I am sending home another writing sample...the very belated Dinorella stories...my apologies for their tardiness...but boy oh boy are you in for a treat! Enjoy them, discuss them, copy them if you wish, but then please sign the front form and send the WHOLE PACKET back to me!
Thanks for your cooperation!
January 30, 2009
January 27, 2009
Think we're done with snow?! I hope so for awhile!
This week was another crazy one...so much to teach, so little time!! But here's what we've accomplished...
Language Arts...we read in our non-fiction science books about the Rock Cycle using the text features to determine key information, and each student identified the main idea and filled out a graphic organizer. We saw a short film clip on Discovery Streaming about the Rock Cycle and this afternoon the students will be writing summary paragraphs using their graphic organizers and facts from the film clip. We have also been writing letters in Language Arts...our students are taking part in a wonderful letter writing contest titled Letters from the White House! More about this contest can be found here http://www.adlit.org/our_white_house_contest...the kids are doing an amazing job! They had a headstart with the research they did about their president or first lady...so we spent a few days researching information about the White House, and today most kids finished their first drafts written from the perspective of their famous person...you will LOVE the work your kids are doing...they're so creative and really seem to understand writing from the perspective of someone else! Next week we will focus on editing and revising the letters.
Math...we are heavy into division...as heavy as we can be with two full days and one short one! We have been working in groups...I have a group of friends that already knew how to long divide...they have been working on divisibility rules, using the divisibility rules, and a few other fun extension and enrichment activities...my other friends have been introduced to long division and I'm happy to report...everyone has either mastered it or are on their way!! NOTE TO PARENTS: if your child is having trouble with long division and would like to work with me from 2:30 - 3:30 one afternoon (if the child rides a shuttle it would mean they'd need transportation), I am MORE than happy to help them. Shoot me an email if you'd like to set this up!
Science...this week we jumped from rocks to composting...we were preparing for the delivery of our newest class members...the earthworms!! However...we are still waiting...while waiting we discussed composting...which materials are good for composting, which ones are not, and we have our own compost containers in our class. We will be observing what happens to our compost pile...especially after our "decomposers" are added! If we have no worms by Monday, we will be headed back to rocks and doing some investigations that involve weathering and erosion!
Language Arts...we read in our non-fiction science books about the Rock Cycle using the text features to determine key information, and each student identified the main idea and filled out a graphic organizer. We saw a short film clip on Discovery Streaming about the Rock Cycle and this afternoon the students will be writing summary paragraphs using their graphic organizers and facts from the film clip. We have also been writing letters in Language Arts...our students are taking part in a wonderful letter writing contest titled Letters from the White House! More about this contest can be found here http://www.adlit.org/our_white_house_contest...the kids are doing an amazing job! They had a headstart with the research they did about their president or first lady...so we spent a few days researching information about the White House, and today most kids finished their first drafts written from the perspective of their famous person...you will LOVE the work your kids are doing...they're so creative and really seem to understand writing from the perspective of someone else! Next week we will focus on editing and revising the letters.
Math...we are heavy into division...as heavy as we can be with two full days and one short one! We have been working in groups...I have a group of friends that already knew how to long divide...they have been working on divisibility rules, using the divisibility rules, and a few other fun extension and enrichment activities...my other friends have been introduced to long division and I'm happy to report...everyone has either mastered it or are on their way!! NOTE TO PARENTS: if your child is having trouble with long division and would like to work with me from 2:30 - 3:30 one afternoon (if the child rides a shuttle it would mean they'd need transportation), I am MORE than happy to help them. Shoot me an email if you'd like to set this up!
Science...this week we jumped from rocks to composting...we were preparing for the delivery of our newest class members...the earthworms!! However...we are still waiting...while waiting we discussed composting...which materials are good for composting, which ones are not, and we have our own compost containers in our class. We will be observing what happens to our compost pile...especially after our "decomposers" are added! If we have no worms by Monday, we will be headed back to rocks and doing some investigations that involve weathering and erosion!
VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY
Time to plan for our Valentine's Day party...Ms. Kim will be sending home a letter soon with the details, but remember the rule for handing out valentines is, if you're giving out 1 valentine, you're giving out 16! Please bring a valentine for each student in our class...the students can bring their valentines anytime between Monday, February 9th and Friday, February 13th...the Valentine's party is from 1:30-2:20pm on that Friday. Here is a list of each child in our class so that you can make sure to include everyone:
Erica
Ashwin
Stephanie
Aravind
Kirsten
Grace
Christine
Megan
Sriniket
Pratulya
Nisarg
Chris
Riley
Abigail
Krishnapriya
Joy
Our party is sure to be a lot of fun with Ms. Kim in charge. Look for a letter early next week!
Have a great weekend...and maybe we can hope for no more snow for awhile...we need our routines back, don't you agree?!
An unexpected day off...a little extra time!!
Because I have a little extra time today...(I emphasize little...as I type, there are 7 kids playing tag on all three levels of my house)...I was looking for a long division game on the internet and I found one...I've attached the link on the sidebar and titled it "long division"...there is also another link that has been there awhile titled "division"...it's more the how to of long division...not an interactive game...there are also other links for multiplication facts...so if your child needs some fact practice...visit one of the links..."funbrain" has some really fun fact practice games.
I also found a really fun site about rocks and minerals...it has information and lots of interactive games that the kids can play, all the while learning new facts! I really like the mineral properties button...when you click on it you have an opportunity to conduct a mineral identification activity...check it out!
I may add a few more links as I surf the web, so keep your eyes open for new links!
Enjoy being at home...with the winter storm warning in place for tonight and tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll see your kids until Thursday...but hopefully I'll see them tomorrow!
I also found a really fun site about rocks and minerals...it has information and lots of interactive games that the kids can play, all the while learning new facts! I really like the mineral properties button...when you click on it you have an opportunity to conduct a mineral identification activity...check it out!
I may add a few more links as I surf the web, so keep your eyes open for new links!
Enjoy being at home...with the winter storm warning in place for tonight and tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll see your kids until Thursday...but hopefully I'll see them tomorrow!
January 26, 2009
I'm BAACK!!
Hi, everyone...I'm back and ready to roll! I wanted to share my very favorite photo from my trip...we were in Animal Kingdom when this photo was taken and I had my entire family together...my son, Robert and his wife, Kim, surprised my husband and kids, and joined us for three days...we had wonderful weather and made many lifelong memories...
I will update on Friday as usual. Have a great week!
January 17, 2009
Hi...from Florida!
Hi, everyone! As the students know...my family and I flew to Florida on Friday...I left school as soon as the kids did, so I didn't have time to blog...and I didn't think I'd get to, BUT my parents brought their laptop...so HERE I AM!
We had such a good week...lots to tell you...
We've started a new science unit and we are having fun with ROCKS! This week we found the difference between rocks and minerals...we observed the minerals graphite, calcite, feldspar, and talc...we tested each mineral for it's hardness using a scratch test (fingernails, pennies)...we found that talc and graphite were the softest and that feldspar was quite hard...we talked about Moh's scale of hardness...used by petrologists everywhere...we redefined properties and found the physical properties of rocks and minerals. We used a spring scale to find the mass of rocks...we had very active scientists!!
Our language arts unit coincides with this unit...it is titled "Reading Science Textbooks"...and we have split up into three groups, each reading about either Sedimentary Rocks, Igneous Rocks, and Metamorphic Rocks. This week we focused on identifying text features and how they help us find the main idea. We will be taking this further upon my return, using the main idea graphic organizer to write a summary.
In math this week we worked with factors, multiples, multiplication properties, and we dove deep into division (a little alliteration!) Just like with EVERY other area in math, we seem to be all over the place with division so we are breaking into different groups for different concepts. We all worked on estimation this week. With division, students have to find numbers that are compatible...it's not as easy as rounding to the nearest hundred...because with division, only certain numbers divide into others evenly. The kids really seemed to pick up on this...but the kids who know their division basic facts had a much easier time...having the kids practice skip counting...7, 14, 21, 28...while in the car, while killing time in a doctor's office, or while in the shower, for that matter, would greatly benefit many of the kids...especially the 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's!
