Hope you had a great Holiday!

Welcome back to school! We have three busy weeks before the next Holiday Break. Following is a schedule of the upcoming events:

• AR deadline: January 8, 2010. Please read over the Holidays


• Awards Assembly: Thursday, December 3, 2010 at 9:00 am


• Canned Food Drive November 30th thru December 4th


• Penny War: December 7th thru December 11th


• Monday, December 14, 2009: PLC Early Release Day

The third grade classes are starting a new Theme this week. It is called Incredible Stories. This is one of the students' favorite themes. Our first story is Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey. The spelling list concentrates on the vowel sound in clown and lawn. Following is the list:

clown lawn talk sound cloth would also mouth crown soft count law town small bounce officer

*Skills the students will be working on: Using context to find the correct definition of a word.

Possisive nouns, Apostrophes

Math:

We concluded our brief section on similar and congruent shapes and naming polygons. It only took us one week. The next unit (Unit 5) will cover rounding, multi-step problems, graphs, tables, pictographs and money. We should complete this unit after the Christmas Holidays. Please be on the lookout for homework once to twice a week. It is due the following day for full credit.

Science:

For the next several weeks we will continue working on energy, motion, mass, properties of matter and light. We have done a few experiments in class that would be appropriate to do at home.

Question of the week: According to our classroom experiment, what conducts heat better--wood, metal, or plastic?

Good Morning Third Graders!

Dates to Remember:
Monday, November 23, 2009: PLC day. One hour early release
Wednesday, November 25, 2009: Two Hour early release (Thanksgiving Holiday)
Thursday, Friday, November 26-27: No School Thanksgiving break
Friday, January 8, 2010: End of the Third 6-week grading period

Language Arts:
This is our last week on Theme Two. Our class will be studying "Trickster Tales"--focus on Genre. There are three trickster tales we will focus on:

• Hungry Spider
• Rabbit Races with Turtle
• Aunt Fox and the Fried Fish

Spelling words for the week concentrate with the vowel sound found in "join" and "boy"

join foil

joy voice

boil coil

noise broil

spoil coin

choice boy

soil enjoy

point rejoice

**The test will be given this Wednesday due to the short week.

Math:

Hurray! We finished the unit on addition and subtraction word problems. Next we are off to symmetry. Please don't forget--Math Homework is always due the next day for full credit.

Science:

We started our Science Unit last week. We will learn about the properties and states of matter, motion, and physical and chemical changes.

Have A Great Holiday Weekend and stay safe.
Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Shore

Question of the Week: Give me an example of the three states of matter. You can use normal everyday objects.

NEW READING GOALS START THIS WEEK!

Dates to remember:

• AR Celebration: Friday, November 20, 2009



• Thanksgiving Holiday: Early Release on Wednesday and then a two day break



• Report Cards will be coming home before the break



• Next 6-week grading period ends on January 8, 2010. This includes the Christmas break so make sure you keep on reading!

This week we are concluding Theme 2: Family Traditions.

We will read two stories, Miss Rumphius and Chinese Celebration. The spelling list is quite large and recaps the lists you have had over the last 6 weeks:







speak spread

feel mind

seem might

most lay

both leave

know own

street row

lie wrap

need patch

paint tie

hold wild

float bright

three needle

tomorrow program

kitchen design

Spelling Test Friday, November 20, 2009

MATH

We continue working on addition and subtraction as it is used in word problems. Keep your eye out for homework and keep up the good work.

Social Studies:

We are also approaching the conclusion of our Native American Unit. The students have learned a lot about different Native people who lived long ago and their ways of life.

Question(s) of the Week:

What are the 5 parts of writing a friendly letter?

Where in Idaho do our Pen-Pals live?

Last Week to Reach AR Goal!!

A big thank you to all the parents that helped out with the Field Trip to the ISU Museum and Craft Shop. The students had a great time in both places and we appreciated the help.

This is a picture of a student in our class.The drum she is holding in originally for the country of Ghana, in Africa. We learned about Ghana last week and a special cloth they have their called Adinkra cloth. It was a traditional cloth worn by royalty. Now it is a cloth available to people of all levels of wealth.

This week our story is called Dancing Rainbows. The story tells about a young Native American boy and his family. It tells about the traditions he enjoys as a Native American boy. It tells how important these traditions are to him and his people and the respect he has for the traditions he learns from his ancestors.

The spelling list concentrates on the long i sound spelled in a variety of ways:

wild bright die sight child pie fight lie tight tie might mind find high design delight

MATH

We are cruising in Math. The students just took a test on geometric shapes, lines, and terms. We move into addition and subtraction word problems for the next 2 weeks and then we start angles. A word to the wise. Please don't forget when homework is sent home--it is due the next day. We have had several students forget, and it is having a sad impact on their grades.

Social Studies

Our Study on the Native Peoples will conclude this week with a fun project. The students will begin a weaving project with a color of yarn of their choice. We encourage each student to complete their project in class when they have extra time. If they want to create subsequent weavings, they may take their weaving board home and make more.

Upcoming Events and Notices:

• Homework due the following day for full credit!
• Monday, November 9, PLC Day--1-hour early release.
• Friday, November 13, 2009: End of the 6-week grading period. AR goals will stop today.
• Friday, November 20, 2009: AR Celebration
• Monday, November 16, 2009: Beginning of Third 6-week grading period

Question of the Week: What is the name of the famous groundhog that lives in Pennsylvania?