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