MRS. FREETH'S SchoolNotes UPDATE - 3rd Grade 2011-12

UPDATE Sunday,Feb. 6th

Super Bowl Sunday!  Here I am between COMMERCIALS updating you on your child's week!  Our class did very well on the DCAS Testing.  This week you will find an update on your child's Multiplication Fact Oral Fluency Quizzes in his/her Monday Folder.  If your child is "stuck" on a certain set of facts please set aside time each day to use flash cards.  I have cards available in the classroom and some students have started personal sets if passing to the next level is challenging. 

You can continue to use the directions below to help prepare for DCAS Testing (we will test again in May).  For those of you who would like to help your child at home (for extra practice) you may log on in the following way:

1) Go to mrssamuels.wikispaces.com  and go to 3rd Grade on her page - Mrs. Samuels is our Technology resource teacher.

2)Click on DCAS training site - she also has a directions page you can print out

3) Click on Students and Families (there are some resources for parents too) and then...

4) Click on Learning Point Navigator

5) You will need to LOG IN using your child's first name AND ID# (your child has written this # in the front of his/her agenda).

6) You may click on any assignment.

7) PLEASE WORK WITH your child as you go through the Instruction AND PRACTICE sections

8) Then have your child INDEPENDENTLY complete the Test/Quiz section of questions

9) You can view your child's score by clicking on the left corner - HOME and then go to completed assignments.  This will allow you to go back to the problems that were marked wrong and discuss them with your child.

Using this DCAS site is suggested to help your child feel more confident and familiar with the format and questions they may encounter on the test.  Please note that we have NOT gone over all of the content yet in class. 

At any time your child can visit www.starrmatica.com   User id: NCSstudent   Password: Patriot2001    and Mrs. Samuels' site at  www.mrssamuels.wikispaces.com   3rd graders can go to sqworl.com for some educational activities!  On the sqworl site there is a very helpful math fact game called Mathmagician.  ALL students have started using it in the classroom to help with fact fluency. 

PLEASE make sure you return any *'d papers in Monday folders every week. 

PLEASE check and sign your child's agenda EVERY day - including Fridays. 

Dates and Things to Remember:

Mon., Feb. 6th - Community Pizza Night at Grotto's 4-9pm - you must bring the voucher...

Tues., Feb. 7th - "Vikings Visit" for Third Grade Students!  Ask your child what he/she learned!

Thurs., Feb. 9th - Class PICTURE DAY - send in your order form if you're interested...

Fri., Feb. 10th - Second timed quiz on Multiplication Facts x0-x5. - we didn't get to this last week!

                          & Unit 20 Spelling Assessment

Fri., Feb. 17th - 1:50 Dismissal Elem. School

Mon. Feb. 20th - School Closed for President's Day

What We'll be Learning...

Cursive-

We will continue the upper case letters K,U,Y,Z, V,W, X, I, J.  We will do cursive several times a week.  Cursive homework will be sent home periodically.

Reading Workshop-

We will continue our study of the myth "The Sword of Damocles".  Students will think about the pros and cons of having a position of authority.  Practice with answering RAGU questions will also be done. 

Students will continue working as WORD DETECTIVES as they look for challenging vocabulary in their Reading Workshop books.  Dictionary skills will be practiced. 

We began reading a powerful biography of Harriet Tubman last week as our read out loud.  We will talk about the important points that we should look for in biographies.  Next week students will be starting Book Club/Literature Groups on biographies.  I will introduce titles at the end of this week for students to preview.  They will write their top 3 choices and from there I will assign books to students.

Writing/Language Arts

Students will continue their 1st drafts of their "How-To" pieces.  Focus on paragraph structure and use of transition words will be emphasized.  We continue to discuss the terms for the acronym FATP - Form, Audience, Topic, and Purpose as we think about our writing and reading pieces.  I'm hoping students can use Similes and Metaphors in their writing as well!

We will also be addressing the use of VERBS in our language. 

Vocabulary - February Vocabulary: dreary, admirable, devotion, kindle, modest, grave, clarify, yearn

***Although Vocabulary is not routinely sent home to practice, you may help your child review these meanings by looking at the BACK of your child's Spelling notebook.  We work on several words a week. 

Spelling - Unit 20: room, sea, against, top, turned.  This week we will focus on VERBS. 

REMEMBER: Super Speller words are words I have found in each student's work.  Some of them are very tough and will need extra review.  Clap the words out by syllable and help your child spell using these word chunks/syllables.

Math-

Our next unit is GEOMETRY.  Our beginning areas of focus will be polygons, quadrilaterals, triangles, pentagons, hexagons, congruence, slides/flips/turns, symmetry and a familiarity with solid figures.  Students will be bringing home nets for solid figures to assemble into solid figures at home.  These will be due Friday.  

PLEASE help your child study ALL FACTS daily for fluency!!  USE the Mathemagician website and/or FLASHCARDS to help with fluency.  Oral Quizzes will be on Multiplication, but students are expected to be fluent up to -9 facts. 

Science-

We will begin our unit on the Circulatory System (heart, blood) next week.

Social Studies-

This week we begin our study of the VIKINGS!  We will begin with looking at the Scandinavian region.  Ch. 1 - The Vikings is an introduction to these people.  Ch. 2 - Traders and Raiders and Ch. 3 - Viking Sailors and Ships will also be covered this week.  We will look at the timeline we made for the Roman Empire and compare dates and events.

That's all for now!  Thank you for supporting me and your child this school year.  PLEASE contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Allison W. Freeth