11/20/25

Burg's Buzz
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org
11/20/25 

Reading/Language Arts

The third graders are reading Why is the Statue of Liberty Green written by Martha E. H. Rustad and illustrated by Holli Conger. In this narrative nonfiction story, students learn factual information about The Statue of Liberty by following students on a field trip. The comprehension skills covered identifying the central idea and providing evidence to support it, identifying the author's purpose for writing the story and providing evidence that proves the purpose, and being able to figure out the literary elements of the narrative section of the story. Students also worked on distinguishing between concrete and abstract nouns. The decoding skill focused on the silent letters kn, wr, gn, mb, and rh). The vocabulary skill covered the prefix of im-.

The spelling post and weekly assessments will be completed on Thursday, November 20th. The class will start on Module 4 upon returning from Thanksgiving break.

Science

During science class, the students learned about being able to predict patterns of motion. These patterns include up/down, back and forth, circular, and zigzag.

Math

Since the class has started learning about division, the students worked on identifying fact families. Just as addition and subtraction are related operations, so are multiplication and division. One of the strategies taught for learning division facts is to use the multiplication facts. The class has practiced the divisors of 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Book Order

A Scholastic book order was sent home in last week's take home folder. Please remember that orders must be placed online by Wednesday, December 3rd. If ordering a Christmas gift for your child, please notify me by email. I can notify you when the book order arrives.

Reading Incentive Program

November calendars are due back to school by Wednesday, December 3rd. I will hand out the awards for those students who meet the goal upon returning back to school on December 4th. A December calendar will go home with students next week.

Mrs. Burg Absent From School

As a reminder to parents, I will not be at school on Tuesday, November 25th, Monday, December 1, Tuesday, December 2nd, or on Wednesday, December 3rd. My husband and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on November 25th. We are taking a vacation to Los Cabos, Mexico. The substitute will be Mary Brown. I do plan on telling the students of my absence from school this Friday. My plan is to attend the Christmas concert on the evening of Wednesday, December 3rd.

Thanksgiving Break

School will not be in session beginning on Wednesday, November 26th, through Sunday, November 30th. School resumes on Monday, December 1st.

Read-A-Thon Fundraiser

Read-A-Thon information is coming home in the take home folder today. St. Malachy's PTO will be holding its fall fundraiser beginning on Monday, November 24th and running through Sunday, December 7th. Students track their minutes read throughout the two weeks and gather sponsors to pledge money. All money and reading logs need to be turned back into school by Tuesday, December 9th. 

Because this is a fundraiser, money raised will be used to repair the cement work in the outdoor commons area and to provide funds for the future outdoor classroom. There are prizes that the students can also win. There will be an award for the student who reads the most minutes and who is the top fundraiser per grade band. All students who raise $50 or more will be entered into a raffle for an Amazon gift card. There is also an award for the top fundraising class and the class with the top minutes read.

Minutes can be counted towards both the monthly reading minutes and the Read-A-Thon fundraiser.

Sweatpants Fundraiser

Students can pay $20 to wear sweatpants (no pajama bottoms) throughtout December. The only stipulation to this is not being able to wear sweatpants on Wednesdays due to mass. All of the money raised in this fundraiser will go towards the cost of the outdoor classroom. If your child wants to participate, please have the money turned in by Tuesday, December 2nd.

Important Dates

Friday, November 21st-Spirit Day $1

Tuesday, November 25th-Mrs. Burg Absent from School

Wednesday, November 26th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

Thursday, November 27th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Day)

Friday, November 28th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

Monday, December 1st-Mrs. Burg Absent from School

Tuesday, December 2nd-Mrs. Burg Absent from School

Wednesday, December 3rd-Mrs. Burg Absent from School

Wednesday, December 3rd-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Wednesday, December 3rd-Christmas Music Concert 6 PM

Friday, December 5th-Spirit Day $1

 

 

 

 

 

 

11/13/25

 Burg's Buzz
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org
11/13/25

Math

The class has finished the multiplication units in the book and will move on to learning the division facts.  Students still need to work on their multiplication fluency. The better the students know their multiplication facts, the easier it will be for them to learn the division facts.

Kindness Week Charity Project

Thank you to everyone who donated to the noisy change collection. In total $342 was collected. Donations are still being accepted until the end of the week.

Book Order

A book order has been included in the take home folder. Books make a great Christmas gift. If you would like to order books as a gift for your child, please email me, and I will notify you when the order arrives. All orders are placed online and are due by December 3rd.

Important Dates

 Friday, November 14th-End of the 1st Trimester

Wednesday, November 19th-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Friday, November 21st-Spirit Day

Thanksgiving Break

There will be no school on Wednesday, November 26th, through Friday, November 28th. School is not in session due to Thanksgiving break. School will resume on Monday, December 1st.

11/6/25

 Burg's Buzz
nburg@crestonstmalachy.org
11/6/25

Science

As the class learns about motion, students have studied what speed is and how to calculate it.

Reading/Language Arts

The story that the 3rd graders are reading is The Flag Maker by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. In this narrative nonfiction selection, the reader follows a young girl and her mother, who were commissioned to sew a large flag to fly over Fort McHenry, allowing the British to see it from afar. The flag became a symbol of pride, courage, and hope for the girl as it continued to stand as the war came to an end.

The comprehension skills focus on text structure, retelling, and vocabulary related to specific content areas. The decoding skills have students working with the sounds of /j/, /k/, and /kw/. Students are also identifying where commas go when there are words in a series of nouns and verbs. The vocabulary skill covers the suffixes of -er and -est.

Math

The students are preparing for the Topic 3 math assessment. This test will cover the factors of 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. It will also focus on the student's ability to use the Distributive Property to solve multiplication problems. 

Kindness Week

The 3rd grade class will be celebrating Kindness Week from Monday, November 10th through Friday, November 14th. Each day, there will be a fun dress-up day and an activity related to kindness. There is a note in the take home folder about each dress up day. There is also a note in the take home folder about the charitable act that the third grade class will be partaking in. In years past, Kindness Week has always been such an enjoyable time for the students.  

Resident Artist

On November 10th, 11th, and 12th, artist Gre Preslicka will be at STM assisting all classes in creating a mural. The 3rd grade class will be painting on Monday, November 10th. I suggest students don't wear new clothing or bring a large t-shirt to put over themselves while they are painting.

Important Dates

Friday, November 7th-Spirit Day $1

Monday. November 10th-3rd grade with the resident artist 

Wednesday, November 12th-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Wednesday, November 12th-Advent Night 6 PM

Friday, November 14th-End of the 1st Trimester