Dear Parents,
We have some fun things coming up in the next few weeks. Here's the run down:
Math
We will be spending the majority of the week working on fractions. Today we started by working with Hershey's chocolate bars (which the kids hated of course). The rest of the week you will be seeing math papers that look a little different from the normal ones.
Reading
We are reading a play in our book this week and working hard on using our voice inflections correctly. The kids are going to be paired up to work on presenting a small reader's theater. We'll be using the ipad voice recorder to create a final project for the week. Maybe read some to kids and use your best pirate voice to help them practice voice inflections at home.
Social Studies
Mr. Fishburn and I paired the kids up and had them working on a webquest about maps and globes. If they finished in class today, they have nothing to bring home. If they didn't finish today, they will need to complete the webquest at home and bring it back on Friday. They should have a paper copy in their Social Studies binder and electronic copy waiting for them in their google drive. You can log into their google accounts and home by following these directions.
1. go to www.google.com
2. Click sign in and use their student email and password (taped to the inside of their planner).
3. Find their google drive and open the document called Maps and Globes Webquest.
They should be able to find everything they need from here.
Field Trips
I am finalizing getting our first field trips confirmed. We will be having 2 of them before Thanksgiving, one to Stuckmeyer Farms and the other to the Daniel Boone Home. We'd love for you to join us if you can. I'll send out the dates as soon as they are confirmed.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Responsibility 101 - 3rd Grade Style
Hi parents,
Today has been such a great day with your kiddos, actually this whole week has been. I am just so proud of them and I wanted to share what our class has accomplished. It seems like this week something all of a sudden started to click for most of the kids.
*They have been wiping down their own lunch tables and sweeping up their crumbs before they leave to go to recess.
*They have started getting the hang of how to keep their desk organized without as much help from me.
*They were given individual lists of missing assignments and every one of them came to me to either hand it in or find a solution to the lost assignment.
*They were complimented by the librarian on how well they handle checking books in and out AND how respectfully they carry themselves.
*They have started saying please and thank you for things without prompting from me.
*They know their morning routine much better and don't need constant or immediate direction from me.
*At recess they handle disagreements in a very civilized manner.
All of these things were a large struggle when the year started, but they have worked hard and have accomplished a lot. Thank you for helping me reinforce these things at home as well. All of their teachers have told me what a lovely bunch they are!
Today has been such a great day with your kiddos, actually this whole week has been. I am just so proud of them and I wanted to share what our class has accomplished. It seems like this week something all of a sudden started to click for most of the kids.
*They have been wiping down their own lunch tables and sweeping up their crumbs before they leave to go to recess.
*They have started getting the hang of how to keep their desk organized without as much help from me.
*They were given individual lists of missing assignments and every one of them came to me to either hand it in or find a solution to the lost assignment.
*They were complimented by the librarian on how well they handle checking books in and out AND how respectfully they carry themselves.
*They have started saying please and thank you for things without prompting from me.
*They know their morning routine much better and don't need constant or immediate direction from me.
*At recess they handle disagreements in a very civilized manner.
All of these things were a large struggle when the year started, but they have worked hard and have accomplished a lot. Thank you for helping me reinforce these things at home as well. All of their teachers have told me what a lovely bunch they are!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Sentence Game
Today we were working on making complete sentences with subjects and predicates. Part of our activity was a game on the smart board. The kids apparently loved it and begged me to put it up on the blog. So here is the link if they would like to play:
Sentence Subjects and Predicates
A great way to use this in real life would be to turn their sentences into writing prompts. This would be a great rainy day (or sick day) activity to pull out when you don't know what else to do:)
Sentence Subjects and Predicates
A great way to use this in real life would be to turn their sentences into writing prompts. This would be a great rainy day (or sick day) activity to pull out when you don't know what else to do:)
Monday, September 22, 2014
Week of September 22nd
Hi Parents,
Thanks for helping your kids find time to do their "Penguin Chick" comic strips. At first glance they look great. Here's what we are doing this week!
Religion
We are talking about the 6th and 7th commandment in religion. The 6th commandment is tough for kids to understand and they do ask questions. I try to put things as delicately as possible to try and help maintain their innocence a little while longer. They do ask questions, and a lot of times (depending on the nature of the question) I will direct them to talk with parents at home about these things.
Reading
We are reading a story about a girl who wants to find a pet. I'm taking this opportunity to let them talk about their own pets in their writing. If you would like to send/make a copy of a picture of their pet to include in their writing, they would probably love that. It's completely up to you at home and absolutely not mandatory.
Social Studies
I mentioned last week that we will be doing a lot with Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving. We started that today and will be focusing on map skills to start us off. While you are driving it could be fun to hand them the phone and let them use the map apps to guide you home. The more exposure they get to maps, the easier it becomes.
