Weekly Update: October 22nd-25th

Lemme

Leopards



Curriculum updates:

Literacy:

This past week students read the realistic fiction selection, Kamishibai Man. Students practiced the comprehensions skills of being determine the cause/effect.   Students also worked on the comprehension strategies of monitoring and clarifying.

Grammar and Writing: Students spent time determining the simple subjects and simple predicates of a given sentence.

Spelling: Students spelling words were sorted into two categories based on the diphthongs ou and ow.  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 although I encourage all students to try them. 

Reading logs:

Your child should be recording the number of minutes they are reading each night in their reading log. Students can bring in their signed reading logs on Thursday, please help them to total the number of minutes read.



Everyday Mathematics:

Students will be bringing home their Unit 3 Progress Check this week. Please sign and return the Unit 3 Progress Check. I keep these in a student file in order to help guide and differentiate my instruction. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me. Students will begin Unit 4: Multiplication and Division on Monday, October 28th. Unit 4 has three main areas of focus:

• To model and solve multiplication number stories and practice multiplication facts
• To model and solve division number stories and practice division facts
• To explore the links between multiplication and division

Social Studies:

On Monday, we are beginning our first chapter of our social studies book; Where in the World is Our Community? Students will learn where their community is located in the world. Students will also act like space shuttle astronauts who are returning to Earth and learn about the geographic features of the globe as they get nearer to their landing site.

Reminders:

Picture retakes will be on Monday, October 28th.

Weekly Update: October 15th-19th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,
Hooray! We finished up our Iowa Assessment testing. The students were amazing, they all worked so hard. I was so proud of their excellent behavior during this busy testing week, please share this with them! Thank you again  for bringing in snacks, water bottles, mints, napkins, and gum for our testing week. The kids really enjoyed having a snack each day!

Science: Most of our morning was dedicated to testing, but when we weren't testing we were finishing up our science unit, creating our flashlights! The kids worked diligently and had a lot of fun! Enjoy the pictures below. Reminder: Students have a science test on Monday, October 22nd. They should have brought home a green study review sheet attached with some of their notes, worksheets, and study aids to help them review for the test.

Sorry girls, I didn't realize this one was so blurry:(

Math: Students had the opportunity to practice their measuring skills this past week. Students used a tape measurer to measure objects around the room. They measured to the nearest inch, half inch, centimeter, and half centimeter. This is a great skill to reinforce at home. We also explored finding the perimeter of a polygon.

Other info:

Planners:

Beginning on Monday, October 22^nd, your child will be coming home with a planner. We feel as a team that these planners will help students become more organized and help them to gain more responsibility. Fourth grade on up are using planners so it great to help establish this routine early.

We plan on taking the last five minutes of the day to fill out our planners together. The students will simply record each day the homework they have for that night, if it is due a different day we will have them record the due date as well. If there is no homework, they will simply write, none.

It is important that I note that we are NOT asking parents to sign these each night. However, if your child has a missing assignment, they will highlight the assignment in their planner. Then, they will be expected to show you and get a parent signature so you are aware that they have incomplete work.

We are hoping that this will be a great communication tool and we are very excited to get them started!!

Parent Survey: Parent teacher conferences are coming up soon! In your child's Leopard book there should be a brief parent survey. This is an opportunity for you to share any concerns or topics you would like to discuss in preparation for our meeting together! I look forward to discussing your child's progress.



Weekly Update: October 8th-12th

Lemme

Leopards



Hi Parents,

We had another busy week in 3rd grade. We prepared for the Iowa Assessments by doing some practice questions while completing a bubble sheet. The students had a lot of great questions so we took time to discuss them. They were excited to find out they are having a snack each day and getting to chew gum while they take the test. We did talk about the rules that go along with this privilege:) On Friday, we had the Iowa City firefighters come and perform a skit on fire safety. It had a nice message that covered the following:

• having two ways out in case of a fire
• remembering to stop, drop, and roll
• having a meeting spot for your family
• checking your smoke detector

Curriculum updates:

 

 

Literacy:
This past week students read the traditional tale, The Harvest Birds. Students practiced the comprehensions skills of being able to draw conclusions using details (or clues) to figure out ideas that the author doesn't state.  Students also worked on the comprehension strategy of inferring.

