Conferences

I will be posting a conference sign up sheet on our blog an through email soon. Please email me if you want to go ahead a sign up for a time before hand :) 

Geometry vocabulary

Here are some handouts with vocabulary on them. We have covered all of these terms except the triangles. 

Vowel Diagraph video

Pyburn News 9-23-13

EARLY RELEASE ON FRIDAY 1:15

Daily 5 Literacy/Writing: We will continue to work with questions. We will learn about the different types of questions we can ask—Right there in the book questions or think and search questions. We will also work on using our nonfiction text features-- photograph, caption, heading, subheading, sidebar, map, graph, bold face words, etc.

We are going to be finishing our first writing piece (personal narrative) this week. Some students are having a difficult time with using capital letters and punctuation correctly! I think we just forgot over the summer J I know you only have reading and math homework each night as of right now, but please have your student practice writing too. They can write you a few sentences about their day, favorite book, favorite movie, or anything at all. Also when they have a written assignment to go along with their reading in the near future, please be sure they are using complete sentences.  

Math: We worked last week and part of this week on rounding to the nearest ten or the nearest hundred. This is a very abstract and difficult concept for our third graders, so any extra practice at home would be great. We even spent 3 extra days on this and we will be having an assessment on it tomorrow. We will be starting our next unit on Wednesday. This unit is focus on Geometry- quadrilaterals, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, line segments, parallelograms, rectangles, squares, and rhombuses.

Important Reminders:

9/23-10/11 is Dragon Fire Time

Friday 9/27 Field trip money is due ($8.00) and it is Early Release (1:15)

Monday 9/30 Interims go home and we have our in class High Tech High ouch field trip (1-2:30)

10/4 Scholastic orders due

10/18 Early Release

10/28 Teacher Workday  

Scholastic-  code is LD7T9. Please have all orders in by the end of next week (10/4) so I can mail them out

Class/teacher Wish List

-clipboards

-pillows to sit on during independent reading

-prize box items!!!!! (small toys, erasers, pencils, bookmarks, stickers, games, puzzles)

-books for our class library!!!! All levels and genres will be welcomed

-playground equipment (jump ropes, chalk)

Thank you!

Ms. Pyburn

cpyburn@wcpss.net

Community Helpers Presentation

Community Helpers Presentation

Dear Families and Students,

We will be studying citizenship and learning about community helpers in Social Studies this quarter.  The third grade team is excited to announce that we will be hosting a “Community Helpers” presentation on October 24^th from 2:15 to 3:45.  We are looking for members of our third grade Douglas families that have Community Helpers jobs to come in and talk with the third grade.  We would like the children to get to experience hearing from members in our community about what their job entails and also the contributions they make to our community.  

Some examples of community helpers we would love to have come in are:

Teachers, Custodians, Bus Drivers, Medical Field, Law Enforcement, Government, Librarians, Public Waste Workers, Firefighters, Veterinary Medicine

If you are interested and available during this time, please email Melissa Moskauski, our third grade field trip representative at mmoskauski@wcpss.net by Thursday, September 26^th.  Please email a brief excerpt of your job description and if you are available for all or part of the time slot.   Please do not write this into your schedule until we confirm your participation.  Mrs. Moskauski will get back in touch with you by Friday, October 4^th

Thank you,

J The Third Grade Team J

Open House

yay they fixed our Blog connection from school

Open House:

5:00 - 5:45 = 5th grade parents meet in the cafeteria for Washington, DC Field Trip. 

 

5:30 - 6:00 = PTA Meeting 

 

6:15 - 6:50 = 1st Parent Information Session (all 3rd grade teachers will be in my classroom 3126 to talk to parents together)

 

6:55 - 7:30 = 2nd Parent Information Session (all 3rd grade teachers will be in my classroom 3126 to talk to parents together)

 

Agendas will be available and Volunteer Sign Up will both be in the Media Center.\

The MI Team will be in the Media Center to meet parents.

Special Ed. Team will be in their classroom to meet parents. 

 

Rounding

100 chart we used in class today (9/16)

Another 100 chart that has a clear red line to help know when to round up and when to round down. 

