Week of 12/3-12/7

Odds and Ends: 

*Thank you to the coat and winter accessories donation. We filled several boxes and bags full of coats that will help keep kids warm this winter! Thanks! 

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 12/3: November Reading Calendars are Due

*Wed. 12/5: Science: Ch 4 Test

*Fri. 12/6: Spelling: List 11 Test
English: Ch 2 Nouns Test
Math: 5's multiplication Timed Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to work on reading strategies as we read our book buddy books and work in guided reading groups. We will also work on our blogging skills. We will learn blogging safety and spend some time in the computer lab working on our blog. December calendars were given to students today. They are due 12/21, so students need to read EVERY day before break to get all 20 days in! Thanks for your help with this!

*English: We are wrapping up our nouns unit. We are practicing singular and plural possessive nouns. The test will be Fri. 12/7. Our next unit will be ch. 3 verbs. We will also be finishing up DOL #5 ( our last DOL unit) which focuses on quotations and use of quotation marks. A quiz will be announced soon.

*Spelling: We will work on list 11. Pretest Monday, homework due Thursday and test on Friday.

*Social Studies: We will continue to study modern day Downers Grove. We will also look at ch 12 in the textbook as we learn about local governments.

*Science: We are wrapping up our unit on ecosystems. We will have the test on Wed. 12/5. A study guide was sent home. Remember, you can access the textbook online! We will work on ch. 11 : matter next.

*Math: We began ch. 6 this week. This chapter focuses on data and graphing. We will also work on 5's multiplication facts, with a test on Fri. 12/7. Look for a note with the facts on it coming home this weekend.

Enjoy the warm December weather this weekend!
Mrs.Olsen

Real Life Connection to The Keeping Quilt

We were so lucky to welcome Mrs. Vanni to our school as she shared with us the history and art of quilting. She provided us with so much schema (background knowledge) about quilting that will help us understand the story and quilting better. Thank you, Mrs. Vanni!!

Week of 11/26-11/30

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving full of good food, family, friends, and laughter. 

 I am thankful for all of you!

*Winter Wear Drive has been extended until Fri. 11/30. Keep those warm coats and accessories coming in! 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Wed-Fri: No School: Happy Turkey Day: Gobble Gobble!

* Wed. 11/28: Math: Ch 5 Time Quiz (moved from Tues. 11/27)

*Thurs. 11/29: Rockin' Science Assembly 9:00-9:50

 Picture Retakes

*Fri. 11/30:  Spelling: List 10 Test

Math: 2's multiplication timed test

Reading; Keeping Quilt vocab test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to work on our book buddy books and working on summarizing, predicting, making inferences, and cause and effect. We will also be reading the story The Keeping Quilt. The students will get vocabulary words that go with the story this week. The vocab quiz will be on Fri. 11/30.  Also, your child can visit our classroom blog to post about their reading over break. There is a link to the website on the blog and I showed them how to use this appropriately in class. Please email if you have any questions. We will work on this more next week. 

*English: We will continue to work on ch 2 nouns. The test is scheduled for Mon. 12/3, but it may be moved back. Look in your child's assignment notebook for more information. 

*Spelling: We will work on list 10 this week. There will be a pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday. The homework will be given on Monday and due on Thursday. 

*Science: We will be working on ch 4: Ecosystems. We will be taking the final test on Wed. 12/5. A study guide will be sent home. 

*Social Studies: We will work on modern day Downers Grove and local government (ch 12 in our social studies textbook).  The test is tentatively set for Thurs. 12/13. More details coming soon!

*Math: We are working on elapsed time. This is a tricky concept for most students. Please work on this over break and have your child figure out how long things take based on start and end time and what time something will end if it starts at a certain time. For example, if the parade begins at 12:15 and is 1 hour and 10  minutes long, when will it end? If we put the turkey into the oven at 4:17 and took it out at 7:23, how long did it cook? These real world applications will help your child grasp this tricky concept. I moved the quiz on time to Wed. 11/28 rather than Tues. 11/27 to give us some more time in class to practice. We will also work on 2's multiplication (a note was sent home this week) and we will test on these facts on Fri. 11/30. 

