February 1

Report cards go home Monday. You will also find recent assessment scores compared to baseline scores from the beginning of the year. Please sign the report card and send the lower right hand corner back in the envelope.

BSE National Honor Society is collecting items to make activity bags for Wolfson Children's Hospital. Please consider sending in any of the following items to assist in this service project.

- crayons - coloring books - puzzle books - Sudoku - small crafts - water color paints and paper - colored pencils, etc. Let's help to make the day brighter for a child in the hospital.

We had our BSE Jump Rope for Heart kick off last week. Coach Carney will be stationed at the World Wall each morning to hand out earned prizes for pledges. 

The BSE School Advisory Committee will meet Tuesday, February 2 at 6:00 pm for  the annual Mid-Year Stakeholder Meeting. It will be held in the Media Center. Everyone is welcome!

Resources this week: 

Cox: 

Tuesday: art

Thursday: music

Friday: pe

Kluge:

Monday: pe

Wednesday: art

Friday: music and media (please return all books)

ELA: This week we will continue reading Peter Pan. We will be introduced to the concept of characters and their motivations... why they do certain things, For instance, Peter returned to the Darlings' house because he wanted his shadow back. His motivation for returning was the fact that he missed his shadow and wanted it back.

We will use the questions:

     What reason did the character have for doing, or saying something?

     What was his/her motivation?

     What goal did the character have? What did he/she do to meet the goal?

These questions can often be applied to characters in almost any book. 

We will continue to build our character trait knowledge by noticing how the characters act and what they say. We are discovering there is a difference between feelings and character traits.

MATH: In math we will begin to develop an understanding of fractions as numbers.  The students will partition or break apart a whole into equal parts, identifying and counting unit fractions using models or fraction strips.  They will describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eighths, and recognize that equal shares of identical wholes may not have the same shape.

Example:

Shape	Total number of equal parts	Total number of equal parts shaded	Unit Form	Fraction
	6	1	1 sixth	1/6

Homework:                                                                   

Study for End of Module Assessment

Module 5 Lesson 1

Module 5 Lesson 2

Module 5 Lesson 3

Things to practice and review at home:

Help your child partition things at home into equal parts (exa.  Pack of crayons, pieces of food, paper)

Practice adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Continue to review  multiplication and division facts 2 to 10  (We will be testing our facts weekly.)

Practice solving two step word word problems involving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

SCIENCE: The students are concluding their star projects.  We will continue  learning about the sun’s energy and observe what effect sunlight has on objects.

Module 5 Lesson 1:

Module 5 Lesson 2:

Module 5 Lesson 3:

January 25

Tuesday, January 26 is FSA Parent Night at 6:00 pm. Third grade teachers and parents will meet in the Media Center. We will be sharing important information about the upcoming state testing. Please join us!

Wednesday, January 27 is an Early Release Day.
Thursday, January 28 is BSE Spirit Night at PDQ Bartram Park from 4:00 - 8:00 pm.

BSE yearbooks are currently available for pre-order for $20 until January 31. The price increases to $25 on February 1. You can order online at www.leonards.com/yearbooks. BSE order number is 35037.

ELA: We read the first chapter of our novel, Peter Pan last week. As we continue to read, we will focus on some new concepts directly related to reading literary text. We will track literary elements such as WHERE: the setting of each chapter, WHO: the most important characters and traits that describe them, and WHAT: the main events that take place. We will use Where / Who / What throughout the book to help us keep the elements organized. What we read in class is great to talk about at home to work on summarizing and retelling skills.

There will be no spelling this week. Instead, students will have 2 sheets due Thursday that review important third grade language skills. They will go home Monday. Please continue to read daily and complete at least one Achieve article during the week.

Below are some pictures of us sharing our Freaky Frog Trading Cards... After researching, note taking, and writing, it was fun sharing and listening.

MATH: In math the students will analyze different rectangles and reason about their area.  They will apply the distributive property as a strategy to find the total area of a large rectangle by adding two products. They will solve problems to find the possible side lengths of rectangles with areas of 24, 36, 48, or 72 square units using the associative property.The students will solve word problems involving area and find area by decomposing or completing figures to form rectangles.