EXAMPLE: 739 divided by 8...if you round to 700...not easy to divide...if you round to 740...not easy to divide...but if you skip count 8s and see that 72 is a basic fact...then make the number 720 and you have a quick estimate...720 divided by 8...90!
The students also took a quiz on graphing and probability this week...and they all did very well!
We are starting to work on root words...bio and graph were the root words from this week...the kids brainstormed as many words containing bio and graph as they could...and then tried to figure out the meaning of the roots...they found out that these roots are derived from the Greek language. We will have a test on these words this coming Friday.
And speaking of this coming Friday, I will be out on Thursday and Friday of next week. We are taking advantage of the short school week. One of my favorite substitutes will be with the kids, Mrs. Ram. She and Mrs. Maenner will be introducing the kids to a White House Letter Writing Contest that all students will be participating in! The kids will be in the computer lab researching the history of the White House for the letter writing contest, they'll be drafting their letters, they'll also be working on division and science vocabulary.
I hope many of the kids will get to view the Inauguration...especially President-Elect Obama taking his oath of office. With our study of Presidents and First Ladies, they already have a unique perspective and they will be able to make many connections as they watch.
I will back in class Monday, January 26th.
I hope you stay warm...I guess it would be rubbing it in to tell you that the kids went swimming in an outdoor pool today? :-)
We had such a good week...lots to tell you...
We've started a new science unit and we are having fun with ROCKS! This week we found the difference between rocks and minerals...we observed the minerals graphite, calcite, feldspar, and talc...we tested each mineral for it's hardness using a scratch test (fingernails, pennies)...we found that talc and graphite were the softest and that feldspar was quite hard...we talked about Moh's scale of hardness...used by petrologists everywhere...we redefined properties and found the physical properties of rocks and minerals. We used a spring scale to find the mass of rocks...we had very active scientists!!
Our language arts unit coincides with this unit...it is titled "Reading Science Textbooks"...and we have split up into three groups, each reading about either Sedimentary Rocks, Igneous Rocks, and Metamorphic Rocks. This week we focused on identifying text features and how they help us find the main idea. We will be taking this further upon my return, using the main idea graphic organizer to write a summary.
In math this week we worked with factors, multiples, multiplication properties, and we dove deep into division (a little alliteration!) Just like with EVERY other area in math, we seem to be all over the place with division so we are breaking into different groups for different concepts. We all worked on estimation this week. With division, students have to find numbers that are compatible...it's not as easy as rounding to the nearest hundred...because with division, only certain numbers divide into others evenly. The kids really seemed to pick up on this...but the kids who know their division basic facts had a much easier time...having the kids practice skip counting...7, 14, 21, 28...while in the car, while killing time in a doctor's office, or while in the shower, for that matter, would greatly benefit many of the kids...especially the 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's!
EXAMPLE: 739 divided by 8...if you round to 700...not easy to divide...if you round to 740...not easy to divide...but if you skip count 8s and see that 72 is a basic fact...then make the number 720 and you have a quick estimate...720 divided by 8...90!
The students also took a quiz on graphing and probability this week...and they all did very well!
We are starting to work on root words...bio and graph were the root words from this week...the kids brainstormed as many words containing bio and graph as they could...and then tried to figure out the meaning of the roots...they found out that these roots are derived from the Greek language. We will have a test on these words this coming Friday.
And speaking of this coming Friday, I will be out on Thursday and Friday of next week. We are taking advantage of the short school week. One of my favorite substitutes will be with the kids, Mrs. Ram. She and Mrs. Maenner will be introducing the kids to a White House Letter Writing Contest that all students will be participating in! The kids will be in the computer lab researching the history of the White House for the letter writing contest, they'll be drafting their letters, they'll also be working on division and science vocabulary.
