Weekly Times December 18, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Writing - Field Trip Reflection
Reading - Guided reading groups, some reading "Dinosaurs Before Dark" and some reading "Saving the Stegosaurus"
Poetry - holiday acrostics
Read aloud - "Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs"
Concert rehearsal and concert - Great Job!

Maths
Tally marks and Frequency tables
Pictograms
Math Test Review
Math Test

Units of Inquiry
BIRTH OF THE EARTH - Where We Are In Place and Time
Field Trip to the Days of Dinosaurs
Important stages of evolution activity
If I were a dinosaur
Life after Dinosaurs activity- the Age of Mammals
Cut and paste on the evolution of man
Adaptation Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJH-01WLEg0
Homer Simpson evolution : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRlFsYmkeY

Weekly Times December 2, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – the vowel sound oo which can be short or long like in book or boot

Grammar - prepositions

Writing - Editing work for capitalization, punctuation and spelling, writing spelling sentences in class

Reading - Guided reading groups, some reading "Dinosaurs Before Dark" and some reading "Saving the Stegosaurus"

Poetry - holiday poems

Read aloud - "Life Finds Its Feet"

Maths
Time

Fractions as division problems

Subtraction "tricks" counting on when two numbers are close like the difference between 302 and 298

Mathletics

Units of Inquiry

BIRTH OF THE EARTH - Where We Are In Place and Time

Vocabulary work

Reading about Evolution

Field Trip to the Zoological Museum

Making fossils

Readings about the first amphibians and the first reptiles

ICT - Fossils- see links on the Ambrit Grade 3 links page

Watching the first episode of "Walking With Dinosaurs"

Read alouds

Adaptation Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJH-01WLEg0

Homer Simpson evolution : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRlFsYmkeY

Weekly Times November 25, 2011

We made quilt squares with our buddies from Nursery A

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – the vowel sound /au/ like "Aw, isn't that so cute!"

Grammar - pronouns

Writing - Editing work for capitalization, punctuation and spelling, "Three Things I Am Thankful For" paragraphs

Reading - Beginning guided reading groups, some reading "Dinosaurs Before Dark" and some reading "Saving the Stegosaurus"

Read aloud - "The Birth of the Earth," "Life: A History of Evolution" and "Our Thanksgiving"

Maths
Fractions as parts of a group, informal work with equivalent fractions, fractions as division

Review of Time on the clock

Number patterns

Mathletics - all of the above

Units of Inquiry

BIRTH OF THE EARTH - Where We Are In Place and Time

Vocabulary work

Ordering activity with pictures of the birth of the earth through first life

Adaptations activity

ICT - Darwin natural selection game (the vocabulary is challenging but the students get the game) link: http://science.discovery.com/interactives/literacy/darwin/darwin.html

Read alouds

Adaptation Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJH-01WLEg0

Homer Simpson evolution : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRlFsYmkeY

Weekly Times November 18, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – the vowel sound /ou/ like ouch

usually spelled ow at the end of a syllable and ou in the middle of a syllable but there are lots of exceptions, especially words that end in w, l, n - they almost always keep the ow

Grammar - subjects and verbs, pronouns

Writing - Editing work for capitalization, punctuation and spelling, "I Made a Mistake Poems"

Reading - How we know about the past

Read aloud - "There's A Pebble in My Pocket" and "How Much is a Million"

Maths
Multiplication- continued work on two-digit by one digit multiplication

Division - informal introduction to long division

Halving numbers

"Tricks"

- to multiply by 5, first multiply by 10, then half

- to multiply by 20, double then multiply by 10 (add a zero on the end)

- to multiply by 8, first multiply by 4 then double

How Much is a Million lesson

Mathletics - Division

Units of Inquiry

BIRTH OF THE EARTH - Where We Are In Place and Time

Tuning in activity - detectives trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces

Reading about how we know about the past (archeology and paleontology)

Time Dial of Prehistory

Vocabulary Preview

Headlines

*Scholastic orders are due on Monday if you want to order!

