Week of January 5

Calendar:
Wednesday, January 7  Homework Challenge assigned
Thursday, January 8  Morning Math
Friday, January 9  End of 2nd Quarter
Tuesday, January 13 State of the School by Andrew Myler 6:00 P.M.
Wednesday, January 14 State of the School by Andrew Myler 8:30 A. M.
Thursday, January 15 Third graders choose rainforest animal
Friday, January 16 Third graders are assigned rainforest animal
Friday, January 16 Spelling Test &  Homework Challenge due
Monday, January 19 No School - Martin Lurther King Day
Tuesday, January 20 Bring in 3-4 rainforest resources (Details in next week's blog)


Homework:
Tuesday: Read, Study Math Facts
Wednesday: Read, Study Math Facts
Thursday: Read, Study Math Facts
Friday: Read, Study Math Facts. Don't forget homework challenge.


Recess:
During winter months we try to go outside as often as possible. Please send your child with appropriate clothes for a cold recess.However, if the wind chill is under 20 degrees we will stay inside. Snow boots or an extra pair of shoes is a good idea.


Classroom News:

Reading:
We will be reading biographies this week. We have five different ones: Ruby Bridges, Frederick Douglass, Elijah McCoy, Sojourner Truth, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Math:
We will begin our multiplication basic facts tests this week.  We will start with 0-5 facts this Friday.  If your student passes this test then they will move to 0-10 facts next week.  We will progress on an individual basis. The goal is for each child to do between 40-50 problems in three minutes or less. How much your child studies each night depends on your child.  The suggested time is 15-20 minutes a night.  This week we will begin our unit on division.  Monday we read the book The Doorbell Rang which is about dividing cookies evenly among children.

Language Arts:
We will continue studying verbs, begin work on Wordly Wise Lesson 8, and we will write paragraphs.

Grammar:
We will review all the jingles we have learned so far, study prepositions,prepositional phrases, and continue classifying/diagramming sentences.

Science:
We will do a little more work on weather, then move on to study ecosystems.

A brief note about the rainforest unit:

• Next week we will begin the much anticipated rainforest unit.  Third graders will watch a video on Monday about  rainforest animals.  We will also have many different resources for children to study to pick an animal.  Please talk with your child about the size of animal your family is willing to make.  There are some rainforest websites on the right hand side of the blog that are good resources.
• Your child will write down three rainforest animals and Mrs. Thompson and Ms. Beilharz will assign the animals on Thursday, January 15.  Your child will find out which animal she/he will study and make on Friday, January 16.

Wordly Wise 8-
www.wordlywise3000.com

www.spellingcity.com/Spedsthirdgrade/
(Wordly Wise Lesson 8)

contain, digest, finicky, habit, hinge, marsh, nursery, rely, spine, thrive.


WEBINAR
Recently, some of our teachers and administrators participated in an ISACS (Independent Schools Association of the Central States) webinar titled “Raising Resilient Children in a World Filled with Stress & Pressure" which was presented by Dr. Robert Brooks.  The webinar provided some great strategies for helping raise, discipline, and guide children so that they develop resilience and are able to deal comfortably and effectively with setbacks and mistakes.  ISACS has posted the recorded version of the webinar at http://www.isacs.org/page/472128_Learning_Bridge_Webinar_Login.asp.  It will be available until January 16^th and can be accessed by visiting the link above and selecting “12/3/14 - Raising Resilient Children in a World Filled with Stress & Pressure" with Robert Brooks and using the password “rowing”.