The Third Grade SUPER Stars

                                             

        Jo Ann Montgomery

                                    

                            
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Happy New Year!

Welcome back! Hope your holidays were relaxing and restful! We are starting the New Year off with immediately diving into our 3^rd quarter curriculum.

Language Arts

We will be concentrating on nonfiction literature and using what we read to learn. Most of the reading selections on the CRCT are nonfiction, so we want to make sure we know the strategies for comprehending what we read. For writing, we will be researching and writing about a Georgia animal to go along with our Science unit on the Georgia habitats.

Math

We will begin the 9 weeks focusing on fractions: how to name a fraction, how to write/read fractions, and adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. We will continue to practice our fluency with multiplication/division facts, also. Math Blasts on Tuesday nights will continue all year.

Science

Georgia is split into 5 distinct habitats, and many of the animals and plants that live in these habitats are able to do so because of specific features they have. We will learn where the habitats are and the type of life they support. Each child will research a Georgia animal and focus on the features that help it to live where it does.

Social Studies

We will continue to learn about famous Americans, specifically learning about Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. Each of them worked to change history, and have particular character traits that helped them be successful. We learn about them and also see what obstacles they had to overcome to achieve their goals.

Health

This quarter the students will learn about the respiratory system and the circulatory system. After we learn about their importance, we will study the various illnesses and diseases of the systems and how to prevent them.

Calendar Change

 

Due to a county wide modification in the testing schedule for Gifted Services, the TARGET 'Open House' scheduled for Thursday, January 19^th has been cancelled. This meeting for parents of newly identified TARGET students will be rescheduled for early February. Thank you for your patience as we begin the testing process of students in first, third and fifth grade.

Michele Myers and Cheryl Ashley-Serafine

100’s and 100’s + Club

The competition is heating up! We had 3 more students join our clubs yesterday with the timed test, and two students are almost there. So far we have:

100's Club

Allison B.

Caleb C.

Luke I.

Derek M.

Christian R.

100's + Club

Allison B.

Caleb C.

To qualify for 100's Club, a student needs 25 AR points and 2 passing scores (90% in 7 min.) for add., sub., and multi.

To qualify for 100's + Club, a student needs 35 AR points and 2 passing scores (90% in 5 min.) for add., sub., and multi.

100’s + Club

Wow! We already have 2 students who have qualified for the 100's + Club. They have at least 35 AR points, and they have passed their addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts in 5 minutes. What an accomplishment! The students are:

Allison B.

Caleb C.

We have several more students who are almost there. It is not too late! The 100^th day of school is in January, so read, read, read, and practice those facts.

Candy Cane Grams

Candy Cane grams will be sold in the front of the school near the media center on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. The sweet holiday messages will be delivered on Thursday, Dec. 22, so get your orders in to make sure you don't miss out on taking part! Look for pre-order forms coming home this week.

Volunteers Needed

Wow! Many parents have been coming in to help and support our classroom. We have had Art Masters lessons and Mod Squad Manners lessons. Others have volunteered in other areas, like PTA or Foundation events, as well. Some of you may come in and assist with the holiday party. Since we can only have one party for the year, we really would like to make it a fun and memorable one. Please make sure you are signing in on the Volunteer Log at the desk in the foyer. We have set a goal of 2,500 hours, and we would love to meet and exceed our goal. Thank you for all that you do! It really does take a village to raise a child!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy the break and have an opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends! Today Mrs. Boring came to do our Art Master, and the topic was pointillism. The students enjoyed making a sample of pointillism in a card to Mrs. Brown's son, Brian, who is currently serving in Afghanistan. I loved reading their letters!

IXL

We have a brand new program at Nicholson to help our students with math. The part that is even better is that this program is FREE to you because our Nicholson Foundation has already paid for it, and you can access the program from home! The name of the program is IXL, and we practiced our multiplication facts on it today in the computer lab. The student can click to practice the standard with which they are having difficulty. The students login in with their AR number and password (they know it or it is in the agenda), then click on the tab labeled State Standards, click on Third Grade, and choose a standard to practice. You can get to the website from here or through Destiny on the Nicholson Homepage.

IXL

Have fun and excel (XL) in math!

Thank You!

Wow! Thank you to all of you! We were 100% in attendance for our conferences! I appreciate the extra effort you all made to be here for your appointment.

We got our math benchmark on the computer today, so the Conference Report will be updated and sent home in the Thursday Mail. Most of the scores look great, and I was very pleased that the students worked their problems out and circled clue words. These are great strategies the students can do whenever they are working problems.

Elapsed Time Websites

We are working on elapsed time, and here are some websites that we used today in class to help give us problems.

http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/dates_quiz_timepast30.shtml

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/math/mc_manipulative.cfm?sp=student&tp=grade&grade=3&id=117#activity

This last activity is wonderful because it actually has lets the student move the minute hand around the clock and the hour hand moves with it accordingly.