November 30th

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and extra long weekend!  I know we have enjoyed our time together.

On Wednesday we got to skype with Maddie.  The kids had so much fun and so did Maddie.  She showed us her chickens and goats!  We will try and skype with Maddie once a week so we can all feel connected.

In math last week the students had their test on bar modelling.  The kids did great!  This is a tricky concept so we will continue to work on it throughout the year!  When we get back to school on Monday we will begin multiplication.

In social studies we began learning about history and Massachusetts.  This week we will read about the pilgrims.

Last week in reading we started to read fables.  For the month of December we will be focusing on traditional literature.

In writing we started writing poetry.  We learned about similes and metaphors.

Conference reminders will be going home this week.  If the time does not work for you please let me know.

Pictures from Veteran's Day

Assembly

In this picture we are taking a motor break!

November 15th

We have been so busy this last couple of weeks!
Last week we started our book clubs.  Some of the jobs we have during our book clubs are the character trait, summarizer, questioner, predictor, and word wizard.  The students are doing a great job during their book discussions.  We should be finished with the book "Jake Drake Bully Buster" by the beginning of next week.
This week in math we began solving word problems using bar models.  These word problems are multi-step.  Bar models are a very good visual for students.
Next week we will finish up our personal narratives in writing.  Every child will have one story that was taken through the writing process by the end of next week.  The next writing unit we will begin is poetry.
Last week we had our Veteran's Day Assembly.  Carter did an amazing job assisting Mrs. Costa!
This week we had an author come to our school and speak with us!  Ask you child what they learned!  Today Mrs. Rec's Aunt came in to speak with us about being a veteran.  The students were excellent listeners.

Fun Pictures

Red Sox Day!

Funny picture

The kids did an amazing job playing jeopardy.  We played jeopardy to help get us ready for our science test.

Here we are playing a math game to practice regrouping.

There is another Red Sox day on October 30th!  Go Sox!

Science Test

We will have our science test on Friday.  The homework this week is to continue to study for the test!  We played a fun game of jeopardy today to help get us ready for the test!  I will post picture by the end of the week.

RED SOX!!!

The children in Mrs. Burke's class will celebrate the Red Sox going to the World Series on Tuesday!  They can either wear their favorite Red Sox shirt or red, white, and blue.

GO RED SOX!!!

October 18th

The math test was sent home this week.  I will be sending home the test after every unit.  Please sign and return them so I can keep them in my files. 
Our next math test on regrouping will be on Tuesday!  The kids are doing great!  This week will begin regouping with subtraction.
In Fundations we are learning about 1-1-1 words.  These are words that have one closed syllable, one vowel, and one consonant closing in the vowel.  The students are learning that when there is a 1-1-1 word, and you add a vowel suffix, then you must double the consonant. 
In writing this week the students learned about writing new and exciting leads in their story.  The five different leads we talked about were dialogue, action, setting, question, and sound.  Their new leads were amazing.
We met with our buddies today and worked on some Halloween word problems and then played Halloween Bingo.
We are hoping the Red Sox win this weekend so that we can have "Red Sox" day on Tuesday.  There is a whole school spirit day on Wednesday.  Don't forget your red!
The halloween party will be October 31st at 1:15.

October 11th!

We had such a fun time today with Mark!  He was amazing at jump roping!  It was hard to take pictures because the kids were moving.  Here are two pictures I managed to take.  Thank you for bringing him to our school!

 Here are the children jumping!  They had so much fun!!

 Here is Madison showing off her jumping roping skills!

 

I had to throw in this one of Max!  He isn't smiling but he is wearing all the bracelets the kids are making for him!!   He loves them and only takes them off to sleep!  It is very cute.

 

 

 

 



October 4th

This week in math we learned many different mental math strategies.  I told the students they should use the strategy that makes the most sense to them because all students learn differently.  At the end of the week, we began to learn to add to the nearest tens and hundreds.  Our math assessment will be next Wednesday.

For the month of October we will be focusing on the genre of realistic fiction.  During this genre study the students will be reading independently, in small groups, and at the end of October we will be having book clubs.  Throughout the month I will have book talks on some of my favorite realistic fiction books and we will work on different reading strategies.

