Blog Archives

Weekly Update #31: April 18th - April 22nd

4/22/2016

Announcements:

3rd Grade Assembly: Wow! The kids did an amazing job today with the assembly. Another opportunity to see the assembly is coming up this Tuesday, April 26th at 8:00am. We will perform the entire assembly again so that it can be recorded by Mr. Weiler, our school's technical engineer, for our school's website. Plus, parents that were unable to make it today will get an opportunity to see it first hand!
Class Supplies Needed: We are getting awfully low in our glue stick and pencil supply. If you are stopping at the store this weekend, please consider purchasing a pack a glue sticks or a box of pencils (preferably the Ticonderoga brand). Thank you!!!
STAAR Assessments May 9th and May 10th: They are just around the corner. Want to help prepare your child at home? Suggestions for math: Xtramath, timed quizzes, ixl.com, think through math and khan academy are excellent online resources your child has access to. The links to these sites can be found under the "Math Links" tab. Suggestions for reading: reading comprehension passages with questions and other reading comprehension skills. Check out the "Reading Links" tab for tons of great online resources. Test questions from 2015, 2014 and 2013 STAAR Tests...click here STAAR Test Questions
Class Dojo - The kids and I are loving Class Dojo. We hope you are enjoying the daily communication too! Download the FREE app for your phone for easy access. Check daily to see how your kiddo is doing in class! Stay connected!
Spring Scholastic Book Orders - Order forms/new catalogs went home yesterday in Thursday folders. Over half of the new Bluebonnet Books are available on Scholastic! This is amazing! Therefore, the books that are in our Classroom Wish List on Scholastic are all Bluebonnet Books! If you are looking for ways to help contribute to our reading in class, please consider purchasing one of these books. The kids are super excited and we've already begun reading the book, Woof as our class read-aloud book. Help keep the momentum going and purchase a Bluebonnet book for our class today! Scholastic Link Here! Our class code is: NP79X
2016 - 2017 Bluebonnet Book List is now posted! Click here for the new list! Bluebonnet List. I have added these new books to my Amazon wish list too at Mrs. Lilleboe's Bluebonnet List. Kids can start reading them now and be ready for next year!
Home Access Updated: We are into our last nine week grading period. Please, check this regularly to stay on top of your kiddos performance in class. I will forewarn you that second semester can be more challenging as we prepare these kiddos for 4th grade. Expectations on graded work will increase. Home Access Link
Wish Lists: If you are able and wanting to contribute other resources to our learning, go to my other wish list on Amazon. "Mrs. Lilleboe's Wish List". Thank you for your continued support!

**Special Thank You - Ms. Debbie for helping us on our 3rd grade PBL bulletin boards in Commons area, Ms. Susan for taking pictures of our kiddos for a fun Earth Day activity, and all the parents for helping our kiddos with dressing up for the assembly!

Upcoming Dates:

April 26th - 2nd opportunity to see the 3rd grade assembly @ 8:00am
May 2nd - May 5th - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th - Early Release @ 12:45pm
May 5th - Spring Choir Concert @ 6:30pm
May 9th and 10th - Closed campus for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade STAAR Tests
May 11th - All library books are due back to the England library.
May 20th - Field Day
May 27th - Final School Assembly for the year!
May 30th - No School - Memorial Day
June 1st - 3rd grade End-of-the-Year Party
June 2nd - Last Day of School

In Writing, we started our realistic fiction stories! So, far we've come up with the story idea (including the problem and solution), main character (drawing of the character), and developed the main character's traits (internal and external). Next, week we'll create the setting and develop the plot of the story.

In Reading, we reviewed "theme" or the lesson learned in a story, and types of poetry. The kids worked with a partner to complete a theme task card activity. Besides having a few whole 3rd grade assembly practices, we also practiced a STAAR poem reading passage and a Scholastic News article that focused on finding evidence and using context clues.

In Math, these last 2 weeks we've been developing our multiplication skills by learning a couple new strategies when faced with multiplying a 1 digit number by a 2-digit number. As we all know the algorithm method is the most efficient, but kids don't understand the "thinking" or how to apply it to a practical real world problem. We learned how to use the strategies called partial products, doubling and halving, and prism (essentially finding the volume using 3 factors for find the product). Kids can continue to practice their multiplication skills by using ixl.com. Our unit test was today!

In Science, we are deep into our next unit - Plant Adaptations, Traits and Life Cycles. We continue to make our lady bug and tadpole life cycle observations. We discussed plant adaptations, plant parts and plants life cycles. Next, week we'll review these areas and have our test on Friday.

Read Aloud Time, we are reading a new Bluebonnet Book called Woof.

