Culture Project Questions and Check Point Dates :D

Family Traditions/History Questions -  Due Friday, May 3rd.

Think about what makes your family special as you answer the questions below. You may use the back if you need more room to write.

1. Describe a typical family dinner. Do you all eat together as a family? Who does the cooking? What are your favorite foods?

2. How holidays are (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Does your family have special traditions? Give an example.

3. What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors? Give one example.

4.  Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?

5.  Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members? If so, name one.

6.  Are there any special heirlooms, photos, bibles or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your family?

Country Research -  Due Friday, May 10th

Think about a country other than the United States that you would like to know more about and list it on the line below. You may choose a country where your ancestors or someone in your family came from or any country you are interested in.  You will need to do a little bit of research about this country by answering the questions below.

1.  The country I will learn more about is __________.

2. This country is on the continent of _________________.

3. A national hero or leader (from the past or present) from this country is _______________.

          This person in famous for _______________.

4. A special celebration in this country is____________.

Give details about the celebration.  What is the celebration for? Who participates?  When is it? What happens during the celebration?

5. An artist or writer from this country is ______________.            

Tell more about what this person created.

Poster Board about your country.   Due Monday,  May 20th

Presentation of country with poster and game, food, or craft-   Students will sign up ahead of time for their time/order on Tuesday, May 21st.

April Has Come!!!...and is Almost Gone Already!?!

Thank you to those who helped out with our field trip and for contributing to our class basket for the upcoming Carnival this Friday (5:30-9:00pm)!

***Sometimes, as the school year comes to an end, an increase in student behavior occurs. As a reminder, our classroom consequences may include: completing laps at recess; written or oral apologies; emails, agenda notes, or phone calls home; and sitting at another lunch table for a designated number of days.***

This is EGGI (Education Go Get It) Week.  We'll learn about and discuss communities, where we can find help and support, as well as many different college and career choices.  We also have special themes for each day this week:

Monday, April 22 -  “Your Future is Bright”  Wear bright colors and/or sunglasses (on your head).

Tuesday, April 23 -  “College is Toe-tally Cool" Wear crazy socks.

Wednesday, April 24 -  “Hats off to your Future” Wear your favorite hat.                      

Thursday, April 25 -  “Dress for Success” Wear an outfit that represents your future profession.

Friday, April 26 -  “Superheroes in School”  Wear your favorite superhero gear.  No masks, accessories, or toy weapons, PLEASE.   *School dress code and proper shoes still required.

Other dates to note:

Friday, April 26-FCE Spring Carnival 5:30 - 9 PM.

Friday, May 3-FCE Science Day.

Monday, May 13 (math) & Tuesday, May 14 (reading)-3rd grade STAAR testing dates.
Our campus will be closed to visitors on these dates.

Friday, May 17-FCE Field Day 12:30 - 2:30 PM.

Thursday, May 23-last day of school.  Class party 10:45 - 11:30 AM.
Watch for an emails and messages as these dates near.

Academically, we've began new learning topics and are also reviewing previously learned materials. We do have the STAAR coming up May 13th (math) and 14th (reading), so we are breaking the material into manageable, less stressful chunks so we feel more confident, recall our learning, and attack this thing head on. I also want the kiddos to have a solid foundation for next year's learning.

Math- Place Value, multiplication, division, and other review

Language Arts/Writing-  Thinking through questions and providing text evidence to support our answers and thinking, fiction and personal narratives, STAAR Review

Social Studies-  Culture, celebrations, and traditions

Science-  Adaptations, structures and functions of animals and plants that help them survive

PLEASE CONTINUE HELPING AND ENCOURAGING YOUR STUDENT TO PRACTICE MULTIPLICATION FACTS AND READING AT HOME. BELOW ARE SOME FLASHCARDS STUDENTS CAN USE TO REVIEW. :D

Welcome back from Spring Break!
I hope everyone had a nice break this past week! We are on the home stretch, and soon your students will be 4th graders! How has the year moved this quickly? We are going to make the most of every opportunity in our final weeks, and we will continue building confidence and working our minds.

