Friday, March 22, 2013

Newsletter for March 22, 2013


Happy Spring. Hopefully it will feel more like it soon.

Important Dates and Reminders

Our remaining library days are: April 16, 30; and May 14, 29.

March 28, 2013: End of the Third Grading Period
March 29 - April 5, 2013: Spring Break
April 8, 2013: No School: Teacher Grading Day
April 11, 2013: 3rd Grade Musical Program with Mrs. Delcamp
April 15-18, 2013: Terra Nova and InView assessments (Please try to avoid appointments on these days.)
April 16, 2013: Progress reports sent home
April 26, 2013: Kidfest
April 29, 2013: Ohio Reading Achievement Assessments (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
April 30, 2013: Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
May 11, 2013: Windermere Wish Run
May 27, 2013: No School: Memorial Day
May 28, 2013: No school for students: Teacher safety in-service
May 29, 2013: Field Days (Please contact Mr. Moore if you are able to volunteer at adammoore@uaschools.org.)

Walking Wednesdays start again on April 17. The additional Walking Wednesdays are April 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.

On April 11 the combined 3rd grade classes will present It's Easy Being Green. All students need to make an instrument out of recycled materials. I've challenged the class to be creative and really have fun with these. I've shared some videos, but these are better.

Ohio Reading and Mathematics Achievement Assessments are coming up. If you would like practice materials, please visit the Ohio Department of Education's website.
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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Newsletter for March 16, 2013

Important Dates and Reminders

Our remaining library days are: March 22; April 16, 30; and May 14, 29.

March 18, 2013: Invention Convention Display Boards due for ALL students
March 20, 2013: Early release at 1:15
March 23, 2013: Invention Convention at UAHS. Student inventions will be judged from 9:30 till 10:30. Awards will be given at 11:30.
March 28, 2013: End of the Third Grading Period
March 29 - April 5, 2013: Spring Break
April 8, 2013: No School: Teacher Grading Day
April 11, 2013: 3rd Grade Musical Program with Mrs. Delcamp
April 15-18, 2013: Terra Nova and InView assessments (Please try to avoid appointments on these days.)
April 16, 2013: Progress reports sent home
April 26, 2013: Kidfest
April 29, 2013: Ohio Reading Achievement Assessments (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
April 30, 2013: Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
May 11, 2013: Windermere Wish Run
May 27, 2013: No School: Memorial Day
May 28, 2013: No school for students: Teacher safety in-service
May 29, 2013: Field Days (Please contact Mr. Moore if you are able to volunteer at adammoore@uaschools.org.)
 
Walking Wednesdays start again on April 17. The additional Walking Wednesdays are April 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.
 

On April 11 the combined 3rd grade classes will present It's Easy Being Green. All students need to make an instrument out of recycled materials. I've challenged the class to be creative and really have fun with these. I've shared some videos, but these are better.

Ohio Reading and Mathematics Achievement Assessments are coming up. If you would like practice materials, please visit the Ohio Department of Education's website.

What We Learned This Week
Word Study
- I can write and read all lowercase cursive letters.
- I can write and read upper case letters P, B and R.
- I can make singular nouns into plural nouns by adding -s or -es.
- I know plurals ending in -es make a new syllable.
- I know singular nouns ending in -ch, -sh, -x, -z, and -s typically add -es to make the plural form.
- I recognize irregular nouns (e.g., children, mice, deer, etc.)
Encourage your student to write their answers to their reading homework in cursive. It's a great small writing practice.

Reading
- I can state the main idea of a passage.
- I can differentiate between main idea and supporting details.
- I can compare and contrast topics.
- I can take notes using the acronym ABC's: Abbreviate, Bullets, Caveman speak
 
Writing
- I can plan a friendly letter with three to four paragraphs.
- My plan contains sufficient supporting details to make my paragraphs rich and interesting.
- I can use my plan to draft paragraphs.
- I can use my highlighter to keep track of which details from my plan I have used.
- I can self-edit for convention.
- I can create topic sentences to introduce my paragraph.
- I can end my paragraph with a conclusion that utilizes observations, feelings, or connections.
I'm very pleased with student writing progress. The class' recent pen pal letters were great! I sent home copies on Friday. I edited some students' spelling, but largely left grammar as it was in their published piece.

Math
- I can name lines, line segments and rays.
- I can draw lines, line segments and rays.
- I can identify parallel and intersecting lines.
- I use the clues in the words parallel and intersecting to remember their meaning.
- I can draw parallel and intersecting lines.
- I can name the parts of an angle: vertex, sides.
- I can identify right, acute and obtuse angles.
- I can draw right, acute and obtuse angles.
- I draw the right angle symbol in right angles to ensure readers know it is a right angle.
- I know angles measure a fraction of a circle or arc.
- I know a circle has 360 degrees.
- I know a right angle is 90 degrees.
- I can name triangles using their three vertices.
- I know triangles have three vertices, three sides, and three angles.
- I can draw bar graphs, label categories, determine and label scale, provide a title and tell three things I know about the data.

Eagle
Science
- Invention Convention display boards are due on Monday.
- As we near our spring life science study, we've been observing an eagle's next cam. The pair's eggs should hatch before we leave for spring break.
http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/eagle.html
 

Social Studies
We started watching and discussing portions of 1900 House, a documentary on the PBS experiment to have a contemporary family live life as a middle class family in 1900. We will use this examination of how life has changed to start our discussion of how women's lives have changed over time and will refer to this as we start our famous women's research unit in conjunction with Women's History Month.
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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Newsletter for March 8, 2013


Important Dates and Reminders

Our remaining library days are: March 22; April 16, 30; and May 14, 29.

March 18, 2013: Invention Convention Display Boards due for ALL students
March 20, 2013: Early release at 1:15
March 23, 2013: Invention Convention at UAHS
March 28, 2013: End of the Third Grading Period
March 29 - April 5, 2013: Spring Break
April 8, 2013: No School: Teacher Grading Day
April 11, 2013: 3rd Grade Musical Program with Mrs. Delcamp
April 15-18, 2013: Terra Nova and InView assessments (Please try to avoid appointments on these days.)
April 16, 2013: Progress reports sent home
April 26, 2013: Kidfest
April 29, 2013: Ohio Reading Achievement Assessments (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
April 30, 2013: Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
May 11, 2013: Windermere Wish Run
May 27, 2013: No School: Memorial Day
May 28, 2013: Field Days (Please contact Mr. Moore if you are able to volunteer at adammoore@uaschools.org.)
May 29, 2013: Field Days rain date

Walking Wednesdays start again on April 17. The additional Walking Wednesdays are April 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.


In conjunction with the Invention Convention and our upcoming famous women study, in honor of Women's History Month, Mrs. Pathak shared the following link for Ohio State's Introducing a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED). This an all day (8.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.) event on Sat, April 20. This looks like a great opportunity for your young female scientists and mathematicians.


What We Learned This Week

Word Study
- I can write and read lowercase cursive "hill" letters: m and n.
- I can correct sentences for convention (capitals, punctuation) and grammar (tense, subject verb agreement).
- I can combine sentences using transition and linking words. 
- I can recognize vowel-r teams (e.g., vertical).
- I can hear how the r changes the vowel sound in vowel-r teams.

Reading
- I can state the main idea of a passage.
- I can differentiate between main idea and supporting details.
- I can compare and contrast topics.

Writing
- I can plan a friendly letter with three to four paragraphs.
- My plan contains sufficient supporting details to make my paragraphs rich and interesting.
- I can use my plan to draft paragraphs.
- I can use my highlighter to keep track of which details from my plan I have used.
- I can self-edit for convention.
- I can create topic sentences to introduce my paragraph.
- I can end my paragraph with a conclusion that utilizes observations, feelings, or connections.

Math
- I can measure lengths to the nearest inch, half-inch and centimeter.
- I can find perimeter and label it with correct units (e.g., The perimeter is 7 inches.).
- I can find area and label it with correct units (e.g., The area is 25 square centimeters.).
- I can represent area as an array and a multiplication operation.
- I can represent area and perimeter using a geo-board.