Have a great break!

Mrs. Olsen       
 

Week of 11/19-11/20

Odds and Ends

* A special THANK YOU to Mr. Qualizza, Mrs. Patera, Mrs. Rosignal, Mr. Gibbons, Mrs. Topp, Mrs. Falotico, and Mrs. O'Connor for chaperoning our Downers Grove field trip. We had a great time !

* HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am so blessed and thankful for a wonderful, hard working class, a generous, helpful group of parents, and amazing coworkers and district to work for. I have a beautiful baby boy, a loving husband, and an incredible family and awesome friends. We all have so much to be thankful for this holiday season and always! Enjoy your break and time spent together!

*Winter Wear Drive: Monday is the last day to send in any gently used or new coats or new mittens, scarves, gloves, and hats to be donated to students in Harvey, IL and Chicago. Let's help keep others warm this winter season!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Tues. 11/20: Spelling: Synonym and Antonym Test

*Wed-Fri. No School:  Happy Thanksgiving!

*Tues. 11/27: Math: Ch 5 Time quiz

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to work on our reading strategies as we work in guided reading groups and with our book buddies. Please make sure your child gets in some reading time over the long break! They chose a book to read along with their "book buddy"-they will be reading some of this book over the break.

*English: We will continue to work on nouns. We will begin DOL #5: quotations.

*Spelling: We will take our synonym/antonym quiz on Tues. Please study the packet(s) with your child to review new words and relationships between words. The test will be mixed analogies (synonym and antonym) and they will need to recognize the relationship and then find the best answer.

*Social Studies: We will begin our study of modern day Downers Grove and ch. 12 in the textbook: local government.

*Science: We will continue to study ch. 4: Ecosystems.

*Math: We will focus on elapsed time, calendars, and sequencing events as we finish up ch. 5 time. We will take the ch 5 time quiz on Tues. 11/27. A study guide will be sent home next week.

Have a beautiful holiday with your family and friends. We all have so much to be thankful for!
Mrs. Olsen

Off to Downers Grove we go!!

Enjoy taking a look at what we did on our fun and educational field trip to Downers Grove!!Thank you to all of our wonderful chaperons: Mrs. Patera, Mrs. Falotico, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Qualizza, Mrs. Rosignal, Mrs.O'Connor, and Mrs. Topp. We appreciated your help and we are so glad that you joined us!

A sample of what pioneers brought with them west.

The Blodgett Home

Ask your child what this cup was used for!

The spot where Pierce Downer camped his first night in the area.

In front of the Downer home.

At Prince Pond

The man who started it all...Pierce Downer!

The final resting place of Pierce and Lucy Downer.

Week of 11/13-11/16

Odds and Ends: 

*Field Trip: We will take our Downers Grove field trip on Thurs. 11/15. Please have your child dress accordingly to the weather since we will be spending some time walking around parts of Downers Grove. If you would like to meet us for lunch at Giordano's, please let me know via email. You will need to order your own lunch separately, so please plan accordingly. I will be ordering and paying for pizza based on the number of students, teachers, and chaperons. If your child did not want pizza, please send them with a disposable, sack lunch on Thurs. Thank you!  Also, your child can bring $5-8 ( no more than $8 please) to school with them on Thurs. for shopping in downtown Downers Grove.

*Scholastic Book Order: Please have your book orders turned in by Fri. 11/16. Thank you!

