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