Hollywood End of Year Party

Hollywood End of Year Party, Friday May 27th, 2:30-3:15

You are cordially invited to attend our "Hollywood Ending" class party. Out little class celebrities will be dressed in "red carpet attire", where the "mama-razzi and pap-razzi" are welcome to take photos as the stars walk the red carpet, visit the Walk of Fame, sign autographs, munch on movie snacks, and much more! We hope to see you there!

Click here for the Sign-Up I created for our fancy event!

Hollywood Ending Sign Up

Blank CD's

  WANTED: Blank CDS/Flashdrives

 

I am busy creating a video for the End of the Year.  I will be sending the link to where the video can be found unlisted on YouTube.

However, I am happy to download the movie from my computer onto a CD or flashdrive. If you would like me to do so, please send that in with your child, labeled, no later than Tuesday the 31st of May.

End of the Year Dates

Dates to Remember

in Ms. Russell’s Class

May 16th: Science Squad

           9:30-1:30 Cimarron Middle School: will be hosting a fantastic science day for our students.  Students need to bring a sack lunch for the day!  Please have your student wear their yellow class shirt for that day!

May 26^th: Field Day

       Mrs. Warner is planning a fun filled day of different outdoor games.  Make sure kiddos are dressed appropriately, and prepared to be outdoors for a long period of time.  Mrs. Warner is still looking for volunteers to run stations.  If you are available please shoot her an email!

May 27th: End of Year Class Slideshow (2:30-3:15)

          For our End-of-Year Celebration, 3rd Grade we will be watching a slideshow of our memories throughout the year, and munching on snacks!  Parents are welcome; we would love to have you!

May 27th: Clean Up Day

            Please have your child bring an empty bag to school that can store all of their personal items to take home for the year. We will be cleaning out our desks and taking everything home today!

May 31^st: 10:00-11:15 Sell Day

      Today you will be selling your products and shopping for items that other students created.  Please bring your product and make sure you have enough for two shifts!  Parents are welcome to shop.  I will give you classroom money when you check in!

May 31st 11:15-11:55 Class Picnic   

If you are available we will be eating lunch outside and we would love some company.  Please have students bring a sack lunch or you can bring them lunch on that day!!

June 1st: Camp Yagottawannaread!

            During this day students will participate in various centers throughout the day that have to do with reading.  Please have your bring a blanket, a pillow, and flashlight.

June 2nd: Game Day

            We will be celebrating our last day of school by having a Game Day. Your child may bring a game or games from home that they would like to play during the day. Some of the games they may bring are board games, or card games.

Economics Sale Day Date Correction

CORRECTION

On Tuesday May 31st  all of the third graders will bring their products to school to sell.  They will set their product price and open business.  They will have earned money (our classroom currency) to shop and buy products from the third graders in their own classroom, as well as the other third grade classrooms.  Our Gold Rush staff will also stop by to shop.

You are invited to come and participate in the shopping as well.  Each parent will be given some class money to shop.  Mark your calendars now for May 31st, and we will look forward to seeing you and celebrating all of the hard work your child has done to really understand economics.

Economics Project

Hi Everyone!

Over the next several weeks the third graders will be studying economics.  They will learn to think critically about the way economics works in our everyday lives and how they personally have an influence on it.  We will study concepts such as producers and consumers, supply and demand, opportunity cost, etc.

In order to really have an authentic and deep understanding of civics and economics, and how they both work together, the third graders will be creating their own “mini society” here at school.  Each third grade class will be creating their own society with a unique class name, a class currency, laws and jobs, a system of earning money, a class motto, etc.  They will even take out their own business loan.  The students will be taking full ownership of their classroom societies!

First, students will need to apply for an additional classroom job that will help them earn money  that will be used on Sale day. Students will need to fill out a detailed job application and have it turned in by Tuesday April 26th.  Their product information and parent interview will need to be turned in by Tuesday May 3rd (this will come home at a later date.)

As part of our mini society, each third grader will be responsible for creating a product at home to sell here at school.  Your child will need to create multiples of the product.  For example, if your child has decided to create bookmarks, he/she will need to create several of those bookmarks to sell.

To keep the cost minimal and to keep the quantity and quality of products pretty even between the students, please give your child a budget of no more than $10.00 to spend on supplies for making the product at home.  We definitely encourage the kids to use items you already have at home at to think through what can be found or recycled and used in a unique way.  For example:  One student collected sticks outside to make several slingshots.

We encourage the third graders to think outside the box, to be creative and innovative when they are making their product.  The kids should think through what will set their product apart from others.  What makes it a unique product idea?  Will it attract buyers?  Does it show creativity and innovative thinking?  Please encourage your child to take the time to think of something different and unique.

