Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Week 9

Happy Friday! We are pleased to announce that our class has earned a total of 1,323 dojo points all year! We finally got a chance to watch our movie which was our reward from a few weeks ago. We also earned an extra PE class and got to name the gecko. His name is officially now, Spots. Our next reward comes at 1,500 points!
This week was exciting here in third grade as we started multiplication! We have been talking about equal groups of things, repeated addition, arrays and multiplication number sentences. We’ve talked about the relationship they all share as well. There will be a math game in this week’s homework related to this!
We had a nice visit from one of Dedham’s firefighters. He talked to us about making an escape plan with our family and testing fire alarms. Please do this!
Your children are still working hard on their narrative writing stories. This week we talked a lot about similes. They worked really hard to put similes into their stories!
Next week we will be gaining a student teacher. Her name is Sierra Bloom - she just spent the last 8 weeks in 1st grade with Mrs. Nickerson and was phenomenal from what I hear! I’m very excited to have her join us for the next 8 weeks.
Wednesday is Halloween. We are not having a party, but I do have a fun day planned and will be having a small treat for the kids. We will be doing Halloween/fall activities throughout the day, to have a little fun!
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend! Looks like it might be a cold and rainy one. ~Mrs. Haulk







Friday, October 19, 2018

Week 8

Week 8 is under our belts! It’s getting to be that time of year when sickness is starting to hit. We’ve had quite a few kids out this week. Try to get your child resting well and eating healthy! I’m cleaning anything they touch extra carefully and hoping to stop the spread of germs!
This week one was a sad one in third grade. We had a funeral….a funeral for the word “said”. It has been laid to rest and can no longer be used often in story writing. :) We came up with synonyms to replace this word and kids have been diligently writing using words other than our beloved “said”.
Our first unit in science is complete, Stormy Skies. There is a study guide coming home that has the exact questions of the test on it. Please help your child study for this test. This will be one of their first experiences with test taking in science and I will guide them through it as the test is given.
We learned about the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island this week!
Math groups are going well. Keep studying flashcards that come home to increase your child’s math fact fluency. Do you have your child’s IXL login? I’m not seeing many families practice at home and it’s such a great tool! Let me know if your child needs their username and password for use at home. :)






Friday, October 12, 2018

Week 7

Week 7 - wow! Time is just flying by! Another fun week in grade three to tell you about :)
Science: We finished up all of our lessons in our stormy skies unit. This week we became engineers! We tried to figure out how to make changes to houses we built to make them stronger in a windstorm. Check out class dojo for pictures!
Social Studies: We moved on to two different states this week to make up for missing one last week. Vermont and Massachusetts. Your children will be coming home with states/capital flash cards soon!
Writing: we are continuing with our true small moment stories. They are coming along nicely.
Spelling: your child has come home with their week 3 words. Tests are every Wednesday. Please make sure you help your child study for these tests. We do have a spelling lesson throughout the week, but they need to practice these words at home too. Repetition is key!
In math we are now operating in a math workshop fashion. I have three math groups in the room in order to individualize instruction. This seems to be working really well! If your child has come home with flashcards, please try to fit these into your nightly routine. They are important!
The book fair is next week! We will make wish lists on Monday and then you can send money with your child!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Haulk







Thursday, October 4, 2018

Week 6

Another great week in third grade! We’re busy working through all kinds of fun topics!
**Please, please, please** read these newsletters as I strive to give you important information regarding your children. It will ALWAYS tell you when something new is happening or tests are coming up. I appreciate your time to read through :)
Spelling tests started this week. Your children came home with words last Wednesday. EVERY Wednesday they will get new words. They will be located on the back side of their take home folder so they do not lose them. Tests will be on Wednesdays, unless a snow day, then on Thursday. We have four spelling groups in here so you cannot rely on calling a classmate for a list. Let me know and I can copy another if it’s lost.
Stormy Skies continued to be our theme in science this week. We looked at the climate on all the continents and figured out why some places are hot all year round.
We started some reading groups this week (more to come next week) and completed a full week of **successful** rounds of daily 5 each day! Great job third grade!
Math is coming along well, due to the varying levels in our room, as with spelling, we have different groups of kids working on different tasks. I aim to teach to all the varying levels of abilities in the room. Your child might come home saying they are doing something different than other kids and that could very well be true!
If your child came home with orange math flash cards, please study nightly. We’ve been working on strategies to learn these quickly!
As a whole group we are currently reading Wonder. The kids are loving it so far! We are getting ready to start responding in our literature journals to the first 44 pages. I can’t wait to see what they think! :)
Please encourage some of the homework being sent home - remember they can earn dojo points! :)