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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!  We will be celebrating with a look at some of the pilgrim's struggles and triumphs this week.  We will be reading the selection, Across The Wide Dark Sea by Jean Van Leeuwen.  This is a realistic story of one boy's journey across the sea.  We will also be digging deeper into our knowledge of Thanksgiving, and how it became a national holiday.
And of course we'll be writing and working on our x2s and x5s as well.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with family!  See you in December!

Everyone Does Everything!

So once again, we had one of these weeks where I find myself thinking, "I really do have the best class ever!"  We are all working hard to push ourselves to think, stretch, learn, and refine.  Not just a few, but all of us.  In fact our new class theme is "Everyone Does Everything". We're working hard to use every minute of the day in a productive way, and to use our conversation and thinking in team, and classroom building.  So we're working hard but we're having fun along the way.  Did I mention, "I really do have the best class ever"?
Last week I submitted a grant request from Donor's Choice to fund 2 Ipad minis for our classroom.  You would think with 2 mobile labs and a creativity lab inside our school there would be enough technology for all our needs.  Unfortunately that's just not the case.  With the push for keyboarding and writing wrapped up in our assessments, there are times we just don't have access to what is needed.  Everyone else in the school needs the same thing.  I am asking for funding for 2 minis so that all students can touch technology more frequently.  We already have 2 laptops and with the 2 minis, that would allow 4 students at a time to either assess or practice reading fluency, comprehension, math fluency and facts, or think, write, and publish.  Right now through Tuesday, November 19, an anonymous donor will match all donations up to $100.  I know this is close to the holidays and all of our purse strings are tight, but even a $1 donations gets us 1 step closer.  You can scroll down to the previous post for more information.  If you're interested and can help out, here is a quick link that will get you there- Minis To The Max!  Thank you for all your support and generosity!
This week in math we will be finishing our multiplication meanings and will be starting our fluency with x 10s, x5s, and x2s.
In Language Arts this week we will be reading the story How Do You Raise A Raisins?  Did you ever wonder where raisins come from, or why they are in so many foods? Just about every question you might have about raisins is answered in this selection. One reason the author knows a lot about this snack is because she grew up in central California, where most of America’s raisins are grown. From the history of raisin-growing and raisin-eating to a discussion of how raisins get from grapevines to your plate, this story and its illustrations give you lots of information about this sweet, dried fruit.  Our focus on comprehension this week is Drawing Conclusions.  This seems to be quite tricky for our kids.  A conclusion is a decision or an opinion that makes sense based on facts and important ideas.  We are also working on action and linking verbs for our conventions.  An action verb tells what someone or something does. A linking verb tells what someone or something is.  Examples are: Action verbs: run, plays, laughs and  Linking verbs: am, is, are, was, were.  And last but not least our spelling pattern we are studying this week is contractions. 
I am also sending home a fluency passage for students to read this week.  Please set the timer for 1 minute, have your student begin reading and then stop the timer at 1 minute.  Please write down the words correct per minute on the log at the bottom of the passage.  Hopefully this will increase as the week progresses and mistakes decrease.  Note any inserted words and deleted words and discuss with your student.  Repeated readings is a research based strategy that not only improves fluency, but it also improves comprehension and vocabulary as well. 
Thanks to Mr. Davis who was our 1st dad to share a story for Thanksgiving!  We were so excited to hear some of his favorite stories.  We all agree- we recommend Boss Baby!
Have a great week!

Subject: Our students need your help!

Hi Parents and Friends,

I want to make sure our students have the materials they need to succeed. So I've created a classroom project request at DonorsChoose.org, an award-winning charity.

I'm asking for donations of any size to help our kids. For the next week, any donation you make to my project will be doubled by Anonymous Donor (up to $100). If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten our students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

Here's my classroom request:
Minis To The Max!


To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the promo code CHEER on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through November 19, 2013.

We greatly appreciate your support,
Mrs. Denning