum:

• Reading: Biographies. We are continuing to learn to locate important events, vocabulary, and dates within a biographical text. Soon, the children will begin a culminating project that combines the content of the lessons that have been presented.
• Writing: Fairy tales. The children's fairy tales now have dialogue, a refrain, and lots of paragraphs. Soon they will contain descriptive language and similes. Editing and revising will follow the drafting process.
• Word Study: Compound words (backpack, lighthouse, downpour, etc.)
• Social Studies: Economics. Big ideas this week will include production and consumption, product development, and budgets. The children are starting to think about ideas for Market Day. You will receive a letter this week that explains some aspects of Market Day, along with parameters. Your child should be able to provide further details, and I am happy to answer any questions that arise.

Have a great week everyone, and I hope to see you Friday night!

Hello everyone! This is a very exciting month for third graders. There is so much happening, both in the curriculum and "just for fun". Now, if it would just stop raining for a day... Anyway, here's what's happening in our class and in our grade:

Upcoming Events:

• Tuesday, May 9 and Wednesday, May 10: Ohio State Testing: Math
• Friday, May 12: Third Grade Amazing Race 6:30-8:00 pm
• Tuesday, May 16: Field Trip to Cleveland Botanical Gardens
• ABC Countdown every day - check your child's calendar or planner. Please check out the Photo Gallery for pictures!!

In the Curriculum:

Reading:

• Biographies. The children have learned that biographies can have very different structures, so they may sound like information or sound like a story. Students have been reading many biographies and have practiced finding the traits, motivations, and struggles of their subject. They have also paid attention to other influences (people) in their subject's life.
• Coming up: Finding main ideas, creating time lines of important events (and deciding which events ARE important), and navigating difficult words and concepts.

Writing:

• Fairy Tales. This unit is a favorite! So far, the children have planned and drafted their own version of a classic fairy tale. They know that their adaptation must have elements that are similar and some that are different from the original. They have learned the basic structure that all (or most) fairy tales follow: 
  • At the beginning: Introduce the setting, main characters (some but not necessarily all), set up the story
  • Next: Start the action, introduce the problem
  • Body: Continue the story, work through the problem
  • Conclusion: Solve the problem, tie everything together, happy ending (usually)
• Coming up: Balancing dialogue and narration, adding a refrain ("Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin), and adding precise/juicy vocabulary.

Word Study:

• Adding endings to words that end with -y: For example, carry to carried, bunny to bunnies, study to studies, enjoy to enjoyed.
  • Rule 1: if a consonant comes right before the y (hurry), change the y to i, then add the ending (hurried)
  • Rule 2: if a vowel comes right before the y (stay), make no change. Just add the ending (stayed)

Math:

• Lots of review work, especially of older and more difficult concepts. All of the assessments are done, except for the Ohio State Test.
• Some children need to practice certain skills, such as multiplication facts, telling time, and adding/subtracting 3-digit numbers. If your child is having difficulty with any of these, please spend some time practicing together. I can provide multiplication flash cards and/or telling time worksheets if needed. 

Social Studies:

• Economics started Monday. The children have learned that economics involves making choices when something is scarce. They learned the meaning of the word "scarcity", then wrote and performed skits that highlighted something being scarce. Pictures are in the Photo Gallery - the skits were fantastic!
• Coming up: The concept of opportunity cost (the thing or things that are given up when a choice is made). For example, if you go to Mitchell's for ice cream, there are many choices. When you choose chocolate, you give up the opportunity to have any of the other flavors. The children will also review production and consumption this week and early next week.
• Next week we will start talking about and planning for Third Grade Market Day, which is at the end of May. This in-school event requires children to produce a good or service and "sell" it to their classmates. More details will be coming next week.

Have a fantastic evening!

 

Happy Spring! Here's hoping the weather stays nice!

Upcoming Events:

• April 13th: "Alien" science project (Parent and Offspring aliens). Students will need a paper towel tube. If you have more than one, please send it in. Toilet paper tubes work also, for the offspring. Please read the letter that was sent home today for more details.
• April 18th and 20th: State testing (English/Language Arts)
• April 24th - April 28th: Book Fair. I believe our class will "shop" on Thursday, April 27th. I'll let you know if that changes. If you would like to volunteer, follow the link given in the Lewis Update 4-6-23 email.
• April 25th, 6-8 pm: Fine Arts Night. Artwork will be displayed, and each 3rd grade class will have a music performance. Our class's music performance is at 6:30 pm.
• April 28th: Spirit Day (Color Wars). Third grade is ORANGE. Students are encouraged to wear orange or their Lewis spiritwear.

