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What’s New

Wow, we have had a lot of new happenings in our classroom during the last few days!

As you know a group of Lawrence school students have been visiting our classroom for the last month. This group of students is called CAST (Cross Age Student Tutoring) and they helped our third graders learn about electricity, which is our science topic for the spring. The students loved working with 8th graders who taught them about electrical safety, open and closed circuits and even helped them make their own circuit boards! This was such a great experience for all of the different aged students in our room. We sent our Lawrence students on their way with thank you letters and drawings and hopefully your child has made a new friend in the community!

Last Thursday the Ecology Club came to visit from FHS. You may have seen the article in the Enterprise yesterday that featured our classroom and Ms. Brother’s high school students. This was another opportunity for our third graders to learn through cross age tutoring so we took advantage of it. Third graders learned about endangered cats and made special cat pencils to take home. They should use these pencils to write a “letter to a lion” to the leaders in Africa. Please read the information that went home about this today and help your child make a difference!

Ranger Pribilla visited us on Monday to get third graders ready for our trip to the Cape Cod Canal. We saw historical pictures, heard about the building of the canal, and learned about canal safety. Everyone is ready to go on June 16th . . . all we need are MORE drivers!!!! Please let me know how many children you can drive and if you are available. Unfortunately we will miss out on this great field trip if we do not have enough parents to transport our students. Thank you in advance for your help!

Mrs. Coulombe (Celeste’s mom) came to share their trip to Seoul, South Korea! We saw pictures of the city, learned about the language and how to say a few words. We also discussed customs, cultural dress, and traditional food. The class and I were amazed at how much English was incorporated into the signs, menus, and the city of Seoul! This presentation tied perfectly into our theme this unit in Reading Street, What happens when two ways of life come together? We were so lucky to be able to experience a family’s trip to both South Korea and South Africa this year! Where will our students go next?
Please look for the new Falmouth Public Schools public service announcement. It will be played on local cable stations this summer and our class has been featured in many photos! The message is to support literacy both in and out of school! Congrats Team 203; you’re famous! Today we read this week’s anthology called, Good Bye Shin Dang Dong. This was the story of a character named Jangmi who must leave her home in Korea and move to a new house in America. We felt like experts since we got to see Celeste’s new hanbok and learned about ondols which were both mentioned in the story!

Please be sure to come to Mullen Hall for the third grade concert on Monday, May 23 at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

May Newsletter

Here is the link to the document in word: May 2011

 

May 2011 May Minutes TEAM 203 From the third grade classroom of Miss Paltz
Highlights Juneis fast approaching and the students have been working so hard to complete projects and units of study! We have finished our study of food chains and food webs and are now embarking on an energy adventure in science! We have many exciting events to come this year so please keep your eyes peeled for important notices and announcements in your child’s homework folder!
MCAS NOTICE We have our Math MCAS test coming up next week, May 10th and 11th.  Students feel a lot more comfortable about the MCAS testing since they have already done a great job during last month’s exams. In class we have reviewed many of the vocabulary words and procedures for completing math problems. Students know that there will be three types of math questions on the upcoming Math MCAS: multiple choice, short answer, and open response questions. Many of the same strategies we practiced last month have been reviewed for the upcoming tests. Each student knows that the test is important, but it should not be something they worry about. I have told them that their preparation began long before third grade and they will be ready when the time comes. With a positive attitude, and best effort, each child will make us proud. At home, you can help your child prepare by making sure they have a good night’s sleep the evenings before each session. There won’t be homework on Monday or Tuesday night that week, so students are able to relax. Students will not be allowed to snack during the test, so I would like them to eat a hearty breakfast on each of these mornings. That’s it! We’re all ready!! Thanks for your support! English Language Arts/ Social Studies We truly enjoyed sharing our poetry books with you during our Mother’s Day celebration. We are also starting our study of fiction writing through mentor texts. Students will discover what makes a great lead and opening and also how characters play such a crucial role in fiction stories. As you know we have begun our research for our biography study. Each student has chosen a famous American or person from Massachusettsto research and “become” in our upcoming Wax Museum. Your student should be reading about this person at home and working on his/ her speech to present in June. This should be a great night to see our 3rd graders make history come alive!
M Tu W Th Fr 9 10 Math MCAS 11 Math MCAS 12 FHS Ecology Club visits 13 Last CAST visit 16 Canal Preview Visit 17 18 19 20 23 Gr. 3 Music Show 2:30 & 7 24 25 Gr. 4 Band Concert 26 27 30 Memorial Day No school 31 Spring Book Fair 1 2 3 Aptucxet Trading Post Drivers needed!	More news
	It is important that your child has reading material both at home and at school for the wax museum project. They will be creating a speech at home to use on the night of the performance (June 8th). If you are having trouble finding appropriate reading material, please let me know so that we can arrange a library visit! Please practice multiplication facts with your student daily! It is important that students memorize these facts to ease the transition to 4th grade math. A few dates to remember:  5/10& 5/11 Math MCAS 5/23 Gr. 3 Music Show 2:30 & 7 6/3 Drivers needed for Aptucxet! 6/8 Grade 3 Wax Museum 6/15 Field Day 6/16 Canal

May Star of the Week

Our last star returned for his week in the spotlight. We got to see how he spent his winter and all of his great accomplishments!  This star of course loves to ski but we also learned that this hobby is not just a one season commitment.   He shows his determination and dedication by practicing his skills on the trampoline in the summer. We are glad to have our 21st student back in action and we’re ready to celebrate the end of the year with our WHOLE class!

A new math link

Here is a new math link that you can use at home. I am posting the link that is geared towards all of the skills that we learn in third grade. You can use this site for free but it does have a limit on how many problems you can answer in a day.

Here’s a challenge:  coordinate grids and measurement.

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3

This link will also stay on our blog under the link category, Math. Happy problem solving! 🙂