Week 9

What we are learning this week.....

Language Arts

Reading is Thinking

Students will learn about a story's main idea and its supporting details.

Writing

The students will continue to write about their important personal experience (personal narrative).


Social Studies

We will write a "thank you" letter to Gilmer's Chamber of Commerce for their contribution and support in the Yamboree.

Math/Science

Math

Monday we are reviewing for the math benchmarks for Tuesday.

Tuesday-Friday we will discuss patterns and how they are related to number lines, skip counting, and ordered pairs in a table (t-chart).  In previous years, students only thought of a pattern as ABABAB.  This year we are showing them how numbers themselves can form a pattern.  This leads us to building arrays that we use for multiplication next week.

Science

Monday we are reviewing for the science benchmarks for Tuesday.

This six weeks we will learn about different forms of energy:  light, sound, thermal, mechanical, friction, and finally magnets and gravity.

This last week we talked about sound, light, and thermal/heat energy.  This week we will begin discussing mechanical energy and friction.

We are still logging and comparing, from both Gilmer and another US state, the current temperature of the air outside, wind speed and direction, and precipitation.  We also discuss time zones and how that affects air temperature.  We are continuing to track Gilmer's temperature on our thermometer log.

This next week we will compare Gilmer's forecast and climate to that of San Diego, California.

Week 8

What we are learning this week.....


Language Arts (Will be the same from last week)

Reading is Thinking

Students will understand characters, their relationships with other characters in the story, and the changes they undergo.

Writing

The students will write about an important personal experience.


Social Studies

We will continue discuss the structures of city, state, and national government.

Math/Science

Math

We are still adding and subtracting three digit numbers.  Monday we will practice do this within word problems.  Then we will have our next major test.  Finally, this short week, we will talk about estimation and how it is similar to rounding.


Science

This six weeks we will learn about different forms of energy:  light, sound, thermal, mechanical, friction, and finally magnets and gravity.

This last week we talked about sound and light.  Next week we will continue light and discuss heat/thermal energy.  Help your child "see" when these types of energy are being used around the house or around town when you are shopping or driving.  

We are still logging and comparing, from both Gilmer and another US state, the current temperature of the air outside, wind speed and direction, and precipitation.  We also discuss time zones and how that affects air temperature.  We are continuing to track Gilmer's temperature on our thermometer log.

This next week we will compare Gilmer's forecast and climate to that of Sante Fe, New Mexico.

Week 7

What we are learning this week.....

Language Arts

Reading is Thinking

Students will learn the difference between fiction and nonfiction books.  We will teach and work with the students on asking questions while reading.

Writing

The students will continue writing their personal narratives.

Social Studies

We will continue to discuss the structures of city, state, and national government.

Math/Science

Math

We are now subtracting 3 digit numbers with and without regrouping.  We will continue 3 digit addition with regrouping as well as rounding numbers in both the tens and the hundreds place.

On Friday, we will have a 20-25 question assessment on subtraction with all other skills we have learned so far.  This exam will count as 60% of the second six week's grade.  Please help your child practice their addition, subtraction, and rounding skills.

Science

This six weeks we will learn about different forms of energy:  light, sound, thermal, mechanical, friction, and finally magnets and gravity.

Help your child "see" when these types of energy are being used around the house or around town when you are shopping or driving.

We are still logging and comparing, from both Gilmer and another US state, the current temperature of the air outside, wind speed and direction, and precipitation.  We also discuss time zones and how that affects air temperature.

Last week the students began daily recording Gilmer's temperature on a blank thermometer (counting by 2's).  Later in math we will study thermometers in increments of 1's, 2's,  5's, and 10's.  I want them to see that they are just vertical number lines.

This next week we will compare Gilmer's forecast to that of Seattle, Washington.

Week 6

What we are learning this week.....


Language Arts

Reading is Thinking

Students will understand characters, their relationships with other characters in the story, and the changes they undergo.

Writing

The students will write about an important personal experience.


Social Studies

We will continue discuss the structures of city, state, and national government.

Math/Science

Math

We are continuing practicing how to add 3 digit numbers together as well as rounding numbers in both the tens and the hundreds place.  On Thursday, wee will review subtracting 2 digit numbers with and without regrouping (borrowing) and quickly move into subtracting 3 digit numbers.


