Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October 30, 2012

Finally back and running! I am not sure what the problem was with access to my blog at school but I am finally able to access it again! I am so sorry parents for the late notice on the Halloween Party. I had a bit of confusion about it, but I will do better in the future of getting the information to you in more of a timely manner. I am very sorry for any problems it caused. Thank you for your help with bringing in items. Our party will be tomorrow from 2:30 to 3:10. You are more than welcome to attend. We will be doing a few relay races outside and enjoying some treats.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

September 13, 2012

Hi Parents, Tonight your students have math homework that asks them to write the expanded form of a number.

Example: 743, 562

700,000+40,000+3,000+500+60+2

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012

Hi Parents, We had a great start to our week last week and a wonderful Tuesday. Tonight your students should have brought home three papers. The reading log is due back next Monday. The math sheet is due tomorrow. The diorama project is due Thursday, Sept. 20th, however whenever it is finished it can be brought in. Please don't forget that back to school night is Sept. 25th at 5:30.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

August 30, 2012

Hi Parents, Welcome to 3rd grade! I am very excited with the skills your students are already demonstrating this year. Your students are doing a wonderful job following directions and learning the routines for our classroom. Yesterday should have been the first night that your students brought home their take home folder. This folder needs to travel back and forth between home and school every night. In it are papers that you need to see or that are homework for the students to finish. Please be sure to ask your students to show you their folder every night. A lot of parents have asked about snacks. We are ALWAYS in need of snacks. If you think of us when you are at Costco we would love that! There will be a lot more to follow in the next few weeks.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Monday, April 9th

Hi Parents,

I am sending home a letter tonight regarding the character banquet. Please read it and return it as soon as possible.

We will not have a spelling test this week due to no school on Friday.

I am sorry to have missed two days last week. My husband and I had to go to Salt Lake City for him to have a procedure done on his heart. He is recovering well and the doctor felt they were very successful. It was very important that I was with him, and your students were excellent for my sub.

If you have any questions about the character banquet please let me know!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Monday, April 2nd

Hi Parents,

Tomorrow your students earned a class party. We will be having a cave day in which they can wear their pjs and brings sheets/blankets to make the caves.

Please make sure that your students are reading their book for the Character Banquet. We will begin working on the speeches in class during the latter part of next week.

Tomorrow is early release at 1:45. I did not get a chance to pass out hard copies of the reading logs or spelling lists. Those will come tomorrow.

Spelling for this week:
Week of April 2-6
words that end in er or le

1. summer
2. winter
3. little
4. October
5. travel
6. color
7. apple
8. able
9. November
10. ever
11. later
12. purple

Word Wall
13. confusion
14. I’m
15. independent
16. I’ve
17. I’d

Science Words
18. ecosystem
19. habitat
20. adaption
21 environment

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday, March 28th

Hi Parents,

This letter will be coming home tomorrow as a hard copy.
Character Banquet Book Report Speeches

Dear Students and Parents,

Your students will be doing a book project for the last part of March and the beginning of April. They are going to choose a “just right” chapter book to read that they can finish by April 13th. When they are finished reading the book, they will then write a speech from the perspective of one of the main characters from their book. The speech will include:
• Character’s name
• Title of the book
• Genre of the book
• Setting
• Summary of the book
• Recommendations
The speech will be written in first person.

Then, on Friday, April 20th, the 3rd grade is going to be having a banquet in which they come dressed as the character they are presenting to the class. We also want them to bring a food item that is connected to the character in some way (for example in The Mouse and the Motorcylce, the boy brings Ralph, the mouse, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so your student could bring some sandwiches). They would not need to bring enough for the whole 3rd grade, but a sampling for the kids to try. If all the students bring a sample, there is enough for all the kids to have a potluck lunch. During the lunch, the students remain in character and have lunch conversation pretending to be the character from the book. If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call us. We will be sending another letter home at the end of March, asking for volunteers to help with the set up or clean up of the banquet, as well as stating what your child will be bringing for food. This is a fun event that really helps books come alive for students.

Mrs. Cech
Mrs. Porter
Ms. Philips

On the homework tonight, the students can use any method they would like to solve the multiplication problems.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tuesday, March 27th

Hi Parents,

Sorry for not putting the spelling words up last night. Here they are:
VCCV Pattern
(Vowel,consonant,consonant,vowel )

1. Monday
2. sudden
3. until
4. forget
5. happen
6. follow
7. dollar
8. window
9. hello
10. market
11. pretty
12. order

Word Wall Words
13. impossible
14. thought
15. almost
16. always
17. were

Science Words
18. pulley
19. lever
20. wedge
21. wheel

Word Chunk
quartus (Latin) = 4 (four)

22. quarter
23. quartet
24. square
25 quart



Next Tuesday is early release at 1:45pm.

