Classroom News Issue 4

Reading Takes You Places READING PARTY:
The next reading party will be on Thursday, October 4th. Please have your completed reading log turned in by Wednesday, Oct. 3rd if you would like to join us. We will be watching a video in the room during lunch. I will provide a treat for the students. They will need to bring a lunch from home or order hot lunch from school. The students who have completed 28 days of reading 20 minutes each day will be invited to join us! Celebrate Reading!

Johnny Appleseed Celebration! We had an "apple-solutely" wonderful Wednesday as we celebrated Johnny Appleseed's birthday. Our room had a wonderful cinnamon and apple aroma all day as we anxiously awaited the tasting of our homemade applesauce. The students enjoyed making apple glasses and kettle pot hats to wear. Thank you to all of the families who donated supplies to make our celebration complete!

October Spirit Days:
The following Friday's will be "Spirit Days" at Prairieview. Please feel free to join the teachers on the following spirit days:
Friday, October 5th: Character Counts Day : Wear Green
Friday, October 12th: Prairieview Day: Wear your school colors or clothes
Friday, October 19th: Crazy Hat Day
Friday, October 26th: Slipper Day

UPCOMING EVENTS:
*Mon. 10/1: Goo, Glob, and Guts in the classroom
*Tues. 10/2: Last Magazine Turn-in Day
*Wed. 10/3: Social Studies: Directions Quiz
Independent Reading Folders Due
*Thurs. 10/4: Reading Party during lunch
*Fri. 10/5: Spelling: List 5 Test
Science: Human Body Chapter Test
*Mon. 10/8: No School: Columbus Day

A LOOK AT OUR WEEK

*Math: This week in math we will continue to work on rounding and estimation. We will not have math on Monday or Wednesday due to the Goo,Glob, and Guts program. The students will have their first checkpoint on Friday, Oct. 5th, covering the first part of chapter 1.

*Science: We will be finishing up our first unit on the human body and 6 body systems. We have spent the last days working in cooperative groups to create life size models of the human bodies with all of organs we have been learning about. A "fill-in-yourself" study guide was sent home on Friday and your child should have their science textbook with them for the weekend. They will be encouraged to bring the book home each day next week to study. The study guide is due Wednesday, 10/3. I wanted to give the students plenty of time to study and prepare for the test on Friday, 10/5. The study guide covers most of what will be on the test. Also, look through your child's science folder in their binder to find graphic organizers on each body system that will help them study. I will be playing review games next week and will go over the correct answers of the study guide on Wed. Our next unit in science will be health.

*Social Studies: We are continuing to practice and review our cardinal and intermediate directions. The students made their own compass roses and we practiced the helpful saying, Never Eat Soggy Waffles (North, East, South, West). Today we had a scavenger hunt where the students worked in groups and followed directions (written in cardinal directions) to find prizes hidden all over Prairieview by the "social studies Fairy". =) They had a lot of fun following their directions and did a great job! Our direction quiz will be on Wednesday, 10/3. A study guide was sent home today. We will begin studying continents and oceans next.

*Spelling: Next weeks list, unit 5, will be covering words that are plural nouns that end with “y” or vowel + “y”. Continue the great work studying and doing a great job on the weekly tests! There will be a pretest on Monday.

*Reading: We are continuing to apply our reading strategies as we read The Chalkbox Kid. We are also working in our Illinois workbook, practicing with prefix, root word, suffix, and letter sounds. We will continue to work on both areas next week.

*English: We have finished our first unit, The Sentence. The students did a great job on their first English unit in 3rd grade! We will now take a break from the textbook and do a writing unit. We will work on descriptive paragraphs and the writing process. We will apply what we have learned about sentences and grammar as we write using vivid language.

Classroom Updates

Scholastic Book Order:
It was brought to my attention that the Prairieview Book Fair is Thursday, October 18th and our classroom book order is due Friday, October 19th. I accidently sent out a book order for October ( I usually skip the months that we hold the book fairs), so please use the orders that were sent home as a guide as to what you might see at the book fair on Oct. 18th. If you know you are unable to attend the book fair or would still like to order through the classroom, feel free to send in your scholastic book order by Oct. 19th. The most important thing is that the kids are reading and we are encouraging them to try out new books! Thank you!

