Week of December 5- December 9

Two more busy, learning weeks to go before the holiday break.  Below you will see some additional information regarding the next two weeks.

12/5—12/9  Holiday Shop  and Toilet Tree Drive—Bathroom items being collected will be donated to Angelheart Children’s Shelter.

12/8  Holiday Shop Preview for our class 1:20-1:50.  Must have money to go any other day of the week.

12/8  Schlotzsky’s Day for WBE from 10am-10pm.  20% of sales will be donated to our school.  Coupons to share with family and friends went home in last week’s Thursday folder on yellow paper.

12/13  BMX show at 1:00pm for fund raising over $20,000!!!

12/16  Holiday Party at 1:30-2:30pm (cleanup from 2:30-2:45pm)

We are collecting monetary donations for the Holiday party. Please bring in your donation by Tuesday December 13.

Third Grade is also in need of empty cereal boxes! All third graders will be doing a project and will each need a cereal box next week. If you have any empty cereal boxes please bring them to school.

Thanks! Have a great week!

Lauren Derrington

November 14-November 18

Wow! I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving! This year is flying by. I am so proud of everyone and their wonderful performances last week during the Veteran's Day Assembly. I hope each of you got a chance to come see them sing. If you didn't get to come and listen, here is a small sample of the performance.

What we're learning this week:

Social Studies—Review of National, State, and Local Governments
Science—Finishing Force and Motion/Starting Magnetism and Gravity
Math— Multiplication (6’s and 9’s facts) 
Reading— Reading Analyzing Nonfiction (RAN)
Writing—Expository Writing

Homework for Nov. 14-18

Monday—Multiplication Match  Unit 5 pg 17-18
Tuesday—Mountain Ecosystem
Wednesday—Workbook  Unit 5 p. 15-16
Thursday—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Daily—Read for 30 minutes

Reminders:

Tuesday November 15 and Wednesday November 16- Ms. Derrington will not be on campus and will be at a conference.

Thursday November 17- Thanksgiving Luncheon. New lunch time at 11:21am

Thursday November 17- Writing Benchmark- prompt only

Have a great week!

Ms. Derrington

 

October 1st-November 4th

We have now completed the first week of the second nine weeks.  We had a very busy week last week with a visit from the Harlem Globetrotters and also  a visit from the Pflugervile Fire Department. Students also worked very hard  on completing their non- fiction writing piece. They have done an amazing job. I was also very impressed by the work done on the temperature homework.   This week, students will be introduced to cursive writing. This is always exciting  for them.

Report Cards will be going home on Monday October 31st. Please sign and return one copy in the envelope it was sent home it.  On November 8,2011 at 8am we will have our Explorer Excellence awards. Students will be recognized for All A's or A's and B's, perfect attendance, Explorer Excellence and Hustle Award . I will be sending home an invitation this week and also sending you an email.

The third grade students will be performing for the Veterans Day  assembly. They will sing  in the afternoon on November 11th and also at the PTA meeting on November 8th. Please look for a note coming home on Tuesday.


 What we will be doing this week :

Math : we are  looking at multiplication and  how you use it to problem solve .

Science : Finishing our unit on energy and then looking at force and motion.

Reading :  Introducing Autobiography and Biography and understanding form whose point of view is the story being told .

Social studies ; Continuing to look at the branches of government at the  National, State and Local Level

Writing :: We will share our non fiction stories on Monday. We will then begin looking at ways to revise our writing to improve our stories

October 24-October 28

I am sorry for not updating you all last week. It wont happen again. I hope that you are enjoying the cooler weather as much as I am. The first nine weeks is over and Monday will be bring the start of the second 9 weeks. Report cards will go home on October 31st and Explorer Excellent awards  will happen on Tuesday November 8th at 8am.   Please remember your temperature project is due on Tuesday October 25th. This next week will be Red Ribbon Week  Below find the daily schedule.

RED RIBBON WEEK
Please participate October 24th-28th, 2011 and encourage being DRUG FREE!!!
Wells Branch activities for the week:
MONDAY - Wear boots and western wear … “GIVE DRUGS THE BOOT”
TUESDAY - Wear crazy socks … “HELP WBE SOCK IT TO DRUGS”
WEDNESDAY - Wear red day… “PROUD TO BE DRUG FREE”
THURSDAY – Wear tie-dye…..“PEACE OUT TO DRUGS”
FRIDAY – Dress up as your favorite story book character……“I’M TOO BUSY READING TO DO DRUGS”

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING THIS WEEK: 

MATH :  We took an assessment over temperature, time and patterns today and then we are moving into multiplication tomorrow. They always love this. Homework for Monday  will be to identify things that come in groups . For Example : eggs  12  . Wednesday will be a sheet on equal groups .

