12/19/24

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

12/19/24

Math

The class took the topic 7 test that covered analyzed and interpreting graphs. The class also took a school wide survey. Students came up with the question, gathered the data, and then analyzed the information by creating graphs.

Science

The class continues to discuss plant and animal traits and adaptations. The students have learned about the effects of environmental changes such as volcanoes, earthquakes, fire, and floods on living things.

Reading/Language Arts

This week The Gingerbread Man was read aloud. Students came up with adjectives to describe the Gingerbread Man. Also, the students worked on the comprehension skill of retelling. Then different versions of the story were read aloud such as The Gingerbread Girl and The Gingerbread Baby.  Students compared and contrasted settings, characters, problems, and solutions about each of the stories. The class will be having a scavenger hunt after reading The Gingerbread is Loose at School.

Class Christmas Party

Friday, December 20th will be a day filled with fun. Students will need to bring a sack lunch with a drink (no pop). Students will be eating with their Advent Angels. One of the traditions that has developed is Advent Angels exchanging gifts with each other. This is a very nice gesture, but please know it is not required. If your child is bringing a gift, please limit it to around $5, and something small that the child can easily carry home. After lunch, there will be singing of Christmas carols in the gym. Students will return back to their classrooms for class parties.

Reading Incentive Program

I have included a January reading calendar in your child's take home folder for next month. Please note that the goal for January, February, and March increases to 500 minutes.

Please return the December calendar back to school on Monday, January 6th when classes resume.

Important Dates

Thursday, December 19th

Friday, December 20th-Holiday Sweater Day/Sack Lunch Needed

Monday, December 23rd-Friday, January 3rd-NO SCHOOL

Monday, January 6th-Classes Resume at STM

Friday, January 10th-Spirit Day

12/12/24

 Burg's Buzz
12/12/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Math

To apply the skills that have been learned in our data and graphing unit, the third grade class will be conducting a school wide survey. The students will be collecting data, creating graphs, and then analyzing the information. 

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class read the play "Gigi and the Wishing Ring." This play was adapted from an Italian fairy tale. The reader follows Gigi as he leaves home for an adventure and making a fortune. Along his journey, he encounters an elderly woman who gives him the special wishing ring. With this ring, Gigi encounters many different situations. The comprehension skill focused on retelling, elements of dram a, and theme. The suffixes or -er and -or were discussed as the vocabulary skill. Students worked on making plural nouns. The decoding skill focused on the vowel diphthongs of -ow and -ou.

This will be the last story and lessons that will be covered before Christmas break. Next week the plan is to do Christmas activities.

Science

The third grade class continues to learn about organisms'adaptations.

Important Dates

Friday, December 13th-Grinch Day (Wear Green)

Monday, December 16th-Snowman Day (Wear White)

Monday, December 16th-Reconciliation

Tuesday, December 17th-Smooth as Velvet/Mad for Plaid   (Wear Velvet or Plaid)

Wednesday, December 18th-Holiday Glow (mass attire)

Thursday, December 19th-Mele Kalkimaka (Wear a Hawaiian Shirt)

Friday, December 20th-Spirit Day $1

Friday, December 20th-Holiday Sweater Day

Friday, December 20th-Sack Lunch/Caroling/Class Party

Christmas Vacation

There is no school from Monday, December 23rd-Friday, January 3rd. School will resume on Monday, January 6th.

12/5/24

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

12/5/24

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class started on Module 4. In this module, students will listen to, read, and view a variety of texts and media that will give information about the features of dramas. Students will read plays about a tall tale, a classic tale, and a myth as well as watch an informational video.

This week the class is reading a play entitled The Saga of Pecos Bill by Anthony Fredericks. In this tall tale, students learn about the life of Pecos Bill. The comprehension skills focused on visualizing, the elements of drama, literary elements, and figurative language. The vocabulary skill covered the prefixes of in- and im-. Students also worked on the consonant digraphs as the decoding skill. The grammar skill introduced students to pronouns. Students learned about subject pronouns, object pronouns, and antecedents.

