April 14-17, 2014

Lifeskill or Life-long Guideline of the week: Patience

Math rd 3 - This week in math, we are doing a cumulative review by playing Jeopardy. Students will work with their tribe to choose a question across math categories such as geometry, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, patterns, and measurement. Students will work each problem chosen, share their strategies with their tribe, and then share with the class to earn points for each question. *Ask your child which types of math questions they enjoy solving most and why. th 4 - This week students are reviewing for the upcoming STAAR Test next week. This week we are holding the STAAR Olympics! I am trying to make this as painless as possible. Math tribes are working together through released STAAR questions. Students are taking turns selecting problems that they would like to solve first, this is a strategy they may use during the actual test. Students are expected to follow the school problem solving method of RUCTS, show their work and come to a consensus on an answer. This process has been productive for students sharing and learning strategies from each other. *Ask your child what county they are from and what their mascot is. STAAR Practice In reading this week, the students will be practicing for the reading STAAR test. The practice readings will be integrated with social studies. The readings will touch on the significant figures in the Texas Revolution, such as Davy Crockett and Sam Houston. Students will be expected to create inferences and draw conclusions about the provided text. They should also be able to gather evidence from the readings to support their understanding. Students will continue practicing their reading strategies such as picture/text walk, creating predictions, RUCT, quick writes, and going back into the text to find their answers. Affixes This week in writing, students will be focusing on affixes. We will be exploring the common prefixes such as in-, dis-, and pre-. Also, we will be looking into suffixes such as full, -less, -ion, -ment, and ly. The students are expected to identify the meaning of the common affixes and how it changes the meaning of root words. Students will be doing hands on activities and playing exciting games to study affixes. Earth Day Fair Earth Day Fair will be on Friday, May 2! Your child will either need to bring their lunch or purchase a sack lunch (no trays) from the caf on that day. If your child chooses to bring their lunch from home, we encourage them to continue to use lunch boxes and Tupperware rather than paper sacks and plastic baggies so we can participate in the least waste contest. ! Ms. Anderson is also hosting a take home art project. Students are encouraged to draw a picture or take a photo of themselves doing something green, such as walking or biking to school, recycling, etc. We will hang these self-portraits in our hallways to remind us of all the great ways we can contribute to help our earth! Please see the green flyer in the Wednesday Folder for more specifics. The Revolution of Texas In social studies, students will continue to expand their knowledge of the Texas Revolution. We have finished learning Texas path towards independence, and we will be getting more in depth with the major people and events that took place. This week, the students will be preparing their big debut for the Wax Museum on Thursday. We will be practicing on presenting our art pieces as well as our research information. Students will be focused on public speaking, which includes proper posture, loud and confident voice, and actively listening. Students will analyze the causes, major events, and effects of the Texas Revolution, including the Battle of the Alamo, the Texas Declaration of Independence, the Runaway Scrape, and the Battle of San Jacinto. Also, the students will be able to identify individual that contributed to the revolution, such as Texians William B. Travis, James Bowie, David Crockett, George Childress, and Sidney Sherman; important leaders such as Jose Antonio Navarro, Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones. *Ask your child to present their research project to practice public speaking. . Important Notes and Events! th Holiday: Friday, April 18 Enjoy the day off! STAAR Dates: rd 3 & 4th Grade: April 22-Math, April 23-Reading *The school will provide an optional breakfast that morning for students on STAAR days. The breakfast will most likely be a biscuit or toast, and either sausage or chicken patty. If your child chooses to eat school breakfast on testing days, please make sure they arrive to school NO LATER THAN 7:30am to ensure we begin testing on time that day. Mahlstadt/Svrcek/Kang Wax Museum Date: April 17, 2014 Where: Brentwood Elementary School, Room #309/311 Time: 10:45-11:30am *Thank you for sending project materials! We have everything we need! ! *Please visit our wiki page for information about our class: http://mahlstadtsvrcek2-3class.wikispaces.com/ *Please check the calendar online every week as dates do change. http://mahlstadtsvrcek2-3class.wikispaces.com/Calendar