I AM ALIVE! :)

Yes, I am still alive! :) Thanks for the emails and get well wishes. The bug finally hit my house. So far, just my daughter Hayden and I were brought down. We are thankful it only lasted a couple of days. However, I don't think either of us were very alive those couple of days. I can't tell you the last time I slept that much and ate so little! :)

Hope all the kids enjoyed their snow day and all the parents had safe travels over the last crazy week of weather. There are a lot of announcements this week, as I am now trying to play catch up a little.  Please take a look at the information below and mark your calendars.  

 

*Book Orders due (2/12/12)! They are ready to go and will be sent home on Monday.

*Early dismissal Wednesday, February 6th. 

*Social Studies test next Monday, February 11th. Study guide will go home on Wednesday, February 6th. I will let you know if that changes and post a completed copy on the blog.

*No School Friday, February 15th. 

 

 * I will send home names for Valentine's Monday in mailboxes (there will also be a list at the bottom of our blog). Please do not yet send these to school with your child. Students can start bringing Valentines to school on Monday, February 11th. Our class party will be on Thursday, February 14th.

Math- Last week, students had a place value review on Thursday for the 100th day of school. On the other days they continued working with fractions. At the beginning of the week we discussed fractions as parts of a whole and as a group of objects. The class caught on to these very quickly! :) On Friday, they talked about if you were sharing among several friends, how would you divide things up to make a fraction. We will do a review with this on Monday and continue working with this concept next week. 

Reading-   This week we did not have a story as we are taking a short break to make sure everyone has time to work on animal research projects since we have students in and out of our room all morning. With me being gone this was put on hold and we will pick right back up where we left off on Monday. This will also be helpful to members of our class who were sick and need some time to catch up. While I was gone, the class discuss and had a lot of practice with inference skills. We will be hitting this skill very hard in the upcoming weeks as it is one a lot of 3rd graders struggle with. We will continue reviewing other comprehension concepts as well, but focus on inference skills for a while.

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. :) I collect a bunch of new resources today, and we will be off and running for this long project again on Monday! I can't wait for you to see what they will have completed at student led conferences in March!

Social Studies- Students worked on inference, main idea and supporting details, as well as context clues while reading two of the three National Geographic stories this week. They were titled "Fancy Feathers" and "Eureka". We will move back to our atlas. Here is what I have planned for the week: 

-Monday: Australia

-Tuesday: Antarctica

-Wednesday: Study Guide

-Thursday: Map review (will need to know all 7 continents, 5 oceans and be able to label their locations on a map)

-Friday: Map and atlas detail review

*Please make sure you take the time to review the study guide with your student. The study guides have all the answers to our test, possibly worded a different way, but the same concepts are covered. This will be very important with the map portion of our assessment. 

Have a great week and STAY WARM & HEALTHY! 

Mrs. Jodie Yuska

Valentines: We have 25 students in the class. As always, valentines are your choice to send to school. If you do choose to send valentines, please make sure you have one for each child. THANK YOU!    
Avrien, Dylan, Drake, Brylea, Declan, Keenan, Brayden, Julian G., Austin, Alyssa, Sidney, Colin,      Shelby, Aubry, Patience, Julian A., Maggie, Allison, Elise, Emily, Zander, Katie, Ray, Joy, and Tyler 

Adults in the room (optional): Mrs. Yuska, Deb (associate) , and Karla (associate)                               

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 

Happy Holidays

I am compiling last week and this week in one post. 

As many of you are wondering, the FMI staff will not bring up the events, which took place in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday. We will gladly discuss our procedures and why we practice lockdown drills. However, many staff members and parents have voiced their opinion and they feel this discussion is one to have at home, as different children will react differently to details of the situation. I thought it would come up when they had a guidance lesson today with Mrs. Shields, but there was no mention of what happened on Friday. I thank you for having such meaningful conversations with your children. It is important. As a parent of a child with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I see the need to discuss this and threat of more anxiety go in both directions. It is important for our students to know why we practice such things, but there are also the handful of children that do not know how to deal with the added anxiety and thought of a threat. It is a careful thread to be on. I am more than willing to discuss it with your child, if they would like. 

