Hello 3V
Parents,
I hope your new year is off to a great
start! 3V has been very busy and here is
a glimpse into what’s happening in our classroom:
Math – We have been working hard on
multiplication with double digits and regrouping and division with double
digits and regrouping. This has been a challenging
concept and we will continue to revisit this.
Our next unit is understanding bar and line graphs. This is a short unit and from there we will
be studying time – telling time and elapsed time.
Reading – We are currently reading The
Miraculous Adventure of Edward Tulane.
While reading we are working on many reading skills such as
visualization, predicting, and inferring the deeper meaning of the story.
In reading
we are also working on identify figurative language – idioms, metaphors,
similes, and exaggerations.
Phonics/Spelling – The students are currently exploring
words with r-controlled vowels (ar, or, er, ir, ur) and words ending with /on/
and /en/ sounds.
Writing – Our team is working on informational
writing. They are getting ready to
publish a writing piece that they have taken through the writing process
(prewrite, writing, revising, editing, publish). Today we met with a partner and did peer
editing. They will be publishing their
final draft by creating a Google Doc.
We will
continue to stay with informational writing for the next few weeks and learn
how to take notes from 2 sources of information and write an essay from our
notes.
Science – We
have finished our study of landforms. In
class the students made diorama of their landmark/landform to go along with
their informational article. They are
currently displayed in the library. We wrapped up the unit with an erosion experiment.
Next week we
will begin our new science unit about simple machines. The students love this
unit because they explore and experiment with each type of simple machine. Very
hands on! They will also complete a
webquest which allows them to further their understanding of simple machines. Please feel free to take a look at the Animoto that I've created and will share with the students to introduce them to simple machines.
Odds and Ends
Valentine’s Day -Team 3V will be celebrating
Valentine’s Day with a small party on Friday February 12th. Julie Zapton has graciously agreed to contact
a few parents to ask them to provide some goodies for us. I have already sent home a class list just in
case your child wanted to get started on their Valentines. If you need another
copy, please let me know.
Homework – You may have noticed that I did
not send home a log this week. My team
and I are discussing the topic of homework and how to proceed. I have noticed that I am only getting a small
percentage of the logs returned to me.
Also if they are returned, the student is not practicing their facts or
reading many nights. While our team is revisiting our homework policy, I am
asking that you continue to have your child practice their facts and read every
night. I cannot stress enough the
importance of this practice. If you wish
to continue receiving the log, please send me a quick note or email and I will
certainly make sure it is sent home.
Thank you for your support and patience.
A quick reminder – if your child is going home a
different way than usual, please send in a quick note. I cannot allow a child to go home a different
way unless I have a note from a parent and sometimes the child does not tell me
until we are packing up to go home.
February
Break begins Monday the 22nd.
As always,
thank you for your support!
Karen
