Week 36

 Dear Parents,

         We had a great week of learning! In math we carried on with our personal finance unit. We solved word problems about people saving and spending money. We also solved problems about repaying a lone. We learned about responsible borrowers and irresponsible borrowers. We continued on with our weekly focus on time, money, and daily intentional problem solving. We will continue this next week as well.

          In writing we finished up some writing projects that will be coming home this last week of school. These projects are about our lucky charms, our friends, and what career we’d like to have in the future. We are also finishing up our capital, cursive letters.

         In reading/ social studies we read Sea Otter pups, reviewed nonfiction text features and filled out a graphic organizer showing what we found in the story. Next week we will take a comprehension check over the story just to show what we learned.

          In science we finished up our unit on animals and the characteristics that help them survive. We looked at body parts like ears, eyes, teeth and limbs and how each of these can help animals get food, water, or evade predators.

             It seems like it was just yesterday that I saw your child’s shy, smiling face at the door and now it is time to let them go. They have each grown in many ways. I feel they are ready for the challenges of third grade. We have built relationships that will last beyond my classroom. I am always interested to see the accomplishments of my students in the future. Please keep me updated. I love celebrating them! Always remember- once in my classroom, forever in my heart!

 

Have a wonderful Summer!

Week 35

 Dear Parents,

               This week in math we started the week on May 4^th- May the 4^th Be with You! We dis a fun Star Wars graphing activity. We rolled a die to collect gata, used that data to make a graph and then solved problems. We also got to make a Star Wars Book Mark if we wanted to. We had our interpreting data/ graphing asse4ssment on Tuesday. We then started our unit on personal finance. We talked about scenarios in which we were saving or spending money. We solved addition and subtraction problems based on the scenario we read.

                 SHHHHHHH … We spent three days making a special Mother’s Day card for our mothers. They are supposed to hide them and give them to you on Sunday! They are all so precious and will melt your heart. We then finished up our book about Great White Sharks. This was our class book which we did together. They are being graded on format and content which was all done with them.

                 In reading/ social studies we started the week by seeing a short Star Wars book/movie. We then read a story about the habitat of the Red Panda and completed a cloze procedure to check for comprehension. We Learned more about service Workers and their jobs and did a goods and services sort. 

                  In science we brainstormed what animals need to grow and survive. We looked at features animals have that help meet their needs. We learned about water and land ecosystems. The end of school is coming quickly, but we are still having fun growing and learning together.

                    

                    *I was happy to see most of my students at the concert on Tuesday. They did an outstanding job! I was soooooo proud of them! 

                   * Thank you all for spoiling me during teacher appreciation week! I will be busy this weekend writing cards to you and your children for your thoughtful gifts and messages. 

                    * Field Trip on Tuesday- look in the Coyote Folder for more information

                    

 

* We have Wonder Wagon on 5/14. If you would like to help, here is the VOLY link: May 14 WW Voly Link:

 

Week 34

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we have been having fun making  bar graphs, pictographs and charts. We have been answering questions as well as writing what we notice about these graphs. We even had a challenge to see who could finish a page by the end of math and get all the answers correct. We earned a $10 bonus if we did! 

          In writing we wrote our end of year paper to a prompt. It was scored on a five point rubric as our end of year assessment. We then continued our research about Great White Sharks. We listened two multiple sources to get our facts to add to our R.A.N. Chart. We began drafting our paper by using the facts we put on our chart. We wrote about what Great White Sharks look like and where they live.

            In Social Studies/ Reading we learned more about consumers and producers by watching a video. We then took a quiz by sorting cards as a producer or consumer. All of them did very well so I gave the class a $3 bonus! We then did a project called a circle- rama that showed our knowledge about producers and consumers. We then watched a video that showed us many landforms and the different types of natural water features we can see on Earth. We then began another project as a flip book that showed some of these features. We finished the week with a scholastic News called “The Butterflies Are Back”.

           Science was so exciting this week as our butterfly larvae were huge on Monday as they ate all weekend. By Tuesday they were starting to crawl to the lid to attach themselves. On Wed. two of them wriggled out of their skin and became a chrysalis. By the end of Thursday all were in Chrysalis form. Into the butterfly house they went as we wait for them to emerge as adult butterflies. We had several projects we were working on all week that reinforced the life cycles of frogs and butterflies.

            The children are starting to have a bit of summer fever. Please help me by talking to your children about finishing strong. We have several fun things coming up in these last few weeks: Our Spring Musical, Our Field Trip, Our Awards Ceremony, and Our End of Year Movie Party during which they use their earned income to buy a movie ticket, drinks, snacks and treats.

           

 

Week 33

 Dear Parents,

              This week in math we took two days to take our End of Year Math CBA. This tests the children on all the skills they have been taught this year during our math period. We then began a new unit on graphing. We will be looking at bar graphs and pictographs during this unit. We will read charts to fill them in as well as answer questions about completed graphs.

