The Start of the 2016-2017 School Year

Hello families!

If you are looking for my blog for this year's third grade (2016-2017), go ahead and click on this link! It will take you to the new site:

http://urbaniakthird.blogspot.com/

Success

This is my dream:

Students working on projects, helping each other, and becoming masters of their own learning. I love this!

Our Last Full Week!

We are starting our last full week of school!  Here are our learning goals for the next five days:

Reading: Continue with The Trumpet of the Swan and associated tasks for examine story elements and comprehension skills

Spelling:  This is our last spelling unit!  We are practicing words that end with -er or -le.

Math: Geometry-compare and contrast polygons

Research Projects: Animals (using websites for information)

Art: Continue weaving projects

May 16 to 20

Hello!  We will be finishing our standardized testing this week!  Yippee!  The students have been doing SO WELL on them.  They have had very positive attitudes and incredible focus.  I am so proud of how far they have come this year in their learning. The students will be completing their SRI Reading tests in order to evaluate their spring Lexile scores.  They will also be finishing their NWEA MAP Math tests.

Reading: The students will be reading The Trumpet of the Swan with the whole class. We will be doing daily activities that reinforce our reading, including using maps and directions, drawing pictures to imagine what happens, and predicting what will happen next.

Math: We are going to be finishing our practice with fractions, introducing perimeter and area, and completing the NWEA MAP test.

Science/Research: Each student will be researching an animal and its adaptations.  They will be recording what they learn, and they will then create a google slide presentation.

Spelling: No spelling this week.

Please note that different grade levels have various field days.  Our field day will be from 1:00-2:15 on Friday, May 27th.  This is a change from previous years.

Have a delightful week!
Miss Kimpton

Spelling Test Date Change

The spelling test will be on next Friday, May 13, for Unit 33: Words with "ough" and "augh".

May 2 to 5

Reading: The students will be comparing and contrasting various adaptations of living things.  They are also starting our last novel for the year, The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

Word Work/Grammar: Correct Capitalization

Spelling: Words with ough and augh

Math: We will be working on fractions on a number line, equivalent fractions, relating fractions to whole numbers, and the fractions identifying a group

Testing: NWEA MAP Language test

Apr 25 to 29

Oh my!  It's the last week of April! Time is sure flying by this spring.  

Our work this week will include:

Reading: The students will finish reading "How to Steal a Dog" and will be recalling and retelling events from the story.  In our small reading groups, they will be investigating further various features of extreme environments and adaptations of living things that help them survive.

Word Work: Noun Suffixes

Spelling: Double Consonant

Math: The third-graders continue to work with fractions in their GoMath workbooks to understand the various quantities and divisions.  They will be ordering them on number lines, building whole amounts based on the fractions, and making fraction strips.  

We spend a lot of time using different materials to act out problems.  Here, eight people (markers) are sharing 4 sandwiches (pink paper).  These types of activities really help students understand what it means to separate whole amounts into equal pieces. 

Week of April 18 to 22

Reading: The third-graders are continuing to read How to Steal a Dog with Mr. Groshans' class.
We are also starting Unit 6: Extreme Environments in our reading materials.  The students will be investigating the question "What does it take to survive in the wild?".

Spelling: 2-syllable words with a VCCV pattern

Math: We are investigating fractions using many, many hands-on activities.  We are learning the names for various fractions (halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eights), words used in describing fractions (parts, whole, numerator, denominator), and the relative sizes of fractions. We will be working through the lessons in Chapter 8 on equal parts, equal shares, unit fractions, and fractions of a whole.

Please remember that Friday will be a day of no school!  School resumes on Monday.

Thank you!
Miss Kimpton

Thinking Balloons!

Your kids may have told already told you, but they started the week with "Testing Survival Kits". In each kit, they have new materials to help them solve math problems and "thinking tools" to stretch or mold as they work.  Today, they made their own "Thinking Balloons" filled with sand or gravel.  It was a great way to start our day, and they are great tools for kiddos to hold in their hands as they work!

Apr 11 to 15

The students have a day off from school as we teachers go to a morning of training on various types of technology and then an afternoon meeting to continue learning better ways to help kiddos learn.  Then we'll resume school on Tuesday and kick off our first Smarter Balanced testing week.  Each morning, the third graders will be completing different modules on Language Arts and Math.  In the afternoons, they will be continuing to build their understanding of fractions with many hands-on and interactive activities.

