Week of February 23

Updates and Reminders...
-Thank you for sending in your Box Tops last week!

-Graded work folders will come home Tuesday. 

-BSE has many coats and jackets in the front office lost and found. Stop by if you are missing something.

-Wednesday is PDQ Spirit Night  from 4pm to 10pm. Our school will earn 10% of sales when you mention BSE. Also the class with the most participation receives a free lunch from PDQ! There will be a balloon artist from 4:30pm to 8:30pm.

-This is the final week for the Yankee Candle fundraiser.

Please continue working on i-Ready math and Achieve 3000 at home. The links are in the column to the right. 

Resources this week:
Monday: MUSIC
Wednesday: Early Release
Thursday: PE
Friday: ART

READING: This week we will take a close look at how authors sometimes use nonliteral language in their writing as a way to make a comparison or an exaggerated statement about something. For example, an author writing that someone is a “night owl” is really saying that this person is awake and active at night (non-literal meaning) rather than stating that the person turns into an owl at night (literal meaning). We will do several close readings of a poem City, City which has great examples of non-literal language to compare and contrast the positive and negative experiences of city life.

We will also continue our reading of Who Conducted the Underground Railroad? and work with words that have multiple meanings. Here are some examples below. As readers, we always have to use context clues to determine which meaning makes sense.

MATH: This week in Math we will continue estimating and measuring in grams and kilograms.  The students will begin measuring length in units of inches, feet, yards, centimeters, and meters.  We will learn strategies to use for solving problems involving weight and mass and liquid volumes.

Math Homework:

Monday – Unit 4 pg. 40

Tuesday – 15-1

Wednesday – 15-3

Thursday – i-Ready 

SCIENCE: This week in Science we will continue our studies on stars.  We will identify gravity as the force that pulls objects toward each other and begin to explore how increased mass can change the effect of gravity.

Week of February 16th:

Thank you so much for our wonderful Valentines! You all made us feel very loved and we hope you enjoyed exchanging with your friends!


This Week:
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - ART
Friday - Eddie Eagle Program; Mid-term progress reports

PTA Frozen Story Night is February 19th at 6:00 PM. Winter stories will be read followed by hot chocolate and a visit with a few Frozen characters.

READING: This week we will continue reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. We will look closely at the character Edward. Our standard relating specifically to characters is:

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

We will begin tracking the character Edward and his traits and feelings based on evidence from the text. We know as readers, authors describe characters through their thoughts, words, and actions. The character of Edward changes drastically throughout this novel and he is the perfect character to focus on for this standard. 

This is a great topic for discussion at home when students are reading their chapter books. Some possible question stems that could be asked:

• What is an emotion one of the main characters in your book feels?
• How do you know?
• Can you tell me about something the character thought, said, or did that shows that feeling?
• Have any of the characters changed in your book?
• Did something happen to cause the character to change?

This book is excellent for stretching our vocabulary. We will use context clues to determine the meaning of many new words. We will not have specific vocabulary this week, but some of the words we will discuss in class are: 

billow   genuine   frantic   mortified   

Don't forget to keep working on your Achieve articles. I am thrilled with all of the growth. Lexile levels are adjusted at the end of each month based on frequent use and 75% or above on the first try. Some students have increased their Lexile level by almost 300!!! Way to go!

MATH: This week in Math we will measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams, kilograms, and liters.  The students will solve problems involving measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects. 

Math Homework:

Tuesday: 12-4

Wednesday: Unit 4

Thursday: 15-2

learn.i-ready.com

SCIENCE: This week in Science the students will continue comparing and contrasting stars.  They will identify the Sun as a star that emits energy, some in the form of light.

THE SUN:

• is a star
• gives off radiant energy
• provides heat and light to Earth

Week of February 9th...

In case you were unable to come to our third grade information night about the upcoming Florida Standards Assessment, below you will find some important information about it.

Dates:

English Language Arts

(Reading) Assessment

Thursday, March 26

Friday, March 27

Mathematics Assessment

Tuesday, March 31

Wednesday, April 1

ELA FSA: Each day, third graders will have an 80 minute session. There will be approximately 56-60 test items in all. Each session will have 25-30 items. Reading passages may consists of 100-700 words. 

