This week our 3rd graders accomplished their first SAGE test! This coming week they will take 2 more tests and be all done!!

Thank you to Kim, Irene, and Jen who came to help with breakfast!

If you ladies wish to come Tuesday and Thursday, or anyone else wants to help we decided the menu for this week’s 3rd grade breakfasts will be:

Tuesday- Waffles, strawberries, apple juice.  We have plates and forks, but could use some more cups.  We need some waffle irons, supplies to make batter, butter and syrup.  Please email me ASAP and let me know if you can help out with supplies/cooking!

Thursday- French toast, any left over strawberries form Tuesday, apple juice.  We will need 1-2 griddles and supplies to make French toast.  Email me if you are interested in helping/cooking!

All 3rd grades need to pack a small snack, bring their own gum, have a water bottle, and a pillow to sit on for testing.

Tuesday afternoon will be the practice of our school vacating to the Fire Station across the street (our safe place).  I am going to let you know now and the kids ONE reminder Monday that they NEED to have slippers on.  A lot of our students are not wearing theirs even though we ask everyday.  They either have outgrown theirs, took them home, or lost them.  Tuesday, as a natural consequence when the drill starts and we practice, those who don’t have slippers will be walking outside to the fire station as they are.  Next school year slippers will be part of the dress code.  Please help your child to always wear their slippers too!  Please start becoming familiar with the emergency drill taking place the beginning of May.  We will pretend a lockdown situation and have students evacuate to the fire station.  You will be called and HAVE to come pick them up.  This will happen May 8th between the time of 12-3pm.  I need you to update any numbers to the office and any emergency contact people.  If you are the primary guardians you can pick them up or the people you put as your child’s emergency contact.  I WILL NOT release any child who is not on that sheet.  

The next 6 states for all levels to start learning are:

Illinois- IL

Indiana- IN

Iowa- IA

Kansas- KS

Kentucky- KY

Louisiana- LA

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: 3D net shapes, greater than less than dice review, measurement (length in inches and centimeters)

Level 2s: Geometry matching cards, place value practice

Level 3s: Common Core writing practice, Fractions on a number line

In cultural:

History: 

Level 1s: Time review

Level 2s: The moon

Level 3s: sculpt a dinosaur

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Mammals

Level 2s: Skeletal System

Level 3s: Spiders

Geography:

Level 3s: Thunder and lightning

Botany:

Level 1s: Rainforest levels

Level 2s: Importance of trees to man

Level 3s: Georgia O’Keeffe

Friday: States test, Library, Newton’s Laws of Motion intro.

Remember to get your pizza money in by Wednesday before 12!

2 more weeks of Studio left.

Happy Friday!

Thank you to those parents who came to our class’ science fair!  We gave back the average scores between 3 teachers.  Total points are out of 40.  We used a rubric to score and so I sat down with the class and told them their scores are for practice.  Whatever they get they can see where they can improve for next time.

The school wide fundraiser, Frozen, has been cancelled.  We however, will watch it today with just our class.

Today we had our first states test.  Everyone came prepared, thank you for helping your child.  The next 6 states will be given out the Monday we come back from Spring Break.  If you want to get a jump start, the next 6 are:

Connecticut- CT

Delaware- DE

Florida- FL

Georgia- GA

Hawaii- HI

Idaho- ID

Level 1s– Memorize, in alphabetical order, JUST the states

Level 2s– Memorize, in alphabetical order, the states AND abbreviations

Level 3s– Spell correctly, in alphabetical order, the states and abbreviations

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Finding lines in everyday life, verb endings, money assessing

Level 2s: Common Core geometry sheet, money assessing

Level 3s: Common Core reading comprehension, area word problems, liquid/weight measurement

In cultural this week:

Zoology:

Level 1s: Mammal intro

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: No Zoology because we had a fire safety presentation

Geography:

Level 1s: Peninsula/Gulf

Level 2s: Rock cycle

Level 3s: Thunder

Botany:

Level 1s: Color changing stem experiment

Level 2s: Parts of a tree

Level 3s: Gynoecium (female parts of the flower)

Friday:  Studio, State Test, The movie Frozen (with just our class)

Have a great Spring Break!

