Month: October 2023

Happy Friday! It was a great week in third grade and our paleontologists were hard on the job Thursday. It was fun to have parents in the room to join the learning.

VFW Essay -Please locate the permission slip in your child’s Friday Folder today, sign and return on Monday. I am going to have them complete these in class, however I unfortunately thought I would have more time to work on these with the students. We will see what we can do in a short couple days. Again, all you have to do is sign the form and we will do them in class.

Book Reports -Due Tuesday. Pumpkin, written portion, and ready to orally present and share. I can’t wait!

Field Trip– We will be departing Assumption on Thursday at 9:30. Thank you to all the drivers. As you know we have plenty of parents, so if you have decided this is something you may not attend, please know that we will be ok 😉 (Students will be in regular uniform for this day.)

Halloween/All Saints Day -Our amazing room parents Jessie and Sherry are planning our celebration and hopefully you got the volunteer sign up for that. All are welcome, Tuesday at 1:30. This will be an Orange and Black dress day. For All Saints Day, I encourage the students to dress up as a saint and they can wear that all day. If they are not dressing up Wednesday is a dress uniform day.

Literacy -We continued working on persuasive writing with a letter. In reading we looked at making inferences and wrapping up the second part of our animal adaptations unit. We continued to look at how good readers ask questions when they read.

Math -Third graders began exploring the concept of multiplication and how it relates to addition (repeated addition). We made equal groups and also looked at how to use a number line to help. This is an important chapter to grasp before we really start mastering those facts.

Social Studies -Students took a test on the location of the five oceans and seven continents. Ask them about the songs we learned to help with this!

Religion -This week we took our assessment on Chapter 3 and began our All Saints Day research. Students will be learning how to organize this in a PowerPoint presentation next week. See above for information on dressing up.

Spanish – Una nota de Señora Anna-This week in Spanish, we matched types of clothing to weather and practiced writing weather words in Spanish. We also reviewed colors with a fall themed color by number!

Music – This week in music class we are: Completing Episode 3 Secret Chicken – the aural skills rhythm decoding series, Singing Old Joe Clark in 2 parts and Singing and adding instrumental accompaniment to the song Skin and Bones.

PE – Reviewed overhand throwing and catching cues. Practiced throwing and catching various sized balls. Played games using our throwing and catching skills called Catch Everything, Mat ball and Protect the Pin. 

Third graders did a wonderful job at Mass today. We will be doing the Grandparent Day Mass next month, and I assured the class that my goal is to get all kids reading on the microphone this year if they would like to do so!

Pumpkin Book Reports -Check Seesaw for sample pumpkins and ideas. Have fun! These can be either real or pretend pumpkins, just not carved. The written portion is in the student’s Friday Folders today! Please support your child in producing this as a final draft, with correct spelling, and neat handwriting. Pumpkins and reports are due on October 31st, Halloween! (I am told you can find cheap foam pumpkins at Hobby Lobby, thanks Tia!)

Reading Goal -Please encourage your children to read. Read aloud, read to a stuffed animal, read before bed, in the car, to a sibling, you name it! When they finish a book have them post a photo on Seesaw. We are 17 books into our 104 goal, set by the third graders. We want to have a Read-In!

All Saints Day – We celebrate on November 1st, however students will begin a research project and presentation on a chosen Saint. I will give them books and resources but feel free to discuss this at home in preparation. I do encourage my students to dress up as their saint that day, however it is not required. Something to think about as it approaches.

Field Trip -The amount of drivers and chaperones we have willing to attend is amazing! Thank you! Please look for an email from me regarding who is driving and who will be pairing up with another driver (obviously we don’t need 13 drivers, however I want to honor the wish to attend and there is not a limit this time.). If you wish to stay and not join us, just let me know. (Thursday, November 2nd, 9:30am-12:45pm). **Many need updated information in order to attend/drive.**

ACADEMICS:

Reading -Third graders learned about animal coverings and how these adaptations help animals survive. The concepts covered were asking questions, main idea and supporting details, and inferences. Grammar this week was verbs, specifically past, present, and future. In writing students published a paragraph including transition words on their favorite animal.

Social Studies -We wrapped up our geography lessons on map skills, specifically oceans, continents, lines of latitude and longitude, equator, and the prime meridian. Students put their knowledge into practice as they created their balloon globes.

Religion -We were busy planning our Mass and we also began chapter 3, beginning with the creation story.

Math -Students completed the chapter on data and building background knowledge towards multiplication and division. We examined pictographs, bar graphs, line plots, and more! I’m so excited to dive into the next chapter and the concept of what multiplication is! Students are continually practicing their math facts in class as well.

Music – This week in music class we are: Actively listening to the rhythm codes of Secret Chicken – an aural skills rhythm decoding activity  *Practicing singing the pitches do re mi, and learning a song using these pitches called Closet Key. *Practicing dynamics with the poem In a Dark Dark Room

Spanish – Una nota de Señora Anna-This week in Spanish we learned weather vocabulary. We sang a song about the weather in each season and drew different types of weather. We will use what we have learned to discuss the weather and seasons at calendar time.

