Week of 10/8-10/12

Odds and Ends: 

*No School: There will be no school on Monday, 10/8 in honor of Columbus Day.  Enjoy your weekend!

*Scholastic Book Order: An October order was sent home this week. Your order is due online or in the classroom by Fri. 10/19.

*Global Reach Out: In science, we have been studying water. We have been looking at the BIG picture and have had many discussions about the world's water and how many people in the world do not have clean water. We visited water.org and watched a short video about their mission.  I am starting a collection in the classroom for loose change that will be donated to water.org.  My family and I have decided to choose an organization to donate to each year in honor of my son Liam's birthday (January). Due to his love of bath time, swimming, and anything water related, we chose water.org as this year's charity. If your child would like to donate, I will set up a collection jar in the room until January. $25 can supply one person with clean water for life!

*Donations Needed: We are in need of the following items in the classroom:

• individually packaged, healthy snacks for our prize box
• 100% juice boxes 

You can send them in with your child at any time. Thank you!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 10/8: No School

*Tues. 10/9: Spelling: List 7 Pretest

*Fri. 10/12: Spelling: List 7 Test
Math: Chapter 3 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will focus on making inferences as we read Mulan and our book club books. Please remind your child not to read ahead in their book club books so they are able to join in our book club discussions without telling the rest of their group what happens before they read it.  We will be working on writing in our reading response journals as we write meaningful and helpful responses to our independent reading books.

*English: We are working on our raindrop story as we connect writing and science. We will begin looking at features of descriptive writing this week.

*Spelling: We are on list 7. We will have a pretest on Tues. Due to the shortened week, there will be only two homework assignments for the week. The final test will be on Friday.

*Science: We are working on chapter 9 lesson 3: clouds and weather.  This is the last lesson in the chapter. Look for information about the final chapter test coming home soon!

*Social Studies: We are working on hemispheres.  The next unit will be the history of Downers Grove.

*Math: We are going to spend next week finishing up chapter 3. The final test will be Fri. 10/12. Be on the look out for a study guide and practice test.

Have a beautiful, long, relaxing weekend together!
Mrs. Olsen

Working on making cumulus clouds with puffy paint! 

Making wispy curl cirrus clouds with cotton balls. 

Painting sheets of gray stratus clouds. 

Hard at work on making clouds. 

Week of 10/1 to 10/5

Odds and Ends: 

*Welcome to October! Time flies when you're having fun in third grade!

*Fall Conferences: An email will be sent to you regarding fall conferences. They will take place Mon. 10/28 and Tues. 10/29.  Fall conferences are with your child's homeroom teacher. Please respond to the email and sign up on line for your 15 minute conference. Thank you!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 10/1: Spelling: List 6 pretest
Math: Ch. 2 Test

* Fri. 10/5: Spelling: List 6 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to summarize and visualize a story from Ten True Animal Stories. We will begin our study of inferences this week as well. Also, the October calendar will be sent home Monday for 20 days of reading for October. Please put these calendars in a safe place. They will be due 11/1.

*English: We are finished up with our Me Bag papers and will continue to share them. We will begin a short unit of connecting writing and science as we do a creative writing assignment about the life of a rain drop as it goes through different stages of the water cycle. They will need to name their raindrop, so they can begin coming up with good names now!

*Spelling: We will work on list 6. As always, the pretest will be Monday. Homework will be due Thurs. and the final test will be Friday. Students are doing a great job of keeping organized and responsible with turning in their weekly homework. Great job!

*Science: We will finish up lesson 2 from ch. 9 about the water cycle. We will begin ch. 9 lesson 3 as we learn about clouds and types of weather.

*Social Studies: We will move onto the final portion of our map skills unit as we learn about hemispheres.

*Math: We will take the ch. 2 test on Monday. A study guide was sent home with your child this week and they have a practice test to help them study over the weekend. They will be tested on comparing and ordering numbers and rounding to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands place. We will begin ch. 3 on Tues. : Addition.

Have a great weekend together!
Mrs. Olsen

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!

Today we have an "apple"solutely wonderful day celebrating the life of John Chapman. Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Learning About the Continents

Students worked in cooperative groups to research a continent using non-fiction books and researching in the computer lab. They shared their facts with the class today! We learned so many new things about our world from our researchers.

