Tuesday, November 30th

I cannot believe today is the last day in November.

We had a great day today. In math we worked on using a scale on a map. The kids did a nice job with this. They will have a math test on Friday. The test is mainly about multiples. The homework tonight is working on drawing arrays.

In Science today your students began the assessment on the standards for the unit on living things. They were given an ecosystem (desert, ocean, forest, arctic) and had to choose an animal that lived in that ecosystem, how it survives there (adaptations), its classification (invertebrate/vertebrate), and its food chain. This assessment will tell me how the students did understanding the key concepts from this unit. We will begin our new science unit next week.

I began reading aloud a new book called There's A Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. It is a realistic fiction genre. So far, your students have been exposed to fantasy, mystery, and realistic fiction.

We began cursive today. They are all very excited about that!

In spelling we worked on oy/oi sound in words.

They had social studies and the Daily 5. This week in small groups we are working on making inferences.

Monday, November 29th

Hi Parents,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I also thank the parents that were understanding in rescheduling your child's conference from
Tuesday night. I sent a note home with your students today to schedule a new conference time.

We had a busy day today and got a lot finished.

I had a meeting first thing this morning but your students did a great job on the math lesson for the day while I was gone. We continue to work on multiplication and division facts. If you have time at home please practice math facts whenever you have time.

We finished our pen pal letters today that will be sent on to the school I worked at in Colorado. The letters are fantastic and they are so excited about them; the authentic writing is wonderful practice.

Today we had our first all 3rd grade rehearsal for the music concert on Dec. 14th.

The spelling words for this week
1. join
2. joy
3. boil
4. noise
5. spoil
6. choice
7. soil
8. point
9. foil
10. voice
11. coil
12. broil
13. disjointed
14. display
15. dislike
16. disgrace
17. displease
18. disown
19. discomfort
20. write
21. right
22. they're
23. first
24. everything
Bonus: palindrome

Monday, November 22nd

Hi Parents!

I am sorry for not writing last week. Monday night was a bit crazy trying to get everything ready for the sub and packing.

This week is a short week.

There is no spelling test this week, since it is such a short week. We are doing word work in class working specifically on our word wall words.

Today in math we continued to work on division and multiplication problems. Tonight's homework works on those concepts. If your students are struggling please encourage them to draw pictures to help them understand. If they are still having a hard time please write me a note and I will work with them tomorrow.

We had exciting news today in that we have Pen Pals in Denver. I asked one of my teammates if she (and her class) would be interested in writing our class. She said yes, and today we worked on our letters. This is fantastic because it helps us meet a large section of our writing standards for 3rd grade in which your students are supposed to be able to write a friendly letter and address an envelope.

I am meeting with some of you for conferences tonight, some tomorrow night, and some of you I already saw on Friday. It has been great getting to discuss your students and their successes.

Friday, November 12th

Hello Parents,

Today your kids got out the door so quickly after an art project that I did not have the chance to give them their compliment sticky notes. Please look for those on Monday.

We joined Mrs. Cech's class for the second session of our art lesson drawing and painting bisons on the plains. They are INCREDIBLE! Look for them on the walls when you come from your conferences next week.

In math today we began looking at multiplication and division. I was very pleased with your students understanding and ability to draw a picture to help them understand the problems.

Tonight you will get getting a bright pink paper that is preparation for Parent Teacher Conferences. Please return that sheet on Monday.

Next week, I will be gone on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the wedding in Florida. I will be back on Thursday night, in time for conferences held on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 11th

Hi Parents,

Sorry for not writing last night. We had a staff meeting after school until 5:15 and then was busy getting sub plans ready for today.

Today your students had a sub. Ms Cade. She told me they did a nice job. This was their day.

They had a math lesson doing review pages in the math book. Working again on find the perimeter. Tomorrow we will begin doing multiples. Their homework tonight is a sheet practicing multi-digit addition.

This afternoon they did the daily five, word wall work, spelling and penmanship.

Tuesday, November 9th

Today your students took a math test on Unit 3, so they will have no homework. However, you should have gotten the family letter for Unit 4. Unit four beginnings teaching students multiples. If you have time practice with your students counting by 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s.

I did ask the students to show you a writing prompt I gave them today about a family tradition. We talked for a bit about our different family traditions but some of the kids had a hard time thinking of a tradition. Please discuss the tradition that your child thought of. For this writing prompt the main focus of the grading will be on conventions. Did your students start every sentence with a capital letter, end with punctuation, and spell their word wall words correctly.

Today in Science we worked on animals adaptations. We are going to continue working on that concept next week and then will have the assessment on the unit the week after.

