Newsletter 3-28-13

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon
March 28, 2013

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 29^th – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

·        Thursday, April 4^th – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

·        Friday, April 5^th – Dismissal at 11:25

·        Friday, April 12^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Molly: In class we read a book called Fireflies. It was about a boy who caught fireflies and put them in a jar. Then the boy took them home. He went to bed, but the fireflies stopped glowing so he let them go to their habitats. We talked about the big idea. It was to respect nature.

Colin: We finished the 2^nd book of A Series of Unfortunate Events. We moved onto the 3^rd. The orphans have a new guardian: Aunt Josephine. We watched the movie a couple of weeks ago. I love books because they have excitement to them. I love the third book!

Seamus: Last week we filled the marble jar. We voted on several things. A few people were not here so we are going to vote again. The things that won are extra gym and pajama day. More people chose gym than pajama day.

Tatyiana: At Art last week we made mazes with swirls. You cannot have a start or an end. We used swirly lines to make the Irish mazes. It was very hard. Some people made mazes and some people made snakes when they were done.

Katie: We watched a video about the Revolutionary War. It was violent in some parts because it involved weapons. The video started with a talk about the Revolutionary War. Then we got to the Boston Tea Party part. It was about when the colonists threw English tea into the ocean. The colonists got unfair taxes.

Madison: In Library we are learning about the 13 colonies. There were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. After we talked about that we could either play on the computer or look for a book. If you look for a book it’s called book check out. After that, we wait until Ms. Little comes and when she does we line up and go home.

Nathan: We looked at our writing under the document camera on the Smartboard. We saw our answers for the open response on the MCAS practice sheets. We used a rubric to grade them a 1, 2, 3, or 4. 1 was the worst and 4 was THE BEST. To get a 4 you have to restate the question, answer the question completely, and use a lot of details from the story.

Elizabeth: We played a game called the synonym game. Ms. Little cut out cinnamon bun papers and put them in bags. We had to find a partner and put the cinnamon buns out on the table. Then we flipped them over, and then picked up two synonyms to see if they matched. If they matched (like “fast” and “quick”) you put them in a pile and if they didn’t, you put them back down.

Lily: We read The Snow Walker. It was a good story. In the story, the boy has to get milk but he is caught in a snowstorm so he makes snowshoes. It’s not easy to go out in a snowstorm. It had good pictures.

Daniel: We had Music last week. First we learned how a music staff works. A music staff has 5 letters. They are e, g, b, d, and f. A good way to remember is Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. Then we practiced recorder. Last, we played The Button and the Key. We played three rounds.

Tyler: Last week in Gym we went back into China and played some games from there. First, we played a bucket stacking relay race. After that, we played tag with some tennis balls. Then, we got in line and we did some laps around the gym. Finally, we went back to class.

David: During Literacy we started learning about prefixes and suffixes. A prefix is extra letters that you put in front of a base word that changes its meaning. A suffix is the same thing except you add the extra letters at the end. There are certain spelling rules for that though.

Sophia: We had MCAS last week. We read stories and answered questions about them. Our desks were separated. We read books if we finished before the time was up. On Thursday, we all finished early. Then, we played Flinch.

Cherokee: We started a new unit in Writing Workshop. It’s called the Essay unit. We have partners for it. My partner is Sophia. We have to read little essays and then make up a title for it. This week or next week we are going to start writing our own essays. It is fun to do it at Writing.

Phaydan: In Writing Workshop we have new partners for our Essay unit. My partner is Emily. We had to read an essay and then come up with a title for it. There were 4 different essays. Emily and my titles were “Everyone Makes Mistakes,” “Be a Friend,” “Hard Work Pays Off,” and “Stand Up for What You Believe In.”

Logan: We read The Doorbell Rang in Math and in Listen to Reading. In the story, 2 people were going to split 12 cookies. Then, the doorbell rang and 2 more people came to share the cookies. The doorbell rang again and 2 more people came to eat the cookies. Then, the doorbell rang and 6 more people came to eat the cookies. At the end, the doorbell rang and it was Grandma with more cookies to share.

Emily: Last week we worked on Cursive. In Cursive we learned the letter U in uppercase. This is what the letter U looks like:

Before we learn a new letter in Cursive we get out our white boards and then learn the letter. Then we practice it on the white board and then on the paper.

Ali: Last week we worked on antonyms. Antonyms are words that mean the opposite. For example, up and down are antonyms. Antonyms and synonyms are opposites. Synonyms are different words with the same meaning.

Jesse: We had a publishing party after we finished writing our realistic fiction stories. Our parents came in and they read our stories. Some people went up and read their story. Some of the people who did that were Phaydan, Cherrie, Madison, Sophia, and Brenna. We had a comment sheet because the parents read the story and left a comment and their name. Then after some parents took their kids home.

Brenna: We learned how to play Flinch. How you play is someone would stand in the middle and could pretend to throw the ball to you. We stand in a circle. The person with the ball might throw it or they might not. If you flinch, you’re out, and if you don’t catch it if they really throw it, you’re out. It’s ok to get out.  It is really fun.

Seanalee: We learned how to play the Syllable Game. This is how you play. Somebody goes in the hallway. The rest of the class stays in the room and chooses a word. Someone chose “impossible” so we broke it up into syllables. This is how to break it up: im-pos-si-ble. Everyone decides which syllable they will say if they get pointed to. Then the person in the hallway comes in and points to someone and they say their syllable, like “im” and the next person they point to says theirs, like “si” and the person keeps pointing to people until they figure out the whole word.

Ms. Little: Thank you to families who attended our Publishing Party on Friday! We were proud to share the hard work we put into writing our realistic fiction stories. Also, spring conferences are scheduled for Friday, March 29^th and Thursday, April 4^th. Please let me know if you need to change the date and/or time of your conference and we can reschedule. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 3-14-13

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon
March 14, 2013

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 15^th – Book orders due

·        Friday, March 15^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Tuesday, March 19^th – English Language Arts MCAS

·        Wednesday, March 20^th – English Language Arts MCAS

·        Friday, March 22^nd – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Friday, March 29^th – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

Classroom News:

Madison: We have first grade buddies. They read with us last week. My buddy is Demetri. He read a book to me. It was called Railroad Toad. The book was about a toad that traveled. And then he read a counting book. He was good at reading.

Lily: We read Time for Kids last week. Time for Kids, or TFK, had an article about healthy foods. There was a bunch of food! I liked that article. After we read, we answered questions. It’s fun reading Time for Kids.

Jameson: We did not have Gym last week because of the snow day. The week before we practiced hockey at Gym. Everyone got a hockey stick. We played tag. People had a ball and chased other people that did not have a ball. The people tagged you with the ball.

Molly:  We finished A Series of Unfortunate Events. It was about kids who have a bad life. The kids’ names are Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. Count Olaf is a villain who wants the Baudelaire fortune. Count Olaf murdered Uncle Monty, the Baudelaire’s uncle.

Cherokee: We have a new job. It is called Poet of the Week. It is a nice job. What you have to do is every time at morning meeting you choose a poem you want to read. Then you read it out loud, and then everyone reads it together and we talk about it. This week I’m the Poet of the Week. It is a fun job!

Seamus: Last week we had a snow day. We were going to have Gym but the snow came and we did not have school. Most kids played in the snow. Some kids played indoors. On Monday we came back to school.

Katie: Last week we wrote division word problems. Here is an example: There are 14 bananas but only 7 people. How many bananas will each person have if they are shared equally? You had to use key words when you wrote your problem like equal, each, share, split, and divide.

Jesse: We did an MCAS practice sheet by ourselves. It was called The Big Orange Splot. It begins when a seagull drops a can of paint and everybody was stressed. The seagull dropped the can of paint on a man’s house. His name was Mr. Plumbean. The next morning he painted his own house but everybody else still had the same houses and they were mad. In the story he bought an alligator and a hammock. The lessons in the story were you can’t change someone’s personality and to respect other people’s differences.

Phaydan: On the first week of March we made March calendars. We first got a paper from the paper passers Elizabeth and Cherrie/Cherokee. After that we wrote our names and March at the top. After we wrote in the little rectangles the names of the days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Then we wrote the numbers in the squares. Last we wrote what we are doing in March in the right square.

Nathan: On Monday we cut out triangles that had multiplication and division facts on them. There were 36 of them! There are 3 numbers on each triangle: 1 big number, 1 small number, and another small number. To use them, you cover up the big number if you want to do multiplication and the other person solves that problem. If you want to do division you cover up one of the small numbers and the other person solves that problem.

Logan: We read I Wanna Iguana. It was about a kid that is named Alex. He is begging his mom to get an iguana by writing notes. Then his mom said to look on his dresser. He looked on his dresser and there was an iguana on his dresser.

Tyler: Last Monday in Art we made snakes in the grass. First we got a cardboard piece. Then we got some tape and some string and we taped the string and we wrapped it around the cardboard to make grass. Then we cut out a snake, and then we put it in the grass. Then we left for dismissal.

Ali: In our Writing Workshop stories we made About the Author pages. An About the Author page is something to tell you about the person who wrote the book. In the About the Author usually people write about what they like. They also write about what they do in their free time. Then we drew a picture of ourselves at the bottom.