North America Group

Africa Group

Asia Group

Europe Group

 South America Group

Australia Group

Antarctica Group

Week of 9/24-9/28

ODDS AND ENDS:

*Happy Birthday, Johnny Appleseed! A note was sent home this week about our classroom celebration in honor of Johnny Appleseed. Please send your child to school on Wed with a cut, peeled, and cored apple in a container or baggie. We will then use all of the apple slices to make homemade applesauce here at school in my crock pot. Thank you to the following families that donated items for our celebration (we are all set thanks to them!): Browns, Fords, and Leatherwoods. We will enjoy the applesauce at the end of the day as we do other apple themed activities through out the school day. What fun!

*Picture Day: Picture day will be Thurs. 9/27. A information sheet was sent home today. Please look in your child's binder for the information sheet!

*MAPs Goal Sheets: Please look in your child's reading folder in their binder for the MAPs goal setting worksheet. Your child's RIT score is written on the worksheet, as well as their lexile numbers, and goals for improving their score for the winter. Please keep this worksheet in their binder because we will refer to during the rest of the school year. Please view this link: http://www.ccsd66.org/map.html to find games and activities online at your child's RIT score level. Thank you for your help at home!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 9/24: List 5 Pretest

*Wed. 9/26: Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!
Social Studies: Continents and Oceans graded review

*Thurs. 9/27: Picture Day: Smile!

*Fri. 9/28: Early Dismissal at 11:00 am
Spelling: List 5 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will work on summarizing as we read novels. We will turn our summaries into cartoons. We will also begin our reading response journals. We are working on Daily 5 as well! We are busy readers in our classroom!

*English: We are working on the format of a 5 paragraph essay. We will share our essay and Me bags next week.  Your child will begin sharing on next week. Look in your child's assignment notebook next week to see when they are sharing. Your child brought home a rubric on how they will be graded on their Me bag presentation.

*Spelling: We will work on list 5. The pretest will be on Monday and homework will be assigned Monday and due Thursday. The graded test will be on Friday.

*Science: We will continue to work on ch. 9 and the water cycle.

*Social Studies: We will keep working on learning about the continents and oceans. Ask your child about what continent they researched in the computer lab.  The continents and oceans graded review is scheduled for Thurs. 9/27.

*Math: We are know on ch 2. We will work on rounding and comparing numbers. Also, your child's math folder in their binder is his/her MAPs goal setting worksheet for math. On the sheet is your child's RIT score from this test this fall. We worked on setting some goals on how to improve our scores for the winter. Please keep this sheet in their math folder because we will refer to it during the year. Please view this link: http://www.ccsd66.org/map.html to find games and activities online that match your child's RIT level. Thank you for your help at home!

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the fall weather!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 9/17-9/21

Odds and Ends:

* Scholastic Book Order: Remember your book order is due on Fri. 9/21 online or checks and order forms turned into the classroom. Online orders help our classroom earn free books! Thank you!

* Science textbook online: Our science textbook is now available online. Attached to my weekly blog email were directions on how to access the textbook online. Please email me if you are having any troubles viewing the textbook and logging on. This is a great resource to use when reviewing lessons and studying for a test.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 9/17: Spelling: List 4 pretest

*Wed. 9/19: Math: Ch. 1 Test

* Fri. 9/21: Spelling: List 4 Test
Book Orders Due

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will begin our first unit on summarizing and sequencing events. We will use Lost and Found as a model story and then begin a novel study. Students will work on summarizing main events as they create comic strips about the novel.

*English: We will work on paragraph writing and the 6 traits of writing.

*Spelling: We will take our list 4 pretest on Monday. Homework will be due on Thursday. The final test will be on Friday.

*Social Studies: We will continue to work on our continents and oceans unit.

*Science: We are still busy studying weather and the water cycle.

*Math: We are finishing up ch. 1 on place value. We will spend Tuesday reviewing ch. 1. The ch. 1 test will be on Wed. 9/19.  A study guide was sent home this week to help your child review. We will begin ch. 2 on Thurs.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Olsen

Week of 9/10-9/14

Odds and Ends: 
We have had a super second week in 3rd grade! 
We are off to a great start together! 

*Scholastic Book Order: Our first Scholastic book order was sent home this week. Please have your orders in online or in the classroom by 9/21. I will have the online portion up and running by tomorrow. Thank you for your patience!