MATH FSA: Each day, third grade students will have an 80 minute session. There will be approximately 60-64 test items in all. Each session will have 30-32 items.

FSA Achievement Levels:

• FSA levels range from 1 – 5.
• A level 5 is the highest a student can earn.
• A level 3 indicates satisfactory performance.
• Third Grade students must earn a Level 2 on the READING portion to pass the FSA.
• Students who earn a Level 1 in READING will fall under the mandatory retention rule. 

Website with additional information:           http://www.fsassessments.org  

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Don't forget our field trip on Tuesday, February 10th! We will see the play/musical, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad at the Florida Theatre. This will be a great connection to our informational chapter book, Who Conducted the Underground Railroad? We will eat when we return to school at noon.

Resources this week:
Monday: PE
Tuesday: Field Trip
Wednesday: Early Release
Thursday: ART and Computer Lab
Friday: Music

READING: This week we will be reading 2 informational articles, The Way Home: Microchips for Pets and Don't Mess with Mockingbirds. Our focus will be describing the relationship between a series of steps or scientific ideas in a text and using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause and effect.

An example of a series of steps from one of the articles is below:

We will analyze the relationships between the steps of the procedure and how they are related. Students will need to explain the need for a vet to follow the steps in order, using details from the text.

Please see the tabs above for the vocabulary and spelling for this week!

MATH: This week in Math we will begin our unit on Time Measurement and Problem Solving.  The students will skip count by 5’s to help them tell time, use a number line to tell time to the nearest minute, and use a number line to solve word problems.  They will solve word problems by adding and subtracting on a number line and use an analog clock to tell time to the nearest minute.

Homework: 

Monday: Lesson 2

Tuesday: Lesson 3

Wednesday: Lesson 4

Thursday: Lesson 5

SCIENCE: This week in Science the students will be working on their group science project.  They have been assigned 2 stars to compare and contrast.  The groups are to research and find facts about their particular stars and create a poster which will include the following information about their stars.  The size, color, brightness, and a fun fact about their stars. 

February 2:

Resources this week:

Monday: PE
Tuesday: Art
Thursday: Music

2nd Quarter Awards will be Tuesday, February 3rd at 2:00 PM.

Getting Into the Core Testing Information Night will be Thursday, February 5 at 6:15. We will give you any information we have about the upcoming Florida Standard Assessments in March.

READING: This week we will continue to read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. One focus will be recounting specific scenes such as interactions between two characters. 

Example Question: In your own words, recount the incident between Rosie (the dog) and Edward.

This tells me I don’t have to cite text evidence because it says in my own words! Read the steps at the bottom… they are different!

My response: One day the neighbor’s dog, Rosie got into the house. First, Rosie lifted her leg and sprayed the white tablecloth with urine. Next, Rosie grabbed Edward in her mouth and shook him back and forth, growling and drooling all over Edward. Then, Abilene’s mother walked by the dining room and made Rosie drop Edward.

1. Read the question.

2. Underline the verbs.

3. Go back to the text to reread this part!

4. Recount this part in your own words.

5. Use transition words… first, then, next, finally

6. Avoid PRONOUNS. 

7. Reread and make sure you included everything you need.

We will also think about the central message of chapter 2 and determine details from the text that support it. 

                                                                                                

MATH: This week in math we will continue interpreting data on line plots.  We are learning how to represent measurement data with line plots.  The students will compare and contrast line plots, bar graphs, picture graphs (pictographs) and tape diagrams.  We will represent data using whole numbers, fractions and mixed numbers.

LINE PLOT: A number line on which each number in a set of data is plotted by making an X above that number on the number line.

Homework:

Monday: Lesson 5

Tuesday: Lesson 7

Tuesday: Lesson 8

Wednesday: Time Measurement Lesson 2

Thursday: i-Ready Lesson

SCIENCE: This week in Science we will continue to compare and contrast stars.  We will learn about different types of stars and explain how stars are different from the sun.