Parent/ Teacher Conference Week

Our new unit in Reading Street asks the question:  What happens when two cultures come together?  We will be looking specifically this week at the influence culture has on our dress.  So far we've decided that customs, climate and tradition directly influences what we wear.  We will be learning about synonyms, adjectives, and articles as well as learning how to compare and contrast and visualize for our comprehension skills.
In our math groups this week we will be pushing forward with multiplication/division timed drills as well as introducing fractions as equal parts.
I look forward to seeing you for Parent/ Teacher conferences this week.  See you then!

A Week At A Glance

Welcome back from a nice long weekend!  We got right to work today and WOW! We are superstars!
This week we started our language by asking some questions, What behaviors are unique to different animals?  What  behavior is unique to your favorite animal? Why do you think the animal behaves that way? So if you haven't guessed we will be talking about animals and their unique adaptations.  This week we will be reading about magnificent birds in the selections, Fly Eagle, Fly; Eagle Watching; and  Birds of Prey.
We will also be learning about prepositions, cause and effect, and multisyllabic words- not to mention reviewing suffixes, generalizations, summarizing, and fact and opinion. Bet you wish you were in 3rd grade!
We are still moving on with our multiplication and division drills this week as well as introducing geometry in our whole group math.  Please encourage your student to continue to practice math facts every night.  So much to do and so little time! Remember we will be celebrating our great thinking with a multiplication party after spring break.  Good luck students- you can do it!
Parent conferences are just around the corner- please take a minute and sign up for a convenient time.

. Click the following icon:

2. Scroll down to "Altara Elementary" and click "go."

3. Type in the school password (altara) and click "login."

4. Type in your student's ID number.
(hint: The student ID is the username for Envision Math found on the sticker inside of your child's homework folder.)
5. Select an available time slot that works best for you.

If you have any problems or would like support setting up your schedule, feel free to visit the office or call Susan Taylor, our school secretary, for assistance. 

Hope to see you there!

Our question we will be discussing this week is, "What unique traits does it take to be the first to do something"?  Today we read a story about the first Female Hispanic- American astronaut.  Dr. Ellen Ochoa became an astronaut in 1991, but not before she earned 3 degrees in physics, science, and electrical engineering.  She became part of the Discovery crew and also helped develop the International Space Station. We decided it would take imagination, creativity, determination, intelligence, skills and bravery to do all that Dr. Ochoa did to be the first in her field.  We will be reading about other unique individuals this week who were the first in their own field.

We Are Awesome!

Great work for all those that have turned in book report projects last week.  Awesome job of not only caricatures, but also understanding the biography that was read. We are in the process of our oral reports and presentations to our class and will be finishing them up over the week.   I will post a picture of our fabulous  work in the next few days!
This month we will be presenting current events instead of book reports.  We will begin our presentations next Tuesday and will continue through the month.  A calendar will be coming home this week with your student.  Remember...current events mean that the news is current and recent.  Forms for current events are found inside your homework folder.  Good luck students!
This week in our literacy study we will be asking ourselves, "Why is it valuable to have unique interests?"  We will be reading about hobbies and interests and individuals who shine.  Today our journal prompt was, "What do you like to do most when you have free time?"  It was fun to see how we are alike and different with our thinking.
Our spelling pattern for the week is studying the meanings of the common prefixes, pre__, out__, mid__, over__, and de__.  We will be having a spelling test this week to check our understanding of meanings as well as how to spell the word.
We will reviewing cause and effect as well as fact and opinion this week. 
Because it is a short week, we will be turning in homework on Thursday.  Please remember to track your reading minutes and turn your while slips in on Thursday.  Keep up the great reading!
in math we are still passing off multiplication facts and focusing on division facts.  We will be using fact families to help us find missing quotients.  Multiplication progression reports are coming home today in your students's homework folder.

We will be having a Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 14 at 11:00.  This is a great time to feel someone's bucket!  Please make sure that if you are handing out cards or treats that day that you are including everyone in our class.  I will be sending home a note with student names included.  We will also be collecting our valentines in a container.  You can be as creative as you wish, but the container needs to fit on your student's desk.  Please bring containers on February 14 and not before- unfortunately we just don't have the space for storage.
Thanks for all you do for your student.  Have a great week!

Who's Who At Altara!

We are continuing to learn about people who have made a difference in the world through biography reading.  Last week we read about Snowflake Bentley, and Martin Luther King.  Snowflake Bentley had a passion for learning, and nature, and discovered that no two snowflakes are alike.  He spent his whole life preserving their beauty and uniqueness.  You can see all of his art in his book, Snow Crystals.  Martin Luther King believed in dreams.  He spent a good portion of his life trying to create equality for everyone.  We read the book, Martin's Big Words together and discovered that it is using peaceful words and not powerful demonstrations that can make important changes in our world.
There is so much for each of us to learn from history and the lives of people who have impacted our world.  We are all getting excited to share what we are learning from our own look at biographies.  Just a reminder that biography book report projects are due January 30.  Projects can be turned in for display anytime before 1/30.  Great Job, students!

We took a trip to the library and guess who just happened to be hanging out by the biographies!