The module 3 assessment results have been included in the take home folder. 

Science

The class has been learning about plant and animal adaptations.

Math

The next topic that the third grade class will cover is analyzing and interpreting graphs. Students have worked with bar graphs and picture graphs.

Those students who have not mastered the multiplication facts need to continue to practice at home to achieve mastery.

Reading Incentive Program

For the month of November, nine third grade students met the reading goal. Those students include Grayson, Hallea, Claire, Locklyn, Asher, Grisham, Addy, Maddox, and Natalie. The total minutes read during the month of November was 9,499 in all. Maddox and Natalie each read over two thousand minutes.

 

Nursing Home Gifts

Once again this year, students and staff at St. Malachy School are collecting items for the residents in care facilities in Creston and Afton. All items need to be at school by Friday, December 13th. Some ideas to buy include socks, candy, books, a deck of cards, snacks, and personal care items such as lip balm, body wash, hair brush/comb, and nail polish. There are also two noisy change collections planned to purchase bigger items to donate.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Starting on Thursday, December 5th, St. Malachy School will have Christmas dress days. For this week, Thursday is "Holiday Hat" day, and Friday is "You're a Gift" day. On this day, students can wear a bow or ribbon. The other dress up days include Candy Cane Day, Cozy Christmas Socks, Winter Wonderland, Grind Day, Snowman Day, Smooth as Velvet/Mad for Plaid, Mele Kalkimaka, and Holiday Sweater Day.

Important Dates

Friday, December 6th-Spirit Day $1

Monday, December 9th-Mrs. Burg Absent from School

Wednesday, December 11th-Noisy Change Collection

11/21/24

 Burg' s Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

11/21/24

Science

The class is learning about living things in science class. Students have discussed how the environment can affect plants and animals.

Math

The class continues to work on learning the division facts. Students have worked on using multiplication and division facts to find unknown values in an equation.

Reading/Language Arts

The class is reading Why is the Statue of Liberty Green? by Martha Rustad. In this narrative nonIfiction selection, the reader follows Mrs. Bolt's class as they visit the statue and learn where the statue came from, how she was built, and what American ideas she represents. The story covered the comprehension concepts of central idea, author's purpose, and literary elements. Students learned about abstract nouns as the grammar skill. The decoding concept covered the silent letters of kn, wr, gn, mb, and rh. Students also worked on using the prefix of im- as the vocabulary strategy.

The students will take the week 9 spelling post test and weekly assessment this Friday. Monday and Tuesday of next week will be spent doing Thanksgiving activities.

Reading Incentive Program and Read-A-Thon

I hope everyone is continuing to keep track of their reading minutes on their November calendar. With Read-A-Thon going on as well, students can record minutes on both. On the day minutes double for Read-A-Thon, they do NOT double for the reading Incentive program. Please return both the November calendar and the Read-A-Thon tracking sheet and donations back to school on Monday, December 2nd. A December calendar has also been included in this week's take home folder since there will be no blog or take home folders next week due to Thanksgiving break.

Important Dates

Thursday, November 21st-PTO Meeting 6 PM

Friday, November 22nd-Spirit Day $1

Friday, November 22nd-Double Minutes for Read-A-Thon

Tuesday, November 26th-Pajama Day for Read-A-Thon

Wednesday, November 27th-Sunday, December 1st-Thanksgiving Vacation

Wednesday, December 4th-Christmas Concert-6 PM

Friday, December 6th-Spirit Day $1

Kindness Week

 Kindness Week 2024

The third grade class had a great week of spreading kindness. Thank you to parents who donated money towards the donations to DaVita Dialysis and the Creston Cancer and Infusion Center. Another thank you to Lindsay Ide and Shelby Bishop for walking uptown with the class. Here are some pictures that I took during the week.

The highlight for me was delivering the donations. It makes my heart feel so good knowing the donations will help out the patients.