In the Curriculum:

Reading: 

• We have been working on inference for the last week. Readers make inferences when they figure things out from the text, without the author saying it directly. We can figure out how characters feel, what they are doing, and what problems they have; all without the author telling us.
• This week we will revisit main ideas/details and vocabulary.
• Next week the children will take the state test for reading and writing.

Writing:

• The children are finishing up the giant cross-text writing unit. Most recently, they have read about candy and are writing about how it has changed over time. Specifically, they are focusing on:
  
  • Organizing their ideas so that they are sure to include the required elements
  • Using information from the passages while putting that information in their own words
  • Punctuation and capitalization rules

Math:

• We are finishing a short unit on 2D shapes and will start learning about perimeter.
• Please continue to support your third grader by assisting/checking homework and practicing multiplication basic facts. I can send home flash cards if you want them - just let me know!

Science:

• The plants and animals unit is going very well. Students have been exploring what can cause organisms to be similar to or different from each other. They have learned that traits can be affected by heredity (inherited traits) or by the environment (especially when talking about plants).
• Current lessons involve the life cycles of organisms and factors that can affect a life cycle.

Word Study:

• For the last few weeks, the focus has been on plurals. Here are the rules:
  • If a word ends with ch, sh, x, or s, add -es to make the word plural. Otherwise, just add -s.
  • Some words have unusual plurals. Examples: mouse -->mice, child-->children, deer-->deer
• No new list this week, but we will review plurals as time allows.

Have a wonderful evening!

 

 

 

Happy March!

Announcements and Upcoming Events:

• We are in the middle of most everything, so there are no assessments in the near future. :)
• The Lewis Carnival flyer came home today, but the date is INCORRECT. The date of the carnival is THURSDAY, March 16th (not Friday).
• Please ask your child if they are in need of any school supplies. Many children need dry erase markers, and a few need a new purple writing journal because they've run out of pages. :)
• With the goofy weather, it is very important that children wear, or at least have, appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. I know it can be a fight, but long pants and a jacket are needed almost every day.  

In the curriculum:

Reading:

• We are in the middle of the "Character Studies" unit. The children have been tracking a main character's problems and how the character reacts to problems. They have also learned about the climax (or turning point) of a story, and about the lesson(s) the character learns.
• Guided reading groups explored main characters' traits and feelings by reading picture books. These books were rather serious, with strong themes and difficult issues such as homelessness, racism, and poverty.
• The groups are now studying characters with chapter books. Although the books have lighthearted moments, the children are being challenged to consider real-life issues like bullying, divorce, poverty, and learning challenges. I am amazed by the deep and thoughtful conversations we are having!

Writing:

• We have started Personal Narrative writing. The children read a fictional story then write to a specific prompt about it, combining text evidence with their own thinking.
• Some ways to write personal narrative are:
  • Writing about a specific character trait, supporting that trait with details from the story
  • Writing about how the main character changed from beginning to end
  • Writing a summary that includes evidence of a character's trait, the problem/tension in the story, the turning point, and resolution (including character change, if any).

Math:

• Fractions, fractions, fractions! Topic 12 introduced the concept of fractions and measuring length to the nearest 1/4 inch.
• The current topic, topic 13, focuses on equivalent fractions. The kids are using plastic fraction strips, drawings, and number lines to find equivalent fractions.
• Another big concept in topic 13 is comparing fractions. The children are learning how to decide if one fraction is larger than another.
• Finally, the students will learn to name whole numbers as fractions. For example, the whole number 4 can be written as 4/1, 12/3, or 16/4. 
• I have paper fraction strips that I can send home to help with homework. Please let me know if you'd like them!

