MSA Preparation

This week, the students and teachers of Grade 3 are beginning to talk about the Maryland State Assessments. These assessments will begin on March 3.  Though this feels a long way off, it is actually only 12 weeks away!

To prepare students we will:

• Hold a parent information session on Friday, December 7 during the winter dance.  3,4 and 5th grade teachers will be on hand to answer all of your questions, including me!
• Change the format of our homework to focus on test taking skills and content that we know students need to review before the test.  We will continue to review homework daily in class.
• Change our spelling words to use important Grade 3 vocabulary words as an extra review in January and February.
• Have Reading and Math focus groups to review and practice skills and discuss test taking tips each day from 1:30-2:00.

How you can help your child succeed:

• Be informed and know about the test: What is the MSA? What does it look like?
• Ensure your child is completing their homework each night.  We will be going over it in class each day.
• When you see your child is struggling with a particular concept or skill, write me a note to let me know.  Try and find some web resources to help them develop this skill or gain a better understanding.
• Utilize math games to help them review concepts such as money and time that they need for the test: Grade 3 Math MSA Review Games
• Ensure that your child write answers to questions in complete sentences and uses vocabulary words they are learning and practicing at school.

I look forward to seeing you on Friday night and working with you to ensure your child is prepared and successful in March!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This month, to honor American Indian Heritage Month, Jordan's mother came to visit our class.  Her name is Mary and she is a member of the Skokomish tribe based in Washington state.  She shared with us many interesting artifacts and family heirlooms that she has collected including special baskets for cooking and a sheep's wool shawl made by a family member.  She then shared two folktales from her tribe that had illustrations done by her uncle.  A really interesting and wonderful visit!

As a follow up, this week we are reading the story The Rough Faced Girl, a Native American Cinderella tale and following it up with a readers' theatre of a similar story, called "The Hidden One".  We will also be learning a bit about the first Thanksgiving and how the holiday got its start.

Below are some pictures of the students working in pairs to complete their posters for emergency 911 procedures- over the past two weeks, we have learned a lot about basic first aid emergencies and also 911 emergencies.  Ask your child what they learned about what to do in different situations.

Your child should be beginning to memorize their multiplication tables- at this point, I would hope they have mastered the 0,1,2,5, and 10s times tables and begin work on their 3s and 4s. Unfortunately, the good old-fashioned flash card drills still seem to be the best way to learn these facts, although there are tons of awesome online games and quizzes they can try.

A few things coming up: The spelling test will be on Wednesday (11/21) before break. If you would like to order Scholastic books, please order them online if possible- the online code is GYFMB and you can click on the link to the left. You and your child earn a special coupon for $5 your next order and I also earn rewards for our class to get free books!  These books are tax free and there is no shipping and handling fees.  If you are ordering some holiday surprises for your child, simply e-mail me and I will make sure to let you know when they come in rather than give them to your child at school.  I will place all orders by next Friday 11/30 so that they are in before 12/15- it usually takes one week after I place the order.

This week, we all have a lot to be thankful for.  I know I am thankful for my wonderful class full of hard workers!  I hope you and all of your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm sure I will get to hear all about it from the kids next week!

Meeting with Parents

The beginning of this week was filled with parent teacher conferences and parents received our new report cards for the first time. I recognize that the new grading system is very different from what all of us are used to and it can be confusing at times.  I appreciate every one's patience as we all learn this new system together!

I really enjoyed meeting with all parents and getting to discuss their student's progress. Even though this conference was our only formal time to meet, please feel free to contact me anytime- by e-mail, phone or to set up a conference to chat.

Did you know that parent involvement (in any form) in a child's education is one of the major factors for success?  Read more about it: "How Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement"

Since this week is "all about the parents", I wanted to share some parent resources I enjoy and think are useful.

MCPS's Parent Support Page

Helping Your Child Become a Stronger Reader

Helping with Math Homework

Growing Kids who Love Mathematics

Helping your Child be More Organized

Building Capacity for Focus

On the left side of the screen I will continue to add more games and resources for the kids to use that I find helpful.  I mentioned to many of you that I really think the Kahn Academy is a great resource to help your child when they are confused about a math skill- not only can they watch the video lesson but you can watch it, too- and it will give you real insight into how to build understanding of the concept with your child.

In anyway you support them at home, I appreciate all of the great work you are doing and your child is going to reap the benefits!

“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fall Festival!

It is hard to believe that marking period 1 is coming to an end.  My apologies for letting the past few weeks get away from me and not posting.  We have been working hard and accomplishing a lot in grade 3!