Language Arts

Spelling – the vowel sound /oi/ spelled oy at the end of a syllable and oi in the middle of a syllable

Writing- writing about the holiday

Maths
Multiplication-

multiplication as repeated addition

multiplication of a two digit by a one digit number using partitioning

fact families- multiplication and division

Mathletics

Units of Inquiry

DIG IT - How the World Works
Rock cycle posters

Unit Refelction

BIRTH OF THE EARTH - Where We Are In Place and Time

Tuning in activity - detectives trying to solve the bag mystery

Weekly Time October 28, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – suffix -ly

Grammar - adverbs, reveiw of parts of speech

Writing- writing about the rock cycle
Read alouds: Magic School Bus Inside a Volcano

Maths
Multiplication - the 3's and 4's

Introduction to a new game called "fizz buzz"
Counting by 25's

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Rock cycle posters, creating the rubric

Rock Cycle sites with great activities:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/environment_earth_universe/rock_cycle/activity.shtml

http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/ (Try the activity with the rock collection....we didn't do it in ICT....you find it at the bottom of the readings about the types of rocks)

Other activities this week:

Happy Halloween!

Cupcake Decorating - Thank you to the moms who were able to come in and help out!

Our Field Trip to Rocca di Cave


We had a presentation about the geology of Lazio, then went up to the observatory to see the different types of landforms in Lazio, then went on a nature walk where we saw fossils at the top of a mountain! We even found some fossils and crystals!
It was a fun day!

Weekly Times October 22, 2011

Headlines

*Thank you all for the conferences. A copy of the targets will come home by the end of the week.

*Please note that the field trip to Rocca di Cave is on Tuesday, October 25. Students should be at school by 8:00 a.m Thank you for your support.

*On Wednesday, we will be decorating cupcakes for the bakesale. If you are able to send in cupcakes, frosting or are able to come in to help, please let me know! Thank you!

Language Arts
Spelling – al as a prefix and a suffix

Writing – Target-setting forms
Read alouds: Magic School Bus Inside a Volcano

Next week: -ly suffix, review of parts of speech, finish Halloween stories, writing about the rock cycle


Maths
Mathletics - students are signed up and started! We took a "tour" of the site, as well as completed a couple of activities. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments about the program!
Assessment
Number patterns
Counting by 25's

Next week: even and odd numbers, the 3's and 4's multiplication facts

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Planning their rock cycle posters
Next week: Field trip, creating a rubric for the posters, finishing up the unit

Rock Cycle sites with great activities:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/environment_earth_universe/rock_cycle/activity.shtml

http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/ (Try the activity with the rock collection....we didn't do it in ICT....you find it at the bottom of the readings about the types of rocks)

Fun song about the layers of the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&gl=US

Volcano Recipe Links: (I am sure there are more out there but these are the ones I took from)

http://www.how-things-work-science-projects.com/make-a-volcano.html
http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/volcano.php

Weekly Times October 14, 2011

Headlines

Please be sure to sign up for a 15 minute target setting conference with me on Friday, October 21, 2011. To sign up go to:

https://ambritparents.pbworks.com/w/page/21109175/3B%20Ms%20Beeton

Language Arts
Spelling – irregular past tense verbs, introduction to Spellodrome

Writing – Halloween stories, starting on setting goals for the year, answering questions in complete sentences
Reading- reading about the rock cycle,
Read alouds: How Mountains Are Made

Be sure to check out the videos of the students giving their Me Bag essays - they can be found on the page above

Next week: -al suffixes, review of parts of speech, syllables, target setting forms, reading


Maths
Mathletics - students are signed up and started! We took a "tour" of the site, as well as completed a couple of activities. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments about the program!

Review of concepts:

Place value to thousands

Adding and subtracting with regrouping (carrying and borrowing)

Rounding to the nearest ten and hundred

Metric measures of length (m, cm, mm)

perimeter and area

2D and 3D shapes

word problems

Next week: review, assessment and number patterns

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Vocabulary - more rock cycle vocabulary

Three main types of rocks - igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary and how they are formed

The rock cycle - how types of rocks change one to another

Edible rock cycle - made with cookies, chocolate chips and marshmallows

Next week: Students will plan and make a poster with a rock cycle

Rock Cycle sites with great activities:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/environment_earth_universe/rock_cycle/activity.shtml

http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/ (Try the activity with the rock collection....we didn't do it in ICT....you find it at the bottom of the readings about the types of rocks)

