It's A Short Week!

Following is a schedule for important dates not to forget:

• AR Goal needs to be completed on Wednesday, September 30, 2009. New Goals will begin the following week. We will celebrate our reading goals by having a "Big Friendly Giant" Party complete with the "BFG", Sophie, Dream Making, Snozzcumbers, and Frobscottle.
• Monday, September 28, 2009 is a PLC day. There will be one-hour early release.
• On Tuesday, September 29th, the hearing specialist will be at Ellis to test all children K-3 grade.
• October 1st and 2nd are Professional Inservice Days. No school will be held these days.
• Please confirm your PTC times! Parent Teacher Conferences will begin Wednesday, October 7, 2009.

Language Arts:

This week we will concentrate on all of the skills we have been learning over the past 4 weeks. We will read two stories and compare and contrast them. The stories are: Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride, and Radio Rescue. Come prepared to wrap up our theme on Adventures.

Even though this is a short week, we will still have a spelling test. The spelling test will be given on Wednesday, September 9, 2009. Following is the list of words:

last cube

mix smile

stick left

lot smell

sock thin

hunt drop

wide shut

grade huge

thick note

send life

class *glance

pond *empty

luck *dusk

drum *slope

save *escape

*=challenge words

Math:

How are those strategies coming in Math? I especially like to draw a picture. It helps me too see the problem. We will continue to revisit addition and subtraction problems and concentrate on place values. Please be on the lookout for homework. Remember, it is always due the following day for full credit.

Physical Education:

The students will be running the half-mile this week. Please have them wear the appropriate shoes and clothes. Our PE day is Wednesday, September 30th.

Social Studies:

We are discussing map skills and the difference between continents, countries, states, and cities. The students made a community last week out of dots. We talked about a make-believe community a group of children made out of boxes and rocks. The make-believe community was called Rox-A-Boxen.

Question of the Week:

What hemispheres do we live in?

Please Finish your Adventure Story for our Published Book!

This week is one of our favorite third grade stories. Each year the students just love it. It is THE LOST AND FOUND by MARK TEAGUE. If the students will listen closely and participate in all of the reading activities, they will do well on the reading test at the conclusion of the week. Get ready for a great lost and found adventure.

Spelling List:

smoke, huge, save, life, wide, mine grade, come, smile, note, cube, love

Please also remind your child that the family adventure was due last week, and we want to get it in as soon as possible so we can get it graded.

Math:

Nice job every student getting your homework page in on Wednesday. We had 100% of all of the students get the homework in. Being responsible is a serious thing and an important quality to learn while you are still young. These grades will help us tremendously in our assessment of your understanding.

This week, we continue to work on place value, addition strategies and subtraction strategies. We will be sending more homework home to complete. Please remember it is due the following day of the assignment.

Science:

We have really enjoyed our unit on space, the movement of the moon, and the influence the moon and the sun have on the earth. We will conclude our unit shortly and move into our first Social Studies unit of study which includes "What makes a Community".

Things to remember:

• Family Adventures are due as soon as possible
• Please continue to watch for Math Homework
• Make sure your student is reading 15-20 minutes each evening and sign their Reading Log
• Parent Teacher Conferences will be held the beginning of October
• Our next PLC day in next Monday (September 28, 2009)

Question of the Week:

What is the difference between a desert and a dessert?

Welcome Back from the Fair!!

Last week we worked on our Personal Narrative stories; An Adventure with my Family. Each student took a copy of their draft home and should work on polishing the piece as a homework assignment. The published work is due on Friday,
September 18, 2009. Thank you for helping your child complete this at home.

Language Arts:
This week in Language Arts our story focus is the Ballad of Mulan. The Chinese Folk Tale concentrates on the courage and boldness of a young heroine who battles in the place of her father. The students will practice making inferences about the literature they are reading, practice reading the selection on the Reading Train, and discuss different possible outcomes towards the end of the story.

Our spelling selection concentrates on the short vowel sounds/o/ and /u/. Following is the spelling list for this week:

• pond
• drop
• luck
• lot
• rub
• does
• drum
• sock
• hunt
• crop
• shut
• run

Math:

The students continue to learn different addition strategies. Some of these are methods they will remember from the second grade, others will be new to them. The third grade teachers will be sending home Math Homework this week. This homework needs to be completed at home and brought back to school the following day. If the students bring the homework in late, percentages will be deducted from their final score. Please bring the homework in the following day. This helps the teachers, the students, and of course the grades.

Science:

The beach buddies in room #1 continue to study familiar objects in space. No, this does not include any unidentified flying objects or Star Wars Space Cruisers. The students will discuss the movement patterns of the moon, different types of eclipses, and seasons.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, September 14, 2009 (1 hour early release for PLC)

Thursday, September 17, 2009 (Constitution Day) Our class is going to learn the Constitution Song from School House Rock

Thank you to all if the Grandparents who attended our Grandparent's Day this past Friday. Our class enjoyed singing songs with you and meeting many new adults. We appreciate your interest in our classroom and school.

Questions of the Week:

What is the largest bird?

What is the smallest bird?

Name a bird that can't fly.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK---MRS. GRAHAM AND MRS. SHORE

We just had a Holiday!

What a busy weekend. There were football games to watch or attend, marathons to run and fair entertainment to listen too. We tried to do them all!

Language Arts:
This week the students will be learning about the writing process. Our class always does a class "Family Adventures" book that we send off back East to be published. The book will have your child's story and picture in it. It is a wonderful family gift and special memory book. We will begin our stories this week. Be looking for a final draft to come home so you may help with polishing and publishing. We will focus on:

• great beginnings
• juicy color words
• complete sentences with proper punctuation
• details
• neatness and organization

Spelling List:

have

haven't found

around

one

than

then

them

before

because

other

mother

cousin

everybody

guess

Math:

Look for some math homework to be coming home periodically. It will be in a folder. This homework will be graded when it is brought back and averaged in with classroom scores. We continue to learn about place value and how it ties in with addition. We love having so much hand's on practice in the classroom. The dry erase markers have come in handy.

Science:

The students continue to learn about space, the sun, our moon and the role each plays and how they effect each other. We have been able to do some fun learning activities and view some wonderful video footage on our class Promethean Board.

Question of the Week??

Give me an example of five different antonyms. GOOD LUCK