Happy Spring break to everyone! I thought I would take advantage of this rainy Tuesday to get caught up on the Rosenberg Report.
It has been a busy start to spring. NYS math and ELA tests are complete for this year for 3rd grade. The students all did a great job adjusting to the schedule changes for a few weeks. We are now beginning the 4th marking quarter (hard to believe). Report cards did go home with the students on Friday. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Here is what we have been up to and will be up to in each subject area.
Math: we finished up the fraction unit, did some work with data and graphing and began a review of telling time. After the break we will work some more with time and elapsed time, measurement and perimeter (with a review of area) and some geometry. We will round the school year out with word problems and some work with multiplication (2 digit by 1 digit).
Science: We tried out a new computer resource for science called Mystery Science. The students loved the activities! We tried out the solar system unit and another called Animals Through Time- Habitats, Heredity, & Change Over Time. We hope to try out a few other units before the end of the year. We will also be exploring the world of worms.
Social Studies: We have begun learning about Native Americans- specifically the Iroquois Nation. Our focus will be on how the Native Americans interacted with their environment.
ELA: Reading-We have worked on 15 lessons in the Journeys reading book (and 20 of the spelling lessons). For the rest of the year we will do whole class chapter books as well as smaller book groups. We just finished reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary together as a class. The students really enjoyed this classic (Beverly Cleary just celebrated her 100th birthday) and many students are eager to read some of her other books on their own. The next class chapter book will be Sign of the Beaver. The smaller book groups will read shorter books from our book room.
Writing- We have been working on reading responses together as a group as well as independently. Students are given a "menu" with choices of questions to respond to about a book they are reading. We will also be writing fictional narratives- specifically Native American style myths right after the break. We will read several of these together, analyze the components of the stories and then each student will create their own using those components. We also to hope to have students write a fictional narrative in the style of their own choosing (a fictional story) before the end of the school year.
Spelling- Please look in the Pirate Folders on Monday for information on the spelling program we will be using for the rest of the year. Each child will have their own individualized spelling list based on basic reading and writing sight words. We will not be using Spelling City computer website with these words due to the individualized lists. However students can still use the website if they type in their lists before they play the games.
Classroom requests: we are out of Kleenx and allergy season is in full swing. We would appreciate any donations of tissues! We could also use some classroom snack donations. If your child does not bring their own snack from home, and they are having some of our classroom snack, please consider sending in a donation (goldfish type crackers, pretzels, animal crackers, etc).
Upcoming Events:
Field trip to Howe Caverns on May 12th- students will need a bag lunch/drink (please let me know several days in advance if a bag lunch from school is needed so I can let the cafeteria know). Students should also dress for the cavern which is 50 degrees regardless of the outside temperature (a light jacket is highly recommended) and wear comfortable shoes (sneakers are best).
Phew- if you have made it to this point- I thank you for reading!! Enjoy the rest of the break.
It has been a busy start to spring. NYS math and ELA tests are complete for this year for 3rd grade. The students all did a great job adjusting to the schedule changes for a few weeks. We are now beginning the 4th marking quarter (hard to believe). Report cards did go home with the students on Friday. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Here is what we have been up to and will be up to in each subject area.
Math: we finished up the fraction unit, did some work with data and graphing and began a review of telling time. After the break we will work some more with time and elapsed time, measurement and perimeter (with a review of area) and some geometry. We will round the school year out with word problems and some work with multiplication (2 digit by 1 digit).
Science: We tried out a new computer resource for science called Mystery Science. The students loved the activities! We tried out the solar system unit and another called Animals Through Time- Habitats, Heredity, & Change Over Time. We hope to try out a few other units before the end of the year. We will also be exploring the world of worms.
Social Studies: We have begun learning about Native Americans- specifically the Iroquois Nation. Our focus will be on how the Native Americans interacted with their environment.
ELA: Reading-We have worked on 15 lessons in the Journeys reading book (and 20 of the spelling lessons). For the rest of the year we will do whole class chapter books as well as smaller book groups. We just finished reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary together as a class. The students really enjoyed this classic (Beverly Cleary just celebrated her 100th birthday) and many students are eager to read some of her other books on their own. The next class chapter book will be Sign of the Beaver. The smaller book groups will read shorter books from our book room.
Writing- We have been working on reading responses together as a group as well as independently. Students are given a "menu" with choices of questions to respond to about a book they are reading. We will also be writing fictional narratives- specifically Native American style myths right after the break. We will read several of these together, analyze the components of the stories and then each student will create their own using those components. We also to hope to have students write a fictional narrative in the style of their own choosing (a fictional story) before the end of the school year.
Spelling- Please look in the Pirate Folders on Monday for information on the spelling program we will be using for the rest of the year. Each child will have their own individualized spelling list based on basic reading and writing sight words. We will not be using Spelling City computer website with these words due to the individualized lists. However students can still use the website if they type in their lists before they play the games.
Classroom requests: we are out of Kleenx and allergy season is in full swing. We would appreciate any donations of tissues! We could also use some classroom snack donations. If your child does not bring their own snack from home, and they are having some of our classroom snack, please consider sending in a donation (goldfish type crackers, pretzels, animal crackers, etc).
Upcoming Events:
Field trip to Howe Caverns on May 12th- students will need a bag lunch/drink (please let me know several days in advance if a bag lunch from school is needed so I can let the cafeteria know). Students should also dress for the cavern which is 50 degrees regardless of the outside temperature (a light jacket is highly recommended) and wear comfortable shoes (sneakers are best).
Phew- if you have made it to this point- I thank you for reading!! Enjoy the rest of the break.