Classroom Issue #8

Odds and Ends

*Halloween!! We will begin the day by going to Robert Crown (without costumes) and then come back for lunch. After eating, we will change into our costumes for our school wide parade and the come back into the room for our party. Our classroom party will be on Wednesday, October 31st at 1:30-2:20. We will have our whole school parade from 1:15-1:30 outside (weather permitting). Any parents who have been contacted to help at our party should arrive no earlier than 1:15. Thank you in advance to all of the parents who are planning our party!

If your child would like to dress up at school, please send their costume with them in a large bag labeled with their first and last name. There are some guidelines to follow when choosing a costume:

1. Please make sure your child can change into his/her costume easily and by themselves. We allow about 15 minutes for costume changes. It is best if the costume can go over their clothes to reduce the time to change and the chances of losing any clothes!

2. Make up can be used, but please do not send your child with it on that morning. There will be no extra adults around to help with make-up, so your child has to be able to apply it themselves. 3. Please no weapons. Save those for trick-or-treating.

4. Your child will wear their costume home. We do not change back into our clothes for dimissal due to time contraints.

THANK YOU~

*SMILE (again!) =) Photo Retakes will take place on Tuesday, October 30th. If your child needs retakes please send them with their original pictures. If your child missed the original picture day, please send your order forms on Tuesday. Thank you!

*Classroom Donations Needed:

Our classroom is in need of the following items.
*Disposable Cameras

*Film for camera
*Prizes for boys and girls for prize box (pencils, toys, etc.)

THANK YOU!

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 10/29: No School: Teacher Institute...Enjoy the long weekend!

*Tues. 10/30: Photo Retakes

*Wed. 10/31: Happy Halloween! Robert Crown Field Trip 9-11:30

Halloween Parade: 1:15-1:30

Classroom Party: 1:30-2:20

*Thurs. 11/1: English: DOL #4 Review

*Fri. 11/2: Spelling Test

Spirit Day: Character Counts: We are CARING this month: Please wear RED =)

*Math: We have completed chapter 1 from our textbooks. The tests will be sent home next week. We will start our next unit, Make-a-Table problem solving next week. This unit focuses on a problem solving skill as we introduce the students to t-charts. T-charts require students to solve a problem and then write what they did and why. They are a skill used on the ISAT test in March. We will continue to cover this higher level skill through out the year. I will send home a "how-to" t-chart packet next week that you can use to practice with your child and help them understand this often difficult concept. Each night sample problems and t-charts will be sent home to help complete the homework. Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation!

*Science: We are continuing to learn about germs and will begin learning about harmful and helpful drugs next week. Our human body and health unit will be reviewed at Robert Crown on Wednesday. Your child will be receiving a study guide on Tuesday that will be due on Friday. The test is scheduled for Tuesday, 11/6. Look for a note coming home about Health Fest next week.

*Social Studies: We are busy learning about various US communities. We learned about El Paso and started making our own brochures highlighting the geopgraphy, history, and community life of different US cities. If your child is doing a city other than El Paso, there is some extra research that should be done at home. I sent home a tradebook on the city that your child can read and choose facts from to include in their brochures. We will work on these again in class on Tues. Depending on the students progress, they may receive another day to work on them in class or they may be sent home to be finished. Look in their assignment notebooks to find out when they are due. Please have your child refer to their rubric when creating their brochure to make sure they include all of the necessary parts. Your child may print photos from the internet of their city if you would like. Thanks!

*Spelling: This week we will take a break from the spelling book due to the shortened week and Halloween party and do a Halloween word list. The list will be sent home on Tuesday and we will do various activities throughout the week. The final test will be on Friday.

*Reading: The students did a great job on their "book commercials" today and I think they encouraged their classmates to read many different books. The posters looked great. I handed out the next project, which will be due Friday, December 14th. This project is working with a non-fiction book. The students will need to create a new book cover, listing 3 facts on the inside, and a summary of the book on the back. I will provide the paper necessary for the project. I will be approving books next week. Please look in their binder for a detailed assignment sheet. We will work in various word analysis, fluency, and comprehension skills next week.