A number of you have asked when I am going on maternity leave and the truth is I do not know. I will be teaching up until when the baby comes. That could be anywhere from mid-April till the beginning of May. I hope that helps. Again, my sub is Joan Bush and she is wonderful. She will do a great job with your students whenever the time comes.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday, March 20th

Hi Parents,

I wanted to let you know that I will be gone tomorrow, Wednesday, March 21st. I am sorry to be absent so quickly after spring break and with maternity leave coming. My husband is having some health issues. Thank you for your understanding.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Monday, March 19th

Hi Parents!

I hope you had a great break with your students. I heard wonderful stories about Spring Break adventures today! First, our snowshoe day has been reschedule for this Wednesday (March 21st). We will be snowshoeing from 8:45-9:30 on Wednesday. Parent volunteers are needed to help students put their snowshoes on. Please make sure your students wear winter gear (hat, gloves, snow-pants, snow-boots, etc).

All of you should have received report cards either the Friday before Spring Break or you should be getting them tonight. Please let me know if you did not receive those.

The students have a math worksheet tonight for homework and they also may have a small packet that they did not finish in class. Both are due tomorrow.

Spelling for this week:
March 19th-March 23rd

1. skirt
2. scared
3. skate
4. scab
5. scan
6. skid
7. scream
8. scamper
9. schedule
10. screech


Word Wall

11. its
12. it’s
13. vacation
14. we’re
15. that’s

Science Words
16. motion
17. machine
18. friction
19. mass
20. density

Challenge Words
21. bustling
22.vendor
23. passport

bonus: foreigner

Monday, March 5, 2012

Monday, March 5th

Hi Parents,

I am out from work today. I have been sick the last two weeks and am just not getting better. I hope to be back at work tomorrow.

There are no spelling words again this week and no homework due to CRT testing. We will test again this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:15-2:00. Please make sure your students are getting plenty of sleep and rest. It is important that they have a good breakfast as well.

Monday, February 27, 2012

February 27th, 2012

Hi Parents,

Sorry for not writing last week! I ended up getting pretty sick with a cold that seems to be circulating in our classroom.

We start our CRT testing this week. Your students will not have spelling words for the next two weeks. It is very important that if your child is well enough to come to school that they be in school for these tests. Please make sure they get a good night's sleep and have a healthy breakfast. We will be testing this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then again next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Our schedule is a little different due to testing. Let me know if you have any questions.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Monday, February 13th

Hi Parents,

Tomorrow is our Valentine's Party. It is from 2:15-3:05. We are going to be opening our Valentine's and watching Alvin and the Chipmunks Valentines while enjoying some snacks.

Spelling words this week:
Double Letter Words

1. better
2. happy
3. really
4. berry
5. messy
6. unless
7. carrot
8. lettuce
9. spilled
10. grilling
11. dribble
12. litter
13. rubber
14. happen
15. puzzle
16. running
17. dripping

Bonus
1. embarrass
2. success
3. misspelled
4. generally


Early Release on Wednesday at 1:45pm.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Monday, February 6th

Hi Parents,

Here are the spelling words for this week:
Frequent Spelling Patterns for soft-syllable endings for / l/ and / r/

1. camel
2. nickel
3. jewel
4. tunnel
5. level
6. local
7. loyal
8. normal
9. eagle
10. needle
11. jungle
12. doctor
13. author
14. sailor
15. cellar
16. grammar
17. collar
18. dollar
19. father
20. mother
21. teacher
22. painter

Bonus
bundle
cruel
several
scholar

Our Valentine's day Party is on February 14th in the afternoon from 2:15-3:10. You should have received two letters on Thursday concerning the party. One had a list of the students' names in our class, the other was from our room Mom, Mrs. Payne telling you to contact her if you would like to help supply things for the party.

Our snow shoe day was canceled for this week due to lack of snow (never thought that would be a problem in Montana!). They hope to reschedule it for sometime in March.

Please continue to work with your students on multiplication. It is very important for them to have quick recall of the facts. There are wonderful multiplication games on the computer (www.multiplication.com), but good-old fashioned flash cards work wonders as well!

In reading this week, we are focusing on comparing and contrasting characters to understand characteristics.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Wednesday, February 1st

Hi Parents,

Sorry for not writing yet this week!