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Weekly Update #30: April 11th - April 15th

4/15/2016

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Announcements:

3rd Grade Assembly: Announcements: The 3rd grade Wildlife Warriors will be presenting to the school next Friday about habitat loss. To make a statement, the kiddos thought it would be good a good idea for 3rd grade to dress up as an endangered animal or a tree. Some students will be in a skit and have been assigned a part as either a tree or animal, but any 3rd grade can dress up as a tree or an endangered animal. If you would like to help your child make a simple costume, that would be great. Please don't feel the need to go out and buy a bunch of things to make an elaborate costume. It can be as simple as a paper plate mask or a green shirt with leaves attached. Students that don't want to dress up should wear their Wildlife Warrior shirt. The students who are trees in the skit have already made a tree cut-out to go around their face, but it would be great if they can wear a green shirt and brown/black pants. They could also attach leaves/branches to their shirt. Students that are animals in the skit will need to have an endangered animal costume.
STAAR Assessments May 9th and May 10th: They are just around the corner. Want to help prepare your child at home? Suggestions for math: Xtramath, timed quizzes, ixl.com, think through math and khan academy are excellent online resources your child has access to. The links to these sites can be found under the "Math Links" tab. Suggestions for reading: reading comprehension passages with questions and other reading comprehension skills. Check out the "Reading Links" tab for tons of great online resources. Test questions from 2015, 2014 and 2013 STAAR Tests...click here STAAR Test Questions
Class Dojo - The kids and I are loving Class Dojo. We hope you are enjoying the daily communication too! Download the FREE app for your phone for easy access. Check daily to see how your kiddo is doing in class! Stay connected!
Spring Scholastic Book Orders - Order forms/new catalogs went home yesterday in Thursday folders. Over half of the new Bluebonnet Books are available on Scholastic! This is amazing! Therefore, the books that are in our Classroom Wish List on Scholastic are all Bluebonnet Books! If you are looking for ways to help contribute to our reading in class, please consider purchasing one of these books. The kids are super excited and we've already begun reading the book, Woof as our class read-aloud book. Help keep the momentum going and purchase a Bluebonnet book for our class today! Scholastic Link Here! Our class code is: NP79X
2016 - 2017 Bluebonnet Book List is now posted! Click here for the new list! Bluebonnet List. I have added these new books to my Amazon wish list too at Mrs. Lilleboe's Bluebonnet List. Kids can start reading them now and be ready for next year!
Home Access Updated: End of the third nine weeks grading period was today. Report cards will be out in the next week or so. Please, check this regularly to stay on top of your kiddos performance in class. I will forewarn you that second semester can be more challenging as we prepare these kiddos for 4th grade. Expectations on graded work will increase. Home Access Link
Unusual Reading Spot Contest: Does your kiddo love to read in fun and unusual spots? Check into this fun contest! Get contest rules and info by clicking here - The 4th Annual Unusual Reading Spot Contest
Wish Lists: If you are able and wanting to contribute other resources to our learning, go to my other wish list on Amazon. "Mrs. Lilleboe's Wish List". Thank you for your continued support!
Upcoming Dates:
April 22nd - 3rd Grade Assembly - Go Wildlife Warriors! - Earth Day
May 2nd - May 5th - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th - Early Release @ 12:45pm
May 9th and 10th - Closed campus for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade STAAR Tests
May 30th - No School - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Last Day of School
In Writing, we spent the week diving back into Expository Writing. We wrote on a prompt (provided by the district). The kids spent a day brainstorming using Box & Bullets or Spider Web. Then, wrote their rough draft. We added a "lead" to the beginning and a good solid "conclusion" at the end. Finally, we revised and edited with a partner and wrote the final draft. All in one week!

In Reading, the kids really showed what they have learned these past 2 weeks on "summary" and "main ideas" by writing a summary for an informational article on Newsela (using the laptops). They had to write the main idea from each section or paragraph in the article on post it notes (in order). Then write the summary using the post it notes (in order). We also took a look at the reading comprehension skill: Comparing and Contrasting. The kids were quick to figure out that comparing and contrasting simply means finding the similarities and differences between 2 or more things. We practiced this as a class and in partners reading short passages and filling in Venn Diagrams. Then, the kids completed a worksheet on their own to show what they'd learn about this skill.

In Math, we started our next unit - Financial Literacy! We worked on our laptops using ixl.com for money practice. We didn't get much time on this, so I would recommend that your child work on these money skills on ixl.com at home. We've discussed a ton of vocabulary: supply (availability), demand, cost, profit, opportunity cost, savings, expenses, product, good, service, increase, decrease. The kids and I love this unit, but its a short one. Our unit test was today!

