After a round of severe weather today, it looks like it will be a very rainy week. Please remind your child to be extra careful getting to and from school, as well as just walking to a car waiting for them as the gloomy weather can make it difficult to see.
Math-
In math we worked on pictographs and bar graphs this week. I also gave the students a graphing quiz as I have been working really hard on them remembering to label their graphs and what the labels mean. We will be continuing our graphing unit with our Investigations books and taking a look at a bunch of graphs involving weather and patterns.
Reading- This week we read Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves by James Rumford.
When the Hawaiian islands were first being discovered, we are taken on an adventure where we meet five
Polynesian brothers. After a
long journey to Hawaii, the youngest brother, Manu, soon
discovers what appears to be a wounded dog on the beach. But it is like
no dog he or his brothers has ever seen before—it has flippers for
legs, a fish’s tail, and the body of a dolphin!
Gentle Manu, a boy who loves animals, nurses the seal back to health, and forms a bond of friendship. Both Manu and Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves have a chance to embrace their friendship and protects their friend when danger comes.
Gentle Manu, a boy who loves animals, nurses the seal back to health, and forms a bond of friendship. Both Manu and Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves have a chance to embrace their friendship and protects their friend when danger comes.
This was another difficult story which asked for accounts and specific information located on specific pages of the text. For this reason, all third graders were allowed to use their book on this quiz. Some students embraced this and made the most of how we learned to go back over the text to discover and locate our answers. Other students chose to leave their books on their desks, but did not glance back at the story once. Even when they were unsure of the answer.
Writing- We finished up our poetry unit this week. The students' poetry packet should be arriving home this week.
On Monday, the class created "I am" poems where they wrote similes about themselves. We also introduced how they can be anything they put their mind to.
On Thursday, we created a "bio poem" where students wrote about things they were, they are, and they will be. For example,
I was a baby, I am a child, I will be an adult.
On Monday we discussed the hardness of different minerals and performed a scratch test. Students attempted to scratch the minerals with their fingernail, a paperclip, and a penny. The more it scratched, the softer the mineral, the less it scratched, the harder the mineral.
On Tuesday, we had guidance.
On Wednesday through Friday, we worked on a lesson called Calcite Quest. We took different rocks and tested to see if they contained the mineral calcite. This was performed through a series of vinegar tests. The kids enjoyed seeing all the crystals form in the evaporation dishes, even if this caused our room to smell like vinegar for the majority of the week.
This week we will be filling out an orange study guide for the Earth Materials test. I have the test currently scheduled for May 7th. Please take the time to go over these questions with your child as this is probably the most challenging science test we will take all year.
Upcoming dates:
Saturday, May 3rd- Happy Birthday Hailee!
Sunday, May 4th- Happy Birthday Katie!
Tuesday, May 6th- 4th grade Informance
Wednesday, May 7th- My due date
Tuesday, May 13th- Bike Assembly and Rodeo
Wednesday, May 14th- 1:15 Dismissal
Monday, May 26th- No School- Memorial Day
Wednesday, May 28th- Walk to Marion Library
1:00
Monday, June 2nd- Normal day of school (3rd grade track day)
Tuesday, June 3rd- Normal day of school (4th grade track day)
Wednesday, June 4th- Mrs. Yuska is planning on being back for the day! :)
Summer birthdays:
Monday, June 30th- Happy Birthday Seth!
Wednesday, July 9th- Happy Birthday Nick!
Monday, July 14th- Happy Birthday Riley!
Friday, July 18th- Happy Birthday Mason!
Sunday, August 10th- Happy Birthday Addy!
Mrs. Jodie Yuska
