Mrs. Rhoads' 3rd Grade 2011-2012

LIGHTHOUSE AWARDS

2011-11-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

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

CLASSROOM READ ALOUD

2011-11-14T22:45:00.002-05:00

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)

2011-11-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

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.

ACADEMICS (Nov. 7- 10)

2011-11-07T17:09:00.001-05:00

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.

APPLE CRUNCH DAY

2011-10-19T16:04:00.001-04:00

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.

WELCOME BACK!

2011-08-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-29T15:55:00.000-04:00

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.

SCHOOL'S OUT!

2011-06-02T17:30:00.008-04:00

Our last day of school was yesterday.

We've worked hard and have had a very busy year! Some of our fun included: Walk to School Day, Apple Crunch Day, Fall Festival, Movie and Popcorn Day, Red Ribbon Week, Go for the Greens, Salute to America program, Third Grade Spelling Bee, and our Cook Forest trip. Now it's time for some fun and relaxation!

Be kind to others, enjoy the outdoors, read a book, get some exercise, learn how to do something new, and turn off the TV, computer and video games.

Have a safe and happy summer!

See you in late August!

ACADEMICS MAY 16 - 20

2011-05-14T08:46:00.002-04:00

READING

Our story, The Many Lives of Benjamin Franklin, will continue through to the end of this week. We will continue learning about the many great accomplishments of this famous American statesman, and will be working on a special project to share what we have learned.

Skills include: main idea, making judgments and decisions, following directions, and root words. The selection assessment will be on Friday, May 20th.

ENGLISH

We have just finished learning about subject and object pronouns and will now be moving on to possessive pronouns.

MATH

We are in full swing with our geometry chapter, as we have learned about lines, line segments, rays, angles, triangles, polygons, and quadrilaterals. This week we'll focus on flips, slides, and turns, and then finish up the chapter learning about perimeter, area, and volume.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week, we are wrapping up our chapter about Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America, as we check out Jamestown Settlement and a Powhatan village.

THIRD GRADE FIELD TRIP

2011-05-13T22:26:00.000-04:00

We will be heading to Cook Forest on Wednesday, May 25th. Please be sure to dress for the weather and bring a sack lunch. We will be leaving for the forest around 9:30 a.m. and will be returning for the regular student dismissal time. Students will be participating in a variety of interesting, hands-on, outdoor activities. Let's hope for warm weather and lots of sunshine!

THIRD GRADE PROGRAM

2011-05-13T08:51:00.002-04:00

Family and friends are invited to attend our musical program, "Salute to America", on Wednesday, May 18th at 2:15 P.M. in the elementary gymnasium. Hope to see you there!

SPELLING BEE PARTICIPANTS

2011-05-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Alyssa, Kayla, Raegan, Ethan, and Troy for qualifying for the Third Grade Spelling Bee!

The Spelling Bee will be held on Friday, May 20th at 1:30 p.m. in the elementary gym. Family and friends are invited to attend.

Hope to see you there!

ACADEMICS May 2 - 6

2011-05-01T23:04:00.001-04:00

READING

Our story this week is Two Bad Ants, by Chris Van Allsburg. He is well known for his story, The Polar Express. The story allows the reader to experience the world through an ant's point of view. When a troop of ants are sent to a kitchen to get sugar crystals for the queen, two of its members get a little greedy and stay behind in the sugar bowl. The next day, there is nothing but trouble and dangerous situations for the two "bad" ants!

Skills include: drawing conclusions, context clues, and author and title search.

2011-04-06T18:25:00.002-04:00

Author and storyteller, Robin Moore, visited Keystone on Tuesday, April 5th. His family has lived in the Pennsylvania mountains for two hundred years. Since 1981, he has presented thousands of programs and workshops at schools, museums, and festivals. His program combined traditional and original North American stories with a demonstration of old-time living skills, and was enjoyed by all.

2011-04-03T22:14:00.004-04:00

READING

Our story this week is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, by Judi Barrett. It is about the town of Chewandswallow where the weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but in the form of food and beverages! The students will have fun creating some wacky weather forecasts, after reading this story!

Skills include: judgments and decisions, root words, summarizing, and reading and identifying signs that inform or persuade; as well as recognizing propaganda.

ENGLISH

We have been studying helping and linking verbs, and will be moving on to commas in a series, and combining sentences.

MATH

We have finished up telling time to the minute and elapsed time, and will be moving on to bar graphs and line plots.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We have been working long and hard on natural resource powerpoints with our partners, to wrap up our geography unit. There will be a special presentation of these for parents on Friday the 15th, at 2:30 p.m. Next up is our Jamestown colony unit of study.

WE DID IT!

2011-03-21T17:04:00.004-04:00

Room 117 has survived the PSSA test! We took our last test this morning. As a reward for working hard and doing their best, the children had the opportunity to have read and feed this afternoon.

Way to go, Room 117 students!!!

BALD EAGLES IN THE WILD

2011-03-21T16:12:00.001-04:00

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, in partnership with the Norfolk Botanical Garden and WVEC, is providing a rare glimpse into the life of two bald eagles and their offspring. There are currently three eaglets in the nest that the parents are taking turns watching and feeding . The last eaglet is Irish, having hatched on St. Patrick's Day!

The following link will take you directly to the eagle cam. Happy nest watching! http://www.wvec.com/marketplace/microsite-content/eagle-cam.html

LEARNING MULTIPLICATION

2011-03-20T17:51:00.000-04:00

Learning multiplication and third grade go together. It is a big thing for third graders, and when they get done learning their facts, they feel like they have really accomplished something.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? Many eager parents go out and buy flash cards or some cute math game for the computer and have their child start practicing. But wait…

Before your child starts memorizing the multiplication facts, he/she needs to understand the concept of what multiplication is.

Here is how you can help:

Decide on an object (I used footballs) and put the same amount in equal groups. I made three groups of two footballs. You can use buttons, pennies, cereal, or anything you have at home.