                In writing they have been finishing up their individual procedural papers. We should all be finished today as we will start another research paper as we write about the Great White Shark. We will research what they look like, where they live, what they eat, and interesting facts about these big sea creatures.

                In social studies we completed a map of the continents and oceans of the world. We then read a Scholastic News article about following a bottle as it gets recycled. We celebrated Earth Day as we learned how to save our Earth by reducing, reusing, and recycling. We created a project about what each of us can do! We watched The Lorax and ate a Barbaloot Snack. We learned about producers and consumers and sorted people into those groups.

                In science we began our unit on insects and life cycles. We will be focusing on frogs and butterflies. We were so excited when our butterfly larvae arrived in the mail. They are growing each day! We are also watching videos and observing each stage as we fill out charts in our science notebooks!

Week 32

 Dear Parents, 

          This week in math we finished up learning about plane and solid shapes. We took our assessment on Thursday. We then on Friday began reviewing for our End of Year Math CBA on Thursday and will continue on Monday. They will take the CBA on Tuesday and Wednesday. We also took our Math iready EOY diagnostic. We will be sending home te results soon.

          In writing we finished up our procedural paper called How to Draw a crab. We researched the parts of a crab and made sure we used order words and started each direction with a verb. We then brainstormed all the things we know how to do and each child chose a topic on which they will write their individual procedural papers.

           In reading/ social studies this week we continued with our map skills as we looked at a world map and placed the names of the three countries of North America and their surrounding oceans on a map. We then read two different stories about Jack and the beanstalk. We had a retelling and graphic organizer assessment of our understanding and comparing or contrasting these two tales.

             In science we continued learning about seed dispersal and pollination. We observed these two concepts through demonstrations, then wrote about what we did. We took a cloze procedure paper on the topic of pollination.

Week 31

 Dear Parents,

            This week in math we continued learning about plane shapes called polygons. We used pattern blocks on Monday to use two or more shapes to create new shapes, or larger shapes. Your children had a blast and challenged themselves to find more than one way to create a new shape. A BIG thank you to Mr. Hicks who was a watch dog for the day and helped out with this lesson. We then used lines do divide shapes into more than one shape. Many made the connection that it was like dividing a shape into fractions, but sometimes the pieces were not equal. We next moved into learning about out solid shapes. We used our individual math boxes so we each had our hands on on the shapes as we counted vertices, faces and edges. We learned that a sphere, a cone, and a cylinder have no faces, edges and only a cone has 1 vertex. A cone and a cylinder do have flat surfaces, but they are not called faces because these shapes do not have straight edges.

              In writing we continued working on our “How to Draw a Crab” class papers and learned about prepositions. We used the prepositions to give detailed directions in our papers. Next week we will edit, revise and publish our papers.

               In social studies we looked at a us map. We found our state, its bordering states and the other 45 states. We watched our swim videos and read two books about swimming safety to get ready for our swim classes on Thursday and Friday. In reading we learned about cause and effect and completed a paper that showed we could match an effect to a cause.  We read a Scholastic News about “A Tough Seed”. We took a comprehension check for a grade.

              I need 4 field trip chaperones  For the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth on May 12th. Children cost $13 and if parents ride the bus $25 (20) without the cost of the bus. The information and forms are going home in your child’s Coyote Folder today. The first 4 parents to respond get to join us on this adventure!

Week 30

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we took our unit test on Fractions on Monday. We began our unit on 2-D shapes called polygons. We found out that they have sides, vertices and are closed shaoes. We learned the names of the shapes from 3-12 sides and vertices. We learned how to identify them and draw them.

         In wring this week we finished up our unit on researching famous Americans. I modeled how to research i9n several sources and how to decide what was the most important accomplishments of each person’s life. We also learned how to cite their sources. They were graded on the booklet they completed on their own. We also began our unit on procedural writing. This too, started with research as we are beginning a class paper on how to draw a crab. First, we need to research the parts of a crab and know the important parts of a “how to” writing.

          In social studies/reading this week we learned about our state borders. We learned about economics. We learned that we have choices on how to spend our money. We need to weigh the costs and the benefits of our choices to make the best decision for ourselves and our families.Wednesday was April Fools Day. We enjoyed a piece of Laffy Taffy and read the two jokes we had on each wrapper. The children had to pick one of those jokes, or find a joke in a joke book and write a page for our class joke book.

           In science we continued with our parts of a plant Brainpop Jr., and then took a quiz over the parts and what job each part has in helping the plant. We then created a plant part art piece with all the parts of a plant. If finished we could play the Plant Parts Game in which the first person to draw all the parts by rolling a die was the winner. We also observed our experiments in which we put white carnations and celery in colored water. We observed that the color ended up in the flower of the carnation showing that the stem takes the water to the rest of the plant. The celery had leaves and tubes inside that both turned colored as well.

 

*Check the Coyote Folder for important information about our swim days next week and our tradition of making a keepsake pillow case