Newsletter for the Week of November 18th

The Buzz in Ms. B’s Class

Issue #13: November 18, 2013

thebuzzinmsbsclass.blogspot.com

abutts@mesquiteisd.org

We are quickly approaching the Thanksgiving Holiday!  I am so excited because I will be going home for the first time since the beginning of August.  I cannot wait to see my family – three months is FAR too long!

Reminders:

-       - NO SCHOOL NEXT Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday (27^th, 28^th, and 29^th).

-       - Please practice the spelling pattern each night with your child.  Spelling patterns will get continually more complex as the year progresses and the more practice the better!

-       - Homework is due on Friday (RAH RAH and Math).

---- Please send $1 to school for the Smile Train!  This organization helps children with cleft palates and if every student in our school brings only $1, we will be able to help three children obtain surgeries!

-       - I will be out next Monday and Tuesday.  There will not be a newsletter sent home next week – this one is for this and next week.

        What is my child learning this week?

Spelling: consonant digraphs – shape, church, watch, father, wrap, check, finish, sharp, mother, write, catch, chase, shall, thick, wrote

Fry’s Phrases (these help with fluency – practice reading these daily)

-       You might be right

-       It seemed too good

-       Along the way

Fry’s Phrases are used to practice fluency.  They will not be on the spelling test.  Some are full sentences while others are fragments.  Please read these with your child often to increase fluency.

English/Reading:

-       - Our focus this week is sequencing and summarizing.  We will be reading stories throughout the week to practice our skills of sequencing (ordering) and summarizing (giving the gist of a story).

-       - We will also practice visualization.  It is important to visualize what we read because this helps with sequencing and summarizing.  I will read a story and your child will illustrate what they are hearing.  At the end of their visualization activity, they will have an order of events that they will be able to summarize.

-        - We are also learning about higher order questioning strategies.  There are six levels of questioning – from lower level to higher level.  We are aiming for the “thick” questions: levels 4-6.  Those are comparing and contrasting, inferring, predicting, and more.  We are getting SO good at recognizing the difference in questioning and our higher order thinking process is improving every day!

Math:

-      -  We are continuing out unit on division and then moving into fractions.

-       Division is taking a TOTAL and breaking it up.  That is very important to understand in regards to division.

-       - We have been connecting multiplication and division to each other in regards to fact families.

Social Studies:

-       We are learning about state government this week.  We will learn what our state government does for us in Texas.  We will be comparing our state government to our local government this week.

Science:

-       We are learning about weather patterns this week!  We learned about the water cycle earlier this year, so we will revisit this and then connect our new learning!

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Butts

Line 'Em Up

I had to capture our place value chant on video this afternoon. When we first started our unit on expanded, standard, and written form, my class had a difficult time converting expanded form to standard form. So I told my students to line up their place values - ones with ones, tens with tens, and so on. And this chant was born when I kept telling them to "line them up."  The song also helps with all addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems. 

In this particular video, we were converting 800+3,000+40+9 to standard form during calendar math. Some students thought that we had to put 3,000 first, and then the song reminder came! In addition, it doesn't matter what's on top or bottom as long as you line up the place values! For subtraction at this point, larger numbers go on top, but place values always align. 

Enjoy this great video! And this chant really helps!

Cheers,

Ms. Butts

Dramas, Rounding, and Softball

This has been a very eventful and busy first six weeks!  I have truly enjoyed my time with my students - they are the best.  We have been busy in our classroom!  We've learned about inferring, main idea and details, dramas, myths, multi-step addition and subtraction problems, rounding, daily UPSL, vocabulary, mapping, soil, water, the list goes on and on.  It's been a great start to yet another great year!

This week we have had a lot of fun - we're learning about dramas!  We have discussed the parts of a drama: characters, setting, plot, theme (the same elements as any fictional selection).  And we cannot forget stage directions!  I always love teaching about drama because the students get so excited to act for their class.  We will soon move into creating our own dramas and that is truly one of my most FAVORITE things ever.  Being able to see third graders' creativity in a drama is outstanding.  And we're so looking forward to seeing The Masque of Beauty and the Beast next Friday at West Mesquite High School.  It's going to be great! 

Below are some of the pictures of my class performing the drama "Pushing Up the Sky."  It's about how the sky came to be, so it is a drama and a myth!

That's more like it!  Love these smiles :)

He couldn't hold this face for long...

We love dramas!

Such performers!

We have also been learning how to round to the nearest 10 and 100 and we are LOVING the rounding rap!  Here is the video of my kiddos performing the rap.  They are so cute - and they love this song!  I hear them singing it all day...and it has really helped with their rounding.  Remember, if the number to the right of the desired place to round (tens place or hundreds place) is 0-4, the 10 or 100 remains the same (round down).  If it is 5-9, it goes to the next number (next 10 or 100 - round up).  Five or more, raise the score.  Four or less, let it rest!

I also went to see my sweet Sara play softball last week - she's a star!  They won and I loved being able to be there to support her.  If your child plays a sport, I'd love to see them!  You can send your schedule to school and I'll let your child know what game I'll be attending.  I'm already looking forward to cheering on more of my students!