I am also looking for a farm field trip to take the kids on this fall. If anyone knows of a family member or anywhere for that matter, that may let us bring 50 kids, please let me know!
Have a great week!
Thanks for helping your kids find time to do their "Penguin Chick" comic strips. At first glance they look great. Here's what we are doing this week!
Religion
We are talking about the 6th and 7th commandment in religion. The 6th commandment is tough for kids to understand and they do ask questions. I try to put things as delicately as possible to try and help maintain their innocence a little while longer. They do ask questions, and a lot of times (depending on the nature of the question) I will direct them to talk with parents at home about these things.
Reading
We are reading a story about a girl who wants to find a pet. I'm taking this opportunity to let them talk about their own pets in their writing. If you would like to send/make a copy of a picture of their pet to include in their writing, they would probably love that. It's completely up to you at home and absolutely not mandatory.
Social Studies
I mentioned last week that we will be doing a lot with Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving. We started that today and will be focusing on map skills to start us off. While you are driving it could be fun to hand them the phone and let them use the map apps to guide you home. The more exposure they get to maps, the easier it becomes.
I am also looking for a farm field trip to take the kids on this fall. If anyone knows of a family member or anywhere for that matter, that may let us bring 50 kids, please let me know!
Have a great week!
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Bones Test
Here is the information the kids should know for their test on bones on Monday. Mr. Fishburn gave this to his class a couple weeks ago, but the information has not changed for our class. Have a great weekend!
Bones Test Information
Bones Test Information
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Week of September 15th
Hi Parents,
I've rolled our Reading story into two weeks so that we can extend some concepts in class. This and other things have made it so that I have not had too much to share until now.
Reading
Your child will be making a "comic strip" for the story Penguin Chick. This will be due on Monday and is replacing a comprehension test that could have been given. They should bring home a large paper with boxes AND a full sheet of instructions. We went over how to do this in class and they were given some time to get started. I expect that they will take a decent amount of time on this since they are not receiving other homework (besides math). Please let them bring it to school to work on tomorrow and ask questions if needed. Please also let them work as independently as possible and only guide when absolutely necessary since it is in place of a test. They should use their books as much as possible to glean information.
Science
They will be having their final test on Bones with Mr. Fishburn on Monday.
Religion
I have found that breaking the meaning of each commandments into "Do" and "Don't" categories helps them keep the words straight and understand it a little better. This may be a helpful strategy to try at home.
Social Studies
Next we will be starting a long series of Social Studies lessons. In 3rd grade our Social Studies curriculum fits so easily into our fall schedule. This means that we will cover Science more heavily during 2nd semester and focus a lot on Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving. Please be assured that all the necessary topics will be covered by the end of the year.
Collecting Papers
I am making every effort to get graded papers home to you in a timely manner. I just want to make you all aware that I am having the kids sift through their mail before bringing it home each day. I have asked them to save samples of their work in a binder to show you at conferences. This will explain why they may not be bringing home papers with extremely good or extremely low marks. If you notice a trend however, please feel free to ask and we can make sure that is what is happening. I have left it up to the kids to do this each time without asking my permission.
Thank you for being so supportive and helpful up to this point. You're kiddos are really starting to get in the swing of third grade and you should be proud of their progress so far!
I've rolled our Reading story into two weeks so that we can extend some concepts in class. This and other things have made it so that I have not had too much to share until now.
Reading
Your child will be making a "comic strip" for the story Penguin Chick. This will be due on Monday and is replacing a comprehension test that could have been given. They should bring home a large paper with boxes AND a full sheet of instructions. We went over how to do this in class and they were given some time to get started. I expect that they will take a decent amount of time on this since they are not receiving other homework (besides math). Please let them bring it to school to work on tomorrow and ask questions if needed. Please also let them work as independently as possible and only guide when absolutely necessary since it is in place of a test. They should use their books as much as possible to glean information.
Science
They will be having their final test on Bones with Mr. Fishburn on Monday.
Religion
I have found that breaking the meaning of each commandments into "Do" and "Don't" categories helps them keep the words straight and understand it a little better. This may be a helpful strategy to try at home.
Social Studies
Next we will be starting a long series of Social Studies lessons. In 3rd grade our Social Studies curriculum fits so easily into our fall schedule. This means that we will cover Science more heavily during 2nd semester and focus a lot on Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving. Please be assured that all the necessary topics will be covered by the end of the year.