Ask your child to make an adding problem to find the total. I did 2+2+2 = 6.

Then have them write it in words. Three groups of two equals six or three groups of two footballs equals six footballs.

Finally, show them the multiplication way: 3×2 = 6

They also need to know, and realize, that you can change the order of the numbers in the multiplication problem, and the answer (the product) will be the same. This is the commutative property of multiplication.

They are really learning two facts at one time!

We have gone over all of the above steps during our class introduction to multiplication.

A great site to help your child learn and practice his/her facts is multiplication.com.

PSSA Testing

2011-03-17T21:42:00.000-04:00

FOUR TESTS DOWN...TWO TO GO!

We have survived our first four days of PSSA testing...YAHOO! The children have all worked hard and are trying their very best! We are confident and prepared.

A special thank you goes out to the parents who made a contribution so we could enjoy healthy snacks during our testing.

Remember to get a good night's sleep and eat a healthy breakfast before our last two days of testing.

GO FOR THE GREENS

2011-03-13T16:15:00.001-04:00

March 17th is Go For The Greens Day!

This day is designed to help remind students of the importance of healthy eating. If you wish to donate vegetables or fruits to our classroom for this event, please send them in by March 16th. Your welcomed donations (any colors will do, not just green) will be used for some healthy snacking during our PSSA testing.

PSSA Test Week

2011-03-12T16:15:00.005-05:00

We will be taking one PSSA test each morning for the next six schooldays. Please be sure to get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast each morning.

We have all worked extra hard preparing for these tests.

WE'RE CONFIDENT. WE'RE PREPARED. BRING THEM ON!!!

ACADEMICS (March 3 - 11)

2011-03-03T21:54:00.002-05:00

READING

Our story this week is Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies. It is a non-fiction selection about the biggest creature in the world.

Skills include: forming generalizations, using a graph, figurative language (similes and metaphors), and author's purpose and point of view. The test will be on Wednesday, March 9th.

ENGLISH

We are wrapping up our verb unit with composition leads and endings and summarizing. The unit test will be on Friday, March 11th.

MATH

We have finished our addition and subtraction chapter and took the chapter test this past Friday. This week we'll be going over skills to prepare for the PSSA test next week.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We have been learning about natural resources and minerals, and how we need to protect them.

This week we'll take a look at endangered animals and what we can do to protect them from becoming extinct.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!

2011-02-27T16:42:00.000-05:00

On March 2nd, we will celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading Dr. Seuss stories and doing special activities with some of his books.

ACADEMICS (Feb. 22 - 25)

2011-02-20T22:44:00.005-05:00

READING

Our story this week is Cactus Hotel, a non-fiction book about the life cycle of a saguaro cactus, by Brenda Z. Guiberson. It details the 200 year life-span of the cactus as it grows from a single seed to a towering cactus that is home to dozens of animals. Our test for this assessment will be on Tuesday, March 1st.

ENGLISH

After studying past and present tense verbs, we are moving on to future tense verbs this week.

MATH

We are closing in on the end of our subtraction chapter. We have subtracted three-digit numbers with regrouping and also across zero. Our last topic will be inequality number sentences. Our chapter test will be late next week.

Rocket Math Subtraction will officially end early next week. Please continue to keep studying your subtraction facts.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our new chapter focuses on the geography of the United States and how it affects how we live in our communities. We are currently working on a landform poster with partners and will soon move on to learning about natural resources.

SCIENCE

After finishing up our Earth's Water unit, we are now taking a break from science for the time being to help prepare for the upcoming PSSA tests which we'll be taking from March 14-21.

ACADEMICS (Feb. 9 - 15)

2011-02-08T23:35:00.000-05:00

READING

Our story this week is In My Family by Carmen Lomas Garza. This story is based on the author's childhood memories while growing up in a Mexican American family in southern Texas. The students will discover her family's pasttimes, favorite dishes, and fiestas that they shared and celebrated together.

Skills include: author's purpose and point of view, using a diagram, sequence of events, and figurative language.

VALENTINE NEWS

2011-02-08T22:55:00.004-05:00

Every student is to make a valentine box and bring it to school with his/her valentines by Monday, Feb. 14th.

We are having a pizza party on Valentine's Day and are asking for a $1.00 donation from each student to help cover the cost of the pizza. Thank you in advance!

2011-01-31T22:16:00.002-05:00

Still love the black and gold!

ACADEMICS (Jan. 31 - Feb. 4)

2011-01-30T20:29:00.000-05:00

READING

Our story this week is The Terrible Eek, a Japanese folktale retold by Patricia Compton. A wild chain of events occurs as a result of a thief misunderstanding something he thought he heard.

Skills include: sequence of events, forming generalizations, reading a chart, and suffixes.

ENGLISH

This week, we are beginning our verb chapter, which includes past, present and future tense verbs, as well as linking and helping verbs. Our letters to our pen pals have been mailed and we are anxiously awaiting their replies!

MATH

We are finishing our money unit and are moving on to regrouping in subtraction.

Our ROCKET MATH for subtraction program is in full swing and we have a little more than three weeks left for this operation. Students who do not pass to the next level are to take their sheets home and study them for homework, as they will be taking the same exact one-minute timed test until they reach their individualized goal. This is a graded activity and students are STRONGLY encouraged to study on a daily basis, so they continue to move through the program in a timely fashion.

CONGRATULATIONS to Jessica for completing Rocket Math subtraction first and to Paige for finishing second! Great job, girls!!!

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are wrapping up our work on map scales, and there will be an assessment on this topic this week.

ACADEMICS (Jan. 24 - 28)

2011-01-23T12:07:00.005-05:00

READING

Our story this week is the tall tale Pecos Bill. Pecos falls out of the family's wagon as they are moving west, and ends up being raised by coyotes. Later on, he meets his long-lost brother Carl, and the adventure continues. Skills include story elements, reading a map, and making inferences.

