Week of Sept. 27-Oct. 1

Odds and Ends:

* Third graders are invited to sign up for a free intramural program. During this program, students would stay after school and play games in the gym. Permission slips are available this week and due back to Mrs. Cushing by Friday. The program will start some time in October. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Cushing at tcushing@ccsd66.org

*Thank you to everyone who sent in cups, spoons, bowls, juice, and apples to help in our Johnny Appleseed celebration! We had a great time!

*Smile! Picture Day is Thurs. September 30th.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Tues. 9/28: Math: Ch. 2 Test

Science: Ch. 9 L2 open book review

DOL Review #2

* Wed. 9/29: Social Studies: Hemisphere Quiz

* Thurs. 9/30: Picture Day

*Fri. 10/1: Spelling: List 5 Test

Reading: Mulan Vocab Review

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will begin working on making inferences this week. We will be using the story Mulan.

*English: We will share our ME bags and 5 paragraph essays next week. We will begin unit 2: nouns.

*Spelling: We will work on list 5: more long and short vowels. We will have a pretest Monday and the students will be given their homework on Monday. The test will be on Friday and homework will be due Friday.

*Science: We are busy learning about the water cycle and weather. The students will take a graded review (open book: a skill we are practicing and learning in class) on ch. 9 lesson 2 on Tues. 9/28. We will begin ch. 9 lesson 3: what is weather?

*Social Studies: Our map unit is coming to an end. We are learning about hemispheres and the prime meridian and equator. The hemisphere quiz will be on Wed. 9/29. Our next unit will be Downers Grove.

*Math: We will be finishing ch. 2 this week. We will spend Monday reviewing for our test on Tuesday. A study guide was sent home today. Please have your child complete and return to school on Monday. Our next unit will be ch. 3: Addition.

Thank you and have enjoy the long weekend!

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week of 9/20- 9/24

Odds and Ends:

*The PE study guide for the soccer test went home Friday. Have you seen it yet? If not, please ask your child about it. The PE soccer test will be Wednesday. Please help your child review for this test.

*The PTO would like you to know about this great rebate program through Ultra Foods! Ultra Foods is inviting you to take part in the Ultra's Smart Shopper Program, and educational rebate program that generates CASH BACK to your school for educational needs. It's EASY! Shop your local Ultra Foods store from SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 through DECEMBER 31, 2010. Save your receipts and have your child turn them in to their teacher. At the end of this program, your school will submit a grand total of receipts collected and Ultra will remit a check for 5% of that total back to your school! WOW!!!!!!

*Johnny Appleseed's birthday falls on a Sunday this year. We will be celebrating his birthday on Thursday, 9/23. Information about our celebration will come home this week. One of the things we will be doing on Thursday is making homemade applesauce! Please send your child in with an apple that has been cored, cut, and peeled!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 9/20: Spelling: Pretest List 4

*Wed. 9/22: PE: Soccer Test

*Thurs: 9/23: Spelling: List 4 Test

*Fri. 9/24: No School: Teacher Institute

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue to focus on summarizing and sequencing this week. We will work on applying this strategy to different texts.

*Spelling: This week we will work with words that have vowel-consonant-e pattern. Homework will be sent home Monday and due Thursday. The test will also be on Thursday.

*English: We will begin our first writing unit. Students will have homework Monday night. They will be making a "ME BAG" to bring to school. Information about this assignment will come home Monday. They will be using their Me Bags to help write a 5 paragraph paper in class.

*Science: We are learning about the water cycle (ch. 9 lesson 2). Ask your child to show you the movements we learned in class.

*Social Studies: We are busy learning about hemispheres, the equator, and the prime meridian. We will be doing many fun activities this week to learn more about our world.

*Math: We are focusing on rounding this week (ch. 2) . We will learn to round to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000. We will learn a rounding song and rounding tip on Monday. Ask your child to show you these things!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week Sept. 13-17

Odds and Ends:

* Prize Bin: My classroom prize bin can always use some new items! Any small, new or gently used items are appreciated! Some ideas...stickers, stamps, bouncy balls, pencil grips, jewelry, beanie babies/stuffed animals, book marks, small toys, etc. Thank you!

