VALENTINE’S DAY

It’s that time again! Our Valentine’s Day party will be Tuesday, February 14th at 2:10. We will be having a cookie decorating party. If your child would be interested in bringing Valentine cards for the party please make sure they bring one for every member of the class. Make sure the students bring in their valentine boxes on Tuesday.

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If you would be interested in sending supplies or treats for our party check the item below, cut the section off and return it to school with your child.

___ plates ___ napkins ___chocolate chip cookies ___sugar cookies ___cookies (type:____________) ___ icing ___ sprinkles ___drinks ___other: _____________

Student :_________________ Parent:_________________

We are completing a Me I Am project due on Friday February 10. Below you will find the poem that we are basing this project on.
The students have been focusing on poetry and point of view. I have not shown the students the pictures in this picture book because I only want their point of view.
Objective: Your student is to create a collage based on the poem Me I Am. They will be basing this on their point of view of who Me I am is.
In other words they can draw, cut pictures, or bring photographs of their interpretation of this poem. I plan to make this into a classroom book based on the poem. Make sure that you do not mind if the pictures stay here at school permanently. This should be on a page small enough to fit into a page protector.

Me I Am!

I am the only ME I AM
who qualifies as me;
no ME I AM has been before,
and none will ever be.

No other ME I AM can feel
the feelings I’ve within;
no other ME I AM can fit
precisely in my skin.

There is no other ME I AM
who thinks the thoughts I do;
the world contains one ME I AM,
there is no room for two.

I am the only ME I AM
this earth shall ever see;
the ME I AM I always am
is no one else but ME!

-Jack Prelutsky

science

-I can identify

parts of the

tundra

Math

-I can measure

to the nearest

1\4 or 1\2 in

Writing

-I can identify verbs

-I can write from

different points

of view

Reading

-I can identify

point of view and how

it effects to the

story

-I can identify

plot and theme

Spelling

-I can recognize

Vowell patterns

ou and oy

Grammar

-I can identify

verb forms

Words for week

1 .proud

2 .shower

3 .hour

4 .amount

5 .voyage

6 .choice

7 .avoid

8 .thousand

9 .prowl

10 .employ

11 .bounce

12 .poison

13 .annoy

14 .appoint

15 .broil

16 .however

17 .mountain

18 .coward

19 .turmoil

20 .chowder

Hello Families!

We are getting back into the swing of things.  I am so happy that we have not had very many snow days this year, but I am going to quickly knock on wood because you know how making comments like that go.  Check out our objectives for the week below.

Math:  I can measure to the nearest inch.

  This may seem very basic, but the next few weeks we will be focusing on fraction of an inch.  Having the students estimate to the inch is a fun game that you can do at home.

Social Studies:  We are studying black history month this week.  Yesterday we discussed Martin Luther King Jr.  We have some other African American leaders that we will be studying this month as well.

Reading:  I can identify plot and theme.  I can identify point of view.

We are connecting point of view to our study of African American leaders as well.  Our story for the week is "Two Bad Ants."  We only have until next Friday so encourage your student to read this story at home as well.  Look forward to our poetry unit.

Writing:  I can write personal pieces.  We just finished our writing our tradition piece.  You can find the rubric for the completed piece on my blog.  

Grammar:  I can identify personal possessive nouns.  

I am hoping that we will be done with nouns and moving on to verbs next week.

Spelling:  I can identify different diagraphs that create long vowel sounds.

Make sure you are studying spelling with your students.  Spelling is due on Thursdays and math is due on Fridays.  

Thanks!

Kara Mattox 

Words for week

1 .clean

2 .agree

3 .teeth

4 .dream

5 .grain

6 .coach

7 .display

8 .window

9 .shadow

10 .cheese

11 .peach

12 .braid

13 .Sunday

14 .float

15 .throw

16 .entertain

17 .complain

18 .bleachers

19 .willow

20 .wheat 

www.kids.yahoo.com

www.askkids.com

http://kids.aol.com/

http://cybersleuth-kids.com/

Sorry I am so late, but obviously we are back from Christmas.  Last Friday the report cards came home.  Please send the envelopes back signed with your student.  New things you need to know for our new year include weekly math homework and spelling packet.  This will be the students' regular homework.  All students now have the same spelling so it may be a little more difficult.  We have also started the new year out with switches.  When you think switching you are probably thinking subjects, but we as a third grade have decided that it is more important to focus on the students' needs in reading.  We are using switches as our reading group time.  Some students are focusing on novels, while others are focusing on leveled readers.  All students will be working on concepts taught in class and expected to come back and respond to reading groups through a reader response paper.

IN CLASS OBJECTIVES FOR THE WEEK

Math:  I can find area and perimeter.

The students are focusing on finding area and perimeter.  They have done activities including creating quadrilaterals with unifix cubes and their bodies and measuring the perimeter and area.  We have also talked about perfect squares and how area and array are the same.  Please work on this concept at home by doing activities like measuring the bathroom for a carpet or a room for border.  

Science:  I can identify adaptations and their functions.

