Mrs. Nove's News: September 24th-28th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend, including the Hawkeye victory! We spent a lot of time outside this weekend, crunching through the colorful leaves, riding bikes, and even taking a late night walk under the full moon with the kids.

We had a busy week at school, starting our small group rotations, getting our school pictures taken, and participating in our first school wide assembly. The focus of this assembly was on responsibility. Mrs. Johnsen's third grade class and Mrs. Hynes' second grade class helped to lead the assembly by performing a rap about responsibility. Students that received a Pawsitively Outstanding note from a teacher were also recognized. Below is the link to view the awesome rap. A big thank you to our music teacher, Ms. Berry for the preparation!

http://www.edline.net/pages/lemmeschool/News/Responsibility_Rap_

Curriculum Updates:

Literacy:
This past week students read the humorous fiction selection, Max's Words. Students practiced the comprehensions skills of sequencing events within a story and being able to identify signal words such as first, next, then, etc. Students also worked on the comprehension strategy of questioning. We discussed how good readers ask questions, before, during, and after they read.  

Vocabulary Strategy: Our vocabulary strategy for this week was adding the suffixes -er and -or to a base word to tell "one who." Example: collector-means "one who collects" 

Grammar and Writing: Students spent time working with verbs this week, our focus was on action verbs and being verbs.

Spelling: Students spelling words were sorted into three categories; words with only a long vowel sound, only a short vowel sound, or having both. Students receive a copy of their spelling words at school each Monday. They should be bringing this list home to study. Students take a spelling test each Friday. They will bring home their scored tests on the following Monday. There are six challenge words at the bottom of each list, these are optional for students. These weeks words with focus on three letter clusters; thr, scr, and str.

Book Orders:

I will be sending home the October book orders for Scholastic this coming Friday. I encourage you to order online as it allows me to add more books to our classroom library. The due date will be October 12th. I place the order on that date, and they usually arrive within a week.

Everyday Mathematics:

Students should have brought home a Everyday Mathematics letter explaining how to log into the Everyday Mathematics website. Attached was the student login and password. Students also have their login/password card taped into the inside of their Leopard Book.

Please continue to work on addition/subtraction facts with your child so that they become automatic. All students should have a set of math triangles located in the zipper pocket of their Leopard Book. Please let know if your child does not and we can make sure to get them a set.

The main focus this past week and coming in the week ahead is for students to:

• Be able make Ballpark estimates and use the Partial Sums algorithm to add 2 and 3 digit numbers.  
• Be able to use the Trade-First Algorithm to subtract

Science:

I apologize for not getting some pictures loaded. That will be my goal for this week. Students have continued to explore closed circuits, learned how to trouble shoot (and not just say, "Mrs. Nove my battery must be dead."), and are in the process of discovering the difference between a conductor and and insulator of electricity.

Mrs. Nove's News: September 17th-September 21st

Lemme



  Leopards

 

Hi Parents,

We made an excellent transition to our straight grade classroom of 23 amazing 3rd graders. We had a busy week beginning a new science unit on electricity, Math Unit 2, and completing our DRA testing.

Curriculum Updates:

Literacy: Students spent time taking their DRA assessment, reading independently, reading with a partner, and completing a variety of spelling activities. I am excited to start small groups for reading on Monday. We are all ready to get into a routine.

Spelling: The spelling words for this past week contained the different spellings for long i (including i, igh, and ie). Students receive a copy of their spelling words at school each Monday. They should be bringing this list home to study. Students complete activities throughout the week to help practice their spelling words. We try to have students focus on the patterns within their words. Students take a spelling test each Friday. They should bring home their scored tests on the following Monday. There are six challenge words at the bottom of each list, these are optional for students although I encourage all students to try them.

3rd Grade Everyday Mathematics:

Please sign and return the Unit 1 Progress Check. We keep these in a student file in order to help guide and differentiate our instruction. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.  As 3rd grade teachers, we have decided to continue to switch for math. We feel we can best meet the instructional needs of all 3rd grade students this way.

