Nine More School Days!

Good evening, parents!  Can you believe there are only nine more school days left this year?  I have already told the kids that I am making them do third grade over again next year so I don't have to say good-bye to them.

I am sure your child has already told you, but I will remain teaching in third grade next year.  Miss Scheurs, Miss Shapleigh, and Mrs. Dane will be teaching the three sections of fourth grade.  I will also be switching classrooms and will be putting the kids to work moving me into my new room at the end of next week! 

Quick Curriculum Update: 

Reading:  We have completed our Houghton Mifflin reading program for the year.  Students have been reading chapter books and taking on different roles in group discussions.  Ask your child about what job he/she is doing this week! 
In addition to reading groups, we have been trucking along on our research project.  The students have completed their notetaking and are putting their PowerPoint presentations together.  Later this week and next, they will be adding the "bells and whistles" to their slides:  different fonts, colors, backgrounds, pictures, etc.  Students have also begun taking their notes and turning them into a five-paragraph essay about their animal. 

Science:  Students have completed all of the investigations in the Lifting Heavy Things science unit.  Their culminating activity is to work with group members to build a construction site using only simply machines.  They will begin working on this tomorrow. 

Math:  Last week we focused on reviewing addition and subtraction algorithms and measurement.  Using coordinate grids was also introduced.  We are continuing our work with coordinate grids this week and will be working with data to find mean, median, and mode.

*Miss Shapleigh is working on putting a slideshow together with all of our pictures from Kent Park.  Once it is compiled, I can send it to you if you'd like. 

*Brace yourselves....here are a ton of pictures and captions for you!  Remember to click on the picture to enlarge it! 

Miss Head's last day celebration!

We LOVE pizza!

We don't have any fun at school...

Mrs. Johnsen taught PE for three days last week while Mr. Duthie attended the track meet.

Mrs. Johnsen's "After-PE-Relaxation-Exercise" (we weren't sleeping....promise!)

Working hard on those PowerPoints!

Rigging up a three-pully system

Quinn's wonderful piano performance at today's talent show!

Peyton and Ali show off their awesome dance moves!

Amna shares some sweet beats with her cup!

MISS HEAD GRADUATES!!!!! 

Have a great week!
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Hello Parents! This is Miss Head. I am on my second week of head teaching and I love it even more than I did last week!  Happy May Day! Yesterday, I surprised the students with May Day Baskets on their desks and they got to enjoy them as they worked during small group rotations.

Here is a quick curriculum update: 

Reading: This week, we are focusing on what helps us make decisions about a character. We have read a variety of stories with different topics and different genres. Our main selection was a realistic fiction story about a service dog. We also read a short news article called “Acting Across Generations.” The students also enjoyed a fun, entertaining poem entitled “Company’s Coming.” We have used these stories to talk about drawing conclusions, making generalizations, and asking questions. We are focusing on reading at an appropriate rate: slow, normal, or fast.

Spelling: This week’s pattern for spelling is words beginning with a as in about or be as in below.

Grammar: This week’s objective is to use correct pronouns in a sentence.

Math:  Students took their unit 9 test on Wednesday over multiplication and division. Thursday and Friday, we will be reviewing concepts taught throughout the year. Next week, students will be taking the district mandated end-of-year assessment.

Science: We are continuing our unit on “Lifting Heavy Things.” I would like to thank parents and siblings for helping with these assignments. Students are learning a lot about simple machines by exploring at home. On Monday, we reviewed how the position of the fulcrum determines how much force is needed to lift a heavy object with a lever. For the remainder of this week, we will be investigating the different forces needed to lift heavy loads up inclined planes.

In other news:

Tuesday, students learned ALL about fire safety. They even got to test their knowledge in a fire safety trailer where they were presented with realistic situations. In the trailer, they learned about fire hazards, heard a fire alarm, called 911 and climbed out of a window. Students really enjoyed getting to be outside on such a nice day!

Next week is our field trip! On May 8^th, we will be going to Kent Park. More information was noted on the green permissions slip the students took home on Monday.  Look for a reminder note to come home again on Friday!

Have a great rest of the week!

Miss Head

Hello Parents! This is Miss Head wanting to update everyone on this week’s curriculum and activities. I have officially started head teaching and am having a blast teaching your children! I would also like to say “good job” to all of those who attended Fine Arts Night! It was very fun to watch and all the 3^rd graders did a terrific job! I absolutely loved the video the students put together. I am very proud of all of them and their hard work!

Here is a quick curriculum update:

Reading: This week’s readings focus on what causes someone to be a hero. Students will read a play titled A New Team of Heroes and a short article called C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N. We will finish up by reading 2 poems entitled “Defender” and “Spellbound”. While we read, we are practicing using expression, focusing on understanding the characters, monitoring what we read to pay attention to how well we understand what we are reading, clarifying to figure out what the problem is and how to fix it, and using what we know and what we have read to make inferences.

Spelling:  This week’s pattern for spelling is working with words ending with the syllable –er or –le.

Grammar: This week’s objectives are to identify and use possessive pronouns in a sentence.

Math: Students have been very excited to learn lattice multiplication this week and are catching on very quickly. We will then be working on multiplying 2 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers using the partial products method and lattice. We will be finishing up this unit by the end of this week and preparing for a test students will take early next week.

Science: We have just recently started our new science unit entitled Lifting Heavy Things. Students have been exploring different ways to make lifting easier. This week students will be doing many investigations discovering the use of levers.