*MAPs testing: We will take our reading MAPs test on Wed. 9/12 at 8:05. This will conclude our fall MAPs test.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Mon. 9/10: Spelling: List 3 pretest

*Tues. 9/11: Magazine Drive Kick Off Assembly

*Wed. 9/12: Social Studies: Directions Quiz
Band Concert
MAPs testing : Reading

*Thurs. 9/13: English: DOL #1 Graded Review

*Fri. 9/14: Spelling: List 3 Test
English: Ch 1: Types of Sentences Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to preview strategies that we will focus on for the year!

*English: We are working on subjects and predicates this week. The ch. 1 test is scheduled for Fri. 9/14.We are also working on D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language) in which students fix and edit incorrect sentences. We are focusing on capital letters in the beginning of sentences, end marks, and capitalizing proper nouns. The graded review will be on Thurs. A review guide will be sent home Monday.

*Spelling: This week we will work on list 3. The pretest will be on Monday. 3 homework assignments will be given on Monday and due on Thursday. The final test will be on Friday.

*Social Studies: We are working on directions and compass roses during map skills. The directions quiz will be on Wed. Then we will move onto continents and oceans.

*Science: We will begin ch. 9 : Weather and the Water Cycle. We will begin by looking at the water cycle.

*Math: We are off to a great start in math! We will focus on place value up to 6 digits. We will be learning how to write the standard, word, and expanded form of  these numbers.

Thank you for checking out my blog! Have a great weekend!
Mrs.  Olsen

Week of Sept. 4-7, 2012

Odds and Ends:

*Curriculum Night: It was so wonderful to see so many of you at Wed. night's curriculum night! I enjoyed sharing what the year will bring in 3rd grade with each of you. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to email or call anytime. I am looking forward to a fantastic year together!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 9/3: No School: Labor Day

*Tues. 9/4: Spelling: List 2 Pretest (we begin with list 2 this year)

*Wed. 9/5: MAPS math test 8:05-9:05

*Fri. 9/7: Spelling: List 2 Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will begin our reading curriculum with an introduction to our reading strategies. We will be using a variety of literature and activities to preview the strategies that we will focus on through out the school year.

*English: The students took the ch. 1 pretest on Friday. Please look for their learning contract for ch. 1 in their English folder of their binder on Tuesday.  We will work on ch. 1: types of sentences this week.

*Spelling: This week we will work on list 2. We will take the pretest on Tuesday. Since it is a shortened week, the students will only have 2 homework assignments, rather than 3, due Thursday. The final test is on Friday. Please look for an informational sheet coming home on Tuesday explaining our spelling program in detail.

*Social Studies: We will begin the year with our map skills unit. We will begin with directions and the compass rose.

*Science: We will focus on Social Studies this week. Science will be starting shortly!

*Math: We met with our math classes for the first time on Friday! What a great class! We will begin with ch. 1: place value.  We will not have math on Wed due to MAPs testing.

Thank you for checking out our blog! I am so excited for this school year with my  fabulous class full of bright students. This is going to be a wonderful year! Enjoy the long weekend!
Mrs.Olsen

Welcome to my classroom!

Welcome to 3rd grade!

It was so great to meet you all at Open House! I am looking forward to seeing you all again on Monday!

Mark your calendars: 3rd Grade curriculum night for parents is on Wed. August 29th at 6:30 pm. 

Students: please bring a t-shirt (any shirt: it will not be altered in any way) and hanger to school on Monday. We will be using it for a fun school project!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Olsen 

Happy Summer

Thank you each and every one of you for a fabulous school year! Thank you to a fantastic group of parents as well! Your generosity and kindness made this a year to remember!  I enjoyed this year so much and learned so much from the students. I am proud of everyone's hard work and dedication this school year. Please come back and visit me often! It is hard for me to say good-bye to such an outstanding group of students, but I do so knowing that I will see you in the halls next year when you are 4th graders! Have a great summer, playing, reading, and having fun! Don't forget to post on our Summer Reading Blog!



**Over the summer, it is very important that students continue to read! I have created a blog where students can write responses about the books they are reading. They can also see the books their friends have enjoyed.  The reading responses should be around 5 sentences and should include information about the book they read.  Just click on the link on my blog page to view the reading blog. In order to use the blog students simply click on the down arrow button and find their name. Then they can enter the password I have already given them. 


**School supplies: Your child received a dictionary from the Darien Rotary Club earlier this year. Please hold on to these dictionaries and use them in 4th and even 5th grade! Thanks! 

 Congrats 3rd Graders...Welcome to 4th Grade!

Happy Summer!

Mrs. Olsen