Week of October 3rd

I love donuts! And happiness! And worry-free days!

Meet our beta, Bob. A HUGE thanks to Avery's family for allowing us to have a class pet! 

Evan, Mya, and Jenna looked pretty cozy on the reading rug. Love when my students get lost in a good book!

Tyler was practicing some meditation at recess! :)

Tyton ends up in some pretty interesting positions in reading groups.  He cracks me up!

Annika always brings yummy-looking blueberries. I always want to snatch a few!

I love Thomas more than words can say! He can dive right into a book and ignore the world around him... Wish everyone could do that!

TJ and his adorable brother, John, who is a kindergartner at Arrowhead this year were reunited at recess one day!

Myra is our Cursive Queen! 

Our essential question in reading this week is: How can problem solving lead to new ideas? We will read the stories "All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine" and "Mary Anderson's Great Invention." The genre we will focus on this week is biographies. We will work on asking and answering questions in a text, cause and effect, metaphors, and subject/predicates. All of our spelling words this week have long a sounds (ay, ai, a_e, ea, eigh, ei, and ey). 

Here are this week's vocabulary words and definitions:

In math, we will wrap and graphing and then take an assessment. The few things that students are still struggling with are remembering to label and title each graph, as well as deciding what SCALE to use. By the end of the week, we should be able to begin Chapter 3: Understanding Multiplication. We will work A LOT on multiplication this year, as it is one of the essential math concepts of third grade. We begin by looking at multiplication as equal groups and with repeated addition.

We begin our math hour every day with a Number Talks session. Ask your child if they can tell you about this time during the day. Here is an example:

We are still waiting for the glider supplies to arrive for PLTW, so we may or may not begin building our actual gliders this week. Fingers crossed!

Here are some pictures from our PLTW (Project Lead the Way) time last week... We explored the 123D design and Aero Apps, which allowed students to make a glider and to apply the forces of flight while flying a bird! 

They are too cute for words!

Way to go, Jackson!

Coming up this Friday we have the Fun(d) run.  3rd grade will go from 1:30-2:15.  This is our one fundraiser for the school throughout the year and PTA uses the funds to support teacher grants (we just were awarded another classroom chromebook, money for a field trip, and money for Teachers Pay Teachers from this!!), library books, field trips, art programs, technology and more!! 100% of the money stays at Arrowhead.  If you are able to give we SO appreciate your support!! Also on Friday make sure you have gym shoes and appropriate clothes for the run!! 

Lastly, I am still in need of some volunteers to work one-on-one with students (making correction on reading and math assignments). If there is a specific time you could help out (either weekly or every other week), please email me. With 27 kiddos, I will take all the help I can get! ;)  A HUGE thank you to Heather, Laura, Carol, and Kristie who have already begun volunteering on a weekly basis. I sure appreciate you ladies! (My email is: petersonw@billingsschools.org)

Have an enjoyable weekend! I will be attending some soccer games, enjoying the final Farmer's Market, and simply soaking up time with Bennett. :)

Code Word = Number Talks

Week of September 26th

We celebrated Dylan's eighth birthday with cookies on Friday! She is such a smart, sweet, spunky girl - I just love her to pieces. Happy Birthday, Dyaln!

Mya brought in her adorable kitten, Monte, on Friday! He was so cute and calm that I wish he could have stayed all day! :)

Also, Tyler brought his adorable gecko, Simon, in all day on Tuesday, but I forgot to take a picture! Rats! She was super cute and it made me want to get one for Bennett! :) 

This week in reading, we are in week three of our new Wonders series. I am really liking it so far!  We will read "Room to Grow"  and "Gary the Dreamer." All of the stories we will read, as a whole group and small group, this week will be autobiographies. I love how the Wonders series focuses on exposing students to new, different genres every week.  The vocabulary words we will focus on this week are: admires, classmate, community, contribute, practicing, pronounce, scared, and tumbled. We will be doing Week 3's spelling words, which are words with a final e. Our pretest will be on Monday and then our post test will be on Friday. You can access the week's words on Spelling City (your child has his/her login information in their planner). The specific skills we will be working on this week are asking and answering questions, sequence events in a story, and compound words. 

In math, we will continue on with Chapter 2: Representing and Interpreting Data. Last week we spent a lot of time working on reading and creating Picture Graphs. Students learned the importance of reading the key!!! This week we will be working hard on reading and creating bar graphs, as well as working on different problem solving skills that go along with graphs. Two students have already completed the addition portion of Xtra Math -- way to go Tyler and Grant!!! Remember that students can access ST Math, Front Row, and Xtra Math at home.

In science, we have talked in-depth about the different parts of a glider: fuselage (body), wings, and the horizontal stabilizer. We have also discussed about the difference between powered and unpowered aircraft. Ask your child if they can tell you the difference! This week, we will use the ipads to design our gliders and then hopefully we can begin constructing our gliders. 

In social studies, we will use some issues of Scholastic News to work on our reading strategies while learning about some interesting current events. 

We finished our first read aloud, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane." We have now started reading another novel by that same author (Kate DiCamillo) called Because of Winn Dixie. Ask your child if they can tell who the main character/narrator is, as well as the setting of the book!