Here are a couple of links I was sent from Grant Wood AEA, which may be helpful for you. They also discuss the importance of conversation with their children. I have included them below, in case you are interested.

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/12/experts-kids-school-shootings

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/12/experts-kids-school-shootings
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx

Please make sure any time you are entering the building, you enter through the front entrance and sign in at the office. Please do not be offended if someone asks why you are in the building. 

I hope you know I care very much about each and everyone of your children. Within the first week of school I talk about how our class becomes like a family and it is true. I spend a lot of time with your children and treat them as if they were my own. I can not imagine anything happening to them. I love being able to share in their excitement when they do something well and help when they struggle with a new concept or something that is bothering them. They are always free to come discuss anything with me and I will do everything in my power to keep their best interest front and center in my classroom. Thank you for raising some pretty remarkable children! I love seeing their smiling faces each and everyday!

Math- If you have not seen them yet, Multiplication Monsters, are starting to arrive home. These provided a great opportunity for all 3^rd grade students to use their listening to direction skills. Students can use these independently to quiz themselves over their multiplication facts. You could use the monsters to create a family game where the student and another person at home quiz each other. This year in math we have covered basic addition and subtraction skills. These were necessary to review as some students still struggle with the basic facts. In 3^rd grade we teach a wide variety in our math curriculum and these facts are very important for your child to have or be working on mastering. We are continuing to practice our multiplication skills. Today we even look at multiplying by 3 or more numbers. Some examples of these would be: (2x4)x4 or (3x3) x (7x1)

Last week we did a lot of work with our arrays, and even learned some new fun games! :) 

However, if you see your child struggling or know your child is struggling in math, building their basic facts can be a quick and fun way to help them achieve. Flashcards are great! I am in the process of creating some different sheets of flashcard games, which the whole family can play. These monsters are a tool for you to use at home; because I know you are all busy, but all teachers do appreciate any additional support you can give your child at home.

Reading-  Last week we did not have a story. We reviewed material covered in the last unit and took our unit quiz. We were also introduced to some new characters of Reciprocal teaching. A reading strategy your child will practice often in whole group and guided reading. Reciprocal teaching works on predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. We worked a lot on making predictions this week! This week we are enjoying some books and activities involving winter and the holidays.

Text Talk- Last week we read The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane and Herm Auch. This is a story about a princess named Paulina who thinks she wants to get back into princessing since her father has given up the throne. She undergoes a series of princess tests (pea under the mattresses, an essay, etc.) to prove she is fit to marry Prince Drupert. After accidentally inventing the pizza, she decides not to become a princess but to open a pizza palace instead. Words we discussed were: fragrant, gracious, humble, muttered, fret, and practical. There will not be a Text Talk book this week.

Science- A study guide went home with students on Thursday for their Ideas and Inventions unit assessment. This assessment will take place on Thursday. 

Last week, we finished up talking about Chromatography. We had a mystery pen where they had to determine which kind of marker would have their colors separate like the sample they were shown. They created snowflakes and used what they had learned from chromatography to add a lot of color to our room. Snowflakes can be seen under the student work tab.

Last week the students discussed being entrepreneurs and opened a restaurant in their groups. They had to determine how they would advertise, what they would charge for food, and create a budget to cover all costs. It was an eye opening experience for some kids. This week we will have our last two Junior Achievement lessons which will cover banking, and creating a newspaper article. A HUGE THANK YOU to Dru for volunteering in our room! 

From my family to yours- we hope you have a safe, happy, and wonderful holiday break! 

Happy Holidays! 
Mrs. Jodie Yuska  

Time flies when you are having fun!

I can't believe it is  December already. If your house is like mine it is buzzing with planning and getting ready for the upcoming holidays. There is nothing like wrapping presents, grading papers, baking, hiding the elf that is currently living in my house (Elf on the Shelf), writing lesson plans, dance performances and practice, holiday musicals, enjoying holiday festivities (like the Fire and Ice parade, The Nutcraker, Winnie the Pooh's Christmas at Old Creamery, and a lot more!) and having that cycle around while still enjoying my two little ones! :) Life is hectic at times, but I love it and wouldn't change a thing! 

