Welcome to 3A

Wow!  I hope everyone had a chance to come to the “Living Stations” on April 5th.  The students did a fantastic job.  You have some great kids.

The following information will cover from April to middle of May (subject to change)

English – We will cover the following: Indirect object, action and linking verbs

Writing – 4th Quarter Reseach paper, How-To (step by step insturctions), narrative.  Both class are participating in the “Great Mail Race”.  We sent letters to 50 Catholic Schools acroos the country.  We are praying that we receive one back from each state by the end of the school year.

Spelling/Phonics – Contractions, holidays, review (lessons 25-29), /ur/ and /or/, and silent /k/ and /w/

Reading – 4th Quarter book reports, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Guided reading (small group)

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Math

We are working hard on figuring out how fractions work. We are learning how to make equivalent fractions, and we will learn how to add and subtract fractions, too. We will continue to review all the materials we have learned all year. New material still needs to be covered these last few weeks of school which includes measurement and geometry.

Science

We are currently studying meteorology. We are learning about the different layers of the atmosphere and about the different types of clouds. Once we finish the meteorology unit, we will begin exploring the earth’s structure with the study of geology.

Social Studies

We will be working on our social studies projects which include learning about the explorers and inventors. We will present these projects to the school on Young Author’s Day.

Religion

The Last Supper and Jesus Death on the Cross have been the focus of Religion studies during Lent. We will now focus on Jesus’ Resurrection. We will learn more about the Holy Spirit and God’s Family here on Earth over the next few weeks.

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We are getting into the final months of the school year and will be doing a lot of work to prepare for Fourth Grade.

English/Writing – Understanding the process of Persuasive Paragraphs, 3- paragraph persuasive essay, object pronouns, mixed tenses, independent essay, how-to essay, and descriptive writing.

Reading – Small group guided reading, whole group reading -(March/April) Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing.  We will be working on comprehension with all of our reading.  Fourth quarter book report  information will be sent home the first week of the quarter.

Spelling – Review of Lessons 19-23, sounds of: ld, ft,/ar/, kw, skw, contractions, holidays, and review of Lessons 25-29.

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Math

We are finishing up multiplication and division; however, we will continue to work on these skills for the remainder of the year. We will now be working on charts and graphs making sure we understand how to read and interpret the information provided on them.

Social Studies

We have just finished our unit on Communities and where they are located and why people decided to start communities in these areas.  We studied important African Americans who have shaped and impacted our world and culture.

Science

We will now be working on our Physics Unit in Science. We will study the different phases of matter and how they things change between the different phases. We will find out how temperature impacts matter, and we will find out how to measure matter.

Religion

We have just finished learning about the Ten Commandments in detail. We talked about how each commandment applies to our individual lives. We are now learning about the season of Lent. We are discussing the Last Supper and the Crucifixion of Jesus. We are looking at the relationship between the flight of the Israelites and the life of Jesus and how they can be compared.

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Math

We will be finishing up our multiplication and division unit. Most of the students in the 3rd grade have done an awesome job of memorizing their multiplication facts. This will really help them in the future with math. Once we have finished multiplication and division, we will be focusing our attention on learning to read graphs and charts as well as reviewing time.

Science

We are finishing up our Chemistry Unit, and now it is time to focus on the Science Fair. All projects will be completed in class. Students will work everyday in class on their individual or group project. I am sure you will be proud of the work they accomplish.

Social Studies

Once we finish with our Science Fair projects, we will begin working on Social Studies again. We will learn about prominent African American citizens throughout history, We will also be learning about where communities are located and how the weather and climate impact the lives of people that live in different parts of the world.

Religion

Now that we have learned our Ten Commandments, we are now looking at each of them in detail. We are gaining an understanding of how we should live these commandments in our daily lives. We will also learn about the season of Lent.

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Welcome back from your holiday!  Hope everyone had a peaceful time off.

Now that we are all rested, it is time to get back to working.  The following is what we will be doing over the next month and into the next month of February.

Reading – Whole group reading of Stuart Little;  Then in February Mr. Popper’s Penguin (purchase by February 1);  Guided reading in small groups.

3rd QTR book report will be completed in class again.  Watch for flyer the first week of 3rd QTR.