Hello!

Happy Friday!

Our Science Fair is THIS Monday 3/24th.  You are welcome to come view projects starting at 1pm.  It should last well over an hour.  There will be no History that day.  Ms. Anna, myself, and so far, Ms. Jill will give scores.  I hoping for another teacher.  Your child’s score, based on the rubric posted, will be averaged for an overall score.  We sat down in the morning as a class this week to go over the rubric and what is expected, so students should be aware of what is going on and that their project is due Monday!  No late projects excepted!

Today 3/21 I will be teaching our class the start of learning our states.  Each week, until we get through all of them, I will be sending home a 2 page paper that has 6 of the states.   Level 1s: need to memorize the states.  Level 2s: memorize or learn to spell.  They also need to know the abbreviations!  Level 3s: will need to spell the state when I say the states name.  They will also be asked to write the abbreviation.  The sheet will come home 3/21.  They have until next Friday 3/28 to do this homework.  The instructions on their sheet are from another school that I borrowed the lesson from and their instructions are different.  Please follow the ones I posted here!  The 6 states they need to know in alphabetical order are:

Alabama- AL

Alaska- AK

Arizona- AZ

Arkansas- AR

California- CA

Colorado- CO

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: toothpick lines (geometry), what is a super sentence?, greater than less than

Level 2s: angles in polygons, rounding

Level 3s: prepositions, conjunctions, interjections overview, what is a glossary, index, dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia?, how does area relate to multiplication, order of operations

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Clock test to see where they are

Level 2s: Neptune

Level 3s: Dino worksheets

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Kinds of birds

Level 2s: Digestive System

Level 3s: Insects powerpoint review

Geography:

Level 1s: System of lakes/archipelago

Level 2s: Rock cycle Jeopardy

Level 3s: Warm and cold fronts

Botany:

Level 1s: No Botany because of the bird show we had

Level 2s: cross section of a tree

Level 3s: flower paper model

Friday: Studio, Library, States and Capitals

Have a nice weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Thank you to those parents who came to our field trip on Thursday.  Also, thank you to all parents, carpools etc. for being flexible on the train situation that made us an hour late getting back!  The kids had a great time at the Planetarium!

It is up in the air at this moment if we will have a field trip in April.  April is busy with 3rd grade testing.  Here are the dates:

April 9th- Writing test.

April 15th- Language Arts test

April 17th- Math test

This year is a pilot year for the new SAGE test.  The state is incorporating higher level bonus questions towards the end of the Language and Math tests to see how far Utah students really know.  In conjunction, no test is the same.  Each test will cater to a child’s understanding.  For example if a student is getting division problems wrong, the test will eliminate a percentage of those questions containing division.  This does not mean some kids tests may be easier.  From our understanding there is a percentage of questions  from a category of knowledge (Example: 15% of questions may be asked in Geometry).  It’s only in a portion of the test where if a child is getting problems wrong will the test change up the questions.  I hope that makes sense.  The state of Utah is expecting lower scores this year being that it is a pilot year.  This doesn’t mean our kids are not prepared.  I have been working with our 3rd graders since the beginning of the year and since January when we came back from Christmas break our 3rd graders have a review or lesson together everyday.  Language on Monday and Tuesday, Math on Wednesday and Thursday.  We will see what is to come!

My class is known for a cooked breakfast on tests days.  I am still holding to that tradition.  Our 3rd graders are teamed up with Ms. Jill’s 3rd graders and we will all test in the conference room on those specific days.  I  usually would do scrambled eggs and fruit.  I am looking for some volunteers to help me this year with breakfast cooking in our room

Writing test- scrambled eggs, fruit, 1 piece of toast, apple juice

Language test- waffles, fruit, milk

Math test- scrambled eggs, fruit, 1 piece of toast, apple juice

2 volunteers per day is sufficient.  Please let me know (can be a parent from any level) if you would like to help out and be part of our tradition.  Since starting this tradition it has made our students excited to test.  It also ensures me that they get something to eat in the morning to be able to function and focus during testing time.  Breakfast starts at 8:20am and they have until 8:55am to finish.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Types of lines, reading comprehension