Starting today, when students receive a red ticket, they will be bringing home a slip with their name on it and why they received a red ticket. This way they can share all the wonderful things they are doing with you at home! 

Math- For the last month we have been working on multiplication. We have gone through all of our basic facts, and a lot of strategies. We will continue to work on multiplication facts up until winter break. The kids are going to be introduced to arrays today. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED CUT! You would not believe the days of math classes you have saved us!

Reading-  Last week we read On Granddaddy’s Farm by Thomas B. Allen. This is an autobiographical account of the author’s life as a child on his grandparents’ farm in the 1930s. He describes how life on the farm revolved around his grandfather’s job with the railroad. He also recalls the farm chores and playtime typical of the era. We worked on sequencing events and applying the text to the knowledge we had of farm life.

Text Talk- This week we read Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement. This is a story about a grandpa who wakes up to discover his teeth have been stolen. He suspects the whole town of stealing them. Everyone in town has to smile all the time to show they are innocent. The mystery is solved when it turns out that the dog had taken them. Words we discussed were: complain, description, mystery, suspect, conspiracy, and sleuth.

Science- This week students created and shared their Carbon printing inventions. I wrote their scores on the Chromatography page (oops, I didn't even notice till the next day!). So, needless to say our inventions next week will be on the carbon printing sheets. Sorry! The kids loved finger printing, some had a lot of fun taking prints of other areas of skin for their inventions too! :)

Today, students were introduced to chromatography. Chromatography uses water to cary pigments from one place to another. Today the kids learned chromatography separates a mixture of pigments in watercolor inks. The process of water moving through paper is called wicking. We marked cut stripes of coffee filters, marked them with a marker and let the water move and separate the pigment. Monday, the kids will have to guess which mystery pen made the mark on the coffee filter I will have on the board, on Tuesday, we will create our last invention. Our chromatography invention will be a colorful snowflake created by the students. These will hang proudly in our room.

Junior Achievement this week the students examined the role of a builder and became aware of how that job is interconnected with the job of a city planner. Students learned to understand the importance of the construction business in the city's economy and recognized some of the skills a builder needs. They reviewed the zones, worked on blueprints and why things are scaled down, last but not least, students created their own buildings and had to place it in the correct zone on the map. Next Wednesday, they will talk about what it takes to run a restaurant. 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Jodie Yuska

Welcome December (almost!)!

News of the week:Thank you to everyone who attending their child's conference! :) It was great to have everyone show up and share in the success their child is having this year. I know it is not always at the most convenient times for you or there is a wait to be seen. However, ALL teacher's greatly appreciate your dedication to your child's education! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break! A few short weeks and it will be time for another one!

Math- This week we multiplied by 6, 7, 8 and 9. We talked a lot about tricks for the 9's. On Thursday, a packet when home with a few tricks or ways to help your child start memorizing their multiplication facts. Although, we will make flashcards at school to practice, they may make a great stocking stuffer and can usually be found for around a dollar! :) We will continue practicing our basic facts. I hope to start introducing division by the end of the month.

 

Reading- This week we read Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary. Ramona is showing a range of emotions as she gets ready for a new baby in her family. She is anxious about her mother's condition, then disappointed and humiliated when she is too young to see the infant in the hospital. In the end, an excited Ramona takes center stage, as she shares how intrigued she is by her new sister Roberta. During this story we analyzed Ramona and her wide range of feelings and behavior. We also made inferences about how Ramona was feeling different times in the story when the author did not come straight out and tell us.

