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Here is what we have been up to!
Writing- Students have been learning about opinions and the different ways we can share opinions. After having time to learn about and brainstorm all kinds of opinions, they are now writing about their opinion and supporting it with 3 reasons. Math- Students have been learning about two step word problems this week and will wrap that up next week! Reading- Students have been learning about comparing and contrasting two non-fiction texts about the same article. This is something they will continue to do in reading groups for the next couple of weeks. In whole group, we have started to talk about point of view. Social Studies- Students brought home their Missouri Border States quiz last week. This week, we have started a new topic and are learning about our government. We will start with talking about how our government is set up into three branches and why that is important. Other Announcements: Valentine’s Day Party! This year, we will be having our party on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th. This is a half day (and half days seem to work better with parties!) The party will begin at 10:20. A sheet will be coming home today with information about our party! Like our other parties, the parents planning are asking for students to bring $3-$5 in to help cover the cost of supplies and such! It sounds like a LOT of fun! Class Valentines- We will pass out valentines before our class party on the 15th. Students are welcome to make a box or bag to keep on their desk for that day. We currently have 23 students in our class. I will send home a list of names if your child wants to write names on their valentines. I do ask that if your child brings valentines, they bring enough to share with the whole class. Leadership Day- On Wednesday, February 20th we will host a Leadership Day at Willard East. That week there is a Leader in Me Symposium in Springfield. Visitors from the Symposium will go to various schools that participate in Leader in Me to visit and see how they carry it out. We will have a Tiger Pride Assembly that day from 2:30-3:00 that you are welcome to attend! Upcoming Dates: February 15th- Valentine’s Pass out and Parties. ½ Day- Students release @ 12:30 February 18th- MAKEUP DAY! There will be school! February 20th- Leadership Day/ Tiger Pride at 2:30 February 25th- March 1- Book Fair February 26th- Family Reading Night March 8th- ½ Day! Students release @ 12:30 March 11-15- Spring Break!!!
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We are getting back in the habit of our daily routine after our break! Last week, we focused a lot on our routines and expectations. We have been talking a lot about respect and self control this week and how we can be better about showing that at school to our classmates, teachers, and supplies, as well as at home (or anywhere outside of school.)
Students also received their school wide book club books! This year we will be reading The Enormous Egg! I am excited ( I spared you the cheesy pun there...) because I have never read this book! Here is what we are learning this week: Writing- We started a new writing unit on opinions. We have talked about fact and opinion and how we back up our opinions with facts and reasons. This week, we are collecting ideas by visiting various areas in the school to think of ideas we can share to better our environment. Math- We have been working on addition and subtraction within 1000 with regrouping. This can be a pretty tricky skill to master. The regrouping is the piece that can make this skill so hard for some. We will continue to practice throughout the week. Students brought home a practice sheet tonight. They are to pick 5 problems to do and return tomorrow. We have talked a lot about this can’t be done mentally and students need to stack the two numbers to solve. (I think there are a few towards the bottom of the worksheet that are written horizontally.) Students will complete a check on this standard on Friday. Next week we will focus on multiplying by multiples of 10. Reading- Last week, we spent time going over our Daily 5 expectations and group expectations. This week, we are back in our groups. As a class, we are learning how to compare and contrast. We will then use our knowledge to compare and contrast two passages or texts with a common topic. Social Studies- When we came back from break, we started a new social studies unit. We are learning some about maps. One of our main focuses in this topic is to learn the 8 states that border Missouri. Your child should have a map with the 8 states labeled. We will continue to practice this week at school. Please review a little at home as well. (See if they can sing you this song to the tune of “London Bridge”) Missouri has eight border states Border states Border states Missouri has eight border states Let’s start north Iowa and Illinois Ken-tuck-y, Tennessee Arkansas, Ok-la-ho-ma Kansas and Nebraska Upcoming Dates: January 21- No school for students. Teachers have professional development. January 25- Tiger Pride @ 2:30 February 15- Valentine's Day Party/ ½ Day for Students February 18- No school (This can be used as a snow makeup day if needed) Just like everything else this time of year, we are keeping busy! Here is what we are up to!
