Winter Reminders

Hello families!  We had a great day today at school and are looking forward to our last two school days in 2012!

Below is a quick rundown of information you should be aware of:

*We are having a Winter Read-In tomorrow morning from 10:20-11:20!  Students should bring plenty of books and a blanket/pillow/stuffed animal to snuggle with.  They are also allowed to bring a small, healthy snack munch on while they read. 

*Our Winter Party will begin at 2:00 on Wednesday.  Students have been asked to bring a fun board game (no electronics, please!) to play with the other third and fourth graders during our parties. Please be sure your child marks his/her name somewhere on the box. 

*The Unit 5 math test and Profile of Progress sheet will be sent home on Tuesday.  Please look it over with your child, sign it, and send it back the following day (Wednesday). 

*Germs have been hitting hard in our classroom and we are almost out of our tissue supply!  We would greatly appreciate any donations of boxes of tissues and Clorox disinfecting wipes. 

And, of course, I'll leave you with some science pictures:

Observing that water expands when frozen

Discovering that water evaporates faster in containers with a large surface area.



Seeing what remains on the lid after the pure water has evaporated





Practicing reading the volume of water by looking at the bottom of the meniscus

 I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season full of togetherness, joy, and love. 

Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Good evening!  I can't believe we are almost halfway through December already.  I keep telling the students that they are getting closer and closer to being fourth graders every day! 

Quick Curriculum Update:

Reading:  We were super excited to read a selection from the chapter book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, by Beverly Cleary this week.  Our comprehension and target strategies are to understand character traits by inferring, using the clues the author has given us.  The students have been doing a very nice job improving upon these skills. 

Grammar:  We have been working on using the correct form and spelling of verbs in the past tense.

Spelling:  This week is focusing on the vowel + r sound in the word nurse.  The four patterns to spell this sound are ir, ur, or, and er. 

**Please note that we will not be continuing to the next lesson in our Language Arts materials next week due to the three-day week.  This also means the students will not have a spelling list next week.

Science:  We have completed our investigations on hot and cold water and have started learning about the water cycle.  New vocabulary words that have been (or will be) introduced this week include evaporation, water vapor, and surface area. 

Math:  Students took their Unit 5 math assessment today.  A parent letter was sent home to give you information about Unit 6 and its components. 

*Please encourage your child to read for at least fifteen minutes each night and fill out that reading log!  I really appreciate your support with this!

Have a great rest of the week and, as always, please contact me if you have any questions/concerns.

Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Science Pictures!

Hello parents!  Here are the latest science investigation pictures.  Please know that if your child is not in this set of pictures, he/she will be sure to be in the next round.  It can be difficult at times to get photos of everyone while simultaneously teaching them about the amazing world of science!  :)

The following pictures were taken during our investigation of surface tension.  Students learned that this fascinating property of water is a skin-like surface that pulls water together into the smallest possible area. 

 This set of pictures shows our first experiment with hot and cold water.  Students made thermometers and learned that water expands when heated and contracts when cooled.

 The last set of pictures shows today's investigation of density.  We found that hot water is less dense than room temperature water and cold water is more dense.  Check out the cool layering of the water!

One quick math-related note:

* We will be taking our Unit 5 math assessment on Wednesday, December 12.  A review sheet will come home on Monday evening. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Mrs. Johnsen

johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

Good evening! 

I hope all of you are having a great beginning to your week.  I was absent from school both today and last Friday to attend science trainings in Cedar Rapids.  These trainings provide me with excellent background knowledge and hands-on experience (and I mean "hands-on"...see picture below!) with the new units I will be teaching this year. 



Note the horrified look on Mrs. Nove's face as I was trying to identify the gender of the crayfish!

Curriculum Update:

Reading:  This week's main selection is titled Aero and Officer Mike by Joan Plummer Russell.  This story, our small group books, as well as books pulled from the library will be used to help us identify the authors' purposes for writing.  We will also be practicing summarizing (both orally and written) what we have read. 

Writing:  Students are identifying the important parts of an autobiography.  Toward the end of the week, they will be choosing an important event in their lives that they want to take through the writing process next week.  They are very excited about this topic!

Grammar:  This week's focus is an extension of last week's subject-verb agreement.  We are now applying our learning to pronouns and verbs. 

Spelling:  The patterns this week are spelling the /är/ sound with ar (artist, March) and the /ôr/ sound with or (thorn) and ore (forehead).

Math:  This week we will be moving away from place value with whole numbers and beginning our exploration of place value with decimals.  On Monday, the students assured me that they were up to (and even excited about) the challenge! 

Science:  We are continuing our investigations of water.  Students explored the amount of drops of water that could fit on the surface of a penny to demonstrate surface tension.  They also experimented with soapy and salty water to see what effect they have on surface tension.  This week will begin our exploration of the properties of hot and cold water.  Check back every now and then for picture updates of our fun! 

Reminders:

*Students brought home their December reading log on Monday.  Please help your child remember to log his/her minutes each night as well as the title of book(s) that have been read. 

*The Scholastic Book Fair is open for two more days!  Its hours are:
  Wednesday  8:00-8:30am and 3:00-4:00pm
  Thursday   8:00-8:30am, 2:00-3:00pm, and 6:00-8:00pm

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