Happy Sunday!

We had a short week, but WOW, it sure was full of learning!

Language Arts...
We are closing up our unit on short stories...the kids have explored folktales, fairy tales, fables, and tall tales...they have analyzed all parts of story structure, discussed the mood a story evokes, and even written their own fairy tale. We will be working to publish these pieces this week in the computer lab. These fairy tales, or "Dinorella" tales, as we like to call them, will be scored for three of the six writing traits...IDEAS, ORGANIZATION, and CONVENTIONS. All three traits have been modeled, and each student has completed peer revisions to help "polish" their already WONDERFUL pieces! This week we are beginning a unit titled "Reading Social Studies Textbooks"...we are going to use biographies to teach the indicators in this unit. Our biographies will tie into the Social Studies unit on Political Science that we have already started.


Math...
This week the students were introduced to stem and leaf plots. This data organizer is very different than those they've seen before. We did an introductory activity where we all wrote our birthday months and dates on file cards and taped them on the chalkboard. We talked about how hard it was to read the data when it's disorganized and then brainstormed ways to display and communicate this data. They suggested bar graphs, line graphs, but when discussing further, they realized that it was very difficult to show both the date of their birth and the month of their birth on the same bar or line graph. Do you see where this is headed?! The stem and leaf plot is perfect for this data. We worked with our birthdays first and then used other data that is best represented on stem and leaf plots...we will visit this again this week and then move to double and triple line graphs. It is our goal that your kids will see a list of data and be able to decide which is the best way to display and communicate that data.


Science...
This week we tested our unknown powders by adding iodine, and the next day, red cabbage juice. The students made a hypothesis and recorded observable properties of the unknowns. This coming week we will be observing what happens when each unknown is heated, and then the kids will read an article that contains some background information about the powders. And finally, the students will draw conclusions about the identity of the mystery powders. This unit has definitely been a class favorite!


SCIENCE FAIR
As you know by now, all third grade magnet students have been asked to do a science fair project! On the inside of the cover sheet of the Science Fair packet is a helpful planning tool for you and your child. This is just a tool. I plan to check in with each student as this project is being completed in order to make sure each child is on track. HOWEVER...if you and your child are having a hard time sticking to the due dates, please just send me a note so that I know you are aware of the dates...extensions are no problem, as long as you know the projects have to be done by Nov 24th, the day before Thanksgiving break, so that they can be on display Dec. 2nd, the first Tuesday we return. If you have any questions during the project, please email me and I will get right back to you. This is my first Science Fair, so I am on a learning curve. Mrs. Maenner developed the planning tool packet and I am very grateful...both as her teammate and a parent of a third grade magnet student!

WORD STUDY...
Your children will be coming home with word study words this week. These words are listed at SpellingCity.com, a link that is available in the menu bar next to this entry. The kids just need to type in my name and choose the list of Consonant + le, + al, and + el words. They will be tested on these words Friday the 14th.

Hope your weekend was great! I look forward to the week ahead with your kids!