This week in Reading Street we will be reading a story about James Naismith, The Man Who Invented Basketball.  Did you know basketball started by shooting balls into peach baskets? The question we will be answering this week is how do talents make someone unique?
Our spelling pattern this week is irregular plurals (ex: wolf-wolves).
We will be focusing on generalizing, and summarizing for our comprehension studies.  Using what I know, and what I am learning I can make statements using key words: most of the time, most, all, few, etc. to make a generalized statement.  When I summarize a text can I do that in 1-2 sentences?  Can I do it in 20 words? Summarizing is a brief statement focusing on the most important events or details.
We are beginning math this week with a look at division meanings and how  that connects to multiplication.  We are also working hard to pass off multiplication timed drills in anticipation of our Sundae party celebration after spring break.  Please keep practicing at least 5 minutes every day to work on fluency.  
We held our classroom spelling bee last Friday and everyone did a great job of participating!  Congratulations to Lauren Shirley, Brianna Rees, and Brooklyn Davis who will be moving on to the school spelling bee!  Good luck girls!

Review Week

We will be reviewing Unit Three this week as we prepare for  formative assessments this Friday.  The stories in Unit 3 are about nature and the skills that help living things thrive.  In Week 1 we read the story, How Do You Raise a Raisin?  This nonfiction story tells all kinds of facts about raisins—how they are grown, how they get to your table, and their importance to people throughout history.
During Week 2 we read the story, Pushing Up the Sky.  Myths help us use our imagination to create
stories that explain the natural world. This is a myth that explains how the sky moved to where it is today.  Week 3's selection was Seeing Stars.  Stars are always in the sky. Stars are spheres of fiery gas. In Week 4 we read the story,  A Symphony of Whales.  A young girl has a special gift that helps her
save the whales from certain death.  Week 5 we read Around One Cactus.  In the harsh climate of the Sonoran desert, the saguaro cactus is critical to the survival of other creatures, from tiny hummingbirds to desert foxes. These stories helped us think about how people and nature interact with each other.
Some of the  comprehension skills we learned about during Unit 3 were Cause and Effect and Drawing Conclusions.  A cause tells why something happened. An effect is what happened.  When you draw a conclusion, you  reach a decision after thinking about facts, details, and what you already know about something.
Some vocabulary skills learned this unit and will be reviewed this week are homophones, context clues, and dictionary skills.  Homophones are words that are pronounced the same way but have
different meanings and different spellings.  Context clues are words and sentences around an unknown word that help you figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar word.  A dictionary is a book that explains the meanings of words arranged in alphabetical order with guide words at the top of each page.

Smart Goals, Math Facts, Spelling Bees, Book Reports And More!

Welcome back!  It was great to see students walk through the doors today with a smile on their faces and a renewed energy to get back to work.  Along the lines of New Year's resolutions we talked about SMART goals today, and then picked 1-2 goals that we are excited to work towards over the next few months. Smart goals must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and  Timely.  We discussed how goals that don't address all aspects are really just nice wishes and dreams.  Some of our SMART goals consisted of improving reading fluency, multiplication fluency, artistic and musical talents, and sports achievements.  Ask your student about their goal.  We are all certainly reaching for the stars!

                                              
To prepare ourselves for our school wide Spelling Bee, we will be having a class Spelling Bee next week.  The list of grade level words can be found on the back of the informational sheet that came home today in homework folders.  All are encouraged to participate in the class Spelling Bee.  Good luck students!  More information will be coming :)

                          

We’re busy and working hard on one of the most important computation concepts for your third grader this year: multiplication!  Future math concepts will be taught with the assumption that the students have mastered these basic facts.  Below is the schedule for passing off facts.  Please post it so that you can help your child master them at home.

Procedure:

We will be studying and practicing multiplication/division fact families at school according to the schedule below. Math drills will be given daily with the opportunity to pass off fact families 1-2 times per week.  Students may work at their own pace, but should try to keep up with the class schedule as much as possible.  Automaticity is the goal!

Homework:

       For the next few months, math homework will center around practicing multiplication facts.  Students may use flashcards, websites, or other practice strategies that work well for them. There are many ways to memorize math facts.  Your child should also continue reviewing facts that he/she has already learned. Websites for games and worksheets can be found under “Multiplication” on the class blog, and flashcards are available upon request.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  We’ll be celebrating the children’s success with an Ice Cream Party after Spring Break. Good luck, students!

Date                                         Math Fact Families                              Ingredient Earned

Jan. 10                                                 x0-x1, x10                               bowl

Jan. 17                                                 x2                                            spoon

Jan. 24                                                 x5                                            1^st scoop of ice cream

Jan. 31                                                 x9                                            1^st topping

Feb. 6                                                   x3                                            napkin 

Feb. 14                                                 x4                                            banana 

Feb. 21                                                 x0-5 Review                             2^nd scoop of ice cream

Feb. 27                                                 x6                                            2^nd topping

Mar. 14                                                 x7                                            whipped cream

Mar. 21                                                 x0-7 Review                             sprinkles

Mar. 28                                                x8                                            oreos

Apr.  4                                                 x0-10                                       skittles/ gummy bears

                                               

This month our genre for book reports is Biography.  The next several weeks will be full of biographies as we study in class about many  people who made a difference for good in the world.  Today during our library rotation students chose biographies that interested them and are interesting to read.  The project that we are completing to go along with our reading is a caricature poster.   Below is a list of things that should be included on each child's poster.  Biography book reports are due Thursday, January 30th.  Happy Reading!

Requirements: 

• On a poster board, draw a large picture/caricature of the individual whose biography you read. 
• The illustrations must be done by hand, by the students, and neatly colored. 
• Outline everything with a darker color or a black fine tip marker.
• Along the sides of the character, write or type sentences and draw a line to each of the following body parts:

Forehead (Mind):    Write something the person thought.  
Eyes:                       Write something the person saw.  
Ears:                        Write something the person heard.  
Heart:                      Write something the person felt or believed.  
Hands and/or Feet:  Write something the person did.