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