*English: Nouns and more nouns! We are continuing to work with nouns, focusing on plural nouns and possessive nouns in the upcoming days. Our final test is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 11/8. A study guide will be sent home before the test. Your child can expect a graded review of nouns (common/proper, nouns in a subject, plural) next week.

Have a wonderful, long weekend and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
~Miss Carlstrom

Classroom News Issue 7

Odds and Ends

The students will celebrate Halloween in our classroom during the afternoon on Wednesday, October 31st. If you would like to participate, your child can bring a costume to school to change into. It must be a costume your child can change into by themselves. The Prairieview Halloween Parade will be starting around 1:15pm.

Independent Reading Folders: Just a reminder...if your child reads from a text book at night for homework, those minutes can count towards the nightly goal of 20 minutes of reading, written down in the independent reading folder. Keep up the good work! Our next reading party will be Thursday, November 8th. Keep Reading!

Thank you to those of you who have been donating prizes to our classroom prize bin. The students have been working hard to earn goodie tickets to pick from our new prizes. They are always appreciated!

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 10/22: Social Studies: Hemispheres Quiz

*Fri. 10/26: Reading: Monthly Book Project report due: Advertise A Book poster

Spelling: Review Week Test

Math: Chapter 1 Test

Character Counts Assembly

SPIRIT DAY: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26th: WEAR YOUR SLIPPERS TO SCHOOL!

Photo Retakes will be on October 30th. Please send in your photo packet if you want retakes. Thank you.

Math: Thank you to the Imgruet, Sarros, and Wascher family for donating supplies for our classroom store. We really appreciate your generousity! In math class, we are in the money =) We are working on counting back change. This is a great opportunity for your child to get some real world experience while shopping or looking at sale ads at home. Get out your change and let your child work with making change from $1-$5. I sent home a great website for your child to play with to work on their money skills. It is on http://www.gamequarium.com/. Click on 3-6th grade math, then try out the games Money Drills, Change Maker, and Working with Money. We will be going to the computer lab next week to play these games. The chapter 1 test will be on Friday, October 26th. A study guide will be sent home on Monday. We will have the Carlstrom Classroom store on Wed.

Science: We will continue to learn about health and nutrition. We are going to learn about excercise, germs, and helpful and harmful drugs. This will give us some good background information as we get ready to visit Robert Crown on Wednesday, Oct. 31st. If you have not yet sent in your child's permission slip, please do that on Monday. Thank you!

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our map skills unit. We will have a quiz covering hemispheres, North and South pole, Equator, and Prime Meridian on Monday. Please use the study guide to help your child prepare. Our next unit will be on different communities, starting with El Paso, Texas.

Spelling: Next week will be our review unit, where the students will review the rules and words of the previous spelling lists. There will be no pre test and no list of words to study will be sent home. The students are responsible to know the spelling rules we have learned for the past 7 weeks. We will take a sample test on Wednesday so your child can practice with this different test format. It involves them reading 4 words and choosing which word is spelled incorrectly. The test will be on Friday.

Reading: The students are enjoying reading their non-fiction stories about animals. They will continue to work on the posters with their partners on Monday. They will begin an animal story on their own on Tuesday. This story will be taken for a grade. You can look in their reading folders to see a sample of what the stories look like. We will spend the rest of the week practicing reading fluency with poetry and sharing our book posters on Friday. The next monthly book project assignment will be introduced this week as well.

English: Our spooky haunted house descriptive paragraphs are turning out great! We are learning how to use varied sentence starters to make the story interesting for others to read. Your child may have to finish their rough drafts over the weekend. I will be taking a grade on their "work in progress". We will be working on our final drafts on Monday. The students are also having an opportunity to have an individual conference with me during our writing workshop as we talk about their strengths in writing and what we are going to work to improve. Our next unit will be nouns.

