Families, I am SO PROUD of your children! They did an AMAZING JOB today at the Economics Fair!
Not only did they learn about running a business, but they showed a lot of generosity. I saw: students who were sold out helping others sell and watching each other's stores so they could buy. We will be reflecting on our learning the rest of the week. Our class raised $392.27!!! We're waiting to hear from all of the classes, but all of the proceeds will be donated to the Round Rock Area Serving Center. Please check out Seesaw for pictures. Lastly, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your support! I know this project was quite an undertaking, and that families were generous of their time and energy to make this happen. PBL Economics Fair
Monday: ALL 36 items to sell are due. Please send $3 in change, if you have not done that already. We will print out our final signs today and discuss Tuesday: Economics Fair is from 8:10-10:10 in the morning. Students should bring their own spending money and a shopping bag. The rest of the week, we will be finishing up our Entrepreneur Research projects and reflecting on our learning. Field Day is Friday! Our time is 8:00-9:40 AM. It will be a fun-filled morning! Please have your child wear their light blue 3rd Grade shirt (or one of a similar color, if it is MIA). It will make it easier to spot members of our class that day. SPRING BREAK is the following week! We will see everyone back on Monday, March 19th. Important Dates: M Mar. 5th: ALL PBL Economics Fair materials needed at school T Mar. 6th: Economics Fair (W Mar. 7th: Kindergarten Round-Up) F Mar. 9th: Field Day Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 23rd: End of Third Quarter F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) T May 29th: Last Day of Classes We need FIELD DAY Parent Volunteers! If you can donate any amount of time to help us run a station at Field Day, please visit our sign up genius link listed below. In order to have all of these stations available for the kids, we MUST have at least 1 parent volunteer per station. We appreciate you helping us make this day a success! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a44a5af29a1f85-2018 Important Dates:
Th 3/1 APEX FUN RUN M Mar. 5th: ALL PBL Economics Fair materials needed at school T Mar. 6th: Economics Fair F Mar. 9th: Field Day Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) T May 29th: Last Day of Classes Math: We are reviewing and finding equivalent fractions. Please practice multiplication facts with your children through 10 x 10. Science: Over the weekend, please help your child learn the mnemonic device he/she chose or wrote themselves to memorize the planets. Our original one was: My Very Energetic Mom Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune) Reading/Writing: Research and advertising will continue to be our focus through our PBL. Social Studies: We are continuing our learning about Economics and Entrepreneurs through our PBL. On a personal note, thank you all so very much for all of the gifts for Valentine's and my "Un-"Birthday this week. It is such a good feeling to have supportive families, and I truly appreciate your generosity. Thank you for all of your contributions, and I know Katherine Chong was behind organizing everything, even while feeling under the weather. No School on Monday or TuesdayDon't forget that we have Professional Development days on Monday [Presidents' Day] and Tuesday. UPCOMING FOR 2/21-23 Math: We will have an assessment over geometry and multiplication. Please practice multiplication facts with your children through 10 x 10. Our next unit is reviewing and extending fractions. Science: We will continue with our space unit. Students will create an acronym to help them remember the order of the planets. Reading/Writing: Research and advertising will be our focus through our PBL. Social Studies: We are continuing our learning about Economics and Entrepreneurs through our PBL. Economics PBLYour student's Final Business Plan should have been completed and turned in today. From this point forward, your child should be working on products at home. Economics PBL Timeline Thursday I sent home an Economics PBL Timeline as a DRAFT. I asked students to take it home and consult with you about family events and activities that may limit their production time on certain days. I told them to write those down, as well as add goals for when they wanted a certain number of items complete. This kind of planning and prioritizing, as you know, is an important life skill. No parent or teacher wants to cram this kind of project into the weekend before. Please help your child work on this over the weekend. If your child was absent, or the paper was lost, here is a digital copy. We will finalize this at school and share it with you digitally next week. Parent Timeline This one is for you, with more details and logistics. WellnessI hope I didn't jinx anything by saying our class had fared better than others, but I feel like I did. The general guideline followed is to keep those with fevers home until they have been fever-free, without the aid of medicine, for 24 hours. As my daughter quizzed our pediatrician, "Isn't it Flu A that's going around?"...yes, flu is going around, but there are other viruses going around as well.
Even if your child has missed work, we will do our best to catch them up upon their return. Although some things I can share digitally, we really want your child's focus to be on resting and getting well. UPCOMING FOR 2/12-2/19 Math: We will continue learning our last multiplication facts, including our 9s, 6s, and last facts (3x7, 7x3, 3x3, & 7x7). After the end week, we will have covered all multiplication facts through 10 x 10, and I will expect them to commit all of those to memory. Science: We will continue with our space unit. We will start with the Sun and learn through models about the relationships between the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Reading: Research will be our focus through our PBL. Writing: Students will conduct research about the techniques used in advertising. Later, they will apply the techniques and write advertisements to persuade others to purchase their goods. Social Studies: We are learning about Economics and Entrepreneurs through our PBL. Economics PBL (Project-Based Learning)Our spring PBL is in full swing! Here is a recap of the important dates that were sent home in the parent letter:
Wellness As most of you are aware, there have been a lot of people in our community hit with various illnesses. While we have had some absences, we haven't been hit as hard as some other classes. I attribute that to your efforts in taking precautions to keep your children well, and when they are not, keeping them home. You are very much appreciated! A general guideline followed is to keep those with fevers home until they have been naturally, fever-free for 24 hours. In addition to your family's medical/wellness team, our school nurse, Michelle Bullock, is the person to ask, if you have further questions. She has provided a district letter regarding the flu. STAAR ReadyDue to illnesses, we have had some students needing to make up the math test, which has delayed my plans to review the test with students. I will share those with you next week, along with an analysis. Please keep in mind that we have not yet taught/learned about a third of the content on that STAAR Ready, and the "passing" rate is 50%. I will make sure the questions that had not yet been taught are clearly marked. UPCOMING FOR 2/5-2/9 Math: Students will be learning and practicing their multiplication facts, including: 6s, 7s, 9s, and 3s. Note: 3rd grade students are required to learn their facts up to 10 x 10, but I go up to 12 x 12, after students have shown mastery through 10 x 10. Science: We are concluding the Weather unit and will start our Space unit. Students will be able to describe and illustrate the Sun as a star composed of gases that provides light and thermal energy and identify the planets in Earth's solar system and their position in relation to the Sun. Reading: 2/7 - STAAR Ready Reading Writing: Students will be presenting their prototypes for their business, get feedback, and revise business plan as needed. They will also be improving expository writing skills. Social Studies: We are learning about Economics and Entrepreneurs through our PBL. Important Dates: M Feb. 5th: PBL Product Prototype /Business Plan due W Feb. 14th: Valentine's Party M-T Feb. 19th & 20th: Student Holidays/Staff Development M Mar. 5th: ALL PBL Economics Fair materials needed at school T Mar. 6th: Economics Fair F Mar. 9th: Field Day Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) T May 29th: Last Day of Classes 3rd Grade Economics Fair Today we introduced our spring Project Based Learning Driving Question, focusing on how we as entrepreneurs can help our community. Monday I am sending a copy home of this letter explaining the expectations of our Economics Fair, which will be on March 6th. This is an annual project that third graders participate in as part of our Project Based Learning, although some specifics may have changed from previous years. A main component of this experience is students creating an "upcycled" project. Check out this link about Upcycling. We will guide students initially in the planning stages, but once their project plan has been approved, the manufacturing portion will be homework...but DON'T WORRY! Your child will have over three weeks to do so, and we will talk in class about how they want to pace themselves. PARENTS: Please have your child check to see if they can login to Google Classroom from home. If they can, have them comment on the most recent post. STAAR-Ready Testing Monday, Jan. 29th: STAAR-Ready Math test Wednesday, Feb. 7th: STAAR-Ready Reading test These are practice tests for the STAAR. This will not be graded for the grade book, but it will give students an idea of the ways the questions will be written and what the testing environment and conditions will be like. I told students that this test will give us information on what we need to review, and what we still need to teach, since some of the concepts have not yet been covered. On these days, as long as these do not become a distraction, students MAY:
Valentine's Day Party Katherine Chong, our room parent, will be sending out more information about the party. I am asking that students bring a decorated bag or box on Monday, February 12th. Please make sure your child includes the following:
Important Dates: M Feb. 5th: PBL Product Prototype due W Feb. 14th: Valentine's Party M-T Feb. 19th & 20th: Student Holidays/Staff Development M Mar. 5th: ALL PBL Economics Fair materials needed at school T Mar. 6th: Economics Fair Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) T May 29th: Last Day of Classes: This is a change, following the Bad Weather Day UPCOMING FOR 01/29-02/02 Math: We will start a new unit in math this week. Our focus will be finalizing our multiplication and division fact strategies including x3, x6, x7, x8, x9. Science: Students will be comparing the weather of two different cities for 5 days. They will also be learning about how to read the wind’s direction by using a wind sock. Reading: This week we are reading literary nonfiction books of our choosing (biographies and autobiographies). Students will use a nonfiction menu to choose activities to show new learning and practice skills taught. Writing: Writers will be working on making their personal narratives more interesting by revising details, leads and endings. Social Studies: Students are reading literary nonfiction about people who have contributed positively to our world. This was the final week to read Texas Bluebonnet Books, and I'm happy to say that all of our students will be able to participate in voting for their favorite! To learn about the books they read, go to our Language Arts page to view book trailers.
Next week third grade teachers will meet to plan our Economics Fair. More information will follow, but please be aware that this event is coming up soon! Math: We will finish our unit on geometry this week. We will be learning about 3D shapes and about area of composite shapes. Science: We are completing our unit about forces that change the surface of the Earth. Wednesday we will start our weather unit! Reading: We are reading about the lives of others through biographies, autobiographies, and literary nonfiction. Writing: We are responding to literature and developing narrative stories. Social Studies: We are learning about the lives of others through our literature unit. Important Dates: M-T Feb. 19th & 20th: Student Holidays/Staff Development Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) T May 29th: Last Day of Classes: This is a change, following the Bad Weather Day Welcome back!I hope you all had a relaxing break! We have hit the ground running and have had a fun week! Next week will also be a short week, due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Ask your child about our visitors from South Korea today! Upcoming Units:
Math: We will continue to work on our Geometry unit, including area. Science: We will start our next unit which us Unit 5 Earth’s Forces. Students are learning about which landforms are created by Earth's forces and how humans adapt their environments, based on these forces. Reading: We are beginning to learn about the lives of others through Literary Nonfiction texts, including biographies. Writing: Students are completing their imaginative/fantasy stories. Social Studies: We are learning about those whose contributions have impacted our society. Important Dates: M Jan. 15th: MLK, Jr. Day/Student & Staff Holiday M-T Feb. 19th & 20th: Student Holidays/Staff Development Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) Th May 25th: Last Day of Classes Dear Families,
It's hard to believe, but we are halfway through our third grade year! Over the next two weeks, I hope your families create wonderful memories together, and that your children will come back to school recharged and ready to work! We have a lot ahead of us in the spring semester. I deeply appreciate your generosity, not just with the cards, gifts, and treats you sent to me this week (which I LOVE, by the way!), but with your trust and support. I am fully aware that during the work/school week, I spend more waking hours with your children than I do with my own, and that time is precious. Your children are a pleasure to teach, and every year I know I learn just as much (if not more), from my students as I hope they learn from me. Happy Holidays and Safe Travels! Upcoming Units: Math: We will continue to work on our Geometry unit. Students will be looking closely at parallelograms, quadrilaterals, and triangles. Science: We will start our next unit which us Unit 5 Earth’s Forces. Students will create landslide and volcano labs to investigate rapid changes. Reading: We will explore Drama and the structure of written plays through Readers Theater groups. Writing: Students are completing their imaginative/fantasy stories. Social Studies: As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, we will learn about his life and his contributions to our society. Important Dates: T Jan. 9th: First Day of Spring Semester M Jan. 15th: MLK, Jr. Day/Student & Staff Holiday M-T Feb. 19th & 20th: Student Holidays/Staff Development Mar. 12th-16th: Spring Break Week F Mar. 30th: Student/Staff Holiday M-T May 14th & 15th: STAAR Testing for 3rd Graders (Math/Reading) Th May 25th: Last Day of Classes |