Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Week of 1/26/2016

Ahoy!

Another short week of school here at Lacamas. I hope you all enjoyed your three day weekend. We are continuing to work extremely hard here in 204!

Reading: This week we are continuing our reading focused around rivers. We are using an informational text to learn about river pollution and how humans are contributing to this pollution. Our focus this week is on using our ACTIVE strategies and finding the main idea of an informational piece.

Writing: Rough draft time! Students are finishing up their planning and are moving on to their rough drafts of their persuasive essay. Our essays are focused around our learning in reading. Ask your student what they are trying to persuade their readers of.

Math: This week we're continuing on multi-digit addition and subtraction. We will work on choosing appropriate strategies to help us solve each problem. Students are practicing using "CUB" to help them understand story problems. Circle the numbers, Underline the question(s), Box in key words! I would love to see students doing this on their homework!

Spelling: This week's words are all no excuse words! Please help your child to have these down pat!
know
world
however
never
during
something
said
best
there
very
could
air
then
would
across
why
don't
today

Upcoming events:
1/27- Pajama Day

Mystery Questions:

1)What's the number one pollutant in Lacamas Lake?
2)What percentage of America's rivers are too polluted for fishing?
3)How many gallons of untreated sewage, groundwater, and industrial waste are discharged into U.S. waters each year?
4)What is the most polluted river in the world?
5)Which continent has the most polluted rivers?

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Miss Irwin

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Week of 1/19

Ahoy!

I hope you all had a great three day weekend celebrating Dr. King. We are continuing to stay busy here in 204. During this rainy season please make sure you are sending your student with a coat. It gets cold out there and the students need to have a way to stay warm.

Math: Our learning around multi-digit subtraction is starting to really take hold. Students are choosing the strategy that best fits them in order to solve problems.

Reading: Today marked the official first day of our river unit. Students were assigned their own body of water for our simulations. I am really excited to get this unit going! There is a lot of fun learning that will happen.

Writing: Tomorrow the students will begin their persuasive writing unit. Our persuasive writing piece will be a letter to the editor about how to help fix pollution.

Spelling:
paper
place
near
now
something
hard
because
sentence
what
don't
through
until
think
better
without
your
their
were

Events:
This saturday we are hosting an hour of clean up at Lacamas lake. *This is totally voluntary* The 3rd grade teachers will be at Lacamas lake docks from 11:00-12:00. If you and your family would like to come help that would be great. Since this is off of school property and out of school hours we are not responsible for the children while at the lake. If your child wants to attend they must have a legal guardian with them. No exceptions. (FYI: I may not be there, my sister is supposed to be having her baby any day. If she has it before then I will be in Seattle with my new niece or nephew!!!)

Mystery Questions:
Name the stages of the water cycle and what happens in each part. (You need to spell them correctly!)

Have a great week!
Miss Irwin

P.S. There is no school monday.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Week of 1/11/2016

Ahoy!

I am still having a hard time believing that it is 2016! The class has been working hard to get back into our groove. We are having a great time here in rooms 204 and 205!

Reading: We are continuing to pilot a new reading curriculum that the district is looking into! Lara and I have really enjoyed teaching this curriculum and feel that our students are very engaged with it! Ask your student what they think about the new curriculum! On Thursday we will be beginning our next unit on Rivers and Water.

Writing: We are working our way through the writing process for a fictional narrative. Students should be at editing in the writing process. Some students have taken work home to finish their rough draft.

Math: We are working on multi-digit addition. At the end of the week we will start to work on multi-digit subtraction. I have not taught the students standard algorithm yet. We are working on developing number sense and understanding of how regrouping works. We are currently using a number line to help add. Please be practicing multiplication facts.

Spelling:
white
house
year
they
there
important
people
began
together
soon
again
through
ever
since
been
write
above
story

Mystery Questions:
1) In what did Dr. Martin Luther King receive his doctorate degree in?
2) How many times was Dr. King put in jail?
3) Was Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech his first at the Lincoln Memorial?
4) What other person is the only other American to have had his birthday observed as a national holiday?
5) What age did Dr. King enter college?

Events to Remember:
1/13- Assembly
1/13- River set up in 204/205 at 2:30 (Lara and I will be at a meeting before this and will show up right at 2:30)


Thanks for all you do to support your kiddo and our classroom!

Miss Irwin



Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Week of 1/4/16

Ahoy!

Welcome to the first blog post of 2016! Yay! I am so excited to be back and see my kids! I have missed them all so much. This is the period of school were a large chuck of learning really gets done. We jump in with both feet.

There will be no spelling or homework this week.... That being said it is crucial that students are reading 20 minutes everyday and are practicing their multiplication facts. 

Reading: This week we are piloting a new reading curriculum that looks very promising. Luckily for us the unit in the curriculum that we have been asked to use focuses on the book Lemonade War, which our class has already been reading.

**Chapter Books** We are encouraging our students to be reading chapter books during SQUIRT time. Now that we are 3rd and a half graders we are really pushing our students to find good fit books! Having your help to encourage this transition as well as helping them find a genre/author to fall in love with would be great!

Math: This week math will be focused on a review of multidigit addition, and rounding. We are getting back into the swing of things. Please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication facts through x10.

**Help Needed**
Our next unit for reading revolves around rivers. We are wanting to create a river in our classroom. We are doing this next Wednesday around 2 o'clock. If you would like to help let us know!

Mystery Questions:

1) What is the largest single snowstorm on record?
2) When and where was the biggest hailstone recorded?
3) How big was the world's largest snowflake?
4) What color is snow actually?
5) What percentage of all the freshwater on earth is frozen as ice or snow?
6) How many words do Eskimos have for snow?
7) How many sides does every snowflake have?

Looking forward to an exciting 2016!
Miss Irwin