Elizabeth: Last Wednesday we had Library. In Library, Mrs. Patino read us stories about women who helped America. She read that because March is Women’s History Month. She read us two stories. When she finished reading we went on the computers and checked out books.

Tatyiana: Last week we went to Music. We played on our recorders. We played Jingle Bells, we played pages 9 and 10, and then we went to another station. We played a game and then our teacher came so I said bye to Miss Lilley.

Emily: Last week we got new seats. There are three groups of desks. I’m sitting with Ali, Phaydan, Lily, David, and Daniel. My friends Molly and Madison are sitting at a different table. They’re sitting with Brenna, Jesse, Logan, Seamus, Sophia, Katie, and Jameson.

Brenna: We saw a drumming performance last week at the cafeteria. It was loud. Very loud! It was two girls from a drumming group. They played all kinds of drums. I liked watching it.

David: In Math we started learning about fact families. A fact family is a group of 4 math problems all with the same numbers. One example is:

7 x 10 = 70

10 x 7 = 70

70 / 10 = 7

70 / 7 = 10

We started fact families in first grade. You can also use fact families with addition and subtraction. Here’s an example:

5 + 5 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

10 – 5 = 5

10 – 5 = 5

Seanalee: In Math we played a dice game to practice fact families. We rolled two dice. For example, if I rolled a 5 and a 6 my partner would need to find the third number in the fact family. They would find it by doing 5 x 6 and 30 is the answer. Then we wrote the fact family.

Sophia: In Literacy we learned about contractions. Contractions are two words put together, then you take away a certain letter and in its place you put an apostrophe. We worked on contractions for a few minutes and wrote some in our notebooks.

Ms. Little: The English Language Arts portion of MCAS testing will be administered the 19^th and 20^th of March. There will be no homework assigned during that week. Also, spring conference reminders were sent home in your child’s backpack folder last Thursday. Please let me know if you need to change the date and/or time and we can reschedule. Enjoy the weekend.

Postcard Update!

We're almost there! Our class has received a postcard from almost all of the fifty states in our country. We hope to receive South Dakota, Arkansas, and Oklahoma soon. 


Each time a postcard is received it is shared at morning meeting, and then the state is colored on our maps according to the region in which it's located. We also hang the postcards up in our classroom.

We have also received postcards from many different countries such as Israel, Greece, Indonesia, New Zealand, France, South Africa, Ireland, Thailand, and Australia. We keep track of which countries we've received by coloring a map as well.

 Thank you to friends and family members who have sent a postcard our way! 

Newsletter 3-7-13

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon
March 7, 2013

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 8^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Wednesday, March 13^th – Last day of MCAS after school review class

·        Friday, March 15^th – Book orders due

·        Friday, March 15^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Tuesday, March 19^th – English Language Arts MCAS

·        Wednesday, March 20^th – English Language Arts MCAS

·

Classroom News:

Cherokee: Last week we listened to Gregory’s Shadow. It was about a groundhog named Gregory and he was best friends with his shadow. It was close to Groundhog Day. Gregory and shadow one day went to get food, but the shadow went without Gregory and got locked out. At the end, Gregory found his shadow and it was Groundhog Day and the shadow had to hide behind Gregory because the farmers wanted to see if he could be without his shadow.

Madison: Last Thursday we had a substitute. It was Mrs. Jacobson. For Math she gave us a booklet for division. We were (helping) the chef make his pizzas. We had to divide the pizza toppings like this: 9 pepperonis to be shared equally on 3 pizzas. 9 divided by 3 = 3. We used a strategy for each problem. I used a picture strategy. It was easy for me.

Molly: In Literacy we read in our reading group. My group is reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. We are put in groups. There are 3, 4, 5, or 6 of us in a group. Our book is about a boy and his annoying brother.

Ali: Last week in our classroom Mrs. Jacobson read Horton Hears a Hoo to us. It was about an elephant that heard something on a speck of dust. No one believed that there was something on the speck. A bird came and took away the speck. Horton found the speck and went to go prove they were there. The people on the speck made as much noise as possible and finally the animals heard them.

Daniel: On Friday for Dr. Seuss’s birthday we made half-bred animals after we read Horton Hears a Hoo. We did this because in the book Horton Hatches an Egg, there’s an elephant bird. We got to name our animal. I made a half snake half lynx. We had to draw where they live.

Elizabeth: Last Monday we went to Art. We had Mystery Art. Mystery Art is when Mrs. Santillo puts out random stuff and we make things with it. She also puts out duct tape. Some of the stuff she puts out is fabric, egg cartons, chocolate containers, and milk cartons.

Lily: In Library Mrs. Patino read a book called Yurtle the Turtle. It was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. I liked that story! Then we checked out books. After that, we played on the computers.

Sophia: Last week we got Kindergarten buddies! We made Dr. Seuss hats with our buddy. My buddy’s name is Mia. We read some books when we finished making our hats. Then we left.

Katie: Last week our class led the Pledge of Allegiance in the office. Monday people went, so did people on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You go to the office and when you start you say your name into the microphone. Then you say, “Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.” Then you say the pledge and have a wonderful day or something like that. After, you go back to your class.

Jameson: We read Time for Kids last week. It was about Barack Obama. I read with Mrs. McNamara. Time for Kids is a magazine that has stories about animals and people. My favorite Time for Kids was about cheetahs.

Tatyiana: We played the recorders at Music. We played pages 5 and 6. We played Who Took the Key? We have to sit on the rug and you pass the key around. Then you guess who has the key. Then we went to a different station. We played the drums. Then the teacher walked in and I said bye to Miss Lilley.

Logan: In Math we got numbers on sticky notes. We had to figure out ways to make equal groups with our number. My number was 28. My partner was Nathan. Some of our division sentences were 28 divided by 2 = 14, 28 divided by 14 = 2, 28 divided by 1 = 28, and 28 divided by 28 = 1. Then we shared our number sentences with the class.

Seanalee: We read a play by Dr. Seuss. It was Green Eggs and Ham. It was a partner play. In the play one part was Sam I am and the other one was Grumpy. It was about Sam wanting Grumpy to try the green eggs and ham. It was a fun play.

Colin: The Green Meadow School PTO gave us book gifts. The book they gave us is called The Tiger Rising. I finished it already. It was a very good book! The book is about a tiger that is stuck in a cage and it’s up to Rob to save it.

Nathan: Last week we played a division matching game. There were cards with pictures and cards with division problems. We had to match the picture with the division problem. I thought it was easy. For example: 9 divided by 9 = 1. We had to match it with a picture of 9 groups with one in each group.

Brenna: We finished our writing workshop stories. They were realistic fiction stories. Some of us are done and some aren’t. We took a long time. We wrote great stories. For example, mine was about going to camp.

David: In Math we started learning division. Division is something where you take one number and see how many times it goes into it.  Like if we take the problem 27 divided by 3 we just count up to 27 by threes like this: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27. Then we see how many numbers there are to get to 27 and that’s our answer which is 9.

Jesse: We watched a movie with Mrs. Messina’s class. It was about ukes and zukes. The ukes were blue ones and the zukes are red. They were fighting that they spread their butter different ways. At the wall there was a guard that protects the wall. I think the point of the movie was that it doesn’t matter which way they spread their butter.

Tyler: Last week in Gym we first warmed up. Then we did a bucket relay race. Then we played tag. After that we practiced our hockey skills. Then we went to see the first grade dioramas.

Emily: We started doing a play about the water cycle in Science. There are a lot of parts in it. I’m Water Drop 2. We are going to perform it for Mrs. Messina’s class and they are going to perform it for us. Some of the parts of the play are funny. Like one of the lines says something about brushing teeth and they’re water in the sink. It’s a weird play.

Seamus: Last week we read A Series of Unfortunate Events. Count Olaf wanted to take the Baudelaire children into town. Violet pretended to drop her ribbon on the ground so she could listen to the grown ups talk about who was driving into town. Violet told Sunny to guard the door. Mr. Poe came in and said, “You and Stephano (who is really Count Olaf) will go into town.” Then, Stephano went outside with Dr. Lucafont.

Phaydan: In Science we did a water cycle quiz. First we drew a picture and then we had to write what we learned. It can start out as condensation, precipitation, evaporation, or accumulation. In the picture we had to label each part. We learned about the water cycle with Mrs. Messina’s class.

Ms. Little: The English Language Arts portion of MCAS testing will be administered the 19^th and 20^th of March. There will be no homework assigned during that week. Also, spring conference reminders were sent home in your child’s backpack folder today. Please let me know if you need to change the date and/or time and we can reschedule. Enjoy the weekend.

100th Day of School!

Our class celebrated the 100th day of school last Tuesday.  During Math, students worked together as a team to build a creation with exactly 100 pattern blocks. Then, each team checked another team's design. Some groups used addition and some used multiplication strategies to count the blocks.

The next challenge in honor of the 100th day of school was to create a mosaic with exactly 100 pieces of construction paper squares. When finished, we checked a partner's mosaic by counting how many squares they used.  Our creative minds were hard at work!