Dear Parents:
Listed below is an overview of our upcoming week. Thank you for all of your support!
READING - In reading, we will be enjoying fables as we learn to determine the central message (also called the moral or lesson) of these stories. This work involves a higher level of thinking. Please make sure that your child is reading good fit books at home, and question him/her about the central message in his/her book.
WRITING - This past week, students generated ideas for their second personal narrative by thinking of strong feelings, as well as first times/last times. Students will write a narrative that has an interesting lead that "hooks" the reader. They will add vivid details while telling not only the external story (what happened), but also the internal story (feelings). They are always eager to share the writing they completed during Writer's Workshop, and I am grateful for their enthusiasm.
SOCIAL STUDIES - Students are creating a travel brochure in Mr. Otto's class as they learn about the regions of North Carolina. They are really enjoying the discussions in Social Studies.
MATH - We will continue to focus on the conceptual understanding of multiplication this week. Students have had fun playing a game called Circles and Stars which reinforces the idea of equal groups. Example: 5 x 3 is 5 groups of 3 or 5 sets of 3 or 3+3+3+3+3=15 or 3 x 5 = 15. Continue to talk with your child at home about real life examples of equal groups. Eggs are packaged in groups of 12, for example.
REMINDERS - Oct. 16 - Spirit Friday - Wear pink for breast cancer awareness.
Oct. 16 - Early Release Day
Nov. 18 - Third Grade Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
Sincerely,
Ms. Underwood
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015
WEEK OF OCTOBER 5, 2015 NEWS
Dear Parents,
I hope everyone was able to rest and have some fun, family time over the rainy weekend. Maybe we will see the sunshine this week!
Please check out our classroom blog. I posted some great pics of your children!
Listed below are some updates about the upcoming week.
READING - Last week in reading, students walked in the shoes of their characters by focusing on the emotions (feelings) the character was experiencing, as well as the motivation (the why) for those feelings. This week, we will be taking a look at the traits of our characters. Distinguishing between character emotions and traits can be confusing for third graders. Feelings are fleeting feelings a character may be having due to an outside force (frustrated, anxious, nervous) whereas traits describe who a character is on the inside - their personality (determined, dependable, curious). I will also share some fun read alouds this week to help students distinguish their own point of view from that of the character in the story.
WRITING - Students should be wrapping up their first personal narrative. This week, we will continue our study of narrative writing using mentor texts. Students will identify techniques that writers use to hook readers in their books (writing interesting beginnings), as well as identify turning points in stories. They will then practice writing a personal narrative, including a turning point in their own story.
SOCIAL STUDIES - Last week my third graders started learning about the geography and regions of NC with Mr. Otto. For the next few weeks, they will be taught Social Studies by Mr. Otto while I teach Mr. Otto's students Science.
MATH - On Tuesday we will have an assessment on 2-D shapes and their attributes. We will play a fun review game on Monday to help students prepare for the assessment. Our next unit in math will be focused on a conceptual understanding of multiplication rather than rote memorization of facts. This week we will explore the relationship between repeated addition and multiplication. I am including the parent resource letter in today's Monday folder to give you resources for how this unit is being taught in case your child needs support at home.
CogAt TESTING - Third graders will take the CogAt assessment on October, 6th, 7th, and 9th at 9:30 a.m. This test will determine those students who may qualify for academically gifted services. Please make sure your child has a hearty breakfast and gets a good night of rest before the testing days.
PICTURE DAY - Our class will have their pictures made on Wednesday, October 7 at 1:50 p.m. Pictures must be prepaid, so if you are interested in ordering, please send your payment in as soon as possible.
BOG INFORMATION - I am sending home detailed information regarding your child's BOG reading score in today's Monday folder. Please know that I will be working with your child this year in guided reading and strategy groups to help them grow as readers. Also, I am including a wonderful resource entitled "Read to Achieve Passage Parent Recommendations" that will help you as you converse with your child about his/her reading. This resource aligns the standard we are studying with questions you can ask to reinforce that standard.
Wow! Lots of information and wonderful things happening at Douglas!! Thank you so much for all you do to help your child at home. It is a pleasure to work with you and your child!.
Ms. Underwood
I hope everyone was able to rest and have some fun, family time over the rainy weekend. Maybe we will see the sunshine this week!
Please check out our classroom blog. I posted some great pics of your children!
Listed below are some updates about the upcoming week.
READING - Last week in reading, students walked in the shoes of their characters by focusing on the emotions (feelings) the character was experiencing, as well as the motivation (the why) for those feelings. This week, we will be taking a look at the traits of our characters. Distinguishing between character emotions and traits can be confusing for third graders. Feelings are fleeting feelings a character may be having due to an outside force (frustrated, anxious, nervous) whereas traits describe who a character is on the inside - their personality (determined, dependable, curious). I will also share some fun read alouds this week to help students distinguish their own point of view from that of the character in the story.
