Mrs. Adkins’ Class

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 20                    sadkins@pennoyerschool.org                          April 3, 2009

Hello Parents! So this week was a very important week! All of the third graders participated in the Wax MuseumJ. Parents, thank you so much for preparing your children with what ever they needed! It was super fun and exciting to see what each one of the students wore for their costumes! They were all so creative! By they way, on Monday, I was really happy to hear about all of the student’s spring break vacation and what they did. I too had a great break! I announced to the children that I became engaged over spring break! They all clapped for me! I thought that was so cute! I also heard that some of your children told you that I was engaged and that you told them to congratulate me, thank youJ. So, aside from this, here is what has been going on this week:

Reading ~ The story that we read this week was a narrative nonfiction story called, Beatrice’s Goat. It was about a girl and her family who lived in western Uganda and could not afford to send her to school. What was so great about this story is that Beatrice would do anything just to be able to go to school and often times most children do not realize how privileged they are to be able to attend school. This is something that was brought up in our guided reading groups during our literacy centers. I am pleased to say that I had some wonderful conversations with your children about how thankful they were for having the opportunity to come to school everyday! J  The story really put this in perspective for them. While reading the story, our skill that we focused on was cause and effect. The students worked on cause and effect in one of their literacy centers. They had to think about their day at school and events that happen throughout their day that involve a cause, action that makes something happen and the effect that happens because of the action. They did a good job with this, maybe you can ask your child about what they wrote down for their cause and effect!

Language Arts ~ Our focus in grammar this week was on subject and object pronouns. It seemed as though most of students in the class had a hard time understanding pronouns. So, during literacy centers I took some time to explain this concept a little more. They then did an activity to go along with this. I was happy to see that they did a better job! In addition to this, we did an activity with word families. At the back table, students cut out words and glued them on a poster with other words that were in the same word family. I absolutely loved the posters that they made! There were so many word families on there! They did such a great job!  Aside from this, during our writing time, we focused on organizing ideas into a four square graphic organizer. I took an exceptional amount of time to model and explain how to properly complete this particular four square graphic organizer just because it is very different from the persuasive four square graphic organizers. I just wanted to make sure that the students were very clear on the format.  The persuasive papers are in your child’s Friday papers they took home today, along with their rubric that explains their grade.

Math ~ Unfortunately this week, none of the remaining students passed their time multiplication testL. However, just like before, there were several students who were very, very close! Some of them only had about 5 or 10 left! I just keep encouraging them to practice their flashcards and that they will get it next time! I do hope that your children are taking some time each night to practice their flashcards. It is very important that they dedicate time to work on their multiplication. It can be easily forgotten if not practiced. Aside from this, we started a new chapter in math. This week we talked about multiplying two digit numbers with one digit numbers. In order for the students to understand this material, we did a variety of actives such as using base-ten blocks, finding multiplication problems around the room and rounding them and playing a game. Be sure to ask your child about our game that we played today!

Science ~ In science this week, we have continued to learn about heat by experimenting with tools that are used to measure temperature. The students did a great job in their investigations! I was happy when I read through their worksheets. They all had really good information about what they learned and they used their data to explain it! We did not get a chance to read through the last section of our chapter because of the Wax Museum. Next, week we will read the section and finish up our unit on heat!

Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies class we have completed our unit on Biographies.  On Monday, your child had turned in the biography report, which in turn, was graded and returned back so that he/she could practice memorizing the important information for the Wax Museum.  It was then time for your child to appear as a historical figure, dress up as their famous figure, and display their costume and themselves as a wax figure for you and the students of Pennoyer to view.  If you were able to make it, I hope you enjoyed the 2009: Third Grade Presentation of the WAX MUSEUM.

Other Areas of Interest:

• Report cards went home today.  Please look for them, keep the report card, sign and return the envelope to us next week.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s grades, please contact us to set up a conference.
• Please read the letter that is included with your child’s report card.  It has a reminder that school is in session on Monday, April 13, and it also asks for volunteers for our big circus day in May.
• There is no school next Friday, April 10.  Reading, spelling, and grammar tests will be given on Thursday, and Friday papers will go home that Thursday as well.

That’s it for now!  Tomorrow is supposed to be a gorgeous day, so I hope you are able to get out and about.  This week has either been rainy or too windy, and the kids are craving a nice day outside.  Fabulous news – everyone in our class has completed all 6 months of our Book-It program!  We have never had 100% participation from a class, and we are very proud of the kids and all of the books they have read.  We wish you all a wonderful weekend, and remember to keep your child reading!

Miss Sarah Wierzgac

Mrs. Sarah Adkins