Only two more weeks before STAAR! Where has the time gone! Although we have been preparing students all year, these last two weeks we will spend a little more time reviewing and practicing for STAAR. Of course, we'll continue with our regular units. Read below to find out more about the upcoming week.
Science: We are wrapping up our unit on structures and functions of plants and animals this week after we design an animal for a specific ecosystem. We'll take the unit test on Wednesday and then begin our next unit on life cycles. During this unit, we'll observe our ladybug larvae that arrived last week as well as the tadpole we have had for about a month. Hopefully, we'll see some legs begin to develop in the next few weeks. It's always so much fun to observe the ladybugs change! Also, we will have a turtle as a pet for the next week! Reading: This week we will focus on bridging reading strategies and skills to test taking in preparation for STAAR. We will practice passages throughout the week and review specific skills including antonyms, synonyms, prefixes, multiple word meanings, homophones, and reading dictionary entries. Writing: We'll work on informational writing which will be related to our PBL on habitat loss as well as expository writing. Math: We have a few more lessons before completing our unit on 2 digit by 1 digit multiplication. These will include problems solving, using strip diagrams, and using a table to understand patterns in real world relationships. There isn't a unit test, but we will have a quiz as an assessment before beginning our last unit on place value and financial literacy. In this unit, we will compose and decompose numbers up to 100,000, describe the relationships found in the base-10 place value system, represent numbers on a number line, and compare & order numbers up to 100,000 using symbols. The financial literacy will be a review and extension of our economics unit in social studies. Upcoming Events Thursday night is Spotlight Night! This is a time for your child to show you their best work from the year and explain how they have grown. The Book Fair will be open from 5:30-7:00. Classrooms are open from 6:00-7:00. Hope to see you there! The Book Fair will also be open for sales on Wednesday. May 14 & 15 STAAR Testing May 23-Field Day
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I can't believe there are only six more weeks of school and only one month until STAAR! We will have three more weeks of STAAR review homework. Thank you for ensuring that your child completes and returns the homework.
Here is a glimpse of our learning this week: Science: We are starting a new unit on structures and functions. In this unit, we'll explore how structures and functions of plants and animals allow them to survive in a particular environment. Every year, I order live animals from a regional living science center for us to observe as part of the unit. Unfortunately, only one animal, (a tree frog), was available on the date I requested, so I resubmitted another order. I'm hoping to get a turtle, tarantula, and anole this Friday. Meanwhile, we'll observe a cactus and flowering plant and determine their structures and functions. We'll also compare the two plants. Reading: We'll continue reading our book club books throughout the week as we look for patterns across the text, analyze characters, and determine important events. As we get closer to the end of the book, we'll look for clues in the text that help us infer the theme. Also this week, we'll learn some reading strategies that will help with test passages including rereading, previewing/predicting before reading the passage, and chunking information to summarize. Writing: Our personal narrative drafts are mostly complete. We will have three more lessons on craft moves that can improve the quality of a narrative. Students will continue to revise their drafts as they learn. Later in the week, as a way to celebrate Earth Day, we'll write letters from the point of view of the earth and create Earth Day posters. Math: Friday, we took the district assessment on perimeter, weight, time intervals, and fractions. I was originally going to wait until Monday, but the kiddos were ready, and we need to move on to our next unit on multiplying 2-digit by 1-digit numbers. This unit also includes multiplicative comparisons, (describing a multiplication expression as a comparison such as 3 times as many), problem solving involving multiplication & division, and applying multiplication to real life situations. This week we will learn how to extend known multiplication facts, use doubling and halving to solve larger multiplication problems, (associative property), and use partial products, (distributive property). Upcoming Events Wednesday, April 18: Spirit Night at Dairy Queen 5:00-8:00 Friday, April 20: Run Wild run-a-thon during P.E. Don't forget to send in donations to help the Environment Club raise money for wildlife. STAAR Dates: May 14 & 15 Please remember not to schedule appointments during the day on testing dates. Exploring Ounces & Pounds Practicing Multiplication Facts Discovering the Difference between Ounces & Fluid Ounces Playing a Game a Strategic Computation Game Predicting Capacity Exploring Capacity Learning about Recycling Practicing Reading Scales Enrichment-Preparing for an Endangered Animal Gallery
Science: We'll wrap up our unit on environments and food chains Wednesday, and take the test on Thursday. We are in the process of creating food chains and writing an explanation about the flow of energy and the affects of environmental events, such as floods and droughts, on organisms and the food chain.
