Unknown Number Puzzles

These puzzles can be tricky for students to solve.  We will continue to practice them in class, but you can also create your own at home for a challenge.  Check out the video below to help you better understand how to solve them.

 All-Star of the Week: Ryan:

Ryan was our incredible all-star last week! On Monday he shared with the class some of his favorite things from home. The class loved a picture he showed them where he was driving a car (a power wheels one of course) down the road and they laughed at many parts of his Sponge Bob book that he read to the class.  On Thursday, he was surprised at lunchtime by his mom.  He was all smiles to see her visit him at school!

Writing:

Last week in writing, the students were taught that good writers identify and develop the hearts or important parts of their stories.  They were also taught that authors pay attention to paragraphing just like they do their spelling and punctuation.  You'll see in the example writing piece below (sorry, the image wouldn't flip in the photo editing tools) that one of our third grade writers is grouping sentences together to make paragraphs.  They know they have to have a minimum of 3 paragraphs (introduction, body and conclusion) but will be working toward paragraphing within each of those sections.  Toward the end of the week, the students received a draft booklet and used a Narrative Checklist to examine their draft for future revisions and publication.

Reading:

In reading last week, we started our unit on Characters.  The students learned that readers pay attention to and envision the way a character behaves to learn about them.  They also practiced how to create theories about their characters based on the details they notice about them in the text.  Lastly, they learned that readers connect to characters and empathize with them...this helps the characters come to life for the students! Our class read aloud is Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.  Each day that we read this book to the class, they are listening to the actions and dialogue of Opal (main character) and we are discussing as a whole class, what clues the author is giving us that is helping us know what type of person Opal is.  These rich discussions are helping the students then examine the characters in their own books in the classroom and hopefully at home too!

Geography:

The students have been zooming in from the Milky Way Galazy all the way to their own house to better understand where Troy, Michigan is in relation to the rest of the world. Here you see a group of third graders practicing for their geography quiz by taking the puzzle pieces (the 7 continents) and arranging them on the globe.  They worked cooperatively to determine which continent was which along with each continents' location in our world.  They had to label each continent as well as the major oceans that surround them.

 Math:

Last week in math the students were practicing how to multiply and divide with 8s and 7s. They also practiced solving word problems, identifying types of word problems and writing word problems.  The students were also taught a new math game called Spiral Multiplication.  First, they set up their game board in a spiral as show below.  Then, player 1 rolls a die.  They multiply the # on the card by the # on the die.  If they get it right, the move the # of spaces that are show on the die. If they are wrong, they don't move their game piece.  Player 2 then rolls and multiplies.  The first player to reach the end of the spiral, wins! This is an easy game to play at home too as it requires limited game pieces/materials...just a deck of cards (0-9) and a die!  

Field Trip

We had an awesome time on our field trip to Detroit where we were able to tour the Renaissance Center and Ford Field. You can check out photos from the trip in the slideshow below or click HERE to see the photos individually.

Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week
Alice was our wonderful All-Star last week.  Students enjoyed listening to her read aloud Apple Trouble.  We also loved her parent letter, and couldn't agree more...Alice is irreplaceable!  She enjoyed a special lunch with her mom on Thursday, and students wrote sweet compliments to Alice on Friday.  We also sang Happy Birthday to her on Friday as well.  Thank you to the Pan Family for donating a hula hoop to our classroom collection of recess toys!

Reading Workshop
We wrapped up Unit 1 and finished reading aloud The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  During IDR time, we are beginning to pull small groups to work on specific reading skills.  We will focus on comprehension, accuracy, and fluency skills.  Students have learned to recommend books to other readers.  Each student practiced completing a book recommendation card.  It is our hope students will continue recommending books to other readers throughout the school year.

Writing Workshop
Students learned how to write a lead or introduction to catch their reader's attention.  They also learned to introduce the characters and setting of their story in their lead.  Students listened to the mentor text One Green Apple by Eve Bunting.  We discussed author's craft and created a list of things we could try in our own writing.  Then students practiced revising pieces with their writing partner.

Word Study
We will begin Week 4 of Word Study this week.  Students have the opportunity each week to take a Spelling Practice test on Spelling City.  However, students need to wait until Friday morning to take the Spelling Test on Spelling City.  We deleted many of the lists on Spelling City in hopes of helping students choose their correct list for the week.  Students also need to practice their 5 High Frequency Words each week...these words are NOT on Spelling City because each student's list is different.  Please help your child practice his/her 5 High Frequency Words each week by writing each of those words in a sentence because he/she is expected to write each word in a sentence on Friday's test.

Hill Husky Teams
Below is a picture of our classroom on Husky Team day.  We are lucky to keep Alice and Marc for Husky Teams, but the rest of the students are in other Husky Teams throughout the building.  We will meet with our Husky Teams several times this school year.  In these meetings we will discuss different topics to help us be the best Hill Huskies we can be.  Next month's topic will be a review of Bucket Filling.