Subject and Predicate:
The students have been working hard on this tricky concept. As a fun way to learn about this concept, I show the students a School House Rocks video that sings about subjects and predicates in a song about a man named Mr. Morton. Many students wanted to watch this video at home. If your child would like to view this video at home, please supervise them on www.youtube.com. Search for Mr. Morton School House Rocks and click on the video. There are 2 versions, the original cartoon version and the updated rap version. Your child should recognize which ones we have watched in class. They might even know the words! Have fun!!

Classroom News Issue 3

Study Buddy:
A study buddy is a friend in your child’s class that he/she can call with questions or for clarification on an assignment or upcoming test. This simple, yet effective system only requires the exchanging of phone numbers in case your child needs their help. If any parents are interested, please email or write a note and I will make arrangements with interested students and send the information back home. Thank you!

FRIENDLY REMINDER:
Please remember to send a healthy snack (nature made only...please no granola bars or fruit snacks) and/or juice or water with your child each day for our mid morning snack break. Please send only 1 healthy snack. Thank you!

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday: A reminder note will be sent home on Monday about our classroom celebration honoring Johnny Appleseed, but I wanted to inform you of what is needed for our celebration before the weekend. Your child will be asked to bring in a peeled, cored, and sliced apple to school on Wednesday to be used to make applesauce for the class. We are looking for donations of small bowls, spoons, and applejuice to use on Wednesday. If this is something you are interested in helping with, please email me or send the items in any day before Wednesday. Thank you in advance for your help!

Can YOU Lend A Helping Hand?? We are still in need of some classroom items. If you are interested in helping, please send in small, inexpensive items to fill our classroom prize box. We are in need of boys and girls items. The dollar store, Target, and Wal-Mart are great places to find these items. THANK YOU! Also, any 100% juice to have as a back up for snack time is also needed.

Upcoming Events:
*Tues. 9/25: English: Subject Predicate Graded Review
Magazine Turn In Day
*Wed. 9/26: Johnny Appleseed's Birthday: Please send in your peeled, cored, and sliced apple today for a special activity
*Thurs. 9/27: English: Unit 1 "The Sentence" Test
*Fri. 9/29: Social Studies: Directions Quiz
Spelling List 4 Test

A Look At Our Week:

Math: We have finished Chapter 2 and we will be starting Chapter 1 on Monday. This chapter will begin by focusing on place value, rounding, and money.

Science: We are working our way through the body systems. Ask your child about the nervous system and what side of their brain is "dominant". We will begin the respiratory and digestive systems next week. For a look ahead, the final test on the body systems is set for Friday, October 5th. A study "guide" will be sent home later this week.

On Monday, October 1st, we will have a special program called Goo, Glob, and Guts in the classroom. This hands-on program allows the children to see and feel parts of the body systems we have been studying in class. Please send the $7 to cover the costs of this program to school in a marked envelope (student name, teacher name, and what its for) to school by Friday, Sept. 28th. Thank you!


*Social Studies: We will being a unit on map skills. The first part of this unit will be on directions. Please save all worksheets that go home. Your child will use these later to study for quizzes and tests!

Spelling: We will be working on List 4, plural nouns that end is "s" or "es". We will have a pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday. Keep up the great work studying!

Reading: We are continuing to use our reading strategies as we read The Chalkbox Kid. We are enjoying learning about the different characters and events happening in the story. We will also begin learning about prefixes, root words, and suffixes.

I hope the fiction book reading projects are coming along. I took a quick "survey" of the kids progress today in class and most have completed reading the books and are starting the posters. Remember, the final poster is due on October 26th.

English: Our first unit in English is coming to an end. Students learned all about the different types of sentences and parts of the sentence (subject and predicate) The Unit 1 test will be on Thursday, Sept. 27th. Textbooks and workbooks will be sent home starting next Monday for students who want to get a head start on studying. A good way to study is to review the workbook pages, review the lessons in the text book, and try the chapter review in the book. Also, look back at any saved worksheets in the English folder in their binder.

Classroom News Issue 2

REMINDER:
Please continue to check your students assignment notebook each night and initial the box in the corner. Also, please clean out “Keep at Home” folder each night and check the “Homework” folder with your child to see what needs to be completed and brought back to school. Thanks for your cooperation and help!

