Whew! It has already been an extremely busy last week of the quarter. Thank you for your patience for my tardiness on updating our blog. I posted a schedule of the conference times and initials in the right column. We have a very packed schedule and only 15 minutes to discuss your child, so please be on time and call to make arrangements if you need to reschedule.
Here is a peek at our learning goals this week:
Reading/Science: We started a new Unit this week in which we will be investigating "Science at Play". This week, our reading and discussions are focusing on answering the question "What role does science play in sports?" The third-graders are loving this topic! The following are some other language arts skills that we are tying into our reading:
Non-fiction Book: Science All Around Us (this is available online on the LEAD21 link on the blog)
Word Work: Making contractions with am, is, are
Comprehension Strategies: Summarizing and Cause and Effect (tools to make sense as we read)
Vocabulary Words: energy, force, technology
Writing: The students wrote a story today using a prompt that invited them to write about discovering a yard of trees filled with candy on Halloween night. I can't wait to share them with you during the conference.
Spelling: The spelling words this week focus on a spelling pattern of three-letter clusters (thr-, scr-, str-, and spr-)
Math: We are continuing our progress in multiplication and building arrays (organization of images/shapes to show a certain number of group of a specific item, ex. 2 x 8 is 2 groups of 8.)
I am really looking forward to meeting with you next week!
Miss Kimpton
Miss Kimpton's Third Grade: This blog is created for students and their families to stay connected with our school day. It will be updated weekly with learning goals and activities, school happenings, and pictures. Check it weekly!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Oct. 20 to Oct. 24
I hope that everyone had a great weekend enjoying the sunny weather! Here are our plans for the week:
Reading - This is our last week of Unit 1 : Changes. The week will focus on comprehension skills that we have been practicing, such as making T-Charts to document finding text evidence (words or pictures) that answers the question "How do things change?", make inferences in order to understand what the author means, draw conclusions to make a decision about the reading, and compare and contrast ideas from the two different readings "Changing as .
Vocabulary - The students will complete activities that review and practice the words from Unit 1 : Changes (choose, responsibility, decision, prepare, confused, skill, familiar).
Writing - The students will be finishing their writing project about a change they would like to make in their lives. They will be working on a rough draft, editing, and writing a final copy.
Spelling - The list of words this week include short and long vowels. Each night through Thursday, the students will be assigned homework to complete at home to help them practice their words. If you are unsure of what the homework is, you can check your child's planner. It will be located in the "Spelling" section, and the students will have circled the assignment. We write it in the style "WS #", which corresponds with "Worksheet and page number".
Math - We will be introducing multiplication to the students this week. We will start with a pre-assessment on Monday to determine what students already understand about multiplication, and then we will reassign the students for Math groups. In order to introduce multiplication, we will focus on the understanding that, in order to determine the total amount, we will be looking at a specific number of groups with the same amount, as opposed to counting one-by-one. We will be completing many activities that further the students' understandings of groups vs. individual amounts, and they will learn that 5 x 8 means 5 "groups of" 8. The vocabulary words they will use are factors (the numbers that are multiplied together) and product (result of multiplying the factors).
Field Trip - As you are very familiar with, we will be attending Alberta Bair's production of Schoolhouse Rock Live on Monday. The bus will leave Sandstone at 11:50, and the musical begins at 12:30. I expect that the students will be prepared for a wonderful production. I also expect that will behave respectfully and appropriately when in the community.
Reading - This is our last week of Unit 1 : Changes. The week will focus on comprehension skills that we have been practicing, such as making T-Charts to document finding text evidence (words or pictures) that answers the question "How do things change?", make inferences in order to understand what the author means, draw conclusions to make a decision about the reading, and compare and contrast ideas from the two different readings "Changing as .
Vocabulary - The students will complete activities that review and practice the words from Unit 1 : Changes (choose, responsibility, decision, prepare, confused, skill, familiar).
Writing - The students will be finishing their writing project about a change they would like to make in their lives. They will be working on a rough draft, editing, and writing a final copy.
