Week of April 9 - 13

This week's news...

Field Trip Coming Up! 
Third grade students are going to the DuPage Children's Museum!  

• The Field Trip is Wednesday, April 18th for 3BA and 3K and Thursday, April 19th for 3A and 3BR.
• Permission slips are due Thursday, April 12th.
• The cost of the trip is $13.00 - make checks  payable to May Watts
• Students need to bring a bag lunch, nutritious snack and drink
• NO MILK OR HOT LUNCH WILL BE AVAILABLE THE DAY OF THE TRIP

Citizenship - This week  we will revisit how to problem solve.  Teachers  will remind students of ways  to cool-off and use "I -messages" to tell people how they feel.  Below is a short video  designed to remind students that when conflict occurs they can use various strategies to solve the problem. Check it out - the song is kind of catchy!

How to Get Along

Reading - For the next two weeks, we will be reading a story called Rocking and Rolling by Phillip Steele.  This non-fiction piece informs readers about various ways the earth is formed. The story focuses on earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and glaciers.  This is a great informative text and students will use the story to practice locating information.  Students will be reminded to use graphs, maps, insets, pictures and captions to locate important information.

Writing -  In writing the students have been working on an ending to a story for a writing contest!  That's right, the Naperville Area Humane Society, with the endorsement of Mayor George Pradel is asking students in grades 3-5 to participate.  The students were read a story about a skinny little brown dog named Duke who is neglected by his owners.  Duke is left chained outside all day with no one to pet him or play with him.  He doesn't even have enough water to drink!  One day, a raccoon happens by with a box stuck on his head.  Duke convinces the raccoon to come closer so he can get the box off the raccoon's head.  Well, in return, Duke asks the raccoon to help him and set him free.  The students are to finish the story and write about how the raccoon helps and what happens to Duke once he is free.  This assignment is to be done primarily in class, but the students may work on it at home if they wish.  Students have until April 20th to complete their ending.  Pictures are encouraged for extra credit!

Each grade level winner will ...

- Get a Naperville Area  Humane Society T-shirt
- Go "behind the scenes" at the Humane Society, have lunch and enjoy fun time with the shelter dogs and cats.
- Winning entries will also be posted on the Humane Society website
- A Press Release will go out the local newspapers

Students will be working in their endings while we begin immersing them with examples of what expository writing is.  Expository means "to explain".  Students will learn how to use a 4-square graphic organizer to help write a multi-paragraph paper using  reasons, transition words, details and elaboration.  We begin instruction with how to write a good introduction.

Spelling - This week we are on list #24.  The pattern is words that end in ed and ing .  The test is Friday, April 13th.

Science - Our next science unit is on Simple Machines.  Students will learn that simple machines are tools that make work easier. The six simple machines are the lever, pulley, wheel and axle, wedge, screw and inclined plane. On our field trip to the children's museum the children will be taking part in the learning lab entitled "Why Wheels, Levers and Pulleys?"  This is always an enjoyable unit for the students.  We start the unit by asking the question- What is work?

Math-
Third grade math - At the beginning of unit 8, the students learned about numerators, denominators and fractional parts of a set.  This week we will cover identifying fractions on a number line, equivalent fractions and comparing fractions.