Ho, Ho, Ho!

Ho, ho, ho!  Merry Christmas!  Thanks for all those who participated to make our Secret Santa week successful.  I thought it was wonderful that students were able to fill buckets just by writing a little note.  Presents, wrappings, ribbons and gifts are appreciated and delightful, but acts of kindness and friendship form memories and withstand time.  Our buckets are brimming this week!

This week in our Language Arts block we will be discussing the question, "How can people help animals in danger?" This morning we talked about different ways we can each make a difference including, controlling litter and pollution to help animals stay alive.  Keep animals habitats safe, and learning more about animals in our habitat.  We're excited to learn more ways to protect animals.  To go along with this question, we will be reading the story A Symphony of Whales.  In this story, a young girl is gifted with the ability to hear whale songs.  One night, she dreams that her sled dogs lead her to whales- and the next day they do.  But the whales are in trouble...Our purpose for reading this story is to find out how people can help these whales who are in danger.

Our weekly comprehension skill that we are focusing on is Generalization.  When you read ideas about several things, you may see how they are alike in some way.  You can make a general statement  about all of them together.  We will be looking at text this week that can help model and explicitly teach this skill.

In math this week, we are continuing on to introduce new multiplication patterns with x4 and x6.  Please continue to work on fluency at home with multiplication flashcard homework.  Besides reading over the break, please take some time while in the car, while sitting at the table, etc. to practice facts.  Starting in January, I will be sending home weekly progress reports for multiplication fluency.  Good luck students!

We will be having our Polar Express Day this Friday beginning at 9:30 with a delicious brunch (and hot chocolate of course!)  provided by our volunteer moms.  After brunch, we will be watching the Polar Express, singing in music class and finishing up some holiday crafts.  All students are invited to wear pajamas and slippers on Friday for our Polar Express Day.  If the weather permits, we will be going out for recess, so please bring along a pair of shoes to replace slippers.

Have a wonderful holiday, stay warm, enjoy your time together and create a memory.  Merry Christmas!

A Week At A Glance

Just a little reminder... We are beginning our Secret Santa this week.  Students were given names of their secret friend that they will be doing some secret notes, secret acts or secret treats to have some fun, but also...fill more buckets!  Any questions or concerns, please contact me.  Thanks for your help!

For the next few weeks, we are focusing on multiplication facts fluency.  Students will be given a flashcard games worksheet to choose daily games.  Each student should complete at least one activity a day.  Please initial next to the games being played by your student, and then turn in worksheet on Friday or the last day of the week.  All flashcards stay at home to be used daily.  Students have another set at school to practice fluency there.  This week we are trying to pass off x2s and x5x and then review x1s and x10s.

On Wednesday, December 11, the third grade classes will be walking to Alta High School to watch a performance of Peter Pan.  We'll leave about 8:50 and return to Altara at lunchtime.  All elementary schools within walking distance were invited, so seating is limited to just students and teachers.  We are looking forward to providing this cultural experience for the students.  A permission slip will be coming home in homework folders today.  Please sign and return by Tuesday, December 10.  Thanks!

This week in Reading Street we are reading the expository text, Seeing Stars.  Today we talked about the weekly question, "How can we explain things in nature using investigation?"  Stars look like tiny diamonds, but they are actually giant balls of fire.  You can only see stars at night, because daylight makes them invisible.  It's hard to see them even at night if you live in a well-lit place like a big city.  You can see stars close-up if you look through a telescope.  The map of stars in the sky appears to change because the Earth moves through the sky.  In long-ago times, people "connected the dots" in the sky to form constellations, such as Orion.

This week our comprehension skill is digging into Graphic Sources.  Maps, charts, diagrams, illustrations, and photos are examples of graphic sources.  They help us understand information as we read a text.

We will also be learning about subject-verb agreement for our conventions.  The subject of a sentence tells who or what performs the main action.  The verb tells what the main action is.  The subject and verb must agree.  A singular subject gets a singular verb.  A plural subject gets a plural verb.  

The Good News Is...

Alright, I'm not sure if the problem is I just ate too much turkey and pumpkin pie, or if the cold is starting to freeze my brain, but the good news is we really don't have current events this month. In my little brain I tried to get us organized for the month of December with current events, but as my team mates pointed out to me, we don't have book reports or currents events this month. Just our little gift to you during a very busy month. So disregard the calendar that came home this week, and I'll send a new one home when the time is right. Happy holidays!

Shhh...It's A Secret!

Welcome back from a great holiday and long weekend. Hope that you are staying warm and safe out there as the snow continues to fall outside today. It's beautiful, but chilly, please remind your student to dress appropriately for our winter weather. It's that time again...we filled our classroom bucket with hundreds of wonderful, and kind deeds given by all students inside our class. We have discussed two ways to celebrate. The first is a secret, because it involves all of us being secret Santas to some well deserving individuals in our building. Just ask your student and he/she can fill you in on our secret plan! The second way we are celebrating is having our class participate in a classroom secret Santa activity. Next Friday, we will be randomly assigned a friend. We will get to work our holiday magic, by secretly leaving notes, kind deeds, or goodies behind for our friend to discover everyday beginning the week of Dec. 9-13. We decided that if we wanted to purchase items for our friend, that the total for the whole week should be limited to $3.00. It would be ideal if students could earn their own money for items. They will probably be asking you for odd jobs that they can help with, to earn a little extra change. If this is a problem in any way, please let me know about your concerns and questions. Thanks for your help with this little holiday celebration! We are moving on this week with x2 and x5 multiplication facts. Students brought home flash cards yesterday in their homework folder to be used with games assigned for math homework. We are just beginning to push ourselves to not only understand the meaning behind multiplication and division, but also to become fluent with the facts. We are well on our way to mastering the facts! This week in Reading Street we are reading a drama titled, Pushing Up The Sky. This drama is an example of a myth that has been told to explain why things work in nature. It is a wonderful story told by Northwestern Native Americans to teach why we have a sky, and how the stars were placed there.