Text Talk- This week we read A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. This is a story about a girl named Camila Cream who is too busy worrying about what everyone else thinks, to be her true self. She comes down with a case of stripes, which then changes into other things as she is easily influenced by others. Only when she is true to herself and honest about her love for lima beans does she go back to normal. The words we studied were: altered, contagious, distraction, remedies, perplexed, and vanished. On Thursday, students created a cause and effect from the story about Camilla Cream. If you are interested in hearing this story, it can be found at: http://www.storylineonline.net/stripes/fullscreen_yt.html

Science- Today students learned more about Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison various inventors and inventions. We also discussed carbon printing this week. Carbon Printing is when you transfer carbon (or graphite which is used in place of lead in current day #2 pencils) on a piece of scratch paper by scribbling. Then students rubbed their fingertips along the surface. The fingertip is now like a printing plate and can transfer the residue. We placed tape over their fingers to collect as much carbon as we could while leaving the finger print impression. After taking our fingerprints we looked at the finger patterns. Everyone's fingerprints are unique, but they usually have one of the three basic patterns known as arches, whorls, and loops. On Tuesday, we were detectives, we played a game called Mystery Prints. Students were placed in groups and took their index print and middle finger print. Then they selected one member of the group to be a "mystery person." This person added only one print to the Mystery Print card. As cards traveled to different groups, they had to solve who's print it was by looking at the patterns.

Whorls- go around and around like a spiral

Loops- start at one side, go up to the middle and back out the same side

Arch- goes up, through the middle, and out the other side. It looks like a hill.

On Wednesday and for the next four weeks, we will have a volunteer named Dru Bridges, come into our classroom and teach Junior Achievement.  Junior Achievement is about a community. So they have volunteers from the community teach lessons about what makes a community, and what types of communities do we live in. Our class will talk a lot about zones (business, residential, industrial, farming, and multipurpose zones). We will talk about how a city planner uses these zones to develop a city and determine what buildings will go where. This week, students were introduced to Dru, the zones, and then made our classrooms in different zones. These lessons are always a lot of fun. I will try to remember to write what we did that week in JA each week in the Science section! :)

Mrs. Jodie Yuska

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

With the short week next week I decided to combine last week and this week.

News of the week:

--Conferences were 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight Thursday 11/15, and 1:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Monday (tonight) 11/19

--Early dismissal next Monday 11/19 (TODAY! )

--Tuesday- Big Blast Party *Students will need to wear socks! 

--No School November 21, 22, or 23

--School resumes on Monday, November 26

Happy Birthday to our November birthdays- Julian G., Patience, and Maggie

Math- The last two weeks we have been discussing and practicing multiplication. We discussed how multiplication  is really just repeated addition. We skip counted by 2s and 5s to solve problems with those two numbers as a factor. We will also created number lines to multiply by 3 and 4. Today we will introduce a multiplication table to solve various multiplication problems.

Reading- This week our story will be How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman. This story is about a girl, who's parents met while he was serving the country as an American sailor in Japan. Through trial and error, her mother a Japanese schoolgirl and her father, the American sailor learned to eat in each other's style, overcoming the feelings of insecurity in the process. 

Text Talk- This week we will read Everybody Cooks Rice by Peter J. Thorton. This is a story about a child who is sent to find a younger brother at dinnertime.  While walking into other people's houses the child is introduced to a variety of cultures and encounters the many different ways rice is prepared at the different households visited. The words we will study are: appetizing, boarder, community, diversity, grumbling, and gulped.We did not take a quiz over these words.

Science- We have been discussing using different rubbing techniques to create different textures. The students have performed rubbings on coins, fabric squares, and leaves. On Tuesday, they created a rubbing invention (it could have been ANYTHING!) I mainly want them to be creative and think of something other than what their friend is working on. Wednesday and Thursday provided time for students to present their inventions and get some practice public speaking, as well as being a good audience member. We will spend the next few days before Thanksgiving talking about some inventors and their inventions. After Thanksgiving we will move to the second section of our unit which is carbon printing, also known as fingerprints. :)

Writing-Last week we finished a "how-to" paragraph. We then used some time to create some fun Native American influenced writing. We created color poems (see Student work tab)  
and skin stories (will soon be uploaded to student work tab). We also made turkeys with things we were thankful for. These were sent home.  

*Our election writing has finally been uploaded. I am still working on Halloween images. I have really missed adding the pictures to the blog the last couple weeks.

 

I look forward to discussing your child's progress with you soon, if I haven't already! :)

Mrs. Jodie Yuska