Spelling – Sound of /s/, /j/, plurals, and homophones.

Creative Writing – working on Treasure Book poems

English – Finish Chapter 7, then start into Chapter 8 – direct object, verb-transitive and Pattern 2 sentences.

Tutoring will be changing 3rd QTR

Monday – at 7:20-7:50am

Wednesdays – at 3:30-4:00

I will pull the students  who need some extra help on Mondays and Wednesdays at lunch time.

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I want to wish all students and parents a Happy Thanksgiving and also Happy Holidays!

November-December-January Class Information

Spelling – Unit 3 Lessons 13-18.  Words with ed or ing, spl, spr,str, double consonants, contractions, and easily misspelled words.

English – Chapter 6 – Helping verbs, coordinate conjunctions.

Chapter 7 – Interjections and possessive nouns, eight parts of speech, homonyms,  and contractions

Writing – expository essay – book report for 2nd quarter – all work will be completed in class

- we will be working on our Treasure Books – poems

Reading – Book reports – non-fiction books

- Whole group reading  and guided reading groups.

* December 14, 2011 – field trip to St. Joseph’s Residence.  If you are planning to be a chaperone you must check with the front office.  You have to be Safe Environment cleared to be a chaperone.

* December 16, 2011 – Christmas Party for 3A & 3B.

* If you are having a birthday party for your child and you send invitations to school, you must send for all students (or you must mail).  Please check the parent/student handbook.

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October has arrived and we have had a great start to our school year.  The following is what we will be doing for the rest of the month.

ITBS Testing week of October 10-14, 2011

Reading – Week of October 17-28, whole group read – Bunnicula.  We will be doing many fun and interesting activities with this book.

November – Small group reading.

Spelling/Phonics – Week of October 17-21, 2011 – Lesson 8, /ou/ sound.  Test on 10/21/11

Week of October 24-27, 2011 – Lesson 9, o spelled o, aw, au.  Test on 10/27/11.

November – Lesson 10, 11, 12.

Creative Writing – continue with steps of writing using creative writing.  We are also working on our Treasure Books of poetry.

November – continue with Treasure Books, Journal writing, creative writing, expository writing.

Grammar – Week of October 17-21, 2011 – Chapter 4 , Lessons 1-5.

Preposition, Object of the Preposition, Prepositional phrases, subject-verb agreement, identify a/an choices, end the week with a check up.

Week of October 24-27, 2011 – Chapter 4, Lessons 6-9

Discuss publishing (including Treasure Books), write expository paragraph, different writing forms, point of view.

November – First week Chapter 4 Test, start chapter 5, pronouns

I hope to see you at the carnival, October 22, 2011

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Math

We are finishing up our addition unit and will begin working on subtraction. Please check your students’ evening homework assignments to ensure they have an understanding of subtraction. When we finish with our unit on subtraction we will begin working on memorizing all of our multiplication facts.

Science

We are finishing the unit that covers the Solar System. We will begin investigating elements and compounds. Some of the students are very excited about this new unit.

Religion

October is Respect Life month. Each student will be making a poster that will be placed in the hallway to represent how to respect life. This month we are also praying the rosary each week with the entire school on Wednesdays. In November we will be studying the saints. Each student will be asked to do a project on their favorite saint to share with the class.

Social Studies

We will continue to learn about communities. We will discuss how they are all alike and how they are different. We will also continue to work on our map skills.

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Welcome back to a new school year.  I hope everyone had a exciting summer.  But now back to work!

Reading – Both classes started off reading the Unit of Friendship in the Open Court reading program.  Phonics was a review of last year and will continue throughout the month.  Staying with the concept of friendship, both classes will read, The Kids in Ms. Coleman’s Class – Spelling Bee.  If I could have 7 parents volunteer to purchase one book it would complete the set.  As the years have gone  by,  7 of the books have grown legs and walked out the door.  If you would like to help out the class, please email me.  We will need them by the 19th of this month.  Starting next month, I will set up small group reading and one whole group read.

Handwriting and Creative Writing – Well, we started cursive, but have had to slow down.  We are taking baby steps until we accomplish simple motions.  In creative writing, the classes will start their Treasure Book of Poetry.  They will be learn about drafts, editing, and publishing over the next couple of months.

