Announcements:

• Homework - Homework is given out every Monday.  Kids should be taking their homework spiral home to complete daily work (reading log, math facts, etc). It needs to be returned on Friday. Please, sign the bottom of the homework sheet and have your child return the spiral to school on Fridays. 
• Still needed: A couple of students still need headphones or earbuds for our classroom. These can be purchased at Target, Walmart, HEB, etc. The headphones/earbuds will be left here at school. 
• Scholastic Book Orders due on September 26th (online orders - Your Class Activation Code NP79X). The link to order is here Scholastic Book Clubs .  We have a Class Wish List here if you so choose to purchase books for our classroom library as well.  These kids love to read!!!  Plus, I get points for every book order that is placed, which means tons of FREE books for our classroom. Please, take a moment to look at the flyers online and place an order. You can order from other grade levels too!
• Xtramath - Great website for students to brush up on their math facts!  Perfect for homework (math facts)!  I sent home an Xtramath enrollment information flyer yesterday in Thursday folders. Please, take a few moments to enroll your child. Here is the link with all the student PIN numbers you will need (not on the flyer). Click Here. I've already had 1 student earn an Xtramath certificate!  Congratulations Nithila on completing addition!
• Place Value Test - Monday or Tuesday of next week!
• Rounding (estimation), Addition and Subtraction Test - hopefully next Friday, Oct. 2nd. 
• Bluebonnet Book Program - Check out the list of Bluebonnet books HERE Our class also has a Bluebonnet Book Wish List - Click Here. The kids are loving this program!!!
• Home Access Center: Make sure to start checking Home Access soon. I will begin to post grades next week. Link to Home Access Center.
• Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences: October 5th - 8th (Monday - Thursday).  Please, click on the link to sign up for a time slot.  If one of these times does not work for you, we can always do a conference over the phone and/or email me a time.  I will see what I can do to accommodate your schedule. Thanks! Fall Conference Sign Up

*Special "Thank You" to parents who have placed Scholastic Book Orders - Cole's parents, Sean's parents and Bodie's parents.  Thank you, these book orders help us to earn FREE books for our classroom!  Keep those book orders coming!  

Class Happenings:
In writing, we continue to generate ideas and small moments in preparation of our personal narrative. This week we learned about "Watermelon Ideas" compared to "Seed Ideas" with a tasty treat - I brought in watermelon for the class. Ask your child the difference!   

In reading, we continue to build up our reading stamina and examine ourselves as "good" readers. We have learned a new reading strategy - Visualization!  To visualize and picture the what's going on in the book in our minds.  We practiced this skill with a section from Charlotte's Web.  Next week, we will do another visualization for a grade. The kids are also getting time to go and take Bluebonnet Quizzes during reading. They have really embraced this awesome reading program!

In math, our focus was on Subtraction of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. We learned 4 subtraction strategies in solving a subtraction problem (algorithm, base ten blocks, counting up using a number line, and partial subtraction - decomposing the subtrahend number).  There will be 2 assessments  this week to cover this huge math unit. Place value (standard form, expanded form, word form) and comparing numbers (greater than, least than) will be on Monday or Tuesday.  Rounding and estimation (tens and hundreds), addition (2-digit and 3-digit) and subtraction (2-digit and 3-digit) will be on Friday, Oct. 2nd.  I might suggest that your son/daughter continue to work on any of these concepts at home by going to ixl.com. The kids know how to log into ixl.com, plus I sent home their log in information in their Thursday folders a couple of weeks ago. Area of focus: Estimating and Rounding, Place Value, Addition and Subtraction. They can also go to the Google Classroom for math links that I have shared with them in class. Last but not least, I have tons of math links on my website "Math Links". 

In science, we completed our Energy Unit this week!  We wrapped up the unit with a fun smores "solar oven" experiment, STEMscopes, a fun Kahoot! review with Mrs. Raney's class and a quiz. 

We've started our "Read Aloud" book - Sky Jumpers. It's a Bluebonnet Program book.  The author will be visiting our school in November. 

For Enrichment this week, we did a fun activity with Mrs. Raney's class, Ms. Kohn's class and Mrs. Hanlon's class. It was called "Habitat Shrink". Another fun and eye opening activity to get our kids thinking about our PBL project this year - Habitat Destruction. 

Announcements:

• Supplies needed: A couple of students still need headphones or earbuds for our classroom. These can be purchased at Target, Walmart, HEB, etc. The headphones/earbuds will be left here at school. 
• Scholastic Book Orders due on September 25th (online orders - Your Class Activation Code NP79X). The link to order is here Scholastic Book Clubs .  We have a Class Wish List here if you so choose to purchase books for our classroom library as well.  These kids love to read!!!  Plus, I get points for every book order that is placed, which means tons of FREE books for our classroom. Please, take a moment to look at the flyers online and place an order. You can order from other grade levels too!
• Xtramath - Great website for students to brush up on their math facts!  Perfect for homework (math facts)!  I sent home an Xtramath enrollment information flyer yesterday in Thursday folders. Please, take a few moments to enroll your child. Here is the link with all the student PIN numbers you will need (not on the flyer). Click Here. 
• Homework - Homework is given out every Monday and needs to be returned on Fridays. I had 3 students forget to turn in their homework today. Please, remind your child of the Friday due date. 

• Fall Picture Day is this Tuesday, September 22nd  
• Early Release Day is this Wednesday, September 23rd (students released at 12:45pm)
• Orange Leaf Spirit Day on September 23rd
• Bluebonnet Book Program - Check out the list of Bluebonnet books HERE Our class also has a Bluebonnet Book Wish List - Click Here. 
• Science Test (Energy Unit) - Friday, September 25th
• Math Test (Place Value, Rounding/Estimation, Addition and Subtraction) - either Friday, Sept. 25th or Monday, Sept. 28th
• Home Access Center: Make sure to start checking Home Access soon. I will begin to post grades next week. Link to Home Access Center.
• Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences: October 5th - 8th (Monday - Thursday).  Please, click on the link to sign up for a time slot.  If one of these times does not work for you, we can always do a conference over the phone and/or email me a time.  I will see what I can do to accommodate your schedule. Thanks! Fall Conference Sign Up

*Special "Thank You" to the parents who donated "dot materials" for our fun enrichment activity today - Lucas's parents, Heidi's parents, Sharvi's parents, Bodie's parents and anyone else I may have missed!  

Class Happenings:
In writing, we continue to generate ideas and small moments in preparation of our personal narrative. We created a "Quick List" of small moments.  We also started on some conventions in writing with learning about "Nouns". 

In reading, we continue to build up our reading stamina and examine ourselves as "good" readers. We've started the process of stopping and jotting down our internal conversations or our thinking as we read on to post it notes. The kids are learning to dig deep into their thinking by asking questions, making predictions, thinking of connections, and recognizing character traits as they read. We learned that readers can you symbols to jot down their thinking too.

In math, we our focus was on Addition this week. We learned how to use "strip diagrams" as a strategy in solving addition problems.  We also refreshed our memory of how to use "regrouping" when adding too. Last but not least, we learned how to use "number lines" as a strategy in solving word problems. Our math assessment for this unit will either be on Friday, September 25th or Monday, September 28th.  The assessment will cover: place value (standard form, expanded form, word form), comparing numbers (greater than, least than), rounding and estimation (tens and hundreds), addition (2-digit and 3-digit) and subtraction (2-digit and 3-digit).  I might suggest that your son/daughter continue to work on any of these concepts at home by going to ixl.com. The kids know how to log into ixl.com, plus I sent home their log in information in the Thursday folder.  Area of focus: Estimating and Rounding, Place Value, Addition and Subtraction. 

In science, we are in deep into our Energy Unit. We completed a ton of experiments this week - Sound Energy (water glasses), Thermal Energy (food coloring dye and water), Light Energy (radiometers) and we are currently building our Solar Ovens!  The kids enjoyed watching the short but very informative videos on Brain Pop Jr. Feel free to have your son/daughter watch these various energy videos at home. Click here Brainpop jr. User name: elsaengland  Password: leopards.  Then, go to "Science" and then to "Energy".  We also did our first set of activities on STEMscopes using the lap tops!  The unit assessment will be on Friday, September 25th. 

In social studies, we spent this week celebrating Constitution Day!  We learned about the constitution, the presidents and our government by watching various video clips, short stories and reading passages. 

Announcements:

• Supplies needed: Each student needs a pair of headphones (earbuds) when using the lap tops or chrome books. These can be purchased at Target, Walmart, Amazon and most convenience stores for a relatively inexpensive price. If you are able to purchase 1-2 additional pairs of headphones for fellow students in need, I know it would be greatly appreciated.  Please, make sure to have your student's name on the earbud/headphone case. We will keep these at school. Thank you! Last but not least, please have your child bring a small flashlight to school (if you have one). We are doing an experiment with them on Monday. 
• Homework starts on Monday!  Be on the look out for it. Homework will be due on Fridays.
• No Parent Information Night - instead a video has been created by the administration and our 3rd grade team to explain this year's curriculum, homework, STAAR, grades and PBL. Please, take a moment to watch the video and let me know if you have any questions. Click here: Video  Additional information can be found on this website...under the "Parent Information Tab" under the "Guidelines/Schedule" tab.
• Scholastic Book Orders due on September 19th (online orders - Your Class Activation Code NP79X). The link to order is here Scholastic Book Clubs .  We have a Class Wish List here if you so choose to purchase books for our classroom library as well.  These kids love to read!!!
• Home Access Center: Make sure to start checking Home Access soon. I will begin to post grades next week. Link to Home Access Center.