On Tuesday May 31st  all of the third graders will bring their products to school to sell.  They will set their product price and open business.  They will have earned money (our classroom currency) to shop and buy products from the third graders in their own classroom, as well as the other third grade classrooms.  Our Gold Rush staff will also stop by to shop.

You are invited to come and participate in the shopping as well.  Each parent will be given some class money to shop.  Mark your calendars now for May 21st, and we will look forward to seeing you and celebrating all of the hard work your child has done to really understand economics.

Please let us know if you have any questions along the way!  We can’t wait to see what cool products your kids create.

Thanks!

Your Third Grade Team,

Jessalyn Russell, Lara Castro, Naomi Meredith, Jeannette Shepperd, and Chelsie Schwartz

April Newsletter

April Newsletter

LITERACY:

Reading: Poetry:

Throughout National Poetry Month, we read all types of poetry; rhyming poems, haikus, short and long poems. Within poetry, we discovered many elements that poets used to strengthen their poetry. Some of those elements included; similes, metaphors, personification and alliteration. While reading, we also noticed the Point of View poets wrote from, the main idea and the overall theme of a poem. While exploring and writing responses about our discoveries within poetry, we will carry this knowledge into writing our own poetry. 

Some of the poetry that we will begin to write is more interpretive; not following the typical structure of writing but using line breaks, stanzas and verses. The use of writing with our five senses will be essential to creating poems that will help the reader visualize the scene. We will also experiment with other structures like rhyme schemes, reverso poems, haikus and color poems. While poems are typically short, sometimes those few words can be so powerful and descriptive.

Persuasive Writing:

In our new Lucy Calkins curriculum, our 2^nd unit of study is titled “Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches, Petitions, and Editorials.” Students will continue to use critical thinking to create meaning strategically in the genre of persuasive writing. To start the unit in bend one, third graders will gather and support bold and brave opinions as they write persuasive speeches. Students will learn that persuasive writers look at their world and imagine how it could be better to grow ideas for possible writing projects. They’ll see problems that need to be addressed and imagine solutions then write quick persuasive speeches. After practice writing many short speeches, students will spend the second bend of this unit choosing to work for an extended amount of time on one piece, taking it through the writing process. In the third bend of this unit, students will transfer and apply everything they have learned about writing persuasive speeches to writing other types of opinion pieces-petitions, editorials, persuasive letters, and so on. Students will see that much of what they have already learned to do applies to these other persuasive genres. In the final bend of this unit, “Cause Groups,” students will work in collaborative groups to support causes. These groups will decide on various projects they need to create to get others to act for their cause. To finish off the unit, students will write a final piece and consider where in the world the text should go for it to reach the particular audience the write has in mind. This entire unit will allow our third graders to put their civic responsibility into action through writing!

SCIENCE:

Earth Materials- Rocks  
For our rock unit students will be exploring solid materials from the earth, rocks and minerals.  The focus is taking materials apart to find what they are made of and putting materials together to better understand rock and their properties of the rock cycle. Students will:

• 
Use measuring tools to gather data about rocks.
• Collect and organize data about rocks.
• Use evaporation to investigate rock composition.
• Learn that rocks are composed of minerals and that minerals cannot be physically separated into other materials.  
• Compare their activities to the work of a geologist. 
• Acquire vocabulary used in earth science.
• Exercise language and math skills in the context of science
• Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations; observing, communicating, comparing and organizing. 

MATH: 

Parts of a Whole Can Be Modeled and Represented in Different Ways 

Students have begun to develop an understanding of fractions as numbers. We will begin to start solving problems, describing fractions as numbers on a number line, and explaining equivalence of fractions. Through all activities, our class is using critical thinking to make sense of problems and demonstrating resiliency when persevering in solving them. This requires them to interpret, evaluate, summarize and synthesize every day!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 11-April 14: Math PARCC testing

April 15: PARCC Party

April 22: No School

PARCC Testing/Yearbooks

PARCC
March 14-16  Third & Fourth Grade Literacy Assessment

Temporary Change In Online Homework:

We will be taking the PARCC test in third grade starting Monday 3/14.  Because of the test and the upcoming Spring Break we will not be doing online homework this week or the next.

I am still going to ask the students to read 20 minutes a night, but the online piece will not need to be submitted on 3/15.  

DON'T FORGET TO ORDER YOUR YEARBOOK

We've extended the deadline to order the GRE 2015/2016 full color yearbook to March 15, 2016. Each yearbook costs $20. Click here to log on to your parent portal to see if you previously ordered at registration. We cannot issue refunds for multiple orders. Log on to RevTrak to purchase.