ENGLISH

We are wrapping up our noun chapter, finishing up with combining sentences, topic sentences, and abbreviations We'll also be reviewing common, proper, plural, and possessive nouns in preparation for our unit test on Friday.

MATH

Counting coin combinations and making change using bills and quarters, dimes , nickels, and pennies will continue to be our focus. Regrouping in subtraction will be next up on our agenda.

ACADEMICS (Jan. 18 - 21)

2011-01-18T20:21:00.001-05:00

We will be taking our third 4Sight Test in reading and math on Wednesdsay and Thursday of this week.

When not testing we'll be working on the following:

READING - watercolor houses to finish up The Little Painter of Sabana Grande, multiple-

meaning words, making inferences

ENGLISH - combining sentences, abbreviations, topic sentences/main idea

MATH - money sums using quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies, ROCKET MATH

SOCIAL STUDIES - Martin Luther King, Jr., "pop" map quiz

SCIENCE - begin Earth's Water unit

AND...last but certainly not least...

we'll be writing our first letters to our new pen pals from Kansas!

ACADEMICS (Jan. 10 - 14)

2011-01-09T22:21:00.003-05:00

READING

Our story this week is The Little Painter of Sabana Grande, by Patricia Maloney Markun. The main character, Fernando, loves art and wants to paint for the first time. Unfortunately he lives in a remote village in Panama, where he is unable to buy paint. He learns how to make paint from his teacher using natural resources. Then he realizes that he has no paper to paint on! After much persuasion, his parents allow him to paint on the outside of their adobe house. Now all of his neighbors want a painted house like the Espino family.

RECORDER REMINDER

2011-01-04T06:32:00.004-05:00

Third graders will be learning how to play the recorder during the second half of the school year. Order forms for students who need to purchase a recorder need to be returned by Friday, Jan. 7th.

ACADEMICS (Jan. 3 - 7)

2011-01-03T18:03:00.001-05:00

READING

Our story this week is A New Coat for Anna, by Harriet Zeifert, and is based on a true story. It takes place in Europe and centers around a mother acquiring a coat for her daughter during hard times in post - World War II. Anna's mother trades the few valuable possessions she has left for for a farmer's wool and the services of a spinner, weaver, and tailor in order to make the new coat.

Skills this week include: making inferences, main idea, and multiple meaning words.

ENGLISH

We studied singular posssessive nouns before Christmas, and will now be moving on to plural possessive nouns. Wish us luck---this is when things get a little tricky!

MATH

Double and triple digit addition with and without regrouping is next on our agenda. We'll then work on adding three addends using these skills.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our work on urban, suburban, and rural communities continues. There will be a test on Friday on this topic, and a study guide will be coming home on Tuesday, Jan. 4th. Vocabulary words were reviewed and their definitions were sent home on Monday.

SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM ROOM 117!

2010-12-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

Make a photo slideshow

REMINDER

2010-12-20T23:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas gift exchange presents are due on TUESDAY the 21st. Our gift exchange will be on Wednesday, the 22nd.

2010-12-19T11:35:00.003-05:00

Wishing everyone in the Keystone community a wonderful holiday season!

ACADEMICS (DEC. 13-17)

2010-12-13T23:04:00.001-05:00

READING

We are taking a break from our basal reader and are reading Jan Brett's The Wild Christmas Reindeer this week. Skills we will be working on include: character/setting, and problem/solution.

ENGLISH

We are moving on to singular possessive nouns after finishing up common and proper nouns. Wish us luck with these!

MATH

We are continuing to work on estimating sums and differences. We have estimated to hundreds and now we are estimating to tens.

ROCKET MATH

We have almost a week of Rocket Math subtraction under our belts and the students are off to a fine start!

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we are continuing to study urban, suburban, and rural communities. We are comparing and contrasting these communities and discovering many similarities and differences. We have just been introduced to the urban community of New Orleans, Louisiana and the jazz music of Louis Armstrong!

ROCKET MATH

2010-11-09T23:39:00.008-05:00

BRAVO to Jessica for being the first student in our class to pass the letter Z!

Congratulations to Marcus, Alyssa, Paige and Kayla for also completing Rocket Math!

WELL DONE! BE PROUD!

REMINDER:

The last day for Rocket Math addition is Wednesday, Nov. 24th.

ACADEMICS (NOV. 8 - 12)

2010-11-07T15:47:00.004-05:00

READING

We are continuing our story, Dream Wolf, this week. It is a Native American tale retold by Paul Goble. In the story, two Plains Indian children become lost, and take shelter in a wolf's cave. They place their trust in the friendly wolf, and are cared for and guided safely home by him. Upon their return, the wolf is honored by the Plains people for leading the children back home.

Skill include: cause and effect, compare and contrast, and using an encyclopedia. The story assessment will be on TUESDAY, NOV. 9th.

ENGLISH

Nouns are our new topic and we are currently learning about the different types of plural nouns. We'll then move on to common and proper nouns, and then possessive nouns; that's when things get a little tricky:).

MATH

We are wrapping up our place value chapter with a review on Monday, followed by the chapter test on Tuesday. Then, our chapter on addition will follow. We'll learn about the properties of addition and how addition and subtraction are related through fact families.

Be sure to keep working on your ROCKET MATH facts. Some of you are getting close to the top! Keep up the great work! Rocket Math for addition will be closing right before Thanksgiving vacation.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will begin our study of communities; urban, suburban, and rural. We'll learn what makes up a community and how each type of community is special.

CLASS NEWS

2010-10-22T16:57:00.002-04:00

We will be celebrating Halloween on Friday, October 29th. Students are encouraged to dress in their favorite team jersey to support our Red Ribbon Week theme: "Team Up Against Drugs."

Students may bring in a Halloween costume to dress up for our Halloween parade in the afternoon.

Third grade will be having a pizza party after the parade and we are asking each student to donate $1.00 to help cover the cost of the pizza. Thank you for your support!