This week will we expand our knowledge of measurements and customary vs. standard units in math. In reading, we will read more complex fiction texts, so we will find ways to check our understanding, use our inner voices, and identify themes, main ideas, and summarize. Social studies will focus on influential people in our nation's history who shaped communities and our rights and ideas. Science will expand our understanding of ecosystems and the relationship between living and non-living things and the physical changes in their environments.

I strongly encourage nightly reading and multiplication fact practice. As we near the end of the year, these are skills that will prep your kiddo for 4th grade. In knowing their facts, your children will be able to dedicate more time to deeper learning in more complex math next year rather than take more time to try to recall facts they can learn this year. Here is a set off online cards you can use for review. You can also make cards or find affordable ones at dollar stores. Thanks!

One of our class favorites right now as we learn about the planets' orders from the Sun. :)

Economics Fair coming on March 13th! :D Here are the requirements and timeline. Please help your child stay on top of the creations as we stay on top of learning economic concepts and business terms and smarts. There is a vocabulary list of terms the students are responsible for learning that went home work the packet; however, I will work on uploading those online too.

Economics Fair Project Timeline

February 21 – Business Plan due.  Teacher and parent approval required.  

March 8 and 11 – Students will create a persuasive advertisement for their product or service in class.  Advertisements will be displayed in the consumers’ class so that shoppers can plan and budget for their purchases.

March 13 – Items and materials to sell due in class.

March 15 – Vocabulary quiz

Third Grade Economics Fair

In Social Studies third graders are studying economics.  Students are working on the concepts of a free enterprise system and learning new vocabulary.  On March 13, 2019, students will participate as consumers and producers in an economics fair. Each student will create their own business plan to create or resell products or provide a service.  Students will not have a lot of space to sell their goods or service. They should plan to have the space of their desk to use as their work space. Students will run their shops without parent assistance on the day of the fair.  

First, your child will need to think of a product to sell or a service to provide.  They will need to create their Business Plan. The Business Plan form is due on Friday, February 21, 2019.  Please encourage your child to use inexpensive resources that are readily available. The lower the cost is, the higher the profit will be.  All items or services should be priced to sell for $1 to $10 in even dollar increments. Consumers will be given $10 in play money to spend on products.  Students will get to keep the items that they buy. We will sell to and buy from Mrs. Miller’s class.

Attached are the Business Plan and a vocabulary list that they should review at home.  We will be studying these words in class, but students should be using them as they create their business.  We will reflect on our successes/failures as producers and consumers after the economics fair. We will also have a vocabulary quiz March 15, 2019.

We hope that this will be a fun and educational experience for your child.  Thank you for your support in this endeavor. If you have any questions, please ask.

Thank you!!

Mrs. Ory

Economic Fair Ideas        

Please keep in mind that the following items are not allowed:  hair color, silly string, slime, nail polish, food, or weapons of any kind.  Please ask if you have questions regarding permitted items or services.

Examples of products and/or services:

1. Goods to resell (You buy something, keep track of cost for expenses, set a price to sell.  Your profit is the difference between what you sell it for and what you spent for it.):  
   

• pencils
• pens
• erasers
• stickers
• small toys
• water bottles
• used books
• hair clips
• headbands
• candles
• balloons
• bookmarks
• key chains
• stress balls
• trading cards
• plants
• pet rocks

2. Created products (You buy materials and create something to sell.  Your profit is the difference between what you sell it for and what you spent for materials.):  
   

• homemade stationary or cards
• friendship bracelets
• loom band bracelets
• duct tape crafts
• bookmarks
• decorated pencils
• journals
• washer bracelets on ribbon
• pet rocks
• puzzles
• masks
• origami
• artwork
• flowers
• decorated flower pots
• picture frames

3. Services (You purchase any required materials and sell a service.  Your sales minus your material cost is the profit. Services should last no more than 2-3 minutes.):  
   

• tattoos
• hair design
• jokes
• desk cleaning
• balloon animals
• caricature
• custom artwork
• etc.
  

Our Inventor's Museum went fabulously! :D The kids are so proud of what they accomplished and while speaking in front of people can be nerve racking, each student got into their own stride as the museum went on. How great! I hope you learned something from their research as I know they did!

