Week of September 3

Calendar:
Thursday, September 5 - 6:00 Curriculum Night
Friday, September 6 - Spelling Test & Basic facts quiz (see math note below)
Friday, September 13 - Cultural Arts: Patricia Polacco - order forms due by Wednesday, September 11

Homework:
Tuesday: Read, Study addition and subtraction facts, Study spelling
Wednesday: Read, Study addition and subtraction facts, Study spelling
Thursday:Read, Study addition and subtraction facts, Study spelling
Friday: Have a great weekend!

Class News:

Reading - We continue to read The Whipping Boy and The Hundred Dresses.  This week our main focus will be on summarizing what we read.  A summary should be a shortened version of what we read and should be give the main ideas of the text.  A summary can vary in length depending on how long our chapter or book is.

Math - This week we will start our unit on addition and subtraction.  This week we will focus on the vocabulary words that go along with this unit.  The vocabulary words are: addends, sum, Commutative (Order) Property of Addition, Assoicative (Grouping) Property of Addition, Identity (Zero) Property of Addition, difference, fact family, equation.

During the month of September we are going to focus on our addition and subtraction basic facts.  On Tuesday, each student brought home a worksheet of a timed test.  Please look at the bottom of the worksheet to see your child’s score.  We will study our facts for homework each night and then take a basic facts test on Friday.  If your students scored 40 or above then they do not need to take the test on Friday and Ms. Beilharz will provide a challenge sheet for them to work on each week.  If your child scored less than 40 on each side then the suggestion is to practice addition for the next couple of weeks and then after improvement switch to studying subtraction facts. Ms. Beilharz has suggested that students study by playing games on the computer or ipad, using flashcards, playing addition war with a deck of cards, or completing worksheets printed by parents from the computers.  I will add some websites to the computers no later than Wednesday after school.  The goal is for every student to improve during the month.  Ms. Beilharz met with each student today during math and they understand what they are supposed to study.  Please let Ms. Beilharz know if you have any questions.  

Science - We are continuing our unit on Plants and How they Grow, and will learn why plants need roots and stems, and how plants are grouped.  We are also keeping an eye on the garden looking for the first sign of growth above the soil! On Friday of last week students had the opportunity to observe and examine a radish and a flower with their roots, leaves, stems, and flowers with a magnifying glass and draw what they observed.
Look out for a Sign Up Genius email to volunteer to water the garden.

Language Arts - This week our focus will be on subject and predicate.  Students should be able to name the subject and predicate from a sentence.  

Spelling Words:http://www.spellingcity.com/Spedsthirdgrade/

1. cylinder

2. examine

3. fatal

4. feature

5. grasp

6. jet

7. marine

8. scar

9. tentacle

10. vessel

11. Beilharz

12. Thompson