Classroom News/Announcements
May 30
Hi Parents!
I promise this will be the last email you will receive for this school year! I want to thank all of you for making this year so special and for trusting me with your child each day. It has been truly the greatest honor watching your children grow in so many ways--- not only have they grown physically and academically, they have really developed their true identity and personality. I truly do believe teaching is the greatest job in the world and its all because of the amazing kids I get to spend my days with! They could not be more ready for 4th grade and I can't wait to see what their future holds.
I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for my end-of-year gift. Thank you for the cash and for many of the side gifts several of you sent in. It truly has made me feel so loved! Thank you so much.
As we close out this year, please feel free to keep in touch and let me know if you ever need anything. Your child may be in the hands of another teacher come August, however, they will always have a piece of my heart with them and they have added more joy to my life than you will ever know.
I hope these weekly emails were helpful and not too annoying....enjoy this summer ahead and soak up every minute with your little ones. I miss them already- give them an extra hug for me!
All my best,
Alexis
Week of May 28-30
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are out enjoying the sunshine over this beautiful Memorial Day weekend! I can't believe we have finally reached the last "weekly email" of the school year! This week is always so bittersweet....looking to summer is always so exciting, yet it's hard to let go of all the sweet memories we've made as a class this year. Your kids will officially be 4th graders on Thursday and I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them. I know you are too!
This week we will finish up our Memory Books we have been working on, play each other's board games that we worked so hard making last week, and finish up our books in book clubs. Tuesday is our last "theme day" of the year...the kids may bring one item that can fit in their backpack and is school appropriate to show and tell Tuesday morning. Wednesday, we will spend a lot of the day cleaning up our room, emptying our desk and stacking the furniture up in a section of the classroom. We will also get to watch the 5th grade talent show that day. Thursday will be a pretty-laid back morning and we will enjoy each other's company one last day. School supplies will be coming home in your child's backpack each day so that they aren't carrying everything home on Thursday....so please have your child bring their backpack each day to help transport it all home.
I will be in touch later in the week before summer is out, but I hope everyone soaks up these last few days. It's been such an honor being your child's teacher and I couldn't have done it without all your support and partnership throughout the year.
Best wishes for a great last week,
Alexis
Week of May 20
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are having a fun and relaxing weekend! Can't believe we are at the last full week of school for the year! After this week we will have a 3-day weekend followed by 2 1/2 days left of school. I don't know where the whole month of May went!
Thanks to all of you for making last week run so smoothly! From sending your child to school well-rested and ready for STAAR testing Monday and Tuesday to many of you joining us on the field trip Thursday, and volunteering out on the soccer field for May Madness Friday....it was a busy week and I thank you for all your help!
This week will be full of some fun end-of-year group projects and reflections on the school year. In social studies, the kids will be working in a small group to build a pizzeria. They will design a logo, a menu, business cards, and advertise their business to their classmates.
In math, they will be planning a summer road trip which will involve comparing prices of different locations and calculating the total costs of lodging, gas, entertainment, etc. This project puts their math skills to the test but is also lots of fun. Towards the end of the week, we will be creating our very own math board games. They will get to be creative and decide what theme they want their game to follow and design math questions from units covered this year.
In Language Arts, we will be creating a brochure on "How to Be a Successful Third Grader" to share with the incoming third graders next year. They will also do some reflection writing on this year and their goals for 4th grade. We will be finishing up our book clubs for the year as well.
An end-of-the-year calendar came home in your child's Thursday Folder a week ago with some fun theme days to end the year. I've attached the calendar should it have gotten misplaced. Monday will be Beach Day clothing, Tuesday will be Hat Day, Wednesday will be BPE Spirit Day, Thursday is Bring a Board Game, and Friday will be Pajama Day with a Stuffed Animal. This is just a calendar made for our class, so it is not school wide theme days. :) If you have twins in this grade level, they may have something similar.
Hope everyone enjoys the beautiful sunshine today and as always please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of May 13
Good Afternoon, Parents!
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! The sunshine made today truly beautiful to celebrate the amazing work our mom's do...I hope yours was equally as special!
This email will be kept pretty short as this week is going to look quite different academically than most weeks! As you probably remember, Monday and Tuesday we will be STAAR testing. Tomorrow is STAAR Math, and Tuesday will be STAAR Reading. The kids will be completing this all morning and have the usual fitness/recess/lunch time. After lunch we will have specials, so there will only be about 30-40 minutes in the classroom outside of testing those days.
Wednesday, we will have Hailey as our "Teacher for the Day"! This will be a fun day full of some activities she has planned for us.
Thursday, we will be headed to Reunion Ranch for our End-of-Year party/field trip. We are hoping for lots of sunshine and great weather! Please remember to send you child in comfortable clothes, close-toed shoes, and some sunscreen wouldn't hurt! Lunch will be provided out there (part of the fee you paid for). Lunch consists of hotdogs, baked beans, and chips. Our end-of-year party volunteers will also be providing fresh fruit and dessert. If your child does not like this menu, or cannot eat any of these items, PLEASE send a disposable sack lunch so they don't get hungry. We will be leaving on the buses around 9 am, so there will be a very early snack time that day.
We end the busy week with May Madness on Friday! 3rd-5th graders will be outside from approximately 12:20-2:45. Students may wear a bathing suit but they must have a t-shirt and shorts over it. Close-toed shoes are a must! We will all be wearing the color blue as a class...Price's Blue Panthers! Our lunch schedule will be adjusted a bit (we will eat in the cafeteria 10:45-11:10).
I hope everyone has a great week ahead and your little ones get some good rest tonight before testing in the morning! They are going to do GREAT! Please make sure they bring a book to read, a healthy snack, water bottle, and jacket if they get cold easily.
Best wishes,
Alexis
Week of May 6
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We are truly in the last stretch of things this week as we finish reviewing for STAAR next week. It's normal for your child to start feeling some anxiety this week as testing approaches, but we will certainly be doing our best to stay calm and remember this is just one test....it doesn't represent the amazing individuals they are truly are! There will be a letter in your child's Thursday folder this week that I hope you will read with them before next week. It's just a reminder of how proud I am of each and every one of them!
This week in math, we will finish up our STAAR review rotations on Monday and Tuesday. They will visit Mrs. De los Santos on Monday and Ms. Leavitt on Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday we will review in our own homerooms. This will be the last week of math homework for the year, as we typically finish when STAAR gets here.
In social studies, we will be taking our combined Math and Social Studies test on Personal Financial Literacy tomorrow. We reviewed in class on Friday and the kids seem very much prepared. The rest of the week we will learn about the role of producers and consumers in an economy and then complete a fun group project involving planning ingredients for a bakery item, calculating the cost of expenses, and determining how much money there is with a given income. They will then create an advertisement on their product and create a group commercial to promote their product.
In language arts, we will be reviewing context clues, making inferences/drawing conclusions, and poetry. We will also do a fun break-out escape game reviewing reading material from the year in preparation for next week.
Be on the look out for a little present coming your way this week for Mother's Day! :)
I hope all of you have a wonderful week and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 29
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope everyone has had a restful weekend and are out enjoying the sunshine today! Hard to believe we have reached May this week!! Time is truly going to fly between now and May 30....summer will be here in the blink of an eye!
For the next two weeks we will be reviewing our math units and reading units to prep for STAAR on May 13th and 14th. To do this, we will do five days of STAAR rotations during math to review the main topics covered throughout the year starting on Wednesday and finishing up the following Tuesday. Your child will spend Wednesday in our homeroom and then switch to each of the third grade teachers Thursday-Tuesday. They will receive homework from that teacher to review what was practiced in that particular rotation. In language arts, we will review in our own classes.
In math, we will review two-step word problems tomorrow and then due to the early release on Tuesday we will not have any math. Wednesday-Friday the kids will begin reviewing for STAAR (focusing on 2d/3d shapes, area and perimeter on Wednesday, measurement/time on Thursday, and place value on Friday).
In social studies, we will be learning about economics to tie in with our personal financial literacy unit in math we just finished. We will learn about goods and services, supply and demand, and complete a fun project that has students design their future making decisions about their salary, expenses, and savings. We will take a combined social studies and math test the following week since these units will tie together nicely.
As mentioned earlier, we will be reviewing different skills over these two weeks. This week we will practice using the Word Web app, which is the dictionary app students will be allowed to use on STAAR Reading if they don't know what a word means. We want them to be familiar with how to use the app before the actual test date. The rest of the week we will review main idea/details and nonfiction text features. We will also be working on a little project for you moms :)
Tuesday is an Early Release. Please make sure you make any changes needed on Smart Tag for this early release and remember that lunch will not be served that day.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 22
Good Afternoon, Parents!
I hope all of you had a beautiful Easter weekend with your families. We couldn't have asked for any nicer weather...it was truly the best!
This week in science/social studies, we will spend one more day learning about parts of a plant and then move into a four day unit on Earth Day/Natural Resources. With Earth Day being on Monday, we will be talking about the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and ways to make changes in our own lives to improve the environment.
We started our unit on Personal Financial Literacy last week and will continue the rest of this unit this week. Tomorrow we will learn all about credit and what it means to use a credit card...including calculating interest! We will also learn about making a savings plan and what happens to the costs of resources with supply and demand.
In language arts, we will be learning about fairy tales, fractured fairy tales, and myths. We will read three versions of Cinderella (original and two fractured versions) and even attempt writing our very own fractured fairy tale. We will wrap up the week with looking at some Myths. In addition, we will be finishing up editing our persuasive papers and write our final copies to share with each other by the end of the week.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead! As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 15
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. We have four days and then we will be off on Friday for a three day weekend to celebrate Easter!
This week in science, we will only have two real days for our next short science unit which will be on plants. Tomorrow we will be having an author visit from Marc Tyler Nobleman in the cafeteria during science and Wednesday we will have our last Counselor Lesson for the year. For the two days we do cover science, we will be exploring the inside of a seed, labeling the parts of a seed, and learning about the germination of seeds.
In math, we will review both units 10 and 15 tomorrow in class (Unit 10 was on Patterns and Balancing Equations and Unit 15 is the Data unit we just finished). On Tuesday, the kids will take a combined unit test and then we will move onto our very last math unit of the year on Wednesday....Personal Financial Literacy. This unit will focus on income, spending money (unplanned vs. planned), credit and interest, and some review of adding/subtracting money throughout the lessons.
In language arts last week we wrapped up our Poetry Unit. This week we will begin learning about Fables and have a chance to review theme. We will also continue brainstorming ideas for our Persuasive Writing topic and completing our organizers so that we can begin drafting on Thursday. Throughout the week we will also take a look at how persuasive writers hook the reader and effectively wrap up their writing.
I hope this short week goes well for everyone and you have a relaxing Easter weekend ahead with your families.
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 8
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the rain showers we have had throughout most of yesterday and into this morning. I hope those of you who attended Bobcat Fest on Friday evening had a great time as well!
This week in math we will be continuing our unit on data/graphs. Last week we learned how to read frequency tables and dot plots/line plots. This week, we will move into bar graphs and pictographs.
We will spend tomorrow wrapping up our culture research and presenting our keynotes to one another. Then we will move into a very short unit on Weather for the remainder of the week. This is mainly a review of what the kids have already learned about weather, so there won't be too much that is new. They will rotate through some stations learning about different tools and topics of weather and then we will take a short (and very easy) assessment on Friday.
In language arts, we learn two more examples of figurative language/elements of poetry: Imagery and Idioms. We will also spend two days learning how to determine point of view in a poem. Thursday, the kids will take a poetry assessment that includes one poem as well as all the vocabulary terms we have learned (four types of poems and all figurative language) but they will be able to access their notes we have taken for this portion during the test. This will wrap up our study of poetry.
In addition to wrapping up poetry, we will also begin introducing our last big writing piece of the year....persuasive writing! We will do a few writing practices throughout the week as well as select our topic for this piece.
We switched WIN groups last week and are focusing heavily on math in these rotations. Make sure to ask your child which teacher they have and what they are focusing on!
I hope all of you have a wonderful week ahead. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 1
Good Afternoon, Parents!
You might be wondering why I am sending my usual Sunday email on a Friday! I am flying off to Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado tomorrow morning to go skiing with my best friend for a few days. I will be out on Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday. Your kids will be in great hands with a wonderful substitute and I've left plans just as if I would be teaching. I wanted to get this information out to you though before I leave!
We reviewed for our science test today so your kids will be taking their Science Test on the Solar System on Monday. This will be open notebook as usual so they should do very well on it. Starting Tuesday, we will be spending the rest of the week moving back into social studies and focusing on cultures. There will be a very short homework assignment attached to your child's Weekly Homework Tracker on Monday that they will need to complete by Tuesday. It is just a five question survey about their family heritage/favorite family activity/favorite family vacation/etc. We will be making Family Crests on Wednesday so this information will come in handy.
In math, we will spend one more day on Monday reviewing patterns and tables, and then begin our unit on Data on Tuesday. We will spend two days on Frequency Tables and two days on Dot Plots (also known as Line Plots). This will continue for a few weeks as we will cover other types graphs as well.
In language arts, we will heavily focus on different types of figurative language used in poetry. While this week we introduced similes and metaphors, along with the four main types of poetry, this coming week we will learn about personification, onomatopoeias, alliteration, and imagery. Library will be on Tuesday.
Bobcat Fest is on Friday from 5:00-8:00 pm. Should be a fun way to end the week and something to look forward to!
If you have any questions at all while I am out of town, please don't hesitate to reach out. I will check my email as usual daily, so if you have any concerns I am just an email away. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see all your sweet kiddos on Wednesday!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of March 25
Good Morning and Welcome Back!
I hope all of you had a restful Spring Break, safe travels, and a great time with your family. My spring break was certainly relaxing and the weather could not have been more perfect---beautiful sunny days and some true spring temperatures! This last stretch of the year is going to fly by quickly and before we know it your third graders will be fourth graders in the blink of an eye!
In science this week, we will be wrapping up our unit on the solar system. Before the break, we learned all about the eight planets. This week, we will be transitioning over to learn more about the sun and moon, including the moon phases. We will learn that the sun is the foundation for the water cycle as well as discuss why we need the sun to survive. We will review this unit on Friday and the kids will have their open notebook test next Monday.
In math, we will be moving into our unit on patterns and equations. We will be learning what equality means and how to determine whether two equations are equal or not. These equations will start out with addition and subtraction and then move into multiplication and division. We will also take a look at in-and-out boxes and learn how to locate a pattern to complete the missing parts of a given table.
Finally, in language arts, we will begin our poetry unit tomorrow. This is a big change from fiction and nonfiction, however, it is an exciting unit that exposes them to a different genre. This week we will learn about the four main types of poetry- narrative, lyrical, free-verse, and humorous poetry. Each day we will focus on one of these forms of poetry and learn characteristics of each by diving into several different poems throughout the week. We will also cover some poetry vocabulary- stanzas, lines, rhyme, and repetition. Since poetry will be our main focus, we will be combining both reading and writing and the kids will practice writing some poems as well.
I want to extend my sincere welcome to the Leitgib family. We are so excited to have a new student, Laszlo, join our class for the remainder of the year and I know the kids are equally thrilled!
Just a friendly reminder...Thursday is Class Picture Day! I don't know what time we will be scheduled for just yet, but I wanted to send this reminder for those of you who are planning to attend the golf tournament this week.