WRITING - Students should be wrapping up their first personal narrative. This week, we will continue our study of narrative writing using mentor texts. Students will identify techniques that writers use to hook readers in their books (writing interesting beginnings), as well as identify turning points in stories. They will then practice writing a personal narrative, including a turning point in their own story.
SOCIAL STUDIES - Last week my third graders started learning about the geography and regions of NC with Mr. Otto. For the next few weeks, they will be taught Social Studies by Mr. Otto while I teach Mr. Otto's students Science.
MATH - On Tuesday we will have an assessment on 2-D shapes and their attributes. We will play a fun review game on Monday to help students prepare for the assessment. Our next unit in math will be focused on a conceptual understanding of multiplication rather than rote memorization of facts. This week we will explore the relationship between repeated addition and multiplication. I am including the parent resource letter in today's Monday folder to give you resources for how this unit is being taught in case your child needs support at home.
CogAt TESTING - Third graders will take the CogAt assessment on October, 6th, 7th, and 9th at 9:30 a.m. This test will determine those students who may qualify for academically gifted services. Please make sure your child has a hearty breakfast and gets a good night of rest before the testing days.
PICTURE DAY - Our class will have their pictures made on Wednesday, October 7 at 1:50 p.m. Pictures must be prepaid, so if you are interested in ordering, please send your payment in as soon as possible.
BOG INFORMATION - I am sending home detailed information regarding your child's BOG reading score in today's Monday folder. Please know that I will be working with your child this year in guided reading and strategy groups to help them grow as readers. Also, I am including a wonderful resource entitled "Read to Achieve Passage Parent Recommendations" that will help you as you converse with your child about his/her reading. This resource aligns the standard we are studying with questions you can ask to reinforce that standard.
Wow! Lots of information and wonderful things happening at Douglas!! Thank you so much for all you do to help your child at home. It is a pleasure to work with you and your child!.
Ms. Underwood
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Dancing Geometry Vocabulary
It may be raining outside, but students in Ms. Underwood's third grade class are not letting the weather dampen their spirits. Mrs. Eleczko, one of our instructional coaches, and Ms. Underwood co-taught students how to create dance movements to represent the meanings of vocabulary words learned during our unit on shapes and their attributes. Students were very creative and had a blast dancing the vocabulary!!
PASTA SKELETONS
During our Human Body unit in science, students learned how the skeletal and muscular systems, as well as the joints help the body move. They had fun making pasta skeletons to culminate this unit.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 28, 2015 NEWS
Dear Parents:
I hope you had a restful weekend. Listed below is an overview of our upcoming week.
WRITING - Students are continuing to revise their personal narratives to "show rather than tell" and to include "juicy" details that will help the reader visualize what is happening in the story. Students have learned to write a lead that will "hook" the reader by beginning with action, dialogue, or setting. I have enjoyed conferencing with your children and learning more about them through their stories.
READING - This week in reading we will begin our Character Study unit. Students will be placing themselves in the shoes of the character by taking a closer look at the emotions, motivations, and traits of the character. As we study our characters, we will also be practicing fluency and expression while we read the text as the author would say it, conveying the meaning or feeling. I am excited about the texts I will be sharing with students this week as we take a more in depth look at our characters. We have also begun our vocabulary lessons. Students enjoyed the fable about the sly fox and the little red hen while learning the words sly, mend, peer, shriek, prepared, and dependable.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES - On Monday, we will conclude our assessment on the Human Body and finish creating our pasta skeletons. Tuesday, my class will rotate to Mr. Otto for Social Studies while I teach his class Science. Students will be learning about the three regions of North Carolina (Piedmont, Coastal, and Mountains) in Mr. Otto's class.
MATH - In math this week, students will continue to compare/contrast the attributes of various 2-D shapes. There are many hands-on learning activities students will be involved in to help them understand the characteristics of these shapes. We are even going to incorporate dance into our math as students create movements to represent the vocabulary associated with these 2-D shapes. I learned about this kinesthetic type of learning in our professional development workshop on Wednesday, and I am anxious to try it out in my class. Mrs. Eleczko will be helping me!
IMPORTANT DATES -
SEPTEMBER 28 - Third Grade Parent Meeting for CogAt Testing - 5:30 p.m. - Media Center
OCTOBER 1 - ARTS NIGHT - 5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
OCTOBER 6th, 7th, 9th - Third Grade CogAt Testing
Sincerely,
Ms. Underwood
Sunday, September 20, 2015
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 NEWS
Dear Parents:
I hope you enjoyed the beautiful weekend and had some quality time with your family. Listed below is information about the upcoming week.
READING - I am so excited that reading assessments are completed, and I can now focus on conferencing and working with my students in small groups. This week we will continue to use context clues to figure out the meanings of unknown words we encounter in our reading. Your children have been so eager to share the words they are finding in their reading, as well as the strategies (back up and re-read, look for a synonym, guess a sensible word, etc.) and clues they are using to figure out the meanings. Students will also fine tune procedures we have learned regarding read to self, turning and talking, as well as choosing good fit books.
WRITING - Last week students worked on writing a lead that will hook the readers as they continued developing their personal narrative stories. I am modeling my expectations for writing as I share my own personal narrative about a surprise at the bath house when my family went camping a few summers ago. I hope to have our stories published by Friday.
SCIENCE - We are going to explore how the nervous system directs the movements of the skeletal and muscular systems of our bodies. Tomorrow students will conduct a fun experiment to test their response time to a visual stimulus. We will also explore the function of the skin through a couple of hands-on activities. Students will also have the opportunity to culminate this unit by creating a pasta skeleton, and on Friday I plan to give an assessment on the human body unit.
MATH - This week in math we will be understanding that 2D shapes in different categories (rectangles, rhombuses, squares, etc.) may share attributes (features), and the shared attributes can define a larger category. As an example, shapes with four sides belong to a larger category of shapes called quadrilaterals. We will use geoboards to make visual representations of these shapes as we understand the various attributes (parallel sides, congruent sides, etc.). We will even be tying in our art smart way of learning as we identify these shapes in artwork.
IMPORTANT DATES - Wednesday, September 23, is a Teacher Workday - No school for students
Friday, September 25 - Spirit Day - NFL Football
Thank you for all of your support!
Sincerely,
Donna H. Underwood
Sunday, September 13, 2015
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 NEWS
September 14, 2015
Dear Parents:
In reading this week, students will continue to ask questions before, during, and after reading in order to comprehend text and stay engaged in their reading. We will specifically be focusing on nonfiction books as we question. Students will also learn strategies to determine the meanings of unknown words they encounter in their reading. In Writer's Workshop, we will be choosing small "seed" stories to write about rather than "watermelon" topics. I am enjoying getting to know your children through their writing. We have begun our rounding unit in math as students learn to round to the nearest 10 and nearest 100. They are learning to distinguish that rounding is a form of estimation. Incorporate estimation in everyday life by asking your child questions such as, "The video is 37 minutes long. About how long is it rounded to the nearest 10 minutes?" In science, students will focus on the joints, as well as the muscular and nervous systems, while engaged in hands-on learning.
Behavior Folders - During the first two weeks of school students have been learning and practicing the routines and procedures within our classroom. Now that students are settling in, I would like to keep you informed of your child's work habits and conduct. In today's Monday Folder, you will find your child's behavior folder. This folder will serve as a weekly progress report to relay to you your child's work habits and conduct for the previous week. Please review the behavior folder with your child, sign it, and then return it the following day.
Spirit Friday - This Friday, September 18, is wear your favorite college gear.
I look forward to another exciting week of learning with your child!
Sincerely,
Donna H. Underwood
Dear Parents:
In reading this week, students will continue to ask questions before, during, and after reading in order to comprehend text and stay engaged in their reading. We will specifically be focusing on nonfiction books as we question. Students will also learn strategies to determine the meanings of unknown words they encounter in their reading. In Writer's Workshop, we will be choosing small "seed" stories to write about rather than "watermelon" topics. I am enjoying getting to know your children through their writing. We have begun our rounding unit in math as students learn to round to the nearest 10 and nearest 100. They are learning to distinguish that rounding is a form of estimation. Incorporate estimation in everyday life by asking your child questions such as, "The video is 37 minutes long. About how long is it rounded to the nearest 10 minutes?" In science, students will focus on the joints, as well as the muscular and nervous systems, while engaged in hands-on learning.
Behavior Folders - During the first two weeks of school students have been learning and practicing the routines and procedures within our classroom. Now that students are settling in, I would like to keep you informed of your child's work habits and conduct. In today's Monday Folder, you will find your child's behavior folder. This folder will serve as a weekly progress report to relay to you your child's work habits and conduct for the previous week. Please review the behavior folder with your child, sign it, and then return it the following day.
Spirit Friday - This Friday, September 18, is wear your favorite college gear.
I look forward to another exciting week of learning with your child!
Sincerely,
Donna H. Underwood
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