Awareness Week is Here!!!

Dear Parents and Students,

The third graders are working hard and after a week of tests and lots of homework J we are all looking forward to Awareness Week!  Next week, October 1^st to October 5^th, is Awareness Week.  The main reasons behind this is that we want our school to be bullying-free, we want everyone to feel accepted, and we want everyone to know that they belong to the HIS family.  The week has been planned to be filled with lots of fun and learning.  I am very excited about it!  Let’s take a stand and lend a hand!  Let’s be buddies and not bullies!  Students, be sure to be dressed in all blue on Wednesday, October 3^rd.  Blue will show that we are against bullying. 

On Monday, October 1^st, the third graders will perform a skit during our Awareness Week Opening Assembly.  We will also end the Awareness Week with assembly on Friday, October 5^th.  During this assembly the classes will show what they have learned during Awareness Week.  We have some activities planned with our older buddies, the sixth graders and will share some of our results with the rest of the school. 

Students, we will also have snack time with our sixth grade buddies.  If you feel like it you may pack an extra snack to share with your buddy.

Parents, here are some links to websites which you can visit for more information, tips and advice on bullying:

http://www.bullyfree.com/free-resources/tips-for-parents

http://www.iammodern.com/is-your-kid-a-bully.html

http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/index.html

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bx3JbCo-jBEKZjY5YzM2MjctOTAyNi00NmE0LTk0ODItNjY0OGUxNWQxNzhl/edit?hl=en_US

Unfortunately we are also writing tests next week L but, with the great attitudes of the third graders, even test time is fun!.  Students, study hard for the Science Test on Monday, October 1^st, and the Social Studies Test on October 5^th!

Curriculum Planning for Week 6:

Math:  We will continue with Chapter 4 and learn about Addition.

Science:  We will start with Unit B, Living Things in Their Environment.  First we will look at Chapter 4 and how living things survive.

Social Studies:  We will finish and review Chapter 2.

English:  We will move on to Unit 3.  In Unit 3 we will learn about Verbs. 

Reading:  This week we will read some poems and focus on poetry.  Poetry ends of Theme 1.  We will also write some poems ourselves and more specifically, we will write a poem focusing on Awareness Week.

Spelling Words for Week 6:

Plural Nouns:

child   –          children

woman -       women

goose -          geese

mouse -         mice

leaf -               leaves

loaf -               loaves

factory -        factories

library -          libraries

butterfly -     butterflies

country -       countries

hobby -         hobbies

sandwich -   sandwiches

splash -          splashes

circus -           circuses

sheep -          sheep

Homework 9/28

Science:  Test (Chapters 2 & 3)

Social Studies:  Preview Chapter 2

English:  Parents, please sign the test.  Students, please do your corrections.

Oral:  think about endangered species… which endangered species would you like to present?

             

Our Student of the Week is Isaline Jonard.  Isaline is a student who is working very hard and, after only 5 weeks of school, she is already showing much improvement.  She is also very friendly and very helpful.  Congratulations, Isaline!  You are a star!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!  Take care!

Kind Regards,

Ms. Crous

Homework 9/27

Math:  2 pages (Homework 4.1 and Problem Solving 4.1)
Spelling:  Parents, please sign the test; Students, please do your corrections.
English:  TEST (Unit 2)
Science:  p. A85 ; p. A2 - A3

Homework 9/26

Math:  Parents, please sign the test.  Students, do corrections.
Science:  p. 14 (Workbook)
English:  p. 15 (Workbook); Review Unit 2
Spelling:  Test

Homework 9/25

Math:  TEST (Chapters 2 & 3)
Spelling:  write 3 sentences
English:  p. 14 (in Workbook)

Homework 9/24

Math:  p. 66 - 67 (No. 12 - 30; complete in Notebook); Review Chapters 2 & 3
English:  p. 20 - 21
Science:  p. A59 (Workbook)

Busy as Bees

Dear Parents and Students,

First I want to say happy birthday to Aoi Fujimoto.  It was his birthday on Wednesday.  We wish him endless happiness and great health. Plus good scores!  J

Please take note of the following dates:

Math Test:  September 26^th (Chapters 2 & 3)

English Test:  September 28^th (Unit 2)

Science Test:  October 1^st (Chapters 2 & 3)

Social Studies Test:  October 5^th (Chapter 2)

Assembly:  September 28^th at 2.20pm

Awareness Week:  October 1^st – 5^th

Curriculum Planning for Week 5:

Math:  We will review and get tested on Chapters 2 and 3.  We will then move on to Chapter 4, Add Whole Numbers.