Word Study:

• Adding the suffixes -ed and -ing to base words
• Rules learned: 
  • Base word CVC (bat): double the final consonant then add the ending (batted, batting)
  • Base word CVCC (jump): no change, just add the ending (jumped, jumping)
  • Base word CVCe (like): drop the e then add the ending (liked, liking)
  • Base word CVVC (float), no change, just add the ending (floated, floating)

Social Studies - Government

• Lessons have included:
  • Local government leaders - mayor, city council, judges
  • Responsibilities of local government: make and enforce laws, provide public services, protect the rights of individuals
  • Benefits of laws: ensure order and security, protect people's rights
  • The difference between rules and laws, and what the government can and cannot enforce. For example, the government can enforce people wearing seatbelts, but cannot enforce homework completion.
  • Local government services: libraries, parks, public schools, road maintenance, water treatment, garbage collection, etc.
  • Individual rights: the right to be treated fairly, the right to a free education, the right to give your opinion, the right to private property, etc.
  • Appropriate consequences for breaking laws. For example, speeding leads to a fine but violent behavior has a much stronger consequence. Fines/tickets, community service, facing a judge in court, and jail time have all been discussed.

Have a great evening, everyone!

Hello everyone! The school year is over half finished, the weather has gotten COLD, and there's a lot happening in school!

Upcoming Events:

• February 2nd: Topic 11 Math Assessment. 2-step word problems
• February 6th: Science (Matter) Assessment
• February 7th: Cross-Text Writing Prompt (scored)
• February 7th: Assembly with Jungle Terry
• February 8th: Reading (Research Clubs) Assessment
• February 10th: Valentine's Day Party

VALENTINE'S DAY!!! The kids are asking a lot of questions, so here is some general information:

• The party is February 10th, NOT February 14th. We will acknowledge "true" Valentine's Day, but the festivities will be limited to party day.
• Your child will need a box or bag for their valentines. Because of time constraints, this must be made at home. If you need a box, I have one or two that I can give away.
• If your child will be passing out valentines, please be sure that every classmate gets one. Candy and/or food items MAY NOT be attached, but non-food items (pencils, tattoos, little toys) are acceptable.
• Kindly do not send in Valentine boxes or valentines early. Our space is very limited. Thank you!

Other Random Notes:

• It's the time of year when the kids have used up or lost some of their school supplies. Please ask your child if their supplies need to be replenished. Especially ask about dry erase markers, regular markers, erasers, and glue sticks. Some children also need new headphones (cheap ear buds work beautifully).
• It's also the time of year for cold weather clothing. Outdoor recess happens unless it is VERY cold (less than 20 degrees) or raining. Snow pants and boots are required for playing in the snow, but children that don't like to play in the snow itself still need a warm coat. I am the "mean" teacher that makes the kids put on their coats before going out, so don't worry about that part. :) Click this link to a silly song if you know the "I don't need a coat" struggle!
• Pretty please take a glance at your child's homework before they turn it in and help with corrections if needed. Homework does NOT need to be completed independently, and practicing correctly is essential for learning.
• I've got lots of new pictures and will post them in the gallery this weekend.
• Big THANK YOU to Andy's mom and Jack's mom for leading the class during Giving Week! 

Finally, this week's curriculum:

Reading - Research Clubs

• Students will be comparing and contrasting facts from two texts. They are also learning to figure out the meaning of unknown words and are reading closely to find and sequence events. Main idea and detail work is happening in small groups.

Writing - Cross-Text Writing

• This type of writing involves reading two related passages, then writing something specific about what they read.
• Children have already written an opinion piece about which animals are more interesting: elephants or zebras. They voiced their opinion but had to include facts and details from the two passages they were given.
• This week, children are writing an informational piece about how the Vikings were hard-working and adventurous. They read two articles about Vikings and are using facts from those articles in their pieces.

Math - Two-step Word Problems

• This difficult unit ends tomorrow, but the kids have been persistent through the challenges. I'm proud of their hard work!
• Fractions start Friday. Wish (all of) us luck!!!

Science - Matter

• Lots of experiments in this unit. The kids have measured the mass (weight) of solids, and have measured volume by displacement and counting cubic centimeters.
• We are currently exploring physical changes by adding or taking away heat (melting, freezing, evaporation, condensation). We'll be checking out what can and cannot evaporate by making trays of salt water and leaving them to "dry".
• If there's time, we'll play around with oobleck. No promises though - it's messy and time is short! Test Monday.

Word Study - Review of Vowel Patterns

• This week is review, but moving forward, the children will be learning why the spelling of a base word may (or may not) change when an ending is added.
  • skip becomes skipping/skipped (doubling rule)
  • like becomes liking/liked (e-drop rule)
  • jump becomes jumping/jumped (no change rule)
• I will start sending a copy of the week's words home with some students. If your child receives the words and you would like activity ideas, please let me know. Otherwise, they are intended for extra exposure and practice.

Happy February! As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Have a great evening!

