Congratulations!! Sarah Nield!! She was our very first student to reach 100% of her AR reading goal. Way to go young Padawan.

House Keeping:

Parents, be on the lookout for your child's personal narrative story. It is due (polished and perfected) on Friday, October 1, 2010. This is the story we will be doing for our classroom adventure book.

AR goal deadline is Friday, October 14, 2010.

Reading/Language Arts:

Our story anthology this week is the folktale: Ballad of Mulan

Students will be able to recognize sentences that are incomplete and complete.

Students are working on adding the endings -ed and -ing to base words with the cvc pattern (nap). Don't forget to double that consonant after the short vowel sound (napping). This is a great story. The students will also be creating some Chinese symbols and characters for their memory books.

Spelling List:

pond luck drop lot rub does drum sock hunt crop shut won

These are words with a short vowel sound in the middle. The word does is an irregular word.

Math:

The students will continue adding multi-digit numbers using addition strategies. This week we will introduce subtraction. Keep working on those strategies. It will help you so much as we progress through the next section.

Science:

I love science. Room One has almost completed the section on space. We will focus on what makes tides in the ocean and why Earth has different seasons. Thanks for being such great readers as we read through some of the information.

Continue reading at home and don't forget to get those reading logs signed. Remember--you need to be at 100% of your goal by Friday, October 14th!! Read On Young Padawans!!!

Question of the Week:

What are the colors in the rainbow?? (In order please)

Reading/Writing Workshop

We hope you had a great weekend. We are excited about this week because it is our first
Reading/Writing Workshop. The entire class will be working on a personal narrative
story. This is something that really happened to you. All students will work on creating
and writing their piece this week and then we will send it home to be polished and published.
The entire writing will be due on Friday, October 1, 2010. All instructions will be included
in the writing folder. Thanks for all your help in getting these writings "publishing ready".
Each student will re-write their piece and include a drawing for our class book. Please
let us know if you are interested in ordering a class book.

Housekeeping:

IRI is over. We did really good--but there is plenty of room for improvement. We would like to see growth for all of our students this school year.

Monday, September 20, 2010: 1-hour early release.

Book orders should be here in about 2 weeks. A new order will come home this week.

Spelling list for this week:

have

haven't

found

around

one

than

then

them

before

because

other

mother

Challenge Words: family, cousin, everybody, guess

The spelling test will be given Friday 24, 2010. This is also are library day--so don't forget to bring your library books back.

All students should be at 60% of their reading goals this week. Keep reading every night and don't forget to bring back your reading logs every day!!

Math:

The students in third grade have been learning four different ways to add multi-digit numbers:

1) Proof drawings

2) Show All groups

3) New groups above

4) New groups below

This week we will continue to use these methods as we practice addition with money amounts and also continue to practice multi-digit addition.

Science:

We are moving from the study of the Moon to the study of the Sun and also how the earth rotates.

Science is a great subject and we try to integrate science experiments and activities when we have time to do so.

Question of the Week??

What is the largest U.S. state?

What is the smallest U.S. state?

Hello young padawans!! We are starting our first Reading Anthology Story this week. It is called "Cliff Hanger" by Jean Craighead George. We will be concentrating on Cause and Effect and identifying complete and incomplete sentences.

AR reading goals have been assigned. Your child can start testing immediately on books they have read.

CONGRATULATIONS KAIAH ANDERSON FOR READING THE MOST BOOKS THIS SUMMER!!

If anyone else tracked how many books they read this summer--please bring a record of them to Master Shore or Master Graham.

WAY TO GO KAIAH!!!

The spelling words concentrate on the short vowel sounds (e), (i), and (a). The words for this week are:

milk

mix

smell

last

head

friend

class

left

thick

send

thin

stick

Math: Look for the first Homework Assignment coming home this Monday. It is a review of some of the things we have been covering. We are working on our Math Boards learning new ways to identify place values through the thousands. Ask your child to show you a thousand bar, a hundred square, a ten stick, or a one circle.

Science: The students have been exploring the Moon, atmosphere and the Sun. This week we will

read and discuss the Moon's rotations. We will discuss attributes of the Sun and how space scientists are able to study the Sun.

Housekeeping:

Monday, Septemeber 13th: PLC Day--One hour early release.

Wednesday, September 15th at 9:30 AM--Strings presentation for the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade.

Thursday, September 16th: IRI begins for the third grade. Please make sure your child gets a lot

of sleep and a good breakfast.

Friday, September 17th: Book Orders are due!!

ISAT testing starts this week!!

For the next three weeks, Ellis Elementary will be involved in ISAT testing. This week the third grade will be tested on Language. Next week, we will test on Reading, and the last week is Math. NO SNOOZING during ISAT. Use all of the knowledge you have gained this year in doing the best job you can do.

• Calendar:
• **Monday, April 12th: Early Release: PLC

*Wednesday, April 14th: End of the fifth 6-week grading period. AR goals completed this day.

*Thursday, April 15th: Shore/Graham ISAT Language Testing

** Tuesday, April 13th: Individual Pictures
Do your best!!



Language:
This week our story is Pepita talks Twice. It is about a little girl who can speak two languages but doesn't always like to use her skills.

We will continue to work on using both singular and plural possessives as well as antonyms (opposites). All of these skills will be tested on the ISAT.