Science:  We will finish and review Chapter 2.  Then we will move on to Chapter 3, Living Things Grow and Reproduce.

Social Studies:  We will start with Chapter 2 in Week 5.  In Chapter 2 we will learn about communities of different sizes and look at urban, suburban and rural communities. 

English:  We will finish and review Unit 2.

Reading:  We will do our last 2 stories of our first theme, Radio Rescue and Sybil Ludington’s Midnight Ride.  We will also focus a little bit on poetry.

Spelling Words for Week 5:

7 Core Subject Words:

skyscrapers

highways

exoskeleton

arthropod

sapling

life cycle

offspring

7 Frequent Used Words:

huge

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1 Challenging Word:

individual

The third graders did an extraordinary job on their first oral presentation assignment.  Hake a look at what they did.  The previous blog post contains video clips).

And this brings us to Student of the Week.  Our Student of the Week is Rachel Chan.  She did an excellent job in the oral presentation.  Not only that, she is working very hard and she is a well mannered girl.  Congratulations, Rachel.  You are a star!

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the cooler weather!

Kind Regards,

Ms. Crous

Our First Oral Presentation

Homework 9/20

Math:  2 pages (Practice 3.5 and Homework 3.5)
Science:  p. 10 - 11 (Workbook)
Spelling:  TEST
Reading:  p. 53 - 55 (Reading Practice Book)

Homework 9/19

Math:  1 page (Homework 3.4);  Students, do all your corrections in Chapter 3.
English:  Oral Presentation!  (Remember your cue cards, props and/or poster)

Homework 9/18

Math:  2 pages (Homework 3.2 and Reteach 3.3)

English: p.16 – 17

Spelling:  write 2 sentences

Science:  p. 8 – 9

Social Studies:  Parents, please sign the test?  Students, do your  corrections.

Listening:  Parents, please sign the test?

Homework 9/17

Math:  2 pages (Homework 3.1 and Reteach 3.2)
Social Studies:  TEST (Chapter 1)

We Work Hard in Third Grade

Dear Parents and Students,

It was a pleasure for me to meet some of the parents on Thursday evening and I am looking forward to meeting parents who were unable to attend our Parents’ Introductory Evening.  I am excited about working together with you all.

I also want to get to know each Third Grader better.  I have sent home a letter which I would like parents to fill in.  This way I can understand each child in our class better and I can get to know each child’s individual needs.  Parents, please send your response back on Monday, September 17^th, 2012.  I appreciate your cooperation.

Dates to remember:

Tuesday, September 18^th:  Social Studies Test (Chapter 1)

Thursday, September 20^th:  Oral Presentation ~ Show us how to…

Students, please keep in mind when preparing for the oral presentation:  you should focus on giving your audience clear directions on how to make something of how to do something.  It could be how to make a sandwich, how to make something artistic, how to make a card, etc.  Presentations can include cue cards that you can refer to if you forget your directions.  Please remember that you should not be reading the directions directly from the cue cards.  When choosing a topic, you should keep in mind that you need to demonstrate the actions as you give directions.  Props or posters are therefore a necessity.  Also remember to speak clearly and audibly, and make eye contact with your audience.

Curriculum Planning for Week 4:

Math:  We will start with Chapter 3, Money, and learn about the value of money and more specifically focus on the American money system.

English:  We will start with Unit 2 in Week 4.  In Unit 2 we will learn about nouns. 

Reading:  In week 4 we will read our third selection for Theme 1.  The story’s title is The Lost and Found.  We will also do activities based on this story in our Reading Practice Books.

Science:  We will continue with Chapter 2, Classifying Animals.

Social Studies:  We will start with Chapter 2, Communities of Different Sizes.

Spelling Words for Week 4:

7 Core Subject Words:

suburban

rural

population

region

agriculture

economy

habitat

7 Frequent Used Words:

fossil

please

together

which

laugh

light

thank

1 Challenging Word:

transportation

Our Student of the Week is Jungmin Yoo.  She is working very hard and has received great test scores!  Together with that she has such beautiful manners and a pleasant attitude.  Congratulations, Jungmin!  You are a star!!!