 

 

Hello everyone!

I would like to thank you for your kindness these last few weeks. As you may have heard, I broke my wrist just before Thanksgiving. As "luck" would have it, I broke my right wrist, and I'm right-handed. I only missed two days of school, but the inability to use that hand, especially to write, has affected everything. Who knew that trying to write with the non-dominant hand and do everything else with one hand would be so exhausting??? I've regained some finger grip, so I can now use a pen, but it is slow and sloppy. At any rate, I appreciate your patience so much, because grading has fallen woefully behind, and my "feedback" looks like chicken scratch (at best). Thank you!!!

Upcoming Events:

• December 9th: Math Topic 8 Assessment (Addition and subtraction, mental math, rounding)
• December 14, 15: Math Benchmark Assessment Topics 1-8 (All topics learned so far)
• December 15: Reading Assessment (Mysteries)
  • This or the math benchmark assessment may be moved so that there are not two tests in one day. I will be sure the dates are accurate in the kids' planners.
• December 16: Spirit Day
• December 20: Holiday Party
• December 20: End of 2nd Quarter

In the Curriculum:

Reading:

• We are up to our eyeballs in mysteries! We're nearly finished with our second read-aloud mystery, and reading groups are more than halfway through their mystery books.
• Everyone is learning to track possible clues and suspects as they read. Adding on, students are now identifying the steps detectives take when solving mysteries, and finding small details that help predict who the culprit is.
• We will begin doing side-by-side comparisons of different mysteries. Making these comparisons requires close and careful reading. There will be plenty of highlighters used as the children track down specific details within texts!

Writing:

• Opinion Writing: The children have generated lists of their opinions about things happening in their home, school, community, and world. They are drafting their first masterpiece based on one of their strongest choices.
• Students are learning to give reasons for their opinion, then back their reasons up with details and evidence. 
• This week, the kids will learn to write a powerful introduction and conclusion. These elements can sound quite different than anything that has been done previously, because the writer must consider WHO they are trying to convince, and adjust their language accordingly. Trying to convince your brother to stop bothering you sounds a lot different than trying to convince your principal to make recess longer!

Math:

• Addition and Subtraction mental math strategies are happening. This is not the same mental math that many of us learned "back in the day". These are simply strategies that can be used in place of a traditional algorithm, and someday could truly be done when paper and pencil are not available. The traditional algorithm WILL be learned in Topic 9. Topic 8 focuses on alternative ways to add and subtract, such as making jumps from one number to another, compensating (do 285-200 instead of 287-198), and breaking numbers apart.
• Estimation strategies are another big focus. Students can now round to the nearest ten and nearest hundred. They have also learned to estimate using compatible numbers, which are numbers that are close to the original number and friendly (easy to work with).

Social Studies:

• Geography continues, and we are starting map skills. The children can now use an alphanumeric map grid to find and place things on a map.
• The students will work with the cardinal directions -  north, south, east, and west - for the remainder of this week and into next.

Word Study:

• -ce, -ve, -se, -ze endings. 
• Example words: choice, brave, rinse, freeze
• Two big ideas:
  • -se can sound like s or z (false, cheese). When you hear "z", it's tricky to know whether to use -se or -ze. When you hear "s", you have to decide whether the words is spelled with -se or -ce. There's no good, solid pattern, so repetition is key.
  • No words in English end with "v". So, if you hear "v" at the end of the word, it will always be followed by an e.

I hope you have an amazing rest of the week!

Hello families - I hope you are well! 'Tis the season for sniffles and fevers, and our class has been hit pretty hard this week. I thank you for thinking of others and keeping your child home when needed. Perhaps some relaxation over the Thanksgiving weekend will give the kids some much-needed rest!

Thank you also for such successful conferences - it was so nice speaking with all of you!

I uploaded some new pictures to the Photo Gallery. Still a bunch to go, but your kids are ridiculously cute. Enjoy the pics!

Upcoming Events:

• November 14-18: Food Drive
  • This event provides a food bank that supports Solon families and local communities. Third graders are asked to donate canned yams and gravy, though any contribution is appreciated.
• November 18: Spirit Day
  • Wacky Tacky - wear mismatched clothes
• November 22: Topic 7 Math Assessment (Graphing)
• November 23-25: No School - Thanksgiving Break
• December 5-9: Present Shop
  • I will let you know the day our class will shop, as soon as I know.

