Weekly Update

Hoppy Easter!

I'm so proud of how focused our class stayed during ELA Milestone testing last week. We just have two more days of Math testing this Wednesday and Thursday, and then we're done! Just like last week, please make sure your child goes to bed on time, eats a good breakfast, and arrives on time on testing days. There will be no homework this week again! We will review all 3rd grade math concepts on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will spend some time with our media specialist in the Learning Commons as we explore some lessons on figurative language. We will also have a lesson with our school counselor this week. There will be a test on the 13 Colonies on Monday, but students will be allowed to use their notes. Finally, on Friday, we will celebrate the end of testing and the end of our novel study by watching the movie, Peter Pan!

As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Weekly Update

Hello Everyone,

• The Milestones ELA testing will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. We will begin each day at 8:00am sharp! Please make sure that your child gets a good night of sleep the night before, eats a good breakfast each morning, and is at school on time. If they arrive late, they will not be permitted into the testing room until we are finished with that day's section and will take the test on a make-up day.
• Testing will take up the majority of our morning. Once we are finished, we will be attending specials from 10:30 - 11:15 and lunch at our normal time each day.  The afternoons of the days that we are testing will be used for math review. 

• Don't forget that THIS FRIDAY is our 3rd grade Colonial Day. We will be working through a series of stations throughout the day to learn more about what life was like during colonial times. A letter was sent home last week about this event and detailed information about how your child can dress if they want to dress as a colonial man or woman for that day's events. 
• There will be no homework or spelling for the next two weeks. 
• Registration folders for next year were sent home with your child on Thursday. Please make sure to return these folders by this Thursday, April 18th. 
• If you child indicated that they would like to be entered into our random drawing for participation in the wax museum at Gator Gala, please be sure to return that signed permission slip by TOMORROW, Monday, April 15th.
• Math Milestones testing will take place next week. We will test on Wednesday, April 24th and Thursday, April 25th.  
• Please join us for garden clean-up day on Saturday, April 20th start at 8:00am. We have many garden areas around Addison that need to be weeded and cleaned out. We would love your help even if it is for a short time! 

Thank you for everything you do to help your child be successful. I know that testing can be stressful at times, but I know that they will all try their best. They have worked very hard all year to be able to show what they know on this test! Please keep in mind that this assessment is only one data point about your child. There are many amazing things that make them who they are!

If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please don't hesitate to reach out. I am here to support you and your child in anyway that I can. 

Have a great week! 

Weekly Update

Happy Spring, Everyone!

I hope you were able to enjoy some extra time with your children this week during Spring Break. I'm excited to see everyone back at school tomorrow. I can't believe we have less than 2 months left in the school year! Please make a note of these dates on your calendar:

Friday, April 12 - Mother/Son Dance at Piedmont Church

Tuesday, April 16 - ELA Milestone Test 3rd Grade

Wednesday, April 17 - ELA Milestone Test 3rd Grade

Thursday, April 18 - ELA Milestone Test 3rd Grade

Friday, April 19 - 3rd Grade Colonial Day! Students can dress up as colonists. More info coming home this week!

Wednesday, April 24 - Math Milestone Test 3rd Grade

Thursday, April 25 - Math Milestone Test 3rd Grade

*4th & 5th grade students are taking the Milestone test on different days than 3rd grade. This is a change from previous years.

A word about Georgia Milestones: I am excited for our students to get to "show off" how much they have learned so far in 3rd grade! We have worked hard to learn the curriculum. Tests can be scary for kids, but I will do my best to keep everyone calm and make it as normal a day as possible. On testing days, we will spend a short portion of our mornings completing a section of the Georgia Milestone, then we're back to normal and will even have some extra recess! We will review some this week for the ELA (reading & writing) portion of the test. At home, you can help by making sure your child has enough sleep each night, eats a good breakfast at home or school, and gets to school on time. Please remember this is just one measure of your child's ability. The people who will grade these tests don't know that your child is an amazing artist or talented athlete, or future scientist, or even a budding comedian! This group of students has impressed me all year with their knowledge, persistence, and hard work! I know it will show when we begin testing next week. As always, please let me know if you have any questions about how testing works. Here is the study guide from the Georgia Department of Education if you're curious about question types: Milestone Study Guide 

Homework: This week, we will have reading, math and spelling homework. Spelling words will be written in your child's agenda on Monday to be studied throughout the week in preparation for Friday's quiz. Math and reading activities will be sent home on Monday to be turned in on Friday. The reading homework looks a little different this week. Please be sure your child is referring to the passages when answering questions. We have been encouraging students to underline words from the text to help them find the correct answers. 

