Reading buddies

For two weeks we have been working on reading fluency during intervention. Reading buddies work together to get better at vocabulary and reading fluency. The kids have been working so hard to show improvement.

Video from Assembly

Here is the link to the video that we made and shared during the assembly this morning.  The kids did a really good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQznMi5BbYM

Kindergarten Buddies

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

Nature Center Field Trip

We had so much fun on our field trip today. Thank you to all the Macalaster students!

These Two Girls were Copying Me Today

News Letter

New e-mail:

       The district has switched our e-mail system. So we now have new e-mail addresses. Joe.Melde@isd199.org Lori.Gustafson@isd199.org

We would appreciate it if you would send us an e-mail with your child’s name in the subject line. That will make it easier to add you to our contacts. Thanks.

Conferences:

       Together, we will be able to help your child learn as much as they can this year. We really appreciated your time and the conversations we had at conferences. We are proud of the students for their presentations and thinking. Parents, thank you for your support and for working with us to help your child learn as much as they can this year. Students, keep working hard to reach your goals.

Math:

       We have completed our unit on graphing and have now started place value. Attached to the update are the state standards that your child will be working to learn. Some great resources to support your child’s learning at home are: http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/ro/Pages/studentlinks/math.htm

Khan Academy and soon, assignments will be up and running in Learning Point Navigator.

Math Fact Fluency:

       In third grade the students need to be working on memorizing all of their math facts for addition and subtraction. This means that the facts are automatic; they know it without thinking about it. There are many apps and online games to help with this, along with flashcards and regular games. The better the students know their facts, the more success they will have in so many of the math areas.

Reading:

       This week have been learning about Snowflake Bently and working on making inferences and long vowels with the vce (vowel consanant vowel) pattern, like alone, space, etc. Students are working hard and learning to be independent workers during read to self, journal writing, and word work/spelling. Next week, we will begin meeting with our small reading groups. In the groups your child will be working at their instructional level. Your support with reading at home is crucial. Students need to be reading every day. You can mix up having your child read silently and reading to you. But, be sure to have them tell you about what they are reading. This helps build their comprehension, their understanding of what they read.

October 31:

       It is Mix up day here at Salem Hills. Students can mix up their clothes, hair, etc. We will also be tie dying our team shirts. So, students should bring an old shirt to wear over their clothes, or just wear old clothes this day. Sometimes the die ends up where we don’t mean for it to beJ

Fire Safety

We learned about how to get out of the house or apartment during a fire.  We learned to feel the door before you open it.  If it is hot then you go to the window.When  you go to the window you go out.  If your window is high, you throw something out or wave something.  Make sure you don't grab pets when you go. It is too dangerous to grab pets.  They might already be gone.  Smoke detectors are loud.  Don't take batteries out for toys.  Change batteries twice a year.  When you hear the smoke detector don't grab anything.  Things can be replaced and we can't.  Have a meeting place so you know who is out of the house or not.

There is an open house at the fire station this weekend.  There are hot dogs and activities. 
We have lots more information but you have to ask us about it.
From,
Room 24

Newsletter

We are getting into the swing of things in 3rd grade.  The first month of school has been a lot of getting to know the kids.  We have learned a lot both personally and academically.  

We have given the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test in reading.  This test we give in the fall and then again in the spring to measure growth.  

We have also completed the MCA Math test preview.  This test is given for a couple reasons.  First, we want to be able to measure where the kids are in math.  This test is designed to measure skills for a third grader at the end of the year.  Some skills included on the test are multiplication, division and fractions.  We have not covered that as a class yet so it is natural that this test is pretty difficult.  We will give another practice test in the winter.  At this time we will be able to compare the first to the second.  The final test is given in the spring.  This is the real test that counts.  This will be after we have covered all of the necessary skills to pass.  All of the results from these tests will be shared with you are conference time.  

Thank you all for checking over the student planners each day.  We ask the third graders to work very hard during the day and we do not want them to be doing hours of homework each day.  We will have something in the planner for them to do but we will also use the planner for communication so that you know what is coming up at Salem Hills.  Please keep asking your child to be responsible for bringing the planner home, showing you what is written and when the work is complete then you sign off on it.  

On Thursday we had a whole class conversation about recess.  We all sat down and talked about some of the things that have been happening outside during this time.  Some of the games that kids have been playing have been getting pretty rough.  We talked about the rules that are posted school wide.  We ended the conversation with the kids that had problems outside, fixing them and then all of the kids wrote out what they plan to do at recess from now on.  

As always, if you have any questions, please fel free to contact us.

Ms. G and Mr. Melde

Newsletter Week 2

Slowly but surely we are entering into routines in 3rd grade.  We have started talking about a big part of our reading time this year.  We often ask the question, “How do you get better at reading?” and the kids know that the only way is to READ.  We have talked about reading books that have a purpose, interest for the kids, that they can comprehend, and that they know most if not all the words.  If they are reading too far below or too far above their reading level then they are not getting much out of it.  Many nights in the planner you will see that reading for 15-20 minutes is a part or all of their homework.  Reading is a huge part of everything we do.  Thank you to all of you who have been reading with your child and signing the planner each night.  

Next week we will be starting a couple new things.  We will be giving each student a reading test to assess where they are so we can help them choose books that are a good fit for them.  

We will also be starting spelling.  Each week your child will have 20 spelling words.  18 of the words will come from our spelling curriculum and two will come from words tha they choose.  We believe it is important that students not only know how to spell the words on the list correctly but also become very familiar with the meanings and how to use the words correctly.  Many of the activities that we do here will have both parts.  You will see a list come home on Monday.  That list is for you to keep and practice during the week.  We will keep one here at school to practice.  The test will be on Friday.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you!

Ms. G and Mr. Melde

MAP Reading Test

Today Ms. G's class started taking their fall MAP reading test. Mr. Melde's class will be doing this on Thursday. Be sure to work hard and do your best. Good readers do a lot of reading!

Getting to Know You Bingo

Today we got together with both classes to play a fun game and get to know each other a little better. We played get to know you bingo. Kids walked around asking questions and getting to know each other better. It was a really great to get both classes together.

Newsletter

Thank you, for a great start to this school year. Thank you for getting all their school supplies, checking to see that they do their homework, signing their planners, and listening to their stories about school. We had a great first week of school. As always, let us know if you have questions.

Planners

Keep checking your child’s planner.  Each day you will see that your child will have homework.  Please check to see that they have it done and sign in the planner that they have it done.  This will really help with teaching responsibility and good work habits.

Cursive Writing

This year your child will learn to write in cursive. In year’s past they have been learning manuscript or printing. We ask students to keep doing their work in manuscript until much later in the year. After the students learn all their letters, then we will do some work in cursive. Most students find this to be very fun to learn.

Spelling/Word Work

In third grade we often call spelling word work because we want the students to learn how to read the words, spell the words, know the meanings of the words, and how to use them. The stronger students become with words, the better they will do in reading, writing, and speaking. Students will be given a list of words for the week on Monday and their test on spelling of the words is on Friday. Practicing how to spell the words is something that they should do a little bit each night for homework. All students will start with the basic list. As we get to know the students and their abilities, we will begin to create different lists for each student.

Class Agreements

Our district and school has three big ideas for how we are all to be: be responsible, be safe, and be respectful. In our classrooms the students worked hard to think and talk about these ideas to make our rooms places where each students can be themselves, be accepted and respected, and learn as much as they can each day.

iPods and iPads

You may have heard you child talking about using devices for learning like iPads and iPods.  We have access to these things here and use them almost daily in our learning.  We will be using them in all areas and for many projects this year.  Today your child signed a contract agreeing to use the iPad appropriately.

We also thought it would be a good idea to include some contact information.

(on the back)

Mr. Melde

meldej@invergrove.k12.mn.us

651-306-7346

Ms. Gustafson

gustafsl@invergrove.k12.mn.us

651-306-7336

We also have a news website for our third grade classrooms.  We will be posting lots of information including all news letters on the website.

www.mrmelde.blogspot.com

Thank you!

Welcome to Third Grade

It is the time of year to start thinking about schedules, and waking up early and seeing old friends again.  Welcome to all the new third graders.  We hope you all had a wonderful summer .  We also hope that you did not forget everything you learned in second grade.  We will probably need some of that.  We are going to have a wonderful time this year.  If you look back at past pages on this blog you will see some of the same things you will do this year and many different ones. 

We are looking forward to a great year!!

Summer!

What a wonderful end to the year.  Thank you parents and students for all you did this year.  Your hard work has paid off and you are now fourth graders! Congratulations!

We sure hope to see everyone at the garden this summer on Wednesdays at 10:00 AM.  Remember, though, if you cannot make it at that time, the garden is open to you anytime you want to pull some weeds and harvest some vegetables.

In the afternoon of the final day, I heard a sound right outside the window that I had not heard in a long time and wasn't sure I would get to hear.  There were baby ducks right outside the window! I took a little video for you to see. 

Have a great summer, everyone!!!

Let's Multiply!

We have been working a lot on multiplying lately.  I have been amazed at how well the kids have picked this up.  Now the big thing is to practice as much as we can.  It is really important for the kids to have these facts memorized.  I have put together a bunch of resources for kids and families to use at home. 

Multiplication.com

I have not even explored this one totally.  It has so much information for kids.  We will be playing some of the games and we will also be using the timed test to monitor how the kids are doing at memorizing the facts. 

http://jmathpage.com/JIMSMultiplicationfactspractice.html

The website above has 45 games designed to just help kids practice facts.  Some look to be pretty fun.


http://www.mathcats.com/grownupcats/ideabankmultiplication.html

This website has many games and ideas for parents and teachers that are not online games.  Some pretty fun things in there.

www.internet4classrooms.comskill_buildersmultiplication_math_fourth_4th_grade.htm

This website has 28 different online games that you can play.


3 dice multiplication

This is a game that we taught to the kids.  Fun game because they are working with addition and multiplication.  Here are the rules:

The Rules: Each player takes turns rolling 3 dice. First to break 200 (or 500, etc.) wins. On your turn, you get to choose two dice to add together, then you multiply the sum by the final die. That’s your score for that turn.
Simple; no bells, no whistles. For example, I roll a 3, a 4, and a 6 on my turn. I could either do (3+4) times 6 for 42 points, OR (3+6) times 4 for 36 points, OR (4+6) times 3 for 30 points. I’ll take the 42 points.
We have printed out flashcards to be brought home.  Look for those in the next couple days.
If you have any ideas for games or fun ideas to practice, please let us know and we will post them on the blog!

Ms. G and Mr. Melde

Student Led Technology Conference

We are having so much fun at the Student Led Technology Conference.  The kids are doing a great job of presenting.  We hope that everyone is having fun and learning a lot.  We had a request for a list of the apps that we are teaching about.  Here it is!

Keynote
Google Drive
iTalk
Blogger
Camera/Photos
ShowMe
Doodle Buddy
Mad Libs
Doceri
Toontastic
Notes
Whiteboard

Fun Art Project

This is the first step that we did in a really fun art project. The next step is to have the sculptures painted. Thanks to all the volunteers that came in to help.

Science Museum

Today the science museum came to do a presentation on the brain. It was very interesting. Ask your child about what they learned!