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.