Here’s your Friday news a day early :). I hope the weather stays nice so you can enjoy a long fall weekend with your children. I explained to the students that I will be out at Saint Joachim at a staff retreat, where we will be celebrating some of our local indigenous people as well. They will even be making us salmon and fry bread for lunch! (We learned a little about our local tribes, watched a video, and read a few books for Indigenous People’s Day earlier this week).

Holy Hoops Next Week -IF your children attends any portion of any day to root on our 5th-8th graders they will be excused from homework. Simply either write in their agenda or send me a quick email letting me know they were at Holy Hoops and they will be excused of ALL homework for the night. This is a really great tradition and such a fun experience to be a part of, even as a spectator!

Book Reports -We talked today about the fun pumpkin book report they will be completing this month. There is an idea page in your child’s Friday Folder tonight to start gathering supplies. Note: please do NOT carve the pumpkin in any way. We looked at samples and photos of what the students did last year so ask your children. They will have a writing portion coming home at the end of next week to accompany the pumpkin character. Please reach out to me if getting a small pumpkin is a hardship and I will provide one.

Literacy -This week we wrapped up our first unit in Benchmark learning about animal adaptations and completed the online assessment. These are tricky, but we did the first together. Students are writing a paragraph incorporating transition words about their favorite animal.

*Spelling next week will be a review so they will not have a normal set of words.

Math -Mathematicians explored data, picture graphs, frequency plots, and building background knowledge to begin understanding multiplication. They each have their own goal to beat for math facts and can practice at home! (Xtramath.org)

Social Studies -Geographers finished their own maps, learned the five oceans, and will dive into continents next week!

Science -In science this week we explored mold fossils, a Mystery Science exploration with fossils, and next week we will be excavating “actual” fossils. Should be fun.

Religion -We completed the second chapter in our books. We learned about the Holy Trinity, and three theological virtues -faith, hope and love (charity).

Spanish –Una nota de Señora Anna- This week in Spanish we learned about the four seasons. We drew trees and houses to match each season!

PE -This week in PE we. . .Reviewed the overhand throw. Practiced throwing to a partner. Played a game called “BOOM CITY” 

Every Thursday part of our Morning Meeting Routines is completing a TOTB (Think Outside the Box). It’s a creative way to stretch their brains and they love to share their creations. I’m impressed every time and they are all different. I love it!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday! It was a great week diving into third grade curriculum, regular routines, and getting in the grove with our fabulous helper, Mrs. Roberts. Make sure you check Seesaw for regular updates of photos and what your children have been up to this week. (Some of them told me they couldn’t post from home and that means you need the QR code for the Home Learning. Please let me know if you need another copy.)

I’m asking the students to bring a photo or email me a picture, or even draw a small picture, of their “Alphahawk.” They understand what this is and were able to tell me already who they were. (This is someone they look up to, makes positive choices in life, and truly **lives for others**. -Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Mother Teresa, Grandma Betty, Martin Luther King, Aunt Susie.) These can be family members, saints, men/women in history, etc. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

Book Reports -Students are required to approve a book with me by Monday if they have not done so already. These books are ones they have not previously read, but are reading throughout the month. It should last them more than a couple days. This month they need a FICTION book. Their report will be on the main character.

Math -This week we went back and reviewed double and triple digit subtraction with regrouping. We also reviewed subtraction across zeroes. These are concepts taught in second grade so we review them quickly so we can build on them. Our math test was today over addition and subtraction, estimation, and several properties.

Literacy – Students learned about four animal adaptions (beaks, webbed feet, claws, and tails), while focusing on making mental images and identifying main idea. We are getting annotations down and meeting in reading groups through a center rotation. For writing the students published a poem about their “Best Part.”

Religion -This week we celebrated Saint Francis with the Animal Blessing, learned more about his life through a story, and dove into chapter two of our books focusing on God’s love for us and the Holy Trinity.

Social Studies -Geographers learned about different types of maps, elements of a map (key, title, compass rose, and scale), and made their own maps, Barefoot Island. These maps showed their understanding of the elements of a map.

Science -archeologists made their own body fossils and I’m so happy how well they turned out. So fun! In addition, they are selecting their own dino to research. We also explored traits of different fossils and layers of the earth, all through Mystery Science.

Spanish – Una nota de Señora Anna- This week in Spanish we read Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?) to practice color vocabulary. With an I spy worksheet, we counted and colored the animals just as they are in the book. We also retold the story and imagined what animals we would add to the book.

Art – Zentangle pumpkin drawing Lines – Patterns – Balance – Color

PE – learned about the 5 components of fitness and participated in the fall Fitness Gram test that included the pacer, curl-ups, push-ups and sit and reach.