Weather Presentation

Meteorologist Sam Schreier from Channel 5 gave a presentation to the third, fourth, and fifth graders at St. Malachy School about weather.  Fifth grade students recently completed a unit on weather in science.

January 28, 2016

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

1-28-16

Catholic Schools Week

Sunday, January 31st through Friday, February 5th St. Malachy School will be celebrating Catholic Schools Week.  There are many fun activities planned.  On Sunday, January 31st, there is mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.  There will be notes sent home in Thursday's take home folder for students who signed up to participate.  There is a brunch in the basement of the church following mass.  Monday, February 1st is Blue and Gold Day.  Students need to bring a sack lunch (milk provided by school) and will eat with their Advent Angel.  School faculty and staff are leaving to have lunch at Pizza Ranch between 11:30-1:00 PM.  Parent volunteers are needed to during those times to cover classes at school.  Please let Sarah know if you are able to do this.  Tuesday, February 2nd is Come As You Are/Pajama Day.  Students will be participating in the Living Rosary in the morning. Wednesday, February 3rd is Class Color Day.  Third grade has chosen the color blue. During the afternoon students will be getting together again with their Advent Angel to make Valentine's Day cards for service men and women and residents at local nursing homes.  There is no mass on Wednesday, February 3rd. Thursday, February 4th is Sports Day.  In the afternoon there will be, Febre a teacher versus 8th grade student competition.  Basketball and trivia will be taking place. Friday, February 5th is Dress Up Day.  The grandparents/special guest mass begins at 1:30 PM at Holy Spirit Parish.  There is a reception in the basement afterwards.  Students are free to leave with their guest if parents so desire.  Another fun activity taking place is the field trip to the Iowa Energy game on Tuesday, February 9th.  Please return the permission slip and the fee to school as soon as possible.  A sack lunch is being provided by the school.  Another sheet outlining the week has been sent home with your child.  Several of the students mentioned their sheet sent home last week got thrown away.

Book Order

A book order has been included in the take home folder.  Orders may be submitted by cash or check (payable to Nicole Burg) or may be submitted online with a credit card at www.scholastic.com.  All orders are due by Friday, February 5th.

Reading Calendar

A February reading calendar has been included in the take home folder for next month.  Please return January calendars to school by Thursday, February 4th.  The goal for February is 500 minutes.

St. Malachy Foundation Dinner and Auction

The St. Malachy Foundation dinner and auction will be held on Saturday, March 5th.  Please remember to get donations brought to school by Friday, February 19th.  The basket is a "Backyard Fire Pit" and the silent auction item is a personalized quilt.  Each student designed a block with a self portrait of themselves.

Science

Third grade is learning about the solar system.  In addition to discussing during class, students will be researching one of the planets using an online encyclopedia during Library class.

Math

Chapter 5 in the math series has students apply the multiplication facts they have learned.

Reading/Language Arts

This week students are reading a play entitled "Two Bear Cubs." The comprehension skill covered story structure.  Students analyzed the setting, characters, and plot.  The vocabulary skills focused on the prefixes of pre-, re-, and bi-. Students worked on "oo" vowel sounds in spoon and wood in phonics.  The grammar skills covered irregular verbs.

The weekly assessment results for lesson 18 have been included in the take home folder.

Important Dates

Friday, January 29th-Spirit Day

Wednesday, February 3rd-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Friday, February 5th-1:30 Mass at Holy Spirit Church

Wednesday, February 10th-3rd Grade Mass

Wednesday, February 10th-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Friday, February 12th-Spirit Day
Friday, February 12th-Valentine's Day Party

January 21, 2016

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

1-21-16

Math

The class continue to learn about multiplication.  The class  has been taught the factors zero through ten.  Students have been taught strategies and patterns to look for when for solving problems.  Please practice the basic facts at home. A review was sent home with the students today.  There will be a test on Monday, January 25th.  This test will cover lessons learned from chapter 4.  On January 26th, students then will be test over the basic multiplication facts.

Chapter 5 will continue to focus on and apply the multiplication facts.

Science

Third grade is covering the solar system next in science.  Students arranged planet data in order according to groups (the distance from the sun, size from smallest to largest, and length of year).

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class read an informational text called "A Tree is Growing." The comprehension skill covered graphic features such as captions, diagrams, photographs, labels, and timelines to help enhance and better understand the text.  The vocabulary strategy focused on word roots, the base, or building block, of a word. Students worked on /k/ such as check, shark, and coldest and /kw/ such as question and equal.  The grammar skill covered using the verb be and helping verbs.

The weekly assessment from lesson 17 has been included in the folder.  

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week runs from Sunday, January 31st-Friday, February 5th.  There are many fun activities planned.  Please look for a note from the office explaining each of the sp ecial days taking place.  More information will be posted in next week's blog.

St. Malachy Foundation Auction

The St.Malachy Foundation Dinner and Auction will take place on Saturday, March 5th.  Please make sure all donations for the "Backyard Fire Pit" basket are at school by Friday, February 19th. Donations may include items to put in the basket such as marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, fire starter, hot dogs, tongs, bug spray, etc. Donations may also be monetary.  Lacy Mullin is coordinating the basket,

The silent auction item is a quilt.  This past Wednesday each student decorated their block of the quilt by making a self portrait of themselves.  Please send monetary donations to school to help cover the cost. Kiki Scarberry and Rebecca Ide are coordinating this project.  Thank you to all of the volunteers for helping with these projects.  It is truly appreciated.

