Last week we finished our unicorn opinion writing. These can be found on Seesaw. They turned out really cute with creative reasons and examples to support their opinions. We also focused on abstract nouns in grammar. Since Valentine’s Day was around the corner, we wrote poems about the abstract noun, “love”. These poems are on Seesaw too.

In math we finished Topic 9 on properties and strategies for addition and subtraction. These tests were sent home Friday. We are now starting a mini unit on strategies for multiplying by multiples of 10. We are continuing to master our multiplication and division facts too with Mad Minutes on Wednesdays and Fridays.

In reading, we are finishing up our mystery unit. We have been learning about when authors use red herrings, when to pay closer attention as we read, important and unimportant details, and giving retells.

This week is going to be a cold one! Please help remind your child to bring all their warm winter gear each day.

Thank you!

 

 

 

Hello Families,

Last week we started a new opinion piece. After reading the story, You Don’t Want a Unicorn, we brainstormed a list of things that could happen if we owned a unicorn. Then students chose a side to write their opinion piece on. We will be continuing to work on the components of opinion writing with this piece all week. They are quite fun to read!

In math, we complete our topic on rounding and mental math. We took the test on Thursday, and began our next topic on addition and subtraction of larger numbers.  Students are continuing to work on mastering their multiplication and division facts. I have started to send home division tents as well to support practice at home.

In our reading, we are continuing our practice of reading the genre of mystery books. You may have noticed, we are aiming for 25 or more minutes of reading at home each evening, rather than 20 minutes.

In our grammar and word work, we are working on the skill of making nouns plural by adding s, es, or changing y to i before adding es. We also have been learning about pronouns this past week.

Valentine’s Day: We will be making a valentine bag in class on Feb. 5th. If your child wishes to pass out valentine cards and/or candy, they need to be sent to school no later than February 10th so they can remain quarantined until the 12th when we open our valentine bags.

Just a reminder:

We have mid-winter break on February 8-9th.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you and have a great week!

 

 

Hello Families,

You will not notice the Friday Journal coming home today. Instead, we began sharing the winners of our collections that were brought to school last week. We have been working on writing a brief introduction that states our winner, 3 reasons with examples or mini stories, and a wrap up conclusion. This is brief introduction to the 5 paragraph essay we will soon be working on. Students are dong a great job!

In math we have been working on estimation with addition and subtraction of 3 digit numbers, as well as using the inverse to check our work. If 348 + 785 = 1,133, then 1,333 – 785 = 348.

In reading we are continuing our mystery reading with partners. This week we took a little pause from our mystery work to begin the district reading assessment. Next week I hope to have everyone finished with the reading and math assessments.

Questions to ask your child:

In writing, what does “bun, mustard, ketchup, mustard, ketchup, mustard, ketchup, bun” mean?

What saying do we use in math to help with our rounding? “5 or more . . .”

In grammar, what does an adverb describe? How are adverbs different than adjectives? Can you change plan to planned? Hope to hoped? Call to called? (We worked on rules for adding the suffix ed)

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 

Above are a few photos of our mystery flavored Oreos activity. Last week we had a crime in our classroom–our next read aloud was taken and hidden. After following multiple clues throughout the school, the 3rd graders located the missing book, as well as a final task—determine the flavors of the Oreo cookies.  This was the kick off to our mystery reading unit. 🙂 As students are learning the writing style of mystery stories, and strategies to navigate them, they are reading and discussing the same mystery book with a partner.

In writing, we have started our opinion writing unit. To begin, students are learning to judge their own collection fairly, based on 3-4 of their own categories. We will then be writing our reviews of our collections into paragraph formats.

In math we have started learning properties of addition (commutative, associative, and identity). We are also working on mental math addition of 3-digit numbers, as well as rounding numbers. Next week, we will work on similar strategies with 3-digit subtraction.

In grammar, our focus was on adjectives within writing. We also focused on the spelling rules for adding the suffix -ing to our verbs. This coming week, we are working on adverbs and adding the -ed suffix.