How can you help your child this week during testing?

1. Make sure that they eat nutritious meals.

2. Ensure that they get 10-11 hours of sleep each night.

3. Listen as they talk about the tests.

4. Send them to school with some engaging books that they can read after they finish their tests.

5. Write them an encouraging note on the yellow paper I sent home on Friday and send it back to school in the envelope.

We will not have any spelling words this week due to the testing.

Thank you!
Miss Kimpton

April 4 to 8

Hello families! The following are our learning goals for the week:

Reading: Continue reading "How to Steal a Dog" and review story elements, asking and answering questions, and predicting. In small groups, the students are reading their selection 2 about a legend, folktale, or myth and use a "Tracks" chart to show their thinking as the students read.

Word Work: Using adjectives to compare and describe.

Spelling: Suffixes -less and -ness

Math: The students will be doing their Chapter 6: Understanding Division test on Monday, and then they will start practicing with fractions for the remainder of the week.

Writing:  The third-graders are going to be learning about the specific parts of an informational paragraph.

April Fools!

The Spelling tests were pretty poor this week.

April Fools!

Moving Lines Art Project

Here are some photos showing our most recent art project using rulers to measure and draw straight lines.  The students then cut the original paper into strips, and organized them in a fan arrangement.

March 29 to April 1

Hello families!  Report cards for 3rd quarter will be coming home on Friday, so watch for them in your child's folder.  Here are the learning goals for the week:

Reading:  The class is reading How to Steal a Dog, and they are continuing to identify the various story elements. In the small groups, they will be reading biographies and choosing a person that they would like to research.  Research will be through books and the internet. They are also focusing on character traits of various people in history.

Word Work: Adjectives (used to describe a noun and to compare objects)

Spelling: Suffixes (-ful, -ly, -er)

Math: The students are working on Ch. 6 Understanding Division.  Specifically, they will be relating multiplication and division, solving problems to use division, and working through various strategies to divide.

Test Prep: Daily, the students will be working on the Smarter Balanced Practice Tests to get familiar with the testing format.

Enjoy your week!
Miss Kimpton

Mar 7 to 11

Hello Families!  We had a magnificent time yesterday at the Alberta Bair Theater watching The BFG.  What a treat that we were able to go and enjoy it.  Thank you to the community for offering it to us!

Reading: We will continue reading Frindle this week.  Many of the reading strategies we will be using this week will be comparing and contrasting (The BFG movie, book, play) with a triple Venn diagram, making and writing opinions, and defining character traits.

Math: We are currently working on hands-on activities that give the students practice with estimating, graphing, multiplying, and dividing.  We are also working on taking a total amount and putting it into groups (we are building a solid understanding of division).

Spelling: Words ending with -ed and -ing

Writing: The third-graders will be writing their own elaborated sentences to turn Humpty Dumpty into their own sentences and stories.

On Friday, we will be visiting the 5th-grade Wax Museum. The 5th-graders have researched people from history, and they will be dressing up as the wax character.  For a coin (penny, nickel, dime, or quarter), they will answer a question.  If possible, please send your child to school with five or more coins so they can participate!

We will also have the school carnival from 6-8 on Friday night! Come join the fun and games!

Enjoy the remainder of your week!
Miss Kimpton

Week of Feb. 29 to Mar. 4

Hello!  This week, we have/will be working on:

Reading: We are starting Frindle by Andre Clements.  The students will be predicting, questioning, and drawing images from their minds as we read.

Leap Day: We did a few fun activities to investigate Leap Years, including comparing calendars from various years, identifying the Leap Years, and using the dictionary to make words from February Twenty-Ninth.

Spelling: Unit 23 Contractions

Math: We are starting division this week!  All week, the students will be investigating the process of division through sharing various materials.  They will be learning how to use the proper symbols to write equations, and they will be relating multiplication to division.

Writing: The third-graders will be adding details to the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" to answer the questions Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How? They will then practice writing elaborated sentences for each part of they rhyme.

This class is filled with so many responsible kids that we are instituting Gum Fridays.  They will be allowed to bring gum to school to chew on Fridays.  The rules are:

1. Bring your own gum.
2. No sharing
3. Chewed gum goes in the garbage.
4. Gum is allowed only in our classroom.

Enjoy this first week of March!
Miss Kimpton

February 22 to 26

Hello!  Just a quick reminder that we have class pictures Tuesday, Feb. 23, as well as individual Spring pictures for anybody that orders them.

