A Peek at Our Week

This week we finished ISAT testing on Wednesday. We were happy and relieved that testing is over! In Music we learned 3 dances: Swedish, Russian and French. In P.E. we had a fitness day. This week we practiced multiplication. Some people are finishing their multiplication quizzes, which means they’ve passed all quizzes 0-12. To review word wall words, we played Catch My Fish. This week we didn’t have Art because Wednesday was a 1/2 day (parent/teacher conferences). In Science we learned about the nervous system. We cut out our paper brains and put them on our mini-me bodies. We did an experiment to test our reaction time, which is how long it takes for messages to move through our bodies. We also tested our memories to see if we could remember what someone looked like. There is a game on our website we can play! In Writer’s Workshop we wrote an essay about why the nervous system is important. We also wrote “The Best Part of Me…” and typed them up on the computer. Next week we will record these, and we will turn them into a movie using iMovie on the Macs. Next week we have a field trip on Tuesday. We are going to the Museum of Science and Industry to learn more about the human body. In Cursive this week, we learned the letters “o” and “c”. Congratulations to table 3! They were the winners of the most group points and won lunch bunch with Miss Gosche. Today we worked in the morning chatting with our online buddies about our stories. We spent time during computers editing and fixing up our stories so they can be published. Speedy will be spending the weekend with Julia!

WANTED: More Ball Chairs

If you are interested in donating for our Ball Chairs Project on DonorsChoose, please click here. Any amount is welcome!

The ball chairs have been fantastic, but we only have 6 and we're asking to receive 10 more!

Click here to see pictures of how much we love using the ball chairs.

A Peek at our Week.......

This week, we had no school on Monday to celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day! Tuesday was our first day of ISAT, the state test we take for the first time in 3rd grade. We were all a little nervous, but lots of visitors stopped by to wish us good luck. Some classrooms made us goodie bags, too! The ISAT has been going great! We're just showing how much we know! Everyday after ISAT, Miss Gosche gives us "chillax" time where we can chill out and relax after trying hard on the test. Since we finished reading Matilda last week as our class read-aloud, we watched the movie, which was really good. In Math this week, we've been learning a lot! On Tuesday we reviewed flips, slides and turns and 3D shapes. On Wednesday we learned about fractions using Hershey Chocolate Bars! On Thursday we learned about probability, or chance, using M&Ms. We all go our own bag of M&Ms and counted up how many of each color we had. Then we wrote down which color we were most likely to pick, and least likely to pick. We also learned probability words, like impossible, certain, and equally likely. We put all of our M&Ms in a cup, and randomly picked one 20 times to see if our experiment matched. It was fun! On Friday we learned about pictographs, which are graphs made with picture symbols. Usually the symbol represents more than 1. This week in Science we've been learning about the Nervous System. The brain, spinal cord and nerves make up the Nervous System. We learned about the different parts of our brain, the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the medulla and what those parts of the brain control. We even made brain hats! Next week, we'll add the brain to our mini-bodies. Computer Lab today was in the classrooms. Mrs. Risolvo brought in iPod Touches and we worked in small groups. Some of us partnered up and watched some videos about staying healthy and the food pyramid on the iPod Touches, while others watched a nutrition video on the Promethean Board. The iPod Touches were SOOOO cool! The weather has been beautiful lately. We are really enjoying being able to play outside!!!! :) This weekend, Speedy is going home with Siyana. Have a good weekend!

Remember, report cards are going home today and Spring Conferences are next Wednesday, March 11th.

Learning is Messy....

This Week's News.....

This week in Reader's Workshop we worked on Problem and Solution. We read Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds. In Writer's Workshop we are continuing with our boxes and bullets to help us in essay writing. This week we wrote an essay all about why working with our Kindergarten Buddies is fun. We even looked at a finished essay written by a 3rd grade student and looked for the main idea and supporting details. In Math, we learned about capacity and made the Gallon Man. We're continuing to learn our multiplication facts, too. In Science we're finishing up the Skeletal System. Wednesday was the 100th day of SchooL! We did lots of fun activities! The most fun was looking for 100 hershey kisses that were hidden around our classroom. We didn't find them all, so our eyes are still scanning the room!~ Thursday was the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday! We read the Time for Kids magazine and learned all about Lincoln's life. Time for Kids also had an article about 2008's best books for kids. We really want to read the Caldecott Medal (best illustrations) winner, The House in the Night. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman received the Newberry Medal (the top author's prize). Friday we are celebrating Valentine's Day at school, so it should be fun!

President Obama's Inauguration Speech

News for January 26th-30th

Monday was an exciting day because a new student joined our classroom community! Now we have 19 students in Room 203! In Science we continued learning about the Respiratory System. The parts that make up the Respiratory System are: nose/mouth, trachea (windpipe), bronchial tubes, lungs, alveoli, and diaphragm. In P.E. we are learning how to play volleyball. In Reader’s Workshop we worked on finding common nouns and proper nouns in our books. In Writer’s Workshop we graduated from personal narrative stories, and we’re moving on to ESSAYS! We learned that authors grow their essay ideas by listening, observing, noticing, studying, and overhearing! Then writer’s say, “This makes me think of…” We practiced this strategy by listening to a song from the movie August Rush. We listened for different sounds and wrote a NEW IDEA that the sound made us think of! In Math this week we practiced multiplication/division fact families. We’re still reviewing the 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. Next week we will be starting our timed multiplication quizzes! On Tuesday for flexible reading groups, we traveled to Mrs. Karas’ room to learn about story elements. On Thursday we had flexible math groups and learned different things about measurement. Wednesday was a 1/2 day and next week Wednesday it is a Teacher Institute Day so we don’t have school! Tomorrow is Ms. Henkel’s birthday! In Cursive this week, we learned the letters f, and s. This weekend, Speedy is staying at Kennedy! Have a nice weekend! See you in February!