Next up in Social Studies, we will begin an Economics unit. During this unit, your kiddos will have an opportunity to participate in a class Economics Fair during which they will experience the ins and outs of needs, wants, supply, demand, profit, spending, and other fundamentals of the economic world. We will learn the terms and procedures in school, but the kids will complete the project and study vocabulary at home. The vocabulary will come home this week and will also be posted in study-able form under the Language Arts/Reading/Social Studies tab. More about this to come! I'm looking forward to this additional opportunity for the kids to express themselves and learn more about how our world works.

In reading, I'm excited to dig deeper into the art of story telling as we read and write traditional literature (fairy tales, folktales, myths, legends, tall tales, and the like). In the next couple of weeks, we will read Cinderella tales from around the world, fractured fairy tales and other myths, legends and tales from various cultural backgrounds. How interesting!

In science, we explore and discover facts about the Sun, our Solar System, and space. There are links to some interesting virtual/video sites the kids have enjoyed or might enjoy learning from in the Science tab.

This week we have our STAAR Ready tests on Tuesday and Wednesday.

   These practice tests are challenging and cover all the information your child should know by the end of the year. We have not covered everything at this point as we are just past half way through the year, so scores may be low. However, this should indicate to me where your child stands, and what we need to tackle hard these coming months to best prepare them for Fourth Grade and other future challenges. 

   Over the past couple of weeks, I noticed some students still show a lack of concern towards reading their questions and stories thoroughly as well as in taking the time to use their study materials. Skipping and not using their test-taking strategies can hurt grades and knowledge retention. SO, please help me emphasize the importance of studying and reading through their learning/testing material thoroughly. Please encourage your student to go back to their reading passages to find answers and to support their answers with evidence. Success comes from a willingness to act and to work hard. I have no doubt this 3rd grade class can do well! We just need to be willing to put the work into our learning. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

....Now that being said... What your children need are rest, a healthy breakfast and snack for Tuesday and Wednesday, and most importantly ENCOURAGEMENT. :D They feel pressures, but we've learned pressures and feeling emotionally overwhelmed can cause the brain to shutdown. We've learned how to stop ourselves when feeling stressed, anxious, or discouraged. We then name and admit the feeling, and slowly breathe out the feeling while self-talking positive encouragements. Please support your child and fill them with self-assurance and peace. No matter how this turns out, they are more than scores on a page! They still have a glorious future and loved ones who support them! Let's do this!

Rest, relax, and enjoy time with family! J

Inventor's Museum is coming up next Friday! :D
I can't wait to see what the kids have learned about famous inventors, innovators, and explorers! Here are the criteria for the presentation aides due next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Expectations for the presentation

Students will prepare a presentation in order to inform their audience about
the inventor they choose.  As part of their presentation, they will read the essay
that they have prepared. I would like for the presentation to be engaging.  
Student creativity is strongly encouraged. Students should have their presentation
idea cleared by teacher if it is not listed, just so I know what to expect.  

Here are some ideas:

* Dress up as the inventor

*Sing presentation as a song/poem

* Create a Google Slides presentation

*Make a poster

*Create a diorama

*Person poster

*Make a puppet

*Bring in a prop that relates to their invention (the prop can be a picture or the
actual item)

Students have been given time for research and writing during class.
 Creating presentation props and practicing presentations will be
need to done at home by the student without excessive parent
involvement or cost.  

 

Happy New Year! :D

I'm thrilled to have the kiddos back and ready for action! Our first day back went fairly smoothly, and we are dusting away cobwebs to make room for new learning and to recall the old. We enter the final half of the year where I begin to let loose the reigns and expect the students to take full ownership of their learning. We will continue to work together of course, but I'm really promoting "struggle/think time" so they will do the hard thinking, build their brains, and continue growing as independent thinkers. I will be requiring more interaction and thought from each student. We will be most successful with full participation and "ready-to-learn"ness. I ask that you strongly encourage your child to listen well the first time so as to avoid asking repeated questions, have fun but keep comments appropriate and on task, and to be willing to make mistakes in order to learn and move forward. Such skills can be difficult or more difficult for some. We're working on strategies to improve our learning abilities and skills, but I will appreciate your support. :)

Please note we will dive into Reading Comprehension Passages more frequently:  In order to have students demonstrate their reading stamina and use all their reading comprehension skills they will be taking one or two reading passages weekly.  Our class will typically do this on Thursday or Friday.  While this has proven over the years to be invaluable practice which makes kids more confident going into STAAR testing, sometimes Reading grades will slip.  We are also scheduled to take a STAAR-Ready reading and math tests in February -- think of it as a practice!  Students will be given the full 4 hours to complete.