PUMPKIN CONTEST

2010-10-22T16:40:00.001-04:00

Our class will be decorating a pumpkin for our schoolwide pumpkin contest. If anyone has a pumpkin to donate for this project it would be greatly appreciated! We would need it to be brought to school by Tuesday, October 26th. Just send in a note with your child to let me know if you have one. Thank you in advance!

CLASSROOM READ ALOUD

2010-10-22T13:34:00.000-04:00

Our read aloud that we are enjoying this month is Andrew Clements', "Frindle". It is about a creative fifth grader named Nick who likes to make class time exciting. His English teacher, Mrs. Granger challenges him to think about who makes the words that are in the dictionary. Nick's creativity goes to work and he decides to make up his own new word, and renames the pen, "frindle." Before you know it, every fifth grader is using his new word! Mrs. Granger is NOT happy and keeps over 200 students after school for detention! And that is only the beginning... Stay tuned for future updates!

BOOK IT!

2010-10-18T18:38:00.003-04:00

October officially marked the beginning of the Book It reading program! Participation is voluntary, but it is a wonderful way to get your child excited about reading! When your child has met the goal for the month, just send his/her "Book It" pizza form back to school, and your child will receive a certificate for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut! These forms were sent home at the beginning of the

month. HAPPY READING!

RED RIBBON WEEK 2010

2010-10-18T17:18:00.002-04:00

October 25th – October 29th
“Be a Superhero: Have the Power to Say No to Drugs & Alcohol”

Theme Days:

Monday, October 25th: “Rally in Red … Don’t be Silly … Don’t Use Drugs Day!”
(Wear red, silly bands, and silly socks)

Tuesday, October 26th: “Drugs Will Mix You Up Day!”
(Wear mismatched clothes and shoes)

Wednesday, October 27th: “Shade Out Drugs Day!”
(Wear hats and sunglasses)

Thursday, October 28th: “Drugs Will Make You Crazy Day!”
(Wear crazy hair)

Friday, October 29th: “Team Up Against Drugs Day!”
(Wear a team shirt or jersey)
*Traditional Halloween costumes will be acceptable for Grades K – 4 during afternoon parties.

ACADEMICS (Oct. 11-15)

2010-10-12T23:29:00.000-04:00

READING

Our story this week is "City Green", by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan. It is a wonderful story about a little girl who works with her neighbors to turn a vacant lot into a beautiful community garden. This visit to Marcy's city neighborhood shows that kids can make wonderful things happen if they put their minds to it. Skills include: cause/effect, using a telephone directory, drawing conclusions, and using context clues.

ENGLISH

We have finished up compound and run-on sentences, and are now studying time-order words and main idea.

MATH

Number patterns, and even/odd numbers have been our topics this week, along with rounding numbers to the tens. We learned an "army type" song to help us with rounding rules. (Rounding numbers is so fun, we will do it till we're done...)

SOCIAL STUDIES

Each student is to design a compass rose for homework this week. This assignment is due on Fri. Oct. 15th. A rubric and explanation of this assignment was sent home on Monday.

We have been looking at landform maps this week and will be working with grid maps next week.

DATES TO REMEMBER

2010-10-09T23:00:00.002-04:00

Oct. 9: Gavin's birthday!

Oct. 25-29: Red Ribbon Week

Oct. 27: Apple Crunch Day

ACADEMICS (Sept. 27 - 30)

2010-09-27T22:57:00.004-04:00

READING

This week, our story is a Time for Kids selection entitled "Champions of the World." It details how three players led their Toms River, N.J. Little League team to victory over Japan in the Little League World Series. The players were met with a parade upon their return and were instant hometown heroes.

Skills include: problem/solution, story elements, using an index, and compound words.

ENGLISH

Our chapter study of sentence structure continues. We have learned about complete sentences, sentence fragments, the four types of sentences, and subjects and predicates! Quite a bit for the first month of school! Compound sentences will be on our upcoming agenda.

MATH

After studying place value, we have moved on to comparing numbers using greater than and less than, and ordering numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest. Our next move will be working with these topics with numbers in the thousands.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our study of maps continues with working with cardinal and intermediate directions, along with map keys and symbols.

2010-09-20T22:21:00.000-04:00

Constitution Day was celebrated at the flag pole on September 17th. Songs were sung and fifth grade recited a poem to honor the signing of the Constitution in 1787.

ACADEMICS (Sept. 20 - 24)

2010-09-18T09:34:00.000-04:00

READING

Our story this week is "OPT, an Illusionary Tale". Students will discover that seeing isn't always believing, as their eyes will play tricks on them! Skills we will be working on include: steps in a process, table of contents, and prefixes.

ACADEMICS (Sept. 13-17)

2010-09-11T22:26:00.002-04:00

READING
Our story this week is "Phoebe and the Spelling Bee". Phoebe would rather do anything than study for Friday's spelling bee. She prefers to fold her spelling list into a paper airplane, and even pretends to have a stomachache. Phoebe finally uses her wonderful imagination to remember tough spelling words. Skills we will focus on are: problem/solution, making predictions, prefixes, and using a glossary. We will be having our own spelling bee, just for fun, at the end of the week. The test for this selection will be Friday, Sept. 17th.

MATH
Our first chapter focuses on place value. We are currently studying ways to use numbers, and learning how to write numbers in the hundreds, using standard, word, and expanded form.

ENGLISH
We have learned about sentences, sentence fragments, statements, questions, and commands, and are now moving on to exclamations! Following that we'll study subjects and predicates.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Our first unit of study is map/globe skills. We are learning about the 7 continents and 5 oceans using our maps and songs! We'll soon be moving on to compass rose directions and map symbols.

SCIENCE
We have begun studying life cycles, which include complete and incomplete metamorphosis examples. Students have brought in lots of caterpillars and we are anxiously awaiting their transformation into beautiful monarch butterflies!