As a class we are trying to focus on science for a week and social studies for a week.  This week we are covering adaptations.  The students will have to be able to transfer this knowledge to ecosystem work which we will be covering soon.

Reading:  I can compare and contrast texts and objects.

We are reading "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest."  The text this week is very meaty and difficult to read because it is an expository nonfiction text.  It focuses on comparing different areas and places.  We have also worked with venn diagrams and comparing objects.

Grammar:  I can identify plural, singular, and possessive nouns.

Last week the students focused on common versus proper nouns.  This week we are looking at different forms of plural as well as telling the difference between plural and possessive.  

Writing:  I can write a personal piece.

Last Friday we focused on writing our tradition pieces and one tradition that your family shares.  This week, I am hoping to transfer these pieces from a paragraph builder to a piece of paper.  Below you can find the grading rubric I will be using.

100 – Students have written a complete paragraph (Topic Sentence, detail sentence 1, further support of detail 1, detail sentence 2, further support of detail 2, and a conclusion sentence.)  All of these sentence should be complete with correct grammar (and any corrected mistakes from our paragraph builder.) The sentences should also flow and support each other the way we have discussed in class.  The students have read the teacher's comments and improved their paper with these suggestions.

90 – Students have written a complete paragraph (see above).  Most sentences are complete with correct grammar.  Students have most mistakes from the paragraph builder fixed.  The sentences flow, but one or two do not support the way they are supposed to.  Students have taken some of the teacher's comments and improved their paper.

80 – Students have not written a complete paragraph, one or two main components are missing.  There are some grammar mistakes.  Student has corrected a few mistakes from the paragraph builder and used some of the teacher comments.

70 – Students have left out many components of paragraph.  Student has many mistakes, and has not attempted to correct from the paragraph builder.  Student just copied sentences from the builder to the paper.

50 – Students have not even attempted to create a paragraph.  They have just listed sentences.

Things you should be aware of:

Next week we do not have school on Monday.  We will be studying Black History Month next week for Social Studies.  Look forward to seeing rubrics posted for your students' writings and keep an eye out for grades on Wednesdays.  

Have a great week!

Kara Mattox 

1/8/12

1 .using

2 .getting

3 .easiest

4 .swimming

5 .heavier

6 .greatest

7 .pleased

8 .emptied

9 .leaving

10.worried

11.strangest

12 .freezing

13 .funniest

14 .angrier

15 .shopped

Challenge Words

16.included

17.occurred

18 .supplying

19.scarier

20.happiest

Things you should know:

Please don't forget that Thursday we will be having our Christmas party.  If you can please bring in a salty snack to share with the other two classes.  The students will be visiting each class to get a snack.  Also don't forget that this year we don't have a "gift exchange".  All third grade teachers purchased a stocking for your child (our gift to them), and the students are responsible for filling them. Many students have already brought their gifts in.  Things like trinkets, candy  and homemade cards are what we have seen so far.  The students really enjoy the excitement of the stockings and have had such a good attitude.  Please remember if you do have a problem with a PG rated movie please let me know because during our party we will be watching some type of Christmas movie and it is difficult to find G anymore.

WHATS GOING ON IN OUR ROOM?

Reading

The students are currently reading "Penguin Chick".  We have been focused on main idea and supporting details.  This is something the students are getting very good at.  We will also start to cover topic.  We always cover the basic parts of a story, so when you read at home ask your child about the character, character traits, setting and plot of the story.  Yesterday we focused on sequencing.  We discussed how important sequencing is and how it can change a story or a recipe.  The students had to put a set of directions in order and then they got to work with a group to create gingerbread ornaments.  Today the students will be reviewing "Penguin Chick" and completing the Scavenger Hunt.

Please be aware that I have told the students I want to take our tests on Wednesday, so that they can really enjoy Thursday and Friday.

Math

In math we are covering many different things.  We have been discussing Geometric shapes, solids, area and perimeter.  Don't forget double digit multiplication.  The students have learned two different ways to complete these types of problems: Lattice and Partial Products.  We will soon be taking the common assessment.  The students really love playing games like guess that shape (twenty questions in a way).  I give the students hints and they have to guess the shape or solid.  They are pretty good at choosing a shape and answering questions about it as well.  If you want to play this game, don't forget to include words like attributes, plane shape, solid shape, sides, edges, faces, angles, and vertices.  

Writing

The students just completed an informative writing piece over quadrilaterals.  The students were responsible for creating a paragraph about quadrilaterals, and then as a group we discussed the different types of quadrilaterals and their attributes.  The students will also be typing up their opinion piece on Thursday.  We work a lot on good sentences and the parts of sentences.  

Language

Nouns, students are learning all about nouns.  We have been discussing how there are abstract nouns.  They have been responsible for making nouns, and finding nouns in a passage.  

Science

ARTIC AND PENGUINS.  We have discussed the Artic food chain, but this week we will be focusing on the penguins, adaptations and many other things that relate to the Artic.

Don't forget we dismiss early on Friday.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Kara Mattox