Bi-Weekly Newsletter, October 14025

Math
The concepts that we will be instructing for the next two weeks encompasses Addition and Subtraction fluency within one million (without decomposing across zeros). Students will:

• use the standard algorithm to add multi-digit whole numbers
• use the standard algorithm to subtract multi-digit whole numbers (without decomposing across zeros)
• Determine when to use the standard algorithm to add or subtract multi-digit numbers
• apply place value understandings to estimate and reason about sums of multi digit addition problems
• add multiple addends fluently

A helpful website that we will be using in class is:

http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=2_1&lid=154

Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts students are learning in their small groups that week. Some homework will be in written and at other times it will be on the computer.  If your child is frustrated by the homework and unable to determine a strategy for completion, please write a note on the paper and we will review with him/her the following day.

In addition, students should be practicing their basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. Students must be fluent in all four operations by the end of this year. Two great websites we use in class are:

www.multiplication.com
www.Khanacademy.org
www.thinkingblocks.com


Reading/Social Studies
This week students will engage in reading informational texts in order to highlight and paraphrase a text. Students will then meet with a partner in order to synthesize information from two sources. Students are reading in order to recognize various ways Native Americans used their natural environment to provide clothing and shelter. This depended on the region they inhabited.

Each day students will practice what is taught in the mini-lesson in their guided reading group. Students examine how cause and effect is used as a text structure to describe how animals make adaptations to survive in their environments.

Social Studies/Media/Writing
In Media we will continue to research the geography and settlement patterns of Native Americans before 1400. Now that we have gathered our research, students will use what they have learned about native culture to continue crafting a historical fiction piece for writing.

Our media time will be flexible and based on the needs of each class. Mr. Bidwick's class is gathering photographs and beginning to create a PowerPoint presentation this week.

Students will continue working in media and in writing to create a historical fiction piece centered around a native person from the 1300s. They will have to create a setting based on where their tribe lived and create a problem and solution that would have been possible in the 1300s.  Finals copies for their writing will be set by classroom teachers.

Science
During this marking period we will study ecosystems, particularly the Chesapeake Bay. Students will gain understandings that include that every living thing needs energy to grow and survive, that organisms have and use features and behaviors for survival in their environment and that organisms interact in different was with each other and their environment.

October 7 - 14th

Math
Now that we have composed and compared numbers using their place values, we will begin to round numbers to the nearest 10 to 100 using a number line. In third grade students worked on looking for patterns of numbers on a hundreds chart. We will use this same knowledge of patterns to expand to placing numbers on a number line to round. For the next two weeks we will use and discuss this visual representation. Our goal is for students to understand the process of rounding and real world connections to the purpose of rounding rather than learning the procedure of rounding. We will introduce this "rule" but we want students to be able to walk away know why we round certain numbers above or below based on place value patterns.

A helpful website that we will be using in class is http://www.softschools.com/math/rounding/game/

Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts students are learning in their small groups that week. If your child is frustrated by the homework and unable to determine a strategy for completion, please write a note on the paper and we will review with him/her the following day.

In addition, students should be practicing their basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. Students must be fluent in all four operations by the end of this year. Two great websites we use in class are:

www.multiplication.com

www.thinkingblocks.com


Reading/Social Studies
This week students will engage in reading informational texts in order to highlight and paraphrase a text. Students will then meet with a partner in order to synthesize information from two sources. Students are reading in order to recognize various ways Native Americans used their natural environment to provide clothing and shelter. This depended on the region they inhabited.

Each day students will practice what is taught in the mini-lesson in their guided reading group. Students will also be reading text to determine the beginning, middle and end in order to summarize a text.

Social Studies/Media/Writing
In Media we will continue to research the geography and settlement patterns of Native Americans before 1400.  Now that we have gathered our research, students will use what they have learned about native culture to continue crafting a historical fiction piece for writing.

Our media time will be flexible and based on the needs of each class. Mrs. Hudson's class is gathering photographs and beginning to create a PowerPoint presentation this week.

Now that we have gathered research about various Native tribes in media, in writing we will use the background information to write our historical fiction narratives about life in a Native tribe pre-European exploration.