Fun song about the layers of the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&gl=US

Volcano Recipe Links: (I am sure there are more out there but these are the ones I took from)

http://www.how-things-work-science-projects.com/make-a-volcano.html
http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/volcano.php

Weekly Times October 7, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – verb endings -ed and -ing - doubling consonants to keep the vowel sound short, droppping the -e at the end of words before adding -ed or -ing, dropping the -y and adding i when adding -ed to words that have a consonant before the -y
Writing – favorite activity paragraphs
Reading- reading about the rock cycle
Read alouds: The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, Magic School Bus Voyage to the Volcano

Be sure to check out the videos of the students giving their Me Bag essays - they can be found on the page above (will finish adding the last few next week)


Maths
Word Problems

Measures - meters, centimeters, millimeters
Perimeter and Area of squares and rectangles, in cm and cm2, counting the squares to find area (not yet multiplying the length times height)

Plotting points on a grid- the game Billy Bug -always going across the x axis, then up the y axis

Triangles - isosceles, equilateral and right triangles
Next week: Review of the concepts and assessment

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Vocabulary - verbs

Plate tectonics - the Earth separated into plates that move slowly and cancause earthquakes, mountains and volcanoes among other things

Three main types of rocks - igneous, metamorphicand sedimentary and how they are formed

Making volcanoes
Next week: the rock cycle

Fun song about the layers of the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&gl=US

Volcano Recipe Links: (I am sure there are more out there but these are the ones I took from)

http://www.how-things-work-science-projects.com/make-a-volcano.html
http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/volcano.php

Weekly Times September 23, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – reviewing the spelling of common sight words and number words
Writing – Me Bag paragraphs and sharing, spelling sentences
Reading- reading about the layers of the Earth
Read alouds: The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
Next week: preparing for World Food Day

Maths
Addition with carrying
Subtraction on a number line
Next week: Metric measures - length in meters, centimeters, millimeters, kilometers

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Layers of the Earth illustration in computer
Rocks and minerals - what's the difference (cookies)
Vocabulary
Classifying Rocks
Next week: plate tectonics

Fun song about the layers of the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&gl=US


Separating out different "minerals" from our "rocks" before eating them!

Weekly Times September 16, 2011

Dear 3B Parents and Students,
Welcome to our class blog! Every weekend there will be a new post called "Weekly Times." It is a list of "Headlines" about what we have been doing in class. The details are not filled in so that students may tell their parents about the week. Parents and students should look over the “Headlines,” talking about what they are and what we did in class over the week. This gives parents and students a chance to have a conversation about what has been happening at school. If any questions or confusion arise, please let me know. Thank you and enjoy the “Weekly Times”!

Headlines

Language Arts
Getting to know you activities and 3B Essential Agreements
Spelling – reviewing the spelling of common sight words and number words
Writing – All About Me, the summer, Our Hopes and Dreams, begining our Me Bag paragraphs
Reading- setting up the reading log, practicing writing a reading log letter, updating our reading levels by reading with the teacher
Read alouds: Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me? by Louis Sacher

Maths
Place Value up to thousands
Adding on (counting on) by 1’s, 10’s and 100’s
Rounding to the nearest 10 and 100
Review of basic addition facts to 20
Next week: addition and subtraction

Units of Inquiry
DIG IT - How the World Works
Making our cover page in our notebook
Sand and Soil investigations
Comparing the layers of the Earth to a hard-boiled egg
Fun song about the layers of the Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=Q9j1xGaxYzY&gl=US


Pictures of the 3B Scientists examining their hard boiled eggs

Announcements and Notices

Thank you for sending in all of the supplies we asked for. I look forward to seeing you all at our Class Meeting, which will take place on September 20, 2011

Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times June 10, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Writing - various writings for the All About Me book, poems, paragraphs, copying things in

Read alouds: Maths Curse by Jon Sieszka, The Pebble In My Pocket, Skittles Math

Math
Division:

- two different ways of writing division problems

- division with remainders

- a brief overview of longer division

Proportion - fractions of a whole

Time - a review of time and elapsed time

UNITS of INQUIRY:

How We Express Ourselves - Express yourself

Personal Profile - PLEASE SEND IN 3-4 pictures from the student's life (baby pictures, travel, family, pets, etc.)There are just a few who haven't brought them in

"3B's Got Talent" - organizing and preparing for the show that will be on Thursday

Announcements and Notices

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - Italian Exams at school

Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 3B's Got Talent Show at 9:30 in the theatre- Hope to see you!