Mrs. Cech gave your students a map to study for a test tomorrow on the first states. They will be given a key and have to put the state names on the correct state.

I hope you have a great night. I just got done walking my dog with my husband. The cold I have heard so much about here in Bozeman, I felt for the first time tonight!

Snowy Monday, Novemeber 8th

Wow, it is amazing how much the weather can change in 24 hours!

Today we reviewed for our math test by playing math basketball. We also did a whole group problem where the kids made multiple rectangles with a perimeter of 24ft but different areas. It is a challenging concept but your kids did a good job with the beginning of finding area. Tomorrow there will be a math test so the students will have no homework tomorrow. Look for a review sheet tonight.

In science I had planned a lesson on the computers with a Power Point teaching the students about adaptations in animals. Needless to say technology is fantastic...when it works! So hopefully tomorrow the students will be able to access the power point!

This afternoon we did a project working on what a common noun is vs. a proper noun. Work with your children when they read by pointing out nouns and asking them if it are a proper noun or a common noun. In our spelling notebooks today we worked on common spelling patterns for the long i vowel sound. Their spelling words this week have that pattern. Here are the words:

wild
bright
die
sight
child
pie
fight
lie
tight
tie
might
mind
design
delight
November
mishandle
reconsider
manage
entertainers
Bonus: melissophobia (a fear of bees)

We did our Read Naturally and the kids are finishing the day at Music right now.

Have a safe night, and enjoy the beautiful winter wonderland!

Friday, November 5th

Happy Friday.

Today we did a lot of catch up today on math boxes. The kids did a great job, and then played various math games such as Addition Top It, Subtraction Top It, Roll to 100, or Name That Number.

We are getting ready to move to cursive writing, so we spent some time today working on our penmanship. We also worked on writing sentences with our Word Wall Words from this week.

The kids had a fantastic first week of Read Naturally. After Read Naturally we took our spelling test and finished up the writing assignment from this week.

Thursday, November 4th

Sorry for not posting last night. The day got away from me!

Today was a wonderful day. Your children did a great job listening to instructions and listening to each other. I was so proud of them.

Today in math we continued to work on Area. The kids are doing a very good job with this concept, especially considering it is not taught to mastery in 3rd grade. Many of them still need to count the number of square units inside a rectangle but they are understanding that area is the inside of the shape and perimeter is around the outside.

For literacy today we worked on homophones. I read them a book called "Dear Deer," in which the other uses a number of homophone pairs to tell a story. It is a wonderful book and I think your students are getting an idea of homophones and their usage.

They continue to do a nice job with Read Naturally.

We also read a story today about traditions. If you get a chance with your kids tonight, talk to them about traditions you have in your family. That will help with a writing prompt I want to do next week.

We also had a whole 3rd grade art lesson with Mrs. Cech. The students are working on drawing Bison.

Tuesday, November 2nd

Today in math we worked on finding the perimeter. Please reinforce with your students that the perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape. We will begin touching on area tomorrow.

In science we played our classification game working on vertebrates and invertebrates. They did an OUTSTANDING JOB! I was so proud of how they worked together to play this game.

We began read naturally today, working on fluency and comprehension.

In spelling we looked at spelling patterns for the long o sound.

Spelling words this week:
coach
blow
float
hold
sew
though
sold
soap
row
own
both
most
tomorrow
program
unafraid
unlike
unfair
unlucky
ungrateful
unchain
unselfish
Bonus: Taurophobia

Monday, November 1st

I cannot believe today marked the first day of November! Wow

We had a great day today. Your students earned 50 marbles last week, so they earned an ice-cream party this afternoon. They worked very hard getting compliments from other teachers and from me to get those marbles.

Today in math we worked on graphing data. On their homework tonight they have to find:
The maximum number (the largest number)
The minimum number (the smallest number)
The range (the difference between the largest number and the smallest number)
The mode (the number that appears the most frequently)
The Median (the middle number when the numbers are lined up from largest to smallest).

On their homework tonight, they are given data in a graph about how many pill bugs where collected by students. To find the median, they have to write out 2,2,2, 3,3,3,3,3, 5,5, 6,6 and then cross out the largest then the smallest, so-on till they get the middle.

I introduced your students to a reading activity called "Reads Naturally" that the students will do everyday to practice fluency.

The writing prompt for this week was "It is your lucky day. You have a magic seed,that when you plant it, will grow what every kid wants." I am looking to see what kind of ideas and content they come up with.

In science we are classifying vertebrates and invertebrates.