A visual to help with rounding to the nearest hundreds place. 

Rounding to the nearest ten video: http://youtu.be/CMdck80SHnw

Rounding to the nearest hundred video: http://youtu.be/bx-XKcgKqzc

Rounding rap (warning this song will get stuck in your head!!!) 

http://youtu.be/3afU6JQG15I

Reading and writing goals for 9/9-9/20

Our work of writing I-chart

Today (9/16) we brainstormed things to write about during Work on Writing time. Please excuse the messiness. We are going to add to this over the next few days and then make a "pretty" poster to leave up year round :)

MINTS helps us remember what to capitalize in our writing. Sample paper on the right helps us remember what side of the paper to write on!!

A list of some nonfiction text features we are working on knowing very well. This year we will work a LOT with nonfiction texts!!

When we come to a word we don't know we can use context clues to figure it out. 

Our new fish

We have already earned our first fish!!! We will vote on a name for him or her this Friday. We are working hard to earn fish number 2 so he/she will not be lonely for long :)

Morning meeting share schedule for September and first week of October

On your student's share day they can bring a story or an item to share. This is NOT show and tell. The item cannot be a toy or of too much value (please nothing expensive). You student can bring in a favorite book, a drawing, a photo etc... something that will teach us about them. Or they can just come with something to tell us about. I am so excited to get to learn more about each student!!!!!

Pictures from last week (9/3-9/5) and today (9/9)

Updated Cafe board. We are adding lots of new strategies to help us with our reading. 

We are working hard to increase our reading stamina during our Read to Self time. 

Chart we did as I modeled before, during and after questions while reading about polar bears. 

Chart your student helped me do as they copied it into their response journals. 

Please have your student practice reading the pictures of a book or magazine. It can be really fun to let the pictures tell a story and then read to see if you were correct!!

For my Math Class

I am so thankful to have your student in my math class. We are going to have a great time working together. Our third graders will be changing teachers and math groups throughout the year, but I am so glad that your student gets to start with me. We will have homework Mon-Thurs either from our homework book (student will tear it out and place in their HW folder) or a provided worksheet. Your student needs to complete the “Homework” side of the worksheets from the book and the “Remembering” side is a review. Completing the review side is optional but VERY recommended. If your student has spent a longer than usual amount of time (more than 30 minutes) on the remembering side then please do not make them do the back, but like I said it is a great review to keep previously learned skills fresh in our minds. That being said, we do not teach all the lessons in the book therefore some of the remembering problems could be from lessons that we have not covered… I will try and remind your student of these problems, but wanted to make sure you know they it may be unfamiliar to them.

If you have to help your student on several question please write a note on the homework sheet to let me know… when I see completed and correct homework I assume your student is understanding the material and I will move on. They will receive full credit for doing their homework with or without help so please help in any way that you can and let me know if you do. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at cpyburn@wcpss.net. Thank you for your support at home.

Carol Ann Pyburn

Pyburn News 9-3-13

September 3, 2013

Our week’s highlight: We have had a wonderful start to our new year. All our classmates have shown respectfulness, safety, responsibility, and an eagerness to learn... I couldn’t ask for anything more!

Daily 5 Literacy/Writing: This week we will continue our work with the Daily 5. So far we have discussed and practiced “Read to Self”. Using our book baskets the students have discovered quiet places in the room in which they can read and enjoy their books. While reading to ourselves we have been asking ourselves before, during, and after questions. We will continue practicing this skill and learn how to I-PICK Good-Fit/Just Right Books (I choose a book, Purpose- why do I want to read it?, Interest- Does it interest me?, Comprehension- Am I understanding what I am reading?, Know- I know most of the words). Please see the Daily 5 letter for more information.
In writing we have been discussing different ideas to write a personal narrative. We have made lists, drawn pictures, and used a moment in time. We will be working together to add to this list and start brainstorming to write a personal narrative.

Math: We stared our flexible math classes today and will continue working in these classes for this unit. Our students will have nightly math assignments from their math teacher. This week we will continue to work on addition and subtraction with ungrouping (formally known as barrowing). This will include adding and subtracting with money and across zeros. I will also post some information/videos on this on our blog.