In other news:

*We have officially completed our writing process! Over the last few weeks, students have taken a piece of writing completely through the writing process. They have written a draft, self corrected, peer revised, had teachers edit, and neatly written a final draft! As each student moved on through the writing process, they had the glory of moving their name from one section of the writing process to the next. I am more than pleased to announce that all of the students finished and were able to move their name to the “hip hip hooray” section!

*Students have begun taking notes on their chosen animal for our research project. They have just finished up writing about what their animal looks like. This week, they will focus on the life cycle of their animal.

Have a great week!

Miss Head

Human Monuments!

The students did such an amazing job performing their human monuments!  Each group was prepared with information and details about the person they were honoring, able to answer questions, and able to hold their pose for 2 minutes!

Have a great night!
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Rain, Rain, Go Away! The Kids Want To Go OUTSIDE To Play!

Good evening, parents!  I hope you are all staying dry (and warm) in this crazy weather.  This week, Miss Head has been teaching most of our morning lessons.  She will add on most of the afternoon lessons next week.  Beginning April 22, Miss Head will be completing her two weeks of "head teaching" before phasing out of the classroom and graduating!  Throughout this week and next, I will be administering Developmental Reading Assessments to each student.  The students also completed their District Writing Assessments yesterday. 

Here is a quick curriculum update:

Reading:  This week's readings focus on new inventions and how they can change people's lives.  Students read an article titled The Power of Magnets which explained how magnets work, the history of electromagnets, and the role magnets play in generators and motors in our every day lives.  This week's comprehension strategies focus on finding cause and effect relationships within texts and summarizing important information in articles. 

Spelling:  The pattern this week for spelling is working with words with double consonants.  Each word has two syllables and we have been practicing dividing the syllables between the double consonants. 
Ex:  jel-ly      pil-low      let-ter
Understanding what sounds are being heard in each syllable should help the students correctly spell the words.

Grammar:  This week's objectives are to identify and use commas in a series, in compound sentences, and with dates. 

Math:  Students learned how to compute multidigit mutliplication using the partial products method.  They have been very excited about using this "grown-up" way to multiply!  Please help to reinforce the importance of knowing the basic multiplication facts by encouraging your child to practice triangle flashcards at least a few times a week. 

Social Studies:  Most of the students performed their "human monuments" today for the class.  They were amazing to listen to and to watch! Be sure to check back on Friday for pictures of all of the groups' monuments!

In other news......

*We are in the very early stages of a research project!  Students will be individually researching an animal using books, online databases, and other reference materials.  Animals will be chosen by the end of the day on Friday.  More details to come...

*Thanks to those who donated pencils to our classroom supply!  We could always use more, so any additional donations would be greatly appreciated. 

Look at these dedicated readers during library check-out time!  They are so sweet!

Have a great rest of the week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Hello Parents!  We have been busy little workers here at school ever since we returned from Spring Break.  Here is a quick curriculum update:

Reading:  We began a new unit in our Journeys reading program on Monday.  In the coming weeks, students will be reflecting on our big idea of: To reach a goal takes hard work.  This week's readings focus on famous athletes overcoming obstacles in their lives in order to achieve their goal.  We are also practicing identifying the main idea and supporting details within magazine articles and stories. 

Spelling:  Our spelling pattern this week is understanding the VCCV pattern.  Each of our words contains a vowel consonant consonant vowel pattern.  We have been practicing splitting the syllables in between the consonants. 
Examples:  per-son        Sun-day        hel-met

Writing:  Students are in the middle of taking their fictional stories through the writing process.  The stories need to include dialogue, similes, and sensory details.  Many of them have finished peer revising and are getting ready to teacher edit.  They can't wait to "publish" their final copies. 

Math:  We started Unit 9 Multiplication and Division on Monday.  This unit has four main areas of focus:
* To multiply and divide with multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000
* To use mental math to multiply
* To share money
* To find products of 2-digit numbers
Students are strongly encouraged to practice their basic multiplication facts at home for quick and accurate recall.  Knowing these facts will help them focus less on calculating and more on understanding the more difficult skills being introduced. 

Social Studies:  We completed Chapter 5 in our Social Studies Alive! textbook.  This chapter focused on cultural diversity.  Students began Chapter 6 on Monday and students learned about people who have made changes in their communities.  The figures they are studying include Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Judy Heumann, and Lois Marie Gibbs.  Students are creating "human monuments" to demonstrate the important work of these exceptional figures.  Ask your child for more details!

**We are still running low on pencils so if you have any extras at home, we'd appreciate the donation!

Have a great rest of the week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Optimist Good Reader Awards

Good evening parents!  We had a great time today receiving our Optimist Good Reader Program awards!  I am so proud of the students who completed this program and I know they are proud of themselves as well. 
Here are some pictures of our awards ceremony:

Optimist member, Mr. Nakato, explaining the importance of reading

Level One Winners

Level Two Winners



Level Three Winners



The following three students were chosen by members of the Optimist Club for having winning bookmarks.  Way to go, girls!

**************************IMPORTANT REMINDERS!*****************************

* Students will have their Structures of Life science test on Thursday.  A study guide was sent home on Monday along with science folders to help students to prepare.  Miss Head has also developed a fun review game to play with the students tomorrow!

**The Unit 8 Fractions math test will be on Friday.  Students will receive a review packet tomorrow to take home for homework.  We will review over the next couple of days in class as well.  Please check in with your child tomorrow evening as he/she works on the review packet to see what areas may need to be reinforced at home.

***Crayfish permission slips were sent home today.  If your child will be taking a crayfish home, please send in a container by Thursday to ensure that no crayfish will be left in the classroom after Friday. 

Have a wonderful Spring Break week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us