Welcome back!

This week we are jumping right back into the swing of things. I will be sending home some Lansing trip information in the next day or two. There will be a sheet that needs to be filled out for the bus company for any student or parent to ride on it. Without the completed form, they will not let the student or parent on the bus. We are starting March is Reading Month in two days. I hope you will encourage your students to participate in reading more this month than ever. We have the theme “Reading Around the World” and our continent is Africa. Students will be learning about many different animals, countries, and cultures all month. I also sent out the sign-up sheet for you to come in and read to the class. I hope you will sign up to come in with a favorite book.

Spelling- This week we are looking at the /ier/ and /ere/. Our words are cashier, earlier, anywhere, flier, carrier, predator, prey, habitat, cycle and survival. The students will get their normal spelling sheet, but they also have a new way to practice on the computer. They can go to www.quizlet.com and login with the same Google login they have for the computers and Khan Academy. The words are all on there with games to play.

Math-We are finishing up our geometry and multiplication unit.

Science- We are starting our animal and plant adaptation unit.

Social Studies- We started our unit on public discourse today. The students are learning why we have governments.

Reading- The students are learning the difference between main idea and theme. Students should be reading 30 minutes every night from their book bag, from readingtheory.com or from any other book you might have at home.

Writing-We learning how to write similes and their purpose in our writing.

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing everyone that would like to read to the class, signing up!

Hello everyone!

This is going to a be a busy week. We have next week off of school for the break. Towards the end of the week, students will be getting some reading and math homework assignments to complete online over the break. It will consist of 5 Read-Theory stories with correct answers only, and they already know they need to be at or above 50% on Khan Academy 3rd grade by the end of the week. They have been working on this for months and this has always been the date it was due, they are aware. The students that are already over 50% should practice on Khan Academy for 1.5 hours total.

STEM club starts on Wednesday this week. It will be limited to the first 20 students to register and it will be fun. I hope to see some of the students there. Those sheets came home on Friday with the boys.

This week:

Spelling: /are/ words: fare, spare, aware, hare, mare with content words perimeter, area, line, line segment, angle

Math: We are starting our unit on geometry. A large part of this unit is learning vocabulary for more in-depth geometry units in the future. They also are going to be working on multiplication and division two-step story problems. Keep practicing those multiplication facts at home.

Science: In PLTW, the boys are building their gilders this week. We are using them to study balanced and unbalanced forces. They are also being used to learn about drag, thrust, lift and weight.

In other science: We are starting our life science unit. The boys will be digging into the world of plants and animals to learn how they survive in different places.

Writing: We are increasing our writing stamina and we will be doubling our content in a realistic fiction piece. We are continuing to make sure that the boys are hand-writing appropriately, using basic conventions and capital letters. These skills must be mastered before consideration for 4th can be made. We will be moving on from these very soon so please check your students writing for capital letters, correct ending marks and generally correct grammar in their sentences.

Social Studies: This week is our social studies district assessment. The boys will be bringing home their study guides tomorrow and will be taking the test on Thursday. There will be a constructed response that needs to be written using all of their best writing skills. A study guide for that will come home as well.

Valentine’s Day-Students do not need to bring in a decorated box unless they would like. They will be getting brown paper bags to decorate. We will be doing a STEM activity and watching a movie to celebrate. If you wish to send in snacks or drinks for the boys, please send in enough for 18 students. They may also bring in any candy or cards to hand out to each other if you wish.

Thanks and have a great week!

Good morning everyone,

I apologize for being a day late with the blog. This we are back in the swing of our normal routine with NWEA testing being completed. Graded science tests should be coming home in the next few days. Students will be bringing home their unit 5 math study guides. It covers many different topics including fractions, place value, pictographs and multiplication. Reviewing with them tonight would be a great idea. They will take their test tomorrow. Jump Rope for Heart is due next week to Mr. Vigilanti.

Here is our week:

Spelling: Week 2 of homophones: there, their, they’re, wear, where, bored, board, plane, plain, opinion, paragraph, however, also, content, topic

Writing: We are starting a new unit on realistic fiction. The boys are finishing up a narrative and then we will be transition to the new unit.

Science: We are starting a new unit on plant and animal survival. We will be starting out by looking at the features that help them survive.

Social Studies. We are finishing up our Michigan government unit and we will be taking the district assessment next week. Study guides will be coming home.

Math: We are testing on unit 5 and will be moving on to unit the next unit towards the end of the week.

