Congratulations Jenny!

Jenny Giles was recognized at our February awards assembly as being a leader in 3rd grade.  Jenny's certificate reads:

Jenny is a great example of Habit 5 "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood".  She has a kind and gentle heart.  Jenny has compassion for her classmates and is a friend to all.  She is careful to treat students and adults with respect and kindness.  Jenny truly "listens with her heart!"

Parent Teacher Conferences

Thank you to all of the parents who attended conferences this week.  It is always great to visit with you about your child's successes!

Multiplication Practice Needed

Many students are still struggling with the basic facts of multiplication.  As a result, we are having trouble trying to learn division facts.  Below are two websites that would be great practice at home.  Spending time practicing facts on these websites can count as the multiplication flashcard practice time on the back of the At Home Reading Log.

http://faculty.kutztown.edu/schaeffe/Mnemonics/MultRock/multrock.html
This site has the traditional School House Rock Multiplication songs that you may remember from your own childhood.  Singing is a great way to aid memorization!

http://www.multiplicationhiphopforkids.com/samples-1.htm
This site has songs that are tons of fun!  The multiplication tables have been set to a hip hop beat.  It will have your child up and moving while they sing along.  Another great aid to memorizing the facts!

Get up and sing and dance along with your child.  Practice doesn't have to be dull and boring.  Make it fun for the both of you!

Iowa Test of Basic Skills/Iowa Assessments

We will be taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills/Iowa Assessments for five days beginning Monday, February 6 and ending Friday, February 10.  Testing is scheduled for the first hour and a half of each day.  This letter is to inform you of some important information and tips for testing.  We have talked about the following things at school, but please read and discuss this with your child. 

We would appreciate nutritious snacks for our class to have during testing. Examples: graham crackers, granola bars, cereal bars.  There are 23 students in our class.

Changes from 2^nd grade:

-All of the tests are timed.  When time is up, you must stop, finished or not.

-Every test is read independently.  The teacher cannot give help on any words other than the directions.

-The answers are marked on a separate sheet.  You don’t mark in the test booklet.

Tips for testing:

-Read every answer before marking a choice.

-If you don’t know an answer, take a guess.

-Work at a comfortable pace.

-When you finish, go back over all of your answers on that test.

Tips for parents:

-Make sure your child is well rested.

-Have your child eat a good breakfast.

-Send a bottle of water to have during testing.

-Encourage your child to do his/her best and not get too stressed about the testing.

Thank you for the help from home.  Results will be sent home in a couple months.

    

M&M Math

Thursday we had a lot of fun using M&M's to practice division.  Students each had 45 M&M's and had to decide how to divide them among a dozen cookies so that each cookie had at least 3 but no more than 5 M&M's.  The challenge was to find all five possible solutions.  The reward was eating the M&M's!

Habit 4 Award Winner- "Think Win-Win"

Congratulations to Helen Drish for receiving an award for Habit 4 “Think Win-Win” at a school assembly on Monday, January 30, 2012.

Helen’s certificate stated:

Helen Drish lives life with a “win-win” attitude!  She comes into class with a smile everyday ready to have fun while learning.  Her peers enjoy her light-hearted sense of humor, and Mrs. Hoskins appreciates her sunny disposition.  She treats others with respect ad can bring a smile to any one’s face.  Helen’s positive attitude is contagious in our classroom!

Measuring Physical Properties of Matter

Today we had a lot of fun measuring some physical properties of different objects!  Students used rulers and tape measures to find the length, width, and height in centimeters and a balance scale to find the mass in grams.  We compared our results and discussed why we didn't all get the exact same measurements.  Ask your child to describe the experiment and tell you what he/she learned.  We'll continue to work on matter and mass for a couple more weeks, then take an assessment of the knowledge we've gained.

Here are a few photos of our experiment.