In science, we learned about photosynthesis.  Ask your child: "What does the plant need to make food?"

We will begin using Study Island as homework this week.  The class went to the computer lab to take the math pre-test last Friday.  This week we will take the ELA pre-test.

September 27th

We had a great day today!  I was so proud of their listening skills!  This morning we learned about the Native Americans with Cathy and we built a teepee with Dan.  It was a great team building experience.  You would of been proud of your kids!

Here we are after we built out teepee!

Working as a team building our teepee!

Learning about Native Americans!

Girls on one side....

This afternoon we met our buddies for the first time.  The students interviewed each other.

We began Unit 2 in Fundations.  The students will be reviewing suffixes, forming regular and irregular plural nouns, and they will learn 1-1-1 spelling rule.  This means that when the word has one syllable, one vowel, and one consonant, and you add a suffix in: you double the consonant. 

The students are getting ready for our realistic fiction unit.  This week we were immersed in all realistic books.

During math we started learning strategies to add and subtract mentally.  Each child will use a strategy that best fits their learning style.

Next week we will begin writing our personal narratives.  The students are already showing enthusiasm about their writing.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Thank You!

Thank you all for coming to Parent Seminar.  It was so nice to see some old faces and to meet some new ones.  Please feel free to contact me with any other questions or concerns.  Thanks for signing up to help in the classroom, I appreciate it.
This week the students have been working on their listening skills.  We will sit boy/girl for a little while longer to alleviate some of the talking.  I am sure by the end of next week we will be able to choose where we sit.
We had our first math test on place value.  The students did very well.  I will send these tests home next week.  Next week we will begin learning to add and subtract mentally.
Our plants are continuing to grow, some are having  trouble - so hopefully by Monday they will being to sprout!

 In this picture we are working hard during writing.  The students are creating list in their writer's notebook. This is to give them some ideas when we begin writing stories.  They are writing things that they are good at and places they like to go!  Their ideas were great!

In this picture the students are taking there first math test!  Great job third graders!!

Hot Days

We have survived two very hot days in Room 213!  I am very proud of how hard the students have worked during this heat wave.
This week in Fundations we reviewed closed syllables and the students learned that the "tch" sound was a trigraph, three letters put together to make one sound.  The students were very excited this week to begin learning how to write in cursive.
In science we began our units on plants and we planted them this afternoon.  We will observe our plants grow over the next couple of weeks.
If you are planning on ordering books, please try and order by the end of the weekend.

First Week

 Busy little workers!

Some more busy little workers!

The third graders worked hard in the first three days back to school.

This week in Fundations we reviewed our short vowels sounds, blends, digraphs, and blending our sounds.  The students did a great job.

Our class is learning how to use the library and how to pick out a "just right" book.  A book is "just right" if you know most of the words and you can understand what you are reading.

In math we began Chapter 1 in which students will learn to count, read, and write numbers to
10,000.  You may read more about this in the math newsletter that will be sent home next week.

On Monday I will send home a book order that can be sent back to school by next Friday!

Homework will start on Monday.  The students will be sent home with a contract of their homework that is due that week.  Homework should not take more than 30 minutes a day which includes 15 minutes of reading.

If you have any question you may call me or email me at jburke@topsfieldps.org

Welcome Back

This is just one of the fabulous bulletin boards that welcomed back the children!  The third graders had a fabulous first day!  Our class is working on earning squares so they can earn a reward individually.  They are trying to earn thirty squares.  As a class they are trying to earn 30 squares so we can earn an extra recess!  I am proud of their work today!

First Day

I am looking forward to the first day of school tomorrow!  I will meet everyone outside in the morning and I can't wait to see everyone's smiling face!  Get ready for a great year in third grade!

OUR SPECIALIST SCHEDULE IS:

Monday: Gym

Tuesday: Music

Wednesday: Gym (It is okay if you don't have sneakers)

Thursday:  Art

Friday: Library

First Post

July 20, 2013

Welcome back to school!  I am very excited to be returning to third grade after spending the last five years in first.