English – Hooray!  We received NEW Shurley books.  The students will enjoy the concepts that are taught throughout the book.  Again, we started with baby steps and will end the year with a bang.  Chapter 1 started off with organizational skills and we went into Chapter 2 with sentences labeling.  Next test: September 14, 2011 (Chapter 2).

Thanks to all the parents who took time on the night of the 8th and came to school for Third Grade Parent Night.  We hope you enjoyed learning the day of a 3rd grader!

Keep up with new and exciting updates on the web site.  Over and Out………………………………….

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Math

We have been reviewing place value, standard form, expanded form and comparing numbers in math. We are learning how to round and count money. We will be working on making change and focusing on word problems too.

Science

We are studying Astronomy in Science. We are learning about our Solar System and how everything orbits around the sun. This has been very interesting. We know the Solar System consists of the planets, the sun, the stars, moons, asteroids, and dwarf planets. We also learned that the sun is very hot but it does have some spots that are called sun spots that are cooler than other parts of the sun and this is where solar flares form.

Social Studies

In Social Studies we have been discussing communities and citizens. We are figuring out that all communities consist of some of the same types of things; however they are very different. We have also been learning about maps, atlas’s and globes. We are figuring out how to read maps and how to use atlas’s.

Religion

We have already taken our first two quiz’s and have been learning about God as our creator. We are also finding out that God is all around us. We can see his glory in everything around us. We are also coming to realize that God exists inside each one of us – We make up the body of Christ. This helps us to understand why we need to be kind towards everyone!

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I can’t believe the end of the year is here.  I want to thank all the students for coming to St. Elizabeth’s and being in my third grade class.  I wish all students the best for the summer and up coming school year.

On June 1, 2011, we go on the last field trip for the year.  If you have not paid and returned the fee and permission slip you still can.

Have a safe and fun summer.  See you next year!

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Third grade will be participating in the Living Stations of the Cross on April 21 at 8 A.M. in the church.  We hope to see you on this special day for the class.  On April 26, Tuesday, will be the Easter Egg Hunt.  Watch for details before the Easter break.

Classroom:

Math – Division and Multiplication will continue, followed by Geometry.  The 4th quarter project will be in Geometry. Watch for details at the end of the month.

Grammar - Continue with parts of a sentence and writing paragraphs.

Reading – Storytelling (fables, folktales).  4th QTR Book report – information sent home on March 31, 2011. Due date: April 27, 2011.

Religion – Stations of the Cross – Living Stations – April 21, 2011 at 8 A.M. in church

Social Studies – Chapter 7 Test on April 5, 2011.  Chapter 8 – Technology Changes Communities

Science – Meteorology – Water cycle, clouds, wind, recording weather patterns.

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Now that the weather has finally made a turn for the better, we will be back on track in all of  our classes.

Upcoming information by subject for March (always due to change)

Math – Finishing Chapter 8 with a unit test on March 7, 2011.  Starting multiplication and division again.  Practice multiplication and division facts nightly.

English/Grammar – Continue with sentence structure, helping verbs.  Introduce inflectional endings and subject/verb agreement.

Reading – Continue with Open Court units.  Whole class reading of the book, Maggie, and the Search for Devildust, by Judy Alter.  Readers Theater-Three Greek Myths- this will be performed for Young Authors Day (more details to follow)

Social Studies – Finish Chapter 6 – Places Where Communities Started- chapter test on March 1, 2011.  Start Chapter 7- Histories of Communities

Science – Finish Physics with unit test on March 9, 2011.  Start Meteorology

Religion – Preparing for Lent/Easter.  Jesus is Risen, Jesus Christ is Lord and King, and Jesus Gives the Spirit to the Church.  On April 21 at 8am, our class will present the “Living Stations of the Cross” in the church.  We will prepare in class for this special event.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Spring Break.  I will be in Florida enjoying the sun and beach!!!

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Welcome back from your Christmas Break!  I want to thank all the parents and students for all the wonderful gifts I received.

We have a busy month planned.  Below are some of the upcoming lessons:

Math - Test on Chapter 5 when students return from the break.  After the test, Chapter 7 will be about graphing.