I'm very excited about what is coming our way in the next few weeks!
In Reading, Writing and Socials Studies, we will put our reading and research skills to use as we discover and read about inventors, innovators, and explorers. While reading, we want to make sure we use our strategies to find the main ideas of our texts, causes and effects, character traits, and paraphrase information in our own words.
   Your child will have the opportunity to "become" a person of their choice whom they will research and produce a biographical work explaining their person's importance. The final product will come through their Inventor's Museum. You are invited to join us on Friday Feb. 8th. Your student will have a general timeline for phases of the assignment and will present their hard work in a presentation. You will receive a letter explaining and describing the project in Thursday folders.

In Math, we will continue identifying attributes of geometric figures and 3D figures. We will also learn how to find the rectangular area of objects. This is a challenging skill, for which I plan to post helpful web links for extra practice soon.

In Social Studies, we're identifying the attributes of rural, suburban, and urban communities. Speak with your child about the type of community you live in, how that community was likely formed, factors that could change your community, how it's different from other types of communities. We will also "travel" to other well-known urban communities such as New Orleans, Cairo, Tokyo, and Mexico City to compare their climates, culture, origins, natural resource and landforms (which also tie into science).

In Science, we're uncovering facts about natural resources and the characteristics that make them useful for everyday products. We will speak about conversation, reducing, reusing, and recycling as well as how and why types of soil are important to our environments and livelihoods.

Wait...It's December already!?!

My how this year is passing by! I so enjoy having your kiddos and am excited about deepening our understanding of the world around us. :)

We are exploring autobiographies and biographies in Reading. We will also write a personal narrative and share a little about a memorable life experience in our own lives.

In Social Studies, we've met a couple of renowned author's such as Tomie dePaola who wrote the Strega Nona series. We will continue studying biographies and autobiographies as well as discover cultural holidays and celebrations of our local communities.

In science, we uncovered the effects rapid Earth changes have on the Earth's surface. Our next unit starting next week will teach us about the formation of soil and all about the surface level of the Earth.

Math continues to throw multiplication, division, and fractions our direction. The kids love multiplication and division. Word problems are always tricky, so we will continue practicing these life-themed equations. Any time you can encourage your child to use multiplication, division, or fractions around the home or at the store, you'll be building their knowledge and computational experiences.

Other important and exciting events coming up:

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Passport to Adventure - Literacy & Multicultural Night Our annual Literacy & Multicultural Night will be held on tonight Thursday, December 6th from 5-7pm. Student work will be on display and a Multicultural Fair will be in full swing in the gym. Classrooms will begin to close at 6:15pm so we can gather for a special presentation by Mother Goose to close out the night. OUR POEMS WILL STAY UP FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS. Swing by and check them out if you're not able to come tonight. :) Tag Referral Window The referral window for students to be considered for gifted services is from November 12, 2018 – December 7, 2018. This is the ONLY open window for referrals for current Round Rock ISD students. Students are eligible for assessment once every two years. If you would like to refer your child for testing, please fill out the following online form.  Additionally, on the last item of the form, you will be prompted to print and complete a PERMISSION TO TEST form. You will need to turn this paper form into the child’s campus. If you are not able to complete the online form, print the permission to test, OR you need Spanish versions of either, please contact your campus TAG specialist (elementary) or counselor (secondary. Click here for online referral form. CHRISTMAS PARTY: We will have a Christmas Party on Wednesday, Dec. 19 from 9-10am in our classroom. I'm setting up a SignUp Genius for those who would like to contribute to the students' refreshments and goodies. We will enjoy sharing a Christmas Breakfast. :D