This week students are taking the NWEA. This is our growth measurement test our district takes part in. Students will take it three times this year. Today was Miss Triplett's last day in our class. Thank you so much for all of the contributions. We got her a $35 gift card from the class to Mardel. Hopefully she can get some items for her new preschool classroom! Writing- Students have been working on their non-fiction books. They chose a reptile to research and become and “expert” on. Then, they wrote their own book about that reptile. We will do one more short informational piece about extreme weather before the end of the quarter! Math- Last week we worked on our standard OA.3, which is word problems that use multiplication and division. We will review that this week and also review finding the area of an irregular shape. Then we will move on to rounding! Reading- We have been working on identifying the topic, main idea, and key details of a non-fiction text. We will continue to practice that this week but students starting to practice independently. Science- We are starting a unit on extreme weather this week that is very interesting and will be very fun! Other Information: Class Party- Our winter party will be on December 21st. We will do our party with the two other classes...kind of. :) Each class will rotate between “stations” for the hour long party. The party will start at 10:15 and last until 11:15. We are asking that each child brings $3 to cover the cost of materials for our class. I have also included a sign up sheet for a few other requests! Hope to see you there! Class Party Sign up Sheet Willard East Christmas Drive Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year! I love the idea of everyone being together and the traditions and history behind the holiday! I also love the spirit of giving it brings out in so many. If your family is looking for a way to help give back this season, our school holds a Christmas Drive for families in our community that need assistance with this time of the year. Click on the link below to sign up for one or a few items to contribute! Click HERE to sign up! Upcoming Dates- December 10: Merry Monday! Wear your Candy Cane Stripes! December 14th: Christmas drive donations due/ Tiger Pride at 2:30 December 17th:Merry Monday! Pajama Day! December 21st: Ugly Christmas Sweater Day! Winter Parties and students release at 12:30 December 24- Jan 4th: NO SCHOOL- Winter Break This is a short week because of Thanksgiving! I wanted to take a minute and send a few updates as we head into some busy weeks!
Picture Retake- Tomorrow is picture retake day. If you were unhappy with your child's pictures taken earlier this fall or your child was absent, you may get their picture retaken tomorrow! Simply return the complete package (if your child had one) and they will retake the photo! Miss Triplett- We have really enjoyed having Miss Triplett around this semester! Sadly for us, her time is coming to an end at Willard East. Miss Triplett's last day is December 6th. She will be working at the preschool at Second Baptist Church after she graduates. We would like to do something for her to send her off and thank her for her time in our class. If each child could bring $1 each to contribute toward a gift card of some sort (I.P.A, Mardel, Walmart, etc) to help get her a few things for her room at Second Baptist, that would be a fun way for us to do a little class gift. We will also make cards for her in a couple of weeks when she will be out for a meeting. Just send it in anytime before Dec 3rd. Upcoming Dates: November 21st-23rd: Thanksgiving Break! No School! December 3rd: Winter NWEA December 6th: Miss Triplett's last day December 14th: Tiger Pride @ 2:30 December 21: Winter Party! / 1/2 Day for students December 22-Jan 7: NO SCHOOL- Winter Break! I hope everyone had a great fall break! Last week was such a busy week for EVERYONE! I hope your families had some time to rest and hang out together.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your week to meet about your child. Conferences were great. It was so nice to get to hear from you in a one-on-one setting and learn more about your family. Never hesitate to get in touch to talk more or if any concerns or questions come up. Here is what is coming up this week: Writing- With the new quarter, we started a new writing unit! Last week, students started to talk about non-fiction in writing and reading. This week, students will finish talking about non-fiction text features and using those as a writer. Then, we will pick our topic and learning about how to research before we dive in! Students will learn how to ask a good question that will lead them to interesting information, safe searches we use, how to take notes. Math- We wrapped up our area unit last week before Fall Break. We will start the week by reviewing how to break apart irregular shapes. Then we will begin learning how to read and interpret graphs. Reading- As mentioned above, we are also focusing on non-fiction in reading. This week we will focus on the last few non-fiction features we have to go over and then we will move onto main idea and key details. Science- We have been covering matter over the past couple of weeks. This week students will be learning about how matter changes states. Other Announcements: Veteran's Day Assembly- Our annual Veteran's Day Assembly will be THIS Friday, November 9th. It will begin with a breakfast for our Veteran guests at 8:30. Then, the assembly will follow at 9:30. Upcoming Dates: November 9th: Veteran's Day Assembly November 21st-23rd: Thanksgiving Break- NO SCHOOL December 6th: Miss Triplett's Last Day October is flying by and we have another awesome week ahead! Here are some announcements for the upcoming week!