Enjoy the rest of your spring break and I look forward to seeing all your sweet kiddos tomorrow morning.
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Alexis
Week of March 11
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope Daylight Savings Time didn't hit too hard this morning. I always prepare myself for this being the one day in the year where I just won't get as much done...and that is okay! :)
Hard to believe we have made it to the last five days before Spring Break! As a reminder, report cards are out BEFORE Spring Break this year and can be accessed on Skyward on Thursday at 4 pm. As always, please let me know if you have any questions after viewing your child's report card.
This week in science, we will be doing a really fun group activity involving Model Magic Clay, The kids will be split into five small groups and will work with their group to create a model of the solar system (all eight planets, the sun, Earth's moon, and the Asteroid Belt) using clay. We will spend Monday and Tuesday creating these and then take a day to share them with the class. We will also have our counselor lesson on Wednesday morning. The last day of the week we will do a solar system scavenger hunt and wrap up our study of the planets. When we return from SB, we will focus on the Sun and the Moon (including phases of the moon) before we end this unit.
In math, we will be taking our Quarter 3 Math Assessment tomorrow. This will be a combination of all we covered this quarter (fractions, shapes, area and perimeter). The rest of the week we will be learning how to solve for elapsed time. This is a difficult skill, so we will spend all four days on this! Students will only have math homework on Tuesday as we wanted to give them a bit of a break before SB.
Finally, in Language Arts, the students will be taking the reading benchmark (prior STAAR passages), to get them exposed to what these passages/questions look like, and assess their understanding of skills we have covered thus far. Instead of having them take the entire test in one sitting (as STAAR will be), we will only be doing one passage a day over a four day period. Since this will take up a chunk of our reading time this week, the remainder of time will be spent finishing up our Animal Writing and sharing those with one another as well as meeting in our book clubs.
Kite Day will take place on Friday during your child's specials time (9:05-9:55). You can meet your child out on the soccer field that day. If there is rain, Kite Day unfortunately will not be rescheduled. Hoping it will be the perfect kite day for them!
You probably saw the letter that went home in your child's Thursday folder last week regarding our end-of-year field trip to Reunion Ranch. Payment is through Skyward and is due on April 1st. While the cost is $12 per student, our district has to add on a couple of dollars per child to allot for parent chaperones/those who want to attend...so it probably will show up as $14. Just wanted to give you a heads up.
If I don't see you before the end of the week, I want to wish all of you safe travels and a wonderful, relaxing Spring Break!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of March 4
Hi Parents,
I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. For those of you who heard the news from your child on Thursday, I took Friday off to be with my family, as my grandmother passed away last Sunday evening. It was a difficult weekend, however, we had a very special celebration for her yesterday and she will be greatly missed.
This week in science the kids will be selecting one of the eight planets to research. We will spend most of the week collecting facts, creating a model planet, and sharing what we learned with one another. Be on the look out for another email I will be sending out about a fun project we will be doing next week. It requires a few items and if you are interested in donating any, we would greatly appreciate it!
The kids took their test on Friday, which wrapped up our units on shapes, area, and perimeter. This week, we will be moving into units of measurement. We will begin by learning about the customary units of capacity and weight and then move into the metric units of capacity and weight. We will be learning how to solve for elapsed time the following week, so Friday we will review telling time on a clock.
In language arts, we will be learning about cause and effect and fact and opinion. We will also be wrapping up our Animal Research and begin drafting this week. Be sure to ask your child which animal they chose to research!
Hard to believe we are down to the last two weeks before Spring Break! Time sure is flying by!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and as always feel free to email if you have questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 25
Good Morning, Parents!
It was so wonderful seeing most of you at Open House on Friday! Your kids have been working so hard and it was great watching them feel so proud to show you what they have accomplished over the past few weeks.
This Tuesday is an Early Release and No Homework Night. Please remember to make any changes on SmartTag prior to dismissal that day as students will be dismissed at 11:50.
We will be transitioning back to science this week, jumping into our Solar System unit! This is a fun unit that will last about 4 weeks (finishing up after we return from Spring Break). This week will be mainly an introduction week- we will be identifying the eight planets that make up our solar system and some facts about each of them.
In math, we will be spending another day on area with squares and rectangles and then will spend two days learning how to find the area of irregular shapes. Thursday we will review units 12/13 (shapes, perimeter and area) and the review will come home that night. Friday, we will test on these two units. Up next will be measurement (metric and customary units of liquids and weight).
For language arts this week, we will be learning how to draw conclusions. We already learned about making inferences back in the fall, however, it will be really good to revisit this similar skill and practice it again... as it is challenging! In addition to practicing drawing conclusions, we will also continue working on our animal research. Monday will also be an exciting day....we will officially finish our cursive book!
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a wonderful week ahead! As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 18
Hello, Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying your three-day weekend! So nice to have an extra day, especially after all the excitement of Valentines' Day last week!
I want to thank you all SO very much for the very thoughtful Valentine's Day present you all showered me with! I will very much look forward to using my Visa gift card and of course I have thoroughly enjoyed the delicious snickerdoodle Tiffs Treats! So thoughtful of all of you!
This week in math we will be wrapping up perimeter one more day and then move into area for the rest of the week. The kids have done such a great job with perimeter and I have a feeling they will do great with area as well. The challenge is remembering whether to add all the sides (perimeter) or multiply length x width (area). When we have these mixed up, it can cause some confusion, so we will be reviewing these two skills a lot this week.
In social studies, we learned about Lewis and Clark last week. The students worked on a final project of their choice and will present these to the class on Tuesday. The remainder of the week, we will be learning about President's Day and the two most well-known presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington!
Finally, in language arts, we will be finishing up our autobiographies and continuing to read some different biographies. The kids will also be selecting an animal to research for our final writing this nine weeks....another nonfiction book! We will also learn about homographs and do some practice with these this week as well.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at Open House on Friday morning from 7:30-8:45! As a reminder, you may come with your child anytime during that time frame, so if you choose to sleep in a bit before arriving, that's the morning to do so! Your kids will be showcasing many wonderful projects they have been working on the past few weeks and I know they would love to have you join us!
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 11
Hi Parents!
Hope you all stayed warm this weekend....sure was COLD! Nice to have some winter back before the heat starts up again soon.
Last week we finished up fractions and moved into 2-D shapes (flat shapes), focusing on quadrilaterals. We also reviewed pentagons, hexagons, and octagons, as well as practiced determining whether a set of shapes were congruent or not. This week, we will be moving into 3D shapes, learning not only the names of these shapes but also classifying them based on their attributes (faces, edges, and vertices). We will spend about 3 days on shapes, and then spend Thursday and Friday moving into perimeter.
In social studies, we wrapped up unit on continents and oceans. This week we will learn about two famous explorers, Lewis and Clark.
In language arts, we have been busy wrapping up our Expert Writing and sharing them with one another. We even got to share our books with our second grade buddies on Friday afternoon! We will spend a few more days wrapping those up and sharing with one another. In case you are on the look out for those, these will be on display at Open House in a couple of weeks! This week, we will be introducing narrative nonfiction (biographies/autobiographies). The students will be interviewing one of their classmates and will use that interview to write a short biography on that classmate. We will learn about the differences between biographies and autobiographies and how these are classified as nonfiction text.
One last reminder, our Valentines Day party will be on Thursday afternoon in the classroom from 2:00-2:30. We will be enjoying ice cream sundaes and playing a few rounds of Valentines Day Bingo. We would love for you to join us!
Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week ahead! As always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Alexis
Week of February 4
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and your kiddos are staying healthy! Lots of sickness going around at BPE right now....seven kids were out in another third grade classroom on Friday! :(
We will be reviewing our fraction unit tomorrow and will take a test on Unit 11 (Fractions) on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we will move into our next unit, which is on Geometry (Shapes, Area, and Perimeter). This week we will just be introducing quadrilaterals and 2D shapes.
The kids took their science test on Ecosystems on Friday (and did a great job!). We will be switching back over to Social Studies for the next 3 weeks. This week we will be revisiting our maps unit and learning about the 7 continents and 5 oceans. This will just be a one-week unit, as we feel it is important for the kids to be able to identify parts on a globe (You'd be surprised to find many believe the continent we live on is Texas! Ha!!) We will be doing a fun paint project to learn the names of the continents and oceans.
In language arts, we will continue one more week of Main Idea/Details, as well as wrap up our Expert Writing Books. We will celebrate our writing and share them with each other towards the end of the week. Many of our reading groups/book clubs will finish up their books this week as well.
A letter went home in your child's Thursday folder regarding Valentines Day. Attached to the letter was a class list that will be helpful when making Valentines in a couple of weeks. Mrs. Meek has asked that we share with you a little blurb she will be including in the school newsletter this week. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. Our Valentine's Day Party will take place the afternoon of Valentine's Day (Thursday, Feb 14th from 2:00-2:30). The kids will be enjoy an ice cream sundae and a few rounds of Valentine Bingo. We hope you will join us. See below for Mrs. Meek's note:
A message from Principal Meek
Valentine’s Day is around the corner and I have received many inquiries from parents, students, and teachers alike regarding the parameters of the celebration. Classroom parties will take place on Thursday, February 14th in your child’s classroom. Thank you to the gracious parent volunteers for coordinating these exciting events for our students! To foster friendships and kindness, students are invited to bring valentines to ALL students in their homeroom class. If children would like to exchange valentines with friends outside their homeroom, they are welcome to do so outside of the school day. In the next few days, teachers will be sending a class list home with your child. Valentine bags will be provided and created at school for collection of valentine cards. Valentines will be exchanged at the end of the school day and opened at home. Please look for more information from your child’s teacher pertaining to classroom policies around food allergies.
Last, Bingo Night is this Thursday from 5:00-8:00 in the cafeteria/gym!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and the Super Bowl game this evening!
Alexis
Week of January 28
Hi Parents!
Hope you all are enjoying this last weekend in January and resting up after a busy, yet very fun, STEAM Day on Friday! The kids seemed to have such a great time, as I'm sure they've shared with you.
This week in math we will be learning how about equivalent fractions. This is certainly the most challenging portion of our fraction unit (which is coming to a close rather soon). We will spend Monday and Tuesday learning what equivalent means and how to use fraction strips and picture representations to help us find equivalent fractions. Later in the week, we will use number lines to find equivalent fractions, as well as learn how to solve a variety of fraction word problems.
In science, we will be wrapping up our Ecosystems unit by diving in on three main behavioral adaptations: camouflage, hibernation, and migration. We will spend a day learning about each of these adaptations and then review the unit together in class on Thursday, and test on Friday. As always, this test will be open notebook and the kids will bring their review home Thursday night.
In language arts, we are continuing another week practicing Main Idea and Details within nonfiction text. Last week we practiced how to really read nonfiction-- starting with labeling all the text features we see, reading a section at a time and then stopping to write questions or comments we have to ensure we are absorbing what we just read. We talked a lot about how we take a very different approach reading nonfiction than we do reading fiction. We will continue practicing these skills this week as well as continue writing about our nonfiction expert topic. I will be going over this with the class tomorrow, but as part of your child's writing this week, I am asking for each student to find or take 3 photographs related to their topic and either print them and bring them to school OR email them to me by Friday and I will print them. We will be using these photographs as a text feature in their Expert Books (your child will be able to tell you their topic). Thanks in advance for your help with this!
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekend! As always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions at all!
~Alexis
Week of January 21
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying this wonderful long weekend! It's hard to believe we've only been back for two weeks-- it seems like we've been back in the routine much longer! Hoping this extra day gave your family some time to relax a bit and get recharged for the week ahead.
STEAM Day is on Friday. It should be a really fun day!
A few tips:
-Third graders have the same recess/lunch time and will eat in the cafeteria as usual.
-No specials for third grade that day
-Please make sure your child eats a filling breakfast-- there will not be a snack time
-Students are advised to wear clothes they don't mind getting dirty
-Your child will find out what sessions they will attend on Friday morning.
-Park at Riverbend if you are not a volunteer or presenter
In math this week, we will be learning how to compare fractions. On Tuesday, we will learn the rule for comparing fractions with the same denominator and on Wednesday, we will be learn the rule for comparing fractions with the same numerator. On Thursday, we will combine the two to make sure they are memorizing these rules when fractions are all mixed up. Students will NOT need to know how to compare a fraction with no similarity, i.e. 5/6 and 3/4, but for those that are ready, I will introduce how to do so in small groups.
In science/ss, we will spend tomorrow wrapping up our study on Martin Luther King, Jr. Then we will spend the next three days returning to our science unit and focusing on adaptations animals have that help them survive in their specific environment. We will learn the difference between physical and behavioral adaptations.
Finally, in language arts, we will be continuing to practice main idea and details, as well as learn how to determine the point of view of an article/passage. We will also practice locating text features in a variety of nonfiction books dispersed around the classroom. They will have to find examples of certain text features within books and will use those pictures to create a Keynote. The more exposure to these text features, the better! If you can encourage your child to read some more nonfiction at home that would be great as well. I have encouraged all of the class to check out one fiction and one nonfiction book when they go to the library from now on. Last, the kids are busy writing their nonfiction piece on the expert topic they have chosen. We will wrap up our main topics this week and move into adding text features next week.
If you have any questions about the upcoming week, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Best wishes for a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of January 14
Good Afternoon, Parents!
Hope you all had a restful weekend after the first week back into the school routine. It was so great seeing all the kids after the break.
This week, we will spend two days continuing our science unit on ecosystems and then take a short break and spend the rest of the week learning about Martin Luther King, Jr, since we will have that holiday the following Monday. On Monday and Tuesday, we will learn about carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores and then learn the difference between learned behaviors and instincts on Tuesday. Towards the end of the week, students will create a dream mobile after learning about MLK's famous "I have a Dream" speech.
In math, we will be diving into fractions on a number line this week. We will also learn how to use break up a fraction using the sum of unit fractions (i.e. 3/8 can be written 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8). I'm so impressed with how well the kids are grasping the fraction skills we covered last week!
In language arts, we will continue our study of nonfiction text features and nonfiction writing. The kids have picked a topic that they think they are an "expert" on and will be writing a short book using text features and elements of informational writing over the next couple of weeks. As we wrap up text features, we will also be diving into Main Idea and Details this week, using a strategy known as Boxes and Bullets. We will do a lot of practice with this throughout the week....as it is a challenging reading skill!
I hope everyone has a great week ahead....one full week and then a three day weekend! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of January 7
Hi, Parents!
I hope all of you had a restful break and fun with your family over the holidays! The break always goes by so quickly, but I can honestly say I've never felt so well-rested and refreshed after these two weeks! Hard to believe we are embarking on the very last semester of the year!! Before you know it, it will be Spring Break and then Summer!
This first week back will be full of all new units and lots of learning as we ease back into our normal routine. If you and your family are still traveling this week, I will be sure to spend some time with them next week to review what was covered this week (as there will be quite a lot of new things).
In math this week, we will be transitioning over to Fractions! We will spend this week doing mainly basic foundational skills with fractions-- being able to look at a shaded figure and state the fraction that is represented, being able to shade their own figure/shape to represent a given fraction, as well as state the fraction within a set of objects. To ease into the first week back, we will not be giving out math homework the first night back, so you should only see math homework on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
In science, we will be moving into our study on Ecosystems. We will learn about what ecosystems are, how the food chain and food web works, and what producers, consumers, and decomposers are and how they operate within a food chain.
In language arts, we will be transitioning from fiction studies to nonfiction. We will spend most of the week just exposing ourselves to what nonfiction text looks like and the many text features that are included in a nonfiction text. By the end of the week, students will be able to identify what most of these text features are and be able to find examples of them in a variety of books laid out in the classroom. In addition to our introduction to nonfiction, we will also be completing a New Years Flipbook with goals for the new year.
Last, but not least, it is time for Round 2 of MAP testing to take place! This Thursday and Friday, students will take the MAP tests during FIT time (one day reading and one day math). These are the tests I shared with you at Parent Conferences. They are one data point that the entire district uses (on the iPad) and takes place three times a year.
I hope all of you are out enjoying the sunshine on this last day of break! I look forward to seeing all your kiddos bright and early tomorrow morning!
All the best,
Alexis
Week of December 17
Hi Parents!
Hard to believe we have made it to the very last week before Winter Break begins!! That also means your kids have almost made it through HALF their year in 3rd Grade! It feels like just yesterday we were meeting for the first time and they were fresh out of 2nd grade. Time sure flies fast when you're having a good year together! :)
This week in social studies, we will spend tomorrow learning about eight of the main landforms (island, peninsula, bay, river, lake, plain, mountains and valleys). Using these landforms and practice we did last week with introducing parts of a map, we will begin a really fun map project on Tuesday that we will work on all week. Essentially, the kids will design a country and create their own map using certain features we have learned about (a map key, a map title, landforms, cities, capital city, and symbols). When I ask the kids at the end of the year which project was their favorite, this is always one that comes up. It's a great one to end the week before break with.
In math, we will spend Monday reviewing and practicing 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication again. Last week, the kids learned two different strategies for solving these problems. One way was known as Partial Products (box method), and the other is the standard algorithm (lining up the numbers vertically and multiplying up and down and diagonally). On Tuesday, we will review all the skills we practiced this second quarter and on Wednesday, the kids will take their Q2 End of Nine Weeks Assessment. This test will cover all the material we learned in this second quarter (multiplication and division). Thursday we will do a fun escape room activity to celebrate our hard work these nine weeks.
On Friday we finished up Because of Winn Dixie, our class novel. The kids seemed to really enjoy this book (as much as I do!), and it was great seeing their enthusiasm and excitement when we would read each day. We will finish up some work in our character trait booklet this week as well as create a plot mountain for the book. On Friday, we will be watching the movie Because of Winn Dixie to compare and contrast the book to the movie. Many thanks to almost all of you for sending back those permission slips/email to confirm your child could watch the movie. If you haven't done so, please make sure to let me know BEFORE Friday, so I can plan accordingly. Finally, we will be starting our final copies of our Imaginative Stories this week and hopefully have those completed by Wednesday.
As you all have probably heard, BPE will be having dress-up days this week to get in the holiday spirit before break. I sent home a hard-copy of the schedule in your child's Thursday folder last week and I believe BPE’s newsletter had it on there too. Last, but certainly not least, our class Winter Party will take place in our classroom this Thursday from 1:30-2:15. The kids will enjoy some hot chocolate and a sweet treat, as well as create their own snow globe (picture). At 2:15, we will go outside for an extra recess before the end of the day. We would love for you to join us at our party and hope that you can attend!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I hope everyone has a wonderful last week and a relaxing 2-week break if I don't see you before then!
All my best,
Alexis
Week of December 10
Hi Parents!
Hope you all stayed warm this weekend and had some time to relax before the week starts up again.
Tuesday is our field trip to see The Nutcracker! You should have received a note in your child's Thursday folder, as well as an email from me, reminding the kids that they should dress in their "Sunday Best" for the performance as well as bring a completely disposable sack-lunch. We will be leaving around 8:45 and return around 12:30.
In science this week, we will be spending one more day wrapping up fast land changes and reviewing for our test. The review will come home Monday night, however since we have our field trip on Tuesday, the test will be on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will switch over to social studies and begin a short unit on maps which will take us all the way until winter break. We will start off by learning how to use cardinal and intermediate directions to locate places on a map and then learn how to read and create map grids.
In math, we will be moving into multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit numbers (i.e. 23 x 6). We will start off by reviewing how to multiply larger numbers that are multiples of 10 and then learn how to multiply using partial products (i.e. 23 x 6 can be done (20 x 6) + (3 x 6) ) as well as how to multiply using the standard algorithm. Monday we will also take our 12's quiz, which is our last factor for timed quizzes!
In language arts, we are still busy reading Because of Winn Dixie and learning how to dive deep into the character's journey by recognizing problems they face and how they respond to those obstacles. We will also be wrapping up our Imaginative Story rough drafts and begin revising/editing them towards the end of the week which will lead us to final copies soon.
I will be out on Monday for a science committee meeting, but the kids will be in great hands with Mrs. Clay as their substitute! I look forward to seeing them on Tuesday for our field trip!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Have a wonderful week!
~Alexis
Week of December 3
Hi Parents!
Happy December! Hope all of you had a restful weekend.
In science, we will be wrapping up Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition tomorrow and then begin moving into Fast Land Changes on Tuesday. The fast land changes we will cover include volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and tsunamis. These are a little more exciting to cover than the slow changes of rock. :) We will also have our counselor guidance lesson Wednesday.
This week in math, we will be focusing entirely on word problems. We'll start off by diving into two-step word problems that involve multiplication and division and then work on solving problems that involve all four main operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Since we combined multiplication and division units, we will be taking our combined unit test on Friday. We are also wrapping up our timed multiplication quizzes-Monday (11's), Tuesday (7's), and Wednesday (8's). That leaves 12's for next week and then we can celebrate memorizing our facts! :) Please keep encouraging your kids to practice their facts a little each night so they have these memorized, which helps them tremendously down the road.
In language arts, we are continuing our character unit study with Because of Winn Dixie (the kids are loving it!). We will learn how good readers form theories about characters based on how they act and talk in the story. In addition to our character study, the kids will also be using their organizer they filled in last week to begin their rough draft of their Imaginative Story. We will do some mini lessons on how to create a strong hook/lead to their story as well as revisit how to properly use dialogue. Then they will be off and running with their story!
Our field trip to see The Nutcracker at the Long Center is next week, December 11th. Please be on the lookout for an email tomorrow giving you some more information on what to expect for that day. Should be a fun day!
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Have a great week,
Alexis
Week of November 26
Hello, Parents!
Hope each of your families had a relaxing and restful Thanksgiving! I'm sure you all would agree it was so nice having a full week off this year rather than the three days we've had in the past!
4 weeks left before Winter Break and we have lots of fun things planned between now and then! Our Field Trip will be in just a few weeks and we are starting our new (and my personal favorite) class novel, Because of Winn Dixie this week which will take us all the way until Winter Break.
In science this week, we will begin our Earth Changes Unit, focusing on slow and fast land changes that occur on Earth. This week we will start off by taking a close look at the components of soil and then begin discussing the process of weathering, erosion, and deposition of rocks. On Tuesday we will be doing a hands-on investigation with soil and we will need for each of your kids to bring in a snack-size bag of soil from outside (anything you have will do! Please do not go out and buy any soil for this.) I will be sending another email out as a reminder tomorrow.
In math, we will be continuing our unit on division. This week will be mostly review of dividing with various divisors and working with division strip diagrams. We still have 5 factors to test for in multiplication, so we will gradually do those in the next couple of weeks as well. Please have your kids practice/review their 6's as we will quiz on those Friday.
In language arts, we will begin our character study within fiction texts using our new class read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. All the books arrived the week before break, for those that ordered through the school, so we should be good to go unless your child purchased his or her own. If so, please have them bring this book with them to school tomorrow! In addition to making inferences about characters and studying them on a deeper level, we will also begin brainstorming for our Imaginative Story! Prior to the break, we read nearly 12 books by Chris Van Allsburg to get an idea for what imaginative writing sounds like. The kids will be creating their very own characters, setting, problem, and solution this week through an organizer. These are always fun!
For those of you who like knowing in advance events to put on your calendar....we will be having our class winter party on Thursday, December 20 from 1:30-2:15 and all of you are more than welcome to join in on the fun! Those of you who volunteered to help with this party will get an email from me in the next day or so.
Best wishes for a wonderful week and transition back to school! I'm looking forward to seeing your sweet kiddos tomorrow!
Alexis
Week of November 12
Hi Parents!
One more week and then it is Thanksgiving Break!! Can't believe the time is already here! Seems like one thing after another....Halloween, Veteran's Day, and now moving onto Thanksgiving! (Or if you're crazy like me, you've already started decorating for the winter holidays!) :)
Many, many thanks to all of you for joining us for our Veteran's Day celebration Friday morning! It was such a special way to honor and recognize those that have served our country and watch these precious kids present all that they've been busy working on the past couple of weeks. I am so proud of them!! If you were unable to join us, I managed to take a couple pictures at the end of the day (see below). Unfortunately, two of the girls had already left for the day, so it's not with everyone, but it's something! :)
This week in Social Studies, we will be taking a week to think about the people we are thankful for. The kids will create a "Thankful for" pie as well as complete a writing on one person they are thankful for this year. We decided to hold off on science until we return from break.
In math, we will be transitioning over to division. While the kids are shocked we are starting this (they think it's big stuff!), they will see how closely related multiplication is to division. We are just introducing how the two are related and how we can use our multiplication facts to help us with division. While we are moving into division, we will still be working on our timed multiplication quizzes. This week, we will take 9's (Monday), 10's (Tuesday) and 3's (Wednesday). The kids learned some great strategies for 9's (their hand trick for one), so they should be great on that one.
Finally, in language arts, we will be working on Author's Purpose (PIE- Persuade, Inform, Entertain) this week. The kids learned about Author's Purpose in 2nd grade, so it will mainly be a review and extension of what they have already learned. We will spend Monday learning about texts that persuade, Tuesday learning about texts that inform, and Wednesday learning about texts that entertain. For writing, we will also continue reading a few more Chris Van Allsburg books that demonstrate imaginative writing, as well as do a fun "Turkeys on Strike" activity.
As we wind down for the holidays, I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable time with your family next week. I am so thankful for each and every one of you.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of November 5
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend and extra hour of sleep! I wasn't able to attend the Movie Night/Family Picnic Friday evening, but I hope those of who did had a great time!! It seemed like the perfect weather for a fall picnic.
We have a busy week ahead in preparation for our Veteran's Day celebration on Friday. Many thanks for all of you getting those slips turned in or emailed to me last week. We will be running through our program many times this week so the kids feel comfortable sharing the things they are busy working on with you. Please mark your calendars to join us on Friday morning. We will start off in the cafeteria at 7:40 and then celebrate in our classrooms until 9 am. Be on the look out for an email regarding some important info tomorrow.
This week in social studies, as you all know, we will be wrapping up our Veteran's Day unit and spending some time learning more about each specific branch of the armed forces and practicing for our celebration on Friday. Next week we will return to science.
In math, we will cover factors 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Your child may have come home sharing about our timed quizzes we started on Thursday. Most days we will be taking a timed quiz on a specific factor. We started off with 0's on Thursday and moved over to 1's on Friday. I am pleased to share with you that everyone made a 100% on those! They will not be taken for grades, but more be used to keep the kids accountable for practicing their facts a little each night. As a heads up, tomorrow we will take our 2's quiz, Tuesday our 5's, and Wednesday our 4's. We will hold off on the others until the following week. Please encourage your child to practice those three factors in preparation for this week.
In language arts, we will be revisiting Theme. We will do a several read alouds and discuss what the moral/lesson (theme) is for each story. We will also discuss how theme uses inferencing (what we covered this past week) and is never actually stated in the text. We have to infer what the author is trying to teach us through the characters and what they learn. In addition to this reading skill, we will also continue reading some more Chris Van Allsburg stories to go along with our Imaginative Story Writing which will begin the following week. We've been doing some practice prompts with these stories and the kids seem to love them!
We started Words Their Way (spelling) on Friday and your child will bring home their spelling list tomorrow attached to their Weekly Homework Tracker and a Spelling Choice Sheet. As you might recall, we are switching from a reading passage for homework to spelling. Your child will have this spelling choice sheet for two consecutive weeks (1 activity per week) and then we will test on their words on Friday, November 16th.
Tuesday is an Early Release Day. Please make sure you update SmartTag for any changes your child may have on that day. Hope to see many of you Friday morning!
Have a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of October 29
Hi, Parents!
Hope this weekend has been relaxing and fun for you and your family! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with all of you last week for our parent-teacher conferences. It's always so nice to have the chance to meet with you and share all the wonderful things your child has been doing these first nine weeks. If you have any questions or need anything from me after we met, please let me know.
This week we will be transitioning back to social studies! We will begin our two-week unit on Veteran's Day, which is one of my very favorite units we cover in third grade. We will begin by sharing what we know about who Veteran's are and why we celebrate this special holiday. The students will write a thank you letter to a Veteran as well as be placed in small groups to create acrostic poems about Veterans. As a reminder, your child came home with a letter and slip in their Thursday folder last week regarding our Veteran's Day celebration on November 9th. Please make sure to send this slip back with your child by this Friday, November 2nd. We hope you will be able to join us for this very special morning (7:40-9 am)!
In math, we will continue our multiplication unit. We will learn how to multiply by skip counting on a number line, solve one and two-step multiplication word problems, and then begin studying some factors (0,1,2,4,and 5). Throughout the next few weeks, we will be taking some timed multiplication quizzes (not for a grade, more so for practice and fluency). On Thursday, we will take a timed quiz on 0's and on Friday a timed quiz on 1's (both easy ones to start out with).
In language arts, we will begin two brand new units for reading and writing. In reading, we will begin learning what an inference is and how good readers make inferences using their background knowledge and clues in a text. We will do some fun inferencing activities this week to get some good practice in with this challenging skill. In writing, we will begin talking about what imaginative writing looks like. To introduce imaginative stories, we will be doing an author study on Chris Van Allsburg. He writes some fabulous imaginative stories and will read aloud many of them throughout the next few weeks before we learn how to write an imaginative story later on this quarter.
Wednesday, being Halloween, will be a No-Homework Night. Friday is our Family Picnic/Movie night on the soccer field. I hope everyone has a wonderful week as we transition from October to November!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of October 22
Hello Parents!
Can you believe we have already made it to Parent Conference Week and Arts Days? Then comes Halloween and the start of November! Not sure where the time is going but it's sure moving quickly!!
This week with early release days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we will have some changes to the schedule. On early release days, we typically only have time for Language Arts and Math, and do not have time for science/ss. However, we are going to be taking a science test this week, so we will fit that in on Wednesday before jumping into the other two subjects.
In math, we are starting our multiplication unit! We will start off by introducing multiplication as repeated addition and then move into how to create and read arrays. We will end the week with learning how to skip count on a number line with multiplication equations. As we start this unit, I would love to encourage you all to start using some multiplication flash cards with your kids a little each week. This will help them tremendously when we start focusing on specific factors and begin memorizing their facts.
For science, we will learn how to separate mixtures that involve solids and liquids (solutions) tomorrow and then review our matter and mixtures unit on Tuesday. This review will come home Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, we will take our unit test. Starting next week, we will move back into social studies for a few weeks, focusing on Veteran's Day.