IMPORTANT DATES:

March 8: Gemologist for Shepperd (10:00-11:00), Castro (12:00-1:00), and Russell (1:20-2:20)

March 9: Gemologist for Schwartz (12:00-1:00) and Meredith (1:20-2:00)

March 14-March 16: PARCC Literacy testing (9:20am-11:00am) 

March 17: PARCC Make-up testing

March 18: No School

March 21- April 1: Spring Break

March Newsletter

LITERACY:

Reading: Determining Importance & Summarizing

We have focused on understanding what is important versus what is interesting and unimportant, and then shown that understanding through summarizing and written explanation. The students have learned how to use the structure of Name It, Verb It, Big Idea to help write a strong topic sentence. They have also learned great ways to capture big ideas and ensure that our summaries are written in our own words. Additionally, they are making sure to add transitions so their thoughts are organized and well written.

Opinion Writing:

In writing we will continue to work on Opinion Writing. To start the unit, third graders have created bold opinions and written them in a form of a thesis statement. Students have learned that persuasive writers look at their world and imagine how it could be better to grow ideas for possible writing projects. We have looked for problems that needed to be addressed and imagined solutions. We have also found noteworthy places or people that we wanted to address. In the final bend of this unit, students will work in collaborative groups to support their causes. These groups will decide on various projects they need to create to get others to act for their cause. To finish off the unit, students will write a final piece and consider where in the world the text should go for it to reach that particular audience. This entire unit will allow our third graders to put their civic responsibility into action through writing!

MATH:

In math students will be working with multiplication and division. They will be able to use more than one way to find the product of two factors and explore the meaning behind these concepts. Students will develop their mathematical tool belt with strategies when attacking multiplication and division problems through skip counting, creating equal groups, learning math facts and creating arrays to solve problems.

SCIENCE:

Our third graders have begun a new unit on Life Science and will be finishing it up. During this unit students will try to answer questions like: How are life cycles from a variety of organisms similar and different? How does an organism change throughout its life cycle?  By the end of this unit, students will be able to use evidence to develop a scientific explanation regarding the stages of how organisms develop and change over time. We are thrilled that we have been able to have chicks for the third graders to observe so that they could have an authentic experiencing their life cycle.

We will begin our unit on rocks and minerals right before Spring Break. During this unit students will be identifying and creating a scientific explanation about the different ways that Earth materials can be broken down or combined in order to make different types of rocks and the rock cycle. We are excited for the opportunity to have an in school field trip from a visiting gemologist in order for our students to have the hands on experience of exploring rocks. In addition, we will be doing some messy and exciting experiments in class to learn about the different types of rocks and how they are formed.

Math Link

Pearson Successnet

Welcome Back

Welcome back, I hope your holidays were nice and relaxing.  We are starting a new behavior plan this week to help prepare us for 4th grade.  Students will be keeping track of their positive and negative behaviors on a Character Card at their own desk.  They will still be bringing home a behavior log daily to keep you informed.  Please let me know if there are any questions.

Happy New Year

My best wishes for you,
Great start for Jan,
Love for Feb,
peace for March,
No worries for April,
fun for May,
Joy for June to Nov,
Happiness for Dec.
Have a lucky and wonderful 2016

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's day we learned several valuable lessons from one of our parents who served in the military.  Major Cliff Flowers, who served in the Air Force Reserves, taught the third graders about the branches of the military.  He also shared about his experiences serving in Iraq.  We thank Major Flowers and all of our veterans for their service to our country!

Novemember December Newsletter

Literacy

Reading: Questioning and Inferring

We have been focusing on the strategy of questioning.  Your reader will understand that good readers ask questions before, during, and after they are reading and that some questions will not have answers provided within the text.  We will also work on the structure of writing a paragraph and what the main components of a paragraph are.

We will then be transferring into the strategy of Inferring. Inferring is a strategy that involves reading between the lines. Students will know that a good inference comes when you use your background knowledge and text clues to make an educated inference. (BK + TC= I) When students infer, you might hear language like, “I think that…because…”  “My clues from the text are…” or “Maybe it means…because…” Third graders will practice creating, confirming and revising reasonable predictions when reading. Students will also have to think about why authors write different texts, for example, to inform or persuade. Additionally, they will begin to communicate inferences about plot, setting, character and problem/solution before, during and after reading. Finally, students will attempt to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from figurative language.

Writing: Informational Writing

Informational writing has been a fun way for students to express what they are interested in, and how they are experts at many different topics. Students should include:

·      An interesting beginning that sets the context for a topic.

·      Have organizational structure that has a clear focus throughout the piece of writing.