Have a great week!

Good morning everyone!

This week we are finishing up our NWEA testing and returning to our normal routine. The boys should be reading now about 25 minutes each and every night. I am planning a celebration for the boy’s hard work on their test for the end of the week. I will send out details when I figure it out. Spelling this week will be a bit different. They will still have a worksheet to complete by Friday but there will be no cold words on their test. We are working on homophones or words that sound the same but have different meanings. An example is “flu” and “flew”. They will have sets of homophones and they will be tested on their meaning and their spelling on Friday. This week will take extra practice at home to master and is important for their writing.

Spelling: blew and blue, eight and ate, waste and waist, weight and wait, past and passed

content words: immigrant, pioneer, generation, timeline, decade

Math: We are finishing up our place value unit. We are digging deeper into the meaning of each place value and how place value relates to comparing fractions.

Science: We will have our test on the sound unit near the end of the week. A study guide will come home the night before.

Social Studies: Our look into Michigan’s government continues. We are starting to work on the three branches of government.

Writing: We are focusing on opinion writing. We are working on giving examples with supporting details from other texts. This is often difficult for them. When you read with them at home, be sure to stop and have them make connections to things happening in the text and their life. These text to self connections will help bridge the gap in their writing.

Have a great week!

Good morning everyone.

I hope your week is off to a great start. This week we are wrapping up many of our big projects and they will be on this upcoming report card. Friday is the end of the card marking and is also a half day. We will be taking the math and science NWEA this week. The fifth grade is selling Yankee Candles for their trip to camp. If you would like to purchase one, you can stop by either our classroom or Mrs. Doyle’s classroom, before or after school. Check out our week below:

Math: We are working on writing fractions and comparing them. Students will be introduced to finding a common denominator to make comparing fractions easier.

Writing: We are finishing our building prompt and then we will be starting our next opinion piece.

Reading: We are focusing on point of view (first and third person), as well as finding the main idea with supporting details. The students should each be reading for about 25 minutes each night.

Science: We have launched PLTW and the students started working on exploring the science of flight. We created balances yesterday and we explored balanced and unbalanced forces.

Spelling: We are working on the /wr/ and /kn/ blends. These are always tough for the students because of the silent letters. Our words are knife, write, wrap, knot, wreck, text, paragraph, however, also and content.

The Jump Rope For Heart fundraiser is going on and the students brought home the information a few days ago.

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed the three day weekend. We are starting our official NWEA testing on Thursday. We will be taking math, reading, science and language over the next two weeks. Wednesday the 18th is a late start. All field trip money is due by Friday. If you signed up to be a chaperone, we were able to accommodate you so please send in your money by Friday as well.

This week:

Spelling: We are looking at 3 consonant blends. Our words are shrank, scream, thread, throat, sprain, president, government, state, equality, and vote.

Math: Students are being introduced to fractions. They will be reading, creating and comparing fractions.

Science: We are still working on sound. All of the instrument projects are due Thursday.

Social Studies: We are learning about Michigan’s government and what it means to be a democracy.

Reading: We are continuing with our book clubs and we will be finishing up learning about different what the different point of views are.

Have a great week!

Hello everyone,

We are hard at work in room 26 already. The boys are finishing a 4 paragraph animal research paper that they have been working on for a few weeks. They are due tomorrow. Most students have already turned them in. Permission slips for the Lansing Field Trip will be coming home this week as well. Students will be getting spelling worksheets that count for a spelling grade and need to be turned in completed by Friday.

Spelling: Words are frying, track, dream, frame, printing, democracy, citizen, federal, local, community

Math: We are starting unit 5 which focuses on place value. We will also continue working on multiplication and division. The students will be getting tested weekly on their math facts for a grade so practicing at home is very important.

Social Studies: We are starting the next unit which focuses on government. The students will be looking at the different levels of government with a focus on Michigan’s government.

Science: We are learning all about sound and sound waves. The students are going to be starting their instrument projects and we will be doing Project Lead the Way.

Reading: Students will be continuing with their book club books. We are going to be picking up the pace on reading as their fluency should be increasing. It is more important than ever that they are reading at home for a minimum of 25 minutes every night.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Good morning everyone. This is going to be a bit of a crazy week. We are going to be doing lots of fun activities but we are also moving ahead with our learning. The supplies we need for our holiday party on Friday will be at the end of the post. Please comment below listing anything you will to donate so we do not end up with duplicates.

