Newsletter 12-20-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

December 20, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Monday, December 24 – Tuesday, January 1^st - Winter Break

Classroom News:

David: Right now in The Tale of Despereaux, Miggery Sow has captured the princess and has thrown her in the dungeon. Despereaux is trying to tell the king. Miggery Sow has cut off Despereaux’s tail.

Tatyiana: We read Peter’s Chair. We did a story mountain about Peter’s Chair. Ms. Little read it to us. Ms. Little helped us make the story mountain.

Jameson: We learned how to multiply by 8. Multiplying by 8 is tricky but it gets easier when you practice. If you use a hundreds chart it can help you.

Colin: Last week we received postcards from Vermont and North Dakota. I got the one from Vermont. We didn’t color in the map right away. We have a system that every one, for example, when we get Vermont, we have maps that we color in. The maps are maps of the United States. Everyone has a map in their desk. Ms. Little has a map of the world. Have a nice day!

Brenna: My class went to Mrs. Messina’s class to watch a science movie on Brainpop. The movie was about matter. We also did a science experiment. Matter can be a solid, liquid, or a gas.

Seanalee: A chemical change is a change that is permanent. Like the apples changed because we left them out and they turned brown. It was called oxidizing. The apple went through a physical change by cutting it. It is shriveling up now and that’s a chemical change.

Sophia: We can sign up for Reading Counts. Reading Counts is a computer book quiz. We read a book and then we take the quiz. The quiz is like a test to see how you read. If you get 10/10, 9/10, or 8/10 for a score then you can put your score on a chart by your name, then if we pass 20 Reading Counts test Ms. Little will buy us a book.

Tyler: On Monday in Art we made Zen Tangles. First we got a piece of cardboard. Then we traced our piece. Last when we were done decorating it we punched a hole in it and we got a string and we tied it. They came out good.

Daniel: Last week we learned how to do Words in Words. In Words in Words there are four boxes. In the first box you write one of your spelling words. Then you see how many words you can make out of it. When you are done you put it in the finished work bin.

Phaydan: In Writing we read Big Al. In the beginning, Big Al was lonely and sad because he had no friends. In the end of Big Al, Big Al got friends. After we read Big Al we made a story mountain of the book.

Logan: We listened to the story A Wolf at the Door. It was funny because a goat came in. Then the three pigs came in. Mostly every character was at the bear’s house. Then the bear’s dad came home and he went inside and opened the door. Wolfie came and said, “Can I play?” And after they played Wolfie said, “I will bring my big brother.”

Molly: In Writing we are making story mountains. They show the steps of your story. There is a turning point when something good happens. We read Big Al and we made that story into a story mountain.

Katie: Last Thursday we went to the Holiday Shoppe. There were all sorts of things you could choose from to buy. I got my cat Alice a clean up thing. There were dradles, scavenger hunts for the road, and a lot more.

Jesse: Our class read a story called The Magic Lunch Box with Ms. Little. Then we read the story with our partner. Then we underlined the sentences with either red, green, black, or blue depending on which part of the story it was. At the end of the story that Sheila found out that she had the same lunch box as the other girl. They thought it was magic because they kept getting different lunches.

Elizabeth: We filled up the marble jar again. This time we chose to have extra gym with Ms. Little. In gym we played dodgeball. The first time we played on teams. The second time we did boys against girls.

Lily: In Library we checked out books! I checked out Little Women. Then we got to do computers. Mrs. Patino read usa book called Ribsy. I love to read!

Seamus: Last week we had Gym and Mrs. Hazel was gone because she was going to the World Championship of Dance. We did some relay races. After that we did a lot of dodge tag. It was so fun.

Nathan: We multiplied by 3 factors in Math. When we multiply by 3 factors we still multiply but we multiply with 3 numbers. For example, 2 x 2 x 2 = 8. We had to play a game with it. It was called Multiplying with 3 Factors.

Emily: Last week in Cursive we learned 4 new letters! We learned the letters x, y, v, and z, and that was the end of the lowercase letters that we did. I guess we had extra time to do cursive because we usually just do 2 letters. I think that z is the hardest letter in cursive.

Ms. Little: I appreciate the time and effort parents put into attending conferences. If you have questions, comments, or concerns throughout the school year, please contact me.  I’m happy to set up a time to meet. Have a wonderful winter break.

Newsletter 12-13-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

December 13, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, December 14^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Monday, December 24^th – Wednesday, January 2^nd - Winter Break

Classroom News:

Katie: When we listened to reading we had to compare and contrast with the stories The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. We had to write something that was the same and something that was different about two stories. One thing I wrote was that the wolf went to jail at the end of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. The thing that was the same was that there were three pigs in both stories.

Colin: In Writing we were reading stories. My partner and I read Alexander Who Doesn’t Want to Move. It was so funny and weird. Other partners read different stories. We were looking for problems in the stories.