·      Students will include details and explanations that will help the reader understand their ideas clearly.

·      Communicate big ideas, insights, possibly statistics and teach the reader new information by using multiple non-fiction elements. 

·      Use diagrams, charts or illustrations which are appropriate and that support the text. 

·      Have a conclusion or ending section that is logical

·      Include a glossary of related terms if needed to explain expert words used. 

Math:

Visual Displays are used to Describe Data

What can data tell you about your class or school? How does data displays help us understand information? These are a few guiding questions that are helping our student think about why data collection and data representation are important mathematical strategies. In our current unit, students have started to collect, represent, describe, categorize, and interpret both categorical and numerical data. They are using the 21^st century skill of Problem Solving by reasoning abstractly and quantitatively to analyze data and generate solutions. They have already begun the important work of seeing a data set as a whole as they design and carry out their own data investigations, create representations of the data collected, and compare and discuss these representations. By the end of this unit, students will be able to draw scaled picture graphs and scaled bar graphs to represent a data set with several categories. Additionally, students will solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs.

Number Sense and Measurement

Later in this unit students will work on students’ collections of numerical data that includes measuring length in inches and feet. Students will review the basic units of inches, feet, and

yards and their relationships by measuring lengths longer than one foot. Students practice and refine their strategies for solving addition problems with three-digit numbers and subtraction problems with two- and three-digit numbers. In addition to solving removal problems, they expand their understanding of subtraction as they solve comparison problems and problems in which they find the missing part of a whole. They will increase their understanding of place-value as they extend their work into three-digit numbers up to 1,000 and study the structure of 1,000.

Social Studies: Civics

Third grade students have learned that in our civics unit, citizens respect the views and rights of others as components of a democratic society. They studied the origin, structure, and basic function of governments. We will continue to build off of this throughout the year when we hit other social studies units.

Science: Matter

Throughout every science unit, all third graders are using critical thinking to demonstrate the process of inquiry. By experimenting, reading articles, discussing and reflecting.. Students will learn the scientific process and how that is essential with their new learning with identifying the states of different types of matter. Through Foss Investigations, videos, literature and class activities, students will discuss different attributes of solids, liquids, gases and plasma while using evidence to develop a scientific explanation around how heating and cooling affects states of matter. Our grade-level science day later in the year will allow students to practice analyze, interpret and write observations about matter as it freezes and melts, and boils and condenses.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving will be here before you know it! At Gold Rush we celebrate as a larger school community by hosting a Thanksgiving feast for students and their families on Wednesday, November 18.  The cost per parent and sibling is $4.00 per person.  You are able make a reservation online starting November 1^st by clicking here.  Gold Rush students will pay using their lunch accounts.  Please bring your printed receipt as your meal ticket . We will provide you with additional information regarding children’s modified lunch schedules in future blog posts.

Halloween Data Display Homework

Step 1: Write a hypothesis before Saturday.

Step 2:  Collect Data.... aka: Candy!

Step 3:  Dump out your candy and sort into categories that you choose.

Step 4:  Create a Data Display you can bring to class on Wednesday the 4th of November.

Halloween Party

For our party we will be munching on yummy breakfast snacks and the kiddos will be completing a fun Halloween Craft. The party will be from 9:15-10:15.

At 10:15 we will then be walking through the building for a Halloween parade.  Mrs. Brown sent some general information about our Halloween party and parade. I cut and pasted the information below.

I also created a sign up genius page that has items we are needing for our party to be a success. Please click on the link and sign up for an item to bring.  Parents are welcome to join and would love to see you there.  Thanks so much for your help and support!

Halloween Party Sign Up Genius

Halloween Party:  Students will arrive at school in their costumes. They should NOT have weapons, masks or inappropriate costumes. 

Parties will be held from 9:15-10:15.  We will begin the parade at 10:15 and it will end at 10:40. Regular classroom routine will resume at 10:40. 

If you have students who do not wish to participate in the Halloween festivities, they can arrive at school at 10:40.

October News

Math

In this unit, students collect, represent, describe, categorize, and interpret both categorical and numerical data. They begin the important work of seeing a data set as a whole as they design and carry out their own data investigations, create representations of the data collected, and compare and discuss these representations. Students draw conclusions about the data by identifying characteristics in their representations. (Where is most of the data clumped? Where is the mode?) Students’ collection of numerical data includes measuring length in inches and feet. Students review the basic units of inches, feet, and yards and their relationships (e.g., one foot is equivalent to 12 inches, one yard is equivalent to 3 feet or 36 inches) by measuring lengths longer than one foot.

