Happy Halloween You little Cuties!

Dates to Remember:

• Class book sent in on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. If you have not sent in your money, please do before this date.

Remember--Homework is always due the next day for full credit. Please check your child's backpack.

Thursday, November 5, 2009: Class field trip to the ISU Museum and Craft Shop. Cost if $5.00. Money needs to be in this week. The students do not need to take their lunches. We will be back at 11:30 am.

November 13, 2009: Deadline for AR Goal. There are exactly two weeks left. Keep Reading.

Language Arts: This week our reading anthology is the story THE TALKING CLOTH by Rhonda Mitchell. Again, the story tells about family traditions, cultures, and symbols. Some of these stories are more difficult to conceptualize, but the students are doing well with the comprehension.

The spelling list focuses on three cluster consonants.

spring knee throw patch strong wrap three watch street know spread write catch two strength kitchen

Math:

Hurray! What a great job the students did on the end of the Unit Assessment on Addition, Subtraction, and place value. We began a new unit last week which will focus on geometric concepts: perimeter, area, length, width, lines, shapes. This unit is shorter than the first unit. Continue watching for homework. It comes home at least one time each week.

Social Studies:

We started learning about the different Native People who made their living in the desert, forest, and grasslands. This week we will travel to the ISU Museum of Natural History and learn about Native people in our own state of Idaho.

Questions of the week: How do you get a sound out of a percussion instrument?

How do you play a conga drum?

Halloween Week 2009

Are you ready for another great week of learning and thinking? We worked so hard last week on publishing "How to write Instructions", and also publishing our adventure piece for our send away book. Good writing students!!

Language Arts:

This week our anthology reading is Grandma's Records by Eric Valasquez. It is a great story about traditions from another country. It involves music, dancing, and many wonderful memories. I hope you will like it.

The Spelling List concentrates on the long /o/ sound spelled in a variety of ways:

coach

blow

float

hold

sew

though

sold

soap

row

own

both

most

cold

snow

tomorrow

program

Skills to learn include: Dictionary Guide Words, and Proper Capitalization

MATH:

We are almost experts at addition and subtraction, please keep working on those skills at home and don't forget, math homework is always due the following day for full credit. We will be concluding this unit of study within the next week and a half.

Social Studies:

I just love learning about the geography of where people live, why they choose a certain place to live, and what kind of jobs are available in these areas. We continue our study on communities and will learn about the first peoples of our nation in the following weeks.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, October 26, 2009: PLC Early Release Day

Friday, October 30, 2009: Book money due for our class book to be published back East.

Friday, October 30, 2009 (1:00 pm): Halloween Haunts class party. Healthy snacks and spooky games.

Thursday, November 5, 2009 (8:40 am): Class Field Trip to ISU Museum and Craft Shop

November 13, 2009: AR reading deadline. You are doing great!! Keep Reading!!

Question of the Week: Why was it so difficult to build train tracks through California, Nevada, and Utah?

100% at Parent Teacher Conferences!!

Hello fellow students!! It has been a week of much sickness at our school and in our community. If you are not feeling good or have a fever--please stay at home so we can keep the germs at bay. We would like all students to use hand sanitizer before and after using the in-class computers. We are also trying to wipe off desks and tables each day to help keep the germs out of the classroom. Be safe, drink lots of liquids, get plenty of rest and and sneeze into your elbow or a Kleenex.

Language Arts:This week is a Writing Workshop. During our last writing workshop, we wrote about family adventures. These are the stories we will publish in our class books. This week our writing workshop focuses on "Writing Instruction". We will have a mini-lesson on writing instructions on Monday. We will brainstorm ideas on Monday and work on a title and an introduction and the first step of our instructions. On Tuesday we will work on the middle steps of our instructions. On Wednesday we will work on the final step of our instruction and a conclusion to our writing. Thursday we will polish the finished product and also put our Family Adventures onto the nice publishing paper. Please watch for a great quilt project on the Blog next week. Mrs. Shore and the students made a lovely construction paper quilt and tied in into our last week reading anthology: "The Keeping Quilt".

This week our spelling words concentrate on words that are frequently misspelled:

now off for almost also can't cannot about always

today until again

*Challenge Words: February January Saturday Wednesday

Math: All of the third graders are learning a new concept. It is called math mountains. You may have heard this concept before, except we use to call it fact families. The numbers we are using are a lot larger than the basic Math Facts, but they are still related. Continue to watch for homework. It comes home at least once a week; also remember to listen to your child read at home and mark their reading log. Thank you for all of your support.

Social Studies:

The students created a Community Compact for their Memory Books. They titled their illustration "How I Can Be a Great Community Member". You may want to ask them what thoughts they came up with. As we conclude our efforts on Communities, we will begin our Native American Unit where we will learn about several different communities and Native American peoples.

