11-19-20

Burg's Buzz 

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

11-19-20

Reading/Language Arts

This week third grade is reading the biography "Young Thomas Jeffereson" by Michael Dooling. Students learn about Edison's life as a young boy struggling in school to his early years as a scientist to The comprehension skill focused on main ideas and supporting details. The vocabulary skill covered shades of meaning in words . Students worked on subject and object pronouns as the grammar skill. The phonics skill focused on the words containing -al, -au, o, and    .

The results of the lesson 8 and 9 weekly assessments have been included in the take home folder.

Next week (November 23rd and 24th) third grade will be taking the Unit 2 Benchmark test

Science

Third grade has been learning about the pattern of motion. Students will have a test after returning from Thanksgiving break.

Math

Third grade has started multiplication. The third chapter will focus on the process.

Please continue to work on the basic facts at home. We try and get fact fluency done everyday on XtraMath. This is a  program students can do at home as well. 

Christmas Program

Taping of the Christmas program will take place on Monday, November 23rd. Students are asked to wear their Sunday best (mass attire). If the weather is nice, the class will be walking to Holy Spirit Church around 9:45 AM.

Important Dates

Monday, November 23rd-Videoing Christmas Program

Wednesday, November 25th-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Thursday, Nov. 26th and Friday, Nov. 27th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Vacation)

Friday, December 4th-Spirit Day ($1)

11-12-20

 3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

11-12-20

Math

The third grade class will be having a test over chapter 2 "Interpreting and Analyzing Data" on Thursday, November 12th. A review sheet was sent home early this week. 

The next chapter will focus on multiplication.

Reading/Language Arts

This week the third class is reading the realistic fiction story "Kamaishibai Man" by Allen Say. The comprehension skill focused on cause and effect. Students identified concrete and abstract nouns as the grammar skill. The class worked on the vowel diphthongs (ow and ou) as the phonics skill.  The vocabulary skill covered dictionary skills.

Science

The class continues to study motion. Students have been learning how speed effects motion.

World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day is Friday, November 13th. Students are asked to wear a cardigan, sweater, or zip up jacket like Mr. Rogers. I plan on showing the students a video about Mr. Rogers.

Third grade students will also be creating and mailing a kindness card to someone in their lives. Please make sure your child has the mailing address of who they choose to send the card.

Christmas Program

Taping of the Christmas program will take place on Monday, November 23rd. Students are asked to wear mass clothes to school on this day.

Important Dates

Friday, November 13th-Spirit Day ($1)

Friday, November 13th-End of 1st Trimester

Thursday, November 18th-PTO Meeting 6 PM

Monday, November 23rd-Taping the Christmas Program

Wednesday, November 25th-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Thursday, November 26th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Vacation)

Friday, November 27th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Vacation)

Friday, December 4th-Spirit Day ($1)

11-5-20

 3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

11-5-20

Science

The third grade class is now learning about motion. Students have learned about position. Students have also learned about frame of reference.

Reading/Language Art

This week third grade is reading a folktale called The Harvest Birds by Blanca Lopez de Mariscal. In this story, Juan's dream is to be a farmer. When his father dies, the land is split amongst his two older brothers. Juan decides to ask the richest man in town for land, and the man laughs at him. Next, Juan ask the oldest man in town for land to farm. This man agrees, but offers a stipulation. Juan along with the zanate birds have a bountiful harvest to everyone's surprise. The old man gives Juan the land for future farming. Students worked on drawing conclusions as the comprehension skill. The phonics skill covered silent letters (wr-, kn-, and -tch). The grammar skill focused on using commas in sentences. The class also worked on context clues as the vocabulary skill.

Math

Third grade continues to work on analyzing and interpreting data. Students have worked with picture graphs, bar graphs, and line plots.

Reading Incentive Program

The results are in for the month of October. Nine third grade students met the goal of reading 400 minutes. Congratulations to the following students Karsi, Brock, Hayden, Vada, Kalvin, Kylin, Kinsely, Sam, Indie, and Breckyn for meeting the reading goal. The class read for a total of 5,034 minutes during the month of October. Congratulations to Brock for being the student that read the most minutes with 660 total.

November calendars were sent home in last week's take home folder. Also the PTO is having a Read-A-Thon to fund raise money for the school. This program run through Friday, November 13th. Students may count minutes read for both programs.

