Week of 11/29

Odds and Ends:

* Fall conferences will be held the week of 11/29-12/1. Please be on time for your conference...they are only 15 minutes long and it is very easy to get off schedule! Thank you in advance for your cooperation! I am looking forward to meeting with parents and discussing your child's progress thus far in 3rd grade!

*Paper recycling: Don't forget to take advantage our our Paper Retriever recycling bin in Lakeview's parking lot. This is a great way to recycle and help our schools earn money. Thank you!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Wed. 11/24-Fri. 11/26: No School: Happy Turkey Day!

* Mon. 11/29-Wed. 12/1: Conferences after school

* Thurs. 12/2: Spelling: List 9 Test

Reading: The Keeping Quilt vocabulary and comprehension test

Math: Ch. 5 Math Checkpoint

*Fri. 12/3: No School

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will be focusing on author's point of view and purpose next week as we read The Keeping Quilt. If you have a quilt at home you can send it in with your child. If you would like to share your knowledge about quilting, please contact me via email. We would love to have someone come talk to the students about quilts. Thank you!

*Spelling: We will work on list 9: long i sound. A pretest will be given Monday. Homework will be sent home Monday as well. The final test and homework is on Thurs.

* English: We will begin a unit on narrative writing.

*Science: We will begin a new unit on ch. 4: ecosystems.

*Social Studies: We will begin a new chapter on culture and immigration (ch. 3).

* Math: We will continue to work on ch. 5 money. We will focus on counting back change ( up to $10) and adding and subtracting money. Please continue to reinforce these skills at home and over break. We will have a money checkpoint for a grade on Thurs. 12/2. We will also go over multiplication this week. A testing schedule for multiplication facts will be sent home on Monday.

Thank you for reading our blog this week. We wish you all a safe, healthy, and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday!

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week of 11/22

*Odds and Ends*

*Paper Recycling Fundraiser Comes to Prairieview: We are happy to announce we can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! You can help us out, too! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (office and school paper, newspaper, magazines and catalogs, and construction paper---no cardboard!) and send it in with your child to school or drop it off at the green and yellow Paper Retriever bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment! Thank you!

*White Envelopes: Please remember to turn in the special white envelopes by Mon. 11/22. Thank you!

*The students of Project Challenge grades 3-5 are participating in a Lion's Club Holiday Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. If you wish to participate you will need to bring the donations in by December 13. Remember that some of these families live right here in Darien. So let's help these families have a happy holiday season. PLEASE DONATE!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Tues. 11/23: Social Studies: Modern Day Downers Grove Graded Review

Picture Retakes

Report Cards sent home!

*Wed. 11/24-Fri. 11/26: No School: Happy Thanksgiving!

*Mon. 11/29-Wed. 12/1: Conferences After School: Please be on time for your scheduled conference...they only last 15 minutes and we can easily get off schedule. Thank you for your cooperation! I look forward to meeting with each of you!

*Thurs. 12/2: Spelling: List 9 Test

Reading: The Keeping Quilt vocab and comprehension test

Math: ch 5 Money Checkpoint

*Fri. 12/3: No School

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading:We will be doing some reading activities with a Thanksgiving theme. These activities review the different skills and strategies we've been working on this year. We will also be discussing Word Masters, an extra curricular activity that works on building vocabulary through analogies. Please look over the note and word list coming home. Please email with any questions!

*Spelling: There will be no spelling this week. The week we return we will work on list 9: words with the long I sound. There will be a pretest Monday and a final test Thursday. Homework will be sent home Monday and due Thursday.

*English: We will work on writing a point of view story. We will write about Thanksgiving through the eyes of a turkey! Next unit....narrative writing.

*Social Studies: We are wrapping up our Downers Grove unit. We will take a graded review on modern day Downers Grove on Tues. 11/23. A study guide was sent home this week.

*Science: We are finishing up ch. 10: Space. We will work on some more planet activities in the upcoming days. Next unit...ch 4: ecosystems and animal habitats.

*Math: We are working on ch. 5: Money and Time. We will focus on money for the next few weeks. One of the hardest concepts in this chapter is counting back change. Please practice this at home as much as possible! We will take a money graded review (checkpoint) on Thurs. 12/1 if all goes as planned!

