4 Day Week

We had an amazing week last week! The amount and quality of learning that happened in our classroom was astounding. I hope that your child came home proud and happy last week. Happy and Proud is our goal for this week as well.


Reader's Workshop 
      We have begun writing our personal narratives. We will write an initial draft, revise, and edit this week. We will also write our speeches on Monday. These will come home Monday night for the students to memorize. I will also send home a letter tomorrow with all of the "at home responsibilities" laid out for you. It is basically memorizing the speech, and putting together a "costume". Please don't worry too much about the costume. They should be basic, and made out of items you can find at home.

Writer's Workshop
     We are focused on Biography writing this week, but we will also be working on some persuasive writing.

Math
     This week we will continue our work with Area. We ended the week using the Distributive Property to solve larger area questions. Here is an example of the type of work we are doing:
Area=length x width
A= l x w
27x8=(20x8)+(7x8)
A=216 sq un

Can you believe that?!?!?! Your son/daughter can solve that problem! It is incredible!!!

     We will also begin learning about data collection and different types of graphs.

Other Items
    -This week is litterless lunch. Students are being challenged to use reusable items to pack their lunches this week.
    -We will participate in Earth Day activities on Wednesday.
    -Thanks to the PTA we will attend an Erie Canal presentation.

Thanks to Mrs. Cousins for being our Mystery Reader this week!

We Survived...

...testing week #1! Our NY State Math Test will take place on May 2-4th.

Reader's Workshop
   We will complete our biographies on Monday. I asked many students to bring their biography home with them over the weekend. It is important for your child to bring their biography back to school tomorrow. We will also use an organizer to put our findings into an easier to use format. I am hoping to begin writing our first person narratives during the second half of this week.

Math
   This week we will learn how to calculate the area of a figure. Our work will begin with regular shapes. Once we have a solid handle on what area is and how to find it, we will move on to irregular shapes. This work can be complicated, and will take our students a few days of practice before we feel comfortable.

Social Studies
    We will continue our tour of various countries throughout the world. Our work will focus on the similarities and differences between their way of life and ours.

Writer's Workshop
    Our next unit in writing is a persuasive unit. I have found that third graders have exceptional persuasive skills. We will work on using our skills to defend our opinions while writing.

Science
   Monday your child will come home with instructions to access your child's glog. Your child will also be asked to comment on three of their peers' glogs. If computer access is an issue please don't hesitate to contact me. We can make arrangements for your child to do their work during the school day.

Thank you to Mrs. Matvienko for being our Mystery Reader last week!