Example Problem:

Homework:                                                                   

Module 4 Lesson 10

Module 4 Lesson 11

Module 4 Lesson 13

Module 4 Lesson 14

Things to practice and review at home:

Explore number patterns:  For example: 47, 55, 63, …  what is the 5^th number in the pattern?

Developing fluency in skip counting by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, and 10’s.

Continue practicing adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Practice multiplication facts 2 to 10 and division facts (We will be testing our facts weekly.)

Practice solving two step word word problems involving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

SCIENCE:  The students are sharing their information on their specific star.  They are creating star posters with all information collected on their stars.  We will begin learning about “radiant energy”.  We will explore the sun’s energy and observe what effect sunlight has on objects.

Module 4 Lesson 13:

Module 4 Lesson 14:

Module 4 Lesson 15:

Module 4 Lesson 16:

January 18

There will be no school on Friday as it is a Teacher Planning Day. Report cards will go home on January 28.

ELA: No spelling this week... We completed our frog module last week. Below are a few examples of both sides of our Freaky Frog Trading Cards! Students researched using several sources and wrote informational narratives in the first person. We will share our cards this week. So proud of their great effort and work!!!

S

This week, we will begin our third module centering around the classic tale, Peter Pan. We will read this closely and focus on the characters, their emotions, traits, and motivations. 





MATH: In math the students will form rectangles by tiling with unit squares to make arrays.  Draw rows and columns to determine the area of a rectangle when given an incomplete array and find the area of a rectangle by multiplying the side lengths.

Homework:

Module 4 Lesson 5

Module 4 Lesson 6

Module 4 Lesson 7

Things to practice and review at home:

Explore number patterns:  For example: 47, 55, 63, …  what is the 5^th number in the pattern?

Developing fluency in skip counting by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, and 10’s.

Continue practicing adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Practice multiplication facts 2 to 10 and division facts (We will be testing our facts weekly.)

Practice solving two step word word problems involving all four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284 for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

SCIENCE: The students will continue researching their stars and begin to share their star information.  The students will create star posters with all information collected on their specific stars.

Resources this week:
Cox: music
Wednesday: pe
Thursday: computer lab

Kluge:
Wednesday: music
Thursday: pe

January 11

ELA:
Wow! We took our mid-year level set assessments in Achieve3000 this week. Students took it very seriously and did very well! I am so proud of their increases in their Lexile levels! Awesome! Their articles will now be at their new Lexile levels. Students are encouraged do complete 1-2 Achieve articles each week at home. Please record them on the RAH log for reading at home that day.

We have resumed our spelling texts each week. The lists reflect third grade spelling patterns and language concepts such as plural nouns, irregular verbs, and base words with prefixes and suffixes.

In class, we are continuing to work on our Freaky Frog Trading Card performance task. Students are using information from multiple sources to share what they have researched about a specific frog species. They are quite the experts!

Math:

This week in math the students will begin to understand area (the amount of two-dimensional space in a bounded region) as an attribute of plane figures.  They will decompose and recompose shapes to compare areas.  The students will model filling in a shape with centimeter and inch unit squares as a strategy to measure area.

Example Area Problem:

Homework:

Study for End of Module 3 Test

Module 4 Lesson 1

Module 4 Lesson 2

Module 4 Lesson 3

Things to practice and review at home:

Continue practicing adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Practice multiplication facts 2 to 10 and division facts

Use the example area problem above to create practice problems at home

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

Science:

The students will work researching their stars and begin to compare star information.  They will also begin to discuss  tools scientists use to observe objects in the sky.  The students will discuss how telescopes help scientists learn about space and what features of stars might a telescope allow scientists see.

Resources this week:
Cox:
Monday: music
Tuesday: pe
Thursday: art

Kluge:
Tuesday: music
Wednesday: pe
Friday: art

No school on Monday, January 18 and Friday, January 22.

Module 4 Lesson 1:

Module 4 Lesson 2:

Module 4 Lesson 3:

January 4

It's 2016! We hope everyone had a wonderful break! We are excited to see all of you on Monday!

Resources this week:

Cox:

Monday: PE

Tuesday: Computer Lab

Wednesday: Art

Thursday: Art

Friday: Media   Please return your library books!

