Week of 10/28

Odds and Ends

I am looking forward to meeting with you next week during parent teacher conferences. If you have not signed up for a time yet, please email me! Thanks!

Halloween Party and Parade: If your child would like to dress up for Halloween, please send the costume with to school on Thurs. 10/31. They will be given time to change into their costume before the party begins at 1:00. They will not be going to the bathroom to change, but we will have a girls classroom and boys classroom where they can get ready. If possible, its best to wear the costume over clothes. No weapons allowed.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Thurs. 10/31: Happy Halloween!

*Fri. 11/1: No School 
*Mon. 11/4: No School: Teacher Institute

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We are working on cause and effect and sequencing. We are reading leveled non fiction texts as we apply these skills to different texts. 

*English: The students are busy writing their persuasive and descriptive haunted house papers. We are working on finishing our rough drafts and will begin our final copies. We are applying what we know about adjectives, similes, sensory words, color words, and descriptive language to our writing. 

*Spelling: A new word list will be sent home on Monday. The 3 activities and test will be on Fri. Nov. 8th.

*Social Studies: We spent a lot of time learning about the Underground Railroad and how it is connected to our study of Downers Grove. The students loved learning about Harriet Tubman and Henry "Box" Brown.  We will continue our study of Downers Grove as we learn about Prince Pond, Dicke Tool Company, and Tivoli Theatre.  A field trip form will be sent home next week. Our field trip will be on Nov. 11th. Please contact me with any questions.

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are working hard on learning the different addition and subtraction strategies....using number lines, decomposing (breaking apart) numbers, and constant difference...oh my! The students are getting a hang of it with more and more practice. Please continue to practice rounding and subtracting greater numbers where borrowing is needed. Thanks for your help at home! We will work on finding estimated answers, mental math practice, and expanded notation. 

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 10/21

Odds and Ends

I am looking forward to meeting with you during parent teacher conferences. If you have not signed up for a time yet, please email me and I can resend the Sign up Genius link! Also, please remember to fill out the pre-conference form that was sent home with your child and return it by Tues. 10/22.  Thanks!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Fri. 10/25: List 3 Spelling test 

*Thurs. 10/31: Happy Halloween! Classroom parties

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will work with informational text as we focus on sequencing and cause and effect.

*English: We are working with adjectives as we apply them to our descriptive writing unit. We will be using color words, sensory words, similes, and adjectives as we write about our haunted houses.

We are also working on month abbreviations and commas in a series. 

*Spelling: We are in week 2 of working with our third spelling list. Please check in with your child to see how their progress in spelling activities are doing. They need to complete 3 activities by Fri. 10/25. Thanks! 

*Social Studies: We will be busy learning about Downers Grove history and how it is connected to the underground railroad.  We are learning about the Potawotomi Indians and more about the first settlers to call this area home. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are learning so many different strategies to add and subtract. These can by tricky at first, but once the kids get the hang of it, they are really amazed at all the ways they can work with numbers.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 10/14

Odds and Ends

Sign up for our Fall conferences have been sent out. Thank you for all of those families who have signed up for parent teacher conferences.  I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss your child's progress so far this year!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 10/14: No School

*Fri. 10/18: DOL #2 graded review (capitalizing proper nouns)

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Spelling: Your child received new word sorts this week. They are due on Fri. 10/25.  Please help them practice the words for the test. Also, check in with them to see how they are doing on their menu activities as the days go on. 3 activities are also due on 10/25. 

*Reading/English: We are working on folktales as we find text evidence to back up our answers. We are also focusing on sequencing, cause and effect, character traits, and theme. We are applying these skills to our social studies lessons as well.  

We are also working on descriptive writing and adjectives.  This time of year is a great time to practice our descriptive writing skills as we describe spooky Halloween objects! 

* Social Studies: We have started our unit on the history of Downers Grove. Ask your child about Pierce Downer and what kind of person he was. We are learning all about the town's history to prepare us for a field trip coming soon! 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We will continue to work on Unit 3, focusing on rounding to the nearest 10 or 100 to get estimated answers, and then working on strategies to add and subtract 3 digit numbers and solve word problems.  There will be a checkpoint on Wednesday covering rounding and addition multi digit numbers. 

Have a great weekend and stay warm!
Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 10/7

Odds and Ends:

New October reading calendars have been sent home. Please keep them is a safe spot...they are due on Thurs. 10/31 or earlier as they are completed! 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 10/7: Hemisphere Quiz 

*Fri.10/11: Spelling: List 2 test and 3 activities due

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue our unit of study on Folktales. We are working on finding text evidence as we annotate our text and leave marks of our thinking as we read. We will focus on the fable, The Tortoise and the Hare as we talk about growth mindset vs. fixed mindset, story elements, and character traits. We are also working on main idea, details, and theme. 

* English: We will continue our mini unit on  grammar. We will focus on DOL #2 with lessons about capitalizing proper nouns. A test will be given on Fri. 10/18. A study guide will be sent home later this week.  