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the fall weather!!

Miss Carlstrom

ODDS AND ENDS

Opps! I had the wrong times for the Book Fair that will be held on Thursday, October 18th. The times are 6:30-8:00 pm, not 6:45-8:30 pm. Sorry for any confusion.

Also, if your child has headphones from Elizabeth Ide last year, you may send them in to be used later this year. Your child will store the headphones in their lockers until we need to use them. Thank you!

PICTURE RETAKES: are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 30th . Students must have original picture packets in hand to have a retake. If your child was absent on the first picture day, they will have to have their original order envelope with them at the time of retakes.

Classroom Issue 6

Classroom News

Thank you to all of the parents who brought in prizes for our prize box and treats for math class. We could use prizes for the prize box anytime, so if you have anything to donate, it will be greatly appreciated!

Reading Parties: The next reading party is Thursday, November 8th. Continue to read 20 minutes each night and fill in the reading log. The last day to turn in the reading log for the next party is Wednesday, November 7th. Also, at the end of the year we have a party for students who have attended each reading party for the year. I will allow one "freebie" month that your child can miss, so if they attend every party but one, they can join us for the final party at the end of May. Thanks!

Magazine Drive Winners: We are one lucky class! Nick Paskvan and Bradley Burton each won our class a special treat during the magazine drive. Nick chose doughnuts for the class that will be enjoyed on Wed. 10/17 and Bradley chose cookies that we be shared on Friday 10/26. Yum!

Field Trip: We enjoyed our "recess" at Elizabeth Ide playing on the brand new playground. Even in the chilly weather the children had a great time!

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 10/15: English: DOL #3 Quiz (covering book titles and introductory words)

Spelling: List 7 Pretest

*Wed. 10/17: Reading: Illinois Workbook Lesson 1 Review (see practice review coming home on Mon.)

Early Dismissal: School out at 11:00 am

*Thurs. 10/18: Book Fair at school 6:45-8:30 pm

*Fri. 10/19: Spelling: Test List 7
Spirit Day: Wear A Crazy Hat!

*Math: We are busy practicing place value and logical reasoning. We will begin money next week, so please have your child bring in their coins by Thursday of next week. We will have a graded place value review on Tuesday, so you can review any worksheets on place value in your child's math folder. They will need to know the names of the different place values up to 100,000 and the different forms of writing numbers (standard: 391, expanded: 300 + 90+ 1, and word form: three hundred and ninety-one). Also, thank you to those parents who sent in candy for our store in math. This is an activity where we will practice counting change from $1. The store will provide non-edible treats as well. Each child will only be able to purchase 2 items. We are still in need of the following individually, mini wrapped treats(like you see at stores for Halloween) for our store (which will take place on Tues. 10/23):

*Twix

*Starburst

Thanks!

*Science: We started on unit on health and nutrition. We will be learning about the food pyramid on Monday. We will be making a food pyramid book in class for a grade. The students will be given class time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on the book. If the students do not finish the book in class, it will be sent home on Wednesday to be turned in on Thursday. Thank you!

*Social Studies: The students are working their way around the world in Social Studies! We finished learning about the continents and oceans and the students did a wonderful job of locating and naming these places on the map. We will start our unit on hemispheres next week. We will cover the 4 hemispheres, North and South pole, Equator, and Prime Meridian. A graded review of these concepts is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 22nd. A study guide will be sent home next week.

*Spelling: We will work on list 7 this week, irregular plural nouns. There will be a pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday. Keep up the good work practicing and studying the words at home. The students are doing a great job on their weekly tests.

*Reading: We have finished up The Chalkbox Kid and made our own chalk gardens. They look great! We will begin reading non-fiction short stories on animals. The students will do one as a whole group, work with partners on another story as they read, answer questions, and make a poster on the main ideas and details of the story, and finally read and answer questions on their own for a grade. This is a great way to learn new vocabulary, answer different types of questions, and locate and highlight answers within the text.