Friday, June 17, 2011 - Flea market in class

Thursday, June 23, 2011 - Last Day of School, early dismissal

Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times, May 27, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – comparative and superlative -er and -est
Writing - Poetry for the Express Yourself unit, Continuing to finish up our Plop stories on the computer
Read alouds: Frindle by Andrew Clements



Math
Test Review

Test

Venn Diagrams as ways to organize data

Multiples


UNITS of INQUIRY: Money Makes the World Go 'Round
How We Organize Ourselves

Supply and Demand - chapter of Homer Price - about the doughnut machine- teaching about
what happens when too much supply, also two video clips on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rKV0jcPZ8Y and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWBLFLLGK10

We have also been watching video clips from YouTube called How Its Made- these clips come from Discovery Channel and show how lots of everyday items are produced

How We Express Ourselves - Express yourself
Personal Profile - PLEASE SEND IN 3-4 pictures from the student's life (baby pictures, travel, family, pets, etc.)

All About Me books

- Poetry Writing - I Am Poem and Color Poem

- Cover page and inside cover

- Collage in ICT

Discussion of 3B's Got Talent - Talent Show - more information to follow

Announcements and Notices

Thursday and Friday, June 2 and 3, 2011 - Holiday, school closed


Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times May 20, 2011

Some Pictures from Roald Dahl Day. Grades 3 and 4 had an UmpaLumpa dance off!

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – compound words
Writing - Chapters of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark including punctuation of dialogue and following the pattern of the chapters, taking the story through the writing process, publishing on the computer

Read alouds: Frindle by Andrew Clements

Roald Dahl Day in Library

Math
Capacity: Millilitres and Litres (measuring liquids for example, would a teacup likely have 150 ml, 500ml or 1 litre?)

Litre/Millilitre Conversions: understanding that 1000ml = 1 l, basic fractions (one quarter litre = 250 ml, one half litre = 500ml, three quarters = 750 ml, one tenth = 100ml), different ways of writing ml and l (5 l 425 ml, 5.425l, 5425ml)

Angles - right angle measures 90 degrees, half of 90 is 45 degrees, "turns" around a circle are 90, 180, 270, 360 degrees, recognizing angles that are greater than, less than or equal to 90 degrees and 45 degrees

Beginning to review for the test which will be next week

UNITS of INQUIRY: Money Makes the World Go 'Round

How We Organize Ourselves
"Class Economy" - receiving payment, budgeting, paying "bills"

Miguel's Tomatoes- discussing goods and services and a supply chain

How Its Made videos clips on You Tube from the Discovery Channel with discussion of the costs that go into producing things

Lesson with Mr. Ronan on fair trade

How We Express Ourselves - Express yourself

Personal Profile - PLEASE SEND IN 3-4 pictures from the student's life (baby pictures, travel, family, pets, etc.)

Announcements and Notices

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - Sports Day - Students should come dressed in the color of their teams. They should bring a hat and a water bottle. Lunch will be at 1:00 p.m. Children will be provided with a snack at 10:45, but they should also be sure to have a nice big breakfast!

Saturday, May 28, 2011 – May Fair at school - Grade 3 will be running a Risorgimento Musical Chairs. We will be asking parents to volunteer for half an hour to help run the game. More information is to follow.


Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

HEADLINES

Language Arts
Spelling – suffixes -TION and -SION (make the "shun" sound)
Reading –Literature Circles, Chapter 7 of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark, starting our own chapters of the story
Grammar- using speech marks to punctuate dialogue
Read alouds: Frindle by Andrew Clements and The Berenstein Bears Trouble with Money


Math
Metric measures - litres and millilitres, common measures, fractions of litres (half a litre is 500ml, etc.), rounding numbers with measures


UNITS of INQUIRY: Money Makes the World Go 'Round
How We Organize Ourselves
"Class Economy" - receiving payment, budgeting, paying "bills"

Miguel's Tomatoes
Lesson with Mr. Ronan on needs and wants

How We Express Ourselves - Express yourself
Personal Profile sent home, due back by the end of next week with 3-4 pictures from the student's life (baby pictures, travel, family, pets, etc.)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – Spring Gala and Auction (we will be making quilted shopping bags with the wonderful help of Ms. Jaana)
Saturday, May 28, 2011 – May Fair at school


Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times May 6, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – suffixes -ly, -ful, -ist (meaning someone who does .... like artist NOT -est like biggest)
Reading –Literature Circles, Chapter 5 Circle and Chapter 6 reading of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark

Grammar- beginning to work on using speech marks to punctuate dialogue
Read alouds: Frindle by Andrew Clements

Math
Place value, adding and subtracting 10 and 100 with numbers up to the thousands, including crossing the tens and hundred's boundary

Recognizing and computing using Euro coins, money on Mathletics

Adding on to the next hundred (using the hundred square but recognizing that you use the same skill to go to any hundred or even from hundreds to thousand)

Matching similar addition and subtraction facts (ex 6 +7 = 15 so 60+70=150 and 600 + 700 = 1500)

Subtraction with borrowing more than one time

UNITS of INQUIRY: Money Makes the World Go 'Round

How We Organize Ourselves
"Class Economy" - receiving payment, budgeting, paying "bills"

The "field trip" to the grocery store and market finding out about prices and shopping decisions

Lesson with Mr. Ronan on trade and bartering

How We Express Ourselves - Express yourself

Personal Profile sent home, due back by the end of next week with 3-4 pictures from the student's life (baby pictures, travel, family, pets, etc.)

Announcements and Notices

Thursday, May 12, 2011 - Presentation at school for parents about Calming - helping students cope with stress

Friday, May 13, 2011 – Teacher In-service day – no school for students

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – Spring Gala and Auction (we will be making quilted shopping bags with the wonderful help of Ms. Jaana)
Saturday, May 28, 2011 – May Fair at school


Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times April 29, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts
Spelling – ough words, trade words
Reading –Literature Circles, Chapter 4 Circle and Chapter 5 reading of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
Read alouds: Frindle by Andrew Clements

Math
Begin Summer Semester Book
Place value to ten thousand

Rounding numbers to the thousands place

Estimating numbers (amounts in a jar)

Place value, adding and subtracting 10 and 100 with numbers up to the thousands, including crossing the tens and hundred's boundary

UNITS of INQUIRY: Money Makes the World Go 'Round

How We Organize Ourselves
Tuning In Activity - Making Fruit Salad, trading to obtain the raw materials necessary to manufacture a project - will put up pictures this week

"Class Economy" - receiving payment, budgeting, paying "bills"

Gathering previous knowledge

n.b. The "field trip" to the grocery store and market should be on Wednesday, May 4, weather permitting

Announcements and Notices

Thursday, May 5, 2011 – Dance Festival at school at 9:30 a.m. – parents are invited to attend!

Friday, May 13, 2011 – Teacher In-service day – no school for students

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – Spring Gala and Auction
Saturday, May 28, 2011 – May Fair at school


Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times April 15, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – no spelling this week

Reading –Literature Circles, Chapter 4 of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark

Read alouds: The Stick and Stone Age

Math

Math test review

Math Test

ICT- Math Practice

UNITS of INQUIRY: Bodyworks

Who We Are

Final Project – Big Human Body Book

Student-Led Conferences – Thank you so much for coming and for all of the feedback! If you haven’t returned the survey, please do so when you can – it is very helpful for the school.

Vacation Homework:

- The sheet about items at a store

- Continue to work on Times Tables

- READ!

Announcements and Notices

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - School Resumes

Thursday, May 5, 2011 – Dance Festival at school at 9:30 a.m. – parents are invited to attend!

Friday, May 13, 2011 – Teacher In-service day – no school for students

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – Spring Gala and Auction

Saturday, May 28, 2011 – May Fair at school

I hope you all have a safe and lovely holiday!

Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times April 9, 2011

HEADLINES

Language Arts
Spelling:
Nervous System words - students do NOT need to know cerebellum, cerebrum, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, cerebral cortex as they were incorrectly defined in my absence; those 5 are now bonus words
Writing:
Our three biggest successes this year
Reflecting on our targets set at the beginning of the year
Learner Profile Attributes page
Practicing for our Student-led conferences with partners and our 8th grade buddies buddies

Math
Dividing simple money ( example 12.30 divided by 3 is 4.10)
More bar charts
Review for the math test (which will be this week as we ran out of time last week)

Units of Inquiry
Who We Are: Bodyworks
Video on the body
Thinking about our final project - the big body book

Important Dates and Events

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - Student-led conferences - students come to school for their conference time only. Each conference is 40 minutes long, led by the student. If you would like to schedule another time to come and have a conference with me, please send me an email.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 - Bake sale in support of Japan
Friday, April 15, 2011 - last day of school before spring break - please let me know if you are leaving early
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - first day back


Our trip the Pigorini Museum last week

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – respiratory system words, quiz on Monday

Reading- sharing our Agile Actor jobs

Read alouds: Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body

Dr. Seuss' Inside Your Outisde

Math

Fractions - finding equivalent fractions with pictures

Adding fractions with like denominators to make 1 whole

Decimals - tenths as fractions and decimals

Graphing - making frequency tables and bar charts

Assessment coming up next week....we will be reviewing in class:

Multiplication facts: especially the 6's and 8's

Multiplication of two digit by one digit numbers (ex. 56 x 8)

Division as inverse of multiplication (fact families)

Doubling and Halving

Fractions - equivalent fractions, fractions that add up to 1 whole, fractions more or less than a half

Money - Euros and cents

Ordering decimals to tenths

Bar charts

UNITS of INQUIRY: Birth of the Earth

Who We Are

The Respiratory System - videos and readings, choosing our spelling words together, examining the vital organs of a calf, making a "model lung"

Field Trip to Pigorini Museum

Announcements and Notices

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - Student-led conferences - Students ONLY come to school with parents for the conference, then return home. Sign up for a time at https://ambritparents.pbworks.com/w/page/21109175/3B-Ms-Beeton

Friday, April 15, 2011 - Last day of school before spring break

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - Classes resume

Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Weekly Times March 25, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling: Circulatory System words, quiz on Monday

Reading: Literature Circles - Chapter 3, "Dark is Fun" of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark, the Agile Actor job

Math

Fractions:

• Adding fractions to make a whole (ex. 4/5 + 1/5 = 5/5 = 1)
• Equivalent Fractions using pictures
• "tenths" as fractions and decimals (4/10 = 0.4)
• Mathletics

Units of Inquiry

Who We Are- Bodyworks

The Circulatory System

Readings and film clips about how the heart works

Taking our pulse activity

Important Dates and Announcements

Wednesday, March 30 ,2011 - Field Trip to the Pigorini Museum

Friday, April 1, 2011 - Teacher work day - no school for students

Tuesday, April 14, 2011 - Student-led conferences - more information to follow

Monday, April 18- Monday April 25 - Spring Break

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - school begins again

Weekly Times March 18 ,2011

HEADLINES

Language Arts

Spelling - Digestive system words, quiz on Monday

Reading - The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark, Chapter 2, "Dark is Kind", Literature Circle Jobs of Word Wizard and Connector

Dictionary Skills, synonyms, editing

Math

Practicing Multiplication

"Trick" for multiplying 9's and 11's (multiply by 10 and subtract/add the number being multiplied)

Word problems with multiplication and division (with money)

Multiplying 2 digit times 1 digit numbers, using partitioning by setting up the problems vertically

Units of Inquiry

Who We Are - Bodyworks

The Digestive System in 4 phases

- the mouth and esophagus

- the stomach and duodenum

- the small intestine

- the large intestine and out

Buddies - We played our "Birth of the Earth" board games with our 8th grade buddies

Events and Announcements

Thursday, March 24 - Concert for the students at school

Wednesday, March 30 - Field Trip - letter to follow

Friday, April 1 - Teacher planning day - no school for students

Weekly Times March 11, 2011

HEADLINES

CARNIVALE!!!!


