Notes and Social Studies

This Weeks Notes

• The kids earned their PAWS Reward today in class.  We watched a cartoon and had popcorn.  Their next PAWS objective is to wear their clothes to school Inside Out!
• The school is collecting box tops this month and many students have brought in sheets with box tops.  The class with the most box tops gets a special prize.  If you have any left turn them in.  Tomorrow is the end of the competition.
• Friday is a very busy day.  We have our Crowded House Play at 8:30 in the room.
• The student's Harriet Tubman project is also due on Friday, March 1.  If you are coming to the play and want to bring the project then you can.
• The February Reading Calendars are the other thing that are due on Friday.  We'll have our extra Reading Recess on Friday.
• Caps for a Cure money is also due on Friday!  If your child would like to wear a cap on March 8 they need to pay $1.

Social Studies

• We are finishing up our Harriet Tubman unit this week.  We'll finish the book on Thursday, watch a short video that depicts Harriet's Life, and each child will present their Harriet Project that they made at home.  The presentation will tell what they made, how they made it, and how it fits into the story of Harriet Tubman.
• Early next week we'll transition to Science.  We study Energy for the month of March.

WKCE Results

The WKCE test results are back and we will be sending them via mail to the parents.  The school is sending the test results for each child in the IGEMS building out tonight (Monday).  I would guess most of you will get them on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

Third grade is the first year that students take the WKCE test.  If you have questions about the test please e-mail (avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us) or call me (608-943-6313 ext. 1048)

Paws Activity

The student have earned another Paws Activity next week.  The Paws program is done school wide and is just a way to recognize positive behavior in the building.  They have been collecting paws all year to go towards rewards.  The next reward day will be on Wednesday, February 27.  We will be doing popcorn and a cartoon.

We also picked our next reward, and it'll be an interesting one.  The students have chosen to do Inside-Out Day, which hasn't been done yet at IGEMS.  After the students collect 21 more paws we will select a day where the students can wear their pants and shirts inside out!  It will take a while to earn 21 paws so this activity probably won't be until late March or maybe even April.

The Crowded House Play

The Crowded House

Room 520

March 1 at 8:30 a.m.

The Van Clan Class

You are invited to the Crowded House Play on Friday, March 1 at 8:30 a.m.  The play should not run over 30 minutes.  We will be having this play in the classroom.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can bring in your child's Harriet Tubman project if you are able to come and watch (It will not be considered late on the rubric, even though it's brought in at 8:30.  The kids were very worried about that).

Below are the characters for the play.  We picked the parts today and we'll really focus in on the play next week.  The kids are always very excited to get everything ready.
   

The Crowded House
Father	Jackson
Mother	Mariah
Molly	Hailee
Joan	Nicole
Meg	Jackie
Mary Ann	Montanna
Martin	Owen
Willy	Abby
Tom	Jim
Joseph	Skyler
Granny	Brynn
Batholomew	Zachary
Goat	Emma
Donkey	Savannah
Narrator	Hailey

Calendar Update

Schedule

Feb. 20 - FFA Petting Zoo

March 1 - Harriet Tubman Projects Due

March 1 - Extra Reading Recess

March 1 - Crowded House Play - 8:30

March 10 - Time Change

March 17 - St. Patrick's Day

March 20 - Spring!

March 21 - Spring Party

March 22 – End 3^rd Quarter

March 22 – Early Release

March 23-31 – Spring Break

April 1 – Return to School (No Joke)

April 1 - Begin 4th Quarter

May 1 – Early Release

May 27 – No School

May 30 - Field Trip

Last Day ???

I have updated the calendar through the end of the year.  There are still several things that will be added as we get closer.  Here is a rundown of some of the activities we are doing.

• Feb. 20 -Tomorrow is the FFA Petting Zoo.  We are going in the afternoon and it is over at the high school.
• March 1 - This ends up being a busy day.  We have our Harriet Tubman projects due, February Reading Calendars due, and we will present the play, The Crowded House, in the morning.  Parents will be invited to the play and if your child has a large Harriet Tubman project you can wait and bring it with you.
• March 21 - Our spring party will be on Thursday since we only have a half day on Friday.  This is the last party of the year and the committee members are Hailee, Zach, Savannah, and Owen.
• May 30 - Still Tentative - Our field trip to Folklore Village will probably be on Thursday, May 30.  It's not official yet, but I don't expect it to change.
• Last Day  - We have built in snow days and we've had many missed days this year.  There's still the possibility for more too!  Once I find out I'll let you know.

Popper's Penguins

The next couple of weeks in language arts will be very busy.  We just finished reading the classic, Mr. Popper's Penguins as our read aloud story.  On Monday the whole third grade will watch the movie too.  We will then write a compare and contrast paragraph of the two.  This will take all of next week and some of the following week.

