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.