Mrs. Adkins’ Class

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 17                  sadkins@pennoyerschool.org                 February 27, 2009

Hello Parents!  We have had a pretty good week together.  Miss Wierzgac spent some time on Tuesday afternoon talking to the kids about being respectful to each other, and they really seemed to listen!  They had a fantastic day on Wednesday, and it is nice to see the kids making efforts to be kind to each other.  We have established a “who praised you today?” chart at the front of the room for kids to acknowledge who has been kind to them.  It is wonderful to see the chart full of names by the end of the day.  I will not write a Newsletter next week as we have the ISAT testing.  Please read the attached paper to find more details regarding this important week.  We had a busy week, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story this week was non-fiction and it was called Here’s My Dollar.  It is a terrific story about a girl who made a difference to her local zoo simply by writing a letter.  I was able to watch President Obama give his speech to Congress Tuesday night, and I was delighted to see a girl there with his wife who had written a letter to Congress, asking them for money to help her school.  It is so nice to see something like that happen for everyone to see.  I like that the kids can be exposed to the fact that one person really can make a difference in our world.  We spent time discussing author’s purpose, and that you should understand the purpose before you read a book.  We tend to read things differently for our different purposes, and that is important to understand.  The three purposes authors write for are to inform, persuade, or entertain.

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson this week was on irregular past tense verbs.  I gave the kids some extra practice with this yesterday during our reading groups.  They each were to write a story using at least seven irregular past tense verbs.  So many of these grammar lessons have to do with what makes sense in the sentence, and I will always encourage the kids to reread their sentences to look for sense.  Our formal writing time has been spent finishing up with our persuasive papers.  Many of the kids finished theirs up today, and hopefully the rest will catch up soon.  Next week on the ISAT tests the kids will be expected to write a full, five paragraph paper on an expository topic.  We will take some time before that test to practice writing one in a 45 minute time period.

Math ~ Congratulations to Shane and Justyna this week for successfully completing their timed multiplication test.  They accurately answered 100 problems in 5 minutes.  Way to go, Shane and Justyna!  In other news, we have started two new chapters in Math. We have talked about fractional parts of a group, equivalent fractions, fractions greater than one and fractions as decimals. We did some fun activities with these concepts and they even got a treat! Ask them about their special candy they received and what they did with that candy! Also, ask your child about the artwork they created on Thursday that went along with their math lesson!

Science ~ On Monday, all the students played their energy review game to help prepare them for their test on Thursday. They all did a great job when they were answering the questions! They were pretty quick and both teams earned a lot of points! On Thursday then, the class took their test on energy. Please look for this test in your child’s papers they took home today.  After ISAT week, we will begin a new chapter on Heat. If you would like, at home, you and your child could discuss heat and different forms of heat. This could get them excited and ready to learn about heat when we get back to our normal schedule.

Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies class we have read about Americans who have worked to make life better for others.  Such individuals are Harriet Tubman, Thomas Jefferson, Helen Keller, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We recognized and discussed the risks some of them took to secure freedom for themselves and others.  We also read about ordinary people who exemplified good citizenship, such as retired Fire Chief Joseph Curry (New York City) who organized rescue teams after the attack on New York City.  Also, in the upcoming month, beginning March 9^th in social studies class, your child will be introduced to many famous historical people.  They will be introduced to these people through many written biographies.  Your child will read 6 – 10 biographies in class about famous individuals.  On March 20^th, your child will be required to pick a historical figure and complete a biography report on him or her.  This report will be due on March 30^th.  A detailed handout of instructions will be provided on Friday, March 20^th.  Following this lesson, your child will hold a WAX MUSEUM SPECIAL.  Your child will dress up as their famous individual and display their costume and appear as a wax figure for you and the students of Pennoyer to view. This will take place on April 2nd and April 3rd.