In the Curriculum:

• Reading:
  • The information unit is over (the assessment has been released, and score pages will be sent home tomorrow).
  • The MYSTERY unit has just started! I am reading "The Absent Author" from A-Z Mysteries as our model text, and the children are learning to identify the mystery and crime solvers. Just today they started a list of suspects and clues. The over-arching motto: Anyone can be a suspect and anything can be a clue. Oh, you should hear the ideas the children have after just 3 chapters!
  • Coming up: Making predictions based on possible clues, learning about motive and opportunity, and finding productive ways to take notes while reading mysteries.
• Writing:
  • The information writing unit comes to a close tomorrow. The students will write "for a grade" tomorrow, using what they have learned about organizing chapters, writing solid paragraphs, and expanding with "explaining" details. They will have many resources at their disposal, including their anchor charts for introduction and conclusion strategies and transition words (specific to information writing, like "for example", "also", "one reason", "as you can tell", "clearly", etc.). 
  • Coming up: The beginning of opinion writing. The children will view examples of opinion pieces, written by previous students, and discuss the elements that they see. We will also review the difference between fact and opinion. The students will do a quick fun opinion piece in which they pretend they are a turkey trying to convince a farmer to NOT eat them for Thanksgiving!
• Word Study: Very challenging words this week, because there is no easy pattern to follow. All of the words have silent letters at the beginning: kn-, gn-, and wr-. The big idea is that sometimes the /n/ and /r/ sounds are spelled with silent letters, and those added letters are k, g, or w. I'm giving lots of exposure to the words, since they are purely visual - you can't HEAR the silent letter. Difficult stuff!
• Math:
  • The Topic 6 assessment will be released next week. Absent students need more time to make it up.
  • We have started a short unit on reading and creating graphs. The children are learning to make scaled picture and bar graphs (not as easy at it seems). They are also required to answer questions about the data represented in these graphs. Some of the questions are quite tricky - for example, "How many more white t-shirts were sold than green t-shirts and red t-shirts combined?" or "How much less money did Henry save than Gabby and Gil combined?"
  • When creating graphs, the emphasis is on finding an appropriate scale. One symbol in a picture graph might represent 2 items, while half of that symbol must represent 1 item. If the numbers are very large, a whole picture may represent 10 items while the half represents 5. The same is true when determining scale on a bar graph. The children must find a scale that works for the data given. The numbers up the side of a bar graph may count by 2's, 5's, 10's - even 3's!
• Social Studies:
  • We finished History and Cultures earlier this week (scores to be released next week).
  • New unit: Geography. Students will learn about how humans change the land, and how they use natural resources in their daily lives.
  • We will take a tiny break from the "formal" Social Studies lessons next week, in order to learn about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Students will listen to a story about the creator of the first balloon in the parade, then explore a website that shows the new floats/balloons/technology through the decades. They will complete a time line and create their own balloon for an electronic class parade. I'll be sure to share it when it's finished!

Thank you for sticking with me for this very long post, and Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

 

Got antiques or artifacts? If you have items that your child can show the class for our history unit, we'd love to see them! Please understand that this is elementary school and accidents happen, so please don't send anything to school that has a lot of monetary or sentimental value. Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

• November 3rd, 10th, and 11th: Parent-Teacher Conferences
  • Check SignUp Genius for your conference day and time.
  • Please complete the pre-conference questionnaire. The link was sent in an email this afternoon.
• November 2nd and 3rd: Ohio State Test (English/Language Arts)
• November 7th: Field Trip to Solon Historical Society

In the Curriculum:

• Reading: Information reading continues, with lessons about fact/opinion, author's perspective, more main ideas and details, and close reading. I'm pushing the children to locate evidence in text when answering questions about what they've read.
• Writing: The kids are in the middle of their informational report. Areas of focus include paragraph structure (topic sentence, details, concluding sentence), clever introductions, and elaborating facts with explanations and examples.
• Math: Topic 5 Show What You Know scores have been released on Edulastic, and work pages will be sent home in the next day or two. Topic 6 has started with finding area by counting the squares inside a shape. When a shape is irregular, the area must be estimated. Soon, the children will learn to find the area of squares and rectangles (length times width) and begin to calculate the area of non-rectangular shapes, like a C-shaped or L-shaped region.
• Social Studies: The children are learning important events in Solon's history, and learning to place events on a time line. They are "doing math" during social studies, calculating the year a decade or century before/after a certain year. The students will learn the difference between primary and secondary sources and explore artifacts in history in upcoming lessons.
• Word Study: More 3-letter blends: all words begin with thr-, squ-, spl-, or shr -.