There will be NO HOMEWORK the weeks of April 15th and 22nd due to Milestone testing!

Here is a look at our learning this week:

In reading, we will continue our adventure with Peter Pan. We have been working on using context clues and finding text evidence to answer comprehension questions as we read the text. 

In writing, we will review what informational and opinion writing pieces look like. During one section of the Georgia Milestone, students will read two short passages and then write (type) either an informational or opinion essay based on what was read. We will practice that this week in preparation for next week's ELA Milestone.

In social studies, we are continuing our study of the Thirteen Colonies. This week, we will focus on the Southern Colonies.

In math, we will learn about measuring volume and capacity. Your child should become familiar with the terms gram, kilogram, liter, and milliliter. Check your food and drink labels at home for these terms. Throughout the week, we will work on solving word problems that involve these types of measurements. Encourage your child to create their own word problem based on items you have at home such as, "If one bag of chips weighs 195 grams, how much would 2 bags of chips weigh?"

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about anything. Have a great week!

Weekly Update

Hello Third Grade Families,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It looks like we might actually have some spring weather coming our way! We have one more week before Spring Break and it's a busy one! Please save the following dates on your calendar:

Monday, March 25th -Friday, March 29th (at noon) Book Fair

Wednesday, March 27th, 5-8 pm, Bruster's Night

Thursday, March 28th, 6:00 pm, PTA/Foundation meeting and 3rd grade Performance

Friday, March 29th, 7-7:45 am, FBI Breakfast

Friday, March 29th  Kick-A-Thon

AESF is hosting a kick-a-thon to raise money for the Science Lab and for new technology throughout the school.Your child will attempt to kick 10 soccer goals during specials that day, but must be registered and have pledges to participate. Don't let your child miss out. $1 a kick goes a long way if everyone participates! I'd love my class to have 100% participation, so please register your child  at http://www.sportsathon.fun/

Here's a look at our learning this week:

In writing, we will work on narrative story writing. We will focus on using descriptive language and including dialogue in our stories. We are still working on correctly punctuating dialogue. This is a tough skill!

In reading, we will continue reading the novel Peter Pan. We are using this book to practice a variety of reading comprehension skills. We are also working on using text evidence in our answers and writing complete sentences.

In social studies, we will continue learning about Colonial America. This week, we will focus on the Middle Colonies.

In math, we will work on telling time and solving word problems involving elapsed time. There are some practice activities on the class blog here. To practice at home, give your child some realistic math problems such as, "If soccer starts at 5:30 and lasts for 1 hour and 30 minutes, what time will it end?"

Don't forget our 3rd grade musical is this Thursday night!  The Addison 3rd graders will be presenting the musical “GOAL!" at the PTA/Foundation meeting on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. in the Addison café.

Students should begin arriving at 5:30 p.m. and should report to their classrooms for line-up. Performance attire will be any soccer jersey of your choice, i.e. student's soccer team, Atlanta United, USA National team, blue jeans, and comfortable shoes. 
All 3rd graders are strongly encouraged to attend as they have been working hard on the music during their weekly music classes. Contact Dr. Champion with any questions at Michele.champion@cobbk12.org. You can also practice songs for the musical  here.

Let's have a great week!

Weekly Update

Hello Third Grade Families,

Please save the following dates on your calendar:

Thursday, March 21st, Report Cards sent home

Monday, March 25th -Friday, March 29th (at noon) Book Fair

Wednesday, March 27th, 5-8 pm, Bruster's Night

Thursday, March 28th, 6:00 pm, PTA/Foundation meeting and 3rd grade Performance

Friday, March 29th, 7-7:45 am, FBI Breakfast

Here's a look at our learning this week:

In writing, we will finish our final opinion piece which the students are completing independently. Some recent opinion writings were sent home last week. I've been very impressed with the growth the students have shown! I hope you have a chance to look through the pieces that were recently sent home. Once we finish our opinion writing, we will work on narrative writing again. We will focus on adding descriptive details and meaningful dialogue to our stories. We will also work on correctly punctuating dialogue.

In reading, we will begin a new unit that focuses on the novel, Peter Pan. Over the next two weeks, we will focus on several comprehension skills as we read our new book.