*Winter Coat, Mitten, and Hat Drive: We are collecting new or gently used coats and new hats, mittens, and scarves for school children in Chicago and Harvey, IL. We will be collecting these items until 11/19. Please send in your items to help other children stay warm this winter season!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day

*Tues. 11/3: Math: ch 5 Money Checkpoint
English: DOL #4 Graded Review

*Wed. 11/14: Disguised Turkey due date
Math: Subtraction Fast Facts

*Thurs. 11/15: Downers Grove Field Trip

*Fri. 11/15: Social Studies: Downers Grove history quiz

*Tues. 11/20: Spelling: Synonym and Antonym Graded Review
Math: Multiplication: Squares Fast Fact

*Thurs. 11/29: Picture Retakes

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will spend next week in guided reading groups. We will work on our summarizing, inferring, and predicting skills.We will learn new vocabulary to go along with our books.  We are also going to talk about point of view and how it can alter the story when we see it through other points of view. 

*English: We will work on ch. 2 nouns. We will also work on point of view and persuasive writing as we write a Thanksgiving story. Your child brought home a blank turkey page this weekend. They have to disguise this turkey to be used for our writing project. The disguised turkey should come to school with your child on Wed. 11/14.  Also, your child has been learning the abbreviations for the months and how to use commas in a series for the DOL #4 quiz on Tues. 11/13. Look for a study guide in your child's binder. 

*Spelling: We will continue to work on our study of synonym and antonym analogies as we build our vocabulary. The graded test on both synonym and antonym analogies will be Tues. 11/20. The best way to prepare is to make sure your child knows the words and relationships in the packets used in class. The quiz is based on those packets!

*Social Studies: We will be wrapping up our study of the history of Downers Grove as we learn about Prince Pond, Casper Dicke, and the Tivoli. The history will come alive on our field trip on Thurs.11/15. This day will serve as our review day for the quiz on Fri. 11/16. A study guide was sent home this week. We will begin modern day Downers Grove next. 

*Science: We began ch. 4 Ecosystems. We will learn about types of ecosystems. 

*Math: We will be finishing up our money unit this week and taking a graded checkpoint on Tues. 11/13. A study guide checklist was sent home this week. We will begin the second half of ch. 5-time on Wed.   We have been busy taking our subtraction fast facts as well. Many students have passed this test. By Wed. 11/14, if your child does not pass, they will be deducted a point each day they have to retake. We will begin looking at multiplication facts next week as well, beginning with squares (2x2, 3x3, etc). Please look for a note about our multiplication fast facts coming home on Tues. Thank you!  

Have a wonderful, LONG weekend together!

Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 11/7-11/9

Odds and Ends: 

* Thank you to the wonderful parent helpers who made our Halloween party a huge success! We all had a great time!

*Thank you to everyone for attending this Fall's parent teacher conferences. It was great to meet with you and discuss your child's progress in 3rd grade. Please do not hesitate to contact me via phone or email in the future with any comments, concerns, or questions.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon 11/5: No School

*Tues. 11/6: No School: Election Day: Teacher Institute

*Fri. 11/9: Downers Grove Field trip permission slip and money due
Math: Ch. 5 Money quiz

*Mon. 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day

*Thurs. 11/15: Downers Grove Field Trip

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will work in guided reading groups as we focus on cause and effect, making inferences, making predictions, summarizing, and working on various genre studies.

*English: We will begin our nouns unit. The students will take a pretest on Wednesday.

*Spelling: We will work on synonyms and antonyms analogies for the next weeks in spelling. A packet will be give to the students with the sheets we will work on in class in groups and homework. Please keep the packet in their binder, as we will refer to it during class and work on it in class. The test will be announced next week.  There is no spelling list next week or the following week.

*Social Studies: We will continue to learn about the history of Downers Grove as we prepare for our field trip. We will focus on the underground railroad and learn about some more important places and people of DG next week. I have received many permission slips and interested parent chaperons. I will be contacting the parents who I can bring (I have a limit I can invite) next week. Thank you to all of those who volunteered!

*Science: We will begin ch. 4: ecosystems in the upcoming days.

*Math: We are working on the first part of ch 5: Money. We will work on counting back change. The money checkpoint/quiz is tentatively scheduled for Fri. 11/9. I may move the test to Tues. 11/13. Check your students planners next week for information regarding the quiz. We will continue to work on sub fast facts as well.

Enjoy the long weekend with your families!
Mrs. Olsen