Seanalee: We don’t have to do an Independent Reading Journal for homework until January. It is because it’s going to be winter vacation. We still need to do math homework and read 15 minutes. I like the idea.

Tyler: In Math we were practicing multiplying by 6s.  We even played a game. We would roll the dice and we would see what we get, so if I rolled two numbers that add up to a 7, I would have to multiply 7 x 6. We have a little tile that we put on the answer.

David: In school on Friday we practiced multiplying by 6s and 7s. We played a game. There were two rows: a x 6 row and a x 7 row. I chose the x 7 row. I was versus Nathan. In the end he won. You play by rolling the die and doing the multiplication fact times the number you rolled. Then you write in the answer and whoever fills up their row first wins.

Logan: We read and watched The Tale of Despereaux. A mouse named Despereaux was born with his ears big. His friend Roscuro fell in the queen’s soup and she died. The princess was put in the dungeon. Despereaux and Roscuro went to get her back.

Sophia: In Listen to Reading we listened to The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. The story is animal fiction. The wolf sneezed the houses down. He didn’t blow them down. At the end of the  story the wolf was put in jail.

Emily: Last week in Writing Workshop in our notebooks we wrote internal and external character traits. Internal means inside you and external means outside of you. So before we did this we were making ideas for our character and we took the ideas from our character and sorted them into internal and external character traits. For internal, you would probably write something like kindhearted because you don’t look kindhearted. For external, you would write blue eyes or pale skin because you can see those things.

Molly: Yesterday we went to Mrs. Messina’s class to do Science. We each had a partner to help us. We watched a video. It was about solids, liquids, gases, and matter. One thing from the video was how matter changed from a solid to a liquid to a gas.

Brenna: We have folders where we keep our reading logs. We recorded books. We got them in class. We all have blue folders. Right now we are all reading The Tale of Despereaux so we wrote it in our reading log.

Tatyiana: We didn’t go to Music last week. We didn’t go to Music because it was an early release. Last week we got our recorders. I got a book that came with the recorder.

Lily: In Math we were working on multiplying by 7. For example, 5 x 7 = 35. To figure it out I would break apart the 7 into a 5 and a 2. Then I would do 5 x 5 and 5 x 2 to get 35. It was hard at first but I got used to it.

Daniel: Last Friday at Gym we played noodle tag. If you have a ball you try to hit someone. If you miss then you’re out. If you hit them then they’re out. When you’re out you need to roll the two dice. One has an exercise and the other one has a number. If you roll sit-ups and three then you do three sit ups. If you have a noodle then you tag them on the leg. If you get them you have to sit down and stand up, and if you take your hand off then you’re out.

Jameson: We went to Mrs. Messina’s class to do Science. We watched a movie about matter. It was funny when the person fell to the ground.  Then we did a paper where we were putting science words in the boxes. We had to sort the science words into observable and measurable properties.

Phaydan: In Spelling we played a game. We had to use the coin chart to figure out how much each of our words was worth. We added up the coin values for each letter. Then we recorded each word and value.

Ali: In Writer’s Workshop yesterday we brainstormed ideas. The ideas were possible problems and drama for our stories. We did a few examples. For example, my girl’s brother broke his leg, so he had to go to the hospital.

Nathan: We played a game with the Smartboard. It was called the “Function Man.” What we had to do is this: we put in a number and it came out as a different number. We had to guess what the rule was.

Seamus: Last week we had Library. I had so much fun because we played on the computers. We read a story called Zothora. It was hilarious because there was a robot that went crazy.

Madison: Last Friday and Thursday we had a wicked early release. We didn’t even have lunch. It was unbelievable! We didn’t even have math. I was relieved. We got out of school at 11:25.

Jesse: Our class did an experiment with Mrs. Messina’s class. We did three papers. We were testing the textures of our skittle. A texture is how something feels. Then we got to eat our skittle. Then we lined up for recess.

Elizabeth: In Art we made picture frames. Mrs. Santillo gave each of us a package with wood frames. We had to punch out the frame we wanted and put the other one in a pile. Then we had to paint the stand and decorate the frame. When we were done we did free draw, and took our masks and our frames home.

Ms. Little: I enjoyed meeting with parents last week to discuss each student’s progress. Please let me know if any issues or concerns arise at any point during the year and we can make an appointment to meet. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 12-6-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

December 6, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, December 6^th – Dismissal at 11:25 (conferences)

·        Friday, December 7^th – Dismissal at 11:25 (conferences)

·        Friday, December 7^th – Book orders due

·        Thursday, December 13^th – Holiday Shoppe for students

·        Friday, December 14^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Madison: When you do math problems there are steps. First you have to make sure you understand it. Then you have to think of strategies to solve the problem. Next you see if the strategy didn’t work for you. If it didn’t work then you’d pick a different strategy and then solve the problem. Then the most important part is checking it.