We will also begin our multiplication unit. We will work on this at the same time as ch. 5, so each night there will be two homework assignments: one on money/time and one on multiplication. Please study multiplication flashcards each night...a testing schedule will be sent home Mon. 11/29. Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week of Nov. 15-19

Odds and Ends:

*Scholastic Book Order: Remember our November book order is due Friday, Nov. 19th. If you place your order online, you can help our classroom earn free classroom books. Thanks!

*Thank you to the following chaperons for coming along on our Downers Grove Field trip: Mrs. Singh, Mrs. Topp, Mrs. Vanni, Mrs. Edwards, and Mrs. Kling. We all had a great time and learned so much about Downers Grove history! It was fantastic to see our history lessons come alive!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 11/15: PBIS Assembly 1:45pm

*Tues. 11/16: Math: Problem Solving Graded Review

English: DOL #5 graded review

*Thurs. 11/18: Book Check Out

* Fri. 11/19: Synonym/Antonym Analogies Review

English: Unit 3 Verb Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue to focus on our reading strategies as we apply them to our reading. We will focus on making inferences, summarizing, predicting, using background knowledge, and applying our knowledge about synonyms and antonyms. We will also continue to work on identifying character traits, setting, and problem/solution.

*Spelling: We will continue to focus on synonyms and antonyms and analogies this week. There will be a graded review on Friday.

*English: The students are busy working on verbs in unit 3. We will finish up this unit on Friday, 11/19. A study guide will be sent home next week. The test will be on Fri. 11/19. Please refer to the pretest in your child's English folder to focus on what your child needs to focus on.

*Science: The students are learning about the planets and solar system in ch. 10 lesson 3.

*Social Studies: We had a great time on our Downers Grove field trip. We will continue to learn about modern day Downers Grove.

*Math: We are finishing up our problem solving unit. We will discuss t-charts this week and take a graded review on problem solving on Tues. We will begin ch. 5 (time and money) this week.

Thank you for checking our our blog this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway

Week of Nov. 8-12

Odds and Ends:

*Picture Retakes: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 will be picture retake day. Any student that did not have their picture taken prior to this date may do so. They will be required to have a picture envelope with money to have a picture taken. Any student wishing to have a picture retaken will have to return the original picture packet for a retake.

*Field Trip: We will be taking our Downers Grove field trip on Tues. 11/9. If your child did not order pizza, please remember to send them with a sack lunch. Also, please check the weather the night before...we do walk around downtown and students will need to be dressed appropriately. Wear comfortable walking shoes! If you were not chosen as a chaperon but would like to meet us for lunch at Giordano's Pizza on Main St. in downtown Downers Grove, please meet us there around 12:15pm. We should be arriving there at that time or shortly after. All students will need to take the bus back to school. Thank you for your understanding.

*Roller Skating Party: Students attending the roller skating party on Monday, November 8th will need to report to school at 3:45 p.m. to check in and have their hands stamped before boarding the buses. Students should bring their fast pass with them at check in which will go home with them on Monday. Please remember to not park in the bus lanes when dropping your student off and for pick up. Thank you

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 11/8: Roller Skating Party: After School

*Tues. 11/9: Downers Grove Field Trip

*Wed. 11/10: PE Net Games Test

*Thurs. 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue with our novel study while focusing on character traits, problem/resolution, and setting as well as predicting, summarizing, and making inferences as we read!

*Spelling: We will continue our study of analogies. This week and next, we will focus on synonym and antonym analogies. Therefore, we will not have a spelling test this week nor next week. We will have a graded assessment on analogies the following week.

*English: We are working on ch. 3: Verbs. You can find your child's pretest and learning contract for this chapter in his/her English folder. Please keep this packet in their English folder since we refer to it each day in class. This pretest can be used as a reference on what to study and focus on for the end of the unit test.

*Science: Chapter 10 is OUT OF THIS WORLD! We are continuing to study the moon phases (lesson 2) and will start to learn about the planets (lesson 3) next week.

*Social Studies: We are gearing up for our Downers Grove field trip on Tues. 11/9. We are learning about local government (ch. 12) and we will continue to learn about modern day Downers Grove.

*Math: We are going to take a short break from the textbook as we focus on problem solving skills. We will focus on word problems where students have to make a table to solve the problem. We will also be introducing the concepts of t-charts. Look for a pink packet of information explaining t-charts coming home Monday.

Thank you and enjoy the weekend~

Mrs. Olsen and Miss Galloway