Newsletter for February 28, 2014

Important Dates & Reminders

*I will try to highlight new dates and information with red text.

Unfortunately, as Mr. Imhoff shared, it looks like March may come in like a lion. 

Blizzard Bags: The weather forecast for this weekend, especially going into the start of next week is discouraging. It has been wonderful to have a full week of learning and I feel we've reestablished our routines. In the unfortunate case that we do not have school on Monday, you can visit our Blizzard Bags post. Student assignments will not be due for two weeks. 
http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2014/02/blizzard-bags.html

March 18, 2014: 3rd Grade Musical Performance 7pm
http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2014/02/third-grade-musical-performance.html

March 19, 2014: Early release for professional development

March 27, 2014: End of the third quarter

March 28 - April 4, 2014: No school - Spring Break

April 7, 2014: No school for students, teacher grading day

April 14, 2014: 3rd quarter progress reports sent home


What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We studied and assessed plurals. Our generalization is words that add a syllable end in -es and words that do not add a syllable end in -s. Look for spelling and vocabulary assessments on Monday.

Reading Workshop
We concluded our African American study and wrote summary paragraphs. These are now in the hall. I will send home copies of student work on Monday.

We are revisiting main idea as we read more complex text.

I introduced CLOSE reading this week. It is an instructional strategy that uses multiple readings of a text to do different tasks (e.g., find the main idea, ask questions, etc.) that help students improve their comprehension.

Writing
Students wrote their African American first person summaries and thank you letters to our visitors from City Hall (see below).

Math
We concluded our study of measurement. Assessments will come home on Monday. Please review these with your student.  I will begin our study of geometry on Monday.

Social Studies
City Manager, Ted Staton, and mayor, Don Leach, visited to discuss local government.

Mr. Staton (left) and Mr. Leach (right)

Students listening alongside Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Nolan. 

Health
Mrs. Keidan talked to the class about healthy nutrition and reading food labels.

Third Grade Musical Performance

Dear Families,

Please read the following note from Mrs. Delcamp. I am embedding links to two helpful websites that show the full potential of using recycled materials to construct instruments. Have fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJxxdQox7n0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXrN3nIZyI

The Third Grade Musical Performance

(A note from Mrs. Delcamp)

Your third grade student is learning about saving our planet by going green.  They are learning songs and activities in music class to help them remember to be good to the planet earth. We will be presenting a musical program that will show you what we know. The musical is called “ It’s Easy Being Green”.

We will perform this Tuesday evening March 18^th at 7:00 in the multi-purpose room.  Please have your student wear a green shirt and nice pants.  They will gather in their classrooms to line up at 6:45.

I also have a fun homework assignment.  Your child is to create a musical percussion instrument out of recyclable materials.  They will use their instrument to accompany one of the songs in the show. Please have them bring it to school by March 14th so we can use them for practice before the show. 

We will look forward to seeing you the 18th.  It will be a fun evening for your whole family as we all learn about being green!

Musically yours,

Dulcy Delcamp

Newsletter for February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day.

Important Dates & Reminders

*I will try to highlight new dates and information with red text.

February 17, 2014: No school in honor of President's Day

February 22, 2014: After Hours Windermere Art Auction (see previous email and PTO website for more details)

March 18, 2014: 3rd Grade Musical Performance 7pm

March 19, 2014: Early release for professional development (Corrected date. Thanks Mrs. Shroyer)

March 27, 2014: End of the third quarter

March 28 - April 4, 2014: No school - Spring Break

April 7, 2014: No school for students, teacher grading day

April 14, 2014: 3rd quarter progress reports sent home


What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We studied and assessed common digraphs (two consonants that come together to make a new sound): ch, th, and wh. These can be hard for third graders to hear in words so they are especially important. Many of these words are high frequency sight words that have to be memorized. Assessments will be sent home on Tuesday.

We continued our study of nouns, looking at common, proper, singular and plural nouns.

Reading Workshop
Linking to Black History Month, we began researching our African American study subjects. Students used a graphic organizer to study Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a whole class. Pulling from two articles, one of which was from an encyclopedia, students responded to the following prompts:
- List facts you learned about Dr. King.
- Describe Dr. King using adjectives.
- What was Dr. King's dream?
- What was Dr. King's contribution.
We shared answers so students could see differences in quality and depth of answers as well as to realize there were no singular right answers, but many different ways to share what they had learned.

Students then began researching a famous African American. Using a similar graphic organizer, students began researching. Each student has a partner they will work with to compare findings and then improve their own work, clearing up misunderstandings and developing a sense of bigger ideas and themes.

Finally, students are working further on the research subjects with Mrs. Hastings, our library media specialist. We are learning general research strategies that can be applied to any topic or interest. We will work on transferring these skills to other interests throughout the year.

Writing
Students are still responding to our read aloud, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg. We also wrote persuasive essays and debated favorite holidays. Student content has really improved, but convention has regressed. We will be focusing on that in the weeks to come. Many pen pal letters have arrived and I am anxious to have students read them. I know they are looking forward to opening their letters. I hope to have all pen pal letters by the end of next week.

Math
We are studying measurement. Specific standards include: determining area and perimeter, recognizing and representing area as a model of multiplication and/or an array, linear measure to the nearest inch, 1/2 inch, and centimeter; recognizing units of measure (e.g., kg and pounds represent mass/weight, miles and yards represent length, liters and cups represent volume/capacity). We took a short Friday assessment that will come home on Tuesday. It is my intent to start doing Friday quizzes again to identify students who need specific support and to communicate with you better regarding your student's math progress.

Science

Thank you for your generous donations to the Ohio Wildlife Center (OWC). They have great summer camps and volunteer opportunities. If you are interested, you can learn more here: http://www.ohiowildlifecenter.org/dnn/

OWC representatives shared indigenous animals (bard owl, screech owl, box turtle, woodchuck) and introduced many important life science standards: classification, habitat, human impact, food webs, ecosystems, nocturnal and diurnal. I will try to upload some photos from their visit this weekend. 

Newsletter for Febrrrrrrrary 7, 2014

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
I assessed students beginning blends (br-, fl-, and dr-). We also looked at nouns.

Science
Elijah Wilt, former Windermere student, included us in his senior capstone project. Elijah, who will be attending Cornell University next year for computer science, introduced basic programming to see if learning programming helps young students show what they've learned in other curriculum areas using Scratch, a programming application developed by MIT for you beginning programmers. You can download SCRATCH for free at: http://scratch.mit.edu/scratch_1.4/

Blizzard Bag Update

I updated the Blizzard Bag page to simplify it. Thank you for the helpful feedback. Let's hope we don't need to reference it again this year! You can access the Blizzard Bag blog post here: http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2014/02/blizzard-bags.html 
You can also enter blizzard bag in the blog's search box to find it at any time.

Important Dates & Reminders

*I will try to highlight new dates and information with red text.

OWC volunteer installing a bird habit

February 10 - 14, 2014: Drop off donations for the Ohio Wildlife Center
The Ohio Wildlife Center donation sign up genius is at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AC2EA75-ohio
Please consider donating to maintain this great life science experience!

Students may, but are not expected to, share Valentine's cards on Valentine's Day. If your student would like to give Valentine's Day cards, please have them:
- Provide one for each student. We have nineteen students.
- Sign them, but don't address them. This expedites handing them out.
Students do not need to bring a box or bag for their cards as I'll have one for them. Please let me know if you have any questions.

February 17, 2014: No school in honor of President's Day

February 19, 2014: Early release for professional development

February 22, 2014: After Hours Windermere Art Auction (see previous email and PTO website for more details)

March 27, 2014: End of the third quarter

March 28 - April 4, 2014: No school - Spring Break

April 7, 2014: No school for students, teacher grading day

April 14, 2014: 3rd quarter progress reports sent home

Blizzard Bags

Here we go again:(

Dear Families,

As you were recently notified, the Upper Arlington School Board has approved "Blizzard Bags" as a proactive method to maintain student learning during this exceptionally difficult winter. I wanted to send this to you in advance of any future calamity days so you would know what to expect from my blizzard bag.

I would like to provide student directed learning that does not demand parent support as I am cognizant that many of you may need to still work from home when staying with your student. However, I hope some of this work may be fun, especially the STEM activities, and encourage the whole family to participate.

The use of blizzard bags is is all very new to us. Please use your best judgment. Each student's situation will be different. I would not want any student to work for more than two hours on their blizzard bag. It will be due two weeks following any future calamity days. Let's hope we have warm weather and sunny skies.

Reading

Please have your student read a just right chapter book for 60 minutes. There are few better ways to beat the winter doldrums than a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. Your student routinely reads independently for 60 minutes a day. Not only will this maintain their reading stamina, but research supports independent reading of a just right book as a primary way to develop fluency and comprehension.

STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math)

paper cup walk                                 balloon blast off

Now for the FUN! Students should visit the following website provided by PBS Kids:

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/

Students are to choose one STEM experience. There is a broad range of possible activities ranging using minimal materials, most of which are probably already in your cupboards. Students should photo document this activity and email one or two photos of their experiment to me.