Sophia: Last week in Library Mrs. Patino read Sylvester the Rusty Nail. Then we played a game called Would You Rather. After that, we checked out books. Last, we went on our own account on the computers.

Molly: Last Friday we went to Mr. Mehigan’s class to watch a play. It was about the Pilgrims and Wampanoags. My friends were in the play. They did good! They showed when they were on the Mayflower and at Plimoth Plantation. They also showed how they made decisions about becoming friends with the Wampanoags.

Seamus: We started to keep track of our literacy choices. We had to keep track of what we did. The choices during literacy are spelling, read to self, read to someone, and listen to reading, or work on writing. We are keeping track of it on a white board that has all our names and all the choices on it.

Lily: In one of Ms. Little’s book groups they are reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins. In my group, we are reading The Back to School Burglar. Reading groups are fun! In The Back to School Burglar there is a fair at the school.

Seanalee: In class we read a book about matter. It was a big book. I learned that when the atoms are tightly packed together it makes a solid. If the atoms are spread out it makes a gas.

Jesse: We watched The Tale of Despereaux movie because we almost finished our Tale of Despereaux book. In the story the queen was drinking her soup and a rat jumped in her soup, and she had a heart attack and died. The princess went to the dungeon. The princess almost got eaten by the rats.

Nathan: We are learning about realistic fiction. Realistic fiction is a story that could happen, but it has to occur in the present, not the future, not the past…the present. It does not have to happen in real life. Here is an example: Because of Winn-Dixie.

Tyler: Last week in Music we practiced playing recorders. We used our fingers on the holes but didn’t put our mouths on them. And we played games. We practiced a happy song. Then we went out to recess.

Colin: We are brainstorming story ideas in writing workshop. We are helping our partners to think of ideas for their realistic fiction stories. My story ideas are weird! And I picked a weird main character, too!

Katie: In class we learned how to write lowercase cursive g and o. The g was pretty easy but the o was hard. You have to start from the top of each letter. When I started it was pretty hard but when I did it for a longer time I got the hang of it.

Emily: Last week we made December calendars. In the December calendar we had to fill in all of the days of the week and fill in all the numbers of the days, too. After we finished, we had to write all of our events that we had going on like Christmas! And no school! When we were done we got to decorate it real fancy.

Jameson: We went to Mrs. Messina’s class to do Science. My partner is Kevin. We were cutting words out of a paper. We had to glue them in the right place on the solid, liquid, or gas paper. We helped each other. For the second paper I helped him mostly. I helped him with some answers.

David: In Math we learned how to multiply by 4. First you take a problem like 4 x 7 = ? You would take the 7 and double it like you’re doing 2 x 7. Then you take the answer and double that so it would be 28. You just double the double.

Brenna: Ms. Burns’ class is reading buddies with our class. They came to our class last week. They also came to our publishing party. They are in first grade. We all read to our buddies.

Phaydan: Ms. Little gave us math notebooks instead of a math paper for morning work. There was a little piece of paper taped to a page inside. We had to figure the problem out. When we were done we had to give it to Ms. Little. Then we helped a friend, read to self, or read to a friend.

Ali: Ms. Little changed our desks yesterday. She changes our desks every month. Each time so far there are five tables. My table is me, Madison, Lily, Nathan, and Jesse.

Elizabeth: In Art we finished coloring our Mexican masks. When we were done we took pictures of our masks. Then we watched a mask video. Then we got our backpacks and coats and went home.

Daniel: Last Friday at Gym we did a relay race. There was a substitute teacher at Gym. Then we did shooting baskets with basketballs. Last, we got to play soccer.

Logan: In Writing we are writing a realistic fiction story. I wrote my story idea about a kid that got hurt by a fish tank. He became a karate person. His brother is who Seamus is writing about. We didn’t know that they were brothers in the first place.

Ms. Little: Parent conferences will be held on Thursday, December 6^th and Friday, December 7^th.  A reminder with your scheduled date and time was sent home with your child last week. Please let me know if you are not able to come at your scheduled time and we can find a different time that works for you. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 11-29-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

November 29, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Tuesday, December 4^th – Picture retakes

·        Thursday, December 6^th – Dismissal at 11:25 (conferences)

·        Friday, December 7^th – Dismissal at 11:25 (conferences)

·        Friday, December 7^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Katie: Last week we read The Three Little Pigs. It was about three little pigs leaving the momma pig. The pigs built a house for each of them. The first pig built his house out of straw and the wolf came and blew the pig’s house down. The same thing happened to the other pig but his house was made out of sticks. The last pig made his house out of bricks and the wolf couldn’t blow the house down. The wolf asked him to go and get radishes at 3:00 but the pig went at 2:00. The next day the wolf asked to go apple picking at 2:00 and the pig went at 1:00.