Other Areas of Interest:

• There will be school on Monday, April 13!  This is the day after Easter, and in the school calendar, this is scheduled as a day off.  However, since we have had so many snow days, administration has decided to use April 13 as one of our make up days.  They chose to do this because otherwise we will have to have school into the week of June 15, and we wanted to have the school year wrapped up by the end of the previous week.  So please make note that school has been scheduled for Monday, April 13.
• Our regular reading/spelling/grammar program will be suspended next week due to the ISAT tests.  There will be no homework given so that you child can go to be early and be well rested for the tests.  Please read the attached ISAT information sheet for more details.
• The February Book-It form was due today.  March is the final month for the Book-It program, and the kids are expected to read a total of 5 chapter books.  The form went home today with your child.

That’s it for now!  Thank goodness the weather is warming up again.  I will be glad to put away my long, down coat for the season.  Please remember to spend time every night reviewing multiplication flash cards with your child.  If your child has already passed the test, this only needs to be done once a week or so.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Miss Sarah Wierzgac

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 16                  sadkins@pennoyerschool.org                 February 20, 2009

Hello Parents!  We had a good but short week together.  I think our highlight of the week would be our science experiment we did Wednesday afternoon.  The kids loved it, and it was thrilling to see the excitement in their faces when they got their circuit to work.  Please ask your child all about it if you have not heard already.  Many kids asked me if we could do it again.  While we will not have time to repeat the experiment in school, this is one that could be done at home as well.  We had a busy week, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story for this week, Washington Weed Whackers was a news article about school kids trying to help out their community.  This was a great article for the kids to practice asking questions for.  Our related leveled books were drawn on the same theme, and provided the kids ample opportunities to be metacognitive and ask questions.  We also spent time working with contractions (ask your child about the posters we made) and comparing and contrasting various things. 

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson this week was on helping verbs, which are very similar to linking verbs.  Hopefully the kids will all be successful on their test they took today.  We were only allowed enough time this week for one day of Writer’s Workshop (which they all complained about) and we spent the rest of our writing time working on persuasive papers.  Our goal for today was to have all rough drafts finished so that we can move on to editing and publishing before we take the ISAT tests in just over a week.

Math ~ Congratulations to Jason for successfully completing his timed multiplication test!  Four kids down, only 13 to go! This week, we were learning about area and volume in addition to learning about perimeter last Friday. The students did fun activities such as, moving around the classroom to find objects to trace on a grid so they could count the square units and find the area. They also used linking cubes to explore the concept of volume. To review this material, the children did math centers and worked together in groups. So please be sure to ask your child about area and volume! If you have sugar cubes at home, you and your child can explore volume by creating different figures!  Today the kids were introduced to fractions.

Science ~ Since there was no school on Monday; we scheduled science for Wednesday afternoon this week.  I was so pleased with everything about the science experiment; I wish every science class were like that!  Yesterday we read through the last section of our chapter on energy and started our review.  The energy test is scheduled for next week on Thursday, February 26.  The review homework is due next Wednesday, and it is page F32, numbers 1 – 21.  Please make sure your child’s work is written in cursive in complete sentences in their green science notebook.

Social Studies ~ This past week we identified the interactions between rights and responsibilities.  We learned about the importance of acts of civic responsibility, including obeying laws and voting.  We discussed the Bill of Rights and that it provides us with the rights and freedoms to all Americans.  We have the right to speak in public about our ideas and beliefs, including religion.  Lastly, we resolved a classroom dilemma by using the democratic process of majority rule.  We did this by identifying the steps in the voting process, we held a small election regarding the choice of school uniforms or not, we voted on ballots and tallied the results.  Ask your child what the majority vote was.

Other Areas of Interest:

• The ISAT tests are quickly approaching.  They will begin on Tuesday, March 3, and will last all four days that week.  I will send home detailed information on these tests next week, along with what our schedule will be like.