Sara and me after her game - they won!

GO, SARA!!

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you get to go to the fair on Fair Day!  I am very much looking forward to a corny dog and some other fried goodness!

Cheers,
Ms. Butts

Week 3, September 9 - Newsletter

The Buzz in Ms. B’s Class

Issue #3: September 9, 2013

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!  My LSU Tigers defeated the UAB Blazers handily at 56-17 and the Saints defeated the Falcons 23-17, so it was a great football weekend for my Louisiana teams!  And for you Cowboys fans, I know you were excited about the 36-31 victory over the Giants.  I love the fall and football J

Reminders:

-       - RAH RAH Reading will come home each night.  Please sign the paper each night.  Your child will turn it into their colored basked on Friday morning.

-       - ALL homework that is sent home throughout the week is due, at the latest, by Friday morning.  I will not send homework home past Wednesday, allowing at least two nights to complete.

-      -  Please practice the spelling pattern each night with your child.

-      -  Open House is THIS THURSDAY, September 12^th  from 5:30-7:00 pm.  It will be a “come and go” open house in my classroom, so stop by any time within the 5:30-7:00 time frame.  I am looking forward to meeting with all of you!

        What is my child learning this week?

Spelling: short u spelled u and and short u spelled o – lunch, until, cover, buzz, become, stuff, nothing, dull, month, study, love, uncle, cuff, none, under

Fry’s Phrases (these help with fluency – practice reading these daily)

-       My own father

-       I took the car.

-       Leave it to me.

Fry’s Phrases are used to practice fluency.  They will not be on the spelling test.  Some are full sentences while others are fragments.  Please read these with your child often to increase fluency.

English/Reading:

-       - We will be reading expository or informational (nonfiction) texts this week and recognizing text features.  We will be focusing specifically on subheadings within text, but will also locate maps, diagrams, titles, headings, labels, captions, and bold or italicized words.

Math:

-       - We are continuing our unit of place value this week.  We will learn about the different periods (ones period and thousands period) and how they are in threes (ones, tens, hundreds; thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands: there is always a ONES, TENS, and HUNDREDS in every period).  We will be using the word period to familiarize ourselves with the academic vocabulary.

-       - We will be playing games and doing activities throughout the next two weeks in order to master place value.

-      -  We will continue to learn the three forms of numbers – standard form (just digits), expanded form (values), and written form (words).

-       - We are also learning to compare numbers this week by looking at the place values.  With place value, always look to the LARGEST place value to compare. 

Social Studies:

-       We are learning about the three different types of communities: urban, rural, suburban.

-       We will also be discussing our role within our neighborhoods and communities.

Science:

-       We will discuss how and why our Earth changes quickly.  We will discuss the effects of earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, and tsunamis.

-       We will also be continuing our discussion of soil and the different absorptions of different soils.

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Butts

Week 1, August 26 - Newsletter

The Buzz in Ms. B’s Class

Issue #1: August 26, 2012

Welcome back to school!!  I am so excited to begin this year.  It is going to be a great year in third grade and I can’t wait to get started! 

Reminders:

-       Please sign and return the papers sent home by Friday, August 30^th. 

-       We will be practicing rules, routines, and procedures throughout the week.  Feel free to ask your child what these are.  The more familiar they are, the better.  And you will have a good understanding of the procedures in our classroom and school through your child’s knowledge!

-       Your child will walk to our classroom by himself/herself each day.  If students (3-6) arrive earlier than 7:45, they will go to the gym.  If after 7:45, they will come straight to the classroom. (K-2 children go to the cafeteria for those students with younger siblings)

-       Please practice the spelling pattern each night with your child.

        What is my child learning this week?

Spelling: short a and short i: land, stick, plan, trip, stand, act, thing, last, lift, band, grand, swim, stamp, list, sand

Fry’s Phrases (these help with fluency – practice reading these daily)

-       The first day of school

-       My family

-       Add it up.

Fry’s Phrases are used to practice fluency.  They will not be on the spelling test.  Please read these with your child often to increase fluency.

English/Reading:

-       We are focusing on comprehension skills in both literary (fiction) and informational (nonfiction/expository) texts.  We will be asking questions throughout our reading, inferring meanings of vocabulary words, and how to read with a “fresh perspective” (no background knowledge needed).

-       We will learn the difference between personal schema reading (reading for fun or enjoyment) and evidence-based reading (comprehension purposes; be able to answer questions).  Much of what we read in school is evidence-based reading.  We do not need to tap into background knowledge when reading to “prove.”  We will have plenty of opportunities for personal schema reading as well!

Math:

-       We are reviewing addition.  We will be creating addition word problems and solving one another’s problems.

-       We are also learning our problem solving strategy known as UPSL (understand, plan, solve, look back). 

-       We will be reviewing key words and adding them to our Math Wall.

Social Studies:

-       We are learning why rules and laws are important in our school and community.

-       We will be creating rules that are needed to be good citizens.

Science:

-       We are discussing what a scientist is and what are a scientist’s characteristics.

-       We will review safety procedures.

-       We will set up our science notebooks that we will use throughout the year!

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Butts