Level 2s:  Angles test, reading comprehension

Level 3s: Adverb and Pronoun review/worksheets, Geometry with fractions test

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Telling time to the 5 min mark

Level 2s: Uranus

Level 3s: Dinos

Zoology:

Level 1s: Birds

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: Insects

Geography:

Level 1s: Strait/Isthmus landforms

Level 2s: Types of rocks from the rock cycle card matching

Level 3s: Weather bingo

This coming week we will have a bird show on Thursday after lunch, so no Spanish week 28.

Have students be working on their science fair!  I will be setting up other teacher reviewers this week.  They are due 3/24!  No late projects accepted.

Cheers!

Ms. K

Just some reminders:

1. Planetarium field trip is this coming Thursday 3/13.  All children are covered cost wise.  If you wish to attend and you are not one of the 5 parents who emailed me for one of the leftover tickets then you will have to pay to ride TRACKS and get into the Planetarium.  Here are the details for the TRACKS:

PLEASE DROP YOUR CHILD OFF AT 2393 WALL AVE, OGDEN, 84401at 7:50am.  We depart from the OGDEN station at 8:02am We will then arrive at the 110 S 400 W, SALT LAKE CITY 84101 stop.  Please be on time or your child will be left 🙁

We will then return to the OGDEN station at around 3:00pm.

There are a few stops to catch the next train, but we will travel as a group.

2. Have your child be working on their science fair project!

3.  This coming Tuesday I will be observing in Ms. K.Lea’s in the morning.  Ms. Anna and a sub will be in the classroom.  I will return at 11:15am.

4.  There is no school this coming Friday 3/14.  It is professional development for the teachers.

5.  3rd grade parents: You can have your 3rd grader be working on typing skills.  Google: BBC typing.  It will be the first website.

6. I am missing permission slips from: Asher, Ben L., McKelle

In group lessons this week:

Level 1s: 2D shape review, number handwriting

Level 2s: Angle/Triangle review, sentence structure review

Level 3s: SAGE measurement test, area and perimeter review, parts of speech worksheets

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Time to the quarter hour

Level 2s: Saturn

Level 3s: Cretaceous period

 Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Making a parts of a bird book

Level 2s: Respiratory system

Level 3s: Insects

Geography:

Level 1s: Bay/Cape

Level 2: Sedimentary rock

Level 3s: Weather worksheet

Botany:

Level 1s: Types of underground stem

Level 2s: Cross stitching

Level 3s: Bees

Friday: Studio, Movie: Matilda (we finished our class book)

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

Is it just me or is the Home Project tab suddenly missing?  It shows up under my pages where I created it, but not sure why it is hiding.  Anyway, here is what I posted about the Science Fair:

March’s Science Fair Home Project

This project has a specific due date: March 24th.  No late projects will be considered!  We will be having our classroom science fair in the afternoon starting at 1pm ON the 24th.  The specifics are as followed:

1. Each student will be assessed.  Myself and other teachers will assess their boards and presentations based on this rubric:

Science Fair Rubric- Teachers

2. This project will assess if a student can conduct an experiment while using the scientific method.

a.  Students will choose an area of science they are interested in

b. Students will then decide to conduct an experiment in that area of science chosen and be able to explain how and why it works.

c. Students need to able to follow the scientific method process: Construct a hypothesis, conduct an experiment to test hypothesis, collect data (writing, pictures, graphs etc.  Students NEED to know HOW and WHY), make a conclusion on their experiment and if their hypothesis was correct or incorrect.

3. Be able to present their findings and project on a project board (no posters) that easily communicates their findings.  IMPORTANT: I am looking for boards that a student has done THEMSELVES.  You may help, but let it be their project and research.  Also, I will be looking for boards that are visually appealing and easily understood.  For example, a board overwhelmed with words or just a few pictures are not going to help the child’s presentation.  Help them make a board that has balance of research/findings, pictures, titles, and visual appeal.