Grammar – Continue with pronoun types, sentence structure.  This will carry over into Creative Writing for the Treasure Book each student will write (poems)

Reading - Part of the month will be Guided Reading (groups will have different books) and Open Court

Religion – Quiz on Chapter 12 the first week back from break – John the Baptist.  In the middle of the month, we will look at the Seven Sacraments, and finish the month with an  in-class project involving the sacraments.

Science – Unit test on Periodic Table the first week back, followed by Physical Science.  The 3rd Qtr project will be the science project.  This will be due on January 28th so they can be displayed for open house.

Social Studies - Chapter 5 will take up most of the month.  This chapter talks about communities and where they are located, climate, growth, and the physical environment in communities.

Remember to check the class web page daily for updates and changes.

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Events for the month of December – Field trip to St. Joseph’s.  Bring all items to take by December 3rd.  Items to bring: tissues, lotion, baby powder, toothpaste, pill boxes, socks, and wrapping paper.

Classes information for December:

Math- Finish division up to 5, then start multiplication up to nine.  Three digit multiplication will be at the end of the month.  Chapter 5 test including chapters 1-4 will be on December 1, 2010.

Grammar/English- Possessive Pronouns, and review of subject pronouns, and 8 parts of speech that we have learned so far this school year.

Spelling- Lesson 13, ed and ing endings of words. Lesson 14, spl, spr, str blends.  Lesson 15, double consonants.

Reading – Small group guided reading: Ben’s Trumpet, Amber Brown is not a Crayon, Day of the Blizzard, and There’s a Hamster in my Lunchbox.  Assessments will be on December 13th, 2010.

Religion- We will finish the ten commandments during the first week.  God Created People to Share His Life, Preparing the World for Jesus, and Jesus Brought the Kingdom of God to Us; plus, Advent and what it means to each of us.

Social Studies – Chapter 4 – Celebrations of Cultures and across our nation.

Science- Elements and the Perodic table.  We will be doing simple experiments during the month using the elements.

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Important 2nd QRT projects:  Book Report for the Quarter will be a biography

Religion Project – Parables

Watch for information in your student’s Red folder the 1st week of the 2nd quarter.  Check the class web site for updates.

Religion – Unit 2 – God is Great will be the focus for the month.  The Apostle’s Creed oral test will be the first part of the month.

Language Arts – In October we read in whole groups and in Guided Reading Groups.  We read a biography in October so students will understand how to do the 2nd QTR book report.  Homework will be assigned for Guided Reading this month.    Writing – The class has written 2 poems that will be part of their Treasure Books. In November, we will write more poetry.  Plus students will write to their families what they are thankful for in their lives.

Spelling/Phonics – Lesson 9 – /o/ sound spelled, o, aw, au.  Lesson 10 – double consonants.   Lesson 11 – el (le at the end of words) sound.  Lesson 12- Review of 7-11.

Grammar - Continuing with labeling sentences.  Prepositional phrases, object of the preposition, capitalization, punctuation.

Social Studies – Unit One test (Chapter 1 & 2) will finish out the month of October.  Unit 2 – People in Communities.  Students will learn how people move from place to place and celebrations.

Science – We will finish the Solar System and the planets and have a assessment before Thanksgiving break.

Math – It’s finally here.  Multiplication.  We will start working on memorizing facts.  Practice at home with flash cards.  Continue to practice addition and subtraction at home also.

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I want to welcome back all the students to St. E’s.  We got off to a good start for our third grade class.  I enjoyed learning about each student through the “Read all About Me”.  The following is classroom information by subject for the upcoming months.  On the Scholastic class web page you can find daily updates.

Social Studies - Our Community – this unit will include culture, geography, location, and life.  Chapter 1 test was on September 21.  It continued (Chapter 2) with rural, suburban, urban, and the big city.   Students are working on the 1st semester project in the class room.  They will be finished by October 11, 2010.

Science - Third grade is using the Nancy Larson science lessons.  The first unit consists of the Solar System; the sun, moon, and phases of the moon.  This unit test was on September 29,2010.

Religion – The first unit in our books was a review of 2nd grade, God Calls Us to Faith.  For the next couple of weeks we will be saying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.  During this time we will be learning some of the prayers we say for the rosary plus some extras.  We will also act out some of the parts of this mystery.