That’s it for now!   Although it has been very cold these past couple of days, they say the weather is turning warmer, thank goodness.  The kids wrote me a poem during their library time this week which was extremely sweet and fun for me to receive.  I understand that they read some poetry in library, and then created a poem for me as a class.   I have it posted just inside our door for all to enjoy.  Ask your child how they enjoyed the experience of writing their own poetry!  I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Miss Sarah Wierzgac

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 15                  sadkins@pennoyerschool.org                 February 13, 2009

Hello Parents!  Our highlight of the week was definitely our author’s visit from Aaron Reynolds.  He was terrific!  It sounds like many of you were able to make the Family Reading Night that evening so you were able to see him in action.  He was really captivating to watch, and most of us enjoyed the salsa he made during his presentation.  The kids have been much better behaved in library, and I appreciate your support in that matter.  We had lots of fun at our Valentine’s Day party this afternoon, be sure to ask your child all about it.  Yesterday we were a part of an effort to break a world record!  Mrs. Michaels has included more details about that event in the social studies part of this Newsletter.  We had a busy week, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story for this week was an African folk tale called Seven Spools of Thread.  This was a longer one, and I hope your child remembered to read it aloud to you at home.  More and more kids are coming in and telling me that they did not read the story aloud on Monday nights.  Please make sure they do this.  This was a great story for us all to relate to, as many of us have siblings that we have quarreled with too.  Please remember to go over our vocabulary words for the week and try to use them in everyday language.  They really need to expand their vocabulary, and that is best done through practice of everyday use.  Try to make it a challenge each day to use the vocabulary words in sentences!  Some of the skills we worked on included drawing conclusions and analyzing things in the story.  Ask your child to tell you about the book we read called The Black Snowman.

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson for this week was on linking verbs, which is an extension of what we have been working on for the past couple of weeks.  Again, this seems to be a lesson of common sense and what sounds right.  Hopefully they will all be successful on their test they took today.  The kids have really been loving our Writer’s Workshop which we have been having twice a week.  They get to write about whatever they want, and they have a variety of options for publishing their work.  Many of them have enjoyed creating a mini book out of their text, and I have had kids asking me to do this during their free time and at home!  I love that!  Our more formal writing time set aside for persuasive writing is coming along as well.  The kids have all chosen their topics, completed their four square, and are now somewhere in the midst of their rough draft. 

Math ~ We would like to congratulate Kevin, Szymon, and Edward for successfully completing their timed multiplication test this week!  They got 100% accuracy on 100 multiplication problems in 5 minutes.  We can’t wait to see who will pass this test next! Aside from this, during math this week we have still been talking about figures, however, we were talking more about how figures are similar, if they have lines of symmetry, how to flip, slide and turn a figure and how to find the distance around a figure! On Tuesday, we did something a bit different for our activity. Be sure to ask your child what we did and how they enjoyed it!

Science ~ This week during science, we continued to discuss the topic of energy. However, instead of talking about how energy is stored and its uses, we discussed how energy moves as waves and the different kinds of waves. In order for all of us to have a good understanding of this concept, we did an experiment to investigate exactly how energy can move as a wave! We used two types of models to explore this idea. Ask your child what they did for their experiment this week! Also, ask them to share some different examples of waves!  Here’s a heads up for you – energy test to be given on Friday, February 27.

Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies the class learned how to use and understand the parts of a table and how to read one.  We learned to interpret information from a table by comparing and contrasting the qualifications and terms of office at the federal level for a member of the House of Representatives, a member of Senate, the President, and a Supreme Court Judge.  This past Thursday, we celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Birthday.  In celebration, Pennoyer School students from 3^rd thru 8^th grade had participated in the simultaneous reading of Lincoln’s most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, in hopes of setting a Guinness World Record.  At 9:30 AM on the dot, we recited the Gettysburg Address along with (hopefully over) 300,000 other Illinoisans. After we read, all participants of the reading had signed a participant sheet. The forms then were signed by a witness as proof of the number of participants for the Guinness Record.  We will find out in time if in fact we have set a record.  I will let you know as soon as we find out.  Make sure you look for an article about Pennoyer School’s participation in the Pioneer paper.

Other Areas of Interest:

• Progress Reports went home today for grades less than a C- or 73%.  Please look for this in your child’s papers today, sign it and return back to me next week on Tuesday or Wednesday.
• There is no school on Monday due to President’s Day.  Enjoy the extra day with your family!