Here is a look at our learning goals for the week:

Reading: We will be reading the last chapters of The BFG.  Over the following few days, the students will be recalling and retelling events in order to determine the plot, events, and solutions of the story.  We will then be watching the movie and comparing and contrasting the two different versions.

Word Work: The students will be identifying and using the prefixes mon- and di- to determine the meaning of words.  They will also have practice with similes.

Math: We will be wrapping up our multiplication practice and completing the test on Wednesday.  The students will then be investigating the beginning of fractions.

Science: In our small reading groups, each student will be reading about the ways that humans are part of Earth's story.  They will be using this information for writing.

Have a great week!
Miss Kimpton

First Week of February!

Reading:  We are continuing the book, The BFG, by Roald Dahl.  We will be working on visualizing (picturing what is happening in the story) this week.

Word World: Contractions

Spelling: Unit 20, Words with /j/ and /s/

Math: The students are continuing their work with multiplication.  They've been practicing the Distributive Property of Multiplication (the students are breaking apart a multiplication equation into parts they know, and then they are adding the products together), as well as other various strategies.

Writing: This week, we are focusing specifically on the Idea trait of writing. We are staying on one topic and further exploring that theme.

To help you with knowing how your kiddo is doing on his/her assignments, we've started writing the percentages in their planners and circling them (beside the initial place that we wrote the assignment).  I know that you receive a lot of papers from home, and I am also aware that you may not always get your child's work.  It is difficult to communicate what paperwork we do each day.  I hope that this helps clarify your third-grader's work.  Please talk to your child about showing you his/her work in order to keep you updated and to celebrate the successes.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you!
Miss Kimpton

Wrapping Up January

Here we are...the last week of January!  Thank you so much if you have already returned your signed report card envelope to me.

Today is the kick-off day for the Sandstone Read-a-Thon!  The packets will come home after school, and students can begin getting pledges and using the included form to track sponsors.  The sponsors can fund students three different ways:

1. Pay by minute read

2.  Pay a flat fee

3. Pay by minute read with a cap on the total amount.

On Jan. 31 - Feb. 7, students will read their pledge amount.  After the 7th, they will total their reading minutes and collect money from their sponsors.

The forms and money are due by Feb. 11 in order to be considered for prizes and awards.

...and here's a peek at the learning goals for the week:

Reading: This week, each reading group is reading a realistic fiction story.  They are continuing the  process of identifying story elements, with a specific focus on the plot and sequence of the story.  As a whole group, we are reading a fantasy fiction story by Roald Dahl, titled The BFG.  We will be visualizing what happens in the story as well as putting key events in order.

Spelling: Homophones

Math: The students are working directly with multiplying various factors and using different strategies.  Please keep an eye out in their folders for their math worksheets.  It typically takes 2-3 days of work to introduce, practice, and complete a lesson.  You will be able to see how your child is progressing through the lessons.

Writing: The students will be working on adding ideas and details to their writing to convey an image to the reader.   They are also culminating all that they have learned about various geographical communities in an opinion piece stating where they would like to live.

Have a great week!
Miss Kimpton

Monochromatic Painting

The students are working hard to create tints of hues by gradually adding white to a single color.  The base of their painting is a continuous line drawing.

Monochromatic Painting

Jan. 19 to 22

Welcome to the first week of 3rd Quarter!  We will be sending home report cards on Friday, so please keep an eye open for them in your child's folder.  This quarter, I have written comments on the report card.  If you have any questions or concerns, please call, email, or check the box on the report card envelope to signify that you would like to schedule a conference.

The following are the goals for the week:

Reading:  Each reading group is focusing on a Realistic Fiction story and the various elements (setting, characters, plot, etc.).  In conjunction with that, the students are studying the different types of natural resources that people use in various areas.

Language: The students are adding -ed and -ing to the endings of verbs

Math:  We are currently working on multiplying by 3 and 6, as well as using different strategies to multiply and divide.  This week, we will be completing lessons 4.3 - 4.6.  Keep an eye out for your child's graded papers coming home.  The initial amount marked incorrect is their score.  If we have time, I do require that they make their corrections, which will be indicated with a star.

Writing: This week, the writing will focus on using different ideas and details to show the reader what is happening, as opposed to simply telling.

Have a great week!
Miss Kimpton

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, and welcome back to school for 2016. Updates for the week will be posted soon.