First, thank you to all the parents for sending in snacks over the last month! We always need them and they are greatly, greatly appreciated!!!!!

Second, a letter will be coming home tomorrow about the Valentine's Day party. It has a list of all the students' names. Students do not have to do Valentines, but if they do choose to do them, they have to do one for everyone in the class.

We are working a lot on multiplication. Please be practicing the facts at home with your kids. Start with the 2s facts, and move up till they get to the 12s. Learning their multiplication facts is so important for 4th and 5th grade.

Spelling words
Suffix –less
1. harmless
2. helpless
3. endless
4. homeless
5. mindless

Suffix –ness
6. shyness
7. dampness
8. sadness
9. kindness
10. goodness
11. forgetfulness
12. forgiveness
13. thoughtlessness
14. hopelessness
15. laziness

Bonus Words
16. potential
17. kinetic
18. atoms
19. machines
20. motion

Monday, January 23, 2012

Monday, January 23rd

Hi Parents,

Today was busy and fun!

The spelling words for this week are:
Spelling Patterns
/u/ are oo,ew, ue, and u-consonant-e
/yu/ are u, ew, ue and u-consonant-e

1. soon
2. noon
3. shampoo
4. goose
5. balloon
6. blue
7. blew
8. few
9. stew
10. human
11. music
12. mule
13. unit
14. unite
15. menu
16. huge
17. June
18. July
19. you
20. ewe
21. tune


Bonus
refuge
bugle
futile


Today in science we started discussing energy and will focus on that this week! Very exciting.

In reading we are working on how we infer and predict using our prior knowledge and experiences.

In writing we will be focusing on ideas and how we peer edit.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Tuesday, January 17th

Hi Parents!

I am sorry for not posting last night. At the end of the day we were doing a science experiment where we made Oobleck and it created a bit of good chaos at the end of the day:) The main idea for the experiment was students understanding of matter being a solid, liquid or gas and how do you decide/defend which an object is.

Spelling words for this week:
A vowel followed by r stands for a new sound

1. sore
2. score
3. store
4. restore
5. forecast
6. chore
7. before
8. adore
9. shore
10. explore
11. fork
12. horn
13. cord
14. torch
15. storm
16. porch
17. morning
18. form
19. important
20. northwest


Science Bonus Words
energy
liquid
matter
motion
force

We have early release on Thursday.

We continue to study geometry in math and your students are doing a great job on that!

Monday, January 9, 2012

January 9, 2012

Hi Parents,

We go on our Bohart Cross Country Ski Trip on Wednesday, January 11th. I sent home a note on Thursday explaining what students should wear. They need to bring a backpack (one that goes over both shoulders), a sack lunch, a snack and a water bottle. They should dress in layers. They should wear snow pants, have gloves or mittens, hats and sunglasses (depending on the weather). The field trip will be all day. Please make sure that the students are on time. There will be no homework that night.

Spelling for this week
Comparatives and Superlatives

1. deep
2. deeper
3. deepest
4. hot
5. hotter
6. hottest
7. full
8. fuller
9. fullest
10. sad
11. sadder
12. saddest
13. light
14. lighter
15. lighest
16. new
17. newer
18. newest
19. cold
20. colder
21. coldest

Monday, January 2, 2012

January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!

We had a first great day back at school. I missed your students over break!

We started a new unit in a math that is all about geometry. There is a pink packet coming home tonight with your student that reviews everything about geometry. It also has all the answer to the homework, so don't throw it away! Tonight's homework is all about lines, line segments, and rays.

In reading this week we are working on asking questions. We started reading an Italian folktale called "The Mysterious Giant of Barletta."

Spelling words this week are all about contractions:
Contractions
1. I’ll
2. you’ll
3. she’ll
4. he’ll
5. I’d
6. you’d
7. he’d
8. she’d
9. we’d
10. they’d
11. I’ve
12. you’ve
13. we’ve
14. they’ve
15. you’re
16. we’re
17. they’re
18. haven’t
19. doesn’t
20. shouldn’t
21. couldn’t
22. wouldn’t
Bonus
mightn’t
oughtn’t
needn’t


Also, I wanted to mention I am always in need of snacks for the classroom, if you are ever at Costco and feel like picking some up they are always welcome. :)

Our field trip to Bohart is on Wednesday, January 11th. I will be sending home a letter on Thursday explaining what students should wear. They do need to bring a sack lunch. I also asked them today to ask you their shoe size. I fax that over to Bohart so they can be ready when we get there.