Newsletter 4-11-13

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon
April 11, 2013

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, April 11^th – Open House 6:30 – 7:30 PM

·        Friday, April 12^th – Book orders due

·        April 15^th – April 19^th – Spring Break (no school)

Classroom News:

Sophia: Last week in Music we did our Earth Day commercials. We were separated into two groups. We had to make a musical commercial and it had to be about nature. We could use instruments if we wanted.

Nathan: We named key words in Math for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Here is an example for subtracting: take away. I liked it because it made me think. We had 10 minutes to do it. It was a little hard. A key word for multiplying is product. A key word for adding is plus. A key word for dividing is split.

Logan: We were drawing symmetrical reflective butterflies in Math. We had to draw the other side to make it look the same. We had to color them in. I made two little ones. The other one I made was big.

Daniel: In geometry we learned about perimeter. Perimeter is the length around a shape. We had perimeter homework. There were numbers on each side of the shape and we had to add up all the sides to find the perimeter. We had to write inches, yards, or meters if it says to. We did an activity in class to find the perimeter.

Lily: We are doing people projects in Social Studies. They are not done yet. A people project is a report about an important person. My partners are Daniel and David. We are doing our project on Samuel Adams.

Jesse: We filled up the marble jar and it only took us two weeks to fill it up! When we fill up the marble jar we get to vote on what we do to celebrate. Now we are filling up the marble jar quicker because we get marbles for saying thank you. Today most of us will come up with an idea to celebrate to write on the board.

Elizabeth: Last week in Library we read poems. We read poems because April is national poetry month. Then, we talked about the book fair. After that, we did book check out. Last, we went on the computers and Ms. Little came.

Katie: In Math we made tangram animal pictures. The animal choices were polar bear, horse and rider, zebra, shark, lion, inchworm, goat, salamander/newt. Or you could make up your own picture. Some kids made cheetahs, some kids did different kinds of birds, and other kids did dogs or puppies. We had to use tangram shapes to make the animal and we had to color in all of it and not leave white spaces on the paper. Then Ms. Little hung them all up.

Molly: Today we got new seats. Ms. Little put us in groups. We got to choose a person that we wanted to sit with. My group is Emily, Brenna, Tyler, Colin, and me. We change our seats every month.

Jameson: Last week at Gym we played doctor dodge ball. It is very fun when we play doctor dodge ball. In doctor dodge ball you choose a team and you go to separate places in the gym. You start off on your belly. Then, when Mrs. Hazel dumps the balls, you run to get one. It’s called doctor dodge ball because the doctor has to give you a high five for you to get back in. If someone throws a ball at you and it hits you, you’re out.

Emily: Last week we had two super early release days and two third grade recesses. A third grade recess is when we only have one recess and all the third graders go outside together. The reason we have a third grade recess is because when we have regular days we don’t have all the third graders out for recess, we only have a few. When we have early releases we get out at 12:30. And on early, early releases we get out at 11:25.

Madison: In Writing Workshop we are writing a thesis statement. A thesis is a statement like, “I think kids should speak up for themselves.” And then we wrote why we think that. We come up with lots of ideas for our thesis statements and we’re still making more.

Brenna: We have book groups. We read the same books in our book group. I am reading Nate the Great. Nate is a detective. We have a couple copies so everyone gets their own. We read out loud and then we discuss.

Ali: On Friday someone came in to talk to us about bullying. There were two different types of bullies. The two different types of bullies are meanies and bullies. She also talked about what meanies do. Meanies tease people.

Cherokee: This week we listened to Is Your Mama a Llama? It’s about when a llama asks other animals if their mamas are llamas and they all say no, until the llama meets his friend and asks, “Is your mama a llama?” and she says, “Yes.” I like the story because it is kind of funny. I think other third graders would like it because it’s funny and interesting.

Phaydan: In Math we read Grandfather Tang’s Story. With every picture there was a tangram picture. While Ms. Little was reading she showed us the picture on the Smartboard (it’s not very smart). We got to make it with our tangram pieces. First we made a fox. Next, a rabbit, then a dog, then a squirrel, then a hawk, then a turtle, then a crocodile, then a goldfish, then a goose, and then a lion. My favorite was the rabbit. My second favorite would be the turtle.

Tyler: Last Monday in Art we made things out of cards and gold pieces. First we got some cards and some gold pieces. Then we made stuff up with them. Mrs. Santillo told us to make them up with movable parts. And finally we packed up and went home.

Seamus: This week and last week we had MCAS practice packet. It was a packet with some math questions about multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. It was hard. When we got it done we returned it. Ms. Little taught us to explain our answers.

Tatyiana: We went to our first grade reading buddies publishing party on Tuesday. They read their stories to us. After they read to us we wrote down a compliment for them.

Seanalee: We made butterflies and both sides had to be the same. We colored the butterflies the same color on both sides. It was fun to do. My butterfly had pink, red, green, yellow, purple, blue, and orange. They had to be symmetrical.

Colin: We’ve had the same spelling words for three weeks. And now, we are having them for 4 weeks! I am bored of these words. I want new words. One of my words is limousine.

Ms. Little: Please join us for Open House tonight from 6:30 – 7:30 PM! This is an opportunity for students to show families the classroom and the hard work they’ve done so far this year. We look forward to seeing all families there!