Reading: Everyone is enjoying their book club book and discussing their thinking with their group. I love listening in on their conversations! Sometimes, I'll facilitate by asking a few questions to push their thinking deeper, but for the most part the book club meetings are student led. Prior to beginning, we learned how to have a discussion where all voices are heard as well as how to choose and discuss big ideas/questions that promote deeper thinking. I was impressed with how well the first discussions groups went. This week, as we read our books, we'll continue to dig deeper into character analysis, theme, and cause & effect. Writing: Students will continue to work on their personal narrative this week. We'll revise and edit our drafts throughout the week as we learn craft moves to improve our writing. Our mini-lessons will include using sensory images, varying sentence beginnings and length, adding dialogue, and using strong verbs. We'll also write a few responses to PBL related videos, poems, or articles. Math: On Friday, we observed two different scales and learned about pounds and ounces. This week, we'll continue to explore weight while measuring a variety of items. Also, we'll compare ounces to fluid ounces while sorting real life items into the two categories. This can be confusing to third graders, so I want the kiddos to discover the difference between the two and make a conclusion about fluid ounces after noticing/wondering about final sort. It is great when the kiddos can make their own discoveries and they love it too! It is so much more powerful than someone telling them what something means. We'll also make discoveries while exploring capacity using water and various containers. Social Studies: Our focus will be on how communities have started and changed over time. We'll read a story about a boy who begins his own community, and continue to discuss how school has changed. Also, we'll revisit Henry Ford and discover how his innovations changed the automobile as well as the production of cars. Then we will find out how the inventions of Benjamin Franklin influenced and changed communities. Important reminder...This week 4th and 5th graders have STAAR testing, so our schedule will change on Tuesday & Wednesday. Lunch will be at our regular time, but specials will be from 12:35-1:15. We are not allowed to have recess on those days unless testing is finished prior to our recess time. Instead, we will have frequent breaks in the classroom that involve movement. Also, please keep in mind that classroom visitors/volunteers are not allowed on campus on testing days, (which includes Thursday and Friday of this week as those are make-up days). Upcoming Events April 18: Spirit Night at Dairy Queen (620) 5:00-8:00 April 20: England Talent Show 6:00 April 20: Run Wild Fundraiser sponsored by Environment Club (during PE)-more info to come Ecosystem Research Adding Time Intervals More Practice Adding and Subtracting Time Intervals Solving Problems Involving Time Sharing our Ecosystem Research
Hope you had a great weekend! See below to find out what we are learning this week!
Science: We'll continue to learn about environments and food chains. Students will finish reading about an ecosystem they chose to learn more about and share their learning with the class. Then, we'll act out a food chain, order the organisms in a food chain, draw examples of food chains, and read about food chains to understand how energy is passed from one organism to another. Reading: Our Book Clubs are off to a good start! Each group met last week to discuss the first chapter and to create group norms. This week, students will have their first official meeting to discuss their thinking/questions from the first 3-5 chapters. Then they will write a response in their reading notebook before reading the next 3-5 chapters. Everyone is very excited about their books! As students read, we'll learn more about character motives, traits, change, and interaction with other characters. Writing: This week, we'll continue writing personal narratives. Each student will choose one of their stories to write as a draft which will be revised throughout the week. Math: Our focus this week will be on time intervals, different ways to say the time such as 20 minutes after four or four twenty, and measuring weight. We'll learn how to solve problems involving adding or subtracting time intervals using a number line or t-chart. This can sometimes be challenging at first, so we will continue to practice as needed as we switch to weight and capacity. Social Studies: We'll begin our next unit on communities over time. During this unit, students will gain an understanding of characteristics of communities, past and present; how individuals, events, and ideas have influenced the history of various communities; and the concepts of time and chronology. This week we'll discuss how school has changed over time as well as some inventions that have changed communities. Reviewing Subtraction Strategies Our class mathematicians collaborated to show subtraction using various strategies. Each group worked discussed their strategies with the group and determined the most efficient strategy that worked for them. This was a good reminder that there are mathematicians are flexible and use different strategies depending on the problem. Measuring Gardens to Determine the Perimeter It was the perfect day to go outside for some real world math! We worked together to find the perimeter of the 3rd grade garden and the 5th grade garden. Learning From Experts-Visitors from the Austin Zoo! Our guests from the zoo taught us about endangered animals. They even brought a black footed ferret and a python! After the presentation, we all had a chance to touch a tortoise shell and the skin of a python. Check out the photos to see how long a python can be! Calculating Perimeter Mathematicians drew rectangles with a given perimeter. We also solved perimeter problems around the room. Book Club Meetings We had our first book club meetings after reading the first chapter and everyone was very excited. As they read, students recorded what they knew and what they wondered about the character and events in the chapter. This helped them slow down and pay attention to details that will help their comprehension. |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |