This Week...

September 24-28, 2018

Reading: We are finishing up our launch unit very soon. We have been practicing taking notes with our predictions, questions, words we don't know and summaries as we read independently each day. We drew pictures to practice visualizing what we were reading in the story, The Girl Who Hated Books.

Math:  We began working on Chapter 3 this week. This chapter covers addition, up to 10,000, with problems that don't need to be grouped and those that do need regrouping.

Social Studies:  We took our test on our Maps unit on Thursday. We then worked on creating questions to go along with our maps that we created.

Writing:  We began working on grammar this week. We have been focusing on what a complete sentence looks like as well as the difference between a statement and a question. Ask your students if they can tell you the difference!

Word Study: We have been working on consonant clusters in both the beginning and ending of words. We will continue with this next week.

Miscellaneous:   Mrs. Morizzo will be returning on Thursday, Oct. 4th (next week). We are looking forward to welcoming her to class! Please check your child's take home folder for the sheet that I sent home with your conference time.  No School-Friday, Oct. 5th-Teacher Institute Monday, Oct. 8th- Columbus Day Thank you! Have a great weekend!

This Week...

September 17-21, 2018

Reading: We have been learning methods for taking notes during our independent reading as well as practicing have discussions with groups on the same text. We practiced these methods with non-fiction articles on animals as well as poems that the students used to make connections to their own lives.

Math:  Chapter 2 continued this week. We practiced ways to use mental math to find reasonable answers to addition and subtraction problems in the hundreds.  Practicing rounding to tens and hundreds at home would be helpful for this chapter. If you have not signed and returned your child's Chapter 1 math test, please do so by Monday.

Social Studies:  We have explored many different types of maps from city maps to maps of transit systems and discussed the need for being able to read any kind of map. The map that they are creating on their own is due Thursday, September 27th.They will be creating questions about their maps to share with other classmates, so it is important to have it done on time.

Writing:  We are continuing to focus our writing on one particular moment, in order to add rich detail and make our writing more developed. We also wrote rough drafts, during our library time, on stories about trees that we have had connections with in our lives. This is an extension of our reading of the book Wishtree. We will be finished reading this book this coming week in class.

Word Study:  We have begun our word study work this week. The first two lessons were dealing with beginning and ending consonant clusters of words and how to find other words that used the same clusters.

Miscellaneous:    If you have not already done so, please sign up for a time and date preference for conferences. Here is a link to the site: Parent Teacher Conference Time Preference

This Week

September 10-14, 2018

Reading: We have been continuing to move along with our launch unit this week. We have been working on how to discuss books with each other, using the "fishbowl" method after reading The Bee Tree.

Math:  Chapter 2 began this week. We are working on using mental math, by rounding, to add and subtract more difficult problems. Practicing rounding to tens and hundreds at home would be helpful for this chapter. If you have not signed and returned your child's Chapter 1 math test, please do so by Monday.

Social Studies:  We have begun to create our own countries and make maps using key points. These creative maps will be due on Thursday, Sept. 27th. The students are very excited and using their creativity. They brought home paper on Thursday to create their finished product.

Writing:  We are beginning to write each day using the WEX program. Lessons each day teach a different writing skill and not only give the students a chance to write, but also to share and discuss with their classmates. Our lessons this week were on focusing on one particular moment in our day. We also wrote about what it would be like to be one inch tall.

Word Study:  We have finished our Word Study pretests to generate individual spelling lists and will begin Word Study next week.

Miscellaneous:  Scholastic Book orders were just placed. I'm sorry for the delay, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to get online to place their orders.  Picture day is coming up on Thursday, Sept. 20th. Please either order your pictures online or send in your order form by then. If you haven't sent in your order form and $6.50 for your student's recorder for Music, please do so as soon as possible. Please sign up for a time and date preference for conferences. Here is a link to the site: Parent Teacher Conference Time Preference Have a great weekend!

This Week...

August 27- August 31, 2018

Reading: We began our Launch unit in our Schoolworks program with a story called Bucaneer Bunny We learned about connecting the text to ourselves and relating to the main character of the story, Henry.

Math:  We took a five minute test on our addition facts. This quick check will occur twice a week. When students show mastery at 90% or better, they will move onto subtraction, multiplication and division.  We also began learning about numbers and how to write them in word form and standard form.

Social Studies:  We began our unit on Map skills on Friday. We learned about different types of maps, what symbols represent, and finally reviewed the seven continents.

Writing:  This past week, we focused our writing on making goals for third grade, describing ourselves in few words, and how we can be giving.

Word Study:  The students started to be tested on word study words that they know and don't know on Friday. Each day we will write 40 words from a master list. This will generate an individual list of words that each student should be practicing at home.

Miscellaneous:  Thank you so much for the smooth start to the beginning of the year. Having the students ready to learn with all of their supplies and support from home makes a big difference. I'm looking forward to talking with you further on Curriculum Night this coming Thursday, August 30th at 7:00pm. If you have any questions before then, please email me at priccardo@sd25.org and I would be happy to help in any way I can.

Welcome to our Classroom!

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year!  I hope you all had a wonderful summer.  I look forward to sharing a fantastic year with each of you.  We are going to have a lot of fun learning and growing!

Thank You!

What a creative way to show your appreciation...thank you so much! 

Thank You!

Below is a beautiful picture that the students made me with their fingerprints.  Thank you for making me feel so special!