Reminders:

There is no school January 22nd (Professional Development Day)

No School February 8th and 9th (Mid-Winter Break)

 

 

 

 

Hello Families!

I thank all of you for meeting with me through a Zoom or phone conference last week. All things considered, I think this year is going as well as it can be with all the changes!

Here is a recap of our week, and I hope you are finding your child’s Friday Journal a helpful communication tool as well.

Writing: We are revising with a new strategy every day. Next week we will begin our final copies–the publishing phase. Ask your child how he/she revised this week.

Math: Wow! We are getting the hang of the distributive property! As we work on these strategies, practicing the math tents becomes more and more important. We are also working on an app that helps us practice memorization of facts.

Reading: I am reading aloud a series called “Catwings”. Ask your child about it. In workshop, we are trying to read 30-45 minutes, practice comprehension strategies, and take AR reading quizzes on our books. Friday I updated everyone on Read Around Michigan. Ask your child which city he/she is in! A big congratulations to Breslyn and Everett! They completed their first trip around Michigan!!

Word Work: In addition to the 5 core words each week, we practice phonetic patterns. This week we practiced closed syllable and silent e patterns. An app called Spelling City is used in class to reinforce these concepts.

Thank you for the photos of your child reading in a reading spot at home. I have these posted in the classroom, and they are a source of discussion among the students. The enthusiasm for reading, sharing favorite series and authors, and goals for Read Around Michigan are becoming contagious in our class. Thank you for your support in reading at home as well! 🙂

Breslyn and Everett! Congratulations to these two!

Hello Families,

We finished our first math test of 3rd grade! We are now moving from strategies to understand multiplication and division to strategies for specific multiplication facts. Now is the time to begin memorizing facts. Use those multiplication tents as a tool. Currently, we are working on X2, X5, and X9.

Can your child show you a trick for the 9s facts?

In reading, our Read Around Michigan incentive has started. Friday, students found out which city they have made it to based on their AR points. Ask your child about it, as well as any prizes earned.

Book Baggies go home on the weekends too. I expect at least 20 minutes of reading once over the weekend. It could be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Your child may need a reminder about recording on the reading log until it becomes routine. I love seeing so many of them starting strong with this responsibility! 🙂 Next week, we are beginning to study characters and story in my read aloud, Indian Shoes. The students will practice the same skills in their own fiction stories being read independently.

In our writing, we drafted the beginning, middle, and end to a small moment, or narrative story. Next week we will work on using strategies to revise our writing.

Next week:

Wacky Wednesday: Wacky Sock Day

Thursday: Bright color or tie dye day

Friday: Laker Day or red/gray

Please let me know if you have any questions! Have a great weekend!

Conferences are just around the corner. If you haven’t signed up yet, please visit the link:

https://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Jeffers_Elementary

Our Book Fair is open all during conferences, and our class will visit on Tuesday. Your child may shop with the class if you wish. Also, on Tuesday the 3rd graders will have their vision screening done by the health department.

Ask your child about our new H.E.A.R.T. Program, the assembly we had, and Larry the Laker!

This past week students took a test in math on our 2 step problem-solving unit. It is a tricky unit, but students did well overall. I will have this test to give you at conference time. Now, we are starting our first unit on fractions. Questions to ask your child are: What is a unit fraction? What is the difference between the numerator and the denominator? What is another name for one whole in the 3rds family?

In our reading workshop, we began book clubs. In these clubs, we are using the work we practice together in our text Because of Winn Dixie. We are also practicing the skills needed in a group discussion. Each club chose their own name and 4 or more group expectations they expect all to follow.

In writing workshop, we are finishing our 2nd narrative writing piece. I hope to have these to share with you at conference time as well.

In our social studies, we are finishing our Michigan history unit. This week we learned about the French coming to Michigan and competing with the British for fur trading. Ask your child who won the French and Indian War. We also learned about the hard journey pioneers had making it to Michigan and building log cabins. Ask your child what “chinking” was and if he/she would have liked to be a pioneer.

Reminder: Our field trip to Meijer for the People Center is Thursday, March 12. If you would like to join us, please let me know.

Thank you!