Our First Read Aloud

2010-09-09T23:35:00.000-04:00

The students are enjoying listening to the first Judy Moody book. Judy is a third grader who is starting a new school year, and she has LOTS of attitude!

2010-09-07T20:17:00.000-04:00

Dear Families,
Our class is collecting SunnyD UPC labels! If we collect 20 UPC labels, our class will receive 20 free books! YEAH! For every label beyond that, SunnyD will donate 10 cents to the Kids In Need Foundation. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved! See below to see what products qualify for this event.

*Sample UPC - When removing label for submission, please be sure your barcode remains intact.

VALID PRODUCTS INCLUDE:
(*Not limited to products shown here)
Bottles: 128 oz, 96 oz, 64 oz, 48 oz, 20 oz and 16 oz
6 PACK OUTER WRAPS: 11.3 oz and 6.75 oz
24 PACK OUTER WRAPS: 11.3 oz and 6.75 oz
8 PACK OUTER WRAPS: 6.75 oz
CARDBOARD CASES: 12 packs 6.75 oz bottles, 12 or 24 packs 12 oz cans
1, 2 & 3 LITER BOTTLES

PRODUCTS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS PROMOTION:
Individual UPC labels from 11.3 oz and 6.75 oz bottles, 8 oz and 12 oz cans.

You can send in your labels as you collect. All labels need to be in by November 3oth. Thank you for your participation in this fun, worthwhile event!

Sincerely, Mrs. Rhoads

Grandfather's Journey

2010-09-06T14:07:00.002-04:00

READING
Our first story this year is Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say. It is about his grandfather's journey from Japan to America, and how he came to love both places; as his life takes him back and forth between the two countries. Skills we are working on include: story elements(character/setting), making predictions, compound words, and table of contents. The vocabulary and comprehension test will be on Friday, Sept. 10th.

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

2010-09-05T09:48:00.002-04:00

Tuesday, September 14th at 6:30 P.M. is our Third Grade Back to School Night. This is the perfect opportunity to meet your child's teacher, learn all the ins and outs of third grade, and ask any questions that you may have. Join me in Room 117 at 6:30 P.M. Hope to see you there!

THIRD GRADE OLYMPICS

2010-05-26T00:15:00.002-04:00

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Third Grade Olympics are taking place this week. Each student had the opportunity to sign up for four events of his/her choosing. Events include: egg toss, 50 yard dash, softball throw, team relay, wheelbarrow, long distance run, team obstacle course, shuffleboard, and tug of war. This is a chance for students to participate in some fun and low-key individual and team competition. Third graders look forward to the Olympics every year!

Students are to wear tennis shoes and appropriate clothing. A water bottle and suncreen are HIGHLY recommended.

SPELLING BEE RESULTS

2010-05-24T08:25:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Alex (center) for winning the Third Grade Spelling Bee! Well done! Emma (left) finished second and Emily (right) was third. This year's bee went 50 rounds! Lots of great spellers and lots of words! Congratulations to all twenty participants!

DATES TO REMEMBER

2010-05-19T11:59:00.001-04:00

May 20: Last Spelling Test

May 21: Field Trip to Cook Forest

May 25: Lighthouse Awards

May 25-27: Third Grade Olympics

May 28: Last Day for Multiplication Challenge

May 31: NO SCHOOL

June 2: Awards Assembly

June 3: Last Day of School for Students!

SPELLING BEE PARTICIPANTS

2010-04-28T00:11:00.000-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Jessi, Kami, Cameron, Dawson and Luke for qualifying for the Third Grade Spelling Bee! A spelling bee (using words from previous tests) was held in our classroom to determine the top five spellers, who then moved on to participate in our grade level spelling bee.

The Third Grade Spelling Bee will be held on Friday, May 14th at 1:30 p.m. in the elementary gym.

Great job ladies and gentlemen! HAPPY STUDYING!

MOVE IT OUTSIDE

2010-04-25T09:10:00.003-04:00

Everyone at KES will be participating in PANA's "Move It Outside" schoolwide event on Monday, April 26th at the KHS track. It is scheduled from 1:40 - 3:00, weather permitting. Be sure to wear tennis shoes and be ready to move! Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates!

ACADEMICS (April 19-23)

2010-04-18T12:56:00.007-04:00

READING

This week's story is Animal Fact/Animal Fable, a non-fiction selection by Seymour Simon. It is a collection of common beliefs about various animals that are presented in the form of a guessing game.

Skills include: Fact/non-fact/opinion, reading a newspaper, summarizing, and using context clues.

ENGLISH

After studying helping verbs last week, we'll be moving on to linking verbs this week.

MATH

To start off the week, we'll be working on time to the minute and elapsed time.

NATIONAL TV TURNOFF WEEK: April 19-25

2010-04-14T09:55:00.002-04:00

National "TV Turnoff Week" is April 19-April 25. The purpose is to encourage children and adults to turn off the television and other screen devices and to promote a healthier lifestyle!

Yes that means computers and handheld games. You are encouraged to participate!

PowerPoint Presentations

2010-04-11T12:57:00.005-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that we (Rooms 116 and 117) will have our Whale PowerPoint presentations on Monday, April 12th at 2:00 in the Group Room.

The children have worked hard on these and learned a lot and want to share their expertise!

Family and friends are invited to attend. Hope to see you there!

PSSA WEEK

2010-04-07T19:03:00.004-04:00

There will be limited homework during PSSA testing week.

This is a perfect opportunity for your child to get some extra practice with his/her Rocket Math and multiplication facts, and to READ for fun!

IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS

2010-04-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

April 7-9, 12-14 - PSSA Testing

April 12th - Whale PowerPoint presentations by Rooms 116-117: 2:00 in Group Room
(note time change)

May 7th - 3rd Grade Musical Program

May 14th - Third Grade Spelling Bee (participants yet to be determined)

May 17th - Last day for Rocket Math

May 21st - Field Trip to Cook Forest

READ ALOUD

2010-03-19T16:34:00.004-04:00

We are in the middle of our read aloud, The BFG, by Roald Dahl, and the children are hooked! Orphan Sophie has been snatched from her bed by the BFG and has been taken far away to Giant Country. She is having quite an adventure! We just read the funniest chapter! Ask your son/daughter what a whizzpopper is! (Hopefully they will tell you.)

