Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! It is so hard to believe that it is almost 2018! This year is flying by!! Thank you for all the fabulous Christmas presents! You are very thoughtful!` If you are traveling over the break, have a safe trip and enjoy your time with friends and family!! We are headed to Ohio...I will try not to bring back any snow! 

Blythewood High School Athletes
Several captains of different teams at BHS came to visit us today during recess and lunch. 

Winter Celebration

The students enjoyed making their edible reindeer during the celebration today! 

Snowmen Sequence
The students built snowmen out of Playdough and had to write down the steps (in sequence) they used to make their snowman.  They gave their writing to another student in the class to see if they were detailed enough for their peer to construct the same snowman. They also recorded their original snowman on Flipgrid to compare the two. In some situations we learned how important it is to be detailed and that a little revision might be in order! Fun lesson and activity! 

250 Point for Reading Counts

Congrats to Davina for earning 250 points with Reading Counts! She has earned a spot on our class Wall of Fame! Who will be next? 

Curriculum

Math- We will do Part 2 of our Time Unit. We did part 1 the first nine weeks. We will review telling time and focus on elapsed time. 

Language Arts- The students will have a reading story from our book, Castle on Viola Street. We will focus on finding the theme in texts. We will also start writing nonfiction writing pieces. 

Science- We will start our unit on Rocks and Minerals. The students will need their rocks and minerals from Diamond Dell on Thursday when we return, but I will let them know after break. 

Social Studies- We are moving onto the Revolutionary War.

Diamond Dell

The students enjoyed mining in Diamond Dell's Mining Bus. They have a lot of goodies to bring home! We are studying rocks and minerals after break so I asked the students to please keep track of their bag of so they can bring them back in during our unit.

Wonder

We enjoyed the movie yesterday! A few of us needed tissues. Most of the class has seen the movie so as we finish reading it we will discuss the similarities and differences between the book and movie.  

Last Week Before Break

Wonder "Posters"

The students created a Wonder poster. They designed their character and added a precept. Here is the link in case they want to explore more at home. https://create.wonder.movie/ 

Samantha's precept said..."You are never a loser until you quit trying."

Davina's precept said..."Be-YOU-Tiful!"

Favorite Sports Team Friday

We wrapped up Winter Wishes today. Our class collected 234 food items! Thanks for your generosity during our first service learning project! 

We had more students in their team colors, but they were in ALERT today. 

Curriculum

Math- We will wrap up Module 3 with a test on Wednesday. A study buddy will come home Monday. We will also review standards taught since the beginning of the year.

Language Arts- We will review skills we have learned so far this year (sequencing, compare/contrast etc.)  The students will also be doing some creative writing that involves snowmen. 

Science- We will wrap up our unit on water habitats with an in school project. The students will work with partners on the project and it will take the place of a test.  Our next unit is on rocks and minerals and we will kick it off with a visit from Diamond Dell!! The students will mine for rocks and minerals on Wednesday. 

Social Studies- We will wrap up our unit on Colonial Times in SC with a test on Thursday. We talked about the Gullah Culture today. We explored a website with information about Gullah. Here is the link in case your child would like to explore more. https://www.knowitall.org/series/gullahnet

Throwback Thursday & Kahoot Hangout

Lots of decades showed up in our class today! Everyone looked great! We have collected 119 food items as a class!! Tomorrow is Favorite Team/Sport Friday! A little easier to prepare an outfit! :)

Multiplication Kahoot/Hangout

We did a Google Hangout with a third grade class from Ohio. Both classes competed in a Kahoot on Multiplication. We did a great job of answering the facts correctly. We just need to work on our speed a little. The students were very jealous when they told us they have snow!! ☃

Wacky Tacky Day

The class looked pretty tacky today!! We have collected 83 food items as a class! Tomorrow is Throwback Thursday. 

Top Hat Tuesday and Flipgrid

Everyone looked great in their hats! Our class has collected 50 cans! Tomorrow is Wacky Tacky Wednesday! 