Lastly, if you are interested in placing a bid on our Fish Bowl, please email with your highest bid by Sunday evening. Due to rainy weather, the auction is not taking place on Saturday at Saturday Live, but we have live fish that need to find homes ASAP! Thanks for your support! Remember ALL the money we raise stays right here at Arrowhead and helps every grade level!

Have a great weekend! See you Monday!

Code Word = Bar Graphs

Week of September 19th

I believe this with every fiber of my being! 

Laurel and Myra made my Friday morning much brighter :) Thank you, sweet girls!

Easton and his family went to San Francisco and sent me this picture. He already knows some of my favorite places :) I will be glad to have him back at school on Monday!  

We met with our first grade buddies for the first time this week. It is always fun to watch the third graders be the "big" buddies for the first time. They did wonderful!

This week in reading, we dive into week two of our new Wonder series!  We will read, reread (close read), and practice our reading strategies (comprehension, summarizing, making connections, visualizations) with the stories "The Dream Catcher"  and "Yoon and the Jade Bracelet." This week's stories focus on family traditions, which should lead to some interesting discussions! The vocabulary words we will focus on are: courage, disappointment, precious, pride, remind, symbols, and traditions. We will be doing Week 2's spelling words, which are words with short vowels e, o, and u. Our pretest will be on Monday and then our post test will be on Friday. You can access the week's words on Spelling City (your child has his/her login information in their planner). In language we will be working sentences and sentence fragments. We will also discuss commands and exclamations.  

In math, we will take our Chapter 1 assessment (rounding, estimating sums and differences, and addition properties). Then we will begin Chapter 2: Represent and Interpret Data. This week we will work on using and making picture graphs and bar graphs.  Remember your child can access Xtra Math or Front Row anytime from home for some extra practice! Also, this week we tried our new supplemental math program called ST Math (spacial temporal math). Students are LOVING this new program, which is exciting to see! Ask them about the ST Math penguin, JiJi! :)

In science, we will build and test our gliders. This is always one of the students' favorite activities of the year, because they actually have permission to throw an object across the room! :) There were so many kiddos gone last week that we didn't get to this....

In social studies, we will use some issues of Scholastic News to work on our reading strategies while learning about some interesting current events. 

We are almost done with our first read aloud, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane." Ask your child to tell you about Edward's adventures and what he learns throughout his journey! It is one of my all-time favorite stories!

Lastly, several students forgot to return their reading logs on Friday. Please make sure your child is reading at least twenty minutes a night (preferably WITH someone) and then returning their logs on Friday. Thanks for support ensuring that your child is making reading a priority. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!  Remember that this Thursday (the 22nd) is an Early Out/Noon Dismissal. Also,  Saturday Live is on the 24th from 10:00-4:00 at Pioneer Park. 

Code Word = Edward Tulane

Week of September 12th

Myra's cute little Yorkie came for a visit at recess on Wednesday! Sooooo cute!

Our two special birthday girls this week, Eden and Ellecia. Love those girls!

Eden's adorable puppy came to pick her up from school one day, so of course I had to snap a picture! :)

Easton's adorable puppy, Zoe, came for a visit, too! We were in dog heaven this week :)

This week in reading, we will start our new Wonder series! This series is new to me, too, so please be patient with any "hiccups" along the way this year! We will read, reread (close read), and practice our reading strategies (comprehension, summarizing, making connections, visualizations) with the stories "Bruno's New Home"  and "Wolf." The vocabulary words we will focus on are: concentrate, discovery, educated, effort, improved, inspired, and satisfied. We will be doing Week 1's spelling words, which are words with short vowels a and i. Our pretest will be on Monday and then our post test will be on Friday. You can access the week's words on Spelling City (your child has his/her login information in their planner).

In writing we will be working on writing a friendly letter. This should be a review from second grade, but students always seem to still struggle with all the parts of a friendly letter: date, greeting, body, and closing.

In math, we will continue on with Chapter 1. This week, we will be focusing on the break apart strategy when adding, using place value to add, estimating differences, and mental math strategies for subtraction. Remember your child can access Xtra Math or Front Row anytime from home for some extra practice!

In science, we will build and test our gliders. This is always one of the students' favorite activities of the year, because they actually have permission to throw an object across the room! :)

In social studies, we will use some issues of Scholastic News to work on our reading strategies while learning about some interesting current events. Please remind your kiddo to not share political opinions at school (We have already had an issue with this a couple times! Tis the season!). At school, we stay respectful and just report/study the facts, focusing on the election process, not the candidates. Thanks for your help with this during the next 60 days!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! Thank you to those of you who made the time to come to Open House on Thursday. The support and love you provide these children with is a teacher's dream! 

A few upcoming events to mark on your calendar are picture day (Friday the 16th), Ice Cream Social (Friday the 16th from 5:30-7:30), Early Out/Noon Dismissal (Thursday the 22nd), and Saturday Live (Saturday the 24th from 10:00-4:00 at Pioneer Park). 

Code Word = Picture Day

Our First STEM Challenge

Ask your child if they can tell you what STEM stands for!

Students were challenged to build the tallest free-standing beanstalk possible using 25 pipe-cleaners. The groups soon realized building a strong base was the key to success!

Thomas even built a little "Jack" to add to his bean stalk! :)