Congratulations Readers!!

Congratulations to the first two students to reach their AR goal in our class this past 6 weeks.
The first girl was Kelsie Bloxham. The first boy was CJ Quick. Keep reading. The next 6 weeks has already started. We only have 5 weeks left to read.

House Keeping:

• Monday, March 14, 2011: Class Field Trip to the Pocatello Water Department. The bus leaves at 9:00 AM and gets back at 11:50
• Spring Break: For some of you, Spring Break starts after school on Friday, March 18th. Have a great and safe Spring Break.
• Monday, March 28, 2011: Back to School from Spring Break.
• Mid April: ISAT testing window begins. We will test on Reading, Language, and Math

Language Arts:

This week our focus of study is on Biographies. There are a lot of activities planned for the week. The students have also started their Personal PowerPoint Presentations. They will work on these during their computer rotations. The spelling list for the week concentrates on the final /Y/ plus an ending.

skies

flies

stories

puppies

driest

candies

pennies

cries

ponies

bunnies

happier

funniest

Math:

This week we are practicing more comparison problems using multiplication and division and practicing our math multiplication facts on the 6s, 7s, and 8s. Keep working on those facts. You are doing a great job. Remember the strategies we have taught you in class. Remember those little stories we have taught you in your small blue books.

Social Studies:

Our class is participating in the Iditarod Race. We will probably have a winner as of Monday or Tuesday. As of this morning, John Baker is in the lead!!! Go John go!! We are also studying Woman in History this week. We will include them in a few of our biographies as well.

Question of the Week:

Why was the Iditarod originally started? What event does it replicate?

SHORT week!

Happy President's Day!!

Language Arts:
It is a short week this week. This week is the beginning of our Reading/Writing Workshop. We will be working on our Animal Research Reports. A folder will be coming home this coming weekend with the requirements. For all of you that read the BLOG--these are the requirements for the Research Report:
1) Choose an Animal
2) Create an Illustration of your animal in its habitat (to be done in class--please use full page).
3) Hand written report between 2-3 pages. Write every other line for ease in grading. We will be looking at spelling, punctuation, grammar, and coverage of topic. There will be a grading rubric attached to the folder your child will be taking home. (Report will be completed at home).
4) Inspiration Web with imported picture of animal and fact bubbles (to be done in class).
5) Picture of Animal, Name of Animal, and 5 interesting facts (Computer generated: to be done in class).

**Please refer to the folder for the due date of this report. (Friday, March 4th)

Math:
We are starting a mini unit on time this week. The Unit Test will be on Friday. This Unit covers time, elapsed time, and clock angles.

Science:
On Tuesday, we will make mini models of the Water Cycle. After the Animal Research Reports have been completed, the students will be making a representation of the Water Cycle at their homes and bring back to class to share with the students. These water cycles will be on display in the Library and in the classroom. Last year we even had a cake water cycle. We liked looking at it--but we really enjoyed eating it.

The class will continue to study Earth and its Resources.

Question of the Week:
What story helps you to remember the Math Fact 6 x 6 = 36?

You did great on the Inuit Test!!

Great Job on the Inuit Test!! I hope you liked learning about the Inuit people. Get your Iditarod sleds ready for the great race across Alaska beginning in March. We have a month to go!!


Housekeeping:


*Monday, February 14th: Valentine's Day, 100s Day, Early Release. We will pass out Valentine's to our friends and classmates, have some yummy things to eat and play a really great game called ZAP!





*Monday, February 21st: President's Day (No School)



This week in reading our animal story is called Seal Surfer by Michael Foreman. It is a great story about a little boy who makes friends with a seal. They both have many things in common. It will be fun discovering all of the similarities and differences. Be thinking of a great animal for your research paper on an animal. Every year we have some great ideas and papers from students.







The spelling list this week focuses on words with endings.
babies
cared
chopped
saving
carried
fixing
hurried
joking
grinning
smiled
wrapped
parties

Math
THIS WEEK IS THE UNIT TEST. WE WILL COVER ARRAYS, MULTIPLICATION OF 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 9s, and 10s. You will do great!! We will have lots of practice this week!! Because Math is so much fun!!!!!

Science:
Our class will continue the study of Earth and its Resources. We have some fun activities planned and the Water Cycle to review and create.

Question of the Week:
What does a Puffin look like? Name one place where a Puffin lives. Tell me a really cool fact about a Puffin.
(GO KODY GO!!!!)

Our class wrote some great summaries!!

Nice Job writing summaries of Dinosaur Bob and the Family Lazardo! I love when the students really understand what they are reading and are able to write about it.

Congratulations to Kody Wright again for commenting on our "Question of the Week"!

House Keeping:

Monday, February 7, 2011--Early Release PLC

Monday, February 7, 2011--Penny Wars start for one week only. Save your pennies for our class!1

Tuesday, February 8, 2011--construction paper goes home if you are interested in designing a picture with 100 items to display in the classroom for 100s day.

Monday, February 14, 2011--100s day and Valentine's Day. A class list will be coming home for your student to use when writing their Valentine's cards. We are making Valentine's bags in the classroom.

Language Arts: Nights of the Pufflings by Bruce McMillan. This story is a non-fiction piece. This means it is a true story that really happened. A fictional story does not really happen. It is not based on true events.