Student Handbook: Page 88-109

Literacy

In reading we have focused on building on our schema and applying our background knowledge to new learning through activating, and building on our connections. We have modeled these strategies and students have independently applied this skill through text to various content areas.

We will be working on finding evidence from our reading to support written responses. Then we will focus on asking questions when we read. Your reading will understand that good readers ask questions before, during, and after they are reading and that some questions will not have answers provided within the text. Asking questions about our reading helps us find new information, solve problems, extend our understanding, and clear up our confusion.

Writer’s Workshop we will work on finishing up our personal narratives. We will also work on starting our information writing. This will focus on using nonfiction text as models, using expert works, and including nonfiction text features. We will also work on the structure of writing a paragraph and what the main components of a paragraph are.

Social Studies

We have compared and contrasted Parker and how it has changed overtime. We will finish up working on our reflections from our interviews so that we can get a deeper understanding of how the past has influences our lives in the present. We had a great time during our presentations from our “Now and Then Interview”. Thank you to all the friends and family that came to support our students’ hard work and new learning!

Students will learn that citizens join a community to live, work and play. Being a responsible citizen, students will add to their background knowledge, to analyze and take action on how to become a positive influence within our community through making a difference projects.  For a better understanding, after fall break we will implement "Peace Fridays". On Fridays we will be exploring the lives of Nobel Laureates through literacy, geography, history & civics. In addition to using our thinking strategies while reading about the laureate's childhood stories, we will also be analyzing the characteristics of effective citizenship, learning about locations around the globe where the laureates live, as well as comparing and contrasting those communities to our own community here in Parker. It's truly amazing how "Peace" can weave itself into every part of our 3rd grade year.

Dates to Remember: 
October 7th: Now and Then Project Due
October 8th: Now and Then Gallery 3rd grade rooms, from 9:40-10:20
October 9-18th: Fall Break
October 30th: Halloween Parties (9:15-10:15) and Parade (10:15-10:30)

Homework Passes:

Homework Passes:

Question: My child has a homework pass! What does that mean? 

Answer: Students are welcome to use their homework pass at any time and that will cover any homework assignment for that week. (math nightly homework, one 2o min. night of reading, one math facts session) 

For nightly math, simply staple the pass to the homework page, and turn it in as is on its due date.  For 20 min. of reading or for math facts, they will bring the pass in on the Tuesday the homework is due.



Your child will still be able to participate in Homeworkopoly. Passes aren't validated for Break packets since those are optional. 

Now and Then Gallery

Gold Rush Elementary

October 8th

9:40 - 10:20 AM

Each Third Grade class will be hosting a gallery.  We would love for you to visit each of the 3rd grade classrooms and celebrate with them.

Digger Dash This Friday 10/2

Remember to Wear Red!

Digger Dash Schedule:

Grades                                                Stretching Times                   Running Times

Pre-School & K                                 9:20-9:35                               9:35-9:50

1^st & 2^nd                                             9:40-9:55                               9:55-10:25

3^rd & 4^th                                             10:15-10:30                          10:30-11:15

5^th                                                       11:05-11:20                          11:20-12:05

How to Sign-Up for Parent Teacher Conferences

How to Sign-Up for Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences

Online Scheduling

Available September 14th – September 27th

Please follow the instructions below to schedule your back to school goal setting conference time for either September 29th or October 1st.

Step-By-Step Parent/Guardian Instructions

1. Visit the school’s homepage http://gre.dcsdk12.org and select the Online Conferences Scheduler link on the GRE home page.
2. From the Online Scheduler Home Page
1. Choose your student’s school from the drop down list and click “GO”
2. Enter the school password  digger
3. Enter your student’s “Student ID”.  If you do not know their Student ID, use the LOOKUP STUDENT ID button to access the system.
4. Verify the student’s birth date  
5. A list of your student’s teachers will be displayed.  Check the box next to the name of each teacher(s) you would like to meet with.
6. If you have more than one student in the school you can see all of your students’ teachers’ schedules at one time by answering YES to this question “Do you want to schedule conferences for another student?” then repeat the steps above for your other students.  If you only have one student, answer NO to that question.
7. You will then see the available time slots for each teacher you selected.
8. Select the times that work best for your schedule.  
9. Enter your email address (recommended) if you would like an email reminder sent to you. (Your email address is kept private.)
10. Once you have finished you can confirm your appointment details and print your conference schedule.
11. Write down the Confirmation Number (you will need this number if you need to cancel your appointment(s))  

Need help?  Contact the GRE’s Online Scheduler™ specialist:                   Name:  Anita Rudman

Email: anita.rudman@dcsdk12.org

Phone: 303-387-7700