"The world's favorite season is the spring. 
All things seem possible in May."
-  Edwin Way Teale

We started this beautiful week with a measurement activity and our Reading Buddies from P.E.A.  Students were happy to see their buddies and enjoyed reading about the famous Black American US Marshall, Bass Reeves.

The class seemed to enjoy measuring line segments to the nearest inch, half inch, quarter inch, centimeter and millimeter this morning. We will continue to work on measurement over the next couple of weeks as well as various graphing techniques.  Tomorrow our lesson will involve line plots.  Students will have a one-sided assignment each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week focused on the various sounds of -ch and 
-que.  There is only one list this week.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  

Enjoy the sunshine!  :) 

"Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers."
-  Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, 1557 

We began our last week before April vacation with math and our P.E.A. Reading Buddies.  Students read a book called If You Traveled On the Underground Railroad with them.  We will be beginning our Black American Unit when we return to school in May.

We will finish our Fraction Unit this week.  Hooray!  Students are excited to move on to measurement, multiplication and geometry after vacation.  They will have a one-sided assignment each night for homework this week.

Our Spelling Rule involves the V-C-E Exceptions this week.  In these words the silent e does not make the vowel long.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice for homework each night.  

Please be sure to sign and return your child's gold report card envelope if you haven't done so yet.  

Have a fantastic week!  :)

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
-  Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant 


We began this beautiful week with math, reading and a visit from our PEA Reading Buddies.  We hadn't seen them since March so it was great to get back into our regular routine.

Our spelling rule this week involves split vowels.  These vowels are heard separately though they may look like a team.  The words poem, quiet and museum are all examples from this pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

We continued with our Fraction Unit this week.  Students did an excellent job answering number stories involving fractions on the board.  We will continue to work on fraction word problems, number lines, mixed numbers and greater than/less than questions this week.  Students will have a one-sided homework assignment each night.

We are wrapping up our European Immigration Unit now.  We will move on to Nutrition this week.  I look forward to completing experiments in this unit with the class and studying healthy living choices.

Enjoy this wonderful sunshine and the warmer temperatures!  :)

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
-  Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant 

We began our week with the math portion of the Smarter Balanced Test.  Students did a wonderful job and seemed to find it easier than last week's test.  

Our spelling rule this week involves -ight and -eight words.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  

We will continue to study fractions in math this week.  All homework will be done in class.  

Report cards will go home on Friday.  Please keep the report card for your child's records.  But please remember that the envelope needs to be signed and returned to school. 

I look forward to seeing parents at conferences over the next couple of weeks.  Thank you!  :)

"In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb"

by Lorie Hill

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear.

We started Smarter Balanced Testing today.  Students did an excellent job.  We will continue with the ELA portion this week and then move on to Math next Monday.  Thank you to all the parents for contributing hard candy and gum.  

We will have limited homework this week.  Math will be done in class.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  Our rule this week involves sounds of -ie and -ei.  I taught the kids this rhyme to help them remember the pattern...  I before e except after c, unless it sounds like long a, as in neighbor or weigh.  

Our Ellis Island simulation will take place this Wednesday morning.  Thank you to parents for their willingness to help with costumes, food court donations, and volunteering.  I truly appreciate all of your help with this special project.  

Have a fantastic week!  :)

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

Charles Dickens

We had an awesome start to our week.  We continued with our Fraction Unit.  Students have been progressing nicely and I'm pleased with their progress.  We practiced a third grade informational reading and explanatory writing performance task.  Students will share their work tomorrow morning in class.  

We will write our fourth immigration journal entry this week.  Students will be writing from the perspective of an immigrant, on the steamship, crossing the ocean.  Information pertaining to the Ellis Island simulation went home on 3/12.  A $2.00 donation was requested from each student to help with the food court items.  Please send money in by March 27th.  Our simulation takes place on April 1st.  

We are so lucky to have Gary Sredzienski visit our school this week.  He is an incredible speaker who focuses on his family's migration from Poland.  He plays various accordions for students and takes them on a journey through time with photographs, stories and music.  Students will have the opportunity to hold and play all of his instruments.  

Our spelling rule this week involved the changing y to i pattern.  There were three rules concerning this pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Students will have a one-sided math assignment each night for homework.

Have a fabulous week!  :)

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

Khalil Gibran

Welcome to the unpredictable month of March!  We will be very busy over the next few weeks preparing for the upcoming Smarter Balanced Test.  Students will be working on technology skills on Tuesday mornings with Ms. Tabet's assistance.  

It's a fraction frenzy in math for the next few weeks.  Students will be working on finding equal shares, naming unit fractions of a whole, and naming fractions of a group.  They will have a one sided assignment each night for homework.  

The spelling rule this week involves words ending in -tion and -sion.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  

I'm looking forward to seeing parents tonight at our March Music Concert!  Students have worked hard to learn the songs and music for tonight's event.  :)

Have a fabulous week!