Ms. B. in Class

For a culminating event, our class will have a Hispanic Heritage Feast next Friday, October 18, 2019.  I am encouraging students to find authentic foods from the region they are currently studying.  If you would like to contribute to our feast or attend with your student (badges are required), please let me know.  We will be watching a movie on Friday afternoon while we enjoy our feast and students will be required to complete a comprehension assessment in which they will compare their own family’s culture with that of the main character.

Here is our signup for the feast:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080448acab2aa0fb6-hispanic

 

We had a great week this week and became distributive doctors!

Field Trips

If you have not turned in your field trip forms, please do so as soon as possible.  We’ve already done a head count for lunches, so I will need to let school office staff know of any changes.  If you need forms, reach out to me or click at the top of the page on the forms section of this site.  All of the forms are available there.

Curriculum

This week we completed dug into character traits in reading. We worked through some really tough content in math including all properties of multiplication, commutative, associative, and distributive. I know that some of the homework was tough. Thanks for sticking through it with your students.  In social studies, we worked on determining the country each group will study and identifying cultural concepts and ideas of each of these countries.

This song helps them quite a bit. If you’ve heard “flip flop those factors!” or humming, it’s probably my fault. But, it sticks in their head, and it helps during testing.

 

This week we will close our units on character traits and the properties of multiplication.  We will also work on developing a narrative based on a marker mistake each student created on Friday.  These stories should be really entertaining!

Important Upcoming Dates

• 10/15 – Field Trip to Writer’s Block
• 10/18 – Free Dress – VGK Day
• 10/29 –  Field Trip to Springs Preserve

This week’s homework:  2019-10-07

Hi parents!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  The last few weeks, our class has experienced a lot of absences.  Additionally, we’ve had four or more students tardy each day for the past five school days .

I understand when students are ill.  I understand that situations arise when students need to miss school.  Know that the work we’re currently completing is the bedrock for this third grade year.  Students who have had multiple absences are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to comprehending and mastering content.  We’ve had at least two students absent for the past 7 days as well, and had five absent on multiple days.  Attendance makes a difference in student performance.  Please endeavor to get your students to school so they have the best opportunity to succeed.

Also, if you are anticipating a student will be out, please shoot me a remind, message, or email so that I can have them take an assessment or complete or more complex portion of an assignment with them before they are out of the classroom.

Thanks for working with me to make your student as successful as possible.

On Thursday, we will likely do the Distributive Doctor activity.  Thanks for your donation of masks!  If students want to bring a labcoat on Thursday, they can.  It is not required.  Thanks!

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

Students chose to wear blue tomorrow for the fun run. They can pack a shirt to wear, or wear it all day. Tomorrow is also free dress day – Sports Free Dress. So if kids want to wear a sports theme and then change into blue, that’s totally fine. A parent is also picking up capes for everyone!

They have earned shoes off day, movie day, and free tech day. The Thunder Boelters are going to have so much fun!

Hi parents!  Everyone can come run with their students tomorrow.  Our fun run time is 2:15.  The students have made it to a tech day with their fundraising.  If we get $500 in over night, I will dye my hair rainbow (Mr. Gatten’s request).  They’ve done a great job.  Thanks for being so supportive.  I hope to see tomorrow, and if you are unable to make it, know I appreciate all that you do.  I’m still trying to determine if we will have our capes tomorrow.  If not, students should dress in sports gear as it is a free dress day, and we’ll just charge like the Thunder Boelters we are!

This is our fun run page!  Get those last minute donations in!

https://stuckey2019.pledge-drive.net/?code=7408

This week was another great one.  As I say to the kids often, it must be hard to be this good, but you do it well.

Curriculum

In reading, students worked through a unit on recounting stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures.  Students will be assessed on that unit and complete their monthly cold comprehension this week.  I will check for understanding and overall class mastery on that standard on Tuesday.  If all goes well, we will start a unit on describing characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.  This standard builds from the standard we just covered.  This is really helpful because students go into this next standard with some confidence from what they learned in the past week or so.

In writing, we started our personal narrative unit and students wrote about something they’ve done with their family.  We will continue with quick writes throughout this unit and then students will choose one piece to take to publication.

In math, we finished up some math strategies and students took their first assessment on Quizziz.  They really enjoy this platform as they can compete with each other.  They’ll often go in on the weekend to see if they can beat a friend’s score.

We reviewed the commutative property of multiplication, and next week we’ll jump into the associative property and the distributive property.  If anyone in the medical field would like to donate some masks for an upcoming distributive doctor mask, we have 24 students now.  Students will dissect math problems as doctors.  If your student would like to bring a lab coat on that day, they can, but it isn’t required.  They’ll wear masks and gloves (I still have a bunch from last year) and break apart harder math problems to better understand the distributive property.  This is a really tough concept for 3rd graders, so I will likely not start it in earnest until next week.  We may dip our toe in this week, but we will do the majority of the work next week.  We will probably do the distributive doctor exercise more towards midweek next week.

This week’s homework:  2019-09-23 Homework

Community

We had the privilege of adding five great kids to our classroom this week.  The students who have been in our room really enjoyed getting to know our new students.  Thanks for raising such awesomely kind and welcoming kids.  We’re so happy to have all of the new students with us as well.  They add so much to our community.

The Fun Run

Our Fun Run is on Friday.  The students have raised $2,500.  If they raise $3,500, I have to dye my hair.  We’ve been in the lead all week, but Mrs. Reardon’s class just bumped us out of first place.  Students have earned a free recess, a movie day, and are pushing toward a tech day.

Thunder Boelter Capes

Thanks to all of the parents who have offered to help with the Thunder Boelter capes.  I have a parent making Thunder Boelter patches and another parent checking on material for the capes.  I may need your help to put them together, and if so I’ll reach out to you by Wednesday.

Field Trips

You should have all the information for two field trips in October, one to the Writer’s Block and one to Springs Preserve. I’ll reach out to those of you who offered to volunteer this week as well.

Hispanic Heritage Month

Last year, for Hispanic Heritage Month, I started a cultural learning process which culminated in a Hispanic Heritage feast.  I am going to do that again this year.  Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15, 2019 through October 15, 2019.  I will tentatively schedule that feast in the afternoon during the week of October 15.  I ask parents to contribute a dish pr a snack.  I will have a table with crock pots if it needs to be kept warm.  Last year I made Pitbull’s favorite and it turned out really great.  It’s a staple in our meal rotations at my house now.  It is Cuban steak, rice, and onions.

Important Upcoming Dates

• 9/27 – Fun Run
• 9/27 – Free Dress (Thunder Boelters Fun Run Garb, too)
• 10/15 – Writer’s Block Field Trip
• 10/29 – Spring’s Preserve Field Trip

Thanks for all of the suggestions for the capes/pennants for the Thunder Boelters.  With your help, I have a few ideas brewing and I will reach out for more help soon.

We currently have a field trip scheduled for October 29 (Springs Preserve) and October 15 (The Writer’s Block).  You will get field trip documentation for each of these, and yes, there are two.  I’ll use pink paper for the Writer’s Block field trip so it is easier to differentiate between the two packets.  We have to have you fill out the medical forms/permission forms for each of the trips.  I’ve also put the PDFs up on the forms section of the website.  You can find them at the bottom under field trips here:  Forms

Two years ago, I was able to find small pennants at a dollar store, and we put thunder bolts on them with glitter.  I haven’t been able to find them this year.  Have you seen them?  Do you have a better idea?  I’d love for all of us to be in the same color on Fun Run Day and have a great theme.