Spelling - The list of words this week include short and long vowels. Each night through Thursday, the students will be assigned homework to complete at home to help them practice their words. If you are unsure of what the homework is, you can check your child's planner. It will be located in the "Spelling" section, and the students will have circled the assignment. We write it in the style "WS #", which corresponds with "Worksheet and page number".
Math - We will be introducing multiplication to the students this week. We will start with a pre-assessment on Monday to determine what students already understand about multiplication, and then we will reassign the students for Math groups. In order to introduce multiplication, we will focus on the understanding that, in order to determine the total amount, we will be looking at a specific number of groups with the same amount, as opposed to counting one-by-one. We will be completing many activities that further the students' understandings of groups vs. individual amounts, and they will learn that 5 x 8 means 5 "groups of" 8. The vocabulary words they will use are factors (the numbers that are multiplied together) and product (result of multiplying the factors).
Field Trip - As you are very familiar with, we will be attending Alberta Bair's production of Schoolhouse Rock Live on Monday. The bus will leave Sandstone at 11:50, and the musical begins at 12:30. I expect that the students will be prepared for a wonderful production. I also expect that will behave respectfully and appropriately when in the community.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Oct. 13 to Oct. 15
We have a very short week this week. The students will be in school for a full day on Monday and Tuesday, and they will be dismissed on Wednesday at 12:00. Thursday and Friday they will have no school.
Reminder: On Monday, Oct. 20, the third-graders will be attending the Alberta Bair Theatre for a performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live. The busses will leave Sandstone at 11:50, and the performance starts at 12:30. If you have not sent the permission slip back, please do so as soon as possible.
The following are our learning goals for the week:
Reading: The students will be continue to read The BFG by Roald Dahl as a whole class. We have been learning about the parts of speech, and the students will be looking for verbs to add to our list. They will also be working in Reading Groups to practice the skills from LEAD 21.
Spelling: No spelling words this week due to a short week.
Writing: We are writing a rough draft, editing, and publishing a book titled "The Important Thing".
Math: Math groups are going extremely well. We are finding that working with the different groups allows us to actively support and challenge each student. Talk to your child to find out what teacher he or she is going with. We are all focusing on the standard of adding and subtracting numbers to 1000.
Reminder: On Monday, Oct. 20, the third-graders will be attending the Alberta Bair Theatre for a performance of Schoolhouse Rock Live. The busses will leave Sandstone at 11:50, and the performance starts at 12:30. If you have not sent the permission slip back, please do so as soon as possible.
The following are our learning goals for the week:
Reading: The students will be continue to read The BFG by Roald Dahl as a whole class. We have been learning about the parts of speech, and the students will be looking for verbs to add to our list. They will also be working in Reading Groups to practice the skills from LEAD 21.
Spelling: No spelling words this week due to a short week.
Writing: We are writing a rough draft, editing, and publishing a book titled "The Important Thing".
Math: Math groups are going extremely well. We are finding that working with the different groups allows us to actively support and challenge each student. Talk to your child to find out what teacher he or she is going with. We are all focusing on the standard of adding and subtracting numbers to 1000.
Monday, October 6, 2014
October Notes
We have a few things on the horizon that I want to share with you:
1. To support the National Bullying Prevention Month and positive character development, zpizza is sponsoring a "Nice Slice Award". When I see a student displaying an act of kindness or positive act, I can reward them with a certificate for a free slice of pizza from zpizza. We will focus on a trait each day.
2. On Monday, Oct. 20, we have been invited to the Alberta Bair Theater for a showing of "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" at 12:30. I will be sending home permission slips today. Please fill them out and send them back as soon as possible.
3. Picture Day is Tuesday, Oct. 7!
4. The end of first quarter in on Fri., Oct. 31. We will be sending home Parent/Teacher Conferences scheduling forms at the end of the week. The forms that I receive back first have priority in scheduling, so please send them back quickly in order to save the spot that works best for you.
1. To support the National Bullying Prevention Month and positive character development, zpizza is sponsoring a "Nice Slice Award". When I see a student displaying an act of kindness or positive act, I can reward them with a certificate for a free slice of pizza from zpizza. We will focus on a trait each day.
