Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Holidays

I hope you all have a great holiday! We have been working very hard and are ready for 2012!

When we get back, we will continue with time, multiplication and division, reading strategies, and economics.

2nd Quarter testing will be during the week of January 16.

3rd Quarter Curriculum night is Jan. 24

Thursday, November 10, 2011

MULTIPLICATION!!!

MULTIPLICATION ROCKS!!!

www.multiplication.com!!


STUDY STUDY STUDY!

Science Fair

Start thinking of Science Fair ideas!


You should bring your question to class Monday November 21, 2011.


Why does matter matter? - NEW SCIENCE TOPIC!!!!

REMINDERS:

We will be going to see the Nutcracker December 9, 2011.


NO SCHOOL- November 23-25 Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!! 2011 is almost over. How did November come so soon?

We have had a great first quarter and worked really hard on the first quarter EOQs!! We are all doing well!

Second quarter is jammed packed with a lot of new concepts and fun with MULTIPLICATION! Please start reviewing multiplication facts and if you can, buy the flash cards from Dollar Tree!

Next week we will begin Science again studying matter, force and motion and energy transfer!

Fall picture day is Tuesday November 8. Wear your Sunday best! :-)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

First quarter is ending soon!

Social Studies Geography is what we have been working on this month! There is a test that the county has made for our students to take. In order to review for that test, I am sending home a study guide.

Here is a link of the Social Studies Book to review Unit 4:

http://www.eharcourtschool.com/ss/hss07/NC_G3_PeopleWhoMakeaDifference/NCG3-PeopleWhoMakeaDifference.pdf

In other news, we will begin the Reading EOQ Friday October 21 and will continue reading Monday October 24 and Math Calculator Active Tuesday October 25 and Math Calculator Inactive Wednesday October 26.

For reading, we have been working on numerous reading concepts such as; main idea and details, cause and effect, context clues, Genre, sequencing and drawing conclusions!

We have been working on the RUNNERS reading strategy to use when reading passages.

R- Read the title and make a prediction
U- Underline keywords in the questions
N- Notice (number) the paragraphs
N- Now read the passage
E- Enclose (circle) keywords in the passage
R- Reread the passage
S- Select the best answer


Thanks for your continued support!


No School October 28 and October 31
Curriculum night November 1 - 5:00-7:00

Thursday, October 6, 2011

I am on Spelling City

If you ever want to use spelling city to work with our spelling words
follow these steps:

visit: http://www.spellingcity.com

click on FIND A LIST
Type in smclaughlin20 beside search item and click username under the search by drop box and there are our words!!!

Monday, October 3, 2011

October...Brrr!!!

Why hello cold weather!

The book fair is this week. Our class will be going Friday, October 7.
$6.50 is still needed from some of you for the Scholastic Science Magazines.

Later this month, our students will be taking the first quarter EOQ. The dates are October 24-26.
To get our students prepared, please continue to read each night with them and ask focus questions during reading such as:
Who are the characters?
What is the setting?
What are the main events?
What is the problem/solution (if any)?
What is the main idea?
What is author’s purpose?

For math, it is crucial that our students check their work and are adding and subtracting correctly. Also remind them to use the calculator that will be provided to them on the Calculator Active day. We have worked on rounding, addition properties, place value and modeling numbers (base 10 blocks). We should also know standard form: 45, expanded form: 40+5 and word form: forty-five.

During that week, make sure our students get a full nights rest and have a great breakfast!

Important dates/reminders:
Morning Tutoring starts Monday, October 24 for Reading and Math on Wednesdays.

No school for students October 28 and October 31.

Thank you for your continued support.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Coin toss for probability!

Happy Fall!


These past few weeks have been very rainy and our plants did not grow. Next time, we will have to keep it inside and watch the weather more often.
We are not on Maps and Globes and have learned a fun continent song.

In math we are learning about place value and comparing and ordering numbers. We have a lot of content to cover.

Watch us sing the continent song!

Fruit Puppet Plays

Last week, we worked in groups to create plays about fruit. We created a background and decorated fruit on popsicle sticks. Here we are:

Monday, September 12, 2011

Blooming Botanists

Studying plants has been great. We all know the different parts of a plant and their jobs. We are now moving on to flowers and the different parts.

Last week we planted marjoram, melon, lima beans, cherry, apple and orange seeds in a cup and placed them outside in the sun, but we had a rainy week so they may have some issues growing.





This is what they look like. We are very excited.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

WOW!

We had TWO GREAT days back at school! It was great to learn about one another and have MORE fun getting to know each other with the jelly beans activity! We have lots of athletes and scientists in our class!!



the girls!



the boys!

Next week we will have homework. In our homework folders is a list of spelling activities that you can do each night. The goal is to try to get 50 spelling points by Friday. Homework is expected to get done each night and turned in Friday morning. There will also be math sheets and a reading log to complete.

We will begin reviewing second grade math with adding and subtracting two and three digit numbers. In Science, we will start with plants and seeds. So please BRING IN ANY TYPES OF SEEDS YOU MAY HAVE after eating that apple or orange :-)

Reading will start with sequencing and discussing details of a story and writing will start with sentence and paragraph structure. I am so EXCITED! WE ARE SO EXCITED!


Here are some photos from the jelly bean dichotomy! We had to use the dichotomy key to figure out the different flavors of jelly beans! It was soo fun and even better to taste them! :-)















Friday, August 26, 2011

This is Jack

We created Jack as an intro to avatars. Hopefully we can all create one of our own.

Monday, August 15, 2011

The first few weeks of school!


I am so excited to have your student in my class this year. I am looking forward to a wonderful and exciting year with you and your child.

Parent involvement is crucial. Please help your child complete homework, read each night and also put your initials on the homework so I know you have checked it. The more involved you are in your child's learning, the greater success he or she will have in school. I will hand out homework Monday and it is to be turned in on Friday.


I will be spending the first few days of school helping students get to know one another and become comfortable with various classroom routines. We also will be doing fun activities! One of my goals is to help students become independent workers, so students will learn how to organize work. These next few weeks students will spend some time each day at various learning stations and working in small groups. During this time I will emphasize the skills of completing work independently, and putting materials away. As students learn to work on their own, this will increase my ability to meet with small groups of students, and to help our students progress at their own pace. For individual concerns, I will call, email or send a note home!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!

Welcome to third grade!
We have lots of fun exciting things planned! I am so glad to have you in my class!