Spring Pictures

Spring picture packets are coming home today!  Remember, if you choose to keep the photos, please send payment (and any photos you are not purchasing) to school asap.  If you decide not to purchase, simply return the whole photo packet. Thanks!

March Reading Logs

Don't forget to read over spring break, record minutes read on your reading logs, and to return the reading logs on Tuesday, April 2 when we return to school.  We will set new reading goals for the rest of April and students will select the reward for those who met their March reading goals.

Usborne Book Fair/Booster Soup Supper

Mark your calendars - On April 3 from 5 - 8 there will be an Usborne Book Fair at KE.  Students who collected pledges for the Reach for the Stars fundraiser/reading challenge will be given vouchers (worth 50% of the pledges collected) to purchase books at the book fair!  If you can't attend the book fair, books will be chosen for your child via their wish list.

The KE boosters are also sponsoring a soup supper from 5-7pm at KE that evening.  Come and enjoy soup, then shop the book fair.

Reading with Mrs. Hartsock

We focused on the genre of fairy tales this week, reading two Cinderella stories in our anthology.  One was the traditional story of Cinderella, and the other was a version from China, Yeh Shen. Students identified the main characters, important events, setting, etc, of each story, and compared and contrasted the elements.  We also watched the Disney version of Cinderella, and compared the traditional fairytale in our text to the movie.

Comparing and Contrasting

Social Studies

We took our unit test on "Where are Communities? and began our new unit, "The History of Communities" this week.  We're looking back in time to early North American communities and learning about Native Americans and explorers.  In the photos below, students are using the TruFlix website to learn about the Iroquois.

Language Skills

Spelling words this week all included a c making the s sound (ex. once).  Our lists are becoming more challenging - encourage your child to practice at home.

Students also continued working on their biography writing projects (we keep getting interrupted due to special events!), and most have edited their drafts.  We hope to publish next week.

We also reviewed similes as a method writers use to make writing more interesting or clear to a reader.  After reading a book about similes, students wrote their own; we found that it can be a little tricky (the writer has to be sure the reader will easily understand the comparison).

Here are a few that students came up with:

As happy as
          my dad watching football
          a bee in a flower
          children at Christmas

As contented as
          a child eating as much chocolate as they want
          a sleeping baby

As calm as a sleeping cat

As loud as a screaming bobcat in a trap
As pretty as a princess at a wedding

Math

Continued working on learning the multiplication facts this week.  We introduced a skill called extended facts where the kids are able to multiply a number by ten and one hundred.  The kids also reviewed their estimating and rounding skills.

 Keep practicing those multiplication facts, test is coming up after Easter.

Science

This week we wrapped up our science projects on space.  The kids were able to listen to everyone's presentations and then took a test using the i-pads.  We also saw a video about a different way for the Earth to rotate around the sun.  Many interesting ideas.

Reading with Mrs. Bender

Fairy Tales and Tall Tales was our topic this week.  In reading we read two versions of Cinderella, one from the United States and one from China.  We worked on comparing and contrasting, outlining and summarizing for our skills.

In our novel unit, Dear Levi, one of Austin's new friends is great at telling Tall Tales.  We worked on summarizing some familiar Tall Tales like Johnny Appleseed, John Henry and Slue Foot Sue.

Fun Night Basket

Don't forget . . .
Third grade is putting together a garden theme basket for Fun Night (April 27).  We need your help in gathering items to fill our basket - gardening gloves, seed packets, garden decor, trowels, etc.  Thanks for your help!

more concert pics

Baby chicks visit

We enjoyed some special guests last week -- our friends from Hills Bank brought in baby chicks for us to see!  It was fun to hear a story about the chicks, and we especially liked getting to see them up close.  

Social Studies

We wrapped up our current unit, Where are Communities? last week.  Our final lesson focused on "Crossroads" communities, and we also learned about the underground railroad.  To prepare for our unit test, students enjoyed playing a vocabulary matching game.