Phaydan: In read aloud we are reading The Tale of Despereaux. Right now we are at the part where Despereaux gets sent to the dungeon. Roscuro lives in the dungeon. He is a rat. He wanted to go upstairs, but all the mice live upstairs in the castle.

Logan:  We multiplied by 10 last week in Math. We played a game. To play the game you roll two dice. Then you add them together and times them by ten. Then you color in the space with the answer on a piece of paper.

Colin: In Math we learned how to multiply by 0. Anything times 0 equals 0. For example, 9 x 0 = 0. I think it’s easy! 

Daniel: One week ago on Wednesday in Library we finished our word documents. After that, we checked out books. When we finished checking out books we got to play games on the computer. Last, we lined up and left.

Molly: Last week we received postcards. We received them from Washington D.C. and Hungary. When we got Washington D.C. it counted as Virginia. We colored Virginia yellow on our maps.

Seanalee: We started learning about matter in Science. There are four stages of matter. They are solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Matter is all around us. We are made of matter. An example of a solid is a table; a gas is gas in air. Liquid is H2o.

Nathan: In Math we used the finger strategy to help us multiply by 9. The finger strategy was when Ms. Little told us a multiplication problem, we would put the lower number finger that was not 9 down. Then you could count the fingers on the left as tens and the fingers on the right as ones to get your answer.

Ali: In Literacy we had a choice to do Thanksgiving papers for word work. They were for Thanksgiving. One of them was a crossword puzzle. The other one was a word search.

Emily: Last week we went to Mrs. Messina’s class so we could watch the Mouse on the Mayflower. It was about a mouse that sneaked on the Mayflower and he kind of helped them fix it. It was also about the Pilgrims having a hard time on the Mayflower and the Wampanoags helping them get through the hard winter. A lot of them died. When it was fall again they had a Thanksgiving feast and there was a lot of food there.

Brenna: We painted sunsets. We looked at some other pictures of sunsets on the Smartboard. We designed sunsets with watercolor paints. When we were done we wrote a poem.

Tyler: On Monday in Art we finished our masks. We finished by finishing with the oil crayons. After we put on the stuff that makes it glow and shine. That is how we made our masks.

Jesse: We looked at sunsets because we read a book with Mrs. Messina. Then we painted. We also wrote sunset poems after we looked at some different kinds of poems together. Some people put line breaks and some people did rhymes in their poems.

Elizabeth: Yesterday we watched Bill Nye the Science Guy. It helped us learn about matter. He mixed chemicals and made explosions. There were also some kids doing science.

Seamus: At Gym two weeks ago we put on songs while we were working. We also did a bucket relay. It was so fun because I wore my favorite shoes.

Madison: When we finished our personal narrative books we had a publishing party. Our first grade buddies came. They wrote comments after we read them our story. Then they went to read the other classmates’ books.

David: A couple of days ago we learned how to write lowercase j, p, a, and d in cursive. The j is written like this: j. The p is written like this: p. The a is written like this a. And d is like this: d. I wasn’t here for all of it but I know how to spell d and a because they’re in my name.

Tatyiana: In Math last week we wrote math problems. It was addition and subtraction math facts. I liked doing it. I liked the addition facts.

Jameson: Last week at Music we played a game called Button and the Key. There is a guesser and a passer. The passer passes the button around and the guesser guesses who has the button. We sang a song during the game.

Lily: In Time for Kids there were kid entrepreneurs! But the main article was about Hurricane Sandy.  A rollercoaster fell down because of Hurricane Sandy. My fence fell down because of Hurricane Sandy!

Ms. Little: Parent conferences will be held on Thursday, December 6^th and Friday, December 7^th.  A reminder with your scheduled date and time was sent home with your child on Monday. Please let me know if you are not able to come at your scheduled time and we can find a different time that works for you. Enjoy the weekend. 

Marvelous Multiplication!

 We have been working on our multiplication unit in Math. Multiplication was introduced as repeated addition of equal groups. First, we used stickers to show equal groups.

Then, we went on "array hunt" around the classroom. For each array we found, we wrote the array, and then wrote the corresponding multiplication sentence on the recording sheet.

After that, we played a sticker array matching game. We each made an array with stickers on an index card, and then wrote the corresponding multiplication sentence on a separate index card. Then we worked in groups to match each array with the correct number sentence.

For more practice with arrays and multiplication, we each created an "array" full of sunshine.

Now, we are learning strategies and tricks to help us multiply. So far, we can multiply by 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10. We have been playing several dice and card games to help us practice. Soon, we will learn new strategies and tricks so that we will be able to multiply by all numbers 0 - 10!