3rd Grade Update

Is it really November? How did that happen?! My great plans for updating the blog every week have not worked out--sorry about that! Hopefully we're in the swing of things, and I can update a little more frequently now.

Our new reading program has kept us very busy learning nouns, proper nouns, plural nouns, irregular plural nouns, and now possesive nouns. Verbs, action verbs, subjects, predicates, conjunctions, and more. (Oh my!) We've also been learning how to write different types of passages, why authors choose to write what they write, reading for a purpose and predicting what will happen. Weekly vocabulary, amazing and spelling words are definitely increasing our language, and the question of the week gets us thinking and discussing some great topics. It's a good program that keeps us going 100 miles an hour.

Most of the kids are excited to be getting some pen pals in the next week or so. My sister-in-law teaches 2nd grade in Tremonton, and we will be writing to her class. It will be exciting to use some of the skills we've learned in writing in a real-life setting.

We are working on subtraction in math. We've talked about why and when we subtract, and have been practicing setting up story problems. Learning to regroup (or borrow) has been pretty smooth for almost everyone. Yesterday we talked about subtracting when there are zeroes in the top number. (500-321=) When you have a few extra minutes :) it would be great to give your child a couple of problems for practice. Even better would be to give them a real-life example and have them set-up the problem to solve. (If we want to buy a game that costs $14.00, and we have $12.50, how much more money do we need?)

We will be wrapping up our unit on skeletal and muscular systems before Thanksgiving. The class is a little worried about memorizing the names of the bones. (I keep reminding them that there are 206 bones, and I'm only asking them to memorized about 15!) We'll keep practicing the names in class, and they should bring home a sheet that you can help them memorize at home.

Thanks for all of your support at home. I'm very impressed that my students are right on top of things. They're getting their math facts done every night, their spelling lists and reading calendars are coming back each Friday, and I can count on them to finish work at home when they need to. I know that life gets really busy, and I'm grateful that parents and students have made schoolwork a priority. Keep up the good work!

Reading Street Information for the week of November 15-19

Question of the week: "How have plants and animals adapted to solve problems?"

Reading Selection: "Amazing Bird Nests" (Can be accessed on the successnet.com website)

Spelling words:
1. father
2. chapter
3. other
4. alphabet
5. watch
6. English
7. weather
8. catch
9. fashion
10. shrink
11. pitcher
12. flash
13. athlete
14. trophy
15. nephew
16. northern
17. establish
18. emphasis
19. hyphen
20. challenge

Vocabulary words:
1. bill (body part of a bird)
2. goo (sticky substance)
3. hunters
4. platform
5. twigs
6. material (ex: wood is a common material used to make homes)
7. tons

Great First Week!

Wow! I can't believe how time flies. We've already made it through our first full week of school. We've also learned quite a few things in those first few days.

In math we've been working on place value, and writing numbers in three different formats. These formats are:

Standard form: or the regular way we write digits, such as: 451,756
Expanded form: 400,000 + 50,000 + 1,000 + 700 + 50 + 6.
Word form: four hundred fifty-one thousand, seven hundred fifty-six.

Place value to the ten or hundred thousands is pretty new to most third-graders, so hopefully your child hasn't been too frustrated. We will keep working on these topics for a few days. If you can look over the returned class work with your child that would also help. (It might even be fun to look at the real-estate ads and have your child read the asking prices to you.)

In language arts and reading we have been learning about homonyms, (words that sound the same, but have different meanings) writing complete sentences, and many new vocabulary words. We also studied the vowel/consonant/consonant/vowel spelling pattern last week. Hopefully you've been helping your child practice spelling words each night. A new spelling list went home today. These words are all plural; ending in -s, -es, or -ies. Please review them each night and sign the spelling paper on Friday.

Week 2 Spelling Words:
pennies
inches
plants
families
bodies
glasses
wishes
pockets
lists
copies
parties
bunches
crashes
supplies
pencils
Challenge Words:
accidents
libraries
mysteries
carpenters
merchants

Thanks for all of your support! I've had great letters from parents, and I can tell that my students are getting the help they need at home. Keep up the great work helping your child with their math facts, practicing spelling, reading 20 minutes, and finishing up any other homework they have each night. I really appreciate your commitment to your child's education!

P.S. I will have book orders ready to go home on Wednesday. If you would like to order, please do so by Monday, September 13. Thanks!

It's Coming!

The first day of school is right around the corner! I hope you're all ready and excited for a great new year. I know I am!

Our classroom looks much more like a classroom now. Your desks are all ready, there are decorations on the walls, and bright shiny new textbooks are just waiting for your arrival.

I've posted a couple of pictures of our classroom, but you'll have to come to back-to-school night to see everything! I'll see you this Wednesday, August 25 at 6:00 P.M. Our classroom is number 9, next to the speech room. I'm excited to meet you!

P.S. Don't forget to pick a few items to bring in your brown bag the first day of school to introduce yourself!

Welcome to Our Class Blog

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a great summer so far!

If you're reading this blog it probably means that you got your postcard in the mail to welcome you to my class next year. I'm so excited to be teaching 3rd grade, and I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you!

We'll be using this blog during the school year to let parents know what's happening in our class, but I wanted to start posting this summer to let you know a little bit about me and the fun things I'll be doing to get ready for the school year to start.

For this first post I wanted to show you what our classroom looks like. It's pretty empty right now, isn't it! You'll be surprised how much it will change over the summer, though. I'll show you more pictures as I get it ready for you to come back to school.

Keep checking back--I'll try to update the blog every week or so to let you know some great things to look forward to.

Enjoy your summer!