In Science, we are deep into our unit - Animal Adaptations, Traits and Life Cycles. We've ordered our ladybug eggs and tadpoles. We started our lady bug life cycle observations. However, due to crunch time we took our unit test today! We'll continue our life cycle observations for the next couple of weeks.

Read Aloud Time, we started a new Bluebonnet Book called Woof.

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Weekly Update #29: April 4th - April 8th

4/8/2016

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Announcements:

Summer Opportunity - Camp Invention: This fun summer camp will be offered right here at Elsa England. I will be one of the camp teachers that week. If you are interested, please check out this link - Camp Invention
STAAR Assessments May 9th and May 10th: They are just around the corner. Want to help prepare your child at home? Suggestions for math: Xtramath, timed quizzes, ixl.com, think through math and khan academy are excellent online resources your child has access to. The links to these sites can be found under the "Math Links" tab. Suggestions for reading: reading comprehension passages with questions and other reading comprehension skills. Check out the "Reading Links" tab for tons of great online resources. Test questions from 2015, 2014 and 2013 STAAR Tests...click here STAAR Test Questions
Class Dojo - The kids and I are loving Class Dojo. We hope you are enjoying the daily communication too! Download the FREE app for your phone for easy access. Check daily to see how your kiddo is doing in class! Stay connected!
Spring Scholastic Book Orders - Order forms/new catalogs went home yesterday in Thursday folders. Over half of the new Bluebonnet Books are available on Scholastic! This is amazing! Therefore, the books that are in our Classroom Wish List on Scholastic are all Bluebonnet Books! If you are looking for ways to help contribute to our reading in class, please consider purchasing one of these books. The kids are super excited and we've already begun reading the book, Woof as our class read-aloud book. Help keep the momentum going and purchase a Bluebonnet book for our class today! Scholastic Link Here! Our class code is: NP79X
2016 - 2017 Bluebonnet Book List is now posted! Click here for the new list! Bluebonnet List. I have added these new books to my Amazon wish list too at Mrs. Lilleboe's Bluebonnet List. Kids can start reading them now and be ready for next year!
Home Access Updated: End of the third nine weeks grading period was today. Report cards will be out in the next week or so. Please, check this regularly to stay on top of your kiddos performance in class. I will forewarn you that second semester can be more challenging as we prepare these kiddos for 4th grade. Expectations on graded work will increase. Home Access Link
Unusual Reading Spot Contest: Does your kiddo love to read in fun and unusual spots? Check into this fun contest! Get contest rules and info by clicking here - The 4th Annual Unusual Reading Spot Contest
Wish Lists: If you are able and wanting to contribute other resources to our learning, go to my other wish list on Amazon. "Mrs. Lilleboe's Wish List". Thank you for your continued support!

Upcoming Dates:

April 11th - 15th is Volunteer and Librarian Appreciation Week! We love our parent volunteers!
April 15th - Global Service Day, Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast (7:15 - 8:30am) and England’s Got Talent Show (6:30-8:00pm)
April 22nd - 3rd Grade Assembly - Go Wildlife Warriors! - Earth Day
May 2nd - May 5th - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th - Early Release @ 12:45pm
May 9th and 10th - Closed campus for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade STAAR Tests
May 30th - No School - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Last Day of School

In Writing, we spent the week diving back into Expository Writing. We wrote on a prompt (provided by the district). The kids spent a day brainstorming using Box & Bullets or Spider Web. Then, wrote their rough draft. We added a "lead" to the beginning and a good solid "conclusion" at the end. Finally, we revised and edited with a partner and wrote the final draft. All in one week!

In Reading, the kids really showed what they have learned these past 2 weeks on "summary" and "main ideas" by writing a summary for an informational article on Newsela (using the laptops). They had to write the main idea from each section or paragraph in the article on post it notes (in order). Then write the summary using the post it notes (in order). We also took a look at the reading comprehension skill: Comparing and Contrasting. The kids were quick to figure out that comparing and contrasting simply means finding the similarities and differences between 2 or more things. We practiced this as a class and in partners reading short passages and filling in Venn Diagrams. Then, the kids completed a worksheet on their own to show what they'd learn about this skill.

In Math, we started our next unit - Financial Literacy! We worked on our laptops using ixl.com for money practice. We didn't get much time on this, so I would recommend that your child work on these money skills on ixl.com at home. We've discussed a ton of vocabulary: supply (availability), demand, cost, profit, opportunity cost, savings, expenses, product, good, service, increase, decrease. The kids and I love this unit, but its a short one. Our unit test was today!

In Science, we are deep into our unit - Animal Adaptations, Traits and Life Cycles. We've ordered our ladybug eggs and tadpoles. We started our lady bug life cycle observations. However, due to crunch time we took our unit test today! We'll continue our life cycle observations for the next couple of weeks.