Spelling List:
summer
winter
October
travel
little
color
apple
able
November
ever
later
purple
flower
people
thermometer
mumble

In two weeks we take the Math ISAT. We finished multiplication and multiplication strategies. This past week we covered fractions, probability, and cubes. This week we will do other geomtric 3-D shapes and then start measurement. Next week, we will have a 3-day Math Olympics to review skills important for the ISAT test. These will be review of what we have already covered.

Science:
Also this week, we will start life cycles and living things in our Science Unit. Science is an ISAT tested skill in third grade. It is still very important to learn these different concepts and ideas, because Science will be tested in fifth grade.

Questions of the Week:
What is the top number of a fraction called? What is the bottom part of a fraction called? How many faces does a cube have?

AR Goal deadline April 14, 2010

Housekeeping:


Wednesday, April 7, 2010: PE week


Thursday, April 8, 2010: Rodeo Queens come to visit


Wednesday, April 14, 2010: End of the Fifth six weeks


Wednesday, April 14, 2010: AR Reading Goal Deadline


Thursday, April 15, 2010: ISAT's start for our class








Our story this week is a true exploring adventure. It is a story about the first expedition to cross the continent of Antarctica. The students will be able to view actual pictures from the expedition and watch a narrated film. The story is called Trapped by the Ice!

The Spelling list focuses on the VCCV pattern. Words with this pattern are divided between the two consonants:

• Monday
• sudden
• until
• forget
• happen
• follow
• dollar
• window
• hello
• market
• pretty
• order
• after
• funny
• expect
• stubborn

Math:

We just took our multiplication test on 6, 7, and 8's. Wow!! The students did great!! We are so impressed you are understanding how to do it. Keep working on those facts. This week we will begin fractions and on Friday we will start Geometric shapes. Our Math ISAT is on Thursday, April 29th. We still need to cover measurement and review computation and rounding. We are going to do great. Keep up the wonderful work.

Social Studies:

The students will study about reasons foriegners come to the United States to live and start families. The students are also working on PowerPoint presentations of their experience in third grade this year.

**Question of the Week: When you find the median of a group of numbers, you need to put the numbers in order first. This was a question on our math test. Most students knew how to find the median--but forgot to put the numbers in order first. Let's try it for the question of the week.....here are the numbers. Remember put the numbers in order first!!!!!

2, 5, 6, 6, 1, 3, 4, 9, 2

Good Luck!!

!00% Parent Teacher Conferences!! Way to go Parents!!

Iditarod Standings as of Sunday, March 14, 2010
1st: Lance Mackay
2nd: Jeff King
3rd: Hugh Neff
4th: Hans Gatt
5th: Mitch Seavey
6th: John Baker
7th:Sebastian Schnuelle
8th: Ken Anderson
9th: Gerry Willomitzer
10th: Ramey Smyth

Lance Mackay is the leader and only about 250 miles out of Nome, Alaska. We should have a winner in about 2 more days.
Housekeeping:
March 17, 2010: Visiting Author from 10:15 to 11:00 in the cafeteria
Friday, March 19, 2010: Research Reports due
Monday-Friday this week: Water Cycle Presentations
Saturday, March 20, 2010: Beginning of Spring Break
Monday, March 29, 2010: Back from Spring Break

Our Genre study this week is a comparison story between two fairy tales. We will be learning about the elements in a fairy tale and also discussing similis and pronouns.
Spelling list focuses on the soft C sound:
face
city
pencil
place
center
dance
race
circle
nice
once
princess
circus
chase
size
silence
excitement

Math:
More practice on multiplication. We start 8's and 7's this week. We want to get them all learned before we take the ISAT's in April.

A good site for ISAT practice is prepdog.com
We talked about this site at each Parent Teacher Conference.

Women in History:
This week we will continue our study of Women in History. We have already learned about several.

Question of the Week:
Where does the Iditarod Race start and end?
About how many miles is it?

A Great Olympic AR Party!!

This week was our AR reading Party for the past 6-week grading period. We had a great time. The third grade classes rotated around to different rooms and participated in Winter Olympic games. We has the Skeleton, Hockey and snowball blowing. A wonderful time was had by all. The next deadline for AR goals in April 14, 2010. The students have all reviewed and help set their goals. We will have a Harry Potter Pizza Party with Magic Tricks. Hope to see you all there.

Housekeeping:

This week is another shortened week because of Parent Teacher Conferences. We hope to see you all there so we can chat with you about your child's progress.

• Wednesday, March 10th: Evening Conferences



• Thursday, March 11th: Daytime and Evening Conferences



• Friday, March 12th: No school

Language Arts:

This week we begin our Research Papers on an animal each student has selected. The report will be sent home at conference time. We will review the rubric with you and let you know of our expectations. We have already copied off some facts and gotten some books from the library. Please help your child with this report. It will be a big part of the writing grade.

Spelling:

There is no spelling list this week because it is a short week. We are reviewing high frequency words and will have a quick test over these words on Wednesday.

Math:

The students have just finished up a short unit on telling time using a digital and analogue clock. We will take a test on Monday. Our next unit will start multiplication facts for 6, 7, and 8. It will take us about a month to get through the next unit. Please continue to study the multiplication facts at home.

Science:

Water Cycles should be coming in sometime this week. We have discussed the water cycles in class and drew a picture of the water cycle. The students should create a 3-D exhibit of the water cycle and bring it to school to display. Be creative.

The Iditarod started on Saturday. The students will be tracking their mushers out on our Iditarod walls. It is a very exciting event. We should have a winner in about 10 days. It is a 1,000 mile race across Alaska.

Question of the week?

List 3 of the famous people we learned about last week when we read their Biographies: