I LOVE FALL!

 Oh, how I love fall! :) Perfect for a hot chocolate or a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks in the morning, then a nice big glass of water or iced tea in the afternoon. 

Sorry for the delay in this week's post. I usually try to have them sent out on Fridays, while everything is fresh in my brain. However, last night I had to cheer on the Prairie Hawks with my daughters. There is nothing like sitting in your old stomping ground, surrounded by a sea of orange and black, only to be wearing your Marion Red Nation shirt. I think I received a few confused looks!

Here are some of the things we did this week: 
 
Math- This week we took another addition time test. I am very impressed with how much many of the kids have improved on their addition facts in the last few weeks. We have moved on to practicing subtraction facts, 2-digit and 3-digit subtraction problems. Yesterday, we spent the entire math block talking, modeling, and practicing how to regroup and borrow to answer a subtraction facts. There was a lot of confused faces when we started, but you could hear the "ah ha" as we continued through the lesson. I am sure there will still be a need for practicing this skill as it is a tricky on to catch on to. 

*Please continue to have your child practice their basic 0-9 addition and 0-20 subtraction facts. There were some frustrated moments with a few students this week as having to count or draw pictures for each problem becomes tiring and cumbersome.   

Reading- This week we read Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter. 

h

This story starts on an island called Puerto Rico. On this island lived a little boy who wanted only to play baseball. Although he had no money, Roberto Clemente (Rah-BEAR-toe Cle-MENT-tae) practiced and practiced until--eventually--he made it to the Major Leagues. His hard work paid off. He came to America to play baseball in Pittsburgh! As a right-fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he fought tough opponents--and even tougher racism--but with his unreal catches and swift feet, he earned his nickname, "The Great One." He led the Pirates to two World Series, hit 3,000 hits, and was the first Latino to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But it wasn't just baseball that made Clemente legendary--he was was also a humanitarian dedicated to improving the lives of others. The story ends with Clemente's untimely death in an airplane crash one stormy night, when he was transporting relief supplies to earthquake victims back home. 

Next week, we will not have a story from our book. We will instead be reviewing what we have learned so far and taking a couple of unit tests to apply our knowledge. This will also effect our spelling tests. Next week there will be 25 words instead of 14, but they will all be review words. 

Writing- This week we worked a lot on grammatical things to assist our writing. We talked about how to write the names of books, using correct capitalization of important words and underlining the title. We also spent a few days talking about plural nouns. We focused on what is a plural (more than one), when we would need to add a -s, an -es, change the -y to an -ies, and irregular nouns that change words or stay the same, such as tooth turns to teeth, goose turns to geese, or deer and fish stay the same whether you are talking about one or more than one. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of our work for this one. 

  Science and Social Studies- The kids are amazed as how much our plants have changed. All week we pollinated our plants with our bee sticks. Now we are almost completely through the flower stage and are working on creating seed pods and forming seeds. We will continue talking about the importance of bees, parts of the plant, and what it takes for a plant to grow. I am expecting we will be filling out a study guide sometime next week and will take our test a week out from there. 

Pollinating

Close look at a new seed pod

Bee in action by Mr. Beans

It is a lot harder to take a picture of a live bee! :)

Double Pollination

Still observing how our plants change everyday

BEE STICK!

Look at those seed pods and how tall Hailee's plant grew!

Busy little pollinating bees.

We could have a lot of seeds if they continue to develop.

Oh, and sorry if I have your kids singing the the parts of the bee in the tune of "head-shoulders-knees- and-toes." We kind of got carried away! :)
Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Abdomen
Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Abdomen
Compound eyes, 6 legs, and 4 wings
Head, Thorax, Abdomen

Additional Note: Yesterday, we made homemade applesauce in a crock-pot. During Daily 5/ Guided Reading time we spent 20 days going through the strategies and building stamina. Last week and this past week I have had all groups reading the same books, just to get us in the routine and setting expectations for when I am busy with groups. This week we started Ready Freddy Apple Orchard Race. In the book Freddy goes on a class field trip to the apple orchard, where they talk about all the yummy things they could make with apples. The class devoured 2 crock-pots full of homemade applesauce. I am also including the recipe as the kids were asking for more! :) 

We made the entire 3rd grade hallway smell delicious!

I told the kids the picture didn't look very appealing. They thought it was funny and I should add it anyway! :)

-->

CROCK POT APPLESAUCE

10 lg. cooking apples, peeled, cored & sliced or cut in chunks (this round I used Gala apples, but I have made this with many different kinds)

1/2 c. water

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 to 1 c. sugar 

(I actually used just less than 1/4 cup sugar, as the apples were already very sweet)

Put all ingredients into crock-pot. Should be about 3/4 full. Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (high 3 to 4 hours).

Upcoming dates: A lot of fun to plan around in October!
Tuesday, October 1st- Hannah's birthday, School Pictures, DIBELS letters home, I will also try to make midterms.
Wednesday, October 2nd- Homecoming Assembly 2:30
Thursday, October 3rd- Homecoming Parade 6:00 PM
Friday, October 4th- Homecoming game
Tuesday, October 8th- FMI Night at Wendy's, Happy Birthday Breanna and Rayna!  
Wednesday, October 9th- 1:15 Dismissal
Monday, October 14th- Field Trip to Gallagher-Bluedorn (10:00 am- 3:00 pm) *I will send a reminder note about lunches
Wednesday, October 16th- Our student teacher Ms. Wild starts
Thursday, October 17th- America Reads Day!
Friday, October 18th- No School, Professional Development All day
Tuesday, October 29th- Happy Birthday Justice and Vincent!
Wednesday, October 30th- Mrs. Yuska's birthday
Thursday, October 31st- Fall Party (usually 2:00-3:00) *I will send home more information as it gets closer.


Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Jodie Yuska