Important Dates

Wednesday, November 11th-3rd Grade Attends Live Mass

Friday, November 13th-Spirit Day ($1)

Thursday, November 12th-PTO Meeting 6 PM

Wednesday, November 25th-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Thursday, November 26th-Friday, November 26th-NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving Break)

10-22-20

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10-22-20

Math

Chapter 2 in math focuses on analyzing and interpreting data. Students will be introduced to a variety of graphs and tables.  Students have worked with a tally table and a frequency table. Students have also interpreted data on a picture graph.

Science

The third grade class has reached the end of the unit on force. Students will be reviewing for a test over the next couple of days. A study guide will be sent home next week.

Reading/Language Arts

This week third grade is reading "What Do Illustrators Do?" by Eileen Christelow. Students learned the steps illustrators go through when designing the pages of a book. The comprehension skill covered text and graphic features. Students identified synonyms as the vocabulary strategy. The grammar skill focused on present, past, and future tense. Students worked with three letter clusters (spr-, str-, scr-, and thr-) as the phonics skill.

The lesson 6 weekly assessment results have been included in the take home folder.

FAST Assessment

The results of the FAST assessment testing have been included in the take home folder. Notes are also being sent home with student who will receive interventions either with Mrs. Mitchell or myself. Students will be assessed again in the winter and the spring to see growth.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/teacher conferences in third grade will take place on Tuesday, October 27th from 3:30-5:30 PM and Thursday, October 29th from 1-5 and 6:00-9:30 PM. Each conference will last 12 minutes to allow time to clean in between each one. One parent is allowed to come to the conference and no students. Teachers will take each parent's temperature before the conference. Masks are required. For those requesting a virtual conference, I will send out the link at the beginning of next week.  

School dismisses 3 hours early (12:10 PM) on Thursday, October 29th due to conferences. No lunch will be served. There is no school on Friday, October 30th.

Halloween Parade

The annual Halloween parade is still happening! Students can bring their costumes to school on Wednesday, October 28th. This year the parade will be shown online. Students will change into their costumes in the afternoon. Online viewing will begin at   

Important Dates

Friday, October 23rd-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Tuesday, October 27th-Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30-5:30 PM

Wednesday, October 28th-Halloween Parade 

Thursday, October 29th-3 Hour Early Dismissal

Thursday, October 29th-Parent/Teacher Conferences 1:00-5:00 and 6:00-9:30 PM

Friday, October 30th-NO SCHOOL

Friday, November 13th-Spirit Day $1

Friday, November 13th-End of the 1st Trimester

10-15-20

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10-15-20

Reading/Language Arts

This week third grade is reading the narrative nonfiction story called "Bat Loves the Night" by Nicola Davies. In this story, students follow Bat through her night of leaving the barn, find a moth to eat, returning home, and snuggling with her baby in the barn when the daylight shines through the sky. The comprehension skill covered sequencing. Students worked on the suffixes of -ible and -able as the vocabulary strategy. The phonics skill focused on dividing words with VCV (vowel, consonant, vowel pattern). In grammar students worked on verbs.

The results of the Unit 1 Benchmark Assessment have been included in the take home folder. Students completed two different tests within this assessment. All of the questions are multiple choice. In the Reading and Analyzing section, students read fiction and nonfiction passages and had to answer vocabulary and comprehension questions. The questions covered the skills that the first five stories had covered such as story structure, compare/contrast, context clues, and word families to name a few. In the Revising and Editing sections, students are looking for ways to make changes in the way sentence are written. This includes grammar skills like common/proper nouns, simple sentences, and compound sentences.

Science

Third grade students have learning about the force of magnets. Students have learned magnets attract and repel. The class has also learned that each magnet has a north and south pole.

Math

This week the third grade class was tested over the skills covered in chapter 1 such as estimation, addition strategies, and subtraction strategies.

Chapter 2 will focus on interpreting and analyzing data. Please continue to practice addition and subtraction facts at home.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Conferences for fall are set up for Tuesday, October 26th from 3:30-5:30 PM and Thursday, October 29th from 1:00-5:30 pm and 6:00-9:30 PM. A link to sign up for a third grade conference was emailed to you earlier this week. Here is the link for those who still need to sign up for a conference.  Parent/Teacher Fall Conferences

Parents should have also received an email from Mrs. Simmons outlining the guidelines for parent/teacher conferences this time around.

● Conferences will last 12 minutes - this allows for time to clean between each visit. 

● 1 Parent/guardian may attend (we recommend the other parents/guardians attend via

Facetime or speaker phone call). 