Dates and Special Events:

*November 13, 2009: End of the second six weeks and AR deadline.

*Thursday, November 5, 2009: Class Field Trip to the ISU Museum and Craft Shop.

*Friday, October 30, 2009: Class Halloween Party

Question of the Week: In our story "The Keeping Quilt", what is the edge of the quilt called?

Is That The BFG and SOPHIE?

The AR Celebration was a huge sucess! We made dreams, ate toast with butter, veggies with dip, and drank Frobscottle. Every student in our class was able to attend. The AR deadline for the next 6 weeks is November 13th. You all know your goals for the next 6 weeks. Make sure you use your reading time wisely and Read, Read, Read at home!!

Language Arts: For the next 6 weeks our Language Arts Focus is on "Celebrating Traditions". The first story in the theme is "The Keeping Quilt" by Patricia Pollaco. It is a true story about a quilt that is a family treasure.

Following are the spelling words from this story:

Spelling words with long vowel patterns:

paint

clay

feel

leave

neighbor

eight

seem

speak

paid

lay

need

weigh

clean

play

*needle

*crayon

* (indicates challenge words)

Math:

The students will continue to subtract over zeros. It is a tough concept to learn. We may be practicing for a couple of days before we move on to the next concept. Remember to always check if the top number has enough muscle to subtract the bottom number, otherwise we move to the left and pick up some vitamins.

Social Studies:

Some questions we will address this week as we investigate communities are:

Why is is necessary to have laws in a community?

Who helps to make the laws in a community?

Who are some of the leaders in a community?

Some parents have asked for the recipe for BFG Dreams. It is a basic "slime" recipe:

1 cup of water plus 1 TBS of Borax (stir this mixture until all of the Borax has dissolved).

(Borax can be purchased in the Laundry Detergent section at Smith's Food and Drug)

1/4 cup of white Elmer's glue

1 drop of a food coloring of your choice

Add a little less than 1/4 cup of Borax solution to the white Elmer's glue. I like to put both in a sturdy sandwich bag that zips on the top. Add one drop of food coloring to the mixture. Zip the top of the bag and gently knead the glue and water together. The Borax solution causes a chemical reaction with the glue and turns it into a rubbery substance. Please don't eat! Store in fridge for a longer lasting life. When it gets old and moldy, just make a new batch.

Upcoming Events:

• Class pictures: Thursday, October 15, 2009 (please watch for packets to come home)


• Class Field Trip to the ISU museum and Craft Store. Thursday, November 7, 2009. The bus will leave at 8:40. Cost $5.00, parents are welcome to come with us or meet us there.


• Monday, October 12, 2009: 1-hour early release PLC day


• We will be sending our class book to be published as soon as all of the stories have been rewritten on the publishing paper.


• Next AR deadline: November 13, 2009

Enjoy your weekend!!

Question of the Week: What is the largest and the smallest continent?

New Reading Goals Start this Week!

The next Accelerated Reading Deadline is Friday, November 13, 2009. We have reviewed the reading goals with each of the students. Individual goals have been increased according to the reading level of each student. Each student has agreed upon the goal made for them. We have a reading wall in our classroom. Each week the students can track their progress on the reading wall. Good luck and let the fishy swimming begin. Continue bringing your reading log home each evening so you can track your reading minutes.

Again, this is a short week. Students will attend school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Parent Teacher Conferences will be held Wednesday evening and all day on Thursday. We will still have a spelling test on Wednesday of this week.

Language:
This week in Language, we are concentrating on the Genre of Poetry. The students will be listening to different types of poems; some with rhyming patterns, and some without. The culmination of this genre study will conclude with each student writing and publishing their own poems.

Spelling:(short and long vowel sounds)
stand
rest
plate
clock
white
stuff
spoke
bend
frame
twist
June
mile
when
back
liquid
decide

*Spelling Test this Wednesday!

Math:
Last week we learned and reviewed four subtraction strategies. These strategies are as follows:

• Place Value Drawing
• Expanded form subtraction with "new groups" (regrouping)
• Traditional Method with "new groups"
• Left to Right Subtraction with "new groups"

Please continue watching for math homework to come home. It is due the following day. If the homework is late, 20% of the final grade is deducted daily.

Social Studies:

Our class is studying why and where communities start. The students are also learning what resources are necessary for a community too function.

Upcoming Dates to remember:

Monday, October 5, 2009: Second 6-week grading period begins

Wednesday, October 7, 2009: AR celebration/BFG party

October 8th and 9th: Parent Teacher Conferences

Question of the week?? What is the antonym for "sick"