Last week, students got to choose a community service project to plan and participate in at school.  Students cleaned up litter and planted bulbs that will beautify our school in the spring, wrote letters to our troops stationed in Afghanistan or went to the Media Center and spent the afternoon reading to Kindergarten and First Grade buddies.  Across the past week, student have worked in pairs to create power point presentations in the computer lab about their community service experiences.  They did a fantastic job!  I hope to remove some last names and post a few on here to share with you.  I was really impressed by what they created and I know you will be, too!

We have continued to study the election process, write to share our opinions and memorize our basic multiplication facts and solve more challenging multiplication and division problems. Students should be working at home on their 0,1, and 2s times tables and begin adding in their 5s and 10s shortly.  I recommend using flashcards and adding in 2-3 new facts each week so as not to overwhelm students.  They need to practice these facts for 5-10 minutes per night.

This week we celebrated fall.  We enjoyed the tastes of fall- apple cider, apple tastes tests with carmel dipping sauce, and roasted pumpkin seeds as well as some sweet treats.  Students also brought in their personal community service homework projects and we began to share, which we will wrap up across the next two days.  Students have done fantastic things to help their communities. In science, we are also wrapping up our study of the forces of motion.  Students worked in groups of three today to build a simple vehicle and tomorrow will design different types of tires to meet different types of needs. Students will be testing them together and analyzing their results. Here are some shots of the groups assembling their vehicles:

Coming soon: an optional weekend project on Storybird.  The link is to the lower left. Students will know their passwords and log-ins by Friday. We will begin the project in school and students who finish at home will receive a special prize and the opportunity to share their stories with an audience!

I hope all of you and your families and friends weathered the storm and didn't have too much damage!

Week 7

Last week we worked on many things across all subject areas.

In reading, we read a book called The Backpack Tax that was a realistic fiction story that taught about the three kinds of taxes and what they are used for.  We practiced identifying the main idea and the details within the story.  This was a great text that connects to social studies: Nancy Navarro had talked to us about taxes and how they are spent the week before and we will be beginning our study of Economics in social studies this week.

In math, we continued to practice multiplying using a variety of strategies to get the answer.  This week, we will be focusing on division and fact families with multiplication and division.  Students will begin to take timed quizzes on their basic multiplication facts and track their own progress this week.

Brianna has become quite the author in her spare time at home and brought in her second book to share with the class.

This week, encourage your child to try their hand at publishing their own book.  If they are visual, try out Story Bird. It is a great website where anyone can create their own story and select the art to go with it.
Here is a cool one I found to check out: Patrick's Not-So-Perfect Party. Ms. Sherry is going to start working on her own stories soon as well!

Again, congratulations to Yohannes and Jordan for becoming our class reps.  Here they are soon after our first meeting last week.

The SGA created a voting bulletin board about the election and students will get to vote by the end of this week after getting a little more information.  We have talked a lot over the past few weeks about electing officials and being informed citizens.  Please consider talking to your child about the election and taking them with you when you go o the polls on November 6.

I heard about a lot of great community service project ideas!  Students are bagging and carrying groceries, raking leaves, picking up litter in parks, working at shelters and food banks and holding yard sales to donate the profits!  I can't wait until the end of the month for students to share their experiences!

A Special Visitor

Last Thursday, Grade 3 had a special visitor- Nancy Navarro from the County Council! We have been studying the role of local government in social studies. We have spent a lot of time over the past two weeks studying the members of the county council and what each committee does for our community.

Nancy Navarro came and spoke to all 3 classes about her childhood and how she came to be involved in local politics.  She spoke about how she is proud to be the first Latina involved in local politics here in our county and also about how much she enjoys helping people and working to improve our community. The children asked her thoughtful questions and are working hard this week to write her a nice thank you letter.

Congratulations to Jordan and Yohannes, our Class Representatives for this school year.  I was so proud of everyone's hard work! This is going to be a great year for our Student Government! 

Half Way Through Marking Period 1!

It's hard to believe that September is coming to a close and we are half way through Marking Period 1.  If I have any academic or behavioral concerns about your child's progress, I will be sending home a progress report next week.  If you would like to meet with me about it, please send me an e-mail or call me.