Science

This week we will learn what is a mixture and what is not a mixture (solution).  We will be learning the ways you can separate a mixture (fingers, sieve, magnets) and testing different mixtures and solutions to determine if it is or is not a mixture.

Everyday we are logging the current temperature of the air outside as well as wind speed and direction and precipitation.  So far, we have compared it to data in New York, NY and Hawaii.  Next week we will compare it to Florida's data.

Week 5...Keep on Going!

What We are Learning this Week......

Language Arts

Reading is Thinking

Students will make inferences and draw conclusions about theme as well as provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. 


Writing

Students will write a personal narrative using a "heart map".

Social Studies

Students will understand the various levels of local, state, and national government.

Math/Science

Math

We are now beginning to learn how to add 3 digit numbers to 2 and 3 digit numbers.  In second grade, the students learned how to add a 2 digit with another 2 digit.

Let your student roll dice or draw cards from a deck to build a three digit number and a two digit number that they will add up.  Many students are struggling with remembering to carry over from their ones to their tens place.  Practice with them and let them check it with a calculator!

Next week, we will begin subtraction!  They also struggle with remembering when and how to borrow!  Any help at home is appreciated!

Students still need to practice their rounding to the tens and hundreds place up to a 5 digit number.

Science

Now that we have learned how to identify solids, liquids, and gasses, we will now learn how to turn a solid to a liquid and change a liquid to either a solid or gas by adding or taking away heat.  We will discuss how the molecules speed up when heat is added and slow down when heat is taken away.  We will continue our discussion on how solids keep their shape, liquids take the shape of their container, and gasses move freely about inside and outside their container.

We also started discussing weather during week 4 and will continue this throughout the school year.  We are discussing how to read a thermometer or temperature dial and a rain gauge.  We are also discussing how warm and cold air along with moisture creates clouds and fog and how the wind moves the clouds in the atmosphere.

Week 4

Language Arts
Reading is Thinking

We will learn to apply our background knowledge (schema) as we read by making connections between what we already know and new information.

We will also learn how to pull out the most important information from our reading and put it in our own words in order to remember it (summary).

Writing

The power of VERBS!!

We will explore "Word Choice" (the "just right" words we choose in our writing to make the message clear).


Social Studies

We will learn about the heroes that helped shaped our community, state, and nation.

Math/Science

Math

We are learning how to round numbers in both the tens and the hundreds place.  We will start out with simple 2 and 3 digit numbers and work our way up while keeping the rounding to these 2 places only.  We are calling numbers "friendly", because they are easy to add or subtract in our minds.  We are encouraging mental math skills (i.e. 1,487 + 1,342 = 1,500 + 1,300 = 1,800).


Science

We are learning how some object can float and others sink.  Third grade doesn't go into buoyancy and density, but we do talk about how the object with less matter than water will float and adding mass or pressure to it will cause it to sink.

We will also talk about magnetism and temperature.  Temperature includes weather, but also the temperature of liquids using thermometers.  You can talk to your student about which objects are magnetic or not magnetic.

Week 3

What We are Learning this Week......

Language Arts
Reading is Thinking

We are learning about the Elements of Fiction and how character feelings change throughout the story.


Writing

We will use sequence words in our writing (next, then, first, etc.).

*If your student is describing a sequence of events to you about their day, encourage them to use sequence words!

Social Studies

We will learn the history of Gilmer and the three types of communities:  urban, suburban, and rural.

Math/Science

Math

We are continuing to learn about place value (the value of a number), now up to the hundred thousands place.  We will continue to compare and order them and will continue practicing how to write a number in four forms:  standard (just numbers with commas), written (words), pictorial/model, and expanded notation (598 = 500 + 90 + 8).  Next week we begin rounding!

*Have your child say three - five digit numbers out loud and how that number compares to other numbers (greater than, less than, equal to, between).  These two skills are the hardest and any extra help with be beneficial!

Science

We are continuing to learn how to identify and describe the three different types of matter (solids, liquids, and gases) and how to describe them based from our five senses.

*Parents can play "What's the Matter" game with their kids and quiz them with items around the house or outside when you are driving down the street.  Tell them an item and have them classify it as a solid, liquid, or gas and discuss how their particles would look under a microscope (wildly flying = gas, somewhat wiggly = liquid, tightly packed = solid).