In language arts, we will be continuing to review summarizing. In addition, we will begin reading groups! Each student will be placed in a small group and be reading a different book that is based on their reading level. Some groups will meet with me every day while other groups may meet with me once or twice a week depending on their needs. These groups are a great way to instill a shared interest in reading while having something that meets everyone's reading level. These books will stay in the classroom and be reading material we work on at school.
All of you should have received a letter in your child's Thursday folder this past week regarding our next class read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. You have the option of submitting payment on Skyward or purchasing the book on your own. We are excited to begin this novel mid- November! It's one of my personal favorites. :)
Finally, this week in your child's folder you will be receiving a letter regarding Veteran's Day. Third grade students will be honoring Veteran's on Friday, November 9th. It is such a sweet and special morning and we are so excited to begin this unit. Make sure to mark this morning on your calendars-- it's one you will not want to miss! The letter that is going home has a slip at the bottom you can cut off and send back with your child. If you have any questions after reading it, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Have a wonderful week! I look forward to meeting with you all at our parent conference.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of October 15
Hi Parents!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! The kids seemed to have a blast with Fort Day and Board Games on Friday-- it was so neat watching them create and build these forts with their friends and complete work in them all day!
This week in science, we will be doing a ton of hands-on experiments all week. We will be introducing the Metric system as a form of measurement tomorrow and then begin getting our hands on tools that help us measure length, mass, volume, and temperature. We will finish off the week learning about mixtures and solutions and some tools that can help us separate mixtures of solids. Should be a fun week in science for the kids!
In math, we will be continuing one more day of counting money. Last Friday, we introduced/reviewed the different bills and coins and I was so impressed with how well everyone seemed to recall them! After tomorrow, we will spend Tuesday talking about place value relationships. This is a tricky lesson simply because the concept really clicks when the kids have a strong grasp on their multiplication facts, and since we haven't started that unit, it can be a little challenging. We will be returning to this same lesson again when we hit multiplication so don't worry if it doesn't click perfectly this time around! On Wednesday, we will take the district quarter assessment. This assessment was made by the teachers who serve on the math committee for third grade among all six campuses. At the end of each nine weeks, all schools administer this test to help see how the kids did as a whole over Units 1-3. We will review this assessment on Thursday and then wind down the week with some Halloween place value activities on Friday. For those of you wondering, these assessments will not be sent home, however, I will be showing them to you during our parent conferences the following week.
Finally, in Language Arts, we will be wrapping up our final copies of our personal narratives. Mid-week, we will celebrate our writing by doing a gallery walk around the classroom to read one another's writing. This is always such an exciting time to celebrate everyone's hard work! We will have these displayed in the hallway when you come for conferences as well. In addition to wrapping up our papers, we will also begin learning how to summarize a fiction text. To do this, we will first review what plot is and then learn a strategy called, "Somebody Wanted But So Then" (SWBST) to help us write a strong summary.
Many thanks to all of you for signing up for a conference time slot! If you haven't yet done this, please take a look at the three slots still open and reserve a spot as soon as you can. I am looking forward to meeting with you all!
Looks like a big cold front is headed our way this evening and should make for a huge change of weather this week! Please make sure your child bring a jacket to school if the weather is projected to be as low as it is!
Have a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of October 8
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope everyone is enjoying their long holiday weekend! These are always so refreshing to have but also to look forward to! Thank you all for your sweet well wishes-- I'm back to feeling much better and was thankful to have a day to rest on Friday. I went up to the school yesterday to get some plans in place for the upcoming week and was so thrilled to see that the kids earned their last 2 brownie points they needed for our first Brownie Point Celebration!! I can't wait to hear the exciting news from them tomorrow! We will vote on a class reward this week and hope to have some form of a celebration on Friday.
This week in math, we will be spending one more day on two-step word problems and then reviewing Unit 2/3 on Wednesday. Since these two units were very much review of one another, we will be combining these tests so that the kids only take one test rather than two. The review will come home on Wednesday and we will test on Thursday. On Friday, we will we will spend a day reviewing how to count money. For those interested in what is coming next.....our next unit is Multiplication! This is an exciting unit because we will have moved past some of the review from 2nd grade and start something brand new.
This week we will be transitioning back to science after spending two weeks doing social studies. We will be introducing our Matter and Mixtures unit tomorrow and spend the week focusing on identifying properties of the three states of matter- Solids, Liquids, and Gases.
In language arts, we are busy wrapping up our rough drafts for our Personal Narratives. We will learn how to develop a strong conclusion and work on these tomorrow. Towards the end of the week, we will begin revising and editing. Next week we will write our final copies and celebrate one another's writing! In addition to working on these papers, we have also been learning about how good readers make connections with books they read. Last week we read The Giving Tree and talked about how we can make connections to experiences we have had (text-to-self connection). This week, we will focus on how we can make connections across two different books (text-to-text connection) and connections to the world (text-to-world connection).
Some additional reminders for this week:
Tomorrow, you may begin logging into Skyward and selecting your Parent Conference time. These fill up fast, so sign up as soon as you can! If you find there is a time that does not work for you, please let me know.
On Wednesday, all of the third grade teachers are meeting together to map out and discuss our upcoming instructional units given we get so limited time to do this during the school day. All third grade students will have a substitute on that day, however, we will be checking in frequently since we will be in the building. :)
Picture Retakes are on Thursday for anyone who is interested in having their child have retakes.
Stay tuned for what we decide to do for a celebration on Friday. I'll email you all once we have discussed as a class!
Best wishes for a wonderful and healthy week ahead!
~Alexis
Week of October 1
Hello Parents!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I flew in from North Carolina this afternoon around 3 pm and am happy to be back in Austin! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and despite all the Hurricane damage, we had blue skies, perfect weather, and a really nice time! I missed these sweet kids though and am so excited to see their smiling faces tomorrow morning! Can you believe we start the month of October tomorrow!?
We will spend one more week covering Social Studies before jumping back into our next science unit. We wrapped up Freetown vs. Leadertown last week and will be learning about how schools and communication have changed from the past to the present.
In math, we will learn how to subtract across zeros tomorrow (a little tricky for some) and then move into estimating both sums and differences for two days. After that, we will review what strip diagrams are and how they can help us solve a word problem. Finally, we will begin diving into 2-Step Word Problems on Friday! One step word problems are one thing but when we move into two-step we really talk about the importance of using CUBES strategy, showing our work, and really slowing down when reading the problem. Because this is a hard skill, this will continue into next week.
In language arts, we will begin sequencing our stories for what we have decided to write about for our personal narratives! We will do some mini lessons on elaboration and how good stories elaborate with lots of detail, as well as a lesson on how to use dialogue effectively in a story. By the end of the week, students should have their rough drafts completed for their personal narratives! In addition to writing, we will also learn how good readers stop and ask themselves questions when reading a text as well as make connections to experiences they have had that relate to a character in a story (Text-to-Self).
Thursday, October 4 is Picture Retake day. You should have received an email where you were able to view your child's school picture that was taken a few weeks ago. If you decide you would like for your child to have a retake, this is the day that we have set for that!
I hope everyone has a fantastic week ahead before our 3-day weekend starts (Columbus Day- October 8)! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 24
Hi Parents!
Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! It was so nice to finally get a glimpse of some "Fall" weather! I hope the summer heat starts to slowly disappear and more cooler weather comes our way.
After our science test last Wednesday, we switched over to Social Studies. We started a fun project called Freetown vs. Leadertown and the kids seem to really enjoy it. We will continue this project this week and continue to learn about different communities. We will not have social studies on Tuesday, as it is an early release day, and Wednesday we will have our Counselor Lesson during Social Studies.
In math, we will be practicing how to add and subtract on a number line, adding three digit numbers, subtracting with the expanded algorithm, and continue practicing regrouping. We are waiting to hit regrouping across zeros the following week.
In language arts this week, we will be introducing what Personal Narratives are. This is our first big writing piece for this quarter and will be doing some read alouds from Patricia Polacco to immerse ourselves into what personal narratives look like and sound like. We will do a little practice each day after the kids select a topic to use for their paper. The actual paper will not begin until next week.
As I mentioned earlier, Tuesday is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 11:50 and lunch will not be served. Usually early release days are also no-homework nights, so the kids will not have homework that night.
I wanted to let you know in advance that I be out on Thursday and Friday, as I am traveling to Wilmington, North Carolina to be in a friend's wedding on Saturday. The kids will be in great hands with a substitute on both days and I will be back on Monday.
As always, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 17
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you all have had an enjoyable weekend and found some time to relax with your family.
This week we will wrap up our first science unit on Forces and Energy on Wednesday. Monday we will review light and heat (thermal) energy and Tuesday we will review for our test. Wednesday the kids will take their first science test of the year. All science tests are Open Notebook, meaning they can use their science spirals to help them on any science test we take throughout the year. This helps them with the vocabulary as well as learning how to refer back to resources we have used throughout the unit. On Thursday, we will switch over to Social Studies for a little over a week. We will learn about what communities and laws are and work on a fun project. The kids will have to decide whether they would prefer to live in a community without laws (Freetown) or one with leaders and rules (Leadertown). I think the kids will really enjoy this!
In math, we will be reviewing subtraction (first without regrouping and then gradually with regrouping). We will also begin diving into word problems and learning how to decide what operation to use (addition or subtraction). We will talk about how we can check both addition and subtraction work with the opposite operation and how the two are related. Finally, we will spend the end of the week learning a very helpful strategy for word problems, known as CUBES (circling the numbers, underlining the question, boxing the key words, eliminating extra information, and showing your work to solve). We will use this strategy all year and expect students to do this for every word problem as it really does help them slow down and focus on what the problem is asking them. :)
For language arts this week, the students will complete another letter writing, this time to me. Last week students wrote a friendly letter to a teacher of their choice thanking them for being a great teacher. This week, students will complete their first graphic organizer on their reading goals and turn this into a letter. We will also learn about sequencing with time-order words, as well as continue reviewing story elements towards the end of the week. Finally, we will finish up our first class read aloud, Stone Fox, and take a short assessment on this to check for comprehension.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 10
Hello Parents!
Hope you and your kiddos enjoyed this rainy weekend! It was a great excuse for rest and family time. :)
This week we are supposed to have Picture Day (individual pictures) on Thursday, according to the master calendar. However, I have yet to see a form to order pictures, so I am not sure what's going on. I'll for sure keep you posted if I hear anything regarding picture forms.
In math this week we will be wrapping up Unit 1. This unit contained ways to name numbers (standard, word, expanded form as well as in hundred form), comparing and ordering numbers, and rounding to the nearest tens and hundreds place. We will complete a review together in class on Tuesday and this will go home that night to look over and get signed by a parent. On Wednesday, the kids will take their first math test covering Unit 1. This test has a heavy balance of word problems, so we are going to spend Monday and part of Tuesday reviewing how to look for key words. This test will go home in their Thursday folder this week. On Thursday, we will begin Unit 2, which focuses on addition and subtraction.
For science, we will be continuing to study simple machines on Monday and Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, the kids will begin to dive into the different forms of energy (mechanical, sound, light, and heat). We will spend one day focusing on each specific form of energy. This unit will wrap up next week.
In language arts, we have started our first class read aloud called Stone Fox. We are using this read aloud a little each day to introduce some important reading strategies, such as making predictions, and stopping to assess our comprehension as we read. This week we will continue reading a chapter of Stone Fox each day, as well as introduce/review Story Elements (characters, setting, plot, and briefly touching theme). We will read a short story called Charlie McButton Loses Power and do some story element practice throughout the week. Finally, we are starting up a short unit on Letter Writing. I will be introducing the kids to parts of a friendly letter on Monday and then we will spend most of the week practicing writing our very own letter to a teacher of their choice. For homework this week, you will see that instead of a comprehension passage they have had the past two weeks, they will have a letter writing practice to complete. By Thursday, they should have had plenty of instruction on how to form a friendly letter.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 3
Hello Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying your long Labor Day weekend! I am so proud of your kids for making it through their first full week back and working hard already. They amaze me!
All of you should have seen your child bring home a blue "Thursday folder" last week. These folders will go home each Thursday afternoon and we ask that you use them as a tool to celebrate your child's hard work from the week as well as a communication tool to talk about their goals for the following week. We ask that you keep the work at home and send back an empty folder the next day. Many thanks to all of you for doing that!
In science this week, we will begin our Forces and Energy unit. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will get a chance to explore magnets and learn about the force of magnetism. On Thursday and Friday we will explore the forces of push and pull as well as introduce what simple machines are.
For math, we will be jumping into comparing numbers using less than, greater than, or equal to signs. For the remainder of the week, we will be working on rounding numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands place. This is a challenging skill for most kids, so we are allotting three days this week for rounding practice.
In language arts, we will begin setting reading goals for ourselves, begin our first class read aloud (Stone Fox), and discuss the importance of sharing our reading lives with one another. We will also introduce adjectives, which will be a great tool for improving our writing throughout the year. On Tuesday we will have our first trip to the library! Our library time is from 2:15-2:45 for those that might be volunteering this year.
Some of your kids have sent in set of headphones, which is awesome! If your child has not brought in a pair, would you please have them do that this week. In order for sound to be used on the iPads, as well as complete some iPad assessments, students will need headphones for these things. Many thanks!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and take some time to relax! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of August 27
Dear Parents,
What a FANTASTIC first week we had!! I am so honored to be your child's teacher this year and partner with all of you. This class is full of some AMAZING kiddos and I can tell the year is off to a great start already! Monday morning is 3rd Grade's Back-to-School Presentation in the library. Please join us from 7:40-8:40 to learn more about our grade level polices and get to meet all the third grade teachers!
Last week we reviewed three ways to name numbers: Standard form, Expanded form, and Word form. This week we will continue to build on these skills and practice feeling comfortable writing/expressing numbers in many different ways. Your child will have 10 math questions for math homework each night (Monday-Thursday). Students should only be spending 30 minutes on homework each night so if they are unable to complete these 10 questions along with 20 minutes of reading, please let me know!
In science this week, we will begin to explore the many different tools scientists (and these students!) will use in science experiments throughout the year. We will learn about what each tool is used for and then get some hands-on practice with each of them (beakers, balances, thermometers, stopwatches, rulers, and a hand-lens).
In language arts, we will begin to to introduce the workshop model for both reading and writing. While many of your students are familiar with how workshop model looks, it is always important to do some refreshers at the start of the year. We will then dive into topics such as how to pick a good fit book, what good readers look like, picking a good spot to read, and how to have conversations about books with others). Students will also complete some comprehension practice for me to see where they are as readers at the start of the year. In addition to reading, we will begin to get some practice in with our writer's notebooks (which will be due back on Monday). We will create a writing map of things we enjoy writing about, respond to some writing topics to get our writing back in gear for the new year, and get some practice with common and proper nouns.
We will not begin switching for FIT until most likely end of September. During this time, each teacher will be working with kids one-on-one to assess their reading level and get to know them as readers. As you can imagine, this takes some time! :)
I hope all of you have a restful weekend and enjoy catching up with your sweet kids after a busy week back in the school routine! Thank you so much for all of you who graciously sent in wish-list items from Bobcat Welcome as well as all of you who signed up to volunteer this year. I REALLY appreciate it!!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the library Monday morning.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of August 20
Welcome Back!! I am so eager to meet all my new students and begin a wonderful year together! I hope you can make it to Bobcat Welcome on Tuesday, August 21 from 8 am-10 am!
Love,
Ms. Price
Hi Parents!