In social studies, we will begin a new unit on Colonial America. For the next few weeks, we will learn about the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. We will have a special in-house field trip based on Colonial America on Thursday morning!

In math, we will learn about geometry. We will focus on the various attributes of shapes and learn how to classify them according to their attributes. Some key vocabulary words to understand are: attributes, quadrilateral, parallel, and right angle. We will be focusing on the following shapes: square, rectangle, rhombus, parallelogram, and trapezoid.

We're looking forward to another great week in 3rd grade!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Weekly Update

Hello Third Grade Families,

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's smiling faces tomorrow morning!

Please save the following dates on your calendar:

Wednesday, March 13th, 12:30 pm, Early Dismissal

Thursday, March 14th, STEM Day **Please have your child wear his or her gray and white Addison shirt given out at the beginning of the year**

Thursday, March 14th, 6:00 pm, International Night

Wednesday, March 20th, Kindergarten Registration

Thursday, March 21st, Report Cards sent home

Monday, March 25th -Friday, March 29th (at noon) Book Fair

Wednesday, March 27th, 5-8 pm, Bruster's Night

Thursday, March 28th, 6:00 pm, PTA/Foundation meeting and 3rd grade Performance

Friday, March 29th, 7-7:45 am, FBI Breakfast

Here's a look at our learning this week:

We will write one more opinion writing piece this week. The students have written several opinion pieces this quarter with help, but now it's time to show what all they've learned by independently writing. We will be looking for a clearly stated opinion with supportive reasons & examples, transition words, an introduction and conclusion, as well as correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

During reading this week, we will be integrating our health standards. The students will be reading and learning about the circulatory and respiratory systems of the human body.

Your child should have brought home a study guide on Early Exploration last week. We studied at school in preparation for our test Monday. After that, we will move on to our science standards about pollution and conservation. We will be going to the science lab for an activity called, "Who Polluted the Hooch?" (as in the Chattahoochee River) We will also learn about the importance of reduce, reuse, and recycle. This Thursday is STEM Day at Addison and the 3rd graders will be creating a portable garden out of recyclable materials! Thank you to those who have sent in materials for this project!

In math, we will continue our work with word problems. Our goal is to be able to solve 2-step word problems with any of the 4 operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). This is such a hard concept for many students, but we will continue to persevere! We have been working on slowly reading the problem one sentence at a time to really understand what we are being asked to do.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you!

Laura Kloos

 

Weekly Update

Hello Third Grade Families,

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! This crazy Georgia weather has certainly kept me on my toes. Please be sure your child has a heavy coat for the next couple days as it looks like we'll be back to winter temps.

Parents: We are still in need of some recyclable materials for an upcoming STEM project. Please send in any cardboard, plastic bottles, milk containers, toilet paper or paper towel rolls, egg cartons, or anything else you would normally put in the recycle bin. Thank you for your help with this!

Please save the following dates on your calendar:

Tuesday, March 5th, 5:00-8:00 pm, Papa John's Night

Wednesday, March 6th, Walk to School Wednesday

Friday, March 8th, 6-8 PM, 4th and 5th grade Dance

Tuesday, March 12th, 5-8 pm, Zaxby's Night

Wednesday, March 13th, 12:30 pm, Early Dismissal

Thursday, March 14th, STEM Day

Thursday, March 14th, 6:00 pm, International Night

Wednesday, March 20th, Kindergarten Registration

Thursday, March 21st, Report Cards sent home

Monday, March 25th -Friday, March 29th (at noon) Book Fair

Wednesday, March 27th, 5-8 pm, Bruster's Night

Thursday, March 28th, 6:00 pm, PTA/Foundation meeting and 3rd grade Performance

Friday, March 29th, 7-7:45 am, FBI Breakfast

Here's a look at our learning this week:

In writing, we will continue our work with opinion writing. We will be writing about our favorite restaurant. We will work on developing convincing reasons with supportive details. We are also working on using transition words to help the flow of our writing. 

In reading, we will work on comprehending cause and effect situations in texts. Some key words to understanding cause and effect are:

In social studies, we will wrap up our unit on explorers with a visit to the Learning Commons. We will code ozobot robots to retrace the routes of early explorers! Ask your child about this activity later in the week!

In math, we will work on word problems. Our goal is to be able to solve 2-step word problems with any operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division). We will review 1-step word problems first and then ease into the more challenging 2-step problems. 

Have a GREAT week!