Thursday, September 3, 2015

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

9-3-15

MATH

Concept covered in math this week have included number patterns and rounding.  Students were introduced to the Identity Property of Addition which states the sum of any number and zero is that number.  An example of this is 7 + 0=7.  Student also learned the Commutative Property of Addition which states that you can add two or more numbers in any order and get the same sum.  An example of this is 3 + 4=7 and 4 + 3=7.  The class also worked on rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.

READING/LANGUAGE ARTS

This week third grade read the humorous fiction story called A Fine, Fine School.  In this story a principal thinks everything about his school is fine,  so he decides to have school on the weekends which then leads to school during summer vacation.  The principal doesn't realize the kids are missing out on learning things away from school like teaching a dog to do tricks or a little brother to skip rope.  In the end, the principal decides school should only be on the weekdays so the kids can also learn new things away from school as well.  The comprehension skill covered learning about story structure.  Students identified the setting, characters, and the plot.  Students worked on short vowels for the phonics skill.  The vocabulary strategy demonstrated how to use context clues.  Students also learned about complete subjects and complete predicates in grammar.

Hopefully all students and parents understand how spelling works in third grade.  There will be a post test on Friday.  Please study the spelling list with your child.

There will be a weekly assessment given on Friday in reading.  It will cover the skills and concepts we worked on during the week. 

SCIENCE

Third grade continues to learn about plants in science.  The class has identified what plants need to live, plant parts, and looked at a plant cell.

STUDENT OF SERVICE

Creston High School has a program for seniors called Student of Service (SOS).  Students must complete a semester of service to graduate.  Paige Marxen will be completing her SOS this fall in the third grade classroom.  She will be here from 9:30-10:30 AM every other day.

CLASS MEETING

Third grade will be having weekly class meetings.  This past week the students developed a social contract.  A social contract is an agreement of behavior.  All of the students and myself signed the social contract.  The students know if they do not follow the social contract there are consequences.  You can find a copy of third grade's social contract in my blog pages. Please discuss the social contract with your child at home as you see necessary.

BOOK ORDERS

In this week's take home folders are a Scholastic book orders.  Please look to see if you would like to order.  The book order may be returned to school with cash or check (made payable to Nicole Burg) or orders can be submitted online following the directions attached to the order forms.  Book orders are due by Friday, September 11th.

IMPORTANT DATES
Friday, September 4th-Spirit Day
Tuesday, September 8th-PTO Meeting at 6 PM
Wednesday, September 9th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Sunday, September 13th-Holy Spirit International Food Fair 4-7 PM