September 25, 2015

Ms. Zurales' 3rd Grade News

September 25, 2015

ELA We will focus on Fairy Tales this week. We will read Cinderella and Prince Cinders, a fractured fairy tale. Students will complete a story map and then compare and contrast the two stories. We will also read the fractured fairy tale, Classic Princess and the Frog.  Students will write a Cinderella fractured fairy tale of their own. At the end of the week students will write a fractured fairy tale from the point of view of one of the characters in Cinderella.

Spelling An assessment was given today. New spelling sorts will go home on Monday. Students are being asked to choose a different activity from the Spelling Homework sheet to complete each night (Mon-Thurs) to help them master their spelling words. Once your child has completed the activity, please place the activity in their spelling folder. If the activity does not require something to be handed in, please initial the activity square. All 8 activities, should be attached to the Spelling Homework Sheet and turned in on Friday, October 9, which is the day of the assessment.

Math We will wrap up working with different strategies to add two digit numbers and solving two digit story problems. An assessment will be given on Wednesday. A study guide went home today. In our next topic, students will investigate situations designed to elicit key ideas and strategies that build a foundation for a deep understanding of multiplication. 

Science Tuesday we will begin a unit on the water cycle. We will discuss where water is found on Earth. 

Thanks again to those families who donated to the Johnny Appleseed celebration:
The Young Family, The Merrinette Family, The Rerucha Family, The Mesker Family, The Wawro Family and The Silanskis Family.

Important September/October Dates & Announcements

I wanted to share with families that we are just starting out the year and to please not be concerned too much with grades at this point.  There will be so many more grades coming that things tend to balance themselves out.  If you see an alarming grade - of course feel free to reach out to the teacher, but also know that if we were concerned, we would reach out to you.  It is natural for students to have one or two scores that aren't the best as they are learning classroom work habits/study skills, etc.  A lot more independence is placed on third graders and they will be keeping record of their work and grades, setting goals, etc. 

In the past, we might have not put poor grades in the grade book but now those grades are even as important as the "good" ones.  Those grades start conversations between students and teachers and motivate students to improve.

Cooper was our our Panther of the Week.

Did you know he loves to play soccer and his hero is his Dad?

September/October Dates to Remember

28 - New Spelling Word Sort (List) goes home
29 - Quiz on Hemispheres 
30 - Math Assessment (Ms. Zurales' Math Class)
  1 - September Reading Log Due