Students will continue working in media and in writing to create a historical fiction piece centered around a native person from the 1300s. They will have to create a setting based on where their tribe lived and create a problem and solution that would have been possible in the 1300s. By the end of this week, students should have drafted their fictional story.

Science
During this marking period we will study ecosystems, particularly the Chesapeake Bay.
We will observe each animal (cricket, isopod, snail, guppy) and the plants that will provide nourishment for survival. We will examine our habitats (Eco-columns) to determine how well our plants/animals are surviving based on our design. We will continue to observe our ecosystems each week.
We will also use bread to analyze the process and importance of decomposition. We will learn about symbiosis and mutualism between organisms in a specific habitat.  Last week we used a plastic bag to put a piece of bread with five drops of water on it. We hid the bag in a dark location to see if we can draw conclusions about decomposition over the next three weeks. This week we will observe our bread and the changes that occurred in order to make scientific generalizations.

Weekly Newsletter, September 30 to October 4, 2013

Math
Now that we have composed and compared numbers using their place values, we will begin to round numbers to the nearest 10 to 100 using a number line.  In third grade students worked on looking for patterns of numbers on a hundreds chart.  We will use this same knowledge of patterns to expand to placing numbers on a number line to round.  For the next two weeks we will use and discuss this visual representation.  Our goal is for students to understand the process of rounding and real world connections to the purpose of rounding rather than learning the procedure of rounding.  We will introduce this "rule" but we want students to be able to walk away know why we round certain numbers above or below based on place value patterns.

A helpful website that we will be using in class is  http://www.softschools.com/math/rounding/game/

Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts students are learning in their small groups that week. If your child is frustrated by the homework and unable to determine a strategy for completion, please write a note on the paper and we will review with him/her the following day.

In addition, students should be practicing their basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. Students must be fluent in all four operations by the end of this year. Two great websites we use in class are:

www.multiplication.com

www.thinkingblocks.com


Reading/Science
This week students will engage in reading informational texts to make generalizations and analyze relationships. We will read various text to determine distinctions between decomposition and competition among various plants and animals that share a habitat.

Each day students will practice what is taught in the mini-lesson in their guided reading group. Teachers will continue to complete reading assessments with students to gain an accurate reading levels to form groups. In guided groups we will read various informational texts to make generalizations about how plants/animals co-exist in the same habitat.

As we read our group texts, our vocabulary goal for the week is to use our own words to paraphrase what we have read.  We will read a portion of text and use our own words to paraphrase.  This will be a vocabulary grade.


Social Studies/Media/Writing
In Media we will begin to research the geography and settlement patterns of Native Americans before 1400. As a class we will generate research questions to guide our inquiry projects. Each student will select a native culture group to research. We will look to identify the geographic characteristics of the land settled, how the culture shaped the roles of men and women, as well as various other questions once generated. After gathering our research, students will use what they have learned about native culture to craft a historical fiction piece of writing.

Our media time will be flexible and based on the needs of each class. Mrs. Dynda's class is gathering research this week. Our media time has moved from 11:15 to 1:00 in order to accommodate each grade levels needs. We will also have book check out during that time.

Now that we have gathered research about various Native tribes in media, in writing we will use the background information to write our historical fiction narratives about life in a Native tribe pre-European exploration.  In order to create our story maps, we will read the Historical Fiction text Just Like Josh Gibson to map out the story elements the author used.  We will then use this model to begin to think about our own story.

Students will be working in media and in writing to create a historical fiction piece centered around a native person from the 1300s.  They will have to create a setting based on where their tribe lived and create a problem and solution that would have been possible in the 1300s.  By the end of this week, students should have enough factual research to create their fictional story.


Science
During this marking period we will study ecosystems, particularly the Chesapeake Bay.
We will observe each animal (cricket, isopod, snail, guppy) and the plants that will provide nourishment for survival. We will examine our habitats (eco-columns) to determine how well our plants/animals are surviving based on our design.  We will continue to observe our ecosystems each week.
We will also use bread to analyze the process and importance of decomposition. In reading, we will make generalizations about the need for competition and decomposition of specific habitats in order for the successful survival of the ecosystem.  Last week we used a plastic bag to put a piece of bread with five drops of water on it.  We hid the bag in a dark location to see if we can draw conclusions about decomposition over the next three weeks.  This week we will find the bread we hid and observe if and how it has decomposed.