Weekly Update 10/29/2012

Hello Third Grade Families,

I can't believe November begins this week! I need to toughen up for the winter. I would rather have cold weather than the "Frankenstorm" that the East Coast is getting! Please send your child in weather appropriate clothing so they will be comfortable at recess.

Three questions to ask your third grader:

1) What does the word sum mean? Give an example.

2) How are the story Penguin Chick and the documentary March of the Penguins similar?
3) What is a valley?

Communication Arts:

Story: A Day's Work

Skill: Summarizing

Spelling: words that end with le

http://www.spellingcity.com/cmsenecal/

Math:
Unit 3: Addition and Subtraction Situations
Unit 4: Figures, Angles, and Triangles

*We will be wrapping up Unit 3 this week and begin Unit 4.

 

Science:

Big Sky High School students will be working with our third graders to teach science lessons.

Mark Your Calendar!

Wednesday, 10/31/2012 - Halloween Celebration

Thursday, 11/1/2012 - Parent Teacher Conference Forms sent home

Friday, 11/2/2012 - Trimester 1 Ends / Big Sky Lesson

Wednesday, 11/7/2012 - Parent Teacher Conferences After School

Thursday, 11/8/2012 - Half Day for Students - Parent Teacher Conferences

We will celebrate Halloween on Wednesday, 10/31/2012. Students will participate in a school-wide parade. Costume must be school appropriate, not scary or bloody. We will continue the day with a classroom celebration.

 

Also, Parent/Teacher Conferences will be next Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon. Forms will go home this Thursday, 11/1/2012. Please return the form as soon as possible. Due to our class size, I would appreciate if families could attend conferences together so that I only need to have one conference per student. Also, I can do some conferences on Election Day, Tuesday, 11/6/2012. If you are voting at the Hawthorne School, we could conference before or after you vote. I look forward to seeing you all!

Love,

Ms. Senecal

Weekly Update 10/22/2012

Three questions to ask your third grader:

1) Create a Math Mountain with the number 5, 7, and 12.

2) How did the boy get knowledge in the fable What About Me?
3) What is missing from the Hawthorne office?

Communication Arts:

Story: Penguin Chick

Skill: Main Idea and Supporting Details

Spelling: Syllable Pattern 

http://www.spellingcity.com/cmsenecal/

Math:
Unit 3: Addition and Subtraction Situations

*We have been working on finding the unknown partner in Math. The unknown partner can be written in the form of an equation. 5 + __ = 12. Students set up a Math Mountain to find this unknown partner and should be able to write eight different equations!

Mark Your Calendar!

Monday, 10/22/2012 - Happy Birthday Xaria!

Thursday, 10/25/2012 - Northwest Energy Presentation

Thursday, 10/25/2012 - Pumpkin Carving 6:30 PM

Wednesday, 10/31/2012 - Halloween Celebration

We will celebrate Halloween on Wednesday, 10/31/2012. Students will participate in a parade. Costume must be school appropriate, not scary or bloody. We will continue the day with a classroom celebration. Thank you to Belinda and Lyndia for helping with the planning! If any other parents would like to help our class celebrate, please send me an email. cmsenecal@mcps.k12.mt.us

Love,

Ms. Senecal

Weekly Update 10/15/2012

We have spent time the past few weeks discovering Montana's Landforms. Over the weekend, I had a spectacular view of many of these landforms.



Lookout Cabin



Montana's Magnificent Landforms



Sunrise View



 Three questions to ask your third grader:

1) What is a quadrilateral? (Clue - Q.U.A.D)

2) Is a fable fiction or nonfiction?

3) We know five names for the figure below. How many can you think of?

Communication Arts:

Story: What About Me

Skill: Main Idea and Details & Summarizing

Spelling: Plural Nouns - add s, es, ies

http://www.spellingcity.com/cmsenecal/

Math:
Unit 3: Addition and Subtraction Situations

Mark Your Calendar!

Monday, 10/15/2012 - 500 Club Celebration. Way to go bookworms!

Wednesday, 10/17/2012 - Spelling Menu Activities Due

Thursday, 10/18/2012 - No School for Students
Friday, 10/19/2012 - No School for Students

Monday, 10/22/2012 - Developing Mathematic Ideas Training - Substitute

Tuesday, 10/23/2012 - Developing Mathematic Ideas Training - Substitute

Love,

Ms. Senecal

Weekly Update 10/8/2012

We had art today!

Shevonne, Weslee, Aiden, and Arabelle

Three questions to ask your third grader:
1) You can measure a line segment, but you can't measure a line. Why?

2) How do we sequence in Math? Spelling?

3) What is the high flyer focus this month?

Communication Arts:

We are finishing Unit 1 and will have a Unit Test on Wednesday. Student's in my reading group did not come home with spelling words today. Next week is a short week so we will begin the new story and spelling words on Thursday and be tested next Wednesday, 10/17/2012. Students will be able to practice over the weekend!

Story: What About Me

Skill: Summarize

Spelling: Plurals - Adding s and es

http://www.spellingcity.com/cmsenecal/

Math:

Unit 2: Lines, Line Segments, and Quadrilaterals

Social Studies:

Montana Geography: Landforms and Natural Resources

Say Cheese! Picture Day is Wednesday, 10/10/2012.

Mark Your Calendar!

Saturday, 10/6/2012 - Happy Birthday Ryan!

Monday, 10/8/2012 - Art

Tuesday, 10/9/2012 - Happy Birthday Gracie! 

Wednesday, 10/10/2012 - Picture Day! Unit 1 Reading Benchmark. Midterm Reports sent home.

Thursday, 10/11/2012 - Early Out and Papa John's Pizza Night! Look for the flyer!

Friday, 10/12/2012 - Reading Log due

Thursday, 10/18/2012 and Friday, 10/19/2012 - No school for students.

We will celebrate those students who have reached the goal of reading 100 minutes each week and made it into the 500 Club next Monday, 10/15/2012! Keep reading and returning reading logs on Friday!

Love,

Ms. Senecal

Weekly Update 10/1/2012

Happy October! It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Hawthorne Picnic. What a beautiful and fun evening! 

If you haven't heard, we recently welcomed Melissa Kirk to the third grade team. Mrs. Kirk will be teaching differentiated reading and math instruction. We are excited to have her!

Three questions to ask your third grader:
1) How are addition and subtraction related?

2) If someone is astonished, what might they look like?

3) Where do many rivers start?

Communication Arts:

Story: Tops and Bottoms

Skill: Fantasy vs. Realism and Sequencing

Spelling: Words with str, squ, thr, spl

http://www.spellingcity.com/cmsenecal/

Math:

Unit 1: Review and Test

Unit 2: Lines, Line Segments, and Quadrilaterals

Social Studies:

Montana Geography: Landforms and Natural Resources

Mark Your Calendar!

Monday, 10/1/2012 - Happy Birthday Ethan! Flagship begins.

Tuesday, 10/2/2012 - Math Unit 1 Test - no math homework!

Wednesday, 10/3/2012 - Math Unit 2 begins!

Thursday, 10/4/2012 - Early Out

Friday, 10/5/2012 - Spelling Menu and Reading Log due*

*Reading every night is an important part of developing a life long reader. Please help your child reach the goal of 100 minutes per week by reading at least 20 minutes each night. It can be silent reading, reading to a sibling, or a family read aloud. Signed reading logs are due each Friday. If your child's reading log is not turned in or signed, they will read during recess on Friday. Thank you for your support in this effort!

Love,

Ms. Senecal