A cold, and icy day!

I hope everyone was able to stay in this morning and not have to venture out into the cold and ice. 

Math- This week we discussed the meaning of fractions, how to divide up 12 into equal pieces, and how to compare fractions using a number line.

Reading-   This week we read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry.  Before chopping down a huge Kapok tree, a woodsman falls asleep. While sleeping, he is visited by the animals who inhabit the tree. They explain why the Kapok tree is important to the environment. When the man awakes, he decides not to chop the tree down. With this selection, we worked on the skill of cause and effect, looking deeply into what would happen to the animals of the rain forest if all the trees were cut down.

Text Talk- This week we used The Great Kapok Tree again. Our text talk words will be different from our reading vocabulary words. So the kids will get a double dose of vocabulary from this text. Our text talk words are: ancestors, lulled, slithered, withered, defenseless, and intentions. We will continue talking about these words this week.

Writing- This week we continued to study the rain forest and discuss our animal reports. The kids are so interested in this topic that we have just kind of taken it and ran with it. Next week we will spend a lot of time collecting information for our animal reports and other animals of the rainforest. We will be working on rainforest based topics during writing for the next month or so. :)

Social Studies- The students are finishing up their Map Champs Atlas' this week. This past week we have compared Marion, Iowa to the rest of the continent of North America, to South America, and to Africa. Next week, we will look at the continents of Europe, Asia, Antarctica, and Australia. They will complete a study guide on Thursday. Please take time to review the study guide with your child as it will contain ALL the answers on their Social Studies test on Monday, February 3rd. 

A look a head- 

* I will send home names for Valentine's in tomorrow. Please do not yet send these to school with your child. I will let you know when our bags are up and ready! :) 

*Early dismissal Wednesday, February 6th. 

Valentine's Party Tuesday, February 14th. 

No School Friday, February 15th. Teachers will be working on 2nd Trimester  report cards. 

Snow make-up day Monday, February 18th. 

Have a great week! 

Mrs. Jodie Yuska

2 weeks= 1 post

I am sorry for the delay. I am having trouble getting back full swing after winter break and entering tax season. For those of you that don't know, my husband Brandon, is a tax accountant. I go from having a very hands on, helpful husband, to being at home before and after-school with both girls. They consume a lot of my time, but I love the time with them! Please be patient with me through April 15th. I promise to do the best that I can! :) 

The last two weeks have been a blur for me. Here is a quick rundown of our weeks back from break. 

Math- Right after break we continued our review with multiplication. We currently have daily, to every other day time tests. Students will be bringing home a "CONGRATULATIONS" slip if they passed for that factor. They will bring home an "OOPS" slip if they still need some practice. They will need above 95% on the two minute time test to pass! :) This week we started learning about fractions. We discussed the meaning of fractions and had a lot of practice with numerators and denominators.

Reading-   This week we 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

The week before we read A Fruit and Vegetable Man by Roni Schotter. Ruby Rubenstein is a fruit and vegetable man. Every day he picks out the very best fruits and vegetables for his store. Every day he arranges them in beautiful rows and pyramids of color. But one day, Ruby is sick. Luckily, he had been showing young Sun Ho how to choose the best produce, arrange it, and work the cash register.

Sun Ho first watches the artistic fruit and vegetable man, Ruby Rubenstein, at work; then he begins helping in the store--even offering something new: bean sprouts.

 

Text Talk- This week we  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!" Words we worked on were: shun, peer, exotic, constantly, gossiped, and simplicity.

Social Studies- We have jumped all over the place for the last two weeks in Social Studies. Here are our lessons: 

 

-->How are maps and globes different?

--> Which are continents and which are countries?

--> Which places have seasons?

--> How do people use natural resources?

--> Where in the world is the United States?

--> Can you find Iowa?

--> What are the branches of our government?

--> How has transportation changed our country?

On Friday, we looked at who Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he stood for. We watched a short video and read a few books about him. We also created a chart about what we know, what we want to know, and what we learned about him. Last, students created a picture and short paragraph about what they would do to make the world a better place. This was a great connection with our Miss Rumphius story.       

Last week we took a bunch of mid-year assessments. Here is a run down... 

*DAZE the comprehension test, where students pick the correct word to use in a sentence. 

*DIBELS where students are tested on reading rate, accuracy, and retelling skills. 

*With all the assessments last week. I also gave the January time tests for addition, subtraction, multiplication,   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). 

I am hoping to have a minute to write down scores from all these assessments (I finished grading them all today!) and send home midterm grades next week. 

This past week we also took Cognitive Ability  practice tests. We will take the actual tests this coming week. 
Please make sure your child has plenty of sleep and eats breakfast in the morning. This is good advice for every school day, but extra important on testing days.

Happy early MLK day! Those of you who have today off, I hope you have something fun planned! :) Those of you that will be at work like me, make the most of it! Either way, stay warm on a very chilly January day!  

Mrs. Jodie Yuska