We used iPads to research our inventions for the Invention Convention.



Atmospheric pressure. 

Frozen banana hammer.



Oil and water lava lamps.

Density cubes.


Science
Mrs. Forsyth and one of her graduate assistants visited us to conduct some great hands-on experiments with matter, volume and density.
- I can explain volume.
- I can explain density.
- I can air pressure.
- I can compare same volume cubes in terms of density and mass.
- I can compare liquids' densities. 

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Newsletter for March 1, 2013

Happy March!

Important Dates and Reminders

Our remaining library days are: March 8, 22; April 16, 30; and May 14, 29.

March 23, 2013: Invention Convention at UAHS
March 28, 2013: End of the Third Grading Period
March 29 - April 5, 2013: Spring Break
April 8, 2013: No School: Teacher Grading Day
April 11, 2013: 3rd Grade Musical Program with Mrs. Delcamp
April 15-18, 2013: Terra Nova and InView assessments (Please try to avoid appointments on these days.)
April 16, 2013: Progress reports sent home
April 26, 2013: Kidfest
April 29, 2013: Ohio Reading Achievement Assessments (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
April 30, 2013: Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (All students will take. Please try to avoid appointments on this days.)
May 11, 2013: Windermere Wish Run
May 27, 2013: No School: Memorial Day
May 28, 2013: Field Days (Please contact Mr. Moore if you are able to volunteer at adammoore@uaschools.org.)
May 29, 2013: Field Days rain date

 Walking Wednesdays start again on April 17. The additional Walking Wednesdays are April 24; May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29.

Today is the final day to sign up for the Upper Arlington Invention Convention. Use the link below to reserve your student's spot. We will conclude our workbooks at school by next Friday, March 8th. That will give your student two full weeks to complete their display board. More information regarding the demonstration boards and a planning template will be sent home next week. 
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4BA5AB2CA02-invention

In conjunction with the Invention Convention and our upcoming famous women study, in honor of Women's History Month, Mrs. Pathak shared the following link for Ohio State's Introducing a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED). This an all day (8.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.) event on Sat, April 20. This looks like a great opportunity for your young female scientists and mathematicians.
http://wie.osu.edu/content/elementary-school-programs

What We Learned This Week

 Word Study
- I can write and read lowercase cursive "loop" letters: l, h, k, b and f.
- I can correct sentences for convention (capitals, punctuation) and grammar (tense, subject verb agreement).
- I can recognize common prefixes: un-, re-, in-, im-, ir-, il- and dis-.
- I know prefixes change the meaning of words, typically to mean the opposite.

Reading
- I can state the main idea of a passage.
- I can differentiate between main idea and supporting details.
- I can compare and contrast topics.

Writing
- I can plan a friendly letter with three to four paragraphs.
- My plan contains sufficient supporting details to make my paragraphs rich and interesting.
- I can use my plan to draft paragraphs.
- I can use my highlighter to keep track of which details from my plan I have used.
- I can self-edit for convention.
- I can create topic sentences to introduce my paragraph.
- I can end my paragraph with a conclusion that utilizes observations, feelings, or connections.

Math
- I can define fractions as equal parts of a whole.
- I can define the denominator as the number of parts in my whole.
- I can define the numerator as the number of parts in my whole I'm using or considering.
- I can determine the number of units of a whole from a given fraction.
- I can represent the number of units of a whole as a fraction.
- I can simplify fractions.
- I can write irregular fractions as mixed number fractions (in simplest form).
- I can write mixed number fractions as irregular fractions.
- I can place fractions on a number line.
- I can compare and order fractions from least to greatest.
- I can find equivalent fractions.
We will revisit fractions later in the spring. Fractions are both abstract and require math fact fluency. The students who understand fractions as division will be able to understand and use fractions much more easily than those who cannot. Please continue to work on multiplication fact fluency. We'll end the year with division fact fluency, which also comes much faster to students with mastery over multiplication.

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