Language Arts:
Spelling - Skeletal-Muscular system words, quiz on Monday
Reading - Chapter 1 of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson, first two literature circle jobs, "Discussion Director" and "Artful Artist"

Math:
- Doubling and Halving (including numbers like 90 where children may know that half of 90 is 45 or they can partition 90 into 80 and 10 then take half of each and add them together so 40 + 5 = 45)

- Finding "half way" between two numbers by finding the difference, taking half of the difference, then adding on that number. ex. halfway between 36 and 46 is 41 because the difference is 10, half of the difference is 5, so they count on or back 5 to arrive at 41

- multiplication tables, especially 6's and 8's

- word problems with simple multiplication and division

Units of Inquiry- Bodyworks
Skeletal Muscular System
-bones, names and uses
- what is bone marrow and why is it important
-making a skeleton model
-talking about joints in the body - what they are and how they work
-muscles

Important Dates and Announcements

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - Holiday - no school
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - Field trip - more information to follow

Weekly Times March 5, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling - started vocabulary words for our Bodyworks unit - the same words will carry over next week

Grammar - contractions

Reading - finishing our read alouds: Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs and Dr. Seuss' Oh Say Can You Say These Dinosaur Names

Math

Counting by 25's including negative numbers

Powerlines

Solving problems with brackets/parentheses

Multiplication/Division fact families (ex. 3, 4, 12 3x4 = 12, 4x3=12, 12 divided by 3 = 4 and 12 divided by 4 = 3)

Units of Inquiry

Finishing up our Birth of the Earth unit final project - the board games

Reflecting on our Unit

Beginning the new unit "Bodyworks" by labelling what we know on a body outline

next week - skeletal/muscular system

Important Dates and Announcements

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - Women's Day Breakfast in the theatre, Carnivale (children may dress up)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - Coffee morning with Mr. Mullane in the theatre at 8:30 a.m.

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - Holiday

Weekly Times February 11, 2011

Headlines

Language Arts

Spelling – each student has 10 personal spelling words

Reading – Guided Reading Groups:

Saving the Stegosaurus by Rex Stone

Dawn of the Dinosaurs by Mary Pope Osborne

Spellodrome

Describing animal adaptations and the 5 most important events in the story of the birth of the Earth, from the beginning through dinosaurs

Read alouds: Magic School Bus In the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole

Math

Angles

Are measured in degrees

90, 180, 270 and 360 degrees in a circle

90 and 45 degree angles

Number Patterns

Nets of cubes

Beginning to Review for assessment next week

On the assessment:

addtion and subtraction:

• basic facts
• carrying and borrowing also with money (the decimal point lined up)
• adding to 100 and 1000 (73 + ______ = 100) and (650 + ___________ = 1000)

ordering numbers
greater than, less than and equal to
numbers on a number line
rounding to the nearest 10
multiplying and dividing by 10 ( ex. 338 x 10 or 2100 divided by 10....always a number where they just have to add or take away a zero)
2-step word problems
grams and kilograms (knowing that 3657 grams = 3 kg 657 g because 1kg = 1000 g)
compass directions (n, s, w, e, nw, ne, sw, se)
vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines
angles
nets of cubes

We will review on Monday and Tuesday as well

UNITS of INQUIRY: Birth of the Earth

Where We Are in Place and Time

ICT- Dinosaur Facts

Dinosaur Dig

Life after Dinosaurs

Video on youtube about camels and adaptations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX8VQIJVpTg

Be sure to see the PICTURES from last week's field trip and our dino dig that have been posted this week!

Announcements and Notices

Monday, February 14, 2011 – Valentine’s Day - Cookie Decorating in the morning and bake sale

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 – Bake Sale continues – proceeds go to Haiti

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 – Deadline for donations for the orphanage in Zanzibar

February 21-25 – February Break - School is closed

Monday, February 28, 2011 - Teacher Planning Day- no school for students

Feel free to email me anytime at courtney.beeton@ambrit-rome.com

Dinosaur Dig Pictures

The Dig Outside


















In the "Lab"


















WE DID IT!
With teamwork and effort, we dicovered that we had unearthed a Tyrannosaurus Rex!