Newsletter 11-8-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

November 8, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Monday, November 12^th – Veterans Day (no school)

·        Friday, November 16^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Friday, November 16^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Colin: In Listen to Reading we listened to a book called The Vanishing Pumpkin. The characters in the book were an 800-year-old woman and a 900-year-old man. They couldn’t find their pumpkin! A wizard had it.

Lily: In Library we picked out books of course. But what you don’t know is that Mrs. Patino read us a story! She read us a book about the president’s pets. I like Library!

Jameson: In Music we learned a new song. The song was called Rizzeldy Razzeldy Mow Mow Mow. At Music we played Button and You Must Wander. You pass the button to other people and someone needs to guess the person who has the button.

Phaydan: On Halloween we read this play called the Hallo-weiner. I read it two times and it was really fun. The first time I was Dog 2 and the second time I was the mother. The play was about a hero that was named Oscar. Oscar saved Cat number 1 and Cat number 2. Oscar pulled them out of the pond. The cats were really surprised that Oscar pulled them out of the pond because he was a little dog.

Molly: On Monday we went to run the school election. There was a check in counter, vote counters, three voting booths, a ballot box, and a check out counter. I worked at the check out counter. Then kids would come in and vote.

Katie: In my book group we are reading Freckle Juice with Ms. Little. It’s about a boy named Andrew that really wants freckles. The characters are Sharon and Andrew and also Nicky. The freckle juice has disgusting ingredients but Andrew drank it.

Logan: Last week in Math we made sticker arrays. We put stickers in an array on a card and wrote the number sentence on another card. Then we played a game with them. We had to match the arrays with the right number sentence.

Ali: Last night for homework we did November calendars. First we wrote the name of the month on the top of the paper. Then there are boxes that you write the days of the week in. Finally, we write all the things we are going to do and decorate it.

Madison: On Thursday the Maynard Elks came. They gave us dictionaries. They asked us if our name was spelled correctly. They showed us the longest word in the world and the pages that show you how to do sign language. Then they showed our class their special badge and they left.

Sophia: In the story The Witches right now the grandmother made a lot of inventions for her mouse, which was really a boy. She made a contraption for turning on lights. She made one for opening doors. She made these things because the mouse boy could not do things like she could.

Emily: On Monday we had a school election and the third graders worked at it. It was in a room near the Library and in the room it was all set up and ready. There was a check in table, voting booths, a ballot box, and a check out table. We weren’t going to work there first, we were going to vote first so we would know what it would look like so we would get an ideas of where were going to be. So when we got in the room to vote we first went to the check in table and told the other third graders what our names were and they highlighted them. Next, we went to the voting booth and check marked the person that we were voting for, either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. Then we went to the ballot box and folded up our answer and put it in the box. Last, we went to the check out table and told the third graders our name and they highlighted it just like at the check in table. My job was at the check out table and after I voted I knew what to do there.

Nathan: On Friday we climbed the net in Gym. It was hard. Most people got sore on their hands. Some people climbed to the top.

Daniel: Last week we watched a Brainpop video. In the video Moby wanted to be a king. Then they told us about an election. It is when candidates run against each other. Running against each other is when two people try to get voted for president.

Logan: We used stickers to do multiplication. I did 6 x 10. We had six circles we could put equal groups of stickers in. I used all six circles. Other people cut out less. Then we put on the stickers in the circles. We had to write the number sentence on a piece of paper, then glue the circles on the paper.

Elizabeth: We wrote thank you letters to the Elks for giving us dictionaries. We had to start our letters with Dear Maynard Elks, Thank you for giving us dictionaries. And we had to write one thing we would use it for learning, and one thing we like about it. Then we could decorate our letter.

Tatyiana: Last week we took the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkins. It was gooey. And we measured our pumpkin. After we took the seeds out we counted them.

David: In class we got new seats. I sit across from Daniel and next to Phaydan. We changed seats when November started. I liked it.

Tyler: Yesterday in Art we made masks from Africa. It was Art on the Cart in our class with Ms. Jones. First we got a piece of paper and outlined our mask. Then we made the eyes and the mouth.

Brenna: In Writing Workshop we wrote final copies of our story. We had to write nice and neat. Some people were finished so they worked on their covers. We had to pick the page with the box with the picture for one of our pages.

Seamus: Last week we searched for arrays in Math. It was fun because we got to pick our partner. I picked Colin. The arrays were everywhere in the classroom. Then when we found an array we had to write down the number sentence for it.

Jesse: Last week we wrote letters to the President. I wrote to President Obama asking if he would make school longer. Obama won the election. Elizabeth Warren won the Senate.

Ms. Little: We have started our multiplication unit in Math. As multiplication builds on addition, it would be helpful for your child to practice basic addition facts at home, either with flash cards, aloud with a family member, or by using one of the math websites listed on our classroom website. Enjoy the weekend!