Week of 10/27

Odds and Ends:

Zoo Field Trip: A special thanks to Mrs. Kenyeri, Mrs. McCarthy, Mrs.Gasmen, Mrs. Edie, and Mrs. Zervas for chaperoning our field trip to the zoo on Tuesday. We had a great day watching the gorillas and many other animals as we made connections with what we have been learning in ELA and science. Please enjoy the pictures:

Getting ready to go into Tropic World

Comparing our hands to that of a gorilla. 

Filling out our ethograms

A silverback, just like Ivan! 

The mother feeding the baby kale. 

Mother and baby! 

* Fall Conferences: It has been great to meet with some parents this week. I am looking forward to conferences next week. Please contact me if you haven't selected a time slot yet! Thank you!

*Halloween Parade and Party: Our Halloween classroom party will be Fri. 10/31. The parade will be from 1:15-1:30, with the party following afterwards. Your child may bring a costume to school Fri (no weapons or violent costumes, please). They will be changing into their costume for the party. Please make sure your child can get into the costume on their own and that they can wear the costume over their clothes. Thank you for your help!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 10/27: Reading: Pumpkins Due

*Thurs. 10/30: Spelling: Test

* Fri. 10/31: Happy Halloween
Reading: October Reading Calendars due
Halloween Party and Parade

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: Your child's character pumpkin is due Mon. 10/27. This is a pumpkin decorated to look like a character from the good fit book your child chose and has been recording in their pumpkin reading log. We will work on writing our character "commercial" about our pumpkins and will be proudly displaying them in the IMC pumpkin patch!

Also, your child's October reading calendar is due Fri. 10/31. They will receive a new reading calendar for November this week.

*English: We are busy working on our argumentative and descriptive haunted house paragraphs. We will finish them up next week. We are also working on building our academic vocabulary with word of the day. We are on week 3.

*Spelling: We will have a spook-tacular spelling week with some Halloween words. Due to Halloween, homework and the test will be on Thursday. There is no pretest for this week's words.

*Social Studies: We began our unit on communities as we study the history of Downers Grove. Your child will learn about the founder, Pierce Downer, and its first inhabitants, the Potowatomi Indians.

*Science: We will begin our ch. 9 unit on the water cycle next week.

*Math: We are busy adding greater numbers as we learn to regroup and show our work with models (base 10 blocks) and using an expanded algorithm (where we break apart the number by hundreds, tens, and ones and get 3 smaller sums and then add them together for the final, total sum). We will continue ch. 3 next week as we look at subtraction, too. Keep practicing facts at home...timed tests for a grade will be announced soon!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 10/20

Odds and Ends

*Zoo Field Trip: We will be taking our trip to Brookfield Zoo on Tues. 10/21. Don't forget to pack your child a DISPOSABLE sack lunch and dress for the weather! We are really looking forward to seeing the gorillas (like Ivan) and other animals that we have been learning about in reading and science.

*Conferences: I am looking forward to meeting with each of you at this year's fall conferences. If you have not signed up yet, please use the link that was emailed to you to pick a time and date to meet and discuss your child's progress thus far in 3rd grade. 

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Tues. 10/21: Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo

*Fri. 10/24: Spelling: List 8 Test

Word of the Day Graded Review

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK :

*Reading: We will continue to practice using our reading voices and our thinking voices as we read The One and Only Ivan and other stories about people standing up for what they believe in. 

We will also build our academic vocabulary as we work on a new vocabulary word every day. Look for your child's "placemat" with their dinner plate words on them. We call them dinner plate words because the idea is for them to share and discuss these new words with you at dinner! We will add a new word every day this week and a graded review will take place on Fri. We did a sample graded review this week in class...check your child's binder to see what to expect. 

*English: We will work on descriptive and argumentative writing as we work on our haunted house writing. 

*Spelling: We will work on list 8 this week. The homework will be due Thurs. and the test will be Fri. 

*Social Studies: We will begin our unit on Downers Grove as we learn about communities and why people formed them. We will begin with the history of Downers Grove. 

*Science: Our next unit will be ch. 9: The Water Cycle...coming soon!!

*Math: We spent the last few days close reading math word problems to highlight key words that tell us if we need to add or subtract and get an exact answer or an estimated answer. We are working on show our work using PAL (Problem, answer, label). We will continue practicing this in ch. 3 as we work on more addition and subtraction. Please continue to practice using xtramath.org and flashcards at home. Thank you for your continued support as we build life long math skills. 

Have a great fall weekend!

Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 10/14

 Odds and Ends: 

* Conferences: Fall conferences are coming soon! An email containing a link to a sign up genius has been sent to your email. Please check it for a time and date. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 10/13: No School

*Wed. 10/15: Math: Ch 2 Test
Social Studies: Hemisphere Quiz

*Fri. 10/17: Science: Ch. 4 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will work on reading more texts about animals as we talk about standing up for what you believe in. We will work on close reading non fiction text.

*English: We will continue to work on descriptive and argumentative writing.

*Spelling: Due to the shortened week, we will not have spelling this week. We will be learning about vocabulary through a Word of the Day.

*Science: We will focus on the last lesson in chapter 4. The test will be on Fri. 10/17. Here are the students with their amazing pet rocks and ecosystems!

*Social Studies: We will be finishing up our maps unit with a hemisphere quiz on Wed. 10/15. We will begin our unit on Downers Grove soon.

*Math: We will be finishing up ch. 2 in math. The test is scheduled for Wed. 10/15. Please continue to practice your math facts each night!

t, long weekend!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 10/5

Odds and Ends: 

*Zoo Field Trip: A permission slip was sent home with your child about the upcoming field trip to Brookfield Zoo on Tues. 10/21. Please sign and return the slip by Wed. 10/8. There is no cost to the trip!

* Picture Day is coming up! Next Wed. 10/8 is picture day. Please return the order form (if interested in ordering) on or before Wed. All students will take a picture whether you are ordering or not.

*Book Fair: If you are interested in volunteering at our upcoming book fair on 10/16, please use this link:
​
To sign up, go to:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F044AA9A622A13-prairieview1/12780975

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

* Wed. 10/8: Picture Day
Permission Slips Due

*Fri. 10/10: Early Dismissal Day
Spelling: List 7 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We are busy learning about figurative language such as similes and metaphors that helps the text come alive as we read The One and Only Ivan. We are practicing close reading and inferring about character traits as we read.

Also, an October reading calendar was sent home. Please note we changed the due date to 10/31 rather than 11/3 (since we are actually not in school 11/3!) Thank you!

*English: We will begin a descriptive writing unit as we write some argumentative papers about haunted houses!

*Spelling: We will work on list 7. There will be homework due Thurs and a test on Fri.

*Social Studies: We are learning about hemispheres, the equator, and the prime meridian. A study guide and quiz will be announced soon. Check your child's assignment notebook and binder for more information.

*Science: The students are creatively putting together their pet rock and ecosystem.  They look amazing! We worked on a student made rubric to ensure each project was done the best as it could be! We will write a short informational piece to explain our creature and where it is found. We will continue to work on ch. 4 lesson 3 and 4 next week.

*Math: We are working on ch. 2 as we practice addition and subtraction. Please practice these facts every night to help your child build automaticity and fluency  in facts.  Today we went to the computer lab and they learned about xtramath.org. This is a free website and a great way to practice math facts. I encourage you to check it out and use it at home!

Have a great week!
Mrs. Olsen