Math - We finished place value and are working our way up to “Multiplication”.  But we will review addition and subtraction (with grouping, regrouping, & rounding).

Grammar - For the next month we will review all of the parts of speech. Through creative writing, the students will work on sentence structure.

Language Arts – For the last two weeks the students have been in guided reading groups.  Each group has read a different book while learning how to complete a story map.  I included vocabulary from within each book to increase vocabulary skills for each group.  They completed each book with a unit quiz.  For the last day, each group will present the book they read to the class by a short skit, rap song, comic strip, and puppet play.

Reading Counts – we are still working out the kinks.  Please be patient.

Book Reports – 1st quarter will be any mystery at least 60 pages of the students choice.  Due date will be; 10/18/10.

In October I am planning to get a Readers’ Theater program started in the classroom.  Watch for more details to come.

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February sure went past with a FLURRY of activity. We have worked so hard on our Student Treasure books and the students knocked themselves out with all their poetry writing.  The finished products are just beautiful and we’re sure you will be very pleased with them, too!

In Religion, the students have been learning about the miracles and parables of Jesus; we will begin to prepare for the Living Stations of the Cross which the third grade class will present just before Easter.  We will let you know the date so that you may plan to attend if you wish.

We finished our unit on multiplication in math and have now moved on to basic division (0 to 5).  After we finish basic division (just after Spring Break) we will return to multiplication.

In English, since we used so many of our grammar skills while writing our Poetry books, we will be doing some review work and testing over various concepts.  We will then be moving on with more writing of paragraphs and friendly letters.  To aid us in this PLEASE be sure that your child knows his/her full address (#, street, city, zip code) when they return from Spring Break.

In Reading we have just completed reading our class novel, Old Yeller. We watched the movie and did a comparison of the two genres, and done some intensive testing (comprehension/vocabulary) over the text.  We will be moving on to a book titled Henry Huggins: Try Our Large Economy Size by Beverly Cleary right after Spring Break.

The students have taken another Lexile test and overall the scores just keep going up!  Please encourage your child to keep reading; they should have read their next RC book by the week after the break, and the test should be taken by March 26.

In spelling we have covered the /j/ sound, plurals ending w/ -ies, homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things), and days of the week/time words.  After the break we will review these lessons and then focus on words ending with –ld/-ft and the /ar/ sound spelled –air/-are/-ear.

In Science we will be finishing our unit on Physics and we will review after Spring Break, and then move on to a unit on Meteorology.  In Social Studies, we have been discussing more about communities and their resources and after the break we will move on to a unit about communities of the past and present

As always, PLEASE continue to have your child practice their times tables nightly. Have them log on to Math Score as frequently as possible and also, SpellingCity.com for some spelling re-freshment and fun.

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Happy Holidays!

This past month we learned a great deal about the lives of many new saints and got to revisit with some old ones, too.  This month we will concentrate on the life of Mary, the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus and the Celebration of Advent.

In English we have been reviewing many previously learned concepts (nouns/verbs), learning to diagram sentences and putting all these grammar tools to use daily.  This month we will concentrate on a lot of creative writing in anticipation of writing our individual books during the month of January.  We finished our third class novel, Molly’s Pilgrim, in reading and have worked on a lot of different concepts regarding comprehension (inference, compare/contrast, vocabulary).  We started our next class novel this month, Stone Fox, and we also will be reading mystery books, in lieu of a Reading Counts book.  We will be doing a book report for our mystery books, too.

In Math, we finished our unit on Addition, and have now started with Subtraction.  The students are really progressing with their addition and subtraction by using Math Score, so please have them keep using this as often as possible at home.

We completed our unit through the Solar System with our study of Astronomy and have begun our study of Chemistry, and we are learning what elements, compounds and atoms are.

We have been discussing Celebrations in Social Studies and will continue with this study up to the holiday break.

On Monday, December 14 we will be going to the Williamsburg Nursing Center in DeSoto to spread Christmas cheer along with the Kindergartners.  This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to practice the corporal works of mercy.  Thanks to all of our generous parents for donating the money (from the left over Halloween monies and for those who sent in items) for our gift donations.

