Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Week of 10/17/2016

Ahoy!

We have a wet and rainy week ahead of us! Here is what is happening in the classroom.

Reading:
This week we are studying a text called Thunder Cake. We have really been focusing on a character and their motivations, this week we will take a turn and look at how actions in a story change the character. Ask your student to retell the story to you!

Math: This is the last week of unit one! We are taking our unit 1 assessment this week and will be doing our unit 2 pre-assessment the end of this week! I am excited to move on and start diving into 3rd grade math!

Writing: This week we are really focusing on writing our realistic fiction narratives. Writing full pieces in 3rd grade is a big jump from writing in second grade. We are working on writing paragraphs in our pieces. We are also working on character/setting/problem/solution plan for our stories. Our workshop model supports having students at different stages of writing, but there is a general timeline that pieces need to be finished. If class time is not used efficiently you may see writing work come home in the purple folder.

Homework Prompt: What would happen if you could fly whenever you wanted? What would it be like? What would you do?

Spelling Words:
they
what
their
said
many
over
our
think
also
those
large
often
together
asked
house
don't

Reminders:
-Read n Quiz is up and running. If you go to the Lacamas Heights website and click on library links you will be able to access the Read n Quiz login page.
-I have 8 people currently signed up for conferences. Please fill out the pink form that went home on Thursday and return it in your child's purple folder.
-Next week is conference week, students will be released at 1:10 everyday.
-This is the last week for our box top competition.
-Friday is the Human Carwash.

Mystery Questions:

1)What three forms of precipitation can fall from the sky?
2)Which continent is the driest on earth?
3)What are forests that experience high levels of rainfall called?
4)Where are there rainforests in the world? Name three locations.
5) What's the record amount of rain ever recorded in Camas, WA?
6) How many inches of rain fell on Clark County this past weekend (Sat/Sun)?

Have a great week!
Miss Irwin

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Week of 10/10/16

Ahoy!

Hope your week is off to a great start! With it being a short week here at school we are working hard to fit everything in! Just a heads up the cold is going around school. We are continually cleaning desks and washing hands. Please help your child get enough sleep to fight this stuff off! Here is what is going on...

Reading:
We are still focusing on a character's motivation and how it helps to move the story along. This week we are also starting to focus on the character's point of view. Our weekly focus this week is evaluate, this will come in handy as we are finishing up the Case of the Gasping Garbage. 

Writing:
This week we are finishing up our final drafts of the fall walk. Students are starting to write a fictional narrative. We will be breaking down each part of the narrative and diving in deep with characters, setting, and events in a story.

Math:
This will be our last week of Unit 1! Yay. The students have been doing very well. We have been working on double digit addition and subtraction; as well as choosing a strategy that helps them to solve the problem.

Spelling:
No spelling this week.

Homework Journal Prompt:
Write a scary story. Include characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.

Mystery Questions:
1) Name the four oceans and seven continent (please spell them correctly).
2) What region of the country do we live in?
3) What is the object called that shows you direction?
4) Mexico is what direction from the United States?
5) Canada is what direction from the United States?
6) Which state is directly south of Washington?
7) Which state is directly east of Nevada?

Events to Remember:
Now-10/31: Box Top Collection
10/13- Human Carwash
10/14- No School

Thanks,
Miss Irwin


Monday, October 3, 2016

Week of 10/3/16

Ahoy!

Happy 5th week of school! We did a great job making it through the craziness of last week!

Math: This week we are continuing to work on adding and subtracting within 20. We are working on choosing strategies that are most accurate then efficient. One strategy that I am really trying to get students to have a deep understanding of is a number line. Stay tuned for an example of how to use a number line.

Reading: We are still working on how characters motivations drive a story forward. We are continuing to read The Case of the Gasping Garbage. When you are reading with your students at home ask them to explain the characters to you. Our weekly focus is on retelling. We are also working on turning nouns in to plural nouns.

Writing: Students are finishing their first pieces and will begin working on starting their fall walk pieces. They will be encouraged to use vivid vocabulary to explain what the saw, heard, smelt, and touched while on the walk.

Spelling: Mrs. Blair and I decided not to do pre-tests any more. So students will write their words in their planners on Monday afternoon. The spelling test will still be on Friday.

there
their
about
out
very
know
too
because
found
read
might
few
those
always
show
large

Homework Journal:
This weeks prompt is to describe one time that you felt proud of yourself. Please work with your students on using correct punctuation. Have you child read what they are writing out loud to help hear were the breaks need to be. Mrs. Blair and I would like to see the students really working on writing in paragraph form with more complex sentence structures.

Mystery Questions:
1) What is a Harvest Moon?
2) What weed causes the most common fall allergies?
3) What is the name of the hurricane going towards Haiti this week?
4) Which color leaves are actually caused by the presence of sugars from sap that is trapped inside of the leaves?
5) What kind of trees are those that lose their leaves?

Thanks!
Miss Irwin

P.S. We are starting to collect box tops! Please make sure to send them in with your student!

Monday, September 26, 2016

Week of 9/26/2016

Ahoy!

Happy 4th week of school! We are getting really close to being back in to the full swing of things! Here are the happenings for this week!

Math: This week we are working on adding multi-digit numbers together using a numberline, or decomposing numbers. We will learn the standard algorithm later in the year, but not right now.

Reading: We are working how a character's motivation affects the sequence of events in a story. Ask your student about what happened in the latest chapter of our class book!

Writing: The students are working on using sequencing words, adding in sensory details, and creating more complex sentences. Students are on the mission for "Apostrophe Catastrophes" (ex. Ann's Wig's... yes that was really someone's sign.) They can earn $30 if they bring in a picture or email one in.

Homework: Math homework and journals came home today. They are due friday. The journal prompt for this week is... "Write about your favorite parts of fall." Students need to use sesory details and adjectives to describe the season.

Spelling Words: (TEST FRIDAY)
from
there
their
said
could
first
back
right
help
between
never
below
saw
something
thought
both

Dates to remember:
9/27 (Tomorrow)- Picture Day. We will take pictures at 10:35, before first recess.
9/27 (Tomorrow)- Fall Family Learning Night from 6-8
9/28- Grand's Breakfast @ 8:00 AM
9/30- Sport-a-thon. Please sign up to be a volunteer! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c48aeaa2aa1fe3-sportathon2
10/5- Character Education Assembly @ 9:15

Mystery Questions:
I have not explained this to students yet, I will be explaining tomorrow. Write answers down on a piece of paper and put in purple folders. Students can receive up to $20 Blair-win Bucks.

1) If it's autumn here, what season is it in Australia?
2) In the fall is there more or less sunlight?
3) Do squirrels hibernate?
4) Name four trees that lose their leaves.

Thanks for all of your support!
Miss Irwin

Monday, September 19, 2016

Week of 9/19/2016

Ahoy!

We are off to a great start to the week! Students walked in the door ready to read. I love starting the morning with some quiet reading time. Here is the plan for the week!

Reading: We are continuing to look at how characters drive a story. Tomorrow we will begin reading The Case of the Gasping Garbage as a class. This is a very fun and silly book that allows students to see how a character can change the direction of the story. Be sure to check in with your student each night to see what is happening in the story.

Writing: Students are going to continue working on generating ideas while writing. They are working on using their five senses to recount a story. They are also continuing to work on the idea of writing a narrative.

Math: This week students will continue exploring patterns. We will be looking at patterns in subtraction and reviewing some subtraction strategies. We will be continuing to work on our strategies for addition and subtraction. On Wednesdays we will focus on problem solving.

Spelling: (Test is Friday)
there while
small
along
with
because
would
never
been
next
sound
great
one
think
little
might

Dates to remember:
9/27- School Pictures
9/27- Fall Family Learning Night
9/30- Sport-a-thon ends

Thanks,
Miss Irwin

Friday, September 16, 2016

Week of 9/12/16

Ahoy!

Wow I fall more in love with your kiddos everyday! They are full of kindness and compassion, while having a deep desire for knowledge. I love the way they work together to learn, and inspire. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR! It is going to be a good one. Here is what happened this week. (I will start updating the blog in the beginning of the week so you can know what is coming up.)

Math: We are working on getting back into the hang of things. This week our focus was looking at patterns in math. We focused on our addition facts. We will be moving on to subtraction next week. Just a reminder, this unit is mostly review from 2nd grade. My goal is that my students have a solid base before learning new information in the coming months.

Reading: This week we started with our new curriculum! Our first focus is about characters and how their motivations drive a story. We are reading a book called the Lemonade War! Ask your students to retell it to you! We also learned about finding evidence in a text to support our ideas.

Writing: This first week of writing class has been all about the writing process. Looking at how we go from prewriting to drafting, editing, revising, and finally publishing. Students also learned about the editing code that we will use this year.

Spelling: Spelling tests will begin next week. We do a pre-test on Monday and the post test on Friday. Words will be written in planners as well as posted here on our blog.

Homework: I had almost everyone's homework turned in today! I am hoping that we can have 100% next week! I know we can do it! Homework will come home on Monday and be due on Friday.

Reminders:
-If you have not turned in your permission slip for the instagram and facebook accounts please do so. If you have turned yours in please search for us on Facebook. I am unable to find you account if it is private.
-Fall Family Learning Night is the 27th from 6-8
-P.E. days are Monday and Friday

If you have any questions please let me know!
Thanks,
Miss Irwin

Monday, September 12, 2016

Week of 9/6/2016

Ahoy!

Wow! What a great first week. It is truly a joy to be able to teach all of your kids. They are a sweet, kind, hard-working class!

As the school year gets rolling this blog will be very helpful for many class updates. I will updated it weekly with the happenings of the week, important dates, spelling words, and mystery questions. If you ever have any questions please feel free to email or call!

The first week was mostly about getting to know each other, starting to assess students academic levels, and looking at how Lara and I can best teach each student. I can tell you we are both very excited for this year! One thing to be looking for is a permission slip for our class facebook and instagram pages. This is another way in which Lara and I work to keep parents in the loop, while also providing a place to create a 3rd grade community outside of school. This should be coming home today.

If you have any questions let me know!
Miss Irwin

P.S. I will be working on contacting those who signed up to volunteer this week. My hope is to start having volunteers next week :)