● Teachers will take the temperature of the parent/guardian in attendance.

● Masks are required.

● To reduce exposure we ask that parents/guardians use the door nearest your

child’s classroom door.

● We ask that children to not attend.

● We will have the Book Fair in the gym on Thursday from 1-9:30. We ask parents to social distance and sanitize their hands before shopping. 

Google Meet Conference - If you would like to attend virtually. Please let the teacher know when you sign up for your conference. 

Important Dates

Friday, October 16th-Spirit Day $1

Friday, October 23rd-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Tuesday, October 27th-Parent/Teacher Conferences (3:30-5:30 PM)

Wednesday, October 28th-Halloween Activities in the Afternoon

Thursday, October 29th-Parent/Teacher Conferences (1:00-5:00 pm and 6:00-9:30 pm)

Friday, October 30th-NO SCHOOL

Friday, November 13th-End of the 1st Trimester

10-8-20

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10-8-20

Science

The class continues to learn about forces. Students have learned about friction and gravity. 

Math

The class has been working on subtraction strategies. This involves regrouping. Please practice this skill at home with with your child for extra practice. Students will be taking the chapter 1 test over addition and subtraction strategies on Tuesday, October 13th. A review page will be sent home with the students this Friday. It does not need returned to school.

Reading/Language Arts

This week was spent taking the Unit 1 Benchmark Assessment. Please look for the results in next week's take home folder.   

Students also began writing Halloween personal narratives. The class has worked through the process of brainstorming and prewriting, writing the rough draft, and revising and editing. Published work will be done next week.

Important Dates

Friday, October 9th-Spirit Day $1

Wednesday, October 14th-3rd Grade Leads the Mass

Thursday, October 15th-PTO Zoom Meeting 6 PM

Friday, October 16th-Spirit Day $1

Friday, September 23rd-NO SCHOOL (Teacher Professional Development)

Wednesday, October 28th-Halloween Activities in the Afternoon

Thursday, October 29th-Parent/Teacher Conferences

Friday, October 30th-NO SCHOOL

10-01-20

 Burg's Buzz

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10-01-20

Reading/Language Arts

This week students are reading the biography "Roberto Clemente-Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates" by Jonah Winter. Students learned about the life of the baseball player. The comprehension skill covered cause and effect. Students identified singular and plural nouns as the grammar skill. The vocabulary skill focused on the prefix of mis-. The phonics skill worked on long i words.

The lesson 4 weekly assessments have been included in the take home folder. During the week of October 5th-9th, third grade students will be taking the Unit 1 Benchmark test. Students will be assessed on the vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, and grammar skills covered during the first unit of stories. Due to this testing third grade will not be moving ahead in the reading series. In addition to the benchmark testing, students will work on writing skills.

Science

Third graders continue to learn about force. Students have learned the difference between balanced and unbalanced forces. The third grade class has also learned about friction.

Math

The third grade has has started working on subtracting this week. Students have estimated sums and used mental math to solve subtraction problems. Please work on the basic addition and subtraction facts at home. Students shouldn't always be relying on their fingers to add and subtract. During class, we discuss strategies for solving problems.

Homecoming

Creston Schools is celebrating Homecoming on Friday, October 2nd. Students are encourage to wear their Panther gear (red/black). Students can pay $1 to wear sweats to school at St. Malachy. School will dismiss 3 hours early, so students can attend a pep rally and queen coronation at 1:30 PM at the football field. Masks are required to attend the event. Please note that no lunch will be served on this day due to the early dismissal.

Reading Incentive Program

A note has been included in the take home folder explaining the reading incentive program. An October calendar was also included in the take home folder. Please keep track of minutes read during the month and record on the calendar. The goal for October, November, and December is 400 minutes each month. If students meet the goal and return the calendar, they will receive a certificate to Pizza Ranch. The student that read the most each month will also get a prize. There will also be rewards at the end of the six months for students who reach the goal in each of the six months and the two students who read the most minutes total over the course of the program.

Book Order

An October book order has been emailed to parents. Please feel free to browse the online selections. The book order is due by Friday, October 9th.

Important Dates

Friday, October 2nd-Spirit Day $1 (Homecoming)

Friday, October 2nd-3 Hour Early Dismissal

Wednesday, October 7th-NO MASS

Friday, October 9th-Spirit Day $1

Wednesday, October 14th-3rd Grade Leads the Mass

Thursday, October 15th-PTO Meeting

Friday, October 16th-Spirit Day $1