I promise this will be the last email you will receive for this school year! I want to thank all of you for making this year so special and for trusting me with your child each day. It has been truly the greatest honor watching your children grow in so many ways--- not only have they grown physically and academically, they have really developed their true identity and personality. I truly do believe teaching is the greatest job in the world and its all because of the amazing kids I get to spend my days with! They could not be more ready for 4th grade and I can't wait to see what their future holds.
I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for my end-of-year gift. Thank you for the cash and for many of the side gifts several of you sent in. It truly has made me feel so loved! Thank you so much.
As we close out this year, please feel free to keep in touch and let me know if you ever need anything. Your child may be in the hands of another teacher come August, however, they will always have a piece of my heart with them and they have added more joy to my life than you will ever know.
I hope these weekly emails were helpful and not too annoying....enjoy this summer ahead and soak up every minute with your little ones. I miss them already- give them an extra hug for me!
All my best,
Alexis
Week of May 28-30
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are out enjoying the sunshine over this beautiful Memorial Day weekend! I can't believe we have finally reached the last "weekly email" of the school year! This week is always so bittersweet....looking to summer is always so exciting, yet it's hard to let go of all the sweet memories we've made as a class this year. Your kids will officially be 4th graders on Thursday and I couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them. I know you are too!
This week we will finish up our Memory Books we have been working on, play each other's board games that we worked so hard making last week, and finish up our books in book clubs. Tuesday is our last "theme day" of the year...the kids may bring one item that can fit in their backpack and is school appropriate to show and tell Tuesday morning. Wednesday, we will spend a lot of the day cleaning up our room, emptying our desk and stacking the furniture up in a section of the classroom. We will also get to watch the 5th grade talent show that day. Thursday will be a pretty-laid back morning and we will enjoy each other's company one last day. School supplies will be coming home in your child's backpack each day so that they aren't carrying everything home on Thursday....so please have your child bring their backpack each day to help transport it all home.
I will be in touch later in the week before summer is out, but I hope everyone soaks up these last few days. It's been such an honor being your child's teacher and I couldn't have done it without all your support and partnership throughout the year.
Best wishes for a great last week,
Alexis
Week of May 20
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are having a fun and relaxing weekend! Can't believe we are at the last full week of school for the year! After this week we will have a 3-day weekend followed by 2 1/2 days left of school. I don't know where the whole month of May went!
Thanks to all of you for making last week run so smoothly! From sending your child to school well-rested and ready for STAAR testing Monday and Tuesday to many of you joining us on the field trip Thursday, and volunteering out on the soccer field for May Madness Friday....it was a busy week and I thank you for all your help!
This week will be full of some fun end-of-year group projects and reflections on the school year. In social studies, the kids will be working in a small group to build a pizzeria. They will design a logo, a menu, business cards, and advertise their business to their classmates.
In math, they will be planning a summer road trip which will involve comparing prices of different locations and calculating the total costs of lodging, gas, entertainment, etc. This project puts their math skills to the test but is also lots of fun. Towards the end of the week, we will be creating our very own math board games. They will get to be creative and decide what theme they want their game to follow and design math questions from units covered this year.
In Language Arts, we will be creating a brochure on "How to Be a Successful Third Grader" to share with the incoming third graders next year. They will also do some reflection writing on this year and their goals for 4th grade. We will be finishing up our book clubs for the year as well.
An end-of-the-year calendar came home in your child's Thursday Folder a week ago with some fun theme days to end the year. I've attached the calendar should it have gotten misplaced. Monday will be Beach Day clothing, Tuesday will be Hat Day, Wednesday will be BPE Spirit Day, Thursday is Bring a Board Game, and Friday will be Pajama Day with a Stuffed Animal. This is just a calendar made for our class, so it is not school wide theme days. :) If you have twins in this grade level, they may have something similar.
Hope everyone enjoys the beautiful sunshine today and as always please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of May 13
Good Afternoon, Parents!
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! The sunshine made today truly beautiful to celebrate the amazing work our mom's do...I hope yours was equally as special!
This email will be kept pretty short as this week is going to look quite different academically than most weeks! As you probably remember, Monday and Tuesday we will be STAAR testing. Tomorrow is STAAR Math, and Tuesday will be STAAR Reading. The kids will be completing this all morning and have the usual fitness/recess/lunch time. After lunch we will have specials, so there will only be about 30-40 minutes in the classroom outside of testing those days.
Wednesday, we will have Hailey as our "Teacher for the Day"! This will be a fun day full of some activities she has planned for us.
Thursday, we will be headed to Reunion Ranch for our End-of-Year party/field trip. We are hoping for lots of sunshine and great weather! Please remember to send you child in comfortable clothes, close-toed shoes, and some sunscreen wouldn't hurt! Lunch will be provided out there (part of the fee you paid for). Lunch consists of hotdogs, baked beans, and chips. Our end-of-year party volunteers will also be providing fresh fruit and dessert. If your child does not like this menu, or cannot eat any of these items, PLEASE send a disposable sack lunch so they don't get hungry. We will be leaving on the buses around 9 am, so there will be a very early snack time that day.
We end the busy week with May Madness on Friday! 3rd-5th graders will be outside from approximately 12:20-2:45. Students may wear a bathing suit but they must have a t-shirt and shorts over it. Close-toed shoes are a must! We will all be wearing the color blue as a class...Price's Blue Panthers! Our lunch schedule will be adjusted a bit (we will eat in the cafeteria 10:45-11:10).
I hope everyone has a great week ahead and your little ones get some good rest tonight before testing in the morning! They are going to do GREAT! Please make sure they bring a book to read, a healthy snack, water bottle, and jacket if they get cold easily.
Best wishes,
Alexis
Week of May 6
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We are truly in the last stretch of things this week as we finish reviewing for STAAR next week. It's normal for your child to start feeling some anxiety this week as testing approaches, but we will certainly be doing our best to stay calm and remember this is just one test....it doesn't represent the amazing individuals they are truly are! There will be a letter in your child's Thursday folder this week that I hope you will read with them before next week. It's just a reminder of how proud I am of each and every one of them!
This week in math, we will finish up our STAAR review rotations on Monday and Tuesday. They will visit Mrs. De los Santos on Monday and Ms. Leavitt on Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday we will review in our own homerooms. This will be the last week of math homework for the year, as we typically finish when STAAR gets here.
In social studies, we will be taking our combined Math and Social Studies test on Personal Financial Literacy tomorrow. We reviewed in class on Friday and the kids seem very much prepared. The rest of the week we will learn about the role of producers and consumers in an economy and then complete a fun group project involving planning ingredients for a bakery item, calculating the cost of expenses, and determining how much money there is with a given income. They will then create an advertisement on their product and create a group commercial to promote their product.
In language arts, we will be reviewing context clues, making inferences/drawing conclusions, and poetry. We will also do a fun break-out escape game reviewing reading material from the year in preparation for next week.
Be on the look out for a little present coming your way this week for Mother's Day! :)
I hope all of you have a wonderful week and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 29
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope everyone has had a restful weekend and are out enjoying the sunshine today! Hard to believe we have reached May this week!! Time is truly going to fly between now and May 30....summer will be here in the blink of an eye!
For the next two weeks we will be reviewing our math units and reading units to prep for STAAR on May 13th and 14th. To do this, we will do five days of STAAR rotations during math to review the main topics covered throughout the year starting on Wednesday and finishing up the following Tuesday. Your child will spend Wednesday in our homeroom and then switch to each of the third grade teachers Thursday-Tuesday. They will receive homework from that teacher to review what was practiced in that particular rotation. In language arts, we will review in our own classes.
In math, we will review two-step word problems tomorrow and then due to the early release on Tuesday we will not have any math. Wednesday-Friday the kids will begin reviewing for STAAR (focusing on 2d/3d shapes, area and perimeter on Wednesday, measurement/time on Thursday, and place value on Friday).
In social studies, we will be learning about economics to tie in with our personal financial literacy unit in math we just finished. We will learn about goods and services, supply and demand, and complete a fun project that has students design their future making decisions about their salary, expenses, and savings. We will take a combined social studies and math test the following week since these units will tie together nicely.
As mentioned earlier, we will be reviewing different skills over these two weeks. This week we will practice using the Word Web app, which is the dictionary app students will be allowed to use on STAAR Reading if they don't know what a word means. We want them to be familiar with how to use the app before the actual test date. The rest of the week we will review main idea/details and nonfiction text features. We will also be working on a little project for you moms :)
Tuesday is an Early Release. Please make sure you make any changes needed on Smart Tag for this early release and remember that lunch will not be served that day.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 22
Good Afternoon, Parents!
I hope all of you had a beautiful Easter weekend with your families. We couldn't have asked for any nicer weather...it was truly the best!
This week in science/social studies, we will spend one more day learning about parts of a plant and then move into a four day unit on Earth Day/Natural Resources. With Earth Day being on Monday, we will be talking about the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and ways to make changes in our own lives to improve the environment.
We started our unit on Personal Financial Literacy last week and will continue the rest of this unit this week. Tomorrow we will learn all about credit and what it means to use a credit card...including calculating interest! We will also learn about making a savings plan and what happens to the costs of resources with supply and demand.
In language arts, we will be learning about fairy tales, fractured fairy tales, and myths. We will read three versions of Cinderella (original and two fractured versions) and even attempt writing our very own fractured fairy tale. We will wrap up the week with looking at some Myths. In addition, we will be finishing up editing our persuasive papers and write our final copies to share with each other by the end of the week.
I hope everyone has a great week ahead! As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 15
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. We have four days and then we will be off on Friday for a three day weekend to celebrate Easter!
This week in science, we will only have two real days for our next short science unit which will be on plants. Tomorrow we will be having an author visit from Marc Tyler Nobleman in the cafeteria during science and Wednesday we will have our last Counselor Lesson for the year. For the two days we do cover science, we will be exploring the inside of a seed, labeling the parts of a seed, and learning about the germination of seeds.
In math, we will review both units 10 and 15 tomorrow in class (Unit 10 was on Patterns and Balancing Equations and Unit 15 is the Data unit we just finished). On Tuesday, the kids will take a combined unit test and then we will move onto our very last math unit of the year on Wednesday....Personal Financial Literacy. This unit will focus on income, spending money (unplanned vs. planned), credit and interest, and some review of adding/subtracting money throughout the lessons.
In language arts last week we wrapped up our Poetry Unit. This week we will begin learning about Fables and have a chance to review theme. We will also continue brainstorming ideas for our Persuasive Writing topic and completing our organizers so that we can begin drafting on Thursday. Throughout the week we will also take a look at how persuasive writers hook the reader and effectively wrap up their writing.
I hope this short week goes well for everyone and you have a relaxing Easter weekend ahead with your families.
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 8
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the rain showers we have had throughout most of yesterday and into this morning. I hope those of you who attended Bobcat Fest on Friday evening had a great time as well!
This week in math we will be continuing our unit on data/graphs. Last week we learned how to read frequency tables and dot plots/line plots. This week, we will move into bar graphs and pictographs.
We will spend tomorrow wrapping up our culture research and presenting our keynotes to one another. Then we will move into a very short unit on Weather for the remainder of the week. This is mainly a review of what the kids have already learned about weather, so there won't be too much that is new. They will rotate through some stations learning about different tools and topics of weather and then we will take a short (and very easy) assessment on Friday.
In language arts, we learn two more examples of figurative language/elements of poetry: Imagery and Idioms. We will also spend two days learning how to determine point of view in a poem. Thursday, the kids will take a poetry assessment that includes one poem as well as all the vocabulary terms we have learned (four types of poems and all figurative language) but they will be able to access their notes we have taken for this portion during the test. This will wrap up our study of poetry.
In addition to wrapping up poetry, we will also begin introducing our last big writing piece of the year....persuasive writing! We will do a few writing practices throughout the week as well as select our topic for this piece.
We switched WIN groups last week and are focusing heavily on math in these rotations. Make sure to ask your child which teacher they have and what they are focusing on!
I hope all of you have a wonderful week ahead. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of April 1
Good Afternoon, Parents!
You might be wondering why I am sending my usual Sunday email on a Friday! I am flying off to Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado tomorrow morning to go skiing with my best friend for a few days. I will be out on Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday. Your kids will be in great hands with a wonderful substitute and I've left plans just as if I would be teaching. I wanted to get this information out to you though before I leave!
We reviewed for our science test today so your kids will be taking their Science Test on the Solar System on Monday. This will be open notebook as usual so they should do very well on it. Starting Tuesday, we will be spending the rest of the week moving back into social studies and focusing on cultures. There will be a very short homework assignment attached to your child's Weekly Homework Tracker on Monday that they will need to complete by Tuesday. It is just a five question survey about their family heritage/favorite family activity/favorite family vacation/etc. We will be making Family Crests on Wednesday so this information will come in handy.
In math, we will spend one more day on Monday reviewing patterns and tables, and then begin our unit on Data on Tuesday. We will spend two days on Frequency Tables and two days on Dot Plots (also known as Line Plots). This will continue for a few weeks as we will cover other types graphs as well.
In language arts, we will heavily focus on different types of figurative language used in poetry. While this week we introduced similes and metaphors, along with the four main types of poetry, this coming week we will learn about personification, onomatopoeias, alliteration, and imagery. Library will be on Tuesday.
Bobcat Fest is on Friday from 5:00-8:00 pm. Should be a fun way to end the week and something to look forward to!
If you have any questions at all while I am out of town, please don't hesitate to reach out. I will check my email as usual daily, so if you have any concerns I am just an email away. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see all your sweet kiddos on Wednesday!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of March 25
Good Morning and Welcome Back!
I hope all of you had a restful Spring Break, safe travels, and a great time with your family. My spring break was certainly relaxing and the weather could not have been more perfect---beautiful sunny days and some true spring temperatures! This last stretch of the year is going to fly by quickly and before we know it your third graders will be fourth graders in the blink of an eye!
In science this week, we will be wrapping up our unit on the solar system. Before the break, we learned all about the eight planets. This week, we will be transitioning over to learn more about the sun and moon, including the moon phases. We will learn that the sun is the foundation for the water cycle as well as discuss why we need the sun to survive. We will review this unit on Friday and the kids will have their open notebook test next Monday.
In math, we will be moving into our unit on patterns and equations. We will be learning what equality means and how to determine whether two equations are equal or not. These equations will start out with addition and subtraction and then move into multiplication and division. We will also take a look at in-and-out boxes and learn how to locate a pattern to complete the missing parts of a given table.
Finally, in language arts, we will begin our poetry unit tomorrow. This is a big change from fiction and nonfiction, however, it is an exciting unit that exposes them to a different genre. This week we will learn about the four main types of poetry- narrative, lyrical, free-verse, and humorous poetry. Each day we will focus on one of these forms of poetry and learn characteristics of each by diving into several different poems throughout the week. We will also cover some poetry vocabulary- stanzas, lines, rhyme, and repetition. Since poetry will be our main focus, we will be combining both reading and writing and the kids will practice writing some poems as well.
I want to extend my sincere welcome to the Leitgib family. We are so excited to have a new student, Laszlo, join our class for the remainder of the year and I know the kids are equally thrilled!
Just a friendly reminder...Thursday is Class Picture Day! I don't know what time we will be scheduled for just yet, but I wanted to send this reminder for those of you who are planning to attend the golf tournament this week.
Enjoy the rest of your spring break and I look forward to seeing all your sweet kiddos tomorrow morning.
