It has been a crazy couple of weeks since returning to school after Christmas break. The class has been busy working on their animal research, writing the research paper from their research, and we have been benchmarking to see reading growth since the beginning of the school year. I am pleased with how the kids are growing and learning this year.
We have finished up multiplication and division in our whole group math lessons and will move onto fractions this week. Fractions are a new concept in third grade, though some have some foundational understandings as our second grade teachers did a nice job introducing fractions during their math win classes last year. We will be learning the basics of how to identify fractions, fractions of a set, using a number line to identify fractions, comparing fractions, and finding equivalent fractions. We will continue to work on basic multiplication facts as all students need to have the basic facts memorized by the end of the school year.
In science we will finish up our adaptations unit in a couple of weeks. This week we will have several different stations that the students will work through that will provide a hands on approach to different types of animal adaptations. Our flip books and animal model are due by next Wednesday, with our typed research report being due on February 14th. The kiddos are finding that they are really having to dig into the information about their given animal to learn enough to write about the animal.
In reading this week we will continue to work with non-fiction texts and a little poetry at the end of the week.
Field Trip Reschedule Date: We will head to the Museum at Prairiefire on Friday, March 10th, 2017. The exhibit has changed, but will still be fascinating and fit into our science standards. We will be learning about the World's Largest Dinosaurs.
Auction Baskets: Our class has partnered up with Mrs. Wynn's class to create a KU basket for the PTC Silent Auction that is held on the day of the school carnival. Please send in any KU items that you would like to donate to help make the auctions fundraiser a huge success.
Parent/Teacher Conferences: Parent Teacher conferences will be held on February 15 and 16th. You will be receiving notes home soon with the time of your conference.
Valentine's Party: A huge thank you to Katie Aufdemberge who volunteered to call parents for donations for our classroom party. The party will be held on Tuesday, February 14th from 8:30-9:00. All students are encouraged to bring a Valentine for each classmate. I will be sending home a list of students this week with the kiddos.