ACADEMICS (March 15-19)

2010-03-14T13:54:00.004-04:00

READING
This week we will be taking our Unit 4 test and working on whale reports and activities. We will also be reading J.J.'s Big Day, a Time for Kids selection about a gray whale, and some other whale stories. There will be no story vocabulary or test this week.

ENGLISH
We will focus on future tense verbs this week, and will distinguish between past, present, and future tense verbs, and when to use them. We will also be learning how to combine sentences when the subjects are the same and the predicates are different.

MATH
Our multiplication fact challenge has begun! Your child should have brought home his/her 0's and 1's flashcards to practice, and a parent letter that is to be signed and returned that explains how the challenge will operate.

We'll continue to work on subtracting across zeros and will also be learning how to subtract money problems.

DATES TO REMEMBER

2010-03-14T13:50:00.006-04:00

MARCH 30th: Third marking period ends

APRIL 2nd: Good Friday - NO SCHOOL

APRIL 4th: HAPPY EASTER!

APRIL 7-14th: PSSA Testing

2010-03-04T04:27:00.004-05:00

We had a GREAT day celebrating Dr. Seuss' 106th birthday! First we all designed and colored a birthday cake for him and made a beautiful display in the hallway. Then, we read the first book he ever wrote, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and wrote and illustrated what WE saw on our way to school. The students were very creative and our display in the hall is entitled, And to Think That I Saw It on Huston Avenue!

In the afternoon, our guest readers, Mrs. Hurrelbrink, Mr. Rhoads, and Miss Myers shared some wonderful stories with our class! We thank them for visiting and spending time with us on this special day!

CLASSROOM NEWS

2010-02-27T11:05:00.003-05:00

Because of the snow day on Friday...

Our reading test for Cactus Hotel will be given on March 1st, along with the spelling test, and...the SOCIAL STUDIES TEST on pages 36-43 (Communities and Geography). Remember to study!

SPRING PICTURE DAY!

2010-02-25T00:34:00.003-05:00

Thursday, Feb. 25th is Spring Picture Day. Bring your BEST smile!

ACADEMICS (Feb. 16 - 19)

2010-02-13T20:04:00.010-05:00

READING

Our story from last week, In My Family, will be extended through this week because of the snow days we had. Our test will be on Friday, Feb. 20th.

Last week we got to try empanadas that our reading aide, Mrs. Kurtzhals brought in. The children were glad that they were filled with apples instead of sweet potatoes or squash, like they were in the story! YUMMY!

This week we will be trying nopalitos (cactus), the food of last resort. We will also be sharing our family stories with our classmates.

ENGLISH

We will be taking our Chapter test on nouns this week, and will then move on to our verb chapter.

MATH

Time for our chapter test here, too, after a review. Topics include addition properties, find a rule, and estimating sums and differences to hundreds and tens. Our next chapter will have us regrouping in addition and subtraction with double and triple digit numbers.

2010-02-13T10:44:00.004-05:00

Have you filled a bucket today?

2010-02-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

CARING ASSEMBLY

2010-02-13T10:06:00.003-05:00

Sixth grade students in Mrs. Clover's class performed a skit at our Caring assembly last week. The assembly focused on remembering to be kind to others. Students who have been caught being kind were recognized at this time. When you are caught, a special grade level symbol is displayed in the cafeteria for the entire month. Third graders receive a "soccer ball" to color and display. At the end of each month, a winner is chosen from each classroom to receive a special treat from the cafeteria. Ask your son/daughter if they have been caught being kind this year!

VALENTINE'S DAY

2010-02-08T00:41:00.002-05:00

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Friday, Feb. 12th. Students are to bring in their valentine boxes and valentines by that date.

The BFG

2010-01-31T22:05:00.005-05:00

Our new read aloud is The BFG by Roald Dahl. When orphan Sophie is snatched from her bed by a Giant, she fears he is going to eat her. Although he carries her far away to Giant Country, the Giant has no intention of harming her. As he explains in his own unique way of talking, "I is the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country. I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT. I is the BFG!" The BFG tells Sophie how he mixes up dreams to blow through a trumpet into the bedrooms of sleeping children...

And the story continues... The class is enjoying this book, and are as quiet as a mouse when I'm reading! What will become of Sophie and the BFG? We'll keep you posted! This is one of my favorite children's books and authors.

OUR SUPER CLASS!

2010-01-31T20:50:00.000-05:00

READ AND FEED

2010-01-28T20:47:00.004-05:00

All third grade rooms will be having Read and Feed on Friday, Jan. 29th to "celebrate" a job well done during our reading unit test last week, and our 4Sight tests this week! Please follow the school's wellness guidelines when choosing your child's snack.

CONGRATULATIONS TO US!

2010-01-22T19:27:00.003-05:00

Our class was the proud recipient of the art trophy for the week of Jan. 11-15! Each week a primary class and an intermediate class are recognized by our art teacher, Miss Space, for their cooperation and work ethic while in art class. Job well done --ladies and gentlemen of Room 117!

ACADEMICS (Jan. 4-8)

2010-01-03T17:46:00.007-05:00

READING

Our story this week is A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert, and is based on a true story. It takes place in Europe and centers around a mother acquiring a coat for her daughter during hard times in post-World War II. Anna's mother decides to trade the few valuables she has left after the war, for a farmer's wool and the services of a spinner, a weaver, and a tailor, in order to make the coat.

Skills include: main idea, making inferences, and multiple meaning words.

ENGLISH

We are learning about common and proper nouns. Proper nouns name a special person, place, or thing and need to be capitalized.