Flipgrid

The students really enjoyed using Flipgrid in class today. Flipgrid is a website that allows me to pose questions and the students can answer in the form of a video. We answered a fun question today to try it out! Check out your child's video response at the link below. 

https://flipgrid.com/r2r7ma

Jackson working on his video response.

Marvel Monday- Winter Wishes

The students looked great in the superhero shirts today! Our class collected 16 food items. Keep it up! Tomorrow is Top Hat Tuesday.

Winter Wishes

Don't forget this service learning project starts on Monday! Below is the schedule for Spirit week.

Marvel Monday!-Wear a Superhero t-shirt!

Top Hat Tuesday!-Wear your favorite hat!

Wacky Tacky Wednesday!-Dress tacky!

Throwback Thursday!-Dress from any decade!

Favorite Team/Player Friday!-Wear your favorite team or player’s jersey/shirt.

Welcome, Davina!

We welcomed another new student this week! The boys think we need another boy since we are a little girl heavy. :) 

Curriculum

Math- We will continue working in Module 3. Our focus is on multiplication with units of 0,1,6-9 and multiplies of 10. We will have a math quiz on Friday. Please encourage your child to review their math facts with flashcards, games on the internet or the link below that we use in class to practice fluency.  We will also be "competing" against a 3rd grade class in another state through a Google Hangout/Kahoot on Thursday. I told the class they need to practice their facts so it we will be a good "competition". 

https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-multiply.html

Language Arts- We continue comparing and contrasting different nonfiction passages and engaging in writing that is detailed and provides evidence from the text. 

Science- We continue discussing water habitats (swamp, salt marsh/estuaries, lakes, rivers etc.) 

Social Studies- We continue discussing SC during Colonial Times. I'm planning to have a test over this material on either Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. 

Winter Wishes

Our first Service Learning Project will kick off next week. We are partnering with Spring Valley High School to collect non-perishable food items. If your child brings a non-perishable food item in each day they can participate in Spirit Week. The schedule is below...

Marvel Monday!-Wear a Superhero t-shirt!

Top Hat Tuesday!-Wear your favorite hat!

Wacky Tacky Wednesday!-Dress tacky!

Throwback Thursday!-Dress from any decade!

Favorite Team/Player Friday!-Wear your favorite team or player’s jersey/shirt.

Dictionaries

The third graders received their own personal dictionary from the Blythewood Rotary Club today!! 

A Look Ahead

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week! This newsletter is for next week and the week after Thanksgiving. 

Welcome Da'Nia
We welcomed a new student to our class this week. Da'Nia came to LCEU from Langford. The students were so excited to welcome her!

Missing Factor Game
Students put playing cards on their foreheads and a "caller" told them the product of the two factors. The students holding the cards had to guess their factor according to product the "caller" called. Fun way to review facts! 

McKenzie and Eva show their factors of 2 and 10. 

Curriculum

Math- We will continue working in Module 3. Our focus is on multiplication with units of 0,1,6-9 and multiplies of 10. Please encourage your child to review their math facts with flashcards, games on the internet or the link below that we use in class to practice fluency.  
https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-multiply.html

Language Arts- We will be reading the story Animals Homes out of the students' reading books. We will focus on comparing and contrasting. The students will have a quiz over their mentor sentence focusing on possessive nouns on Wednesday, November 29th. We will also move from personal narrative writing to informative writing. 

Science- We will wrap discussing the Desert and Arctic Tundra with a test on Tuesday. I suggested to the students that they take home their science book and notebook over the weekend to start looking over the material and some of them packed it in their book bags. After the test we will start discussing water habitats (rivers, lakes, oceans etc.)

Social Studies- We continue discussing SC during Colonial Times. Right now my plan is to give them a test over Colonial Times on Tuesday, December 5th. 

Arctic and Desert Study Stack

Here is a link to a study stack for the desert and arctic tundra. This test is on Tuesday. 

Study Stack

Here's My Dollar and Science Test

The students have a reading test on Here's My Dollar, from their reading book, on Friday. Below is a link they can use to help study for the vocabulary part of the test. 

Quizlet

The students will have a science test over the arctic tundra and desert on Tuesday. They will receive their study buddy on Thursday.

A Look at Next Week

Veteran's Day Celebration

The students enjoyed celebrating the Veterans at our school with a parade this morning! We created a door display to show our appreciation. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Felder for coming to read to the class afterward! We appreciate all you do for our country!

Parent University

A reminder that you are invited to attend our annual Parent University event held on Monday, November 13th from 5:30- 7:00 p.m. Here are some comments from last year's event: 

The entire session was helpful!  
The resource sheet provided will be helpful to use at home. 
I would attend future sessions- Extremely informative. 
I want to go to them all- Thank You!
Helpful hints on the websites
Awesome- Please do more of these! 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Congrats to our class for earning the most gators out of all the third grade classes this week for following the 7 Habits and good behavior!! They earned a visit from the Gator and glow necklaces! 

Curriculum

Math- We will move into Module 3 focusing on multiplication with units of 0,1,6-9 and multiplies of 10. We will continue to review addition and subtraction since the students still make careless errors when regrouping. 

Language Arts- We have had a hectic week so what we are focusing on next week is very similar to last week. We will be reading the story Here's My Dollar out of the reading book. The students will have a test over this story on Friday. We will focus on nonfiction texts and sequencing. We will also continue to focus on possessive nouns with our mentor sentence from the book Each Kindness. 

Science- We will continue discussing the desert and tundra habitat. We will review this information at the end of the week and the students will probably have a test over the material on Tuesday, November 21st. 

Social Studies-We continue discussing Colonial Times in SC. 

Google Hangout

I have been reading the book Wonder to the class and today we did a Google Hangout with a third grade class from Pontiac Elementary School. We asked them questions and they asked us questions.  We hope to continue to have book talks with them while reading Wonder. 

The students listening to the other class ask a question.

Paige did a great job answering one of their questions! 

Our class with their class! 

Fossil Frank

The students enjoyed learning about fossils found in South Carolina today with Fossil Frank. They were able to dig for fossils and bring home their finds. 

A Look Ahead

Report Cards and Honor Roll Recognition

Your child will be coming home with his/her report card today. Please keep the report card and sign and return the envelope. If your child made the A or A/B Honor Roll he/she will be recognized on the morning show Wednesday. 

Important-Assessments

We are entering the second nine weeks and the students are going to have to start applying the knowledge they have learned in class to answer questions. The tests will not just be recall. You may have started to notice this on science and social studies tests. 

Curriculum
Math- We will be finishing up Module 2 on Rounding, Addition, Subtraction and Word Problems all involving measurement. The students will have a test over this module on Friday. 

Language Arts- We will read the story "Here's My Dollar" out of the reading book. We will focus on nonfiction texts and sequencing. We will also focus on possessive nouns with our mentor sentence from the book Each Kindness. 

Science-We will continue learning about the Desert and Tundra. Fossil Frank will visit with the 3rd graders on Wednesday. He is part of the $10 you paid for field studies/guest speakers. If you haven't paid this yet, please do so as soon as you are able to. Thanks! 

Social Studies- We will start discussing Colonial Times in SC. 

Explorer Study Stack

Here is a Study Stack for Explorers that could be used to help your child study for this test on Friday. 

Explorer Study Stack

A Look Ahead

Parent University 

LCEU invites you to our annual Parent University event held on Monday, November 13th from 5:30- 7:00 p.m. During this time, teachers and staff will share information about the curriculum and assessments, as well as giving strategies and tips that you can use at home to support your child's education. Our topics will address ELA, Math Homework, Study Skills, and Parent Portal Resources.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Field Study/Speaker Fees
If you haven't already paid the $10 for your child's field studies/speakers this year, please do so soon. You can pay online using parent portal or send in money. Please let me know, if you have any questions. Thanks! 

Curriculum

Math- We continue working on rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. We will also practice adding and subtracting within 1,000 accurately. 