SOS

This semester Ashley Bargstadt, senior at Creston High School, will be completing her Student of Service (SOS) in the third grade classroom.

Important Dates

Wednesday, January 27th-1 Hour Early Out

Friday, January 29th-Spirit Day

Saturday, January 30th-PTO Trivia Night

Sunday, January 31st-Friday, February 5th-Catholic Schools Week

Wednesday, February 3rd-1 Hour Early Dismissal (No Mass)

Friday, February 5th-Mass at 1:30 PM at Holy Spirit Church

Wednesday, February 10th-3rd Grade Mass

Tuesday, February 9th-School Wide Field Trip

Wednesday, February 10th-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Friday, February 12th-Spirit Day

Tuesday, February 16th-Donuts with Dad from 7:30 AM-8:00 AM

January 14, 2016

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

1-14-16

Anyone else ready for spring?  I would be happy if we could put the snow boots and gloves away. 

Please continue to check and sign assignment books books on a daily basis.  It is important for the students to be making sure it gets done each day.  In fourth grade, a student will get a late slip after repeated days of not having the assignment book signed.  I am trying to develop good habits now, so students understand the importance of being organized.

Reading/Language Arts

Third grade read the informational text "The Mystery of the Albertosaurus-Phillip Currie's Hunt in the Badlands.  The comprehension skill covered drawing conclusions.  Students need to look at details from the story to do this.  The vocabulary skill focused on the suffix 
-ly meaning "in a certain way." Students worked on with the /j/ and /s/ sounds and VCCV words in phonics.  The grammar skill continued to work with adjectives.  This week student are using adjectives to compare two nouns  by using -er, ier, and more and compare more than two nouns by using -est, iest, and most.

In the take home folder is the weekly test results from lesson 16.  These are yours to keep. In addition are the results of the Unit 3 Benchmark test.  From these results you can see how your child has done on unit 1, 2, and 3.  These tests are harder than the weekly tests. These assessments show if students are applying strategies in unfamiliar texts.  Texts are fiction and nonfiction.

Math

Third grade continues to work on multiplication.  Students have been introduced to the Associative Property which states when the grouping of factors is changed, the products is the same.  An example of this is (4 X 2) X 3= 4 X (2 X 3).  Students also looked at patterns on the multiplication table. 

Science

The next topic that third grade will learn about is the solar system.  Students will learn about the sun, moon, and planets.

St.Malachy Foundation Auction

It has been decided that third grade is going to make a quilt for the silent auction.  Each student will personalize a square for the quilt next Wednesday, January 20th.  Again, in the live auction third grade will be doing a "Backyard Fire Pit" basket.  Please send all donations to school by Friday, February 19th.  All donations are greatly appreciated.

Imporant Dates
Friday, January 15th-Spirit Day
Wednesday, January 20th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Wednesday, January 27th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Friday, January 29th-Spirit Day
Saturday, January 30th-PTO Trivia  Night
Sunday, January 31st-Friday, February 5th-Catholic Schools Week

January 7, 2016

Third Grade News

1-7-16

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Math

Third grade continues to learn the multiplication factors. Students have learned the Distributive Property that states that multiplying a sum by a number is the same as multiplying each addend by the number and then adding the products.  An example of this is 6 X 7=(6 X 5) + (6 X 2), then 30 + 12=42, so 6 X 7=42.  Please continue to work on the basic facts at home.

 Reading/Language Arts

This week's story students read a humorous fiction story called "Judy Moody Saves the World" by Megan McDonald.  The comprehension skill focused on the story structure such as setting, characters, and plot.  Students learned about adjective in grammar.  The vocabulary strategy covered context clues. The class worked on words with air, ear, and are in phonics.

This week students are taking the Unit 3 Benchmark Test.  The results will be sent home next week.

The results from the weekly assessment for Lesson 15 have been included in the take home folder. This test was taken during the last full week of school before break.

Science

Third grade has been learning about food chains in science.  Students have been in small groups learning about food chains in a specific habitat and have shared the information they have learned with the class.  There will be a test next week.

St. Malachy Foundation Auction

The St, Malachy Foundation will be hosting its annual dinner and auction on Saturday, March 5th. As in the past, each class is responsible for providing a basket for the live auction and a personalized silent auction item.  Lacy Mullin is in charge of the class basket, and Kiki Scarberry is in charge of the silent auction item.  If you would like to assist in either of these, please let Lacy, Kiki, or myself know. Donations are being accepted for both.  There is a note in today's take home folder explaining more about the auction.

Reading Calendar

Thirteen students turned in calendars and eleven completed the reading goal for December. The total number of minutes read was 8,472. Sasha Wurster read the most minutes for the month of December with 1,336. January calendars were sent home with the students this past Monday. The goal for January, February, and March has increased to 500 minutes.

PTO Trivia Night Fundraiser

The PTO is planning a trivia night on Saturday, January 30th.  Information is being sent home in the the take home folder.  Here is the link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e084aa8aa23a4fd0-trivia to join in the fun.

Important Dates

Wednesday, January 13th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Friday, January 15-Spirit Day
Wednesday, January 20th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Wednesday, January 27th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Friday, January 29th-Spirit Day
Sunday, January 31st-Friday, February 5th-Catholic Schools Week