• Fall Picture Day on September 22nd  
• Early Release Day on September 23rd 
• Orange Leaf Spirit Day on September 23rd
• Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences: October 5th - 8th (Monday - Thursday).  Please, click on the link to sign up for a time slot.  If one of these times does not work for you, we can always do a conference over the phone and/or email me a time.  I will see what I can do to accommodate your schedule. Thanks! Fall Conference Sign Up

*A special thank you goes out to many parents who bought supplies for our science experiments (Anvay's parents, Heidi's parents, Sean's parents, Jazz's parents, Bodie's parents and Shlok's parents and anyone else I may have missed).  A huge THANK YOU!  Also, a big thank you goes out to Cole's mom and Bodie's mom for taking some amazing "Dr. Seuss" photos of our kids so we can now display their beautiful faces on our classroom door!

Class Happenings:
In writing, we continue to generate ideas and small moments in preparation of our personal narrative. We also spent 2 days discussing the importance of friendship and what it means to be a good friend.  Then, we took this amazing dialogue and formulated our own "Friend Wanted" Advertisement. This was such a fun and special writing project. The kids really got into it. I have taken the liberty of typing them up and they will be displayed outside our classroom on the bulletin board. 

In reading, we continue to build up our reading stamina and examine ourselves as "good" readers. We've started the process of stopping and jotting down our internal conversations or our thinking as we read on to post it notes. The kids are learning to dig deep into their thinking by asking questions, making predictions, thinking of connections, and recognizing character traits as they read. 

In math, we focused on Place Value and Rounding (estimating).  This seemed to be a bit challenging for some students, the concept of rounding a number to the tens, hundreds or thousands place. We've done a number of different activities to help clarify this concept. I might suggest that your son/daughter continue to work on rounding (estimating) at home by going to ixl.com. The kids know how to log into ixl.com, plus I sent home their log in information in the Thursday folder.  Area of focus: Estimating and Rounding. 

In science, we are digging deep into our next unit, Energy and Forms of Energy. We've explored different types of energy this week with Mrs. Raney's class. Students made discoveries and jotted down their findings in their science journals.  The kids enjoyed watching the short but very informative videos on Brain Pop Jr. Feel free to have your son/daughter watch these various energy videos at home. Click here Brainpop jr. User name: elsaengland  Password: leopards.  Then, go to "Science" and then to "Energy".  We also did our first set of activities on STEMscopes using the lap tops!

In social studies, we have finished our class's Social Contract and Consequences.  We have quite the bright group of students!  They did an excellent job contributing and creating these contracts. See below.

Announcements:

• Labor Day weekend - no school on Monday
  
• Supplies needed for science next week. Please send in with your child if possible - small flashlight (with batteries), Hersey kisses, graham crackers, large marshmallows, tin foil (aluminum foil), saran wrap (plastic wrap), pizza boxes, Hersey bars, packing tape
• No Back to School Parent Night - instead a video has been created by the administration and our 3rd grade team to explain this year's curriculum, homework, STAAR, grades and PBL. Please, take a moment to watch the video and let me know if you have any questions. Video
• Library Day (check out) on September 9th
• Grandparents Day Luncheon on September 11th
• Scholastic Book Orders due on September 19th (online orders - Your Class Activation Code NP79X).  The link to order is on the Welcome page (icon on the bottom half of page)

• Fall Picture Day on September 22nd  
• Early Release Day on September 23rd 
• Orange Leaf Spirit Day on September 23rd

*Homework will start in another week or so. Students are more than welcome to work on ixl.com at home (please have them work on the concept/unit we are currently working on in class. We are currently on Place Value).  The student's login and password information was in their Thursday folders this week. 

Class Happenings:
We had a fun full week diving into our curriculum.  We started our Reading Workshop. The kids explored our classroom library and found "just right books" for themselves. We've discussed at length the role of a good reader and what that looks like in our classroom. Check out our Padlet discussion on how they kids responded to this question this week. (Continue below the Padlet post for more important information).

We also started our Place Value and Rounding Unit.  We examined place values up to hundred thousand by writing numbers in standard form, expanded form and written (word) form. We did this in a variety of ways this week.  The kids seemed to loved the Place Value Card Game and using the white boards.  

We also started writing in our newly decorated Writer's Journals. We are generating ideas for our personal narrative. We began by thinking of all the special people in our lives and fun places we have experienced to spark story ideas. In Science, we studied science tools, safety rules/expectations, famous scientist and completed an experiment using the scientific method. We met with our Kinder Buddies!  Our third grade students really enjoying becoming the "older" buddy.