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
Alexis
Week of March 11
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope Daylight Savings Time didn't hit too hard this morning. I always prepare myself for this being the one day in the year where I just won't get as much done...and that is okay! :)
Hard to believe we have made it to the last five days before Spring Break! As a reminder, report cards are out BEFORE Spring Break this year and can be accessed on Skyward on Thursday at 4 pm. As always, please let me know if you have any questions after viewing your child's report card.
This week in science, we will be doing a really fun group activity involving Model Magic Clay, The kids will be split into five small groups and will work with their group to create a model of the solar system (all eight planets, the sun, Earth's moon, and the Asteroid Belt) using clay. We will spend Monday and Tuesday creating these and then take a day to share them with the class. We will also have our counselor lesson on Wednesday morning. The last day of the week we will do a solar system scavenger hunt and wrap up our study of the planets. When we return from SB, we will focus on the Sun and the Moon (including phases of the moon) before we end this unit.
In math, we will be taking our Quarter 3 Math Assessment tomorrow. This will be a combination of all we covered this quarter (fractions, shapes, area and perimeter). The rest of the week we will be learning how to solve for elapsed time. This is a difficult skill, so we will spend all four days on this! Students will only have math homework on Tuesday as we wanted to give them a bit of a break before SB.
Finally, in Language Arts, the students will be taking the reading benchmark (prior STAAR passages), to get them exposed to what these passages/questions look like, and assess their understanding of skills we have covered thus far. Instead of having them take the entire test in one sitting (as STAAR will be), we will only be doing one passage a day over a four day period. Since this will take up a chunk of our reading time this week, the remainder of time will be spent finishing up our Animal Writing and sharing those with one another as well as meeting in our book clubs.
Kite Day will take place on Friday during your child's specials time (9:05-9:55). You can meet your child out on the soccer field that day. If there is rain, Kite Day unfortunately will not be rescheduled. Hoping it will be the perfect kite day for them!
You probably saw the letter that went home in your child's Thursday folder last week regarding our end-of-year field trip to Reunion Ranch. Payment is through Skyward and is due on April 1st. While the cost is $12 per student, our district has to add on a couple of dollars per child to allot for parent chaperones/those who want to attend...so it probably will show up as $14. Just wanted to give you a heads up.
If I don't see you before the end of the week, I want to wish all of you safe travels and a wonderful, relaxing Spring Break!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of March 4
Hi Parents,
I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. For those of you who heard the news from your child on Thursday, I took Friday off to be with my family, as my grandmother passed away last Sunday evening. It was a difficult weekend, however, we had a very special celebration for her yesterday and she will be greatly missed.
This week in science the kids will be selecting one of the eight planets to research. We will spend most of the week collecting facts, creating a model planet, and sharing what we learned with one another. Be on the look out for another email I will be sending out about a fun project we will be doing next week. It requires a few items and if you are interested in donating any, we would greatly appreciate it!
The kids took their test on Friday, which wrapped up our units on shapes, area, and perimeter. This week, we will be moving into units of measurement. We will begin by learning about the customary units of capacity and weight and then move into the metric units of capacity and weight. We will be learning how to solve for elapsed time the following week, so Friday we will review telling time on a clock.
In language arts, we will be learning about cause and effect and fact and opinion. We will also be wrapping up our Animal Research and begin drafting this week. Be sure to ask your child which animal they chose to research!
Hard to believe we are down to the last two weeks before Spring Break! Time sure is flying by!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and as always feel free to email if you have questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 25
Good Morning, Parents!
It was so wonderful seeing most of you at Open House on Friday! Your kids have been working so hard and it was great watching them feel so proud to show you what they have accomplished over the past few weeks.
This Tuesday is an Early Release and No Homework Night. Please remember to make any changes on SmartTag prior to dismissal that day as students will be dismissed at 11:50.
We will be transitioning back to science this week, jumping into our Solar System unit! This is a fun unit that will last about 4 weeks (finishing up after we return from Spring Break). This week will be mainly an introduction week- we will be identifying the eight planets that make up our solar system and some facts about each of them.
In math, we will be spending another day on area with squares and rectangles and then will spend two days learning how to find the area of irregular shapes. Thursday we will review units 12/13 (shapes, perimeter and area) and the review will come home that night. Friday, we will test on these two units. Up next will be measurement (metric and customary units of liquids and weight).
For language arts this week, we will be learning how to draw conclusions. We already learned about making inferences back in the fall, however, it will be really good to revisit this similar skill and practice it again... as it is challenging! In addition to practicing drawing conclusions, we will also continue working on our animal research. Monday will also be an exciting day....we will officially finish our cursive book!
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a wonderful week ahead! As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 18
Hello, Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying your three-day weekend! So nice to have an extra day, especially after all the excitement of Valentines' Day last week!
I want to thank you all SO very much for the very thoughtful Valentine's Day present you all showered me with! I will very much look forward to using my Visa gift card and of course I have thoroughly enjoyed the delicious snickerdoodle Tiffs Treats! So thoughtful of all of you!
This week in math we will be wrapping up perimeter one more day and then move into area for the rest of the week. The kids have done such a great job with perimeter and I have a feeling they will do great with area as well. The challenge is remembering whether to add all the sides (perimeter) or multiply length x width (area). When we have these mixed up, it can cause some confusion, so we will be reviewing these two skills a lot this week.
In social studies, we learned about Lewis and Clark last week. The students worked on a final project of their choice and will present these to the class on Tuesday. The remainder of the week, we will be learning about President's Day and the two most well-known presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington!
Finally, in language arts, we will be finishing up our autobiographies and continuing to read some different biographies. The kids will also be selecting an animal to research for our final writing this nine weeks....another nonfiction book! We will also learn about homographs and do some practice with these this week as well.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at Open House on Friday morning from 7:30-8:45! As a reminder, you may come with your child anytime during that time frame, so if you choose to sleep in a bit before arriving, that's the morning to do so! Your kids will be showcasing many wonderful projects they have been working on the past few weeks and I know they would love to have you join us!
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of February 11
Hi Parents!
Hope you all stayed warm this weekend....sure was COLD! Nice to have some winter back before the heat starts up again soon.
Last week we finished up fractions and moved into 2-D shapes (flat shapes), focusing on quadrilaterals. We also reviewed pentagons, hexagons, and octagons, as well as practiced determining whether a set of shapes were congruent or not. This week, we will be moving into 3D shapes, learning not only the names of these shapes but also classifying them based on their attributes (faces, edges, and vertices). We will spend about 3 days on shapes, and then spend Thursday and Friday moving into perimeter.
In social studies, we wrapped up unit on continents and oceans. This week we will learn about two famous explorers, Lewis and Clark.
In language arts, we have been busy wrapping up our Expert Writing and sharing them with one another. We even got to share our books with our second grade buddies on Friday afternoon! We will spend a few more days wrapping those up and sharing with one another. In case you are on the look out for those, these will be on display at Open House in a couple of weeks! This week, we will be introducing narrative nonfiction (biographies/autobiographies). The students will be interviewing one of their classmates and will use that interview to write a short biography on that classmate. We will learn about the differences between biographies and autobiographies and how these are classified as nonfiction text.
One last reminder, our Valentines Day party will be on Thursday afternoon in the classroom from 2:00-2:30. We will be enjoying ice cream sundaes and playing a few rounds of Valentines Day Bingo. We would love for you to join us!
Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week ahead! As always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Alexis
Week of February 4
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and your kiddos are staying healthy! Lots of sickness going around at BPE right now....seven kids were out in another third grade classroom on Friday! :(
We will be reviewing our fraction unit tomorrow and will take a test on Unit 11 (Fractions) on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we will move into our next unit, which is on Geometry (Shapes, Area, and Perimeter). This week we will just be introducing quadrilaterals and 2D shapes.
The kids took their science test on Ecosystems on Friday (and did a great job!). We will be switching back over to Social Studies for the next 3 weeks. This week we will be revisiting our maps unit and learning about the 7 continents and 5 oceans. This will just be a one-week unit, as we feel it is important for the kids to be able to identify parts on a globe (You'd be surprised to find many believe the continent we live on is Texas! Ha!!) We will be doing a fun paint project to learn the names of the continents and oceans.
In language arts, we will continue one more week of Main Idea/Details, as well as wrap up our Expert Writing Books. We will celebrate our writing and share them with each other towards the end of the week. Many of our reading groups/book clubs will finish up their books this week as well.
A letter went home in your child's Thursday folder regarding Valentines Day. Attached to the letter was a class list that will be helpful when making Valentines in a couple of weeks. Mrs. Meek has asked that we share with you a little blurb she will be including in the school newsletter this week. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. Our Valentine's Day Party will take place the afternoon of Valentine's Day (Thursday, Feb 14th from 2:00-2:30). The kids will be enjoy an ice cream sundae and a few rounds of Valentine Bingo. We hope you will join us. See below for Mrs. Meek's note:
A message from Principal Meek
Valentine’s Day is around the corner and I have received many inquiries from parents, students, and teachers alike regarding the parameters of the celebration. Classroom parties will take place on Thursday, February 14th in your child’s classroom. Thank you to the gracious parent volunteers for coordinating these exciting events for our students! To foster friendships and kindness, students are invited to bring valentines to ALL students in their homeroom class. If children would like to exchange valentines with friends outside their homeroom, they are welcome to do so outside of the school day. In the next few days, teachers will be sending a class list home with your child. Valentine bags will be provided and created at school for collection of valentine cards. Valentines will be exchanged at the end of the school day and opened at home. Please look for more information from your child’s teacher pertaining to classroom policies around food allergies.
Last, Bingo Night is this Thursday from 5:00-8:00 in the cafeteria/gym!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and the Super Bowl game this evening!
Alexis
Week of January 28
Hi Parents!
Hope you all are enjoying this last weekend in January and resting up after a busy, yet very fun, STEAM Day on Friday! The kids seemed to have such a great time, as I'm sure they've shared with you.
This week in math we will be learning how about equivalent fractions. This is certainly the most challenging portion of our fraction unit (which is coming to a close rather soon). We will spend Monday and Tuesday learning what equivalent means and how to use fraction strips and picture representations to help us find equivalent fractions. Later in the week, we will use number lines to find equivalent fractions, as well as learn how to solve a variety of fraction word problems.
In science, we will be wrapping up our Ecosystems unit by diving in on three main behavioral adaptations: camouflage, hibernation, and migration. We will spend a day learning about each of these adaptations and then review the unit together in class on Thursday, and test on Friday. As always, this test will be open notebook and the kids will bring their review home Thursday night.
In language arts, we are continuing another week practicing Main Idea and Details within nonfiction text. Last week we practiced how to really read nonfiction-- starting with labeling all the text features we see, reading a section at a time and then stopping to write questions or comments we have to ensure we are absorbing what we just read. We talked a lot about how we take a very different approach reading nonfiction than we do reading fiction. We will continue practicing these skills this week as well as continue writing about our nonfiction expert topic. I will be going over this with the class tomorrow, but as part of your child's writing this week, I am asking for each student to find or take 3 photographs related to their topic and either print them and bring them to school OR email them to me by Friday and I will print them. We will be using these photographs as a text feature in their Expert Books (your child will be able to tell you their topic). Thanks in advance for your help with this!
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekend! As always, feel free to let me know if you have any questions at all!
~Alexis
Week of January 21
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying this wonderful long weekend! It's hard to believe we've only been back for two weeks-- it seems like we've been back in the routine much longer! Hoping this extra day gave your family some time to relax a bit and get recharged for the week ahead.
STEAM Day is on Friday. It should be a really fun day!
A few tips:
-Third graders have the same recess/lunch time and will eat in the cafeteria as usual.
-No specials for third grade that day
-Please make sure your child eats a filling breakfast-- there will not be a snack time
-Students are advised to wear clothes they don't mind getting dirty
-Your child will find out what sessions they will attend on Friday morning.
-Park at Riverbend if you are not a volunteer or presenter
In math this week, we will be learning how to compare fractions. On Tuesday, we will learn the rule for comparing fractions with the same denominator and on Wednesday, we will be learn the rule for comparing fractions with the same numerator. On Thursday, we will combine the two to make sure they are memorizing these rules when fractions are all mixed up. Students will NOT need to know how to compare a fraction with no similarity, i.e. 5/6 and 3/4, but for those that are ready, I will introduce how to do so in small groups.
In science/ss, we will spend tomorrow wrapping up our study on Martin Luther King, Jr. Then we will spend the next three days returning to our science unit and focusing on adaptations animals have that help them survive in their specific environment. We will learn the difference between physical and behavioral adaptations.
Finally, in language arts, we will be continuing to practice main idea and details, as well as learn how to determine the point of view of an article/passage. We will also practice locating text features in a variety of nonfiction books dispersed around the classroom. They will have to find examples of certain text features within books and will use those pictures to create a Keynote. The more exposure to these text features, the better! If you can encourage your child to read some more nonfiction at home that would be great as well. I have encouraged all of the class to check out one fiction and one nonfiction book when they go to the library from now on. Last, the kids are busy writing their nonfiction piece on the expert topic they have chosen. We will wrap up our main topics this week and move into adding text features next week.
If you have any questions about the upcoming week, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Best wishes for a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of January 14
Good Afternoon, Parents!
Hope you all had a restful weekend after the first week back into the school routine. It was so great seeing all the kids after the break.
This week, we will spend two days continuing our science unit on ecosystems and then take a short break and spend the rest of the week learning about Martin Luther King, Jr, since we will have that holiday the following Monday. On Monday and Tuesday, we will learn about carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores and then learn the difference between learned behaviors and instincts on Tuesday. Towards the end of the week, students will create a dream mobile after learning about MLK's famous "I have a Dream" speech.
In math, we will be diving into fractions on a number line this week. We will also learn how to use break up a fraction using the sum of unit fractions (i.e. 3/8 can be written 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8). I'm so impressed with how well the kids are grasping the fraction skills we covered last week!
In language arts, we will continue our study of nonfiction text features and nonfiction writing. The kids have picked a topic that they think they are an "expert" on and will be writing a short book using text features and elements of informational writing over the next couple of weeks. As we wrap up text features, we will also be diving into Main Idea and Details this week, using a strategy known as Boxes and Bullets. We will do a lot of practice with this throughout the week....as it is a challenging reading skill!
I hope everyone has a great week ahead....one full week and then a three day weekend! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of January 7
Hi, Parents!
I hope all of you had a restful break and fun with your family over the holidays! The break always goes by so quickly, but I can honestly say I've never felt so well-rested and refreshed after these two weeks! Hard to believe we are embarking on the very last semester of the year!! Before you know it, it will be Spring Break and then Summer!
This first week back will be full of all new units and lots of learning as we ease back into our normal routine. If you and your family are still traveling this week, I will be sure to spend some time with them next week to review what was covered this week (as there will be quite a lot of new things).
In math this week, we will be transitioning over to Fractions! We will spend this week doing mainly basic foundational skills with fractions-- being able to look at a shaded figure and state the fraction that is represented, being able to shade their own figure/shape to represent a given fraction, as well as state the fraction within a set of objects. To ease into the first week back, we will not be giving out math homework the first night back, so you should only see math homework on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
In science, we will be moving into our study on Ecosystems. We will learn about what ecosystems are, how the food chain and food web works, and what producers, consumers, and decomposers are and how they operate within a food chain.
