Christmas Programs this Week!

Due to the overcrowding at the Christmas Program, the Ellis students will be performing at three different times during the week.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009: 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM
Wednesday, December 16, 2009: 9:30 AM

We have been practicing as a third grade team, and the students sound wonderful. Come and enjoy the performance.

Housekeeping:

• Christmas Programs
• Room #1 Christmas Party: Thursday, December 17, 2009
• PLC Day: Monday, December 14, 2009
• Christmas Break (starts this Saturday) Students will be back in school Monday, January 4, 2010
• End of next 6 -week grading period: Friday, January 8, 2010
• HAVE A WONDEFUL HOLIDAY!!

Language Arts:

This week our Incredible Story is a Italian Folktale, written and illustrated by Tomie de Paola.

The story is called: The Incredible Giant of Barletta

The students will be learning about endings -est and -er, verbs (action words) and exact verbs. They did a wonderful job last week on their writing pieces. Thank you so much for working so hard in class.

Spelling List concentrates on the vowel + r sound:

girl clear her turn dark work smart word

hurt serve north third hard tornado morning scurried

Math:

Wow! We are moving right along. The students will interpret data this week to fill in graphs and tables. They will also read for information in order to solve 2-step problems.

Sience:

Our class will wrap up the Unit on energy, light, matter, and motion. This week we will review important concepts, do a Sciene Experiment with liquids and have a quiz on the Promethean Board.

LAST QUESTIONS OF THE YEAR 2009:

What language is spoken the most on our planet? About How many people speak it? What continent is this country on?

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Parents! The weather is getting very cold, especially in the mornings. Please send your children to school with adequate layers in order to keep them warm (gloves, coats, hats, scarfs and boots if necessary). Following is a list of upcoming events for the month of December.

Monday, December 7-11: Penny Wars at Ellis School
Monday, December 14th: PLC Early Release
Christmas Program: Tuesday, December 15th at 9:30 AM and 1:30 PM
Christmas Program: Wednesday, December 16th at 9:30 AM
December 19th -January 3rd: Christmas Break! See you back to school on January 4th, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010: End of the third six-week grading period--AR Goal deadline

LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week is a reading-writing workshop. The students will be making up a story--it can be true of make-believe (fantasy). They will come up with their own characters and be responsible for a beginning, middle, and ending. Their story will have a plot, it will have proper paragraphing, and the students will use spicy adjectives to create a more detailed story. Writing is tough for all of the class when we do it at the same time, but we know our students will do a marvelous job.

Spelling List: Frequently Misspelled Words:
and
said
goes
going
some
something
you
your
friend
school
where
myself
tonight
lying
field
enough

MATH:
Rounding has gone very well for our students this past week. We will conclude our rounding exercises today and move onto reading and completing tables with information, story problems with extra information, story problems with not enough information, and 2-step word problems. Please look for homework to come home this week.

Science:
The students will continue to study the properties of matter and how it can change or remain the same. We will also discuss the concept of gravity and how motion can affect matter.

Question of the Week: If there are 24 hours in one day, how many hours are there in 5 days?

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?

Happy Halloween You little Cuties!

Dates to Remember:

• Class book sent in on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. If you have not sent in your money, please do before this date.

Remember--Homework is always due the next day for full credit. Please check your child's backpack.

Thursday, November 5, 2009: Class field trip to the ISU Museum and Craft Shop. Cost if $5.00. Money needs to be in this week. The students do not need to take their lunches. We will be back at 11:30 am.

November 13, 2009: Deadline for AR Goal. There are exactly two weeks left. Keep Reading.

Language Arts: This week our reading anthology is the story THE TALKING CLOTH by Rhonda Mitchell. Again, the story tells about family traditions, cultures, and symbols. Some of these stories are more difficult to conceptualize, but the students are doing well with the comprehension.

The spelling list focuses on three cluster consonants.

spring knee throw patch strong wrap three watch street know spread write catch two strength kitchen

Math:

Hurray! What a great job the students did on the end of the Unit Assessment on Addition, Subtraction, and place value. We began a new unit last week which will focus on geometric concepts: perimeter, area, length, width, lines, shapes. This unit is shorter than the first unit. Continue watching for homework. It comes home at least one time each week.

Social Studies:

We started learning about the different Native People who made their living in the desert, forest, and grasslands. This week we will travel to the ISU Museum of Natural History and learn about Native people in our own state of Idaho.

Questions of the week: How do you get a sound out of a percussion instrument?

How do you play a conga drum?