OLSAT Tests:

Every year the third graders take the OSLAT tests. The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test is designed to measure abstract thinking and reasoning abilities that are relevant to school achievement. My class will be taking this test on September 19th.

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 9/17: Magazine Drive Kick Off! Look for your child's magazine packet tonight.

*Tues. 9/18: Early Dismissal: 11:00 am

*Wed. 9/19: OLSATs

*Thurs. 9/20: Smile! Picture Day (please send in your money by today)

*Fri. 9/21: Math: Chapter 2 Test

Spelling: List 3 Test

A Look At Our Week

Miss Carlstrom's Math Class: We will continue to work on subtraction facts and problem solving from Chapter 2. The Chapter 2 test will be on Friday, Sept. 21st. Those students who missed only 1 question on the pretest will not take the post test. They will take their pretest grade as their final test grade (95 or 100%) Your child will be taking the test if they have a study guide on Monday.

Science: We had our first open book review on the skeletal and muscular system. I am proud of all of the students hard work. They did very well. We will begin looking at the circulatory and nervous systems next week.

Spelling: Next weeks spelling words are words that are spelled with "ou". We will have a pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday. Keep up the good work studying! The students are doing a great job on their work!

Reading: We have finished reviewing all of our reading strategies and now we are going to apply all that we have learned. We started a new chapter book called The Chalkbox Kid. We will be working on reading this book and completing a comprehension journal in class.

Reading Project: An assignment sheet on our first monthy reading book project was sent home on Friday. Your child has chosen a fiction chapter book to read. When they finish, they will need to complete an "Advertise-A-Book" poster by Friday, October 26th. They should read this book each night for 20 min (Don't forget to write it down in their reading logs!). They will also be given time in class to read the book. I will provide them with the paper for the poster when they are ready to begin. The students are very excited to read their books!

English: We will continue to work on sentences this week, with a focus on the subject and the predicate of the sentence. This is often a hard concept for the students, so please review with them at home. Look out for a graded review of the 4 types of sentences early next week. Your child can use the 4 types of sentences review in their English folder to help them review.

Classroom News Issue 1

It was so great to see many of the parents at Tuesday’s Curriculum Night. I hope the evening helped to inform you about all of the 3rd grade curriculum and procedures. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. For those parents who were not able to attend, conference sign up is available. Conferences are set for Mon. 11/26, Tues. 11/27, and Wed. 11/28 after school. If you have a preferred time and date, please email me and I will see if they are still available. Otherwise, I will sign you up for any open time. Reminders will be sent home before the conferences

Thank you to those families who have sent in their "Give Us A Hand" items. I really appreciate your help and generosity!

Upcoming Events:

Wed. 9/12: Science: Bones and Muscles Open Book Review
Fri. 9/14: Spelling: List 2 Test
English: DOL #1 Quiz

A Look At Our Week:

*Math: This news is for the students in Miss Carlstrom's math class. Please visit your child's math teachers blog to see your child's math information. Thank you!
We are continuing Chapter 2 on addition and subtraction strategies and problem solving. Please continue to study your addition facts. We will continue to take our "Fact Genius" addition tests until Friday for full credit. After Friday each retake will affect the students final grade for the timed tests. I am so proud of all of the students who passed the addition timed tests. Way to Go!

*Science: As we continue to study the human body, we are learning how complex our bodies really are! We began our study of the skeletal system and we will start learning about the muscular system next week. We will take an open book review covering the material on Wednesday, September 12th.

* Spelling/Handwriting: Next week we will begin List 2, words spelled with “oa”. The students will be given a pretest on Monday to see what list of words they will use for the rest of the week. If they receive a 100% or get only 1 wrong, they will use the challenge list for the week. Please save the list in a safe spot and study nightly for Friday’s test.

*Reading: We have been busy reviewing our reading strategies this week and will continue to review them next week. We are learning how predicting, making inferences, monitoring our reading, visualizing, asking questions, and summarizing can help us become great readers! We are have been practicing the "Read-O-Meter" rule when choosing a book for silent reading. Ask your child to see their "Read-O-Meter" bookmark. See if they can explain what it means!

*English: We are continuing to review our punctuation and grammar skills. A graded D.O.L. review will be given next Friday covering capitalization and punctuation skills. Students are also responsible for knowing abbreviations for the days of the week. We are also learning about different types of sentences and beginning to write various paragraphs.