Tuesday- I will be at Central Office all day for a training. I will be in and out of the building practicing what we are learning about collecting data. If you have a change about how your child will get home, please be sure to call the office. Miss Triplett will still be here and teaching as usual! Friday- Friday is our party day AND a half day of attendance for students. We are going to have a fall party on Friday, October 19th @11:45 (this is a half day). We are going to play our own version of "Family Feud" or as we like to call it "Fall Feud". Mrs. Letterman and Miss Triplett have agreed to help us out in the final round and we are going to poll our class to find out "what the third grade survey says." We are asking each child to bring $3 to help cover the cost of the pizza and game supplies. There is also a sign up for other items that are needed. If you can help out that would be great! Feel free to come party with us on Friday! If you would like to bring something, here is the SIGN UP. If you have any questions or would like to help in any other way just email: cassie.darst@gmail.com Fall Conferences: Fall conferences are coming up the last week of October! Our late nights this year will be Monday and Thursday! Many of you have already signed up for a conference but if you have not here is the SIGN UP. You will get your child’s 1st quarter report card at the conference. All conferences are 15 minutes long. I’m looking forward to seeing you! Here is what we are working on this week:
Writing- We are working on transitions and “beefing up” the middle of our personal narratives. And on Friday we will talk about how to end our story. Math- Applying properties of multiplication as a strategy to solve equations. On Wednesday we will revisit division. We were briefly introduced back in our first Topic but this time will take a little closer look at relating multiplication and division and using an unknown factor to solve a division problem. We have had these first weeks to build the understanding of multiplication. An expectation of 3rd grade is to learn multiplication facts. We will work some in class but take some time to work with your student to review (or learn) multiplication facts 0-10. Don’t feel like you have to work for hours each night. Take a week (or two!) and focus on the 3’s and then move onto other facts as your child is ready. Let your student see the entire equation and say it out loud a few times each day. One thing I tried with my daughter is to write the facts on the bathroom mirror with dry erase marker or window markers and have her read over them while she brushes her hair or teeth. You can also go over them in the car, as you cook, in an office- exposure and use is so helpful as they are learning their facts. Knowing their facts by memory will help with 3rd grade math and the years to come! Reading- Students are applying the skill of making an inference. This week we will carry this over to character traits and making an inference about a character. Science- Students are learning about making observations and how to conduct a fair test Other Announcements Conference Sign Up We had a great week last week! We had our job fair for leadership teams, Leader in Me Open House, and our first Tiger Pride of the year! If you were unable to make it Thursday evening to the Open House or missed the sign up sheet for conferences, no worries! Here is a link to the sign up. (This tends to work better from a tablet or computer!) Parent Teacher Conferences will be held the week of October 30th. Fall Party- It’s already time to start thinking about our fall party! We have some gracious parents that volunteered and are working together to help organize our parties this year! Here is a little info from those parents: We are going to have a fall party on Friday, October 19th @11:45 (this is a half day). We are going to play our own version of "Family Feud" or as we like to call it "Fall Feud". Mrs. Letterman and Miss Triplett have agreed to help us out in the final round and we are going to poll our class to find out "what the third grade survey says." We are asking each child to bring $3 to help cover the cost of the pizza and game supplies. There is also a sign up for other items that are needed. If you can help out that would be great! Click here from the link to the party sign up! ----------> PARTY SIGN UP Other Dates: October 9th- School Pictures October 19th- Fall Party @11:45/ Half Day for Students October 30th- Nov. 1- Fall Conferences Nov. 2-6th- Fall Break! No School. We are working our way through the last week of September! Last week was awesome. It was Spirit Week, we started Agriculture, and the parade was so fun. This year will be my eighth year in Willard and days like Friday are the EXACT reason I sought out a job with the Willard District. My sister and I both agreed that we both felt our Willard Pride swell up as the marching band went by playing "Eye of the Tiger". I love that the entire school district was involved in this celebration on Friday. I hope your kiddos had as much fun as their teacher did!
