Poetry Celebration

Our Poetry Celebrations was a huge success. I'm so proud of the boys and girls! They have worked very hard on their poems and were excited to share them with their families. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend. It was a wonderful way to start the morning!

The Presidents stopped by our class!

As a culminating project to our Presidential  Research, the students created a slide show to teach others some important and interesting facts about the presidents.The boys and girls were very excited to share their work. We worked with Mrs. Klipfel and used and app called Chatter Pix.  Please click on the link below to view this fabulous project!


http://safeshare.tv/w/djhojhcUrb

Poetry Celebration

Poetry Celebration 

When:  Tomorrow, May 30th at 9:15
Where: Room 215

The students have chosen a special poem they have written to share with everyone. Families will also have an opportunity to read some of the poems that the children have written this year. We hope that you are able to join us!

Topsfield Tour ~ May 28th

Tomorrow is our field trip to downtown Topsfield. This is a wonderful opportunity for the third graders to learn about their town. The students should wear sneakers and dress appropriately for the weather. After the field trip, we will walk to Proctor School to see the musical "Honk!" The third graders will  be dismissed form Proctor School. Our class is looking forward to this day of learning and fun!

Reminders

1. Students must bring a bag lunch including a drink in a disposable container.

2. Students should leave backpacks at home.

3. We will take a break during the field trip for snack, so the children should bring a snack for the morning.

4. Every student must bring a note to school on Wednesday morning stating how they will get home, unless they are taking their regular bus. If students are a permanent pick up, they should bring in a pick up note just for 5/28.

Math MCAS

The math portion of the third grade MCAS test will be administered next week. Attendance and punctuality are critical during this time. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this matter.

The MCAS schedule will be as follows:

May 13           Session 1

May 14           Session 2

 The students have completed some practice questions and open response questions to help them prepare for the test. My goals are for the children to be comfortable with the test format and reduce anxiety to help the students do their best. Since the children have completed the ELA MCAS and know what to expect, they tend to be less nervous.

Homework will note be assigned the nights prior to MCAS administration.Students should do the required 15 minutes of reading each night and are encouraged to do more if they are interested. There will not be a spelling test the week of math MCAS.   

Students should remember to get plenty of sleep each night and eat a good breakfast in the morning. J

Thank You!

Today during assembly the students had a wonderful surprise for the teachers. They did the best flash mob to one of my favorite songs, "Happy."  They also sang the touching song, "You Have Made a Difference."  I could tell that the children worked really hard with Mrs. Costa to prepare and it was awesome to watch their excitement, as a I heard them talking about assembly throughout the day. One of my favorite sounds is children singing, so this truly was the best gift for Teacher Appreciation Week!

I would also like to thank T.E.S.P.T.O.  for providing the delicious breakfast and water bottles for the teachers this morning.I love working with the families in Topsfield and appreciate your support and generosity!

Curriculum Update

Writing-The students are finishing their President Reports. While writing the report the children practiced  paragraph format. Each paragraph included a topic sentence, 3-5 detail sentences and a closing sentence. The students self-edited, peer edited and then edited with me before beginning their final copy. Another impressive piece of the reports are the stamps the children designed to honor their president. The stamps will be glued to the cover of the report and used for a project using the app Chatter Pix. The class is very excited about this project and we look forward to sharing it with you soon!

Math - Our current math unit focuses on time and temperature. The students have practiced telling time to the nearest minute, reading a thermometer and solving word problems involving elapsed time. This tends to be a hard concept. Any opportunity to practice this skill with your children would be beneficial. Have your children solve problems involving elapsed time throughout the day. For example, if you are driving somewhere say, "We are going to the mall. It is 4:30. It takes 20 minutes to get there. At what time will we arrive?"

We have also been reviewing some concepts that we learned earlier in the year or during calendar. Some of the concepts we have reviewed are place value, rounding, area and  perimeter. We have also reviewed geometry and the terms parallel, perpendicular, congruent and symmetry.