*Spelling: We are working on list 2 of the year. We will work in class on the 3 activities, but please help your child monitor their work and time management. They need to have 3 activities completed by Friday, 10/11.  The test will also take place that day, so please study the word list at home.
Thanks!



*Social Studies: We will begin our unit on Downers Grove next week. We will begin by learning about the founder, Pierce Downer. This leads into a really fun field trip later in November. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We will begin to work on Unit 3. . We will focus on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. We are learning new mental math strategies for addition and subtraction as well.





Hope you had a great Fall weekend!
Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 9/30

Odds and Ends:

September reading calendars are due on Tues. 10/1. New October reading calendars will be sent home.  Please keep them is a safe spot...they are due on Thurs. 10/31. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Wed. 10/2: Early Dismissal 

*Fri. 10/4: Math: Unit 1 Test 

DOL Review

Hemisphere Quiz 

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue our unit of study on Folktales. We are working on finding text evidence as we annotate our text and leave marks of our thinking as we read.

* English: We will continue our mini unit on sentences and different types of sentences. 

*Spelling: Students will get  list 2 of the year. We will work in class on the 3 activities, but please help your child monitor their work and time management. They need to have 3 activities completed by next Friday, 10/11. The test will also take place that day, so please study the word list at home.
Thanks!

*Social Studies: We will continue our unit on maps as we study the hemispheres.  We will study hemispheres, the equator, prime meridian, and the poles. The test will be on Friday 10/4. A study guide was sent home. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are working on addition and subtraction word problems and learning new strategies that help support our fact fluency and mental math ability.  See if your child can demonstrate their understanding of the "make a friendly number and count by 10's up the number line" strategy and the break apart strategy. A practice test was given to your child this week. It is due on Thursday 10/3. We will spend Thursday reviewing for the test. The Unit 1 test is on Fri. 10/4. Any unused worksheet pages in the SB or HC for Unit 1 can be completed as extra practice. 

Have a great weekend! Happy Fall!

Mrs. Olsen

Week of 9/23

We are getting ready to celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday on Thurs. 9/26. Please send in a peeled, cored, sliced apple to school with your child to be used to make homemade applesauce for our class as we celebrate his birthday.  The smell of delicious, warm applesauce will fill the air of the 3rd grade wing on Tuesday! Thank you! 

Thank you for signing and checking your child's assignment notebook every night!! 

I really appreciate it! 

**Second Step: We are working on our new SEL (Social Emotional Learning) curriculum this week. A home link page was sent home with your child today. This is an optional activity, but if you complete it with your child over the weekend and send it back on Monday, they will receive a goodie ticket. We will be discussing the activity on Monday as well. 

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

* Wed. 9/25: Social Studies: Continents and Ocean Quiz 

*Thurs. 9/26: Johnny Appleseed's Birthday Celebration : Don't forget to send in a peeled, cored, and sliced apple! 

* Fri. 9/27: Spelling: 3 spelling activities due and test today 
Math:  

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will focus on our first unit, Tales as Old as Time, as we explore different types of folktale literature. We will apply our reading strategies to this literature and focus on character traits, sequencing, and using text based evidence to answer our questions. 

*English: We will continue to study the structure of a sentence. We are finishing up our ME bag writing activities and they turned out amazing! Each child will take turn to share their 3 items and their paper to the class. The presentation portion will be graded. Your child brought home their notebook containing their paper today. Please have them refer to the presentation rubric (on green paper) as they practice reading their story out loud. We will present these papers on Monday and Tuesday. 

We are also working on capital letters for proper nouns, beginning of sentences, and using endmarks in DOL. A DOL quiz will be on Friday 10/4. A study guide will be sent home for what to practice. We are practicing this skill in our writing every day as well. 

*Spelling: We are beginning week 2 of our first spelling unit. Your child has been given time in class to work on their spelling menu activities. 3 activities are due by Fri. 9/27. Check in with your child's progress to make sure they will be able to complete these activities. You might need to have them work on some of the work at home.  Homework is a graded activity and each missing or incomplete assignment will reflect missing points. 

The test will be on Friday and will consist of randomly selected 15 words from their word list and then they will choose 2 of those 15 words to write 2 complete, accurate sentences. The test is worth 20 points. 

*Social Studies: We are busy working in cooperative groups to research about our continents. Students are finding WOW facts and then adding them to a poster with their group. We will share these presentations to the class next week. The quiz on continents and locations will be on Wed. 9/25. Students will need to know the location of all continents and oceans.  They will be given a word bank, so spelling counts. 


*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We will continue to learn a variety of addition and subtraction strategies to help us solve word problems and more complex problems. 

We are working on our addition and subtraction fluency as well. We will begin "practicing" our subtraction fast facts. If your child passes any of the practice tests with zero or one wrong, they will begin practicing multiplication facts.  The "official" subtraction fast fact test will be on Fri. 9/27. This will be a variety of addition fluency facts 0-12.  If they don't pass the fast fast graded review, they will retake the quiz each day the following week until Thurs.  and receive 1 point off the total grade for each retake. 

Have a great weekend! 
Mrs. Olsen