Spelling: cried, gray, grain, crowd, brake, renewable, nonrenewable, weathering, erosion, character

Math: We will be finishing our unit on multiplication and division. The students will take their test on Wed.

Social Studies: We are making our own Native American woven rugs in class.

Science: We are moving ahead with Project Lead the Way and the students are learning about the science of flight.

Writing: We are finishing our animal research pieces and will start working on compare and contrast writing.

Reading: Students will continue on their book club books. Each student has a challenge book they are reading as well.

Wednesday: Late start

Thursday: Building Wide PBIS movie in the afternoon

Friday: Building sing-a-long

Holiday Party Supplies Needed

Hot chocolate bar:

2 Gallons of whole milk

1 12oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 -14 oz cans of sweetened condensed milk

1 container of  cocoa powder

18 candy canes

Mini-marshmallows

Activities:

18-individually packaged snacks for our holiday movie in the afternoon

18-juice boxes

1 package of paper plates

1 package of green and red pom poms

glitter glue/ glitter to use with glue

If there is anything else you would like to send in, we have 18 students. We will be having our hot chocolate bar, making a craft and watching the movie after lunch on Friday. Throughout the week we will be doing a variety of other activities. Thanks for anything you would like to send in. Have a great week!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a safe snow day. This week is going to be busy. We have a district social studies assessment that has to be taken this week and the snow day set us a day behind on our review. The students are bringing home completed study guides. They need to know the information on the sheets so I highly recommend studying with them at home.

Our week:

Spelling: We are looking at /oi/ and /oy/ sounds in words. Our words are doily, annoy, appoint, toil, royal, factors, remainder, divisor, dividend and polygon.

Math: We are really working hard on learning our multiplication facts. We are introducing division this week and the students will have to understand they are inverse operations.

Science: Students are finishing up their science unit on light. A study guide will come home and the students will take the test on Friday.

Social Studies: We are working on reviewing for the test and then taking the test on Thursday. If someone would like to do Michigan Made this Friday, send me a Dojo and I will send the bag home with your student.

Writing-We are publishing our animal research papers and continuing to use synonyms to make our writing better.

Daily 5- We are continuing with our book clubs. Our focus this week is looking at character traits and finding text evidence to prove our claims.

A few quick reminders: Our coin war for the Leukemia Foundation is still going on so send in any spare change with your student. Secondly, in January the permission slips for the 3rd grade trip to Lansing will be coming home. The exact cost has not come in yet but it is usually between $40-$70 per student and that money will be due with the permission slip. I wanted to let you know ahead of time so you can prepare. When it get the exact total, I will let you know. I am hoping to get some funding to cover some of the cost.

Have a great week!

Good evening,

I apologize for the late blog update. This week we have lots going on. Our field trip to the DIA is on Friday. The students are getting really excited to go. Do no forget to send a disposable bagged lunch or money for the cafe. I posted on Dojo the other day some ideas for celebrating December in the classroom. If you could please comment with your opinion by Thursday, I would greatly appreciate it. I am going to get everything set on Friday for the upcoming weeks. Tomorrow the school is starting to have a coin war. The class that collects the most gets a catered Olive Garden lunch. The money goes to supporting the Leukemia Foundation. It is a great cause and I started digging in the couch cushions yesterday to see what we can add.

Our week:

Spelling: We are looking at words that contain /ow/. Our words are pillow, grow, throw, willow, crow, multiplication, multiple, division, trade and product.

Math: we are focusing really hard on learning a deep understanding of what multiplication really is and what it means. The students are working on learning many strategies to solve problems. I will post a picture on Dojo that may help you understand what they are working on. The students at this point in the year need to really crank down on practicing the multiplication facts. They can use flash cards, fact families, Mobymax Fact Fluency or they can play https://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games .

Writing: We are still working on parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms and writing an informational piece. Ask you student what their animal is for the research project.

Science: We are working on finishing our studies of light. They will be exploring light rays and the three different ways they move. Besides learning about light, we have also launched our new Project Lead The Way STEM science kits. We have started the launch the unit but I

Social Studies: We are learning about the arrival of the French in Michigan and the trading system they started using. The students really loved when we looked at some rugs and Native American Weaving. We are going to try to weave our own small “Native American Rugs.” If you happen to have a roll or two of unused yarn around, please send it in. We need yarn for our weavings.

Have a great week!