That’s it for now!  Kids have been coming in with only sweatshirts to wear outside.  Please pay careful attention to the weather reports so that your child is dressed appropriately.  This time of year it seems to change drastically on a daily basis!  It sure was nice on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the cold came back these past couple of days.  I wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day, and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Miss Sarah Wierzgac

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 14                  sadkins@pennoyerschool.org                 February 6, 2009

Hello Parents!  Wow, it sure feels like a long time since I wrote one of these!  Hopefully you were able to get along without for the past few weeks. J As you know, these Newsletters are always posted on my blog on the Pennoyer School web site, but we are undergoing some changes to the web site that I am excited about.  When the new one is up and running (any day now) you will not only be able to access my Newsletters, but you can also get daily homework, Book-It forms, spelling words, and anything else I can fit on there.   It should be an excellent resource for you and your child.  I will be sure to let you know when that gets going.  I got a sneak peak and the format is very user friendly and it is a good update.  It was really nice to get back to our regular schedule, and the kids have been terrific.  Here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story this week was called Cook-A-Doodle-Doo.  It is the story of the great-grandson of the Little Red Hen.  We had great fun with this story this week.  During our literacy centers, the kids picked out recipes and we are creating a class recipe book that each child will have the opportunity to take home and share with their families.  We did a little bit of cooking ourselves this afternoon and had a really fun time.  Be sure to ask your child all about it!  We also spent time comparing and contrasting books and people using a Venn diagram, and we had a little fun with idioms too.  During our guided reading groups, I have really been working with the kids on using their comprehension strategies.  Good readers ask questions while they read, and some of our kids have struggled with this.  You can support this strategy at home by asking your child for some things they are wondering about while they are reading at home.

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson this week was on the verbs be, have, and do.  Again, this is a lesson in which I encouraged the kids to use what sounds right.  These are verbs we use regularly, and if the kids take the time to completely read the sentences, they should get it right.  We spent our writing time this week working on persuasive writing, although I was able to squeeze in one day of writer’s workshop where the kids could write about anything they wanted.  Many kids have taken to the idea of creating their own mini books, and have asked to work on them during their free time and indoor recess.  Our formal persuasive writing is coming along.  The kids will choose their topics and get started on their own writing next week.

Math ~ We have survived our first week of timed multiplication testing, and it was very interesting to see.  It is very obvious at this point who has been practicing their flashcards and who has not!  Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts each night.  They need to become masters of multiplication if they are to be successful in math in future years.  No one passed the test this week, but there are a few who are close and will get it most definitely next week.  We give these timed tests every week on Tuesday and Thursday.  Our regular math lessons this week focused on geometry.  The kids learned a ton of new vocabulary words and had some fun, hands on practice with them.  The kids learned all about lines and angles, shapes and solids.  Yesterday we focused on figures that are congruent.   Miss Wierzgac taught a couple of math lessons this week (the pipe cleaners and play dough lessons she came up with went over very well with the kids) and starting next week she will teach math every day.  She has taken over science completely and has written the following paragraph for science herself.

Science ~ This week in science we started a new chapter in the textbook. This chapter is about energy and different forms of energy. To have a better understanding of energy and how it is stored, the children conducted an experiment and investigated this idea! Be sure to ask your child about the experiment and how they enjoyed it! In addition to the experiment, the class learned some new vocabulary words and their definitions. Ask your child to about the vocabulary words! They might want to demonstrate them for you!

Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies class we identified the three branches of our national government.  We learned what determines the number of representatives a state has in Congress.  We described some of the duties the President of the United States has and leaned the significance of the Supreme Court as being the most important court in the United States. 

Other Areas of Interest:

• Our Family Reading Night is coming up this Tuesday night at 7:00.  Please try to make it if you can.  Author Aaron Reynolds will be there that night for you to listen to and meet.  He will be presenting for our students earlier that day, and I personally find these visits to be inspiring.
• The February Scholastic Book order form went home today.  If you would like to order books for this month, please complete the form and return your money to me by Tuesday.
• We will have a Valentine’s Day party next Friday for the last hour of the day.  Children are invited to bring in Valentine’s for each of the students in our class.  I am sending home a class list today for your help if you would like to personalize the Valentine’s.  We have 17 children in our class.

That’s it for now!  Thank goodness the weather is starting to warm up.  Everyone has cabin fever and can’t wait to enjoy being outside again.  We wish you all a wonderful weekend and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Miss Sarah Wierzgac