 

Grammar and Writing: Students spent time placing commas in a series of nouns or verbs.

• Example: Jack enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping.  
• Example: He picked up sticks, rocks, and colorful leaves.

Together, we also worked on writing summary paragraphs in our own words, making sure to include the main events from the text.

 

Spelling: Students spelling words were sorted into three categories based on the unexpected consonants; kn, wr, and tch .  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 although I encourage all students to try them. Students will not have a spelling list this week due to Iowa Assessments.

Reading logs:
Students should have a reading log in their Leopard book. We would like students to read 50 minutes a week or 100 minutes for the rest of this month. We will gradually increase the minutes throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to email or call.

Everyday Mathematics:

Please sign and return the Unit 2 Progress Check. I keep these in a student file in order to help guide and differentiate my instruction. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me. Students began Unit 3: Linear Measures and Area on Wednesday, October 6th. Unit 3 has four main areas of focus:

• To explore the need for standard units of measure
• To measure lengths using customary and metric units
• To develop the concept of area
• To investigate the relationship between diameter and circumference

Science:

This past week students created a variety of circuits including parallel and series circuits. This coming week student will get to create switches to turn their light on and off, very exciting!!! I know the students will love it!

Other reminders:

Conference Confirmation Form: Your child should have a sheet in their Leopard Book that confirms your conference time. Please return these as soon as possible. If something has come up, I am more than happy to figure out another date/time that works for you. I look forward to discussing your child's progress.

Iowa Assessments:

The following are good habits, whether it’s during testing week or any other normal school day.

1. Get plenty of rest.
2. Eat healthy, including a well-balanced breakfast. 
3. Stay hydrated.  Drinking plenty of water helps flush toxins out of the system.
4. Arrive at school on time.  Preparing for school the night before can help get the day started well.
5. Maintain a positive attitude.  Focus on what went well.  If students believe they’ll do well, they’re more likely to succeed.

Weekly update: October 1st-October 5th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, quite a change from last weeks' weather. We had another great week in our 3rd grade classroom, I really enjoy your children as they each bring something special to our classroom. Thank you for your continued support at home, it is greatly appreciated!

Curriculum updates:

Literacy:
This past week students read the informational selection, What Do Illustrators Do?. Students practiced the comprehensions skills of being able to identify text and graphic features. Students enjoyed creating their own book including at least three text/graphic features. You can reinforce this at home by having your child point to captions, headings, bold faced words, etc.  Students also worked on the comprehension strategy of analyzing and evaluating text.
Vocabulary Strategy: Our vocabulary focus for this week was for students to be able to identify and use synonyms (words that have the same meanings) in order to understand word meanings.
Grammar and Writing: Students spent time working to identify verbs in the present, past, and future tense.  
Spelling: Students spelling words were sorted into four categories based on the three-letter cluster; thr, scr, str, and spr.  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 although I encourage all students to try them. This weeks' words have silent letters such as kn like in the word knot and wr in the word wrap.

Book Orders:

I sent home the October book orders for Scholastic this past Friday. I encourage you to order online as it allows me to add more books to our classroom library. Whenever you order, I get a $3.00 coupon to spend on books for our classroom. In return, you will also get a $5.00 coupon to spend on your next book order, which I think is awesome! If you ordered last month, be sure to use this coupon. The due date will be Friday, October 12th and books usually arrive within a week.

Everyday Mathematics:

Students will have their Unit 2 math test on Monday, October 8th. I sent an email this morning (Saturday) attached with a some math review sheets. Some students may be bringing this home, if not, I wanted to make sure you had a copy just in case. The review is not homework, but additional practice that we thought might be helpful.

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Science:

On Friday, students were investigators as they searched for "hidden circuits". Students worked with partners to make one circuit tester to find out how the wires were arranged in the circuit boxes. Here are some pictures as promised. Enjoy!

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!!!