I am attaching to the blog some problems we have been working on every day in math. These are Problem of the Days. They are word problems, that focus on multiple skills taught. If you are looking for extra help with your child, these type of problems would be great!!! For each problem that is completed and brought back to me, students will receive a special prize :)

Science : We will continue to look at and identify forms of energy in our daily lives . 

 Reading : This week our focus will be main idea and cause and effect. Homework on Tuesday will deal with main idea  ( I always say main idea is the house and the supporting details are what hold the house up. If you pick something as the main idea and there are no other details to support it  then you have picked the wrong one) Thursday homework will be cause and effect. 

 Writing : We are continuing with our non fiction piece based on our animal research. Students selected their animal, generated questions and are now creating their own piece of writing with at least 6 text features .

Social  Studies: We will be looking at National, State and Local Government . Who are the officials at each level, are they elected or appointed and what are their duties. 

Lauren Derrington

Temperature Project

During our study of temperature, the students will be starting an at home project that has them tracking the daily High and Low temperatures of a city of their choice.

 Look with your child at a multiday weather forecast in the newspaper, on the internet or television news program.  Talk about the predicted changes in temperature.  Will the temperature stay constant?  Will it increase or decrease suddenly?  Describe the trend in the weather over the next ten days.  Your child may choose any city to keep track of.  It may even be in a different country! 


• Create a chart that shows the daily temperature over the next ten days. They should begin recording temperatures on October 12 and the last day will be October 21. 
• Graph the daily Hi and Lo temperatures.  Students may graph the information using a bar graph, line graph, pictograph, or other graph of their choice. 
• Write a summary paragraph describing the weather trends over the recorded ten days.
Project Start Date: October 11, 2011
Project Due Date:  October 25, 2011

Please be as creative as you would like!  Students may display their information on a poster, in a book, or create a power point!  If you have any questions, please contact me.

October 11-14

I really enjoyed meeting with all the families that attended conferences yesterday!  We discussed the third grade goals for the year and strategies to become better learners.  If we did not meet on Monday or scheduled another date, I will be contacting you to find a time to meet to discuss your child’s progress. Thank you to all who came!

Check out our October newsletter to see what's happening in 3rd grade!

What we're learning this week:

Social Studies—Features of a Map
Science—Science Tools
Math— Temperature/Telling Time on Analog and Digital Clocks
Reading— Main Ideas and Expository Text
Writing—Writing an Expository Text

Homework for October 11-14

Monday—Fall Conferences (No Homework)
Tuesday—Text and Graphic Features WS pg. 31
Wednesday—Thermometer WS p. 116-117
Thursday—Text and Graphic Features
Daily—Read for 20 minutes

Spelling Homework-

Three Letter Clusters

**All spelling homework is due on Friday**

Monday:  No Homework  R  

Tuesday:  Three Letter Clusters WS

Wednesday:  Fill in the Blank WS

Thursday:  Practice Spelling Test-Have an adult or older sibling to give you the spelling test.  Then check it and have the adult or older sibling initial the spelling test. Remember to bring the practice test to school with the initial or write spelling bee with the initials. Test on Friday!

Have a great week!

It's Already October

I hope everyone all had a wonderful weekend. Can you believe it's already October? We only have 3 more weeks until the first grading period is over.

There are new math games posted on the right column of the blog. These games are fun and help students with learning math. I encourage them all. I also posted a link under Important Links caleld StemSCOPES. This link has a bunch of science activities, and all the students have accessed it here at school before. This is a great site that we use daily here.
StemSCOPES username: derrington3       password: derrington

What we're learning this week:

Social Studies—Regions of the USA and Cardinal Directions
Science—Mixtures and Solutions- test on Wednesday
Math—Patterns on a Number Line and on a Thermometer
Reading—Expository Text Features
Writing-- Writing a Persuasive Letter - Benchmark on Tuesday

Homework for Oct. 3-7

Monday—Understanding Number Lines

Tuesday—Two Twisters Touch Down
Wednesday—Number Patterns Challenge
Thursday—Main Idea vs Details
Daily--Read for 20 minutes

Spelling Homework-

V-C-e (Vowel-Consonant-Silent e)

**All spelling homework is due on Friday**

Monday:  Spelling Word Sort WS

Tuesday:  V-C-e Spellings  WS

Wednesday:  Rainbow Words

Thursday:  Practice Spelling Test-Have an adult or older sibling to give you the spelling test.  Then check it and have the adult or older sibling initial the spelling test.  Bring the practice test with the rest of your spelling homework.  Test on Friday!