This week we began our "Words Their Way" spelling program. For the first two weeks, students will all have the same words- they are contractions. Yesterday, we worked together to select 15 of the words for the test next Friday.  On October 8, we will begin spelling groups and students will have different words.  I determined the groups after administering a spelling assessment so I could analyze the types of words they have trouble with and what kinds of errors they are making.  This test will not count towards their spelling grade. Each group will have a large sort of words and then we will work together to select 15 words for their test.  The spelling tests will always be every 2 weeks. Students should be bringing their spelling notebook to and from school each day along with their take home folder and agenda.
Here is an awesome site to help your child practice their words in all kinds of fun ways:
http://www.spellingcity.com/

We continued our study of subtraction this week, especially working on 3 digit subtraction equations where you have to "double re-name"- such as 400-178. On Thursday in small groups, students used the khan academy site to view a mini lesson to review different subtraction strategies. The Khan academy is a fantastic site full of lessons on everything from basic addition to advanced calculus.  Every lesson is followed by different activities to reinforce the concept.  If you sign your child up for an account, it will even monitor their progress and send you updates.  I can not create the accounts myself, because you need to enter an e-mail address, but please consider using this site for homework help and to offer some challenge as well. I added the link to both of these sites to the left. The Khan academy was recently featured on 60 Minutes and you can watch the clip here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401696n.

Here is the lesson we started in small groups, if you'd like your child to watch it over the weekend:

http://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/addition-subtraction/v/subtraction-3---introduction-to-borrowing-or-regrouping

A few reminders:
-we will hold our Student Government elections for our class representatives on Friday, October 5.
-Our first spelling test is also 10/5.
-Students will be bringing home our first BIG homework project on Monday, October 1. It is due the 31st.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Wonderful Week Four!

Hello students and parents!

This week we have learned a lot of facts about gravity!  Ask your child to tell you something they have learned.  We especially enjoyed learning about our weight on different planets- there is a link below to a fun website where students can check out what their weight would be in the other planets of our solar system.

In social studies, we have continued to talk about democratic principles and are beginning to really focus on our main project for the quarter- contributing to the common good.  Ask your child what it means to contribute to the common good.  We have been reading and learning about kids who are able to help people in their community.  Later this quarter, students will be planning their own community service projects- group projects at school and individual projects as part of their homework.

To enjoy Fitness Friday and the beautiful weather, we played "Butterfly Tag" outside- a great way to get exercise for our brains and our bodies!

Some important reminders:
-If you'd like to order scholastic books, the last day is Friday, September 28.  The link to order online is below.
-Send in any slips to subscribe to Highlights magazine or Puzzlemania by Friday as well. You will be billed directly.
-If you are running for SGA, speeches and posters are also due by Friday, 9/28.
-There is no school Wednesday and a half day Friday- we are half way through the first marking period- its flying by!
-In week 5 (9/24), you may begin seeing incomplete classwork coming home to be done as homework.

Week 3 Wrap Up

Last week was busy in Grade 3! We had a very successful Back to School Night on Wednesday with a presentation about our new curriculum, report card and grading system and new behavior management system.  If you missed it or you would like the chance to look it over in more detail, go to the school website and look under "Classrooms", then "Grade 3" and you will see the link to our power point presentation. Please feel free to contact me, my e-mail is at the bottom of the site.

We did so many things last week but two of the most exciting were during science in our study of forces of motion.  We were able to borrow a cart of laptops from the media center and explore a website where students got to create a maze- practicing moving objects around and observing how objects bounce and move. The students had to use trial and error to achieve their goal. Ask them to show you how to play "Tinker Ball"- the link is at the lower left of the screen. Another day, we used many objects in groups to experiment with how we can change an object's motion and different ways to describe objects in motion.

All in all, it was a great week!

Welcome to Grade 3!

We are off to a great start this year in Grade 3! Currently, my class has 18 students- 9 boys and 9 girls. During this first three weeks of school, we have been working on developing our classroom rules and routines. We have begun a rigorous new curriculum, a new behavior management system and a new grading policy as well. In reading, I have been able to test each student's reading level while doing whole-class instruction on inferencing and point of view.  This week, we will be focusing on starting our small reading groups. In writing, we have begun writing a personal narrative about a good deed we have done. In science, we began the year talking about stress and strengths and weaknesses and now we are being a unit of study on forces of motion. In social studies, we have been studying American Democratic Principals and discussing rules and laws. In math, we are currently working on addition and subtraction to 1,000 and are using rounding to make good estimates. I am so excited to be off to a great start for a wonderful new school year! The theme of much of what we are doing right now in all subject areas is collaboration and doing things for the common good and all of our Penguins have been working together productively every day!