Updates October 5 through October 9

 

 Internet Safety Assembly:

Last week we had an assembly on Internet and gaming safety.  The students were taught what they should do when using the Internet, playing a videogame or going on an app.  First, they must always ask parent/guardian for permission to go on any game or website.  Then, students must stay safe by doing the following 3 things...

1. I keep SAFE by not giving away any personal information.

2.  I keep AWAY from strangers on the internet.

3.  I keep TELLING an adult when I feel uncomfortable on the internet/app/video game.

All-Star of the Week: Madison M.

Madison was our amazing all star of the week! The class loved hearing her book The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems.  They also loved when she shared all of her photographs--especially the ones of her in her dance recital costumes and the one of her as a baby! She also shared some of the things that are most special to her.  The other girls in the class loved seeing her American Girl doll and the crown she brought in from when she was a flower girl in a wedding.  Madison looked beautiful! 

Writing:

In writing workshop, the students learned how to tell their stories with a storyteller's voice and not a reporting voice.  This is done by telling the small moment scene by scene or bit by bit.  They used a Story Arc (shown above) to plan their writing by including the important events from the story--including the problem and resolution.  Planning for writing is an important step in the writing process as it helps the students organize a focused writing piece.

Reading:

Last week in reading, the students were learning what to do when the come across a tricky word in their book.  They learned that good readers will use context clues to determine the meaning of an unknown word.  They also learned that readers will look for smaller words inside the larger, tricky word that they are stuck on when decoding. They remembered that when you are trying to read an unknown word, you should look for patterns or chunks in that word and blend those chunks together from left to right.  Lastly, the students were given their color code (just right reading level) so that they could book shop for new books.

Math:

Last week in math, the students practiced how to multiply and divide with 1 and 0.  They learned how to solve and create word problems by determining which type of word problem it is--this helps the students know which operation to perform.  Toward the end of the week, the 3rd graders worked on building their fluency with 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 9s and 10s. 

Social Studies: Where is Troy, Michigan? 

Last week in social studies, the students were continuing their learning on where Troy, Michigan is located in relation to the rest of the world.  They found the Midwest region on a map of the United States of America. From there, they found the state of Michigan, zoomed in to finding Oakland County and then Troy.  Using a map of Troy, they had to highlight Forsyth and draw a school where Hill School would be on that map.  Lastly, we used the city of Troy website to find out how many elementary schools, middle schools and high schools our city has.  The students counted the number of parks in Troy and used a coordinate grid to determine where the airport is located as well as how many lakes are in our city.  

Millage Update from Dr. Machesky

On Tuesday morning, Dr. Machesky visited the Hill Staff to talk about how on November 3, 2015, voters in the Troy School District will be asked to decide to renew our non-homestead and hold harmless millages.  This is NOT a new tax but a RENEWAL.  Currently, this millage accounts for 25% of the General Fund's operating revenue.  The presentation he shared with us is available on the Troy School District website or see the address below.

http://www.troy.k12.mi.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?type=d&uREC_ID=363152&pREC_ID=837246

 

Weekly Update

All-Star of the Week
Samantha was our fabulous All-Star last week!  The class enjoyed listening to her read aloud Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss.  They also loved her special parent letter and letters from her sisters.  Samantha shared several pictures from her beautiful baby pictures to her most recent trip to Universal Studios.  She also enjoyed a special lunch with her mom on Friday.

Reading Workshop
Last week students practiced making a movie in their mind to visualize what is happening in a story they are reading.  They also learned reading strategies to help them pronounce tricky words by chunking multi-syllable words into smaller parts and looking for words they know inside the tricky word.  For the remaining lessons of our first unit in reading, we will be reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo and using it as a Mentor Text to help teach students specific reading strategies.

Math
Students are off to a great start with the fact fluency quizzes!  Be sure to continue helping your child to study his/her facts at home.  The fact triangles that came home in the fluency folder are a great way to help your child study multiplication and division facts at the same time!  At this point we have worked on building fluency with the following multiplication facts: 3s, 4s, 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s.  Students also learned how to use multiplication to find area.  They practiced breaking apart large rectangles into two smaller rectangles.  Then they learned to find the sum of the areas of the two smaller rectangles, which is the same as the area of the large rectangle.  This is an example of the Distributive Property.

Science
Students began our first science unit engaged in the Visible Thinking Routine, Think-Puzzle-Explore.  We added many ideas of what we think we know about water and many wonderings we have about water.  Students have learned about Surface Tension and have conducted water races with domes of water of different sizes down a slope.  They learned that heavier domes of water win the race every time! 

Jog-a-Thon
Please remember to send in your child's pledge sheet and money he/she collected.  The money is due Friday, October 9.  Ms. Herbert will color her hair yellow if our class wins! :)  Check out the photos in the slideshow below or click HERE to see the photos individually.