Students may bring in their board and things to work on at school if they don’t get a chance to work on it at home much.   Therefore, there is no excuse that a student should not have a project.

You as parents may come see our science fair!  We will also be inviting the school to come visit our room so students can present their findings.  March 24th at 1pm.

*Ms. Kaley is having a GIRL 🙂

Permission slips went out this past week for the Planetarium.  Our class watched the UTA safety video in order to get our free wrist bands for a round trip.  I received emails from the 5 parents who will get the free extra tickets for the Planetarium.  However, if you want to travel with us on UTA TRACKS you will have to get your round trip pass.  Please email me if you would like to come join us on this field trip.  Please have the permission slips back to me no later then March 12th.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: 2D shapes review, what makes a complete sentence?

Level 2s: Punctuation, measurement of their hands in inches

Level 3s: Parts of speech review, Geometry review, Dictionary battle review

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Time to the quarter hour

Level 2s: Jupiter

Level 3s: Dinosaur named Sue

Zoology:

Level 1s: Parts of a bird

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: Intro to Arthropods

Geography:

Level 1s: Lake/Island landforms

Level 2s: Metamorphic rock

Level 3s: Weather task cards

Botany:

Level 1s: Herbaceous, woody, and shrubby stems

Level 2s: Cross stitching practice

Level 3s: Pollination

Friday: Studio, Dr. Seuss afternoon

Have your child be working on their Science Fair project!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Ms. Anna and I have noticed over the past week that the students seem to have “Winter Fever.”  It seems to be that time of year again where the kids are noisy and are losing what they learned with their grace and courtesy.  On Thursday had to reign them back by assigning Level 1 and Level 2s a certain rug place.  Level 1s were overseen by me and Level 2s were overseen by Ms. Anna.  Level 3s were tested to see if they could choose and be independent on their own.  With the rest of the class being overseen, the Level 3s were able to get more done.  In fact, with everyone hunkered down more everyone got more work accomplished.  This structure gives the students the reminder that we need to respect spaces and when each student is working to not bother one another.  We had each student raise their hand when they got a work done.  Myself or Anna would then check it off and they were then allowed to clean up and put that work back to get another.  This process will last into next week.  We want to see what the students are choosing and making sure they are doing quality.  We have witnessed other students copying others, so this process will take care of that too.  This really allowed Anna and I to track their work.  After a week we will dismiss those students who have learned the ability to be independent and have relearned their classroom respect.  Those who need more practice with choosing works or respect will continue to be a part of the circle until the lesson has been taught and practiced.

Ms. Jalee has submitted our field trip to the Planetarium for next month.  Know that I will have 5 free tickets to those parents who would like to come. One ticket will have to be for Heather or Adam Misner, so that will leave 4 extra tickets.  First come first serve.  We are leaving at 8:09am via the Utah Tracks.  We will be returning to the Tracks station at 3pm, so students WILL HAVE TO be picked up at the Tracks station.  Directions, times, and fees will be mentioned on the upcoming permission slip and under our our field trip tab I will provide detailed information in the next coming days.

March’s home project is our Science Fair.  The students will be focusing on the scientific method along with their proposed question.  I will post more info on the science fair under Home Projects this weekend.

On the 27th, parent night will take place (Safety in the school).  A flyer went home this week as a reminder.

This week in group projects:

Level 1s: Divergent, convergent, and parallel lines

Level 2s: Triangle angle star

Level 3s: SAGE practice math test, multistep word problems

In cultural:

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Birds intro

Level 2s: Circulatory System

Level 3s: Sea urchins

Geography:

Level 1s: Compass rose

Level 2s: Igneous rocks

Level 3s: Recording weather

Botany:

Level 1s: Parts of the stem

Level 2s: Cross stitching

Level 3s: The stamen

Friday: Studio, Library, Science fair talk

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Thank you to those parents who came and also drove on Wednesday for our field trip!  The students really enjoyed going!

