Week of November 7-11

Hi Everyone.  Above a is beautiful picture of the fall harvest.  It is the time of year when we prepare for the cold Midwest winter ahead of us.  It's also the time to change the clocks and "fall back" to signify the end of Daylight Savings Time.  I hope all of you remembered to set your clocks back one hour on  Saturday night.

November is a busy month.  Lots of special events and a short month packed full of learning.  Here is what's happening this week in third grade. 

No School

 Thursday, November 10th and Friday, November 11th

The Book Fair is Here!

Our fall Book Fair is now open!  Hours are:

Mon., Nov. 7  and Tues., Nov. 8  9:05 am -4:30 pm
Wed., Nov. 9   9:05 am  - 8:00 pm
Thurs., Nov. 10 8:00 am  - 8:00 pm
Mon., Nov. 14  9:05- 9:30  am - closing at 9:30 am


Come visit our book fair before and after school to buy a book for those reading logs. You can also purchase a book to be donated to your teacher’s class library! Parents should read with their kids every night and this is a great opportunity to freshen up your library at home. We look forward to seeing you all there. 


A Read-In is Coming!

Who: All the Third Grade students

When: Wednesday, November 9, 2011 during the Language Arts block

What to Bring:  5-10 books form home, a towel to lay on, a flashlight,  a healthy snack and one stuffed animal no bigger than their desks!

What to Wear :  Students may wear their pajamas and change into slippers. Remember to bring shoes for P.E. and recess and a jacket to wear outside.

Conferences

Parent- Teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 9th from 4:40 to 8:00 PM  and Thursday, November 10, from 8:00 AM to 7:40 PM.  Conferences are 20 minutes long and scheduled back-to back.  Please check your scheduled slot and arrive on time.  The teachers do their very best to keep conferences moving and honor scheduled time slots.   If you arrive late, unfortunately your time will be shortened to allow the next parent their full conference time.

What is the Bluestem Award? 

 The Bluestem Program is an annual award given to the author of the book voted most outstanding by students and grades 3-5 in participating Illinois schools.  It is designed for students in grades 3-5 who are ready for longer titles than found on the Monarch list, but not quite ready for the  sophistication of some of the Rebecca Caudill titles.

The award was named in honor of Big Bluestem which is the state prairie grass.  For a complete listing of this year's Bluestem titles go to Bluestem Program

Speaking of reading, students should be entering their reading minutes on their "Reading Stars" reading logs.  The reward for reading a minimum of 360 minutes a month is a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut! 


Reading -  In reading this week , we will continue our author study of Chris Van Allsburg.  This week we will focus on the story The Stranger.  The students will be introduced to making inferences and how inferring helps them understand the author's meaning in a text.  When using inference, the student's will use clues from the text and what they already know (their schema or background knowledge) to infer the meaning or make predictions.  Students will need to infer who the stranger is and support their prediction using clues from the story.  Here are some sites student can use to help them understand making inferences.

Inference Riddles



Inference Practice


Making Inferences

Writing -  Teachers will explain the process of writing a reading extended response.  An extended response is an in-depth analysis of a particular text.  By asking the student to write an extended response, we are asking them to think more deeply about their reading, thus making inferences and drawing conclusions are  important reading strategies to know. Writing extended responses is new to third graders and a skill they will continue to develop throughout their education.  We start in third grade with an "I" chart graphic organizer and model the organization of the response.  It involves answering the question using evidence from the text, along with interpreting that evidence by explaining what the clues mean using what you already know.  Finally, the student will have to pull everything together and write an ending sentence summing up the message the author was trying to get across.

Spelling -  There is no spelling test this week.  Next test will be list #9 on November 18th.


Math -  Both Accelerated Math and Third Grade Math classes will have a Unit 3 math test this week.  Tuesday, Nov. 8 the study guides are due and Wednesday, Nov. 9 is the Unit 3 test date. 

Social Studies -  We will finish up making our maps this week and begin a new unit on Government.  We start with our country's important first documents.   Students will learn how our country was formed and how the Declaration of Independence, The Revolutionary war and the Constitution were important first steps to making our country great.

Enjoy the short week!