In language arts, we will be transitioning from fiction studies to nonfiction. We will spend most of the week just exposing ourselves to what nonfiction text looks like and the many text features that are included in a nonfiction text. By the end of the week, students will be able to identify what most of these text features are and be able to find examples of them in a variety of books laid out in the classroom. In addition to our introduction to nonfiction, we will also be completing a New Years Flipbook with goals for the new year.
Last, but not least, it is time for Round 2 of MAP testing to take place! This Thursday and Friday, students will take the MAP tests during FIT time (one day reading and one day math). These are the tests I shared with you at Parent Conferences. They are one data point that the entire district uses (on the iPad) and takes place three times a year.
I hope all of you are out enjoying the sunshine on this last day of break! I look forward to seeing all your kiddos bright and early tomorrow morning!
All the best,
Alexis
Week of December 17
Hi Parents!
Hard to believe we have made it to the very last week before Winter Break begins!! That also means your kids have almost made it through HALF their year in 3rd Grade! It feels like just yesterday we were meeting for the first time and they were fresh out of 2nd grade. Time sure flies fast when you're having a good year together! :)
This week in social studies, we will spend tomorrow learning about eight of the main landforms (island, peninsula, bay, river, lake, plain, mountains and valleys). Using these landforms and practice we did last week with introducing parts of a map, we will begin a really fun map project on Tuesday that we will work on all week. Essentially, the kids will design a country and create their own map using certain features we have learned about (a map key, a map title, landforms, cities, capital city, and symbols). When I ask the kids at the end of the year which project was their favorite, this is always one that comes up. It's a great one to end the week before break with.
In math, we will spend Monday reviewing and practicing 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication again. Last week, the kids learned two different strategies for solving these problems. One way was known as Partial Products (box method), and the other is the standard algorithm (lining up the numbers vertically and multiplying up and down and diagonally). On Tuesday, we will review all the skills we practiced this second quarter and on Wednesday, the kids will take their Q2 End of Nine Weeks Assessment. This test will cover all the material we learned in this second quarter (multiplication and division). Thursday we will do a fun escape room activity to celebrate our hard work these nine weeks.
On Friday we finished up Because of Winn Dixie, our class novel. The kids seemed to really enjoy this book (as much as I do!), and it was great seeing their enthusiasm and excitement when we would read each day. We will finish up some work in our character trait booklet this week as well as create a plot mountain for the book. On Friday, we will be watching the movie Because of Winn Dixie to compare and contrast the book to the movie. Many thanks to almost all of you for sending back those permission slips/email to confirm your child could watch the movie. If you haven't done so, please make sure to let me know BEFORE Friday, so I can plan accordingly. Finally, we will be starting our final copies of our Imaginative Stories this week and hopefully have those completed by Wednesday.
As you all have probably heard, BPE will be having dress-up days this week to get in the holiday spirit before break. I sent home a hard-copy of the schedule in your child's Thursday folder last week and I believe BPE’s newsletter had it on there too. Last, but certainly not least, our class Winter Party will take place in our classroom this Thursday from 1:30-2:15. The kids will enjoy some hot chocolate and a sweet treat, as well as create their own snow globe (picture). At 2:15, we will go outside for an extra recess before the end of the day. We would love for you to join us at our party and hope that you can attend!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I hope everyone has a wonderful last week and a relaxing 2-week break if I don't see you before then!
All my best,
Alexis
Week of December 10
Hi Parents!
Hope you all stayed warm this weekend and had some time to relax before the week starts up again.
Tuesday is our field trip to see The Nutcracker! You should have received a note in your child's Thursday folder, as well as an email from me, reminding the kids that they should dress in their "Sunday Best" for the performance as well as bring a completely disposable sack-lunch. We will be leaving around 8:45 and return around 12:30.
In science this week, we will be spending one more day wrapping up fast land changes and reviewing for our test. The review will come home Monday night, however since we have our field trip on Tuesday, the test will be on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will switch over to social studies and begin a short unit on maps which will take us all the way until winter break. We will start off by learning how to use cardinal and intermediate directions to locate places on a map and then learn how to read and create map grids.
In math, we will be moving into multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit numbers (i.e. 23 x 6). We will start off by reviewing how to multiply larger numbers that are multiples of 10 and then learn how to multiply using partial products (i.e. 23 x 6 can be done (20 x 6) + (3 x 6) ) as well as how to multiply using the standard algorithm. Monday we will also take our 12's quiz, which is our last factor for timed quizzes!
In language arts, we are still busy reading Because of Winn Dixie and learning how to dive deep into the character's journey by recognizing problems they face and how they respond to those obstacles. We will also be wrapping up our Imaginative Story rough drafts and begin revising/editing them towards the end of the week which will lead us to final copies soon.
I will be out on Monday for a science committee meeting, but the kids will be in great hands with Mrs. Clay as their substitute! I look forward to seeing them on Tuesday for our field trip!
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Have a wonderful week!
~Alexis
Week of December 3
Hi Parents!
Happy December! Hope all of you had a restful weekend.
In science, we will be wrapping up Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition tomorrow and then begin moving into Fast Land Changes on Tuesday. The fast land changes we will cover include volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, and tsunamis. These are a little more exciting to cover than the slow changes of rock. :) We will also have our counselor guidance lesson Wednesday.
This week in math, we will be focusing entirely on word problems. We'll start off by diving into two-step word problems that involve multiplication and division and then work on solving problems that involve all four main operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Since we combined multiplication and division units, we will be taking our combined unit test on Friday. We are also wrapping up our timed multiplication quizzes-Monday (11's), Tuesday (7's), and Wednesday (8's). That leaves 12's for next week and then we can celebrate memorizing our facts! :) Please keep encouraging your kids to practice their facts a little each night so they have these memorized, which helps them tremendously down the road.
In language arts, we are continuing our character unit study with Because of Winn Dixie (the kids are loving it!). We will learn how good readers form theories about characters based on how they act and talk in the story. In addition to our character study, the kids will also be using their organizer they filled in last week to begin their rough draft of their Imaginative Story. We will do some mini lessons on how to create a strong hook/lead to their story as well as revisit how to properly use dialogue. Then they will be off and running with their story!
Our field trip to see The Nutcracker at the Long Center is next week, December 11th. Please be on the lookout for an email tomorrow giving you some more information on what to expect for that day. Should be a fun day!
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Have a great week,
Alexis
Week of November 26
Hello, Parents!
Hope each of your families had a relaxing and restful Thanksgiving! I'm sure you all would agree it was so nice having a full week off this year rather than the three days we've had in the past!
4 weeks left before Winter Break and we have lots of fun things planned between now and then! Our Field Trip will be in just a few weeks and we are starting our new (and my personal favorite) class novel, Because of Winn Dixie this week which will take us all the way until Winter Break.
In science this week, we will begin our Earth Changes Unit, focusing on slow and fast land changes that occur on Earth. This week we will start off by taking a close look at the components of soil and then begin discussing the process of weathering, erosion, and deposition of rocks. On Tuesday we will be doing a hands-on investigation with soil and we will need for each of your kids to bring in a snack-size bag of soil from outside (anything you have will do! Please do not go out and buy any soil for this.) I will be sending another email out as a reminder tomorrow.
In math, we will be continuing our unit on division. This week will be mostly review of dividing with various divisors and working with division strip diagrams. We still have 5 factors to test for in multiplication, so we will gradually do those in the next couple of weeks as well. Please have your kids practice/review their 6's as we will quiz on those Friday.
In language arts, we will begin our character study within fiction texts using our new class read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. All the books arrived the week before break, for those that ordered through the school, so we should be good to go unless your child purchased his or her own. If so, please have them bring this book with them to school tomorrow! In addition to making inferences about characters and studying them on a deeper level, we will also begin brainstorming for our Imaginative Story! Prior to the break, we read nearly 12 books by Chris Van Allsburg to get an idea for what imaginative writing sounds like. The kids will be creating their very own characters, setting, problem, and solution this week through an organizer. These are always fun!
For those of you who like knowing in advance events to put on your calendar....we will be having our class winter party on Thursday, December 20 from 1:30-2:15 and all of you are more than welcome to join in on the fun! Those of you who volunteered to help with this party will get an email from me in the next day or so.
Best wishes for a wonderful week and transition back to school! I'm looking forward to seeing your sweet kiddos tomorrow!
Alexis
Week of November 12
Hi Parents!
One more week and then it is Thanksgiving Break!! Can't believe the time is already here! Seems like one thing after another....Halloween, Veteran's Day, and now moving onto Thanksgiving! (Or if you're crazy like me, you've already started decorating for the winter holidays!) :)
Many, many thanks to all of you for joining us for our Veteran's Day celebration Friday morning! It was such a special way to honor and recognize those that have served our country and watch these precious kids present all that they've been busy working on the past couple of weeks. I am so proud of them!! If you were unable to join us, I managed to take a couple pictures at the end of the day (see below). Unfortunately, two of the girls had already left for the day, so it's not with everyone, but it's something! :)
This week in Social Studies, we will be taking a week to think about the people we are thankful for. The kids will create a "Thankful for" pie as well as complete a writing on one person they are thankful for this year. We decided to hold off on science until we return from break.
In math, we will be transitioning over to division. While the kids are shocked we are starting this (they think it's big stuff!), they will see how closely related multiplication is to division. We are just introducing how the two are related and how we can use our multiplication facts to help us with division. While we are moving into division, we will still be working on our timed multiplication quizzes. This week, we will take 9's (Monday), 10's (Tuesday) and 3's (Wednesday). The kids learned some great strategies for 9's (their hand trick for one), so they should be great on that one.
Finally, in language arts, we will be working on Author's Purpose (PIE- Persuade, Inform, Entertain) this week. The kids learned about Author's Purpose in 2nd grade, so it will mainly be a review and extension of what they have already learned. We will spend Monday learning about texts that persuade, Tuesday learning about texts that inform, and Wednesday learning about texts that entertain. For writing, we will also continue reading a few more Chris Van Allsburg books that demonstrate imaginative writing, as well as do a fun "Turkeys on Strike" activity.
As we wind down for the holidays, I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable time with your family next week. I am so thankful for each and every one of you.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of November 5
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend and extra hour of sleep! I wasn't able to attend the Movie Night/Family Picnic Friday evening, but I hope those of who did had a great time!! It seemed like the perfect weather for a fall picnic.
We have a busy week ahead in preparation for our Veteran's Day celebration on Friday. Many thanks for all of you getting those slips turned in or emailed to me last week. We will be running through our program many times this week so the kids feel comfortable sharing the things they are busy working on with you. Please mark your calendars to join us on Friday morning. We will start off in the cafeteria at 7:40 and then celebrate in our classrooms until 9 am. Be on the look out for an email regarding some important info tomorrow.
This week in social studies, as you all know, we will be wrapping up our Veteran's Day unit and spending some time learning more about each specific branch of the armed forces and practicing for our celebration on Friday. Next week we will return to science.
In math, we will cover factors 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Your child may have come home sharing about our timed quizzes we started on Thursday. Most days we will be taking a timed quiz on a specific factor. We started off with 0's on Thursday and moved over to 1's on Friday. I am pleased to share with you that everyone made a 100% on those! They will not be taken for grades, but more be used to keep the kids accountable for practicing their facts a little each night. As a heads up, tomorrow we will take our 2's quiz, Tuesday our 5's, and Wednesday our 4's. We will hold off on the others until the following week. Please encourage your child to practice those three factors in preparation for this week.
In language arts, we will be revisiting Theme. We will do a several read alouds and discuss what the moral/lesson (theme) is for each story. We will also discuss how theme uses inferencing (what we covered this past week) and is never actually stated in the text. We have to infer what the author is trying to teach us through the characters and what they learn. In addition to this reading skill, we will also continue reading some more Chris Van Allsburg stories to go along with our Imaginative Story Writing which will begin the following week. We've been doing some practice prompts with these stories and the kids seem to love them!
We started Words Their Way (spelling) on Friday and your child will bring home their spelling list tomorrow attached to their Weekly Homework Tracker and a Spelling Choice Sheet. As you might recall, we are switching from a reading passage for homework to spelling. Your child will have this spelling choice sheet for two consecutive weeks (1 activity per week) and then we will test on their words on Friday, November 16th.
Tuesday is an Early Release Day. Please make sure you update SmartTag for any changes your child may have on that day. Hope to see many of you Friday morning!
Have a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of October 29
Hi, Parents!
Hope this weekend has been relaxing and fun for you and your family! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with all of you last week for our parent-teacher conferences. It's always so nice to have the chance to meet with you and share all the wonderful things your child has been doing these first nine weeks. If you have any questions or need anything from me after we met, please let me know.
This week we will be transitioning back to social studies! We will begin our two-week unit on Veteran's Day, which is one of my very favorite units we cover in third grade. We will begin by sharing what we know about who Veteran's are and why we celebrate this special holiday. The students will write a thank you letter to a Veteran as well as be placed in small groups to create acrostic poems about Veterans. As a reminder, your child came home with a letter and slip in their Thursday folder last week regarding our Veteran's Day celebration on November 9th. Please make sure to send this slip back with your child by this Friday, November 2nd. We hope you will be able to join us for this very special morning (7:40-9 am)!
In math, we will continue our multiplication unit. We will learn how to multiply by skip counting on a number line, solve one and two-step multiplication word problems, and then begin studying some factors (0,1,2,4,and 5). Throughout the next few weeks, we will be taking some timed multiplication quizzes (not for a grade, more so for practice and fluency). On Thursday, we will take a timed quiz on 0's and on Friday a timed quiz on 1's (both easy ones to start out with).
In language arts, we will begin two brand new units for reading and writing. In reading, we will begin learning what an inference is and how good readers make inferences using their background knowledge and clues in a text. We will do some fun inferencing activities this week to get some good practice in with this challenging skill. In writing, we will begin talking about what imaginative writing looks like. To introduce imaginative stories, we will be doing an author study on Chris Van Allsburg. He writes some fabulous imaginative stories and will read aloud many of them throughout the next few weeks before we learn how to write an imaginative story later on this quarter.
Wednesday, being Halloween, will be a No-Homework Night. Friday is our Family Picnic/Movie night on the soccer field. I hope everyone has a wonderful week as we transition from October to November!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of October 22
Hello Parents!
Can you believe we have already made it to Parent Conference Week and Arts Days? Then comes Halloween and the start of November! Not sure where the time is going but it's sure moving quickly!!
This week with early release days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we will have some changes to the schedule. On early release days, we typically only have time for Language Arts and Math, and do not have time for science/ss. However, we are going to be taking a science test this week, so we will fit that in on Wednesday before jumping into the other two subjects.
In math, we are starting our multiplication unit! We will start off by introducing multiplication as repeated addition and then move into how to create and read arrays. We will end the week with learning how to skip count on a number line with multiplication equations. As we start this unit, I would love to encourage you all to start using some multiplication flash cards with your kids a little each week. This will help them tremendously when we start focusing on specific factors and begin memorizing their facts.
For science, we will learn how to separate mixtures that involve solids and liquids (solutions) tomorrow and then review our matter and mixtures unit on Tuesday. This review will come home Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, we will take our unit test. Starting next week, we will move back into social studies for a few weeks, focusing on Veteran's Day.
In language arts, we will be continuing to review summarizing. In addition, we will begin reading groups! Each student will be placed in a small group and be reading a different book that is based on their reading level. Some groups will meet with me every day while other groups may meet with me once or twice a week depending on their needs. These groups are a great way to instill a shared interest in reading while having something that meets everyone's reading level. These books will stay in the classroom and be reading material we work on at school.