The spelling pattern for the week focuses on the /ar/ sound heard in chair and bear.

hair

care

chair

pair

bear

where

scare

air

pear

bare

fair

share

Math:

The students will continue working on multiplication facts for the next two weeks. They will take a Unit Assessment on February 18, 2011. The Unit test will focus on these facts:

0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 9s, and 10s. Remember the strategies we have taught you and multiplication is just REPEATED ADDITION!!

Social Studies/Science:

The Inuit Unit has been fun. We have learned many things about the Inuit ways of life. We will take a Unit test this week and then begin our next Science focus of learning. It is Earth and its resources.

Question of the Week:

Tell me four facts you have learned about the mighty Polar Bear. The King of the North.

Great Auction and AR Party

Two Congratulations are due at this time.

Congratulations to Nathan Carter and his winning of the large stuffed monkey at the Auction. I hope you have enough room for it on your bed!!

Congratulations Kody Wright for commenting on the Question of the Week. You have earned the first Red Token of the second half of the year!!

HouseKeeping:

Monday, January 31, 2011: Early Release PLC

Wednesday, February 2, 2011: Groundhog Day (We already know about that little groundhog Phil)

Monday, February 14, 2011: Valentines Day and Hundreds Day

Language Arts:

Comparing Literature Selections: Dinasour Bob and Fugitive on Four Legs

These two stories are the last of our Incredible Adventure Theme.

We will begin Animals and their Habitats next week. Be thinking of a really amazing animal for your animal research report.

Spelling List:
word
sound
clear
also
soft
crack
lawn
crown
girl
knew
here
turn
dark
north
orange
her
skin
hear
squeeze
gym
second
jeans
hour
our
new

Keep bringing your READING LOG! It is the very best way to earn red tokens for our next auction!!

Math:

The students will continue to learn and practice their multiplication facts. These are the facts we have studied so far:

0's

1's

2's

3's

5's

9's

10's

We will continue to work on 3's and we will begin story problems with multiplication.

Here are some quick facts they should know:

3 x 3 = 9 (The story about the 3 blind mice)

3 x 4 = 12 (1..2..3..4..I like Math let's do some more)

4 x 4 = 16 (Four by four pick-up)

Inuit Unit

This is our last week for our Inuit Unit Packet. The students have learned many things about our friends who live in the North.

Question of the Week:

Complete the sentence with the correct verb in the PAST TENSE

Yesterday, I __________ the cow when I was practicing for the rodeo. (will rope, roping, roped)

A Home Hard Drive Hurricane!!

Sorry I missed several weeks. I had a home hard drive horror story!! We are back on track for the New Year! Our class just completed the IRI and we did great. We will be sending the results home for you too look at and discuss with your children.





Housekeeping:

• Monday, January 24, 2011: Early Release PLC
• Thursday, January 27, 2011: Scheduled Conferences only 3:30-7:30 PM
• Friday, January 28, 2011: Class Blue Ticket Auction
• 4th Six Week grading period begins on Monday

Story of the Week: The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg

Spelling List: (Homophones--words that sound alike but are spelled differently)

hear here new knew it's its hour our

there their they're

Math

Our class started multiplication 2 weeks ago. Multiplication is just repeated addition. We are teaching the students strategies to help them memorize their multiplication facts. We have been practcing 2s, 5s, 10s, 1s, and 0s.

Remember--Zero is the King

One is like a mirror

Two times a number means add that number twice

Inuit Unit:(Social Studies) For the next week all of the third graders are studying the Inuit People of the Arctic Circle. What kind of homes they live in, what they eat, and their ways of life. We are preparing the students for the Iditarod race which begins in March. One of our favorite activities of the year.

Question of the week:

If Mrs. Shore has three suitcases and she has 6 shirts in each suitcase, how many shirts does she have? Write the multiplication equation. Make sure you include both factors and the product.

Wrap-Up of Theme Two: Celebrating Traditions

House Keeping:

• Monday, December 6, 2010: Early Release-PLC
• Monday, December 13, 2010: Practice for Christmas Program
• Tuesday, December 14, 2010: Christmas Program AM--9:30, Christmas Program PM--1:30
• Wednesday, December 15, 2010: Christmas Program AM--9:30
• Thursday, December 16, 2010: Class Christmas Party
• Friday, December 17, 2010: Last day of school before the Christmas Break

Language Arts:

Oh my goodness!! Can you believe it??? Hagen Pence already reached his AR goal. He has become quite an amazing reader. I bet you didn't know he had been reading the BFG on his own at his home. Way to go Hagen!!! This week the students should be at about 25% of their AR goal. Don't forget to read over the Christmas Holidays. We hope you get some great books!!

This week is our wrap-up of Celebrating Traditions. Actually, we are engaging in a Genre Study of Trickster Tales. The Tales involve stories about animals with life-like characteristics. Each story has a trickster in it as well as a lesson to be learned. We think you will enjoy these crafty stories.

Spelling List:

join

joy

boil

noise

spoil

choice

soil

point

coil

voice

foil

broil

Math:

This week in math we are practicing with Tables, Bar Graphs, Pictographs, and word problems with extra information. Keep practicing your math addition and subtraction facts. It helps with all of the math you will have in the future. It will also help when we start division and multiplication.

In science, we are studying about motion, force, mass, matter, and energy. We have some fun experiments for the students to participate in. Thanks for your attention during Science time. It is one of my favorite subjects.

Question of the Week:

What is the exhaust coming out of a jet plane called?