Read Aloud Time, we started a new Bluebonnet Book called Woof.

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Weekly Update #28: March 28th - April 1st

4/1/2016

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Announcements:

Class Dojo - The kids and I are loving Class Dojo. We hope you are enjoying the daily communication too! Download the FREE app for your phone for easy access. Check daily to see how your kiddo is doing in class!
Spring Scholastic Book Orders - Order forms/new catalogs went home yesterday in Thursday folders. Over half of the new Bluebonnet Books are available on Scholastic! This is amazing! Therefore, the books that are in our Classroom Wish List on Scholastic are all Bluebonnet Books! If you are looking for ways to help contribute to our reading in class, please consider purchasing one of these books. The kids are super excited and we've already begun reading the book, Woof as our class read-aloud book. Help keep the momentum going and purchase a Bluebonnet book for our class today! Scholastic Link Here! Our class code is: NP79X
2016 - 2017 Bluebonnet Book List is now posted! Click here for the new list! Bluebonnet List. I have added these new books to my Amazon wish list too at Mrs. Lilleboe's Bluebonnet List. Kids can start reading them now and be ready for next year!
Home Access Updated: End of the third nine weeks grading period was today. Report cards will be out in the next week or so. Please, check this regularly to stay on top of your kiddos performance in class. I will forewarn you that second semester can be more challenging as we prepare these kiddos for 4th grade. Expectations on graded work will increase. Home Access Link
STAAR Assessments May 9th and May 10th: They are just around the corner. Want to help prepare your child at home? Suggestions for math: Xtramath, timed quizzes, ixl.com, and khan academy are excellent online resources your child has access to. The links to these sites can be found under the "Math Links" tab. Suggestions for reading: reading comprehension passages with questions. Check out the "Reading Links" tab for tons of great online resources. Test questions from 2015, 2014 and 2013 STAAR Tests...click here STAAR Test Questions
Unusual Reading Spot Contest: Does your kiddo love to read in fun and unusual spots? Check into this fun contest! Get contest rules and info by clicking here - The 4th Annual Unusual Reading Spot Contest
Wish Lists: If you are able and wanting to contribute other resources to our learning, go to my other wish list on Amazon. "Mrs. Lilleboe's Wish List". Thank you for your continued support!

Upcoming Dates:

April 1st - Movie Night "The Good Dinosaur"
April 2nd - DI State Competitions - Go England!
April 8th - Math Test (Place Value/Financial Literacy) and Science Test (Animal Adaptations/Traits/Life cycles of frogs and ladybugs)
April 15th - Global Service Day!
April 22nd - 3rd Grade Assembly - Go Wildlife Warriors! - Earth Day
May 2nd - May 5th - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 4th - Early Release @ 12:45pm
May 9th and 10th - Closed campus for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade STAAR Tests
May 30th - No School - Memorial Day
June 2nd - Last Day of School

In Reading, we've almost wrapped up our Informational (nonfiction) text unit. We are so close to finishing our endangered animal popplets (graphic organizers). I really hope we can finish these up next week. The reading strategy we worked on this week was: Summary (fiction stories and non-fiction informational text). We practiced these skills in a variety of ways this week. We read picture books (short stories) and then summarized the story by using the Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then strategy. This is a great strategy to use on fiction stories. We also worked as a class on a Scholastic News magazine. First, we identified the main idea of each section of the article "Bugs Bite," a non-fiction informational article. Then, we used these 3 main ideas from the article to write a summary and completed 10 comprehension questions. Next week, we'll focus specifically on

In Writing, we took time to learn the difference between writing a summary for a fiction story and writing a summary from an informational text. We read an informational article called, C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N. We read the article as a class, jotting down the main idea of each paragraph. Then, we practiced writing a summary using our post it notes (in order). Finally, the kids really showed what they had learned this week and wrote a summary for an informational article on Newsela (using the laptops).

In Math, we started our next unit - Financial Literacy! We worked on our laptops using ixl.com for money practice. We didn't get much time on this, so I would recommend that your child work on these money skills on ixl.com at home. We've discussed a ton of vocabulary: supply (availability), demand, cost, profit, opportunity cost, savings, expenses, product, good, service, increase, decrease. The kids and I love this unit, but its a short one. Our unit test will be next Friday, April 8th.

In Science, we started in on our next unit - Animal Adaptations, Traits and Life Cycles. We've ordered our ladybug eggs and tadpoles. We'll begin our life cycle observations soon. However, due to crunch time we will take our unit test next Friday, April 8th. We'll continue our life cycle observations for the next couple of weeks.

Read Aloud Time, we started a new Bluebonnet Book called Woof.