I can't believe it is March!!!

This school year is flying by. Although, I am thrilled it is March, it just gets me that much closer to April 15th, when my house becomes a little more normal. In case you didn't know my husband is a tax accountant, and things around here get a little hectic from December 26th- April 15th. I tend to get much less time to work at home! :) Thank you for bearing with me.

Last week with the weather and Internet issues, I did not get a post out. I will try and make up for that tonight. 

Thank you to everyone who was able to support their child's music development and attend the 3rd grade music program last Thursday. I was so proud of our class, they did an amazing job on and off the risers! Way to go 3Y- you blew me away! Dancing to the Locomotion wasn't a bad way to end the performance and get everyone up and moving either. :) 

Some upcoming dates: 
March 6th- 1:30 dismissal
March 11-15th- Iowa Assessments- Please have your child get a good night sleep and eat breakfast before school. We will be working on an alternative schedule this week. 
March 19th and 21st- Student-led conferences
March 22nd- No school
March 25-29th No school- Spring Break
April 1st- Snow day make-up #2

Math-Last week we finished up our fractions unit. The week before we did a lot of work with equivalent fractions and changing fractions in to decimals to the tenths and hundredths place. As a final review we created name fractions. To do this we created each letter of our name in a 100s grid. We then turned the letter into a fraction, how many boxes are shaded/ 100 boxes. For example it may be something like 24/100, which would turn into a decimal .24. 

This week we started talking about division. We broke things back down into groups, similar to the way we started multiplication. On a multiplication problem we would say there are four groups of three things equaling 12 items. In division we switch it around there are 12 items broken into four groups which would make three equal groups. We also practiced dividing by 2's and 5's. This coming week we will continue practicing and learning our division facts as well as break them into multiplication and division fact families.

Guided Reading-   Last week all the guided reading groups in my class finished their books, which were related to the rain forest unit we have been working on. To celebrate we tried some fruits from the rain forest. Many were new to the students and they had mixed reactions. 

Star Fruit

Mango (the mystery item from Afternoon in the Amazon, part of the Magic Tree House series)

Papaya

  Reading-   This week we read one of my all-time favorite stories Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett.  This is a story where a breakfast incident with a flying pancake prompts Grandpa to tell an intriguing bedtime tale about the fantastic, faraway town of Chewandswallow, where food- not rain, sleet, or hail- falls from the sky! Students analyzed the plot, discuss cause and effects, and use the illustrations to understand the story. 

 

The week before we read  The Streets are Free by Kurusa. This story is based on a true story about hoe neighbors in a poor district in Caracas, Venezuela join together to build a much-needed playground. The children’s inspiration and the adult’s cooperation are equally important in coming up with a solution to the problem. 

 

 Writing- This week we are continuing to work on our ABC books, as well as our research projects. While students are working on their ABC books, which we have put on hold to finish up our multi-paragraph reports, I will be pulling students to start making a PowerPoint presentation to show you at their conference. Last week we finished up our reports and created a concrete poem also known as a shape poem. 

Piranha Concrete Poem

 

Science- Last week the students finished up their lessons on pitch and vibration. We experimented with Foss-uleles. Students were asked to play with the tension of the string and see how it changed the vibrations, thus changing the pitch. Afterwards each group was asked to use their knowledge to perform a song for the class. Only two brave souls decided to sing along with their foss-ulele chords. We also did a science review of frequency, amplitude, oscillation, waves, sound sources, and sound receivers. This also gave us a chance to discuss things like echolocation and how other animals without ears hear using vibrations. 

 

 

We ended the week reviewing the characteristics of the Marion Way. After discussing how respect would look, feel, sound like in our school, we created a web as a large group. After that, students were placed in groups creating their own webs which they presented to the rest of the class. They did such an amazing job!

 

We did an extra lesson with our trait of integrity, as many students could tell me the definition, but not what it would look like, what you would act like, how it would feel, or what I might see someone do who had integrity. We used the Japanese story of The Empty Pot, to guide our lesson. This offered a lot of discussion about doing the right thing, and listening to the little voice in your head called a conscience. After our discussion we filled our own pots with flowers blooming with ways to show integrity. 

 

Have a great week! Please be careful out tomorrow and Tuesday with MORE fresh snowfall! :)

Mrs. Jodie Yuska