MATH

This week we are working on how to "Find a Rule" when given a specific number pattern. We will then move on to estimating sums and differences.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are finishing up our community chapter. We watched a wonderful video about communities around the world that reminded us that there are urban, suburban, and rural communities all over the earth! We learned about communities on five different continents, and got to see many different cultures. There will be a chapter test on Tuesday, Jan. 12th. A study guide will be sent home on Thursday.

SCIENCE

This week we are focusing on producers and consumers, and are completing a food chain project.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-23T15:29:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas from the students in Room 117! Have a safe and happy holiday season!

FOOD DRIVE

2009-12-11T18:56:00.005-05:00

This week, Keystone Kids collected non-perishable food items for our annual Food Drive. All donated items will benefit the Knox Caring Cupboard. Each grade level had a shopping cart outside their quad to collect the donated items. The cart was emptied each day by our sixth graders, who then tallied the day's donations.

Congratulations to sixth grade for winning the grade level contest of donating the most food items. They earned a movie and popcorn party for their efforts!

Third graders, Brandan, Katie, Kami, Annetta, Jessi, Paige, and Emily are pictured above with the third grade cart that was over-flowing on the last day! A big thank you goes out to all those who donated!

2009-12-01T18:36:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

COMPASS ROSE DESIGNS

2009-12-01T16:46:00.001-05:00

DATES TO REMEMBER

2009-11-29T12:55:00.002-05:00

Dec. 14th: Choir Christmas Concert

Dec. 22nd: a.m. - Movie Day

p.m. - class gift exchange and party

Dec. 23rd: Early dismissal - 1:35 p.m.

Dec. 24th-Jan. 3rd: Christmas Vacation

ACADEMICS (Nov. 23rd - Dec. 4th)

2009-11-22T11:36:00.010-05:00

READING

We will be finishing up Spiders at Work before Thanksgiving. The test for the story will be on Tuesday, Nov. 24th. After Thanksgiving we will be taking the Unit Two Reading Test.

Students have finished their Native American Kidspiration projects, and they are on display in the hall by the library, along with their Native American shields that they made.

Some students are working on a Paul Goble project. They will be illustrating and writing about their favorite book by this author.

ENGLISH

Last week, after listening to the story, Thanksgiving at the Tappletons, the students wrote personal narratives about Thanksgiving with their families. They worked long, and hard on this assignment, and their efforts paid off! Look for them on display right outside our classroom.

Next, we'll be moving into our noun unit. We'll be learning about singular and plural nouns, and also common and proper nouns.

MATH

We have started studying the properties of addition. We have learned about the Commutative (order) Property and the Identity (zero) Property. Some time will be spent practicing these properties before we move onto the Associative (grouping) Property.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our studies of communities has started. We are looking at urban, suburban, and rural communities.

VETERAN'S DAY ASSEMBLY

2009-11-17T18:52:00.002-05:00

ACADEMICS (Nov. 9 - 12)

2009-11-09T21:48:00.014-05:00

READING

There is no reading story this week because of 4Sight testing on Tues., Wed., and Thurs. We will be reading Paul Goble (the author of Dream Wolf) books instead, when the opportunity presents itself. In between testing, students will also be researching the Native Americans of the Plains in the computer lab, with partners from Mr. Zerbe's room, and creating a "Kidspiration" graphic of their research.

ENGLISH

We will be reviewing our chapter skills and having a chapter test at the end of the week. Topics include: sentences/sentence fragments, the 4 types of sentences (statement, question, command, exclamation), compound/run-on sentences, subjects/predicates, and main idea/supporting details.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week, there will be a grid map quiz, followed by a map review, and then an end of the unit map test on Thursday, Nov. 12th. Students received map term vocabulary cards on Monday, to study for Thursday's test. Besides the map terms vocabulary, students will need to know: how to draw and label a compass rose, and the name of their continent, country, and state!

MATH

We are wrapping up our place value chapter with a look at word/story problems. Students will learn that there are alternate strategies to solving these types of problems. These include: making a list, drawing a picture/diagram. and making a table.

There will be a place value chapter test next week, following our class review.

SCIENCE

Students are creating a giant-sized model of a flower with their group this week, and will be labeling and defining all of the parts.

APPLE CRUNCH DAY

2009-10-28T19:44:00.000-04:00

We had fun today doing a lot of different apple activities. One of the favorites was making apple "smiles" with peanut butter, marshmallows, and of course APPLES!

2009 RED RIBBON WEEK OUTDOOR FITNESS STATION ASSEMBLY

2009-10-28T18:49:00.000-04:00

As part of our Red Ribbon Week celebration, ALL students at KES participated in physical fitness activities at seven stations surrounding the building. This activity was designed to promote healthy habits.

Students spent three minutes at each station participating in a fitness exercise. Students had a GREAT time as they: did the Hokey Pokey with Miss Space, jumped with Mr. Clark, danced with 6th graders from Room 116, did the Chicken Dance with Mrs. Wingard, exercised with Mr. Nellis, batted beach balls with Mr. Smith, and finally did the limbo with the reading teachers! A good time was had by all, and we got a little exercise along the way!

APPLE DONATIONS

2009-10-25T23:08:00.007-04:00

THANK YOU to all of the parents who donated apples for Apple Crunch Day!

We couln't have done all of our apple activities without you! Thanks again!

ACADEMICS (Oct. 26-30)

2009-10-24T07:47:00.013-04:00

READING

We are breaking away from our basal reader this week and reading, "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever", by Steven Kroll. It is a delightful story about two mice, each without the other's knowledge, who help a pumpkin grow into "the biggest pumpkin ever"--but for different purposes.

Students will complete, and be graded on, a "pumpkin packet" of assorted skills with this story that include: comprehension, problem/solution, sequencing, dictionary skills, phonetic elements, and ABC order.

ENGLISH

We are continuing with compound sentences, and will then move on to identifying, and correcting run-on sentences. Run-on sentences can be corrected either of two ways...1) breaking it apart into 2 separate, complete sentences... or... 2) adding ", and" to turn it into a compound sentence.

MATH

We had a quiz on Friday on rounding to the tens with double digit numbers. Students have also been introduced to rounding triple digit numbers to the tens. This will be followed by rounding numbers to the hundreds.

Our Addition Fact Challenge is in its LAST WEEK. Students have until Thursday, Oct. 29th to complete their facts through the 9's. On that date, they will also be given the TIMED 100 addition math facts test, which is worth 50 points.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Students, your compass rose designs are awesome! Job well done! The hallway display looks terrific! Parents, your child's grade for this project will be coming home this week. Partner playground maps have also been completed and are now on display in the hall by the library.

A room map homework project, rough draft paper, and the rubric that will be used to grade this activity will be coming home on Monday. Students are to create a map of a room of their choice in their home. The FINAL COPY of this assignment is due on MONDAY, Nov. 2nd.

RED RIBBON WEEK Oct. 26-30

2009-10-22T22:55:00.009-04:00

This year's theme is "TEAM UP AGAINST DRUGS!"

Monday--"Rally in Red and Sock it to Drugs!"
Wear the color RED and crazy SOCKS!

Tuesday--"You Won't See Me Using Drugs!"
Wear CAMO!

Wednesday--"Put a Cap on Drugs!"
Wear your favorite HAT!

Thursday--"Drugs Will Make You Crazy!"
CRAZY HAIR day!

Friday--"Team Up Against Drugs!"
Wear SPORTS APPAREL--jerseys, uniforms, t-shirts, etc.

APPLE CRUNCH DAY Oct.28th

2009-10-22T22:21:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday, October 28, we will celebrate one of nature’s fast foods – apples – by celebrating Apple Crunch Day.

We will be doing apple centers that day with Mr. Zerbe's class. Throughout the entire week, we will also be participating in various activities centered around apples.

Celebrated annually during National Apple Month, Apple Crunch teaches important facts about healthy snacking and getting five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

Over the past five years, Apple Crunch has been very successful in Pennsylvania where schools, community youth organizations, local grocery stores and the apple industry have collectively promoted apples and apple products as a healthy snack.

FIREMEN VISIT

2009-10-15T17:09:00.004-04:00

Smokey the Bear and his friends from the Knox Volunteer Fire Company spent the day at KES during Fire Prevention Week. Students in Grades K-3 learned all about fire safety, and got an up close and personal tour of a fire engine!

WALK TO/AT SCHOOL DAY

2009-10-14T19:58:00.004-04:00

BRRRR! What a brisk morning it was today, for our walk around the high school track! We all zipped up, put smiles on our faces and got some exercise! I have to brag and say that we were the last class to leave the track (except for a few straggling kindergartners)! Most of us walked (and did a little running, too) a total of TWO miles! Eight complete laps! CONGRATULATIONS ROOM 117!

Now, turn off the TV, computer, and video games once in a while, and get up and get some exercise to stay healthy! YOU CAN DO IT! You proved that today!

ACADEMICS (Oct. 12-16)

2009-10-07T17:33:00.002-04:00

READING

We are continuing our story, "Max Malone", until Tuesday, October 13th; which is when the story's test will be given. From Wed. - Fri., the Unit One Reading Test will be administered.

MATH

In math this week we will be working on identifying odd and even numbers, and will also be finding numbers to continue a given number pattern. We will then be moving on to rounding numbers to the tens and hundreds.

ENGLISH

We had a quiz on subjects of a sentence last week, and are now studying predicates. This will be followed by compound sentences.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We had a quiz on map keys and symbols last Friday, and this week we will be making playground maps with a partner. A graded homework assignment to create a room map will be coming home this week as well.

SCIENCE

We are continuing our seed study, and are in the middle of an experiment with lima bean seeds.

We are trying to determine if open seeds grow faster than closed seeds. We'll let you know our results!

ACADEMICS (Oct. 5-9)

2009-10-07T00:14:00.000-04:00

READING

This week we are reading, "Max Malone", a story in which two boys figure out a way to earn money. In the end, by helping a sick friend, they learn what their money is really worth. Skills include: problem/solution, using an index, story elements, and compound words. The test for this story will be on Tuesday, Oct. 13th.

MATH

We have moved on from place value to comparing numbers using the greater and less than signs, and listing numbers in order from least to greatest, and greatest to least.

ENGLISH

After learning about the 4 types of sentences (statement, question, command, exclamation), we are now studying subjects and predicates.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Our study of maps continues. We are now learning about map keys and their symbols. Students will be creating their own town map with a partner.

ADDITION FACTS CHALLENGE

2009-09-19T12:52:00.005-04:00

Our third grade Addition Facts Challenge officially began on Monday, Sept. 21st. A letter was sent home on that date that explained how the challenge works. Your child should be bringing home his/her math facts daily to practice. If he/she spends just a little time practicing each day, that time will really pay off. The Addition Challenge will end on Oct. 29th. At this time, your child needs to be completed with his/her facts up through the 9's, as this is a graded assignment. Also, a 100 fact timed test will be given on this date, including all facts from the 0's - 9's, that will be worth 50 points. These facts are essential to all further math operations and need to be mastered. Thank you for your continued parent support.

WHAT'S NEW?

2009-09-19T12:50:00.004-04:00

We had our schoolwide Olweus Bullying Prevention Program assembly on Friday, Sept. 18th. The program's Anti-Bullying School Rules were reviewed and recited. Sixth grade students performed a skit to demonstrate what bullying looks like and sounds like, and what you can do to help stop it. There was also a team challenge to show the benefits of working together. The winning fifth grade team beat the teacher team by pulling together and giving it their very best effort! Anti-Bullying Pledges were sent home with all students, to be signed and returned. A special "Catch Them Being Good" display will be centered in the cafeteria; with monthly prizes drawn and awarded to recognized students. Here's to a Bully-Free school year!