Christmas Party

On Friday our class celebrated Christmas with a party. We played Bingo and enjoyed a lot food. It was a great way to wrap up 2012. Thank you to everyone who helped out.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

My front yard.

SNOW DAY!

The snow is coming down and I'm cozy in my house. The wood burner is keeping me warm! I must confess I have not been outside yet. I took this picture from our last snowfall. This is what I see as I look out our kitchen window. Today I see the snow swirling around.

So I have used my morning to create lesson plans and look ahead. I'm guessing we'll have school tomorrow, so our Christmas party will be tomorrow from 1:00-2:00. You won't need to pack sweets in lunches since we eat at 12:15 and the party starts at 1:00.

Here's something you may not know: At the beginning of each month all students take 5 Minute Timings for each basic set of facts. These scores are recorded on a graph to show the students are maintaining their memorization of facts or improving their memorization of facts. When we return to school, the kids will take a 5 Minute Timing for addition.  This timing will be on Wednesday, January 3. Since all students have passed out of addition on Rocket Math, all students have to pass the timing with a score of 95% or better. If your child doesn't pass the addition timing the first time, he/she will need to try the test again until they pass. The fun doesn't stop there. On Thursday, January 4 all students, who passed addition, will take a subtraction 5 Minute Timing. Those students who passed subtraction in Rocket Math will need to pass this timing with a score of 95% or better. The timings continue with multiplication and division for the students who are working on those facts or have accomplished those facts. I thought I would let you know about this so over our Christmas break the kids can be reviewing addition facts. These 5 Minute Timings will happen at the beginning of each month.

Enjoy the day keeping warm and safe!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! May the joy of this time of year fill your lives with blessings!

Mrs. Nowaczyk

Decades Day

Everyone has a dictionary!

Working hard to look up words.

Sharing the meanings of words.

Everyone Receives A Dictionary

The Neenah Lion's Club visited our classroom on Monday. They gave each student a dictionary. The students were very appreciative to get such a nice gift. On Tuesday the students had fun looking up their Wordly Wise Words. They are also reading about presidents, countries, states and a wide variety of information, all right in their dictionaries. Thank you Neenah Lion's Club!

Santa's Wish List

Christmas is getting closer and Santa has idea for a Christmas present for all of the good girls and boys. Fill their stockings with pencils! In the classroom Santa has noticed that some girls and boys don't even have one pencil, and they are consistently asking for one. Also, Santa noticed that some homework is being completed with a pen. Mrs. Nowaczyk has shared with Santa that all third grade work is completed using a pencil. Add pencils to your Christmas shopping list. HO HO HO! Have a Merry Christmas!

All 4 students are the same height for this square.

Can you see the rectangle that these students made?

Quadrilateral Fun In Math

Our lessons have focused on quadrilateral figures such as parallelograms, rhombuses, squares and rectangles. Four students were selected that were just the right size to make a square. You know that all sides are equal length on a square. For the rectangle we had to find 2 tall kids and 2 shorter kids. Then the students had to use their knowledge of opposite sides to make the rectangle perfectly.

Have Studying Spelling Words!

Do you have a calendar at home? Then you can study spelling words by playing "Calendar Clues." Here's how you play:

Preparation:

1. Grab a calendar

2. Find a piece of paper, a pencil and a small marker to toss onto the calendar

3. Make a list of spelling words. Make sure your list has the same number of words as your calendar has days.  Use the Grade Three Core Word List provided to you at conferences.

Procedure:

1. The first player tosses the marker onto the calendar. Find the number closest to where the marker lands. Another team member gives the player the spelling word from the list that matches the number on the calendar. Then the player writes the word on their paper. Another team member checks the spelling. If the spelling is correct the player earns one point.

2. Now the second player has their turn and the game continues.

3. The first player to receive 15 points wins the game!

Even if you don't keep score, it's still fun to see what number your marker lands on and what spelling word will be written.

Have Fun!

Grandparents' and Retired Friends' Day

 We had so much fun in school today! Our grandparents and retired friends helped us in science, spelling, reading and writing. Thank you for sharing our day!

How do plants grow?

Sophia's journal

Eli's seed corn

 Gavin's seed corn

     Science class was full of excitement as the students unzipped the plastic bag and then unwrapped the seed corn. "Wow, look at my seed. You can see the embryo!" exclaimed the students. A seed is a structure that can grow into a new plant. It holds a young plant that is ready to grow. This young plant is called an embryo (EM*bree*oh)  When a seed is given water, it can germinate, or begin to grow. 

     The students are keeping a journal drawing the seed each day, observing the changes.

READING BUDDIES

CAFE Menu for Reading

One of our classroom walls has a large menu to help the students become stronger readers. CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expand Vocabulary. A strategy just added to the Comprehension section of the menu is Monitor and Fix Up. The students are realizing they need to always be monitoring their reading. This means they are constantly thinking about what they are reading. Today we discussed adjusting our reading rate. Slowing down our reading rate can help a student understand what they are reading about. Here are the 3 questions that students can ask when they stop to check for understanding; 1. Who is the story about? 2. What is happening in the story? 3. What is the author trying to tell me? If your child struggles answering one or more of these questions, have them slow down their reading rate while they reread for better understanding.

 Word Problems in Math Class

  

Comparison Bars are math tools

In math class we are learning to use comparison bars. This math tool helps the students to organize the information so they can decide if addition or subtraction will give the correct answer. In comparison word problems 2 things are being compared.

Welcome!
This is exciting news! I have created our third grade class blog. I will be sharing a variety of communications with my students and their families. I plan to update our classroom blog a few times a week. I hope you enjoy visiting our blog throughout the school year with your child.