Vanessa

The VIP of the week is Vanessa. Vanessa likes the number 1, the color blue, and sunflowers. She enjoys dogs, Christmas, and Taco Bell. Her favorite teachers are Mrs. Knight and Mrs. Kramer. Ana is her friend. Have a great week Vanessa!

I will not be at school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I will be in a conference in LA with Mrs. Sunseri and our counselor Miss Karen. I look forward to learning many new ideas that I can bring into our classroom and to our school. I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday!

This week in math we are continuing with subtraction. We're working carefully with subtraction with 0s and word problems. We'll be taking a math test on Wednesday. On Thursday we'll be reviewing what we've learned for the past five weeks. On Friday we'll be taking a unit test.

In reading we are continuing with The Waterfall. At Back To School Night I handed out comprehension questions that you can use with your child. Ask them some of these questions about The Waterfall.

In writing we are beginning with similes. Here are some examples of similes:
Our class is like a whirlwind of energy!
Mrs. Knight is as fantastic as a firecracker.
We can't wait to to put some of our own into our Bedroom paragraphs.

In grammar we are starting adjectives. Adjectives describe a noun. You can help out by finding different people, places and things and come up with some silly adjectives with your child. An example could be: cats- fat, mean, smelly, lazy, three- oh wait, those are my cats ;)

Picture day is Thursday. Picture day is free dress. The order forms were sent home on Thursday and they will be due on Thursday.

The Walk-A-Thon is on Friday! I look forward to this day every year. We have such a great time! Our goal is to raise $1,200 as a class. That breaks down to about $40 per student. The more money we raise, the more we can do for our school. If we make our school goal of $24,000 Mr. Tony will shave his head! I am so looking forward to that! We are asking that the children only go to family and friends for donations, no strangers. If everyone does their part, we can reach our goals! In order to encourage the children I am going to give a homework pass to everyone who brings in the minimum $10. If they bring in the student goal of $40 they will receive 2 homework passes. And if they reach $100 or more they will receive 3 homework passes. The student who raises the most money in the class will get a special reward.

Colin

The VIP of the week is Colin. Colin's favorite number is 8, color is green and TV show is Rugrats. He enjoys Easter, basketball and sabertooth tigers. His friends are Michael and Isaias. Have a great week Colin!

This week in math we will be working on subtraction. We will start with subtracting numbers in the hundreds and then work our way up to the thousands. On Wednesday we will be subtracting numbers with 0s. This can be difficult for kids, so please help them if they get stumped. We will take our chapter test on Friday.

In reading we will be starting our story The Waterfall. It's a great story about a family's backpacking adventure in the mountains leads to the discovery of an amazing waterfall, and then an exhilarating climb to the top of it. This week we will be focusing on the vocabulary for the story. We will also be making predictions about what will happen and questions about what is happening in the pictures.

In writing we will be adding more detail to our paragraphs about our bedrooms. We can't wait for you to read it! Hopefully a few children will be able to share their stories with you on Classroom 21!

In grammar we will be working on proper nouns. Proper nouns are special nouns. They are names of people, places and things. On Monday and Wednesday we will be doing fun lessons with proper nouns so be sure to ask your child about them.

In social studies we are continuing with American History. On Thursday the students will be classifying different pictures of historical people, landmarks and documents. Then the students will be divided into groups to research a specific person, landmark or document of their choice. After that we will use our new information to create a book titled Famous America.

Tuesday night is Back to School Night!!! I look forward to seeing you all there. This is your chance to see what your child will be working on all year long. Our time to start is 6:45.

One more thing: on Wednesday our class will have a substitute. I will be on campus, but I will be fluency testing and having test chats with the children in another room. Throughout the district, all third grade teachers receive ten release days and this will be my first one. I will also be gone next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at a conference in LA.

Oscar

The VIP of the week is Oscar. Oscar likes the number one and the color blue. He enjoys visiting El Dorado and sunflowers. Fernando is his friend. Have a great week Oscar!

This week in math we are moving on to addition. The kids are expected to know how to add numbers in the thousands place. However, with the skills they learn they will be able to add much greater numbers. On Monday they will be estimating sums. This means they will round the addends first and then add.
Example: 384 + 528 = ? ----> 400 + 500 = 900 .

In language arts we are continuing with the Ballad of Mulan. Last week we watched the Disney version of Mulan and we found what was the same and different in the book and movie. This week we will be rereading the story and answering questions about it. Our test will be on Friday.

We haven't gotten very far on our paragraph of My Bedroom in writing. Many unforseen things have popped up. Hopefully, we will really be able to begin describing our bedrooms in great depth.

In grammar we are continuing with nouns. This week we will be creating a noun quilt that we know you'll love to see at Back to School Night.

This week we will be starting our unit on American History. We will be focusing on how our government works and how laws are passed. We will also be investigating famous people, landmarks and symbols from our country. To end our unit we will be creating Famous America books. These books will be out at Open House in the Spring. Tuesday is Constitution Day, so classrooms all over America will be learning the same thing.

Fernando

The VIP of the week is Fernando. Fernando's favorite number is 20, colors are red and green, and television show is Sponge Bob. He likes monkeys, basketball, and Halloween. Henry is his friend. Have a great week Fernando!

This week in math we are continuing with rounding. The kids have been introduced to the concept of the Rounding Hill.

The idea of a Rounding Hill is very simple. First, the kids need to know what number is being assigned. Our example is 56. If the kids are rounding to the tens place, they circle the number in the ones place. This is helpful because they know that if the number is 1,2,3, or 4, the number rounds down. If the number is 5,6,7,8, or 9 they round up. They then underline the number in the tens place.


When they have done this, they figure out which which tens, hundreds or thousands the number falls between. Once they do that they can circle the rounding numbers, "buckle up" and DRIVE!







Ask your child if they can show you how to do this.

In language arts we are beginning a new story The Ballad of Mulan. If you've seen the movie, you know the basic plot. Later this week we will be watching part of the movie to compare and contrast the two versions. In writing, we are continuing with our descriptive paragraph of My Bedroom.

In grammar we started with nouns. Nouns are people, places and things. Next week, we are learning how to make different nouns plural. Check out the homework to see what we're doing!

I look forward to meeting all of you on September 26th at Back to School Night!

Danny

The VIP of the week is Danny. Danny's favorite number is 1, flower is the daffodil, and television show is Tom and Jerry. He likes December, Monopoly and McDonalds. He enjoys dogs, Saturdays and football. His friends are Grant, Noah, and Josh. His birthday is on Wednesday. Have a great week Danny!

This week in math we are continuing with place value. On Wednesday we begin one of the hardest concepts in math: ROUNDING and ESTIMATION! Rounding is very difficult for the children. We will be working on it for a week. Please help your child in any way you can. Don't stress out if they don't 'get it'. They may not be ready yet for the concept. They will also be working on rounding and estimation in fourth and fifth grade.

We are continuing our story Lost and Found. This week we will read it with partners, work on the key vocabulary, and figure out what a fantasy genre is. As you know fantasy is imaginative conceptualizing. Or as I tell the kids, a story that could never, ever happen. (For some reason they understand that better.) On Friday they will be taking a test on Lost and Found. Check out this website for some cool stuff to do with our story.

In grammar we are continuing with complete sentences. The kids are definately understanding what to do, it's just doing it that seems to be a struggle for some of them. Next week we will be studying nouns.

We are don't with science and moving onto American History. I have a few lesson plans lined up that will be fun and interesting for the kids. If you want to know what standards I am covering you can check out this website.