This Week, In 3-2...

September 30- October 4, 2013

Reading: This week, students enjoyed reviewing concepts and strategies from our first reading unit. They played vocabulary games to help them learn and apply our unit 1 words. Students also participated in close reading activities with nonfiction articles about hermit crabs. Students worked in teams to become experts on their topics and created posters to demonstrate their learning. Main idea and detail organizers were completed to help students choose the most important parts of the articles.

Reading Logs are due Monday, October 7. (100 minutes)

Math: Students worked on solving number stories with multiple addends. They also reviewed and practiced the main concepts from unit 2. We took our unit 2 test at the end of the week and we will begin unit 3 on Monday! A family letter will be going home detailing the upcoming measurement topics.

Science: In science, students enjoyed being scientists and exploring various soil samples. We also discussed characteristics of soil, which included terms such as loam, humus, and nutrients. We dissected lima beans to find important seed parts: the seed coat, stored sugars, and the embryo. We watched a seed germination time lapse video

clip to experience how a plant grows from a tiny seed.

Writing: Focus continues to be the target writing skill during WEX. Students worked on developing tiny details that focused on sound. They made careful observations to create interesting descriptions of various objects and moments. Students continue to share their work and respond to each other using targeted, positive feedback. In grammar, we reviewed key concepts from unit 1. Students also completed their first RA, or revision assignment, which asked them to turn one of their telling sentences into a showing sentence.

Cursive/Spelling: Students took their unit 1 review spelling test. Next week, normal spelling lists and homework will resume.

Miscellaneous: October writing words went home this week. Please keep this list in a safe spot…students will be tested on these words at the end of the month. Also, thank you to everyone who supported Dryden, Just Jump! The students were very excited to participate in this event! Have a wonderful weekend!