Science: Ms. Underwood will be teaching science to her class and our class. We will rotate between science and social studies every 4 ½ weeks.

Social Studies: Our class will spend the first half of the quarter in my room for social studies. This unit is on citizenship. We will learn about the development, structure and function of local government and how citizens participate in their communities.

Important Reminders:
Friday 9/6 teacher workday/no school
Thursday 9/19 Open house 6-7:45
Friday 9/27 Early release
Monday 9/30 Interims go home

Supplies- Thank you SO much for bring in all your students supplies. The only thing that your student may want/need that was not on the original list was a pencil pouch/box. When we are switching for math or science it may be nice if your student has all their supplies at hand. Your student is also welcome to bring in a pillow to use during Daily 5 independent reading and writing time. This pillow may be kept in their cubbies and I will be sure to send it home every few weeks to be washed :) Please see the list below of a few things we still need/would like to have for our room.

Scholastic- You can send money in with the completed form within the 2 weeks after you have received the order form. If you would like to order books online our class code is JFZTW. Please use this code so we can earn points to get free books for our class!!!

Highlights or Puzzelmania- Please check and sign (don’t need all information if you are not interested) these little half sheets of papers. Even if you do not want the magazines all I need is a signature for our class to win some cool prizes. Last year we got stickers, magnets, erasers, zigzag scissors and many other fun things for FREE. So please sign and return these little sheets for me :)

Water bottles- your student may bring a water bottle and leave it in their cubbie. They can bring it to lunch and recess and return it to their cubbies. They do not need water at their desks because we have a water fountain in the classroom that they can go and get a sip from whenever needed.

Agendas- Agendas are still on back order and we are hoping they will be in on the 10th. I have been providing a HW sheet to those that do not have an agenda yet. PLEASE check your student’s agenda or HW for important information. Also I will have your student write on their HW sheet when the agenda come in so you will know when to send the money in.

Bathroom breaks- All students are asked to go before the bell rings (9:15). We go as a class on the way to lunch (11:45), after recess/before math (12:50), and before specials (2:50). Students are not allowed to go the restroom during direct literacy instructions, but may go one time between 9:15-11:45 while working independently. No bathroom breaks during math 1:00-2:00. If your student has a medical reason that they need to go more often than the times above please send me a note.

Tennis Shoes- Students should wear tennis shoes for recess every day. If you would like to leave an extra/old pair of tennis shoes at school for your student to change into before recess that would be fine.

Homework (HW)- This quarter your student will be required to read 20 minutes Monday-Thursday night AND record their reading on the reading log that is located in their homework folder. Please be sure that the HW binder with the HW folder and agenda is sent back to school Tuesday-Friday.

Weekly Work Habits & Conduct Report- This form is stapled inside the vanilla folder in the Monday folder. Please initial weekly at the bottom of the form. Any tests, quizzes or forms that need to be signed and returned will also be inside this folder.

Website and Email- My email is cpyburn@wcpss.net I will also use a website to post the weekly newsletters and other information for our class. Our website link is www.mspyburnsclass.blogspot.com To save paper I will not send a hard copy of our newsletter every week. If you do not have internet access and would like a hard copy please send me a note or tell your student to let me know.

Class/teacher Wish List
-extra pocket folders (with 3 prongs)
-extra notebooks (3 hole punched spiral)
-1 inch binders
-extra 5 subject dividers>> we have not put our second binders together because several students do not have the dividers or binders to do it
-playground equipment (jump ropes, Frisbees, chalk)
-puzzles and games (for rainy day recess time)
-pillows to sit on during independent reading for those that do not have their own
-books for our class library!!!! All levels and genres will be welcomed
-quiet oscillating fan>> I was about to buy a standup fan from target over the weekend, but thought I’d ask before spending the money. If anyone has a quiet fan that we could barrow that would be awesome!

I hope this was not too much information! Typically our weekly newsletter will be 1 page or less, but I wanted to make sure to cover everything in the beginning.

Thank you for all of your support!
Ms. Pyburn