Reminders:

-Thursday night is McTeacher's Night from 5-7pm. A percentage of all proceeds will be donated to WBE during those hours. Be sure to stop by and see some of the WBE staff serving your food! Ms. Derrington will be there!!

- There is no school on Monday, October 10th due to parent conferences. Please make sure you have signed up. If you requested a phone conference, I will be calling you soon to either have the conference or if you are busy, we can set up a better time.

 

- We are collecting Box Tops to raise money for the school. The class with the most wins a pizza party. Be sure to save all of your Box Tops and turn them in to me by October 25th.

 

Have a great week!

Look What We Did!!!

Today we went to the science lab to create our very own volcanoes. The students were very excited and learned a lot.

One more week of September to go

Reminders:

* If you have not yet signed up for a time for parent conferences on October 10, please do so soon. I will be creating the final list and sending confirming times with parents by this Thursday. I really hope to meet with everyone. Thank you to those of you who have already signed up!

* I have added a new item to our classroom wish list. Headphones!!! We do a lot of computer work in the classroom, and some of it involves listening. I am trying to get a set of headphones for every student in the class. They dont have to be the fancy kind, just able to work.

What we are learning:
 Math: Rounding and Estimating
Science: Mixtures and Solutions
Social Studies: Natural Disasters
Reading/Writing: Sequencing and publishing personal narratives

HW;

Monday: Number Line Mice- math rounding
Tuesday: Sam the Detective
Wednesday: Lets Get Friendly
Thursday:

Have a great week!

Lauren Derrington

September 19-Septemeber 23

I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing weekend!

We are half way through the first 9 weeks and progress reports will be sent home on Thursday.  Please note that grades on the progress report are not final, but show how your child is doing so far.  If there are missing grades, he/she can still turn in the assignment for a grade.  Any graded work below a 70 can be redone and turned back in for a grade up to 70.

Its Education Go Get it Week next week! Here is the schedule of events for the week.

Monday: Show your college spirit day! - wear your favorite college shirt.
Tuesday: Map it out - Where did your teacher go to school? Staff will highlight where they went to college on a map displayed in front of the Counselors' office. 

Wednesday: "Parents and their Work Day"- Students interview their parents. Students are encouraged to draw or write about their parents' skills or what their parents do for a living. Photos and props may be included. The students can share their interviews with their classmates.
** Volunteer Opportunity***I think it would be really exciting if we could get some parent volunteers to come into the classroom to share where they went to college, and what they are doing now. I am looking for parents who would like to come talk to us about college. Please email or call me if you are interested. This will be on Wednesday at 12:45. I will send more details once I know how many parents would like to volunteer!

Thursday: Design College Bound Pennants of the year your class will graduate a 4-year college. This will be done in class.

Friday: "I Want to be…." Each class stops by the graffiti wall to express their career ambitions.

What we're learning this week:

Social Studies--Wetlands, Plains, and Sod Houses
Science--Changes from Heat and Mixtures
Math--2-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Reading--Genre Study- Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, and Fables
Writing--Publishing  our personal narratives

Homework for Sept. 19-23

Monday--Adding on a Hundred Chart p. 30

Tuesday--Reading-Real or Fantasy

Wednesday--Adding on a Hundred Chart p. 31

Thursday--Comparing Traditional Fiction

Daily--Read for 20 minutes


Spelling Homework- Changing Y to I **All spelling homework is due on Friday**
Monday: Spelling Word Sort WS
Tuesday: Write the basic word or words in the blank WS
Wednesday: Rainbow Words-Write each spelling word using 3 different colors.

Thursday: Practice Spelling Test-Have an adult or older sibling to give you the spelling test. Then check it and have the adult or older sibling initial the spelling test. Test on Friday!

Have a great week!

New Math Game!!!

I just found out about this Math game. I think the kids will like it because you can log in and then play against people in our class or school. I've included the link and directions below

CarotSticks Multiplication Game

 

Directions:

1. Click on the link.
2. Click "play now" at the top of the page (white font).
3. Create your own character.
4. It will allow you to create your login and password. (I suggest first name and grade number for both the login and password. Example: Lauren3)
5. Have fun!!!
6. Hint: You can adjust the difficulty and operation on the right side of the screen once you are playing the game.

Week of Sept 12-Sept 16

We had a great Friday with all the grandparents who came for lunch last week! It was so exciting to see all the smiling faces.

What we are learning this week

Social Studies: Its freedom week and we are discussing the past events of September 11 and how our country became what it is today.

Science: Matter and how it can change from one state to another.

Math: Working with patterns on a 100 board and introducing addition strategies. We will be working a lot on addition and subtraction in the next few weeks. It would be great to practice simple facts at home to help your child succeed.

Language Arts:  Inferencing and writing personal narratives.

Reminders: **If you have not yet signed up for a parent conference, please complete the form on the left. Times are filling up quickly! Mark your calendar for October 10th.**

Here is a sample of what how we made Adobe bricks last week.

Sept 6-Sept 9

We had a great week last week. Our class is moving along well, learning together, and following classroom and school-wide expectations.

We had lots of kiddos absent last week due to illness. Please make sure you remind your kids how important it is to wash hands and not share water bottles or anything else that can transfer germs. I will be reminding them to wash their hands often at school and keep their hands away from their mouths and to cover their coughs. I heard more coughing last week that I've heard in a very long time! :(

Reminders:

Grandparents luncheon- Friday Sept 9 11:17am

Parent Conferences- Monday Oct 10th- please fill out the parent conference sign up sheet.

What we are learning:

This week in Social Studies we will continue to study about different areas of the world and we are talking about deserts. So far we have compared the San people in the Kalahari Desert with the Pueblo Native Americans. On friday we will be making our own adobe bricks. I hope they turn out as planned :)

Science is all about matter right now. Students are investigating the different properties of matter and also the 3 states as well. They will know what matter is and will be able to tell you if something is a solid, liquid, or a gas.

In Math, we are moving quickly and learning about money. All students should know the values of all the coins including the half dollar. We are working on determining the value of a collection of coins and bills. At home, it would greatly benefit your child to talk with them about money. While at the grocery store you can remind them of what things cost and what they would use to buy certain items. We are always looking to enhance learning with real life situations.

This week in Reading and Writing students are learning how to use their inner voice to help them understand their reading. They have been and will continue to practice writing down what their brain is telling them while they read. This will make them become better readers. We will also be creating story maps which include characters, setting, problem and solutions to stories.

Enjoy the rest of this short week!

Week of August 29-September 2

Wow! What a week. We successfully completed our first week back to school. This past week was filled with learning the new expectations of our classroom as well as our school. We practiced being responsible, being respectful, and being safe. So far The Dream Team is headed in the right direction! Please make sure to practice these expectations at home as well, so our class can perfect them here in school.

This week we are going strong with new content. In Math students will be using place value to read, write and describe numbers all the way to 999,999. They will be building and ordering numbers using base 10 blocks too. It is important that they are able to read as well as write a number up to 999,999.

This week in science is all about safety. Today we started to set up the science notebooks and discussed the importance of them. The rest of the week, we will be talking about why its important to be safe in science.

In Social Studies we are discussing life in other parts of the world. We talked today about what it is like to live in the Mountains. Students looked at maps of The USA and pointed out where mountains were located and had a conversation of what it is like to live there.

This week in Reading and Writing students are learning how to pick out the "just right" book for them. They will also learn about how to listen to their "inner voice". This is the voice inside their head that tells them what they are thinking when they read. We are focusing on listening to that inner voice and writing what we are thinking down while reading. This will be a great strategy to use for reading comprehension.

I am looking forward to a great 2nd week. Lets make it better than the 1st!!

Ms. Derrington

Welcome to 3rd Grade!!

I'm very excited to have you all as a part of my class for this school year. Please take some time to look around the blog for information you will need throughout the year. A new entry will be posted EVERY Monday with relevant information for the week. I will also post important documents/links throughout the week as needed. I will always let you (or your children) know they are there.

Please take some time to fill out this form to provide me with a little bit of routine information. (I must have this information on file.) Here you will find a form that will help me get to know your student and his/her specific needs. (It would be very helpful to have this information on file to best meet the needs of your child.)

I'm excited for this year and can't wait to get to know both you and your children.
-Lauren Derrington