Our Amazing Day as Native Americans

Today a traveling Native American museum came to Lowell. We went to the music room to hear all about Native American lives. Here are some of the things we learned AND some of our favorite activities!

Aimee: I liked seeing the beds and the chair. They aren't like our beds!

Molly: My favorite part was when we got to try on the clothes and play instruments because it kind of felt like you were a real Native American!

Jaden: My favorite part was when we saw how they made their tools. They used the cattail plant to make rope.

Max: I liked playing the game where you threw the elk-skin ball and other friends tried to catch it. I also liked the spears and the weapons Native Americans had.

Andrew: I liked the weapons because we could hold them.

David: I like that we learned about the spears and all the weapons they had. 

Aiden: I liked seeing how they made fire and getting to try and make a fire myself! I also liked seeing how the weapons were made and getting to see them. 

Addy: I liked that we got to try everything ourselves at the end. I also liked all the different games they had.

Abigail: My favorite part was when we got to play the instruments like the flute and drums.

Seth: My favorite part of the museum was when I got to try out the weapons. My favorite weapon was the spear. The spear was used for throwing short distances at mammoths or buffaloes. 

Carter: We talked about the atlatl. The atlatl is a weapon attachment that can help you thrown the spear further with greater force. I also liked making the cattails ropes. 

Patrick: I liked that we got to play the drums that he had with him. I also liked taking a class picture. 

Mackenzie: I liked doing the class picture and seeing how the dog carried stuff. I also liked all the weapons. 

Claire: I liked the game where one person covers their eyes and the other people try and steal a stick from them. The blindfolded person has to try and tag them before they get the stick. The trick is trying to be sneaky and grabbing where he isn't tagging. 

Sabina: I liked cracking the acorns with the rock. Then I smashed the nuts and turned them into powder.

Ethan: I liked the musical instruments. My favorite was the drum that I help by two fingers. 

Ella: One of my favorite things was the flute that I got to play. Another favorite thing was the game where there were two balls connected with a rope and you had to catch it with a stick. 

Lola: My favorite part was the rope making because it was complicated to do but it was fun!

Luke: I liked the weapons and the spear and the atlatl.

Grace: My favorite part was actually seeing the things that Native Americans used in their day. 

Here are some pictures of our fun day in the Native American Museum! 

Newsletter--Week of 11/2

News from 3P

Week of: November 2, 2015

Reading and Language Arts: We will continue in our chocolate novel groups this week. Within these novels we will be working on the following: character traits, comparing/contrasting characters, themes of chapters and novels and inferencing and citing evidence.  This unit will take place for 3 weeks. Please encourage your child to share what happened within their novels each day. **Students should be reading at least 25 minutes for homework every night!

Grammar: The focus this week will be comparative and superlative adjectives. Encourage your child to compare things at home or while driving using these types of describing words!  

Writing: This week in writing, students will be talking about Thanksgiving. The prompt will be “What do you like best about Thanksgiving and why?” Students will be encouraged to write it on their own, without a graphic organizer. We will have the steps up in the room so that students will be able to see what the process is and continue to use the linking words. We will also keep focusing on the following: linking words and conventions (grammar, capitalization, and punctuation).   

Social Studies: This week we will begin the study of Native Americans. We will focus on the early groups: Paleo, Archaic, Hopewell People and Mississippian Mound Builders.

Math: This week we will be finishing up with place value, addition, and subtraction. We will test on Tuesday. On Thursday we will be switching groups and heading back to multiplication. Our focus will be learning our multiples of 4. We will also review the other facts we have studied: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10.

Dates to Remember:

Wed. Nov. 4- Native American Traveling Museum at Lowell for third grade; a BIG thank you to PTA for paying for our in school field trip!  

Fri. Nov. 6- November book orders due

Bluestem Books

By Addy

This year we have something called Bluestem Books. Bluestem Books are special books that people like. If you read four you get to vote which one is the best. Miss G. said that we should try to read at least six ( but we don't have to). We get until March to read them. If you read ten you get to have lunch with the teacher and if you read twenty you get to have lunch with any teacher in third grade and a friend in any class. You can read any Bluestem B
ook you want. You have to sign your name on a paper so people know where the book is.

Newsletter--Week of 10/26

News from 3P

Week of: October 26, 2015

Reading and Language Arts: This week third grade will be breaking up into chocolate novel groups. Students will be reading Chocolate Fever, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Chocolate Touch. Within these novels we will be working on the following: character traits, comparing/contrasting characters, themes of chapters and novels and inferencing and citing evidence.  This unit will take place for 3 weeks. Please encourage your child to share what happened within their novels each day. **Students should be reading at least 25 minutes for homework every night!

Grammar: The focus this week will continue to be adjectives. Encourage your child to begin using adjectives, or sparkle words, in their conversations!

Writing: This week in writing, students will finish their final copy of the Halloween opinion paragraph. Our next prompt will be: Do you enjoy Thanksgiving? Why or why not? This will be the FIRST writing piece where students won’t fill in a graphic organizer. We will have the steps up in the room so that students will be able to see what the process is. We will also keep focusing linking words and conventions (grammar, capitalization, and punctuation).

Science: This week we will talk about the muscular system. We will focus on the difference of voluntary and involuntary. From there we will be filling out a study guide over muscular system and digestive system. The test will be Thursday. J

Math: This week we will focus on using different strategies to solve multi-digit subtraction equations. After learning a few strategies, students will be able to choose the one that works best for them.  

Dates to Remember:

Thurs. Oct. 29- Science Test: Digestive and Muscular Systems

Fri. Oct. 31- Halloween- Students will begin to get ready in their costumes around 1:20pm on Friday afternoon. Please send all costumes etc….to school in the morning (don’t send your child wearing their costume). Please remember to keep any scary/bloody costume pieces at home. The parade will begin at 2:00pm with our classroom party following. Thank you to all our parents and party planners! I know it will be a GREAT party! J

Newsletter--Week of Oct. 19

News from 3P

Week of: October 19, 2015

Reading and Language Arts: This week we will continue to focus on making inferences. We will also begin to ask questions as we read stories, to better understand what the author is telling us. Our stories this week will be Turtle Bay and Balto, the Dog Who Saved Nome. With Balto, we will be adding in another comparison with watching parts of the movie to see if our opinions of the characters have changed. **Students should be reading at least 25 minutes for homework every night!

Grammar: The focus this week will be adjectives. Remind your child to use lots of adjectives, or sparkle words, when they are talking and writing!

Writing: This week in writing, students will continue the writing workshop process. We will continue with opinion writing with the following prompt: Do you enjoy Halloween? Why or why not? Within this paper, we will focus on linking words, adjectives and conventions (grammar, capitalization, and punctuation).

Science: This week we will begin learning about the Digestive System. Please have your child explain where food enters their body and where it goes from there! J

Math: This week we will be working on adding and subtracting with larger numbers. Students will be introduced to different ways to do this. They are encouraged to use the way that suits their learning needs best.   

Halloween Note: Next week, we will be making a fun Halloween project called Scared Silly! We are looking for donations of Halloween stickers to help complete this project. If you would like to donate some, please send them in with your child! Thank you! J

Make a Difference Week

Monday, October 19th: Canned Foods & Caps Wear your favorite cap/hat and bring in any canned food item(s) for PRC!

Tuesday, October 20th: Pasta & Pajamas for PRC Put on your plush pajamas & bring in a box (or two) of pasta to support People’s Resource Center!

Wednesday, October 21st: Eating healthy is a Sport! Put on your favorite team jersey or wear your favorite team colors and donate some canned fruits or canned vegetables to support good nutrition at the PRC!

Thursday, October 22nd: Helping Others is COOL! Wear your coolest sunglasses and bring in any miscellaneous non-perishable food item(s)!

Friday, October 23rd: We STUFFED the truck with foods for the most important meal of the day! Bring in a stuffed animal to snuggle (stuffed animal must be able to easily fit into your backpack) and one non-perishable breakfast item such as a box of cereal, container of oatmeal or box of breakfast cereal bars.

Newsletter--Week of 10/13

News from 3P

Week of: October 13, 2014

Reading and Language Arts: This week we will continue to focus on point of view. We will be expanding and looking at both character point of view and comparing it to our own point of view. **Students should be reading at least 20 minutes for homework every night!

Grammar: The focus this week will continue to be nouns. We will wrap up working with common, proper, singular, and plural nouns.

Writing: This week in writing, students will continue the writing workshop process. We finished up our pick of the patch papers. Make sure to take a look at them at conference time! We will take a couple days to write our own fairy tales. J

Science: This week we will continue to talk about the skeletal system. Students will need to know placement of bones and names of bones.  Please make sure your child is studying for the test on Friday. Study guides are coming home today. J

Math: This week we will begin working on adding multi-digit numbers. We will learn several strategies for adding, and then students will be able to choose which strategy works best for them.

Dates to Remember:

Mon. Oct. 12- No School

Book Fair- All Week in the library J

Tues. Oct. 13- Visit Book Fair in Library

Tues. Oct. 13- Conferences 4-8pm

Wed. Oct. 14- Google Hangout for Global Read Aloud

Thurs. Oct. 16- Conference 4-8pm

Thurs./Fri. Oct. 15/16- Book Fair Purchase days (if you have not bought books already). **Send money if your child will purchase books during the school day.

Newsletter--Week of 10/5

News from 3P

Week of: October 5, 2015

Reading and Language Arts: This week we will continue to focus on point of view. We will be reading a story and discussing our OWN point of view versus the authors (characters) point of view. We are also beginning to work on Making Inferences during reading. **Students should be reading at least 20 minutes for homework every night!

Grammar: The focus this week will be singular and plural nouns.  

Writing: This week in writing, students will begin to learn how to be a student editor. We will be starting the writers’ workshop process. This week, students will finish writing an opinion paper on why they are the Pick of the Patch. Within this paper, we will be focusing on linking words, adjectives and conventions (grammar, capitalization, and punctuation).

Science: This week we will begin talking about the skeletal system. Students will need to know placement of bones and names of bones. Since it’s the Halloween season, make sure to quiz your child throughout the week on the bones they know with the skeleton décor that’s around the area. J

Math: This week we will be working on place value and rounding. Students will be using the idea of estimating in order to help with rounding.

Dates to Remember:

Wed. Oct. 7- Walk to School Day