Kluge:

Monday: Music

Tuesday: PE

Thursday: Music and Computer Lab

Friday: Art

Wednesday, January 5 is an early release day.  1:45 pm

Thursday, January 7 is Middle School Information Night at 6:30 pm. There will be a PTA meeting at 6:15 pm. It's not too early to start thinking about the options for middle school. There will be formal presentations from several middle schools followed by an informal opportunity to talk with middle school students and staff. 

ELA: We will begin our final unit in our frog module on Monday. Students will choose one of four frogs they wish to research further in preparation for creating a "Freaky Frog" trading card. We have already studied the frogs when reading one of core texts, Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. We will now read an additional text about the same type of frog to further our research. This will reinforce one of our third grade standards where we compare and contrast two texts focused on the same topic.This will be a great culminating project for our frog experts! It will combine both reading and writing skills.

glass frog

Amazon horned frog

water holding frog

poison dart frog

We also begin to learn cursive writing starting with the basic strokes. Students will eventually bring cursive practice home with them. 

Math:  This week in math the students will reason about and explain patterns using units of 0 and 1 as they relate to multiplication and division.  They will identify patterns in multiplication and division facts using the multiplication table and they will continue solving two-step word problems involving all four operations and assess the reasonableness of solutions.

Homework:

Module 3 Lesson 15

Module 3 Lesson 16

Module 3 Lesson 17

Module 3 Lesson 18

Things to practice and review at home:

Practice adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Continue practicing multiplication facts 2 to 10

Continue practicing division facts

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

Science:

Students will continue learning about stars and star patterns.  The students will work in groups to research 2 stars, that will be assigned to them, and compare and contrast the 2 stars. 

Module 3 Lesson 16:

Module 3 Lesson 17:

Module 3 Lesson 18:

Module 3 Lesson 19:

Module 3 Lesson 20:

Module 3 Lesson 21:

  

Week of December 7

The science fair projects were wonderful!! We loved hearing our students share their work with their classmates. Way to go! Thank you also for coming to Math and Science night. We had a great turnout!

We have 2 more weeks until Winter Break. Our last day of 2015 will be December 18. School will resume on Monday, January 4, 2016.

The Media Center is sponsoring a Gingerbread House Contest December 7 - 17. Students are invited to bring a gingerbread house made from edible or non-edible materials. Entries need to be turned in to the Media Center and need to include the student's name, grade, and homeroom teacher. This can be a family project. The grand prize is a gift card to Barnes and Noble!

The PTA Holiday Shop will be December 14 - 18.

Our Holiday Party will be Thursday, December 17! 

We will send home an invitation on Monday!

Our IMAX field trip will be Friday, December 18. 

We will see 2 movies: Flight of the Butterflies... about the amazing migration of the Monarch butterfly and also Galapagos, filmed in one of the most hard to reach places in the world - the Galapagos Islands, islands that are filled with very rare and unique plant and animal species. Lunch is included and the choices are on the back of the field trip forms.  Field trip permission slips are due Tuesday, December 8.

Resources this week:
Cox:
Monday: PE
Tuesday: Computer Lab
Wednesday: Art
Friday: Music
Kluge:
Monday: Music
Tuesday: PE
Wednesday: Computer Lab
Thursday: Art

ELA: There will be no spelling this week. One of our third grade language standards is to know how to write an address correctly. On Monday, students will bring home a sheet to practice this during the week. It is due FRIDAY. Students will need to know their own address also. We will have a quiz on Friday.

We will continue our study of different types of frogs, their different habitats and the adaptations they have which enable them to survive in those habitats. We will look closely at text features and determine why the author used them to help the reader understand the topic. Text features are very important in informational text as they support the reader in learning about more complex content. The pages below from our current text show headings, bold words, close-up photographs, and detailed captions explaining the photographs.

Important vocabulary for this week:

habitat   dweller   amplify   gaps   canopies   

hatch   transparent   rain forest   blend

These words are excellent ways to start conversation at home about what we are reading about in class this week!

MATH: This week in math the students will interpret the unknown in multiplication and division to model and solve problems using units of 6 and 7.  They will continue to learn about parentheses as tools for grouping and learn the conventional order for performing operations.  We will begin to focus on the associative property of multiplication.  The students will model how to compose and decompose to make problems using units up to 8 easier to solve. 

