March 3 - 7, 2014

Lifeskill or Life-long Guideline of the week: Flexibility

Math rd 3 - This week in math we are continuing geometry. In third grade, our goal is to identify, classify, and describe two- and three-dimensional geometric figures by their attributes. This week our focus is on 3-D shapes as well as the geometry terms we use to describe these shapes. Students will be building a variety of 3-D shapes and relating them to real life objects. We will have a geometry assessment on Friday. *Ask your child to tell you about the different geometry vocabulary they have been learning, along with the hand movements we do in order to help us remember: face, edge, vertex, curved surface, base. th 4 - This week in math we are concluding our unit on fractions. Students are expected to use concrete models, such as fraction bars and Geoboards, to generate equivalent fractions. Students should be able to identify fractions larger than one with improper fractions and mixed numbers. We will be revisiting decimals as we look at fractions that name tenths and hundredths using models. Finally, students will use concrete objects and pictures to compare and order fractions on and off a number line. *Ask your child to share all the fun math manipulatives weve been using to think about fractions such as Geoboards and fraction bars. STAAR Writing Boot Camp Students are prepping for the STAAR Writing Assessment th coming up in April. Only 4 graders will be taking the assessment, but third grade will learn the basics of writing with a specific structure. This is a genre of writing that we find in many jobs in the real world and we find applicable to teach for a short time each year. This week we began drafting expository compositions. You probably have noticed that we have not had spelling words the past two weeks. For the next several weeks, our study will take a different focus. This week we are learning about compound sentences. Homework this week will focus adding conjunctions to combine simple sentences to make compound sentences. On Friday, we will take a short assessment of their learning over the week. Finally, the last part of Boot Camp focuses on Revising & Editing previously written passages. Three mornings a week students are reading a short 8-10 sentence paragraph and answering revising and editing questions associated with the reading. Topics touched are transition words, spelling patterns, capitalization and comma rules, apostrophes, and the list goes on. Each day we meet to review the Revising and Editing passage. Students will begin to be assessed each Friday to monitor their progress and identify areas we need to readdress. *Ask your child to share what has been happening in STAAR Boot Camp. The Colonization of Texas This week in social studies, students will learn the causes and effects of European exploration and colonization of Texas and North America. The students will identify Texas' role in the Mexican War of Independence and the war's impact on the development of Texas; and identify the accomplishments and explain the economic motivations and impact of significant empresarios, including Stephen F. Austin and Martn de Len, on the settlement of Texas. Using What We Know This week, students will be reading stories and looking at works of art included in a collection of short stories called The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. For more than twenty-five years, readers have been puzzling over the illustrations by this enigmatic artist. Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with his intriguingly titled pictures. And now, some of our most imaginative storytellers attempt to solve the perplexing mysteries of Harris Burdick. Enter The Chronicles of Harris Burdick to read this incredible compendium of stories: magical, funny, creepy, poignant, inscrutable, these are tales you wont soon forget. Filling in for Harris Burdick here is an esteemed collection of highly decorated authors. Students will analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in these short stories and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students will summarize and explain the theme of these works as well. *Ask your child which of these short stories they have enjoyed the most.

Important Notes and Events! Benchmark Testing: Only fourth graders will take the Science th Benchmark Wednesday, March 5 . Spring Break: Enjoy your time off next week. There is no school next week! *Used Book Sale is this week! will take place March 3 to 7. Childrens books will cost $.25 to $1.00, and other items and books will be $.50 to $10.00. Proceeds will help purchase new books and materials for the library. We are open on Thursday evening too!! *PTA Meeting & Encore Night: Thursday, March 6 @ 6pm We will be kicking off ENCORE Night with a short PTA General Meeting in the cafe. We hope that you will join us for this meeting as we will be voting on the following issues: Funding The Student News (Weekly Scoop) for the remainder of the 2014 school year. The approval of the PTA's nominating committee. After the meeting stay and enjoy all the fun things going on at ENCORE Night! - A celebration of all the Special Areas programs at Brentwood, this includes all the best of Art, Music, PE and the Library. *Please visit our wiki page for information about our class: http://mahlstadtsvrcek2-3class.wikispaces.com/ * Please check the calendar online every week as dates do change. http://mahlstadtsvrcek2-3class.wikispaces.com/Calendar
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