ISAT's were a SUCCESS!!

The students in room #1 did an amazing job on their Math ISAT test. We were 96% proficient or advanced with most scores falling in the Advanced area. We are so proud of our students!!

Housekeeping:

Monday, April 29, 2013: Early Release, PLC

Thursday, May 2, 2013: IRI

Monday, May 6, 2013: ISU Children's Choir at 9:45 AM

Tuesday, May 7, 2013: Third Grade Smile Survey

Thursday, May 9, 2013: Art Fair

Friday, May 10, 2013: PTA Field Trip to the REEL Theater 

This week in Language we are doing several things. First of all, one of our vocabulary words for the week is PLAID. Mrs. Graham is going to pull out several of her PLAID outfits and wear them to school. They might not match, but she is going to wear them. I encourage all students that have something plaid, to wear it to school this week so we can learn the word plaid!!

The story of the week is Poppa's New Pants by Angela Shelf Medearis. It is a great story with a wonderful twist on the end. Our class is also working on a Unit Assignment called "Living in a Balanced World". We are creating the front page of a newspaper. Each student will create their own front page. Each front page will include 5 tasks. The students have already completed 2 of the tasks. Each task contains writing and keyboarding and printing.

On Monday, we will be selecting the parts for our rain forest play. We will share the play with parents towards the end of the school year. The play is in our room. It is one of the best events of the school year for our students.

Spelling List: Words that start with /a/ or /be/

• begin
• again
• around
• before
• away
• about
• alive
• because
• ahead
• between
• behind
• ago

Math: The students are learning how to transfer book problems to notebook paper in the proper format. We are starting with addition and continuing through with subtraction. The last 2 weeks of school, we will work on a fraction Unit.

Science and Social Studies:

Our room will receive its painted lady butterfly kit this week. The caterpillars are sent in a jar with food. The caterpillars form their chrysalis and transform into a butterfly. We let the butterflies go at the end of the school year. We will be learning about the rain forest and its different layers, animals and vegetation as we prepare for our rain forest play.

Question of the week:

If I were planting a garden in a rectangular area and the length of my garden was 12 feet and the width of my garden was 8 feet, how much square feet would my garden cover?  Remember, you are finding area not perimeter.

If there were 28 students in our class, how many students would make up 1/4 of our class?

How many pints are in 3 gallons of Kool-Aid?

Back on Track with the BLOG!!

We have been "rock"-ing the ISAT.
This is our last week of ISAT testing...so far, the results have been GREAT!! In Reading our students were 96% proficient or advanced, and in Language, our students were 86% proficient or advanced. All the third grade team at Ellis made a great video using the song "Dynamite" to pump the students up for the ISAT testing period. Following is the next week's agenda and any important events on the schedule.

Housekeeping:
Monday, April 22, 2013......PLC Early Release
Monday, April 22, 2013.......AR store open
Thursday, April 25, 2013.....Math ISAT
Thursday, May 2, 2013.......IRI reading (goal is 110 wpm)

Reading and Language:
On Monday, we will begin our last Theme of Study. It is called Smart Solutions. The first story in our Reading Anthology is Pepita Talks Twice. The story is about a young girl who speaks two languages. She is constantly asked to help translate or interpret for her friends and family. This becomes quite frustrating for her and she decides she only wants to speak English and not Spanish. The students always enjoy how she solves her problem of speaking twice.

Spelling List:

• summer
• winter
• little
• October
• travel
• color
• apple
• able
• November
• ever
• later
• purple

Math:
Last week we rotated through all of the third grade classrooms reviewing important skills necessary to do well on the ISAT math assessment. This week we will be practicing and reviewing more skills and then take the assessment on Thursday. The math ISAT usually takes 90 minutes to complete. Some students will finish earlier and some later. The important idea is to:
1) Read all the instructions carefully.
2) Use math strategies to help solve problems.
3) Take your time and do not rush.
4) Check each answer carefully.
5) Remember.....the test is not timed!!!! Do your best!!

Science:
We started a mini Unit on Nutrition and did some collaborative group work on Wednesday. The students had a great time. We will finish the Unit this week and then begin our Life Cycles theme.

Question of the Week.....
Fill in the blank in this Math Equation:

1)    7 x 24 = ______ x 7 (Remember to use the Commutative Property)!!

2)    In our story "Trapped by the Ice", how many of the explorers survived  the journey? What happened to their dogs?

3) What is the proper way to show possessive in this statement?
    The dogs of the explorers were getting very hungry after the boat sank. 

4) What are the 5 elements of a story?