Collecting Papers
I am making every effort to get graded papers home to you in a timely manner. I just want to make you all aware that I am having the kids sift through their mail before bringing it home each day. I have asked them to save samples of their work in a binder to show you at conferences. This will explain why they may not be bringing home papers with extremely good or extremely low marks. If you notice a trend however, please feel free to ask and we can make sure that is what is happening. I have left it up to the kids to do this each time without asking my permission.
Thank you for being so supportive and helpful up to this point. You're kiddos are really starting to get in the swing of third grade and you should be proud of their progress so far!
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Friendly letter homework (and graded papers)
Graded Papers
I have quite a large stack of papers to pass back to your kids. I am planning on keeping them until Monday. I need to have a chance to explain what they should be saving for Student Led Conferences. Once I have done this, I will let them choose what to save here at school and what to bring home right away. Until then, I will keep posting grades on MyKoob. Thanks for being patient!
Friendly Letter Homework
I started some examples of letters in class with the kids today. I will need your help with 2 things:
1. Please help them type up AND memorize (in the next few days) their address.
2. Please help them get on to this link to write a letter to another classmate. The interactive site helps them to break up the parts of the letter and be sure they get all of the correct information and punctuation.
Letter generator
When they finish the letter, they can print it at home if they would like. Please also have them email it directly to me at: bbesel@ccls-stlouis.org
I have quite a large stack of papers to pass back to your kids. I am planning on keeping them until Monday. I need to have a chance to explain what they should be saving for Student Led Conferences. Once I have done this, I will let them choose what to save here at school and what to bring home right away. Until then, I will keep posting grades on MyKoob. Thanks for being patient!
Friendly Letter Homework
I started some examples of letters in class with the kids today. I will need your help with 2 things:
1. Please help them type up AND memorize (in the next few days) their address.
2. Please help them get on to this link to write a letter to another classmate. The interactive site helps them to break up the parts of the letter and be sure they get all of the correct information and punctuation.
Letter generator
When they finish the letter, they can print it at home if they would like. Please also have them email it directly to me at: bbesel@ccls-stlouis.org
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Quadrilateral Book Instructions
Here are the instructions for the math homework they are bringing home tonight. They can find all the information to put in the "Word Bubbles" in their notes. They MUST have more than just "I am a quadrilateral and have 4 sides". I need to know the difference between all of the shapes. If they cannot find all the information in their notes, I would encourage them to look up the definitions of each shape in a dictionary or online.
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These are the example pages of a book that I made.
These are the example pages of a book that I made.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Bring on September
I think I heard about 15 parents and kids walk into my room this morning and grumble something to the effect of "Dumb tornadoes. NEED more sleep!" I have to say, I wanted so badly to be a part of the grumbling since I saw 0 tornados but received 3 phone calls and 5 texts while I was asleep. This is of course very sweet of my family, but I didn't feel the sweetness of it this morning. So here's to a week with no more tornados and plenty of uninterrupted sleep.
Religion
Memory: 2nd commandment and it's meaning
Math
We are doing an extension on our lessons with quadrilaterals from last week. The kids are making a book of quadrilaterals at school that shows the different properties of each. They will also prove to me that they can measure correctly as well as combine some math and language arts skills together. This will be homework tomorrow if they do not finish it in class.
Reading/Writing
We will be working on our first full fledge writing assignment this week. We are starting a letter writing unit that will extend into next week. This week's story is not from the Reading Book. It is a book called "The Gardner" by Sarah Stewart. After reading the letters that a little girl writes back and forth to her family, we will begin writing letters to each other, and to pen pals from a mysterious location.
Science
We are almost done learning about muscles. I will be posting the videos and robot arms that the kids made shortly.
A review guide should have come home today. They will receive all the correct answers to it tomorrow and it needs to be turned in to me on Thursday. They will have a test on muscles on Thursday as well. If they know the review guide, they will be ready for the test.
Religion
Memory: 2nd commandment and it's meaning
Math
We are doing an extension on our lessons with quadrilaterals from last week. The kids are making a book of quadrilaterals at school that shows the different properties of each. They will also prove to me that they can measure correctly as well as combine some math and language arts skills together. This will be homework tomorrow if they do not finish it in class.
Reading/Writing
We will be working on our first full fledge writing assignment this week. We are starting a letter writing unit that will extend into next week. This week's story is not from the Reading Book. It is a book called "The Gardner" by Sarah Stewart. After reading the letters that a little girl writes back and forth to her family, we will begin writing letters to each other, and to pen pals from a mysterious location.
Science
We are almost done learning about muscles. I will be posting the videos and robot arms that the kids made shortly.
A review guide should have come home today. They will receive all the correct answers to it tomorrow and it needs to be turned in to me on Thursday. They will have a test on muscles on Thursday as well. If they know the review guide, they will be ready for the test.
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