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!  Please take care.

Kind Regards,

Ms. Crous

Homework 9/13

Math:  2 pages (Practice 2.5 and Homework 2.5)
Spelling:  Parents, please sign the test?  Students, do your corrections (X10)
Science:  TEST (Chapter 1)

Homework 9/12

Math:  2 pages (Practice 2.4 and Homework 2.4)

Spelling:  TEST

English:  sign test; corrections

Reading:  p. 37-39; p. 41-43

Science:  Review Chapter 1

Homework 9/11

Math:  1 page (Homework 2.3)
English:  TEST (Unit 1)
Reading:  p. 28 - 30 (Reading Practice Book)

Homework 9/10

Math:  Parents, please sign the test.  Students, do your corrections, please?
English:  complete 2 pages in Notebook; complete p. 9 & 10 in Workbook; review Unit 1

Impressive Students

Dear Parents and Students,

It was a fun second week in Third Grade.  We are working hard and we are learning many new things.  The attitudes of the Third Graders are very impressive and we, as a class, are already like a big family.

Talking about great attitudes, our first Student of the Week award of the school year goes to Adrien Chabanne.  He is a very good example of a student who has a GREAT attitude and he is always positive.  Congratulations, Adrien!  You are a star!

Clubs will start next week!  I can already feel the excitement of the students in the air!  Club confirmation letters went home on Thursday, September 6^th.  Students, make sure that you know which days you have a club and who your club teacher will be.

Students were given their oral presentation assignment on Thursday.  They have two weeks to prepare for it.  The date scheduled for the oral presentation is September 20^th.  Students, please practice at home and prepare props if needed. 

Students’ oral presentation will be graded according to these criteria:

1. Preparation – props/poster/pictures, notes or cue cards
2. Depth and breadth of material; organization of material
3. Expression – usage of tones (intonation)
4. Clarity – pronunciation; voice must be audible and clear
5. Delivery – confidence and direct eye contact with audience

Each item is worth 4 points with a total of 20 points per presentation.  Presentations shouldn’t be shorter than 3 minutes. 

Curriculum Planning for Week 3:

Math:  We will continue with Chapter 2, Compare, Order, and Round Whole Numbers, which we started in Week 2.

English:  We will review Unit and get tested on it.

Reading:  We started our second selection and read The Ballade of Mulan.  In week 3 we will do activities based on this story.

Science:  We will review Chapter 1 and then move on to Chapter 2 and learn about classifying animals.

Social Studies:  We will finish Chapter 1 and review it.  We enjoy learning about what a community is. 

Spelling Words for Week 3:

7 Core Subject Words:

mammal

amphibian

reptile

backbone

invertebrate

business

climate

7 Frequent Words:

doesn’t

haven’t

before

around

about

better

eight

1 Challenging Word:

triumphant

Test Dates:

Math Test:  Monday, September 10^th (Chapter 1)

English Test:  Wednesday, September 12^th (Unit 1)

Science Test:  Friday, September 14^th (Chapter 1)

Social Studies Test:  Monday, September 17^th (Chapter 1)

I friendly want to remind all third grade parents about the Parent-Teacher Introductory Evening, on September 13^th, 2012 at 6.30pm.  We will meet in the library of HIS.  I am looking forward meeting you all. 

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!  Take care!

Kind Regards,

Ms. Crous

Homework 9/6

Math: 1 page (homework 2.1)

Spelling:  TEST

Reading:  read p. 52 – 83 aloud

Oral:  think about the topic (the assignment is in the Communication books)

Homework 9/5

Math:  Review page 25 (do it in your notebook); do corrections in Workbook
Science:  p. 4 & 5; p. A33
Writing:  Finish the "What I like" part 

Homework 9/4

Math:  2 pages (practice 1.7 & homework 1.7)
Reading:  p. 18 - 21
Spelling:  practice the spelling words for Friday's test
Writing:  finish "things you like" (for Thursday)

Homework 9/3

Math:  2 pages (Practice 1.6 and Homework 1.6)
English:  p. 4 - 5
Reading: p. 9 and p. 17