Thank you so much to all the parents who were able to donate items for our party on Valentine’s Day!

What we are working on . . .

In math, we took a test on our mini-unit on multiplying by multiples of 10. Students should have brought that test home Monday. For this test, students took the test on paper, then entered their work on the iPad using the online test for our district curriculum. This gave them a little experience on what taking the math MSTEP on the iPad will be like this spring.

Now, we are beginning a unit on two-step problem solving. This is always a tricky unit for students, as they have to look for the “hidden question” in the problem in order to solve the given question. We are drawing bar diagrams as a tool to help with this process. If your child is struggling with the homework, have your child read the problem aloud to you, twice. Ask them, “What information do you know? What do you need to answer? To do that, what do you have to find first?”

In reading, we began our unit on characters. Students are becoming really good at finding character traits to describe their character and evidence to support this. This week, we are trying to grow our thinking about our characters into developing theories about them. For example: My character is kind. This tells me she is the type of person who would help me out when I need a friend. Ask your child about our mentor text: Because of Winn-Dixie. We are also finishing another chapter book together called, BOB.

In writing we are working on our finishing touches on our narrative stories. We have been working on “twin sentences/two for one, I ADD, and exploding the moment” as strategies to elaborate. Ask your child about them! We are also exploring how and when to begin new paragraphs. These are all new concepts for them. We hope to have these stories finished to share with you at conferences!

We are finishing our social studies unit on Michigan’s history. We are really enjoying learning about the Native Americans and the French and British. Next, we will explore forces and motion in science.

Be on the lookout for information on our school-wide March is Reading Month!

Hello Families!

We have a short week ahead! We are currently working on our 2nd narrative writing unit, adding more 3rd grade writing skills as we go. In reading, we finished our informational reading unit-both expository and narrative reading. Soon, we will begin a unit on fiction with a focus on characters and story elements. It is a wonderful unit where students also read in book clubs. Our class read aloud to practice skills together is the book, “Because of Winn Dixie”.

We completed our math Topic 9, addition and subtraction of larger numbers. Those tests will go home this week. Next, we have a mini-unit on strategies and properties for multiplying by patterns of 10. I anticipate this test by the end of next week.

In our social studies curriculum, we are focusing on the history of Michigan. Ask your child about The 3 Fires tribes and what life was like for them. This week we will also explore Native American legends and the purpose they served.

Valentine’s Day: 

We are making Valentine bags with our kindergarten buddies this Friday.

Our class will have a short and sweet celebration on Friday, February 14th from 1-1:45. Stay tuned for details . . .

Happy 2020! Here is an update on what we are working on in 3rd grade:

In reading we are continuing our study of expository nonfiction text. Students have been practicing  the skill of identifying the topic, main idea, and supporting details within a section of text. They are also using thinking stems to deepen their thinking while reading and enhance conversations with their partner. This week we will begin exploring reading strategies for narrative nonfiction, including biographies and autobiographies.

In math we are continuing strategies for addition and subtraction of 3-digit numbers. We are working on using strategies to help determine the sum or difference with more mental math. This week we will practice rounding while adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers as well as the inverse strategy to check our work. Even though we are not working on a multiplication unit, it is really important students are putting in time at home to memorize multiplication facts. Our time in class is limited for this skill. Each week students are continuing to be quizzed on multiplication facts. The goal is mastery before the end of 3rd grade.

We completed our All About books in writing workshop last week. Yesterday, we shared these books with each other and will soon begin a new unit on narrative writing. We also continue the Wednesday Writes to hyper focus on neatness, capitalization, punctuation, and use of complete sentences. Ask your child about these.

In addition, we will begin a new unit in science and in social studies in the coming days. In science, we will begin Forces and Motion. In social studies, we are going to look more closely at the history of Michigan from the first people through Michigan Statehood.

Dates to Note:

January 17th: Family Night at the Aquatic Center, sponsored by JPO

January 24th: half day due to secondary MS/HS conference schedule

February 3rd and 4th: No School, mid-winter break

March 4 & 5: Conferences

March 5th and 6th: Half Days

April 3-10: Spring Break