Good afternoon!

The first quarter just ended, with a flurry of activity (and assessments). The children were fantastically focused and persistent, and I'm extremely proud of their efforts!

Upcoming Events:

• October 19th: Unity Day - Wear orange
• October 21st: Spirit Day (Comets for the Cure) - Wear pink
• October 21st: Report cards issued electronically
• Week of October 24th: Red Ribbon Week - There is something special to do every day. Go to "Helpful Documents" for the daily schedule.
• October 27th: Picture Retakes
• October 28th: Halloween Party

In the Curriculum:

Reading: We have just started a nonfiction reading unit called "Reading to Learn". The children are learning to find the main idea of a section of text and learning that the main idea can change when a text is complex. They will be working with responding to what they read - by finding interesting facts, expressing what they wonder, and generating questions. The students are also learning to identify the features of information text, such as captions, diagrams, headings/subheadings, the table of contents, glossary, and index. There are more, but you get the idea.

Writing: The children wrote a personal narrative (memory) last week as an assessment piece. You can view it on Edulastic, or your child should have it in their Take Home folder. The kids received a simplified rubric attached to their piece, and reflected by giving themselves a star (compliment) and a wish (something to work on). Right now the children are learning to answer a question about something they have read using the RACE strategy. When they write using this strategy, they Restate the question, Answer it, Cite the text evidence, and Explain their thinking. Writing informational reports is coming up later this week.

Math: Topic 5 is primarily about using a multiplication chart to multiply and divide, but the children will also learn that the chart can show the commutative, distributive, zero, and identity properties of multiplication. Difficult stuff!

The Topic 4 and Benchmark assessment scores have been released on Edulastic. Score sheets and work pages will come home late this week.

Social Studies: The Earth's Resources assessment has been released on Edulastic. You can go directly to Edulastic or go through your child's Content Google Classroom. We just started the History Social Studies unit by discussing what "change" is. We now start activities involving specific types of change, such as change in jobs/businesses, education, and land features.

Word Study: Review of long vowels is done. This week the children will study triple-consonant blends at the beginnings of words. All words will begin with either str-, scr-, or spr-. Example words are "string", "scratch", and "spray".

Have a great night!

 

The field trip last week was amazing - thank you to Andy's mom and Jack's mom for your help!! Pictures will be posted soon!

Important: The sign-up for parent-teacher conferences is now available. Please follow the link below to choose a conference time.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F49A8AA2AA1F58-parentteacher

Upcoming events (Please note: With the end of the quarter approaching, there are more tests than usual.):

• Oct. 5: No School (Yom Kippur)
• Oct. 7: Writing Assessment - Personal Narrative
• Oct. 10: Math Topic 4 Assessment
• Oct. 11: Science Assessment
• Oct. 19: Unity Day (details coming soon)
• Oct. 21: Spirit Day - Comets for a Cure

In the Curriculum:

• Reading: The children took their first reading unit assessment on Monday. They took a look at their scores today and attempted to try a new answer for any missed questions. I was extremely impressed with the students' effort and commitment to precision as they took the test! You will receive a "score" sheet on Friday, but scores have been released if you would like to look at them a little bit early. We will begin information reading next week, with a small comprehension "in-between" activity later this week. 
• Writing: Wrapping up personal narratives by learning to create paragraphs by separating beginning, middle, and end, and indicating new speakers when using dialogue. Final touches to check capitalization and punctuation, as well as partner sharing will happen this week before the assessment on Friday.
• Word Study: Long e patterns (ee and ea), as well as oddballs in these patterns (bread, been). 
• Math: Topic 4 (division) is wrapping up. The children have been using multiplication to divide (fact families) and learning patterns of division (dividing by 1, dividing 0, and using even/odd patterns). We have used a lot of skip counting this unit, but the students are allowed to use previously learned skills, like repeated addition/subtraction and the distributive property, to solve multiplication and division problems. During the next unit, we will learn to use a multiplication chart, explore even more patterns, and work on developing speed/fluency when multiplying and dividing.
• Science: For the end of the "Earth's Resources" unit, the children will be learning about conservation - reduce, reuse, recycle - and forms of energy - mechanical, electrical, light, sound, heat, etc. 

Have a great evening everyone!