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.