A Sneak Peek At Our Week ...

Reading:  This week for James and the Giant Peach, lessons will focus on how the setting affects characters in a text, and also how and why characters change throughout a novel.  Students received 7 new vocabulary words today and will be completing the vocabulary map for homework (due Friday).  Students will also be completing reading responses that reflect different topics instructed this week and last.  On Friday students will take a comprehension and vocabulary quiz over chapters 16-27.

Writing:  This week students will be introduced to the final component of extended responses - voice.  Information about reading extended responses can be found on the ISAT page of the Third Grade Website.  You can also find a "sentence starter" document that will help your child compose this type of writing, along with an example response that includes each of the instructed components.  

Math:  Today students corrected their Unit 4 study guide, and tomorrow will be taking the Unit 4 test.  Afterwards, they will take the Unit 5 pre-test, and will focus on constructing math extended responses for the remainder of the week.  Students have learned how to restate the question, search and find important information, show their work in an organized way, write the steps they took to solve the problem and will now be learning how to explain why they took each step.  Unit 5 lessons will start next week!

Social Studies:  After learning about what caused the Chicago Fire last week, students will focus on the effects of the fire this week.  Students will also use classroom time to continue working on their "Chicago History Alphabet books." The Alphabet Book rubric can be found on the Third Grade Website, along with Alphabet Book pages if your child wants to work on some at home! - Unit 2: How Chicago Came to Be

Important Information:

• Tuesday, Dec. 10th, Progress Reports passed out
• Friday, Dec. 12th, Quarter 2, Part 2 Projects Due!
• Dec. 16-20: Spirit Week

Class Morning Meeting Activity

This is the class playing Silent Ball.  To playSilent Ball, you have to be silent the whole time.  If you talk, the game starts over.  The goal of Silent Ball is to pass the ball around the whole circle without anyone talking.  The class plays Silent Ball because they do an activity everyday.  The whole class is Invovled with this and likes to play this game very much. So far our class record is 24(What we really want for our class record is 31). 

Written By: Isaiah B.

 

Math Test

There will be a Unit 4 Math Test next Tuesday!  Study guides went home today and will be due on Monday.  Students had time to begin working on the study guides in class.  

Mrs. Laverty's Presentation

A Sneak Peek At Our Week ...

Reading:  For the next 3 weeks students will be completing a Character Study using the shared text James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.  Information about the unit can be found on the Third Grade Website - Character Study.  Lessons this week will focus on how we learn about characters, noticing how characters change, and understanding character motivation.  There will be a vocabulary and comprehension quiz on Friday.

Writing:  Students will be using a new graphic organizer this week to complete their reading responses.  Responses will continue to be focused on using text evidence to support a claim, and explaining the evidence.  

Math:  Lessons 4.7-4.9 will be instructed this week, and we will take one day to practice writing math extended responses.  The Unit 4 test will be next week!

Social Studies:  Students are continuing to learn about different people and events that helped make Chicago the city it is today!  Friday will be a work day for students, giving them time to make their "Chicago Alphabet Books."

Important Information

• Friday, 12/6: Picture re-take day
• *** Please see post below about homework this week!

Pictures from the Field Trip

Check out some of the pictures from the class field trip to the Mitchell Museum of American Indian from October!

This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Homework

1.  Reading Response Logs:  Today students started a Character Study, using the shared text James and the Giant Peach.  For the next three weeks, students will be writing reading responses from their at-home independent reading books which will reflect learning goals of the unit.  They correlate with the different mini-lessons that will be taught during the week.  Your child was provided with a list of different response questions/prompts.  Students are asked to choose one different response to complete each night.  They can choose whichever prompt they like, and are not required to go in a particular order. 

2.  Vocabulary:  On Monday of each week, students will be introduced to 7 higher-level vocabulary terms that will be found in the text during the week.  They each were given a vocabulary "word map" packet to gain a deeper understanding of the terms.  These packets will be due on Friday.  Each Friday, students will be assessed on the terms.  Here is a "suggested" schedule for your child to complete for the words each night:

• Monday: Box 4 (Synonyms) & Box 5 (Antonyms)
• Tuesday: Box 8 (My Very Own Sentence)
• Wednesday: Box 7 (My Association, Example, or Sketch)
• Thursday: Box 6 (Other Forms of Word) & Study for Vocabulary Quiz (Fri.)
• *** Box #2 will be completed in class during reading workshop!