Also, we are working on various word analysis concepts in our Illinois workbook. We will be finishing up lesson 1 on Tuesday and a graded review will be given on Wednesday. All of the pages have been ripped out of the students workbook and stapled together and put in their reading folder of their binders. The review will cover prefix/suffix, vowel and letter sounds, and compound words. A review will be sent home on Monday for homework and we will go over it Tuesday in class.

*English: We are busy writing our descriptive paragraphs. The students have learned how to narrow a topic and choose just one idea to write about. We are using all we have learned about descriptive writing and applying it to our work. We are using WOW opening sentences, specific color words, sensory details, similes, and "wrap it up" ending sentences. We will continue working on descriptive writing next week.

Classroom Issue 5

UPDATE: The continent and ocean quiz is changed to FRIDAY, 10/12 rather than THURSDAY 10/11. This gives the students an extra night to prepare. Thanks!

Reminder: There will be no school on Monday, October 8th due to Columbus Day! Please enjoy the long, warm weekend!

Thank you to those parents who have signed and returned the permission slip to go to play on the new playground at Elizabeth Ide on Wed. 10/10. Please return the slip by Tuesday, if you have not already turned it in. Thanks!

Upcoming Events:

*Mon. 10/8: No School: Have fun!

*Wed. 10/10: Field Trip to Ide Playground (weather permitting) from 10-10:30

*Thurs. 10/11: Reading: The Chalkbox Kid vocabulary review

Social Studies: Continent and Ocean Quiz

*Fri. 10/12: Spelling: List 6 Test

Spirit Day: Show your School Pride: Wear your favorite Prairieview shirt or school colors.

A LOOK AT OUR WEEK!

*Math: The following news is for Miss Carlstrom's math class only. Please look at your math teacher's blog for your child's math news. Thank you!

We are continuing the second half of chapter 1. We will be working on place value and money. Look for a place value game coming home for you to try out with your child.
Also, look for a note coming home about sending in coins for your child to use during math class. The money will be returned, but this gives the students a "hands-on" approach to using money. Soon we will be working with money, practicing how to give change, write, and count money. We will be working on how to count change in our “classroom store”. We will set up a Carlstrom Classroom store to have a "real world" experience using money and counting back change. Please see the list below if you’d like to donate any supplies to our classroom store. All candy should be the individual, wrapped candy you see in the stores for Halloween. Thank you in advance for your help!

*Skittles

*Starburst

*Tootise Rolls

*Twix

*Lollipops (any kind)

*Science: We finished up our body systems unit. We had a great time learning about our amazing body systems. We are going to be starting our next unit on health on Monday.

*Social Studies: We are working with map skills. We started exploring our world’s continents and oceans. We will have a graded review over the world's continents and oceans on Thursday. A study guide will be sent home on Tuesday. Your child will need to know the location and spelling of the continents and oceans. We will still continue to practice our directions.

*Spelling: Next week will be List 6: plural consonants + y words. (i.e. flies). Due to the shortened week there will be no pretest on Monday. The final test will be on Friday. Expect spelling homework on Wednesday night.

*Reading: We have finished reading The Chalkbox Kid and the comprehension journal. Chapters 5-9 in the journal were collected for a reading grade and the conventions (complete sentences, capital letters, end marks) will be taken for an English grade. We will work on summarizing the story and characterization next week. Your child will be given a vocabulary and comprehension review of the book on Thursday. They will not need to know the dictionary definition of the vocabulary word, but rather the context definition (or how it is used in the book). A list of the words and there "book" meaning will be sent home on Tuesday.

*English: We are continuing to work on descriptive writing. We are learning about similes, color words, and sensory words. Ask your child about their new crayon color and mystery object. We will be writing our paragraphs next week.

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.