• Because of the video on Monday, we won't start our spelling until Tuesday.  The spelling pretest will be sent home on Tuesday, Feb. 19.
• Our story for the next two weeks will be the Crowded House.  This is the second play we do in third grade.  Next week we'll read the play and pick parts.  We'll dig into creating the play the following week.  The play itself will be on Friday, March 1.  I will get a specific time next week, but it will be in the morning.
• We also have our next unit test coming up in the next two weeks.  I am hoping to start the test at the end of next week and finish it the following week.
• We won't have a spelling list the week of Feb. 25-March 1.  Between finishing our unit test and doing the play we will be plenty busy!

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ear

This is our story for the week.  It has a video from PBS that goes with it read by James Earl Jones.  His voice sounds so cool!  He's also the voice of Musafa in the Lion King.

Watch Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears on PBS.  See more from WENH.

Harriet Tubman Home Project

Below is the sheet that is coming home tonight for the Harriet Tubman project.  Please work with your child to come up with something they will be excited about.  If you have an idea that isn't on the list please ask me first.  The rubric is also attached on the sheet that I sent home.

Please choose one project to do at home.  You may have help with your project.

          *Design a quilt from either fabric or paper.  This was

            Harriet’s prized possession.

          *Make a shoebox diorama of a scene from the book.

          *Write a letter to Harriet Tubman.  Express your opinion on

           slavery and what she did to help so many people.

          *Draw a “wanted” poster of Harriet Tubman.  Remember to

            include key information such as her description, what she is

            wanted for, the amount of reward offered, etc.

          *Make a model of Harriet’s log cabin.  Be creative!  No

          Legos, please.  Your own creative ideas are the best!

          *Draw a map of Harriet’s journey.  Be sure to include a

           title, key, etc.  Color it.

          *Make a game that has something to do with Harriet  

           Tubman or slavery.  Include a rule sheet.

          *Do you have another idea?  Please ask me about it before

            you do it.  I enjoy your creative ideas!

Your project is due on Friday, March 1st.   It will be graded, and you will be presenting to your class.  Have fun!

New Math Books

We started our fourth math unit of the year this week.  With the start of this unit we also got new activity books.  It's always exciting to get a new set of books and feel like we're moving on.  Most of the math pages that come home are the ones torn out of our activity books.  We are a little past half way through the year, but I think we'll still be able to finish the math series.  The second activity book is a little shorter than the first.

Here are the math units that we have remaining for the year:
Unit 4 - Multidigit Addition and Subtraction
  - Place Value and Rounding
  - Grouping to Add
  -Ungroup to Subtract

Unit 5 - Write Equations and Solve Word Problems
  - Types of Word Problems
  - Two Step Word Problems

Unit 6 - Polygons, Perimeter, and Area
  - Triangles and Quadrilaterals
  - Area and Perimeter

Unit 7 - Explore Fractions
  - Fraction Concepts
  - Equivalent Fractions

Art Award!

Congratulations to one of our Van Clan members, Jackie, who will have her artwork on display at the Wisconsin Capitol from February 23-March 1.  Her piece, titled Plant Explosion, is the only piece from Iowa-Grant that will be displayed at the Capitol and earned a first place ribbon.

Awesome Job Jackie!

Valentine's Day Party

Party

We will be able to have our Valentine's Day Party on Valentine's Day this year.  It will be on the afternoon of the 14th.  Our Valentine's Day committee will be in charge of games and treats.

Cards

We will be making Valentine's Day Envelopes for our cards this Friday.  Students do not have to bring cards in, but if they do please have them make them for all the students in the class.  I am sending home a class list with the children tonight.

Box Tops

The Parent/Teacher Club is also sending home a sheet to collect Box Tops.  It has a Valentine's Day theme. The class that returns the most Box Top sheets will receive a special surprise!  The sheet to tape the Box Tops to will be coming home tonight as well.

Harriet Tubman

This week we are starting our Harriet Tubman unit.  We'll spend all of February reading the book, filling out the study guide, and learning more information about her.  Most people knew that she was an escaped slave, but she also did many other amazing things during her lifetime.  Above is the book that we read about her.

The students will also do a Harriet Tubman home project, which I'll give more information about soon.  The students will have several different options for which kind of project they would like to do.  The project will be due on Friday, March 1st, but I want us to get into the book a little bit before they start their projects.

Congrats!

Congratulations to the following students for turning in their reading calendars:  Mariah, Emma, Abby, Montanna, Nicole, Jackie, Alyson, Hailey, Skyler, James, Hailee, Zach, and Savannah!  It was a great day for them to have an extra recess outside.  The sledding hill had a nice layer of fresh snow!  The students got their Pizza Hut coupon today as well.

Also, our math test is tomorrow (Tuesday).  We reviewed for a good chunk of the math lesson today so they don't have any homework tonight.