Language Arts- We will read "Wolf!" this week. A story from the students' reading book. The students will have a test over character traits and story elements on Thursday. They will be given small passages and questions relating to these skills. The students continue writing personal narratives. 

Science- We will wrap up the Rain Forest with a test on Tuesday. We will then focus on the Arctic Tundra and Desert. 

Social Studies- We wrap up our unit on exploration in early SC with a test on Friday.


*I know the students have a lot of assessments this week, but I tried to avoid Wednesday (day after Halloween). 

Fluency Practice

I thought I would share a link that we use in class to practice fluency (multiplication, division, addition, subtraction). The students know how it works. I thought they might want to practice at home too.

Fluency Practice

A Look Ahead

Skilled 3rd Graders

We weaved "baskets" like the Cherokee, made "pottery" like the Catawba and shell necklaces like the Yemassee.

Curriculum

Math- We will continuing learning about Place Value and Problem Solving with Units of Measure. (addition, subtraction, rounding, metric units) The students will have a quiz on Friday. 

Language Arts-We will continue to identify story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution, plot) and character traits. We will also focus on plural nouns with our mentor sentence. The students will have a quiz on their mentor sentence on Thursday. 

Science- We continue learning about the Rain Forest. The students will have a test over this habitat on Tuesday, October 31st. 

Social Studies-We will start learning about the European Explorers who came to SC. (Hernando deSoto, Jean Ribault, Juan Pardo, William Hilton)

Hands On Math

Students worked with their learning clubs to decompose a Liter. They figured out that there are 1,000 mL in 1 L. Thanks to everyone who sent in a 2 Liter for us to use in class today!

A Look Ahead

Student Pictures

Your child is coming home with their school pictures. Please take a look at them and decide if you are going to purchase any. Please send back the ones you choose not to purchase and a check or money for the ones you do decide to keep. You can also do it online. Please look at the picture package for information. Let me know if you have any questions.

Paper Airplane Fun
To celebrate Metric Week we made paper airplanes and set them flying! The students measured how far they soared using centimeters. 

Jayden and Alexandra measure the distance the plane flew. 

Jacob and Samantha measuring too. 

Lauryn and McKenzie were the champions! Their planes flew 810 cm and 760 cm. 

Curriculum

Math- We will be starting Module 2 on Place Value and Problem Solving with Units of Measure. (addition, subtraction, rounding, metric units) We will not start at the beginning of the module with elapsed time, but will come back to it later in the year. 

Language Arts- We will start a new mentor sentence from the book Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. We will focus on plural nouns. We continue analyzing nonfiction texts, writing personals narratives, and looking at fiction stories to identify story elements.

Science- We will be focusing on the Rainforest. (food chains, characteristics, types of animals etc)

Social Studies- We will wrap up our unit on the Native Americans with a test on Thursday. We will start discussing European Explorers. 

A Look Ahead

Students created Temperate Forest Food Chains using the Explore tool in Google Draw...

Reminder

Please sign and return the graded papers that I send home each Friday in the green folder. Thanks! 

Curriculum

Math- We will be discussing the basics of telling time next week. (hour and minute hand, am and pm etc.) We will go more in depth with time next nine weeks. We will also do a fun activity to celebrate Metric Week. 

Language Arts- We continue to analyze nonfiction texts. We will wrap up our mentor sentence from the book Fireboat (focusing on proper nouns) with a quiz on Wednesday. The students continue writing about small moments in their lives that revolve around a person or place. We are using Lucy Calkins as our writing curriculum this year and the students seem to really enjoy it! 

Social Studies- We will continue focusing on Native Americans in early SC. (Cherokee, Catawba and Yamassee) 

Science- We will wrap up our discussion on the Temperate Forest with a test on Friday. 

Student Council Representatives

Congrats to Paige and Jayden! They will be representing our class as the student council representatives this year!

Fundraiser Survey

Please take a few minutes to answer these 15 multiple-choice questions about our Read Books 2 Raise Bucks fundraiser 

 https://goo.gl/forms/hj1mOzD2SG2tZ6433. 