We just began Unit 2: Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers. Unit 2 has four main areas of focus:

• To review fact families and number families
• To review and solve "What's My Rule?" problems
• To use diagrams to help solve number stories
• To review algorithms for adding and subtracting

Science:

I hope the students have come home excited about science. As a new teacher to the Iowa City School District, I have been very impressed with the science units. For each science unit, I have the opportunity to attend a training so that I can become more familiar with the concepts being taught and get to experience the unit first hand. Students are welcome to bring in their flashlights from home, as many already have. We will have a chance to read using our flashlights at the end of the week.

This week, students explored how to light a light bulb using just a wire, one battery, and of course, a mini light bulb. It was so exciting to see their reaction when they got it to work on their own. We discovered that their are only four ways to light the bulb and we recorded these in our science journals. On Friday, we learned about the parts of a light bulb. We also wanted to find out how many D batteries it would take to light a 60 watt bulb. I surveyed each student for their prediction, the mode and median of our student data was three. We darkened the room and gathered around a small table with a lot of anticipation. A small cheer went up when the bulb began to glow after 8 batteries were placed together!! We continued to add batteries to see if we could make the glow stronger. The students made connections to the amount of energy needed to light a bulb and why we should conserve electricity. I will add pictures later so you can see what this process looked like.

Thanks for all of your support during our transition to straight grades, I truly appreciate it! I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Mrs. Nove's News: August 27th-August 31st

                    Lemme

Leopards

 

Curriculum Updates:

3rd grade Literacy: This past week students read the fiction selection, The Trial of Cardigan Jones. We worked hard, practicing how to draw conclusions, based on the clues that the author gives us in the text. Students also focused on being able to infer/predict using this selection.

Vocabulary Strategy: Our vocabulary strategy for this week was being able to identify compound words and break them apart. We used the parts to figure out the meaning of the word.

Grammar and Writing: Students learned about the different types of sentences; commands, statements, questions, and exclamations. We discussed the type of punctuation that can be found at the end of these sentences. Our first writing focus is on writing friendly letters and personal narratives. We identified and labeled the parts of a friendly letter and as a class completed a shared writing example to my grandmother. Students also noted the placement of commas within a letter.

Spelling: Students spelling words followed the pattern VCe (Vowel-Consonent-silent e). Students receive a copy of their spelling words at school each Monday. They should be bringing this list home to study. Students take a spelling test each Friday. They will bring home their scored tests on the following Monday. There are six challenge words at the bottom of each list, these are optional for students.

4th Grade Literacy

This past week students read the biography, Mr. Brother Martin. Students focused on identifying the author's purpose and being able to monitor their comprehension while they are reading.

Vocabulary: Our vocabulary strategy for this week focused on the prefixes; in-, im-, il-, and ir- all meaning "not". We discussed how adding prefixes to base words changes the meaning of the word.  

Grammar and Writing: Students focused on being able to identify and use subjects and predicates within a sentence. Students identified the parts of a narrative composition and began writing their own narrative piece of writing.
Spelling: Students spelling words all had long or short e sounds. Students receive a copy of their spelling words at school each Monday. They should be bringing this list home to study. They will bring home their scored test on the following Monday.

3rd Everyday Mathematics:

Unit 1 has four main areas of focus:

• To explore patterns on number grids
• To review telling time, measuring lengths, and using calculators
• To review data concepts and make predictions based on data
• To give equivalent names for number

4th grade Everyday Mathematics:

4th graders just completed their first unit of study, Unit 1 Naming and Constructing Geometric Figures. They took their Progress Check on Friday, August 31st. Students will begin Unit 2: Using Numbers and Organizing Data.

 

Science: At the beginning of this week, students were given a "mock rock" which I created using various ingredients. Students became geologists as they broke down the "mock rock" using their tools to identify and classify the materials within their rock. Students mixed water with their broken down material and then let it settle. Students were able to observe the layers of the different materials within their rock. Lastly, students poured just the water from their vial into an evaporation dish and will examine on Tuesday the results of evaporation. They should be able to observe crystal residue. Students will use a Crystal Identification Key to compare and identify the crystals in the dish.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!!!