Halloween Snack

Dear Families,

The class is going to celebrate Halloween with “Halloween in a Box” at snack time on 10/31.  To do this, each child will be asked to decorate a shoebox or small bag for themselves with a Halloween theme (ribbon, wrapping paper, construction paper, paint and/or crayons, markers, stickers).

Inside each box, please place the following:

1.    one snack

2.   one candy treat

3.  one juice box or small drink

4.  one small surprise that can be used here at school (pencil, eraser, glue sticks, bookmark, etc…)

Thank you,

The Third Grade Teachers

October in Room 5

This is a picture of last years' Vocabulary Parade.  Our class has searched for and found some fabulously interesting words in the dictionaries.  They are working on preparing their visual representations of their words for 10/30. The students will need to be prepared to present their word and it's definition on the 30th.  On the 31st we will join the other third grade classes in the cafeteria to share all of our new words and their meanings.  By the end of  the day we will have learned 84 new words!!!!


In Math the students have done a nice job mastery telling elapsed time by using a number line.  Please continue to work on basic math facts at home.  Next month we are going to begin multiplication!

Last week we had our first Publishing Party.  The students shared their first Personal Narratives with their classmates.  They were all so interesting and enjoyable to read.  This week we have started our 2nd Personal Narrative pieces.  We are going to be raising the quality of writing by introducing time lines for planning, finding the heart of the story, the turning point and paragraphing appropriately. 

Our Solar System Test is this Friday.  Study guides have been sent home.  There is also a study guide posted below.  Later this week we will be playing a game of Solar System Jeopardy to review. 

Solar System Study Guide - Test 10/18/13

Solar System Study Guide

A copy of the study guide went home Tuesday, October 8th but in case you lose it here is a copy of the solar system study guide!

Solar System Unit Test Study Guide

Test Date: October 18, 2013

What you should know and/or be able to explain:

ü Phases of the moon. You should what they look like and be able to label them.

ü Why the moon seems to change its shape:

As it orbits Earth, the moon reflects different amounts of sunlight off its surface. This makes the moon appear to change shape.

ü Why the sun appears so much larger than the other stars:

It is the closest star in our solar system.

ü What causes the four seasons:

The Earth tilts as it orbits the sun, so different parts of Earth get different amounts of sunlight.

ü That the moon orbits the Earth once a month (approximately every 28 days)

ü It takes the Earth (and moon) 365 days to orbit the sun.

ü It takes 24 hours (one day) for the Earth to make one complete rotation

ü Pluto is the coldest and smallest of the planets. It is considered a dwarf planet.

ü List the planets (and dwarf planet) in order of their distance from the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)

A way to remember this is: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us NinePizzas.

ü Vocabulary words:

o Astronomers: scientists who study things in space

o Solar system: the sun, planets, and all the objects that orbit the sun.

o Rotation: the turning or spinning of a planet on its axis.

o Orbit: the path each planet travels on its own around the sun

o Star: a self-luminous (lights itself) object that shines through the release of energy produced by nuclear reactions at its core.

o Crater: when a meteorite slams into the ground creating a hollow area

o Outer planets: The five outer planet/dwarf, which are the farthest from the sun (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planet Pluto). They are made up of gases.

o Inner planets: the four planets closest to the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). They are all hard and rocky, and have three layers (crust, mantle, and core).

o Three parts of the inner planets

§ Crust: thin outer layer

§ Core: made of very hot iron

§ Mantle: a thick layer of rock and hot lava.

o Asteroid belt: located between Mars and Jupiter. It is filled with thousands of asteroids which are chunks of rock and metal that orbit the sun.

Mystery Mathematicians

Today we had our first Mystery Mathematicians visit our classroom.  Thank you to Daniel's and Audrea's moms for coming in .  We played a fun game called Make 1,000.  We're looking forward to our next Mystery Mathematicians in a couple of weeks. If you're interested log on to our sign-up genius.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/805084EACA92FA31-mystery