*A PE soccer test is scheduled for Wednesday, September 22nd. A study guide will go home on Friday. Please help your child review for this test.

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 9/13: Magazine Drive Kick-Off

Spelling: List 3 Pretest

English: DOL #1 Quiz

*Wed. 9/15: English: Unit 1 Test: The Sentence

*Fri. 9/17: Spelling: List 3 Test

Social Studies: Continents and Oceans Quiz

Reading: Lost and Found Vocabulary Quiz

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: This is an exciting week! Third grade will start switching for reading! We will be reading The Lost and Found by Mark Teague as we focus on the summarizing strategy and our sequencing skills.

*Spelling: In spelling, the new lesson focuses on more short vowels. The pretest is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 13. If a student gets a 90% or higher (two or less wrong) they will be in the challenge group and will not be required to take the final test. Students with three or more wrong on the pretest will take the final test on Friday, Sept. 17.

*English: We will be finishing up ch. 1: The Sentence. We will have our unit test on Wed. 9/15. A study guide will be sent home on Monday. Next, we will be working on chapter 2: Nouns.

*Social Studies: We will be learning about continents and oceans. We will focus on where they are located and how to spell the names correctly. There will be a graded review on Fri. 9/17. A study guide will be sent home.

*Science: We will continue to learn about weather in ch. 9. We will work on lesson 2: the water cycle.

*Math: We will begin ch. 2: compare and ordering greater numbers.

Thanks for checking out our blog this week! Have a fabulous weekend!
Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week of Sept. 6-10

Odds and Ends:

*Curriculum Night: Thank you! It was so great to see so many of you at this year's Curriculum Night. If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to email or call me. I am looking forward to a wonderful year together with you and your child!

* Late Slips:
Third grade will begin using late slips for homework that is not complete or handed in at the time it is due. Each student will receive 3 "breaks" for Trimester 1. Upon the fourth time they have not completed homework, one point will be taken away from their homework bank in the appropriate subject. You will notice that each subject has a "homework bank" comprised of 5 points. Late slips will be sent home with students for a parent signature which is due back the very next school day with the completed homework assignment. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 9/6: No School: Labor Day

Spelling List 2 Pretest

* Thurs. 9/9: Social Studies: Directions Quiz

* Fri. 9/10: Spelling: List 2 Test

Math: Chapter 1 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

* Reading: This week we will continue introducing the reading strategies that we will be utilizing throughout the rest of the year using picture books. The strategies are predicting, inferencing, visualizing, monitoring/clarifying, phonics/decoding, summarizing (fiction and non-fiction), questioning, connecting, and evaluating.

*Spelling: This week in spelling we will work on Lesson 2. This lesson will focus on words with short vowels. We will pretest on Tuesday and pass out a homework packet due Friday. We will be taking one of the homework sheets for a grade. On Friday we will have a test worth 20 points.

*English: We will continue to work through Unit 1: The Sentence. We took a pretest on this chapter so I will be able to cover the material that was new to the students. We will focus on run-on sentences next week. The chapter test will be tentatively scheduled for Wed. 9/15. A review guide will be sent home closer to that date.

* Science: We will begin ch. 9 weather.

*Social Studies: We are working on map skills. We began with the compass rose and directions. A directions quiz will be given on Thurs. 9/9. A study guide will be sent home on Tues.

*Math: We will continue working on Chapter 1: Place Value. The students need to understand numbers and place value up to 6 digits and know how to write in standard and expanded form. We will take a checkpoint (graded) on Wed. to check the student's progress so far in the chapter. If all goes as planned, we will have our first test on Fri. 9/10. Otherwise, the test will be the following Tues. 9/14. A study guide will be sent home either way.

Thank you for checking out our blog this week! Enjoy the long weekend!

~Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway