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

Check off Week One!

We had an assembly on Thursday morning and our principal was able to welcome us back to school. We sang our "Ellis Falcon" school song and pledged allegiance to the flag. The third graders were able to attend the assembly with the upper grades to cut back on crowding in the lower grades. It was the quietest assembly we have ever been to. The students used their best manners and remembered the assembly rules we discussed at the beginning of the week.

This week Mrs. Graham will be at school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and come in on Friday to do music. Mrs. Shore will come in on Thursday and Friday. We are looking forward to a great week.

This week in review:

The third grade will start the IRI (Idaho Reading Indicator) on Monday Morning. Our school officiators have worked out a very fabulous system and little instructional time is lost.

Literature:
This week we will focus on the story Cliff Hanger by Jean Craighead George. It is about a boy trying to rescue his dog who is stranded way up on a high mountain ledge. We will be concentrating on the targeted skill Cause and Effect.

This week Reading Folders come home on Monday. We will be explaining the expectations of the reading folders and track individual commitment each day. We would like your child to read a book within their level for a minimum of 20 minutes each day. The parent(s) or guardian(s) will be asked to sign the reading folders each night and send it back with your student each day. This reading assignment will be included in their reading grade. Try for 100%--it is an impressive goal.

Spelling (short vowel sounds)
mix
milk
smell
last
head
friend
class
left
thick
send
thin
stick
test
dish
empty
glance

Math:
Students will focus on place values up to the ten thousands. Students will use drawings and code cards to create numbers and identify ones, tens, hundreds, thousands. Remember, if you don't have one of these groups in the problem--USE A PLACE HOLDER!

Science:
Our class is learning about the moon, the earth's atmosphere, how the moon influences the earth's tidal patterns, and the importance of the sun. We will be doing a few experiments in class this week. Come prepared to learn and participate.

Surf's Up Third Graders!

Welcome back to school third graders! How exciting for you to start your year off as a third grade Beach Buddy. We are anticipating getting reacquainted with you and are hoping to have a fabulous year. We hope you are ready for a great year of learning.

During our first week back, we will focus on our classroom expectations for behavior, classroom procedures, school rules, rewards, and consequences. We want all of our students to take responsibility for their learning and have great attitudes. A good attitude helps improve the atmosphere of the classroom as well your outlook on learning. Keep smiling and stay positive.

Literature:

The students will be listening to a back-to-school story called "The Rule". This story is a great introduction to following rules and introducing the reading strategies we will focus on throughout the year.

Math:

Our district is implementing a new math series this year. It is called Math Expressions.We as teachers will be adjusting to the new program. There is a lot of large group, partnering, and small group activities to help cement the concepts. The students will be working on individual white boards and you will see homework coming home approximately twice a week. The teachers in the District that piloted the program last year had a lot of success. Each student has an individual workbook for daily assignments. We are excited to start this new program.

Science:

For the next 5 weeks, we will be learning about the moon and its relationship to earth. We will cover eclipses, meteors, seasons, tides, and the characteristics of the moon.

Important Dates to Remember:

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT AT ELLIS ELEMENTARY (6:00 PM),

Monday, August 31, 2009 Beginning of the Fall IRI testing window. We will be sending the scores home.

If you are interested in volunteering in the classroom, feel free to come and visit with us. We love volunteers and look forward to meeting the parent(s) of our wonderful students.

What a talented bunch of third graders!

The talent show was great; we had about 16 kids participate. We had dancers, magicians, rock collectors, singers, pianists, and gymnasts. Thank you for participating. We look forward to seeing all the combined talents this coming Thursday in the school cafeteria.

Our first annual "Technology" Night was a big hit. About 15 students came over with their parents. Each student showed their parents a slide show they have been working on over the past six weeks. The slide show was informational, telling the parents about what their third grade student has been doing this year and what he/she enjoys doing.

The final Magic Tree House book we will work on this week is called "Tonight on the Titanic". Did you know one remaining survivor is still alive today from that fatal night almost 100 years ago? She was only 2 months old the time she took the voyage. She was the youngest passenger on board. The students will be learning about the Titanic and her maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York. I know I have much to learn.

We will continue to work on scenery for our "Great Kapok Tree" play which we will present this Friday. We will also be painting our paper mache' puppets and doing a play review for the third grade classes. Hope to see you this Friday for our culminating literature event.

Math has been a large review mostly learning different multiplication strategies. This week we will finish up our Multiplication Math packets. Please continue to work on multiplication facts with your student this summer. It is a very foundational skill they need to master in order to have future mathematical success.

In Science, we will wrap up our life cycle exploration of plants and animals. We have learned so many cycles this year, environmental and living cycles. It has been interesting to see how the circle of life continues when it is not upset. It ties in quite nicely with our study on the Rain Forests of the world.

Upcoming dates to remember:

• Thursday, May 21, 2009--combined third grade talent show (8:45 am in the school cafeteria).
• Friday, May 22, 2009--third grade field trip to the Community Recreation Center. Please bring $2.50 and a lunch for the trip. We will be back around 1:00 pm
• Friday, May 22, 2009--Great Kapok Tree play when we arrive back at the school. Parents are invited to attend
• Monday, May 25, 2009--Memorial Day--No School
• Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 9:30 am--Awards Assembly for K-3 grade
• Wednesday, May 27, 2009--Field and Fun Day (Third Grade starts at 1:00 pm)
• Thursday, May 28, 2009--Last Day of School

Question of the Week:

What causes the loud cracking sound you may hear in the Rain Forest?