Your feedback is very important and will help our PTO make plans for next year.

Thanks! 

A Look Ahead

Enjoying the cooler weather at lunch today!

Curriculum
Math- We will wrap up Module 1 next week with a test on Friday. There will be a study buddy coming home early in the week. 

Language Arts- We will continue analyzing nonfiction text. The students will continue to exam text features.  The students will work on formulating questions to aid in comprehension. We will continue writing about a small moment with a special person or place. 

Science- We will discuss the Temperate and Tropical Forest Habitats. (food chains, types of animals, characteristics of the habitats etc.)

Social Studies- The students will have a test on SC Regions on Wednesday. The study buddy for this was distributed on Thursday. We will move to Chapter 2 on Native Americans of South Carolina.

Ci Ci's Limo, Lunch and Learn

Eva and Delaney headed to Ci Ci's today for raising at least $300 in the Read Books 2 Raise Bucks fundraiser. Looks like they had fun!! 

Science Review Links

These two links are good to use as a review for the science test on Friday. They know how to use Quizlet, but I haven't showed them Study Stack yet. 

Foodchain Quizlet

Study Stack

A Look Ahead

Kami, Lauryn and Caiden pose in front of the Book Fair


Field Study Fees
Ten dollars has been added to your Parent Portal Account to cover the speakers we will have this year as well as a field trip to the State Museum. The normal cost is $20, but PTO is covering half of all the 3rd graders' fees with funds from the fundraiser!! The 3rd grade team will send home a letter soon explaining what the $10 covers. You can pay it in Parent Portal. 

Curriculum

Math- We continue working in Module 1 on Multiplication and Division. The students will have a quiz over lessons 11-13 on Tuesday. 

Language Arts- We continue working with nonfiction and examining the different text features of this genre.  We will also focus on making connections to texts and synonyms. The students will take a District Writing Assessment on Monday. For this assessment students will read a passage and answer a prompt that goes with the passage. It will involve them having to analyze the text. 

Science- We will wrap up the Grasslands with a test on Friday. Please look for a study buddy to come home next week that lists what the students need to know for this test. They can use their composition notebooks, science book and any papers behind science in their binder.

Social Studies- We continue talking about the regions in South Carolina. The students will work on a Regions Performance Task in class that will be graded. 

Attention Military Gator Families

Attention Military Gator Families!

Sign your child up for our Military Kids Group!

LCEU’s military kids support groups are designed to address the specific needs of students with an active duty parent.  We focus on topics such as deployments, frequent family moves, transitioning into new schools, making friends, etc. These support groups meet once a month, during the school day and are led by the school counselor, Mrs. Skinner. If you would like your child to participate and are not yet signed up, please use the link below to sign up. If you have trouble with the link you may email Mrs. Skinner directly at Jskinner@richland2.org.

*If your child was previously enrolled in the military kids groups, he will be included this year as well.

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 Upper Campus Military Kids Group 2017-18

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**Thank you all for what you do. We are glad to have the opportunity to serve your children as you serve our country!**

A Look Ahead

Book Fair
The book fair is next week. We previewed it today as a class this afternoon. We will go to the book fair as a class on Thursday so students can purchase books.

Disability Training

Each year 3rd graders participate in disability awareness training. The training involves each student rotations through stations that stimulate various disabilities. Take a look below...

Curriculum

Math- We continue working in Module 1 on Multiplication and Division. We have focused on the facts 2,3 and 5 in this module using division and multiplication. If you have multiplication flashcards at home it would be a good idea for them to start "testing" themselves to see how fast they know the answers. 

Language Arts- We will focus on nonfiction texts, text features, and suffixes. We will read Earth Smart from our reading book as well as other nonfiction material. 

Science-We continue learning about different habitats. (animal adaptations, food chains, characteristics of each habitat) We will also discuss process skills (classify, predict, infer, observe).

Social Studies- We will continue to discuss the regions in South Carolina and the different physical and human features of each.