2. On Monday, Oct. 20, we have been invited to the Alberta Bair Theater for a showing of "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" at 12:30. I will be sending home permission slips today. Please fill them out and send them back as soon as possible.
3. Picture Day is Tuesday, Oct. 7!
4. The end of first quarter in on Fri., Oct. 31. We will be sending home Parent/Teacher Conferences scheduling forms at the end of the week. The forms that I receive back first have priority in scheduling, so please send them back quickly in order to save the spot that works best for you.
Oct. 6 to Oct. 10
Here's a peek into this week's learning. Remember that tomorrow is Fall Picture Day! If you want to order copies of the pictures, please have the envelopes to me by tomorrow morning. Thank you!
Reading: We are focusing on the main question concerning "What changes can we choose to make?". We will be reading a fiction story "Scaredy Squirrel" in order to delve deeper into this question. The students will be working on the comprehension tools of reading to learn more, making inferences, and drawing conclusions. They will also be working on a fluency reading titles "Choosing to Change". When reading for fluency, they will be working on increasing their reading of words per minute.
Vocabulary: familiar, prepare
Writing: The students will write personal narratives about changes they would choose to make.
Math: We have an exciting plan for the third graders this week. In order to better meet each kiddos' needs, we will be sorting all 79 students into three groups. These groups will all be continuing their learning with adding and subtracting numbers to 1000, but we will tailor the learning and projects to better suit each person's needs. Mr. Groshans will teach one group, Mrs. Thomas will teach another, and I will teach the third. We will be moving them into their math groups on Tuesday, and they will be moving to their Math teacher's room during Math time. I am very excited to see the possibilities with this arrangement!
Spelling: Unit 5 Long /i/ Words. You may have noticed by looking at the list of Spelling words that we will be focusing on different ways to spell words that have the long /i/ sound in them. Specifically, we are practicing words with the spelling of igh, i, and ie.
Homework Note: It is so exciting for me to administer the Spelling test to students that are confident and feel prepared for spelling their words. I also love to watch their faces as they check their score on Friday afternoon before they go home. A couple of students got their first 100% this week, and they were so proud of their hard work. Other kids have been steadily increasing their scores each week, and they are starting to feel more successful. I really appreciate the follow through that you have at home to encourage them to complete their homework to they can build good study habits and have success. Thank you!
Reading: We are focusing on the main question concerning "What changes can we choose to make?". We will be reading a fiction story "Scaredy Squirrel" in order to delve deeper into this question. The students will be working on the comprehension tools of reading to learn more, making inferences, and drawing conclusions. They will also be working on a fluency reading titles "Choosing to Change". When reading for fluency, they will be working on increasing their reading of words per minute.
Vocabulary: familiar, prepare
Writing: The students will write personal narratives about changes they would choose to make.
Math: We have an exciting plan for the third graders this week. In order to better meet each kiddos' needs, we will be sorting all 79 students into three groups. These groups will all be continuing their learning with adding and subtracting numbers to 1000, but we will tailor the learning and projects to better suit each person's needs. Mr. Groshans will teach one group, Mrs. Thomas will teach another, and I will teach the third. We will be moving them into their math groups on Tuesday, and they will be moving to their Math teacher's room during Math time. I am very excited to see the possibilities with this arrangement!
Spelling: Unit 5 Long /i/ Words. You may have noticed by looking at the list of Spelling words that we will be focusing on different ways to spell words that have the long /i/ sound in them. Specifically, we are practicing words with the spelling of igh, i, and ie.
Homework Note: It is so exciting for me to administer the Spelling test to students that are confident and feel prepared for spelling their words. I also love to watch their faces as they check their score on Friday afternoon before they go home. A couple of students got their first 100% this week, and they were so proud of their hard work. Other kids have been steadily increasing their scores each week, and they are starting to feel more successful. I really appreciate the follow through that you have at home to encourage them to complete their homework to they can build good study habits and have success. Thank you!
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