ITBS testing next week

We will have ITBS testing starting Monday, March 29th. The following is the schedule we will follow in our class. Each day of testing will begin shortly after the morning bell and conclude by 10:00.

Monday: Science
Tuesday: No Testing (field trip in the afternoon)
Wednesday: Reading Comprehension 1
Math Concepts and Estimation
Thursday: Reading Comprehension 2
Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation

Remember that you may send a healthy snack with your child for each testing session. Please make sure that they are individually wrapped and nutritious. Some snack ideas are: granola bars, cheese and crackers, fruit snacks or bars, dried fruit, nuts, or other such items.

Thank you for helping your third grader arrive rested, on-time, and satisfied from a healthy breakfast!
Because we’re modifying our schedule and regular plans for this week, we will not have homework. I still encourage students to read a little each evening and practice math facts as well.
I'm positive that the third graders are going to do an amazing job on this test! :)

Spelling & Vocabulary March 22-26, 2010

We are reading the story Across the Wide Dark Sea this week which is a story about the Pilgrims journey to the new world.

Spelling

tooth
chew
grew
cook
shoe
blue
boot
flew
shook
balloon
drew
spoon
Challenge words: loose, brook

Vocabulary Words
anchor-- a heavy metal hook attached to a ship and dropped overboard to hold the ship in place.
cramped -- crowded; not enough room to move about
journey -- a trip from one place to another
seeping -- slowly leaking; oozing
settlement -- a small community in a new place
survive-- to stay alive; to hold up or withstand
weary -- tired; needing rest

Here is a spelling word search for you: http://www.eduplace.com/cgi-bin/schtemplate.cgi?template=/kids/hmsv/wordfind/wordfind.thtml&level=3&dataurl=/kids/hmsv/wordfind/03_31.txt

Recycled Transformations

The third graders completed their final transformation project! Items that could be recycled were used to create an original creature from their incredible imaginations. They had to do some difficult work as a group and many students learned that sometimes you have to compromise when you work in a group. I think many students transformed their group's thinking during this project!

Karli, Hailey E., Chidy and Camryn (not pictured) created a creature named Egor.

Dylan, Michael, Cameron and Hailey A. named their original creation Little Viking.

Connor, Kierra, Amiliana and Diamond's creature has an enormous mouth.

Jacob, Blake, Colton and Kennedy made a creature that had great night vision.

Haden, Cheyenne, Madison and Kathy made a creature similar to a lion named Tommy.

They did it.

Transformation....we see it all around us and sometimes even in the most unusual places. The third graders have been finding it everywhere.

We read a fantastic book about a group of people who rescue sea turtle eggs to release them back into the ocean after they've hatched. The students realized how many transformations the turtles and the rescuers go through and learned a huge amount of facts about the sea turtles. They took their new knowledge and presented it as a turtle collage. They described transformations and facts they learned in writing on the turtles' shells and then used recycled objects to design a collage. It took a lot of perseverance to complete it, but they did it! I am truly impressed with their masterpieces.

March 1-5, 2010

We made it through February! I'm positive it will be a wonderful Spring! We went outside for recess today and it was great to feel the warm sun.

We will not be having any spelling or vocabulary tests until after Spring Break because we are still taking our reading test.

The third graders have been working on multiplication and division facts and are really doing a great job! Today we talked about the power of 10.

This is a busy week! We'll be having our hearing checked on Thursday and Friday we'll be doing even more reading--especially some Dr. Seuss books as we celebrate Dr. Seuss Day by dressing as a favorite character or wearing a favorite hat. It should be a blast!