Important Dates & Reminders
I am looking forward to spring break as much as the students after the brutal winter. However, we will be learning right up to the last minute. Please let me (and the office) know if you plan to leave for spring break early and complete a planned absence form.
*I will try to highlight new dates and information with red text.
March 2, 2014: Daylight Savings
March 18, 2014: 3rd Grade Musical Performance 7pm
Instruments are due by March 17th and should have your student's name on it. I am collecting them in a basket in our room. You can send them in any time. Instruments should be "reasonably" sized (no larger than a traditional instrument: violin, guitar, hand drum, trumpet, etc.).
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
NOTE CHANGE: New dates for the Ohio Achievement Assessments.
May 6, 2014: 3rd Grade Reading Ohio Achievement Assessment for all students. Please avoid appointments and absences.
May 7, 2014: 3rd Grade Mathematics Ohio Achievement Assessment for all students. Please avoid appointments and absences.
What We Learned This Week
Word Study
We studied past tense verbs and the three sounds they can make, /d/, /t/, and /ed/. Spelling and vocabulary assessments will come home Monday. We are nearly done with our cursive lower case and I will encourage students to write in cursive throughout the third quarter. I prioritize the reading of cursive over writing it. Students read a message written in cursive on the board daily to develop this skill.
We continued 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 (really great) multi-paragraph thank you letters to Mr. Staton, UA City Manager, and Mr. Leach, UA Mayor. I'm sending copies of these home. I'll also send their plans and drafts so you can see the difference in spelling, grammar, and convention, which varies across the class from writer to writer. I keep detailed notes on all of our writing: planning, drafting, editing, revising, and publishing skills.
Math
We completed our Barbi Bungee STEM project. Students worked in teams to determine how many rubber bands they needed to safely have Barbi bungee a distance of 165 inches. They tried to get as close to the landing without touching it. This project utilized measurement and problem solving skills we have been developing all year. I hope your student has mentioned it. Unfortunately, my camera is on the fritz. I will upload photos when I am able.
We started our geometry unit. We focus on four sided shapes, quadrangles/quadrilaterals, in third grade. We will study rectangles, squares, parallelograms, other quadrilaterals (kite, rhombus, etc.). We will also study parallel and intersecting lines and right angles. This is SIGNIFICANTLY less than the previous geometry standards and will allow us to participate in a unique STEM project where we will design and test kites that meet specific criteria which demonstrate an understanding of measurement and geometry.
Social Studies
We have a daily short geometry lesson. We have studied cardinal directions, map keys, water ways, continents, and other important map reading skills and understanding of regional differences.
