Hi, Parents!
Before I start this week’s recapitulation, I wanted to ask you a favor. Please practice math facts with your kids for 10 minutes each night this week. We are getting into application problems and kids who do not know their facts yet are really feeling overwhelmed. Those students have to draw equal groups and count before they can even start associative or this week’s distributive property application. In fact, if you would prefer to work on math facts for 20 minutes, just write it on their homework page. I am not telling the students this. But, you can make that choice. Every student has flash cards we made in class for home and at school. If you can’t find them, let me know and I’ll send more home. Please practice 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s. Most of the students have a strategy for 4s. But many don’t for the rest of the times tables.
We have a lot coming up next week, and we learned a ton this week while having a lot of fun at the fun run! Thank you to everyone who sent in items, snacks, and donated to make this an awesome week of Fun Run activities!
Important Dates to Remember
This week is Kindness Week.
- 9/30 – MONDAY: “Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti” Celebrate by wearing as many colors as you possibly can! Students can also wear Vegas Strong shirts in remembrance of the Route 91 shooting
- 10/1 – TUESDAY: Be Kind like Josh T-shirt – Wear the shirt, live the message
- 10/2 – WEDNESDAY: “Hurtful Words and Actions Can’t Be Taken Back” Celebrate by wearing your uniform shirt backwards! Not a Free Dress Day
- 10/3 – THURSDAY: “Causing Others Pain is Insane” Students should wear crazy mismatched socks.
- 10/4 – FRIDAY: “Let Respect Shine” – Celebrate by wearing your Vegas Golden Knights gear or something Gold.
- 10/15 – Field Trip to Writer’s Block
- 10/29 – Field Trip to Springs Preserve
Curriculum
This week in math, we jumped into properties. Next week, we will jump into the distributive property. This is a really tough unit and requires students to apply computation skills to more complex problems. We will find some inventive ways to drive these concepts home. Please continue to practice math facts nightly as knowing their facts gives them the confidence they need to succeed as we transition out of multiplication.
In reading, we completed our unit on recounting and retelling stories. This week we will work more intensely on describing characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
In science, we had some fun with motion. Your students built slides and tested different objects with gravity, friction, and weight. They really enjoyed this lesson!
In social studies, we are working on understanding immigration. We will tie this to some of our work on Hispanic Heritage month as well. Students will all start a project in which they will research the cultures of different Hispanic countries. As a final piece of this research, students will talk about obstacles they would face if they were emigrating from the country they researched.
Classwork and Assessments
Assessments and classwork will come home tomorrow. Please note if your student is missing an assignment, I do have some papers in the no name basket. Also, please remember that we have a lot of time left in this semester. Students are getting used to the expectations and demands of 3rd grade. We will continue to work toward our goals through December when report cards are issued. Also, your pictures will come home on Monday. They didn’t make it to mail boxes with all the fun run activities, but we’ll get them home tomorrow.
Volunteers for Field Trips – I’ll send an email home tomorrow. I left the sheet at school on Friday.
We celebrated a lot of personal successes in XtraMath and Lexia this week. Thanks for keeping education a priority in your home. Have a great weekend!
This week’s homework: 2019-09-30 Homework
Ms. B. in Class 