I hope many of the kids will get to view the Inauguration...especially President-Elect Obama taking his oath of office. With our study of Presidents and First Ladies, they already have a unique perspective and they will be able to make many connections as they watch.
I will back in class Monday, January 26th.
I hope you stay warm...I guess it would be rubbing it in to tell you that the kids went swimming in an outdoor pool today? :-)
January 13, 2009
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
1. Your child is bringing home a packet that includes a paragraph, a grade sheet, two scoring rubrics, and a slip for you to sign. Please take time to go through the information with your child, sign the slip, and send the ENTIRE PACKET back to school with your child by Friday. I have to keep their writing samples in their portfolios, but I like to make sure you see some of them...hence the big packet!
2. If your child would like to participate in the Wax Museum at the Dancing Bear toy store in downtown Frederick on January 31st, the signed slip is due tomorrow.
Have a good rest of the week!
2. If your child would like to participate in the Wax Museum at the Dancing Bear toy store in downtown Frederick on January 31st, the signed slip is due tomorrow.
Have a good rest of the week!
January 11, 2009
THIS JUST IN....
The 3rd grade Magnet classes at Urbana Elementary School have been invited to perform our Wax Museum at the Dancing Bear toy store in Downtown Frederick!!! The owners were already planning special president-themed activities in honor of the monumental inauguration...when they heard about our Hall of Presidents & First Ladies, they jumped at the chance to include us in the festivities!!!
A flyer will go home with students on Monday, explaining the event in more detail. Things are tentatively scheduled for Saturday, January 31st from 3pm to 6pm. Owners Tom & Marlene England are looking for student volunteers dressed in-character to stand in various locations throughout the store and perform for customers when red buttons are pushed. Students who agree to perform for only one 45-minute interval will earn a special gift for our classroom as well as some "Bear Bucks" for themselves to spend on store merchandise!!!
What an exciting opportunity to share our new knowledge & developing presentation skills with the community! Stay tuned for photos of all the events!
A flyer will go home with students on Monday, explaining the event in more detail. Things are tentatively scheduled for Saturday, January 31st from 3pm to 6pm. Owners Tom & Marlene England are looking for student volunteers dressed in-character to stand in various locations throughout the store and perform for customers when red buttons are pushed. Students who agree to perform for only one 45-minute interval will earn a special gift for our classroom as well as some "Bear Bucks" for themselves to spend on store merchandise!!!
What an exciting opportunity to share our new knowledge & developing presentation skills with the community! Stay tuned for photos of all the events!
January 9, 2009
WOW...WOW...WOW...WOW...WOW...WOW...
I'm sure you're thinking the same thing if you were a visitor at the Hall of Presidents and First Ladies Wax Museum! WOW! The students did an amazing job and should be extremely proud of themselves! Below this post is a video story of their journey...I hope you all enjoy it!
With the kind of week we had...early dismissal one day, late arrival another day, three dress rehearsals on Thursday...I must say I don't have as much as usual to write about...but here goes...
We had many, many rehearsals this week...and I think they paid off well...the students were focusing on loud voices and eye contact...can you believe how many of them had it memorized or practically memorized?!
We started a new science unit today! We will spend the next month or so doing a unit on Rocks, Soil, and Fossils...it looks to be a great unit...it is new to the third grade in FCPS, so we'll be learning it together! The kids shared their immense knowledge with the class today and then we watched a Bill Nye the Science Guy video with lots of wonderful facts...we will delve into the investigations on Monday!
In Language Arts this week, the students started Monday writing a paragraph about their Winter Break. On Tuesday the students revised their paragraphs with the reminder that it needed a topic sentence, at least three facts with details, and a concluding sentence. On Wednesday the students used their Ideas rubric and their Organization rubric to first revise their work, and then to score their own papers. It is my job over the weekend to score them and grade them. The kids did a nice job following the writing process and using the two writing traits Ideas and Organization to shape their work.