For example:

   8 x 5 = (4 x 2) x 5

            = 4 x (2x5)

            = 4 x 10

The students will use patterns learned in previous lessons (5 + n) as a strategy for solving multiplication and division problems using units of 8 with the distributive property.  They will learn that multiples of 8 can be thought of as (5+3) x n.  In division problems the students will continue decomposing the dividend to solve and recognize that the dividend must be decomposed into numbers that are divisible by the divisor.

For example:   

64 ÷ 8 =

decompose 64 to 40 and 24 because both numbers are divisible by 8 

64 ÷ 8 = (40 ÷ 8) + (24 ÷ 8)                                                            

           =        5      +      3

64 ÷ 8 =                8

Homework:

Module 3 Lesson 7

Module 3 Lesson 8

Module 3 Lesson 9

Module 3 Lesson 10

Things to practice and review at home:

Practice adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.

Continue practicing multiplication facts 2 to 10

Continue practicing division facts

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

SCIENCE: The students will identify the sun as the star closest to Earth and understand that the sun gives off energy some in the form of light.  They will study how objects in space affect each other.  

Math Videos:

Module 3 Lesson 6:

Module 3 Lesson 7:

Module 3 Lesson 8:

Module 3 Lesson 9:

Module 3 Lesson 10:

Week of November 30

Its hard to believe it's December already! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.

This week students will take the DCPS mid-year tests in reading and math. The tests cover all the standards that are listed in the Test Design Summary and Item Specifications on the FSA Assessments website.    

  http://www.fsassessments.org

Although your child’s grade will NOT be affected by the test results, it must be taken seriously.  The data we gather will help us determine what students already know and what they need more help with.

Please help your child have a good night of sleep on these days and a good breakfast too!

Science Fair projects are due December 2. 

Thursday, December 3 is Math and Science Night beginning at 6:00 PM.
The PTA sponsored Holiday Shop will be the week of December 14th - 18th.

Resource schedule this week: Wednesday is early release.
Cox:
Tuesday: art
Friday: music
Kluge:
Wednesday: p.e.
Thursday: art

ELA: There will be no spelling this week. Remember your RAH log is due December 1!!! We are so excited about our new informational text... see below! It is filled with cool information about all types of frogs! This week we will focus on frog skin and frog habitats. As we closely read specific pages, we will ask questions and search for answers using specific details from the text. We will also continue finding the main idea and will describe steps in several procedures such as the frog life cycle and how a frog sheds its skin. Students will also compare 4 unique types of frogs and research their habitats and what special adaptations they have that help them survive there.

We will also explore a lot of new vocabulary as we read this text. Some words to talk about and use in conversation at home are:

 In writing, we will be using the friendly letter format to write letters about a frog that interest us. Students will work through the writing process:

plan - draft - revise - edit - peer conference - publish

MATH: The students will count by sixes and sevens, composing up to and then over the next ten.  For example, students might count 6, 12, 18, and then mentally add 18 + 2 + 4 to make 24.  This skip-counting method utilizes make ten strategies. Students will begin to understand that multiples of 6 can be thought of as (5 + 1) x n to make 5 and 1 more groups, or 6 groups of n.   Multiples of 7 can be thought of as (5 + 2) x n to make 5 and 2 more groups, or 7 groups of n.  In working with division students will decompose the dividend using a multiple of 5 and then add the quotients of the smaller division facts to find the quotient of the larger unknown division fact. 
For example:

             54  6 = (30  6) + (24  6)

             =   5 + 4

             =   9

Homework:

Module 3 Lesson 4

Module 3 Lesson 5

Module 3 Lesson 6

Things to practice and review at home:

Practice adding and subtracting numbers within 1000.

Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.

Continue practicing multiplication facts 2 to 10

Continue practicing division facts

Please check out our DCPS site http://www.duvalschools.org/Page/17284

for homework help and strategies to help with solving homework problems.  You may also find the homework videos helpful.

SCIENCE: The students will study the properties of stars.  Students will describe how stars are different and what makes up star patterns.  They will explain that stars can be different; some are smaller, some are larger, and some appear brighter than others; all except the sun are so far away that they look like points of light.    

Module 3 Lesson 4:

Module 3 Lesson 5:

Module 3 Lesson 6:

Module 3 Lesson 7: