Miss Gentile's Third Grade Blog

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October 28, 2014

October28

We are so close to the end of the first marking period! The students have made a great deal of progress in the past eight weeks. I’m proud of them for continuously showing respectful and responsible behavior.

Reading: We focused on comparing and contrasting for the past two weeks. We used the Reading Street story Pushing Up the Sky as well as various non-fiction articles. This week we are beginning main idea and supporting details. I’m impressed with how well the students have done with this new skill! We will continue with the skill through out the year. We also will start practicing constructed responses using texts to cite evidence.

Writing: In writing, we have been working on descriptive writing. The students are learning about painting a word picture using strong verbs. In the next few weeks, we will be starting our work with the writing process to publish a story.

Math: In math we have bee working with multiplication and division. In addition, we have worked with order of operations and word problems. The students learned to start with parenthesis, then move to multiplication/division, and last move to addition and subtraction. We used the CUBES strategy to work through word problems and we will be coming back to this skill through out the year. We will soon be starting our unit on measurement!

Odds & Ends:

Parent/Teacher Conferences, No School for students – 11/13, 1:00-8:00PM

Parent/Teacher Conferences, No School for students – 11/14, 8:00AM-3:00PM

Book Fair – 11/13 to 11/21

Dads & Donuts – 11/21

No School, Thanksgiving Vaca – 11/26-11/28

No School for students – 12/1

Picture Retake Day – 12/8 PM

As always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thanks,

Miss Gentile

October 12, 2014

October12

We are only 3 weeks from the end of the first marking period! I’m amazed how quickly this year is going already. Last week we had a WONDERFUL time at Brubaker Park. Students were in groups and traveled to various stations created and run by high school students on agriculture topics. There were many stations and among them were a stream study station, a soil station, a tractor station, and even an animal station! I was so proud of the students I saw  participating in their groups throughout the morning.

Reading: In reading, we used the reading Street text Supermarket to focus on comparing and contrasting as well as background knowledge. The students learned about how people in Early America got their food compared to how we do it today. We had some really great conversations about it! The comprehension test and spelling test taken last Friday will be graded and sent home on Tuesday to be signed and returned. In small groups, we read an article which compared alligators and crocodiles. The students were really interested in the nonfiction piece and completed a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between the two reptiles. This week we continue with comparing and contrasting with new articles, stories, and stations!

Writing: With our busy week, we only had time for 3 days of writing instruction. The students are preparing for their first writing sample next week. We focused on peer editing and practiced with our paragraphs from a few weeks ago. The students did a fabulous job working cooperatively with peers to discuss grows and glows. We also talked about how to read a writing prompt and spent some time looking at the writing rubric used to grade their pieces. Our focus for the coming weeks will be descriptive writing and word choice.

Math: In math, we started division! I am so proud of the students for showing such positive attitudes with the new skill. We have looked at sharing equal groups by drawing pictures, using array, and using fact families. I have stressed the importance of practicing multiplication facts at home each night as we continue with division. The more comfortable the students are with multiplication, the easier division will be!

Odds & Ends:

No school, Teacher In service – 10/13

National School Lunch Week – 10-13 to 10-17

Fire Prevention Program – 10/22

End of 1st Marking Period – 10/29

Conference schedules will be sent home this Friday. Please sign and returns those as soon as possible. Report cards will be given out at the conference.

Please continue to review your child’s assignment sheet each night.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

October 4, 2014

October4

Wow! The students have really been working hard for the past few weeks. We have been learning and growing together and I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year may bring. Our homeroom has shown such respectful and responsible behavior and I’m very proud of them.

Reading: In my reading group, we have spent some time with sequencing and summarizing. We have read Stellaluna and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The students had a blast creating their own story map on poster paper and ordering the events in both stories. We have read and summarized many small passages as well. In the next two weeks we will be focusing on comparing and contrasting in both small groups and small groups. Students will continue to read their Encyclopedia Brown books and participate in literature circle groups.

 

Writing: I have met with each of the third grade homerooms to work on complete sentences and paragraph writing. I enjoyed reading all of the paragraphs and see students’ creativity shine through!

 

Math: In math, we are continuing with multiplication and division. The students are learning how the two are related and are starting with sharing equal groups. I have stressed the importance of practicing multiplication facts each night in order to make division less stressful. We are also starting to take one minute timed tests a few times a week on math facts. I have sent home flashcards, but the students may practice in whatever way they are most comfortable.

 

Odds & Ends:

October 6th: Brubaker Park Trip- please send a bagged lunch on Monday as we will be eating at the park!

October 9th: Picture Day

October 13th: No School for students

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

September 14, 2014

September15

Our first full week of school has come and gone. The students are doing well with our routines and continue to show respectful and responsible behavior. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring!

Reading: In reading, we used the Reading Street story When Charlie McButton Lost Power to practice with literary elements such as characters, setting, plot, and theme. We also connected the skills to our read aloud book Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher. In our small groups, we started our literature circle books. There are two groups in our class and one group is reading Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective while the other group is reading Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day. We’re all very excited to explore the book through different roles. This week we will continue with literary elements and complete some fun activities!

Writing: I have met with all three classes to set up our writing folders. This week will be spent with our homeroom group and we will work on sentences and paragraphs.

Math: We worked out place value last week. The students learned the difference between a digit’s place and a digit’s value. We will come back to this skill throughout the year. In addition to place value, we started our unit on multiplication. The students worked with arrays to create repeated addition sentences as well as multiplication sentences. We will continue to multiplication in the coming weeks and I will be sending home flash cards to practice at home. Fact fluency is essential for the students before going further to division.

Odds & Ends:

Friday Folders will go home at the end of each week. Please look through the folder with your child and empty the Keep At Home side. The papers on the Return To School side should be reviewed, signed, and returned with the folder on Monday. Thank you for your support with this communication system!

We are now collecting Box Tops! Information about this was sent home in the Friday Folder.

9/17 Early Dismissal at 12:30

10/3 Early Dismissal at 12:30

10/6 Brubaker Park field trip (more information will be coming soon)

10/9 Picture Day

10/13 No School

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

September 8, 2014

September8

Week two has flown by! The students split up into their reading and math groups and were able to try out our new computer programs such as ST Math and Kid Biz. We are ready for our first FULL week of school!

Reading: In reading we focused on literary elements such as characters, setting, and plot. We read a short passage titled My Dog Ate My Homework and highlighted the important information. We also spent time logging onto Kid Biz to take a short placement quiz and complete the first article. This week we will begin using Reading Street to focus on comprehension skills.

Writing: I have met with all but one of the third grade classes. We have been looking through our writing toolbox folders and practicing brainstorming as well as free writes. I’ve been impressed with the imagination of this group and can’t wait to see what the year brings!

Math: In math we practiced subtraction with regrouping. The students have done a nice job and even tackled double regrouping! We will begin our unit on multiplication and division this week, but we will continue to to come back to addition and subtraction facts. We also spent some time on ST Math!

Odds & Ends:

Early Dismissal 9/17

Early Dismissal 10/3

Brubaker Park 10/6 (more information is coming!)

Picture Day 10/9

No School 10/13

 

As always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time!

Thanks,

Miss Gentile

September 1, 2014

September2

What a WONDERFUL first week of school! We spent a great deal of time getting to know each other as well as working on procedures and routines in our homeroom. The students also had the opportunity to meet with their reading and math teachers this week for a short period of time. We will be switching for the full reading and math blocks this week. A letter with your child’s teachers was place in the Friday Folder this week.

Reading: In reading this week I will be introducing the students to a few of the online programs we will be using this year. KidBiz and Book Flix are two the students will be using during our reading block. We will also work on routines such as small groups and literature circles. I’m looking forward to jumping into our reading content in the coming weeks!

Writing: I will be teaching writing for the entire third grade. This week we will focus on the topics of brainstorming and free writing. There are a ton of fun writing activities that we will be doing this year!

Math: In math we will be reviewing topics from second grade such as subtraction with regrouping. Later in the week we will begin our unit on multiplication. A packet of multiplication flashcards will be sent home in the coming weeks and the students should practice with those each night. Fact fluency is essential for the upcoming units.

Odds & Ends:

Friday Folders were sent home last week. Please review the work with your child and sign/return any of the forms on the Return to School side. The folders will be sent home every Friday or on the last day of the school week. They should be signed and returned on Monday of the first day of the school week. Thank you for your support with this!

9/4 Back to School Night – I look forward to meeting families this Thursday night!

9/17 Early Dismissal at 12:30

10/3 Early Dismissal at 12:30

10/6 Field Trip to Brubaker Park- more information will be coming!

10/9 Picture Day

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time! I’m looking forward to a wonderful school year! Thank you in advance for your continued support in your child’s education.

Have a great night!

Miss Gentile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 22, 2014

August22

welcome-back-to-school-owl-3(psychobabblesblog)

Welcome back for another great school year! I am so excited to meet all of the incoming third graders. During our first week of school we will be spending a great deal of time getting to know each other and establishing procedures within our homeroom. Starting the second week of school students will be grouped for reading and math, and will have the opportunity to work with students outside of our homeroom. We are looking forward to a wonderful learning experience this year!

As the year begins, I wanted to share some helpful information.

  • First, the third grade classrooms have moved since the end of the school year. We are now located in the middle hallway between first/second grade and fourth grade. Our homeroom will be 112.
  • Each day we will have a scheduled snack time. If your child would like snack, please send in something healthy! During the first week I will be providing snack for the class.
  • Our specials schedule is as follows:

                          A Day: Library

                         B Day: Computer Lab

                         C Day: Music

                          D Day: Gym

                          E Day: Art

  • We will not have school on August 29th and September 1st. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
  • Back to School Night will be held Thursday, September 4th from 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM  I look forward to meeting parents and families!
  • We will have an early dismissal on September 17th. Students will be dismissed at 12:30.

If at any time you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me! I can be reached by phone at (717) 445-8600 or by email at katie_gentile@elanco.org. If you would like to set up a meeting, I would be happy to set up a time for that as well!

I look forward to working you and your children this school year. Enjoy the rest of your summer!!!!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

May 27, 2014

May27

We are in the home stretch of the school year now with only 10 days left! There have been many exciting things happening the last few weeks.

Reading: Last week in reading, we completed the Unit 5 Review. Students focused on author’s purpose, sequencing, summarizing, and compare and contrast. We watched videos, read short passages, and played a few games too! This week we are focusing on non-fiction and using National Geographic Explorer magazines.

Writing: Students are finishing their persuasive letters to Mrs. Andersen. They are doing a great job using colorful words to grab their reader’s attention!

Math: In math, we have been working on area, perimeter, and cubic volume. We are focusing on how we find each measurement by using addition or multiplication. This week there will be a review and quiz on this topic.

Social Studies: We have been working with Map Essentials and will continue to focus on the book this week. We are looking at maps of agriculture in the U.S. and around the world.

Odds & Ends:

Field Day- May 30th Please be sure your child wears sneakers, brings a water bottle, and has sunscreen!

Early Dismissal- June 9th

Last Day/Early Dismissal- June 10th

 

As always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

 

 

May 18, 2014

May18

Only 15 days left of the school year! Last week was a very busy week for us in third grade. We took our final STAR test for the year, and the students showed a great deal of growth! We also had our field trip to the North Museum on Friday. Students went to a planetarium show and saw exhibits on dinosaurs, the constellations, and a live animal room! Even though our lunch at Long’s Park was rained out, students enjoyed eating lunch at Cafe Gentile.

Reading: In reading, we read the main selection Me and Uncle Romie. Students worked on the main skill of author’s purpose and prior knowledge. Our phonics skill was suffixes and many students did an awesome job with the spelling test at the end of the week! This week we are reviewing Unit 5.

Writing: Students are finishing up their persuasive letters to Mrs. Andersen. We also have a second persuasive piece that is being completed.

Math: With our busy schedule, we were only able to hold math groups for one day last week. My group reviewed skills from this year in preparation for the STAR test. This week we are moving to cubic volume and reviewing area and perimeter.

Social Studies: During our content block, we met with our sixth grade buddies to prepare for our Culture Day event this week. Students worked with their partner to research arts/crafts, education, and sports that are common in Laos.

Odds & Ends:

Early Dismissal- May 21st

Culture Day- May 22nd begins at 1:30. Families are welcome to tour all of the countries students have been researching this year.

No School- May 26th

Field Day- May 30th

As always if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

May 11, 2014

May11

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather this weekend!

Reading/Writing: We spent last week reviewing for our final writing sample as well as working with the Reading Street story and skill. Students read the main selection Jalapeno Bagels and focused on the skills of drawing conclusions and summarizing. The writing sample was Thursday and the students wrote to an opinion prompt. Those will be scored and sent home by the end of the month.

Math: Students worked on two digit by one digit multiplication and they did a wonderful job! They were quick to pick up on the necessary steps and I was so proud of them. Some students felt comfortable enough to try three digit by one digit which was great! There are still a few students who are struggling with basic facts and practice each night would be beneficial.

Social Studies: We looked at our Constitution last week. Students learned why we have a constitution and the different parts within it. This week we will be taking a break from government to go over Map Essential skills as well as work with our sixth grade buddies for our culture project.

Odds & Ends:

Our field trip to North Museum will be Friday, May 16th! A page will be sent home this week with information for the day. All chaperones please arrive to school no later than 8:50!

May 21 will be an early dismissal.

May 22 is our Culture Day event!

Field Day will be held on May 30th.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thank you,

Miss Gentile

 

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