Special thanks to Michelle Mills and Barbara Richardson, for organizing our gift donations.  We are sure the residents will be thrilled with the bounty.  Thank you, also to M G for the donation of the plastic handled bags that the goodies will go in; the students created a special holiday “card” to go on them that will surely cheer up each resident.  So again, many thanks to all and have a safe and blessed holiday!

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The year is flying by us as we continue learning and enjoying expanding our friendships.  We have been reviewing and learning many new concepts, too.

In English we have begun learning how to diagram sentences.  This will be an on-going process.  We are also reviewing the use of apostrophes and we will be working on some creative writing in anticipation of the holidays and writing our individual books in the Spring.  We finished our second and third class novels, Bunnicula, and Molly’s Pilgrim, and we will be doing some comprehension tasks for Molly’s Pilgrim. We will soon begin reading Stone Fox, a novel by John Reynolds Gardiner.  We are well on our way to reading the required 30 novels for the school year.  Be sure to help your child keep up with their Reading Counts books, too.  Remember that we have requested that the students NOT read the Goosebumps series books for the Reading Counts/AR quizzes.

In Math we are continuing with addition and after the Christmas holidays we will begin multiplication.  We have also started giving the students daily timed tests, in both addition and subtraction.  The students have 1 minute to complete as many problems as possible out of 20, (soon to be 30 problems), as accurately as possible.  We will not grade these, but rather chart them to gauge the students’ progress.  We are also going to the Tech Lab each Tuesday to work on Math Score on the computers; we have seen a lot of improvement already.

In Science we completed presenting our Solar System projects and…  WOW!  We were impressed!  We will now finish the Astronomy unit and then move on to our Chemistry unit.
In Social Studies we have finished our overview of geography, including the regions of the United States.  We are now beginning a study of celebrations that we recognize in America (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, etc…).  The students will be working on a project about one of these celebrations in early December.  More information will follow concerning this project.

In Religion we are discussing the lives of the saints in anticipation of our Saints game on Nov. 20th.  3B did an outstanding job with the Mass on Nov. 6th and 3A will be leading the Mass on Nov. 20th.  We will be going to a nursing home in Duncanville in December to sing and visit.  Look for more information to come home concerning this work of mercy field trip.

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Happy autumn!

The school year began with a flurry of activity, but we’ve settled into our routines quite nicely. We continue to be blessed with a wonderful group of kids and terrific, supportive parents again this year. We began some new topics this month including prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns in English. In Reading we have been using some Readers’ Theater books to develop a sense of reading in communion with others. We will be performing these stories (w/ props) in class for one another. In Spelling we have been reviewing the short and long vowel sounds. In Math we have almost finished our unit on place value (important for addition, subtraction and stepping stones for multiplication and division). In Science we have been studying the Solar System and have almost finished our study of the Sun, Earth and the Moon. In Social Studies we have been reviewing atlas skills and the continents and oceans of the Earth. In Religion we have been reviewing that our God is a loving God, that He cares for us like a loving parent, and that people who follow and do God’s good works are called Saints.

Coming up in the next month we will be learning about Mary, the rosary and more about the saints in preparation for our annual Saints Game. In Social Studies we will be studying the United States, the capitals and important facts about each state; this will lead us to a project about the states. We will finish the month with a study of Native Americans. In Science we will continue to explore the solar system in Astronomy with a study of the planets. We will be having a test next week over the first portion of the Astronomy unit. Moving on in Math, we will begin a unit on addition! We have also begun using a computer program called Math Score! The students love this approach to learning math. We will be sending home information so the kids can use this at home, too. In Spelling we will be reviewing what we have learned so far, and moving on to the /oi, ou, and aw/o/ sounds. In Reading we will be finishing our story Charlotte’s Web, and will be reading Bunnicula in honor of Halloween. We have also begun using the SRA Reading Kit (ask your child; they’re enjoying it, too). In English we will continue using our Daily Grammar books to reinforce our grammar skills. We will be learning how to make plurals with words ending in /f/ (wife, wives), work more on verbs and continue to sing our preposition, helping verb and pronouns song.

We will be Lexile testing again this week (9/24) and will be having our Sight Words quizzes on Sept. 24, Oct. 8 and 22nd. Our next Reading Counts test taking date will be October 2.

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