All of you should have received a letter in your child's Thursday folder this past week regarding our next class read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. You have the option of submitting payment on Skyward or purchasing the book on your own. We are excited to begin this novel mid- November! It's one of my personal favorites. :)
Finally, this week in your child's folder you will be receiving a letter regarding Veteran's Day. Third grade students will be honoring Veteran's on Friday, November 9th. It is such a sweet and special morning and we are so excited to begin this unit. Make sure to mark this morning on your calendars-- it's one you will not want to miss! The letter that is going home has a slip at the bottom you can cut off and send back with your child. If you have any questions after reading it, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Have a wonderful week! I look forward to meeting with you all at our parent conference.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of October 15
Hi Parents!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! The kids seemed to have a blast with Fort Day and Board Games on Friday-- it was so neat watching them create and build these forts with their friends and complete work in them all day!
This week in science, we will be doing a ton of hands-on experiments all week. We will be introducing the Metric system as a form of measurement tomorrow and then begin getting our hands on tools that help us measure length, mass, volume, and temperature. We will finish off the week learning about mixtures and solutions and some tools that can help us separate mixtures of solids. Should be a fun week in science for the kids!
In math, we will be continuing one more day of counting money. Last Friday, we introduced/reviewed the different bills and coins and I was so impressed with how well everyone seemed to recall them! After tomorrow, we will spend Tuesday talking about place value relationships. This is a tricky lesson simply because the concept really clicks when the kids have a strong grasp on their multiplication facts, and since we haven't started that unit, it can be a little challenging. We will be returning to this same lesson again when we hit multiplication so don't worry if it doesn't click perfectly this time around! On Wednesday, we will take the district quarter assessment. This assessment was made by the teachers who serve on the math committee for third grade among all six campuses. At the end of each nine weeks, all schools administer this test to help see how the kids did as a whole over Units 1-3. We will review this assessment on Thursday and then wind down the week with some Halloween place value activities on Friday. For those of you wondering, these assessments will not be sent home, however, I will be showing them to you during our parent conferences the following week.
Finally, in Language Arts, we will be wrapping up our final copies of our personal narratives. Mid-week, we will celebrate our writing by doing a gallery walk around the classroom to read one another's writing. This is always such an exciting time to celebrate everyone's hard work! We will have these displayed in the hallway when you come for conferences as well. In addition to wrapping up our papers, we will also begin learning how to summarize a fiction text. To do this, we will first review what plot is and then learn a strategy called, "Somebody Wanted But So Then" (SWBST) to help us write a strong summary.
Many thanks to all of you for signing up for a conference time slot! If you haven't yet done this, please take a look at the three slots still open and reserve a spot as soon as you can. I am looking forward to meeting with you all!
Looks like a big cold front is headed our way this evening and should make for a huge change of weather this week! Please make sure your child bring a jacket to school if the weather is projected to be as low as it is!
Have a wonderful week,
Alexis
Week of October 8
Good Morning, Parents!
Hope everyone is enjoying their long holiday weekend! These are always so refreshing to have but also to look forward to! Thank you all for your sweet well wishes-- I'm back to feeling much better and was thankful to have a day to rest on Friday. I went up to the school yesterday to get some plans in place for the upcoming week and was so thrilled to see that the kids earned their last 2 brownie points they needed for our first Brownie Point Celebration!! I can't wait to hear the exciting news from them tomorrow! We will vote on a class reward this week and hope to have some form of a celebration on Friday.
This week in math, we will be spending one more day on two-step word problems and then reviewing Unit 2/3 on Wednesday. Since these two units were very much review of one another, we will be combining these tests so that the kids only take one test rather than two. The review will come home on Wednesday and we will test on Thursday. On Friday, we will we will spend a day reviewing how to count money. For those interested in what is coming next.....our next unit is Multiplication! This is an exciting unit because we will have moved past some of the review from 2nd grade and start something brand new.
This week we will be transitioning back to science after spending two weeks doing social studies. We will be introducing our Matter and Mixtures unit tomorrow and spend the week focusing on identifying properties of the three states of matter- Solids, Liquids, and Gases.
In language arts, we are busy wrapping up our rough drafts for our Personal Narratives. We will learn how to develop a strong conclusion and work on these tomorrow. Towards the end of the week, we will begin revising and editing. Next week we will write our final copies and celebrate one another's writing! In addition to working on these papers, we have also been learning about how good readers make connections with books they read. Last week we read The Giving Tree and talked about how we can make connections to experiences we have had (text-to-self connection). This week, we will focus on how we can make connections across two different books (text-to-text connection) and connections to the world (text-to-world connection).
Some additional reminders for this week:
Tomorrow, you may begin logging into Skyward and selecting your Parent Conference time. These fill up fast, so sign up as soon as you can! If you find there is a time that does not work for you, please let me know.
On Wednesday, all of the third grade teachers are meeting together to map out and discuss our upcoming instructional units given we get so limited time to do this during the school day. All third grade students will have a substitute on that day, however, we will be checking in frequently since we will be in the building. :)
Picture Retakes are on Thursday for anyone who is interested in having their child have retakes.
Stay tuned for what we decide to do for a celebration on Friday. I'll email you all once we have discussed as a class!
Best wishes for a wonderful and healthy week ahead!
~Alexis
Week of October 1
Hello Parents!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I flew in from North Carolina this afternoon around 3 pm and am happy to be back in Austin! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and despite all the Hurricane damage, we had blue skies, perfect weather, and a really nice time! I missed these sweet kids though and am so excited to see their smiling faces tomorrow morning! Can you believe we start the month of October tomorrow!?
We will spend one more week covering Social Studies before jumping back into our next science unit. We wrapped up Freetown vs. Leadertown last week and will be learning about how schools and communication have changed from the past to the present.
In math, we will learn how to subtract across zeros tomorrow (a little tricky for some) and then move into estimating both sums and differences for two days. After that, we will review what strip diagrams are and how they can help us solve a word problem. Finally, we will begin diving into 2-Step Word Problems on Friday! One step word problems are one thing but when we move into two-step we really talk about the importance of using CUBES strategy, showing our work, and really slowing down when reading the problem. Because this is a hard skill, this will continue into next week.
In language arts, we will begin sequencing our stories for what we have decided to write about for our personal narratives! We will do some mini lessons on elaboration and how good stories elaborate with lots of detail, as well as a lesson on how to use dialogue effectively in a story. By the end of the week, students should have their rough drafts completed for their personal narratives! In addition to writing, we will also learn how good readers stop and ask themselves questions when reading a text as well as make connections to experiences they have had that relate to a character in a story (Text-to-Self).
Thursday, October 4 is Picture Retake day. You should have received an email where you were able to view your child's school picture that was taken a few weeks ago. If you decide you would like for your child to have a retake, this is the day that we have set for that!
I hope everyone has a fantastic week ahead before our 3-day weekend starts (Columbus Day- October 8)! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 24
Hi Parents!
Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! It was so nice to finally get a glimpse of some "Fall" weather! I hope the summer heat starts to slowly disappear and more cooler weather comes our way.
After our science test last Wednesday, we switched over to Social Studies. We started a fun project called Freetown vs. Leadertown and the kids seem to really enjoy it. We will continue this project this week and continue to learn about different communities. We will not have social studies on Tuesday, as it is an early release day, and Wednesday we will have our Counselor Lesson during Social Studies.
In math, we will be practicing how to add and subtract on a number line, adding three digit numbers, subtracting with the expanded algorithm, and continue practicing regrouping. We are waiting to hit regrouping across zeros the following week.
In language arts this week, we will be introducing what Personal Narratives are. This is our first big writing piece for this quarter and will be doing some read alouds from Patricia Polacco to immerse ourselves into what personal narratives look like and sound like. We will do a little practice each day after the kids select a topic to use for their paper. The actual paper will not begin until next week.
As I mentioned earlier, Tuesday is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 11:50 and lunch will not be served. Usually early release days are also no-homework nights, so the kids will not have homework that night.
I wanted to let you know in advance that I be out on Thursday and Friday, as I am traveling to Wilmington, North Carolina to be in a friend's wedding on Saturday. The kids will be in great hands with a substitute on both days and I will be back on Monday.
As always, please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 17
Good Morning, Parents!
I hope you all have had an enjoyable weekend and found some time to relax with your family.
This week we will wrap up our first science unit on Forces and Energy on Wednesday. Monday we will review light and heat (thermal) energy and Tuesday we will review for our test. Wednesday the kids will take their first science test of the year. All science tests are Open Notebook, meaning they can use their science spirals to help them on any science test we take throughout the year. This helps them with the vocabulary as well as learning how to refer back to resources we have used throughout the unit. On Thursday, we will switch over to Social Studies for a little over a week. We will learn about what communities and laws are and work on a fun project. The kids will have to decide whether they would prefer to live in a community without laws (Freetown) or one with leaders and rules (Leadertown). I think the kids will really enjoy this!
In math, we will be reviewing subtraction (first without regrouping and then gradually with regrouping). We will also begin diving into word problems and learning how to decide what operation to use (addition or subtraction). We will talk about how we can check both addition and subtraction work with the opposite operation and how the two are related. Finally, we will spend the end of the week learning a very helpful strategy for word problems, known as CUBES (circling the numbers, underlining the question, boxing the key words, eliminating extra information, and showing your work to solve). We will use this strategy all year and expect students to do this for every word problem as it really does help them slow down and focus on what the problem is asking them. :)
For language arts this week, the students will complete another letter writing, this time to me. Last week students wrote a friendly letter to a teacher of their choice thanking them for being a great teacher. This week, students will complete their first graphic organizer on their reading goals and turn this into a letter. We will also learn about sequencing with time-order words, as well as continue reviewing story elements towards the end of the week. Finally, we will finish up our first class read aloud, Stone Fox, and take a short assessment on this to check for comprehension.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 10
Hello Parents!
Hope you and your kiddos enjoyed this rainy weekend! It was a great excuse for rest and family time. :)
This week we are supposed to have Picture Day (individual pictures) on Thursday, according to the master calendar. However, I have yet to see a form to order pictures, so I am not sure what's going on. I'll for sure keep you posted if I hear anything regarding picture forms.
In math this week we will be wrapping up Unit 1. This unit contained ways to name numbers (standard, word, expanded form as well as in hundred form), comparing and ordering numbers, and rounding to the nearest tens and hundreds place. We will complete a review together in class on Tuesday and this will go home that night to look over and get signed by a parent. On Wednesday, the kids will take their first math test covering Unit 1. This test has a heavy balance of word problems, so we are going to spend Monday and part of Tuesday reviewing how to look for key words. This test will go home in their Thursday folder this week. On Thursday, we will begin Unit 2, which focuses on addition and subtraction.
For science, we will be continuing to study simple machines on Monday and Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, the kids will begin to dive into the different forms of energy (mechanical, sound, light, and heat). We will spend one day focusing on each specific form of energy. This unit will wrap up next week.
In language arts, we have started our first class read aloud called Stone Fox. We are using this read aloud a little each day to introduce some important reading strategies, such as making predictions, and stopping to assess our comprehension as we read. This week we will continue reading a chapter of Stone Fox each day, as well as introduce/review Story Elements (characters, setting, plot, and briefly touching theme). We will read a short story called Charlie McButton Loses Power and do some story element practice throughout the week. Finally, we are starting up a short unit on Letter Writing. I will be introducing the kids to parts of a friendly letter on Monday and then we will spend most of the week practicing writing our very own letter to a teacher of their choice. For homework this week, you will see that instead of a comprehension passage they have had the past two weeks, they will have a letter writing practice to complete. By Thursday, they should have had plenty of instruction on how to form a friendly letter.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of September 3
Hello Parents!
Hope all of you are enjoying your long Labor Day weekend! I am so proud of your kids for making it through their first full week back and working hard already. They amaze me!
All of you should have seen your child bring home a blue "Thursday folder" last week. These folders will go home each Thursday afternoon and we ask that you use them as a tool to celebrate your child's hard work from the week as well as a communication tool to talk about their goals for the following week. We ask that you keep the work at home and send back an empty folder the next day. Many thanks to all of you for doing that!
In science this week, we will begin our Forces and Energy unit. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will get a chance to explore magnets and learn about the force of magnetism. On Thursday and Friday we will explore the forces of push and pull as well as introduce what simple machines are.
For math, we will be jumping into comparing numbers using less than, greater than, or equal to signs. For the remainder of the week, we will be working on rounding numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands place. This is a challenging skill for most kids, so we are allotting three days this week for rounding practice.
In language arts, we will begin setting reading goals for ourselves, begin our first class read aloud (Stone Fox), and discuss the importance of sharing our reading lives with one another. We will also introduce adjectives, which will be a great tool for improving our writing throughout the year. On Tuesday we will have our first trip to the library! Our library time is from 2:15-2:45 for those that might be volunteering this year.
Some of your kids have sent in set of headphones, which is awesome! If your child has not brought in a pair, would you please have them do that this week. In order for sound to be used on the iPads, as well as complete some iPad assessments, students will need headphones for these things. Many thanks!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and take some time to relax! As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of August 27
Dear Parents,
What a FANTASTIC first week we had!! I am so honored to be your child's teacher this year and partner with all of you. This class is full of some AMAZING kiddos and I can tell the year is off to a great start already! Monday morning is 3rd Grade's Back-to-School Presentation in the library. Please join us from 7:40-8:40 to learn more about our grade level polices and get to meet all the third grade teachers!
Last week we reviewed three ways to name numbers: Standard form, Expanded form, and Word form. This week we will continue to build on these skills and practice feeling comfortable writing/expressing numbers in many different ways. Your child will have 10 math questions for math homework each night (Monday-Thursday). Students should only be spending 30 minutes on homework each night so if they are unable to complete these 10 questions along with 20 minutes of reading, please let me know!
In science this week, we will begin to explore the many different tools scientists (and these students!) will use in science experiments throughout the year. We will learn about what each tool is used for and then get some hands-on practice with each of them (beakers, balances, thermometers, stopwatches, rulers, and a hand-lens).
In language arts, we will begin to to introduce the workshop model for both reading and writing. While many of your students are familiar with how workshop model looks, it is always important to do some refreshers at the start of the year. We will then dive into topics such as how to pick a good fit book, what good readers look like, picking a good spot to read, and how to have conversations about books with others). Students will also complete some comprehension practice for me to see where they are as readers at the start of the year. In addition to reading, we will begin to get some practice in with our writer's notebooks (which will be due back on Monday). We will create a writing map of things we enjoy writing about, respond to some writing topics to get our writing back in gear for the new year, and get some practice with common and proper nouns.
We will not begin switching for FIT until most likely end of September. During this time, each teacher will be working with kids one-on-one to assess their reading level and get to know them as readers. As you can imagine, this takes some time! :)
I hope all of you have a restful weekend and enjoy catching up with your sweet kids after a busy week back in the school routine! Thank you so much for all of you who graciously sent in wish-list items from Bobcat Welcome as well as all of you who signed up to volunteer this year. I REALLY appreciate it!!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the library Monday morning.
Best Wishes,
Alexis
Week of August 20
Welcome Back!! I am so eager to meet all my new students and begin a wonderful year together! I hope you can make it to Bobcat Welcome on Tuesday, August 21 from 8 am-10 am!
Love,
Ms. Price