Wednesday, November 16, 2011

LIGHTHOUSE AWARDS


On November 16th, The Knox Civic Club presented Lighthouse Awards for the first grading period.

A special thanks to this group of community women, who four times throughout the year, take time to recognize students for their attitude, work ethic, and citizenship.

Congratulations to our Lighthouse Award winners for the first grading period:

Best Friend and Helper: Jordan and Peyton
Random Acts of Kindness: Rori and Maddie
Most Hardest Working: Sylvia and Terry


Monday, November 14, 2011

CLASSROOM READ ALOUD

















Our new read aloud is The World According to Humphrey. Humphrey narrates this delightful story about a very likeable hamster that becomes a classroom pet. We have read the first chapter and the students are hooked! They can't wait to hear more from Room 26's class pet! Stay tuned...we'll keep you posted!

ACADEMICS (Nov. 16 - 22)

READING


Our story until Thanksgiving Break is "Moses Goes to a Concert", by Isaac Millman. Moses is a deaf boy who learns about playing percussion instruments from a talented, deaf musician, when he and his classmates attend a concert.


The story is told in words, as well as American Sign Language, introducing hearing children to the signs for some of the key words and phrases. At the end of the story there are two entire conversations in sign language, and a page showing the hand alphabet.


Skills include: main idea and supporting details, summarizing, using a diagram, and context clues.


ENGLISH


We have been focusing on singular possessive nouns after completing our study of singular/plural nouns, and common/proper nouns. Plural possessive nouns are next and that's when the FUN begins, along with a little confusion!


MATH


After learning the three forms used to express numbers (standard, expanded and word), we are moving on to comparing numbers in the hundreds and thousands using the greater than (>), less than (<), and equals (=) signs.


SOCIAL STUDIES


Our community unit has begun and the three types of communities (urban, suburban, and rural) will continue to be our focus.

SCIENCE


Our study of roles of living things continues. The students completed a camouflage activity where they got to "hide" a camouflaged moth to show how animals adapt to their environment and protect themselves.

Monday, November 7, 2011

ACADEMICS (Nov. 7- 10)






















READING


Our story, Spider's at Work by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, continues through Wednesday this week. This non-fiction selection inform us about how spiders use their unique abilities to survive in the natural world. The dangerous black widow and the tarantula are among the spiders featured. Skills include: important and unimportant information, using a dictionary, drawing conclusions, and antonyms and synonyms.



ENGLISH


Our study of nouns continues. We are currently working on common and proper nouns and will be moving on to possessive nouns in the near future.




MATH


We have begun our chapter on place value. We are learning how to write numbers in the hundreds three different ways: standard form, word form, and expanded form. We have also learned about ordinal numbers and that numbers are used to: count, locate, measure and name.



SOCIAL STUDIES


We are wrapping up our study of maps. We are reviewing on Monday and Tuesday of this week and will have our culminating map unit test on Wednesday, Nov. 9th. A study guide and vocabulary cards were sent home last week.



SCIENCE

Our "Roles of Living Things " unit has begun. Topics will include: relationships among living things, how living things are adapted, and living things in the environment.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

APPLE CRUNCH DAY



October 26th is Apple Crunch Day. We will be joining together with Mr. Zerbe's class to do some apple centers and activities.

Be sure to ask your child what he or she did to celebrate Apple Crunch Day.

Monday, August 29, 2011

WELCOME BACK!


I want to welcome you back to a new school year. It's hard to believe that summer vacation is over. I hope everyone had a fun-filled summer, whether you played in your backyard or took a family vacation! Now it's time to make new friends and learn lots of interesting things. I'm looking forward to a GREAT year in Room 117!


2011 - 2012 HERE WE COME!

Your Third Grader

Parents, follow this link, http://school.familyeducation.com/third-grade/parenting/36066.html?detoured=1 and discover what goes on in a typical third grade classroom. Use these academic skill-builders to encourage your child's development at home during the upcoming school year. Help your child deal effectively with social and peer pressures, and find out what you can do to promote his/her happiness and safety.