Here is what we are learning this week: Writing- Students are starting their first personal narrative as 3rd graders. We have spent a lot of time going over the basics and teaching some basic skills needed in 3rd grade. ( A major one paragraphs) This week students will work through their narrative, while learning and using a good beginning, dialogue, good transitions, and a good ending. Math- This week we will focus a good chunk of our time on learning and using the distributive property. This property allows students to break apart a multiplication equation into two smaller problems and then combine the products of the two smaller equations. Then we will focus on other multiplication strategies at the end of the week. Reading- Students will learn what it means to make an inference as a reader. Students will practice inferring about pictures and Pixar short films this week before they start making an inference from their reading. Science- Students will begin to learn about the Scientific Process, coming up with a testable question, and conducting a fair test. Other Announcements: Sept. 24-28th- Book Fair! Sept. 27- Leader in Me Open House! 6:30-7:30 Sept. 28- First Tiger Pride @ 2:30 in the gym. Oct. 9th- Fall Pictures Oct. 19th- Fall Parties/ Half Day for Students We had a great week last week and another one up ahead! Here is what is going on this week!
Writing- Last week, students worked on learned to write paragraphs. This week, they will learn what a narrative is so that they can apply what they learned as they write their first narrative over the next couple of weeks. Reading- This week we are talking about schema. Students will learn that is the background knowledge and prior experiences are called schema and that they are unique to each person. They will apply this knowledge of schema as they read this year and make connections or make inferences. We have also started "almost" Daily 5. I call it "almost" because there is no Meet with the Teacher rotation for groups. I will be giving DRA's this week. As soon as that is finished up, groups will be made and we will begin Daily 5 as they have known it! :) Math- Last week, our math time was used to take the NWEA. At the beginning of this week, we are reviewing multiplication and division. We will take a Topic 1 Check over the two standards that we covered in this topic. Students are not expected to know everything about multiplication and division after these 6 lessons. This was an introduction to terms and strategies that they will use over the next semester as we learn multiplication. We will take our 3.0A.A. 1 check on Wednesday. A study guide will come home tomorrow for your child to practice. It is 4 questions and just covers what they are expected to know at this time. The division check (or standard 3.0A.A.2 will be taken on Friday. A study guide for it will come home on Thursday. Social Studies- We are learning the parts of a map and how to read a map this week! Other News: Fundraiser- Our Fundraiser has kicked off! Please remember to read the parent letter inside the packet. The coupon books are a sample. Return them with your packet! Packets (orders and money) are due Friday, Sept 21. Homecoming- Homecoming week is next week! The district will celebrate with special spirit days all week and end with a special homecoming parade on Friday, Sept 21. THIS WILL BE A HALF DAY FOR STUDENTS. :) It's not marked on the calendar as it was added after this year's calendar was released. Other Important Dates: Sept 21: Homecoming/ Fundraiser Due/ HALF DAY FOR STUDENTS Sept 27: Leader in Me Open House Our year is off to a great start! We have taken the first few weeks to get to know one another and our expectations in third grade! I can already tell that we are going to have a great year!
Here is what we have coming up this week! NWEA- You may remember your child taking this right before Spring Break last year (if they went to a Willard School). This is a test that shows us where each student is so we can better instruct them at their level. They will take a math portion and a reading portion this week. Since we have Chromebooks, students will take the test in our classroom on their Chromebook on Wednesday (math) and Friday (reading). This is not something that your child should worry about. It is not the "MAP" test nor a rigorous test. Just a test that gives us an idea of where your child is right now and what areas we may need to work on. Writing- Miss Triplett will start teaching writing this week! :) Students have been reviewing the basics and how to apply them to writing (what is a sentence, correct punctuation, etc) and this week we will talk about how to write a paragraph and practice writing a paragraph. This is new and an expectation we will work on all year! Math- This week we will work on dividing a whole number into equal groups. We will take the NWEA during math on Wednesday and Friday so we will wrap up our last two lessons this week and the review and test over Topic 1 next week! Reading- Last Thursday, we learned that reading the text is just PART of reading. We can all read but have no idea what we have read about. This week we will work on "Metacognition" and learning that as readers we think about our thinking. This helps students learn how to become better readers and think deeply about their text. Social Studies- We will continue to learn about communities and the types of communities this week! Important Dates to Remember: Sept. 21- Half Day (Homecoming) Sept. 27- Leader in Me Night- more info will come home soon! Sept. 28- Tiger Pride Assembly at 2:30 |
AuthorMrs. Letterman is a third grade teacher at Willard East. This is her 8th year in Willard, but her 10th year to teach third grade! Archives
February 2019
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