Our next field trip will be to the Clark Planetarium on March 13th.  We will be riding the front runner since it drops off right at The Gateway where the Planetarium is.  We will be going with Ms. Jalee’s class.  This will be an all day field trip.  Mark your calendars!

February 27th is Parent Education Night at MMA.  The topic will be about school safety and how can our schools become more safe nowadays?  Please visit this month’s newsletter on the school’s website to obtain more information.  There are also flyers on the front doors of the school.

This Tuesday, when we come back from President’s Day, the Upper Elementary will be holding their annual Science Fair!  3rd graders are invited to visit as to prepare them for next year when they will participate.  It will also give them ideas for our next and last assigned home project.  Our class will have its own Science Fair.  We will invite other classes to come and view when the project is due, which is March 24th.  I will be posting details in the Home Project tab soon.  1st and 2nd graders will be participating!  This project will also be evaluated.  Students will evaluate their own project as well as their peers will evaluate their projects.  Students will be looking to see how well they follow the directions, how well they know their topic, and how much of their project came from them.

This week in group lessons:

Level 3s: Editing a paragraph, multi step word problem solving (adding and subtracting)

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Time to the half hour game

Level 2s: Mars

Level 3s: Dinosaurs from the Jurassic Era

Zoology:

Level 1s: Reptiles book

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: Starfish

Botany:

Level 1s: Kinds of roots

Level 2s: Leaf sewing

Friday: Myth of Cupid, Who was Saint Valentine?, Valentine’s crafts

Remember to get your pizza money in!  You can pay through the online link!  Money is due on Wednesdays before noon to get your order in for that week.  Please let me know if you have paid online to make it easier for the 6th graders to distribute the slices.  I’ve had to hunt down pizza because I didn’t know a student paid online.  Thank you!

Happy President’s Day!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Monday and Tuesday we had work cycle.  Wednesday we had a laid back day and got our room ready for the International Festival.  The school did a wonderful job on their projects.  Thank you for all of you who came to see and to help!  We had another successful year!

This coming Wednesday we will be going on our field trip, however we have to take care of rides!

Children who come to the school and need rides because their parents can’t get them a carpool or have their own parent take them, those children will get rides from our certified drivers.  Certified drivers, please email me and let me know if you can drive on Wednesday the 12th.  Drivers here at the school/carpools, we will be departing MMA at 9:10am.  The tour is at 10am at the Salt Lake factory and will go for around an hour.  We will leave after the tour is done and be back to MMA around or a little after noon.  Please pack your child a lunch as we will eat when we get back from our trip.

If you would like to set up a carpool, I cannot be a part of it for legal reasons, so you must contact parents from our class to create a carpool.  If you are taking your own child, I would greatly appreciate you having your child come to MMA FIRST so I can take roll and see who for sure if here before we leave.  Problem arise when parents meet want to meet us at the field trip site.  So, if you could have your child here at normal MMA drop off time I would appreciate it!

Here are two parents who are willing to carpool other children:

Annie Petree: Has 1 child to take of her own to take.  Call/text her at 719-492-8872.

Antoinette Panter: Has 1 child to take of her own.  Can fit around 5 more children.  Call/text her at 801-791-0997

ADULTS WHO ARE ATTENDING: to enter the factory, the fee is $1.00.  Students are covered in our field trip fund.  

Please email me and let me know your child’s ride situation.  Ms. Jalee’s class can no longer attend with us because they didn’t have enough rides.  Please help our students go on this field trip!

Don’t forget to get your pizza order in! The link is to the right of our blog!

In group level lessons this week:

Level 3: Editing a paragraph, Classification of trapezoids

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Time to the half hour

Level 2s: Earth

Level 3: Dinosaur study

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Reptile report

Level 2s: The skin

Level 3: Echinoderm (starfish, sea urchins…) intro

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

To the right of our blog, where you find our links, I added the Pizza Friday payment link.  Instead of having to bring a check in, we now offer online payment!

$1.75 per slice.  You may order as many slices as you want your child to eat.

Money is due on Wednesdays

No Cash

Can pay up to 4 weeks at a time.

Cheers!

Ms. K