In Math this week we focused on BCR's (brief constructed responses)...in simpler terms...problem solving where the focus is explaining your work. Your kids are very good at this...but we worked on using the words IN THE PROMPT in their answer. This is a very important and quite easy tip to writing a great answer. I tell the kids...you're never allowed to steal...except when writing an answer to a question...I want you to be a WORD THIEF!! Steal the words used in the question to write an outstanding answer...they're catching on!
And so...I leave you with our photo story...I hope you enjoyed today...I know the kids enjoyed it and I certainly felt like the proud mother of 16 fantastic kids!
With the kind of week we had...early dismissal one day, late arrival another day, three dress rehearsals on Thursday...I must say I don't have as much as usual to write about...but here goes...
We had many, many rehearsals this week...and I think they paid off well...the students were focusing on loud voices and eye contact...can you believe how many of them had it memorized or practically memorized?!
We started a new science unit today! We will spend the next month or so doing a unit on Rocks, Soil, and Fossils...it looks to be a great unit...it is new to the third grade in FCPS, so we'll be learning it together! The kids shared their immense knowledge with the class today and then we watched a Bill Nye the Science Guy video with lots of wonderful facts...we will delve into the investigations on Monday!
In Language Arts this week, the students started Monday writing a paragraph about their Winter Break. On Tuesday the students revised their paragraphs with the reminder that it needed a topic sentence, at least three facts with details, and a concluding sentence. On Wednesday the students used their Ideas rubric and their Organization rubric to first revise their work, and then to score their own papers. It is my job over the weekend to score them and grade them. The kids did a nice job following the writing process and using the two writing traits Ideas and Organization to shape their work.
In Math this week we focused on BCR's (brief constructed responses)...in simpler terms...problem solving where the focus is explaining your work. Your kids are very good at this...but we worked on using the words IN THE PROMPT in their answer. This is a very important and quite easy tip to writing a great answer. I tell the kids...you're never allowed to steal...except when writing an answer to a question...I want you to be a WORD THIEF!! Steal the words used in the question to write an outstanding answer...they're catching on!
And so...I leave you with our photo story...I hope you enjoyed today...I know the kids enjoyed it and I certainly felt like the proud mother of 16 fantastic kids!
January 4, 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's hard to believe it's 2009 and tomorrow we return to school! I have had a wonderful break and done many fun things with my family, but am looking forward to getting back into the routine and seeing YOUR KIDS! Here are a few reminders for the week ahead...
The kids need to PRACTICE their biography! If, by chance, your child forgot to practice over winter break, they have a big assignment over the next few nights...they need to be able to look up (at the audience), more than they look down (at their paper)! Some students will have it memorized...this is not a requirement, but certainly helps the audience experience being with the real famous person...so the more it is practiced, the better!
We hope to see all of you there...the kids have been working very hard and this will be an exciting time! Remember that your child needs his/her costume or artifact ready on Thursday for our dress rehearsals.
I hope that all of you had a great break and I wish only wonderful things for your families in the new year! Tell all of your kids that I'll see them tomorrow!!
The kids need to PRACTICE their biography! If, by chance, your child forgot to practice over winter break, they have a big assignment over the next few nights...they need to be able to look up (at the audience), more than they look down (at their paper)! Some students will have it memorized...this is not a requirement, but certainly helps the audience experience being with the real famous person...so the more it is practiced, the better!
REMINDER!!!!
WAX MUSEUM
Parent Presentation
Friday, January 9, 2009
9:15 am
UES cafeteria
(approximately one hour in length)
9:15 am
UES cafeteria
(approximately one hour in length)
We hope to see all of you there...the kids have been working very hard and this will be an exciting time! Remember that your child needs his/her costume or artifact ready on Thursday for our dress rehearsals.
I hope that all of you had a great break and I wish only wonderful things for your families in the new year! Tell all of your kids that I'll see them tomorrow!!
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Happy End of January
I’m learning that this blog doesn’t really fit into my life anymore...any extra time I have is spent working on enhancing instruction...and ...
