Welcome to 2012! I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing break. Not to mention a terrific holiday season filled with fun, festivities, and family! This school year has already seemed to fly by. I always think the second half goes even faster. Here is what I have planned for next week (including some upcoming assessments):
Math- This week we are going to re-introduce and work with money. We will begin by reviewing coins and dollar bills. We will identify what they are, what they are worth and how many are needed to move to the next amount. After that we will be counting, adding, subtracting, and making change.
Reading-
This week we will read Miss Rumphius by
Barbara Cooney. Miss Rumphius is a story about a lady who keeps the three
promises she made to her grandfather as a child. She first travels the globe,
then returns to live by the sea, and finally she does something to make the
world more beautiful. Her stories inspire her niece, Alice, to fulfill the same
three promises. With this story, we will analyzed the plot as well as think of our
hopes and dreams that could make the world more beautiful.
We will also we practice for the Cognitive Abilities Tests. We will take the actual
test during a series of three days next week
Text Talk- This week we will read Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco. Just Plain Fancy is the story of a young
Amish girl, Naomi who longs to have something fancy in her life. One day
as she and her sister are searching the field for eggs, they stumble
upon a peculiar-looking one. The girls slip the egg into the nest and
when it hatches, they name the "chick" Fancy. As Fancy grows he
certainly lives up to his name, and Naomi is frightened that the Amish
community will shun the beautiful creature. During the frolic the next
morning, Fancy unexpectedly escapes the henhouse, and runs toward the
elders…"At that moment, pleased with all the
attention, Fancy ruffles his feathers and did for the guests what he had
done for the girls in the henhouse the day before. Those who weren’t
speechless were stunned!"
Social Studies-
According to my year-long plan, Mrs. Clark will continue with the Map Champ Atlas for a few more weeks before starting the next science unit called Earth Materials. This is a fun unit discovering the properties and differences between rocks and minerals!
A few mid-year assessments are approaching:
*DAZE the comprehension test, where students pick the correct word to use in a sentence is scheduled to take place Tuesday, January 10th.
*DIBELS is scheduled to take place Thursday, January 12th. Our current goal is 92 correct words read per minute.
*With all the assessments next week. I will be waiting to give the COMPUTATION and APPLICATION math probes on different days during the week of the 16th. I will probably give the January time tests for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division the week of the 23rd. Goals for 3rd graders currently is 100 correct problems in 5 minutes on addition and subtraction (50 in 2 1/2 minutes) as well as 80 facts correct in 5 minutes on multiplication (40 in 2 1/2 minutes). Division is not currently being assessed for reporting purposes, but I like to monitor their growth. It will be a requirement 3rd trimester.
Mrs. Jodie Yuska