11/14/24

 Burg's Buzz
11/14/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Reading/Language Arts

The assessments for week 8 were completed this past Monday. I also finished reading aloud the book 

Charlotte's Web to the class on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday was spent watching the movie to compare and contrast.

Lesson 9 will start on Thursday, November 14th.

Science

The next chapter in science will focus on life science. Students will learn about different habitats of living things.

Math

The third grade students continue to work on division. The divisors of zero through ten have been covered. Students have also worked on identifying if quotients are even or odd. 

We are now at the point in math instruction all of the factors in multiplication and divisors in division have been covered. We will still continue to practice both operations, but it is also each student's responsibility to continue practicing these facts. Five minutes before bed each night or when driving to school in the morning can be times when extra practice can be done.

Read-A-Thon

Information is coming home about the PTO's fall fundraiser. Read-a-Thon will run from Monday, October 18th-December 1st. You can record your minutes for Read-a-Thon on your reading incentive calendar as well. Please check out the note coming home in the take home folder about the fun activities and rewards.

Family Advent Night

A family Advent Night is planned for Wednesday, November 20th from 5:30-7:30 PM. A meal will be served between 5:30-6:00, games and activities can be played from 6-7, and the night will end with prayer from 7-7:30.

Important Dates

Friday, November 15th-Deliver Donations via Trolley

Saturday, November 16th-Elks Hoop Shoot at SWCC

Monday, November 18th-Mrs. Burg Absent in PM

Wednesday, November 20th-Family Advent Night

Friday, November 22nd-Spirit Day

11/7/24

 Burg's Buzz 
11/7/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Reading/Language Arts

The students are reading The Flag Maker by Susan Campbell Nivola. In this narrative nonfiction selection, students learn the story of the flag that came to be known as The Star Spangled Banner, told from the perspective of the flag maker's daughter. The comprehension skills focused on retelling, text structure, and content area words. Students also worked on the suffixes of -er and -est as the vocabulary skill. The grammar skill covered using commas in nouns and verbs in a series and their use in addresses. The decoding skill worked on words with /j/, /k/, and /kw/ sounds.

Math

The class is working on the concept of division. Students have learned different strategies for solving problems. The class learned about using arrays, using repeated subtraction, and using fact families. The class covered the divisors 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Please continue to practice the multiplication and division facts at home.

Science

The class will have a test over motion on Friday, November 8th.

Kindness Week

The 3rd grade class will be celebrating Kindness Week from Monday, November 11th-Friday, November 13th. This is one of my favorite weeks of the school year. A note giving all of the details and a permission slip have been included in the take home folder. The week includes dress up days and passing along kindness to others.

On Thursday, November 14th, the third grade class will be walking uptown to Adam's Street Espresso and Big Acai Bowl to welcome and greet their customers.  We will be leaving STM around 9:00 AM and returning back to school around 10:30 AM. Upon leaving uptown, the class will walk to Chris Lane's Real Estate Agency to drop some cards the students made promoting the great things Creston has to offer, so that he can hand them out to potential home buyers. 

I could use a couple of parents to walk with the class. If you are available, please let me know.

Reading Incentive Programs

Eleven students turned in calendars for the month of October totaling 8,137 minutes. Nine students met the reading goal. Those students include Natalie, Ellee, Mosley, Locklyn, Hallea, Grisham, Claire, Asher, and Maddox. Natalie and Maddox both read almost two thousand minutes, so both were awarded for their efforts.

Important Dates

Friday, November 8th-Spirit Day $1

Monday, November 11th-"Kind" in the USA (wear red, white, and blue)

Tuesday, November 12th-Round Up Your Kindness (wear western/cowboy)

Wednesday, November 13th-World Kindness Day (wear a cardigan sweater like Mister Rogers)

Thursday, November 14th-We Don't Hide from Kindness (camo)

Friday, November 15th-"Kind" of a Big Deal (dress like a famous person)

Wednesday, November 13th-PTO Meeting

Wednesday, November 20th-Advent Activity Night

Friday, November 22nd-Spirit Day $1

10/31/24

 Burg's Buzz
10/31/24
nburg@crestonstmaachy.org

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Thank you to all third grade parents for attending conferences. I enjoyed discussing your child's academic and behavioral progress. Thank you to the parents who donated books to the classroom.

October Reading Calendar

October reading calendars are due back to school on Monday, November 4th. Please make sure to total the number of minutes read and and add a parent's signature. November calendars were sent home with parents at conferences.

Dress Code

Upon returning back to school on Monday, November 4th, shorts will no longer be allowed at school. This is stated in the school's dress code policy.

Kindness Week

The third grade class will celebrate Kindness Week from November 11th-15th. Please look for a note coming home next week about the fun dress up days and activities.

Important Dates

Friday, November 1st-NO SCHOOL

Friday, November 8th-Spirit Day $1

Monday, November 11th-Friday, November 14th-Kindness Week

Wednesday, November 20th-Advent Night

10/24/24

Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10/24/24 

Reading/Language Arts

The students are reading The US Constitution by  Norman Pearl. In this informational text, students read about what the U. S. The Constitution is about, who wrote the US Constitution, when it went into effect, and about the specific parts included. The comprehension skills covered the central idea, text structure, and text and graphic features. Students focused on the present, past, and future tense of verbs as the grammar skill. The vocabulary skill worked on the suffixes of -y and less. The decoding skill covered three letter blends. Examples include spl-, str-, scr-, squ-, and spr-.

The class won't resume back in the reading textbook until after returning back to school after conferences. Students will do some Halloween reading and writing.

Science

The third grade class has been learning about patterns of motion. Examples include up and down, back and forth, circular, and zigzag.

Math

Topic 4 in math will focus on division. Strategies to solve division problems will include using fact families, arrays, and repeated subtraction.

Ala Carte at Lunch

A decision has been made in grades third, fourth, and fifth about ala carte at lunch. It has been decided that students can buy ala carte  for themselves, they can buy for one friend, or their entire class. Students can no longer bring in money to buy for a random group of other students. We know the students are trying to be generous, but some kids are being left out. It has been creating some issues.

  

Conferences

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled for after school on Monday, October 28th-Wednesday, October 30th, and in the morning on Thursday, October 31st. I look forward to talking about your child's progress in school.

Halloween Party

St. Malachy School will celebrate Halloween on Wednesday, October 30th. During the afternoon the middle school will have activities planned for the elementary students. The parade will take place beginning at 2:30 PM. Students will need to bring their costumes to school to change into. Parents may take their child after the parade.

Dress Code

According to the dress code, students will not be allowed to wear shorts at school as of November 4th. This remain in effect until the month of March.

Important Dates

Monday, October 28th-Thursday, October 31st-Conferences

Wednesday, October 30th-Halloween Parade 

Thursday, October 31st-No School

Friday, November 1st-No School

Friday, November 8th-Spirit Day $1

Monday, November 11th-Friday, November 15th-Kindness Week

10/17/24

 Burg's Buzz

10/17/24

nburg@crestonstmalchy.org

Math

The class continues to work on multiplication with the factors between zero and ten. Students also learned about The Associative Property of Multiplication. An example of this is 

(3 x 2) x 5=3 x (2 x 5). I have also started doing 2 minute timed tests for each of the factors. Students must pass the factor of 2 to move on the the factor of 3 and so on.

Reading/Language Arts

Since there was no school on Monday, Tuesday during language arts was spent finishing our letter writing unit. Students wrote a letter to their future self. 

The class started the lessons for week 7 on Wednesday, so there will be no testing on Friday of this week. We are starting Module 3 which focuses on information about important US documents and symbols.

The results for the assessments for Module 2 have been included in the take home folder.

Science

The third grade class learned about Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion.

FAST Testing

The results of the math FAST Testing have been included in the take home folder.

Dress Code 

Students will not be allowed to wear shorts to school beginning November 4th.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

The week of parent/teacher conferences is from Monday, October 28th-Thursday, October 31st. Conferences are after school on the 28th, 29th, and 30th. There is no school on the 31st with conferences in the morning. There is also no school on Friday, November 1st.

Important Dates

Friday, October 18th-Spirit Day $1

Wednesday, October 30th-Halloween Parade

Thursday, October 31st-NO SCHOOL 

Friday, November 1st-NO SCHOOL

 

10/10/24

 Burg's Buzz
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org
10/10/24

Science

The next unit that the third grade class will be learning about is motion.

Math

This week students have covered the factors of 3, 4, 6,7, and 8. We have now covered all of the factors from zero through ten in class. I am noticing students who are improving on their multiplication fact fluency. I love seeing this! Again, practicing at home and school makes a big difference.

Reading/Language Arts

The focus text this week is the fantasy story Dear Dragon by Josh Funk. In this story, George and Blaise are pen pals. They write letters back and forth telling each other about their pets, birthdays, and sports. There is one thing the two friends don't know about each other. Students learn what happens when they meet fact to face. The comprehension skills covered visualizing, understanding characters, a review of the elements of poetry, and point of view. Students learned about action verbs and the verb of 'be" as the grammar skill. The decoding skill focused on long and short vowel sounds. The suffixes of -y and -ly as the vocabulary skill.

FAST Testing

The results of the reading FAST Testing have been included in the take home folder. If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

Noisy Change Collection

During the month of November (11th-15th), the third grade class will be celebrating Kindness Week. Each year I have done this, the class has made a donation to a local charity. This year our class will be donating to two different organizations in Creston. We will be donating mitten/gloves to DaVita Dialysis Center for their patients to use during their treatments. Also, we will be donating coloring books, crayons, Legos, card games, and other items to Greater Regional Cancer and Infusion Center for their pediatric patients (ages 5-15). During the third grade Mass, there will be a "Noisy Change" collection. All funds will go towards this cause. The class will be delivering all of the items later in November.

In addition to participating in the monetary donations with the noisy change, third grade students will have the opportunity to bring in items to donate during the Kindness Week in November (11th-15th). More information will be sent home at a later date.

Mass Parts

The 3rd grade class will lead the liturgy on Wednesday, October 16th. Your child's part has been included in the take home folder. We will practice speaking parts at school, but please have your child practice their part at home as well.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for after school on October 28th, 29th, and 30th, as well as from 8-11 AM on the 31st. Please sign up for a time slot on JMC. I look forward discussing your child's progress with you.  

Important Dates

Monday, October 14th-NO SCHOOL (Teacher PD)

Wednesday, October 16th-3rd Grade Leads Mass 9:15 AM

Friday, October 18th-Spirit Day $1

10/3/24

Burg's Buzz
10/3/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Math

Topic 3 will focus on the factors of 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 in multiplication. Again, please continue to practice the multiplication facts at home to improve fluency.

Science

The third grade will have a science test over Forces on Monday, 

October  7th. A study guide will be completed on Thursday. Due to the early out on Friday, there will be no science class.

Reading/Language Arts

There were two selections to read in this lesson. First, the students read and analyzed a variety of poetry. Discussed with the class the elements of poetry such as rhyming words, rhythm, and imagery. The other selection read was a memoir entitled The Upside Down Boy by Juan Felipe Herrera. The comprehension skills covered figurative language and text/graphic features. Students also worked on singular and plural nouns as the grammar skills. The decoding skill covered the long i sound. The vocabulary skill focused on the prefix of dis-. 

The class has started another writing projects. Students are writing a letter to their future selves about their future plans.

Important Dates

Friday, October 4th-Creston Panther gear Spirit Day $1

Friday, October 4th-3 Hour Early Out (Homecoming)

Monday, October 14th-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Wednesday, October 16th-3rd Grade Leads the Mass

Friday, October 18th-Spirit Day $1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/26/24

 Burg's Buzz
9/26/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class is starting Module 2. In this module, students will listen, read, and view a variety of texts and media that present them with information about the importance of words and how they are used to express ideas and feelings.

This week's story was called Dear Primo-A Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh. In this story, two cousins write back and forth to each other discussing their lives as one lives on a farm in Mexico and the other lives in the city in America.  Students worked on compare and contrast, point of view, text and graphic features, and understanding characters as the comprehension skills. The grammar skills covered common and proper nouns. Students worked on the sound of long o as the decoding skill. The vocabulary skill focused on the prefixes of re- and pre-.

The results of the Module 1 assessments have been included in the take home folder For each lesson, students take a five point multiple choice selection test over the story covered. The students also have a reading passage and questions to answer that cover the comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar skills previously learned. This is also multiple choice with one short answer question that the students have to type an answer for. The reading passage and questions and answers are read aloud to the student on the computer. I also discuss the short answer question with the students beforehand. I will be making adjustments to how some of the students are grouped while taking the test. Please let me know if you have any questions after reviewing the results.

Math

Students continued to work on multiplication facts in class. The class has covered the factors of 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10. Please spend five to ten minutes a day reviewing these multiplication facts. The factor of 9 is what needs the most practice.

Each day, I try and incorporate a review of the factors by playing games. Some of the games are team games and others are individual games. I try to use technology at times as well. Like I have stressed to the students, you don't get better at something new unless you put in the time and practice. All it takes its five to ten minutes a day to improve.

The topic 2 math assessment will be taken next week.

Science

Third graders continued to learn about magnetism. Students learned that like poles repel and unlike poles attract. The class also learned about electricity.

Important Dates

Tuesday, October 1st-Homecoming Pep Rally

Friday, October 4th-Spirit Day $1 (Wear Panther Gear)

Friday, October 4th-3 Hour Early Out

Monday, October 14th-No School (Professional Development)

Wednesday, October 16th-3rd Grade Leads the Mass

Friday, October 18th-Spirit Day $1

9/19/24

 Burg's Buzz
9/19/24
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

Science

The class reviewed understanding friction and gravity. Students also experimented and learned about magnetism.

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class read the fantasy story Scary Squirrel by Melanie Watt. In this story, Squirrel is afraid to leave the tree she lives in due to being afraid of the unknown. The reader finds out what happens when Squirrel decides to leave her home and venture out.  The comprehension skills covered making inferences, point of view, text and graphic features, and theme. Students worked on identifying and writing compound sentences. The decoding skill focused on the long a and long e sounds. The vocabulary skill included using the suffixes of -ful and -ness.

I have talked with the students about their writing of their missed words on the pretest. Students should be using a pencil, writing on the lines, and using their best handwriting. Some of the work that has been turned in has been done in pen, not using the lines of the paper, and illegible handwriting. Also, I have talked with the students about studying the words for the post test. I understand missing a word or two, but missing as many as one did on the pretest shouldn't be happening on the post test.

Math

The class worked on learning the factors of 2, 5, and 9  this week. Please work with your child on these at home. Skip counting, repeated addition,  making arrays, and using flashcards can help. In your child's take home folder is a packet that shows the multiples of each number for practicing at home. There are many online resources such as games and songs that can be utilized as well. Spending five minutes on the drive to school or before bed can be really beneficial for the students.

There is a special trick for the nines. The sum of the digits adds up to nine. In a problem like 4 X 9 =?, the tens digit of the answer is one less than the factor other than 9. So, one less than 4 is 3. For the ones digit, add 3 + ____=9, so it would be 6. The answer to 4 X 9=36. There is also the finger method. I am attaching a video that demonstrates this strategy. 

Fingers Trick for the factor of 9  

                                 Important Dates

Friday, September 20th-Spirit Day $1

Friday, October 4th-Spirit Day $1 (Wear Panther Gear)

Friday, October 4th-3 Hour Early Dismissal (Homecoming)