Math/Science/Social Studies

Math: Students have been working hard to develop a deep understanding of the measurement called PERIMETER.  We have explored patterns in perimeters of rectangles and other quadrilaterals.  This week, we will have more practice finding the perimeters of a variety of polygons, as well as solving number stories involving perimeter.  Next we will move into the measurement of AREA.  Keeping these two concepts separate can be a challenge, so we will spend the rest of the week exploring, practicing, and defining their differences.     

INDEPENDENT STUDY:  To finish off a fantastic 2014, students have each chosen a personal goal for the week.  Perhaps they are still trying to master addition or subtraction. If they’ve achieved fluency there, they may be working on x2, x5, or x10.  Whatever the goal, students will record what they have done each day to reach their personal goal.  On Friday, they will take a one-minute quiz.  Ask your child about their goal and how you can help support their success!!

Science: Our investigation this week will hot and cold water.  We will construct a basic thermometer to observe that water expands as it warms and contracts as it cools.  This will lead into a discussion and exploration of the various states of water—as a solid, liquid and gas.

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our study of Native American legends.  Next we will begin looking at the interactions between the people of The Three Fires and the early European explorers, specifically the French Voyageurs.

End of Year CELEBRATION

We Are Celebrating!

Who:  Mr. Peri and Mr. Grzesik's/Darling classes

What:   A TERRIFIC 2014, and Looking Ahead to a FABULOUS 2015

When:   Friday, December 19^th  (afternoon)

Needed:   Treats, juice boxes, napkins, plates, ziploc bags

If you can help by sending in one of the items above, please write a note/email/or comment below to your child’s teacher.

Thanks in advance for your support!

               

Winter Diamante Poems

Winter will be here before we know it! The 3^rd graders in room B3 decided we wanted to be creative and combine some beautiful artwork with a very cool poem design, a diamante poem.

A little about diamante poems,

The Structure of a Diamante Poem

A diamante poem is made up of 7 lines using a set structure.

Line 1: Beginning noun

Line 2: Two adjectives about line 1

Line 3: Three verbs about line 1

Line 4: A short phrase about line 1

Line 5: Three verbs about line 1

Line 6: Two adjectives about line 1

Line 7: Ending noun

Here are our very own winter diamante poems! Enjoy!

Reading / Writing / Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be continuing in our Understanding Characters unit. We will start the week by learning about how to predict what and how details will happen by using empathy. We will also notice and think about places that create strong emotions to learn more about their characters by using emotional moments in our books to learn more about our characters.

WRITING NEWS:

We received a call from the President! He told us how to end our personal narratives in a fun and interesting way. We will also use everything we've learned to write about our best birthday ever! This will become a published piece and will be graded using a rubric

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home on Monday. (Words spelled with plural endings, -s and -es)

flags

inches

dresses

pies

bushes

classes

apples

colors

drums

branches

things

buses

benches

tracks

brushes

The spelling test will be on Thursday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their December reading log that was taken home yesterday. Those reading logs will be due January 5^th.

Reading / Writing / Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be continuing in our Understanding Characters unit. We will start the week by learning about our characters by noticing when characters act differently from themselves. We will do this by reading more from our mentor text “Because of Winn-Dixie” and building theories about our main character ‘Opal’. We will also use empathy for characters to make predictions about what characters will do next by discussing that as we actively read and empathize with our characters we can predict what they will do.

WRITING NEWS:

We will focus on two new types of leads in our writing: action and snapshot leads. We will review a number of examples of both types of leads and then practice writing our own leads. As always, we will do our 20 minute quick write on a number of different topics to wake up our brain!

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home yesterday. (Words spelled with a long i sound, spelled i and igh)

night

bright

find

light

wild

high

blind

fight

sight

kind

sign

knight

mild

right

sigh

The spelling test will be on Friday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their December reading log that was taken home yesterday. Those reading logs will be due January 5^th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your families and friends. I can't wait to share in this joyous occasion with our son, Paxton. Please make sure you are reading and practicing your basic facts over your long weekend. Here are a few pictures of Paxton!

Time Practice

Can your child tell time on an analog clock?  Here is a link to some time games you can play with your child. It will also be added to the Links for Parents and Students section of the blog.  

Array Multiplication Game

Today we played a game that used arrays to help us multiply.  Please check out this link to play the game. You will also be able to access this game from the Links section of the blog.

Reading/ Writing/ Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be starting our Understanding Characters unit. We will start the week by getting familiar with our new read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. We will then learn how we connect to our characters by noticing and paying close attention to the way a character behaves in the story. Next we will create theories about their characters based on details we notice. Lastly we will connect to characters through Empathy. We will do this by imagining ourselves in the story.

WRITING NEWS:

We will focus on two new types of leads in our writing: question and talking leads. We will review a number of examples of both types of leads and then practice writing our own leads. As always, we will do our 20 minute quick write on a number of different topics to wake up our brain!

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home yesterday. (Words spelled with a long e sound, spelled ee and ea)

sheep

dream

street

east

treat

mean

wheels

peace

real

cheese

leave

stream

sweet

teacher

heat

The spelling test will be on Friday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their November reading log that was placed in their homework tool kit. Those reading logs will be due December 1^st.

Science Fun

 

We have been having a lot of fun in science learning about water and the water cycle. We learned about water in all 3 states of matter: solid (ice), liquid (liquid water), and gas (water vapor). We are currently learning about the different stages of the water cycle: collection, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Today the students worked in groups to make their very own "Water Cycle in a Bag." The students will be observing these over the next week to see, up close, how the water cycle really works! Check out the students hard at work, and their finished products!

 

 

 



The Little Things We Give Thanks For

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving we decided to give thanks to the little things. We each randomly chose an everyday item (light bulbs, shoes, sand, etc.) to brainstorm ideas on why we would be thankful for it. It was a little tough at first, but we all came up with some really good ideas on why it’s important to be thankful for the little things as well. After we got all of our thoughts down on paper, we got to decorate a turkey to help make it look even better!

Stop on down and check them all out!

Here is a close up!

Water Cycle Rap

Here is a link to the water cycle rap song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3NeMVBcXXU

Gleaners Can Drive

Roosevelt Primary needs your help!!

We are on a mission to help Gleaners Food Bank feed as many families as possible this holiday season. Please think about donating canned or boxed goods. Give them to your child to bring to their teacher. The teacher will tally how many items their class has donated. The class with the most items donated will win Special Game Time with Mrs. Keefe and be able to bring their stuffed animal to school for the day!  

Food Drive starts Monday, November 17^th and ends November 21st

NEEDED ITEMS: 

Canned Fruit (no heavy syrup), Canned Vegetables, Tuna Fish, Peanut Butter (in plastic jars), Healthy Cereal/Oatmeal,

Hearty Soups, Canned Spaghetti,  Pasta Beans (black, kidney, pinto, or refried), Canned Meats (chicken, salmon) Pasta, Macaroni and Cheese, Rice, Pancake, or Baking Mixes

Personal Care Items: 

Diapers
Toothpaste and Toothbrushes
Soap and Shampoo

Disposable Razors

THANK YOU for being part of something GREAT!

3rd Grade Learning Community

Today 3rd grade students met to strengthen our learning community.  We plan to do this 2 or 3 times a month.  When we gather we are going to focus on one or two objectives.  Today we learned a new behavior strategy.  Before you speak, T H I N K (T- is it true? H- Is it helpful? I- Is it inspiring? N- Is is necessary? K- Is it Kind?) We also focused on what we were thankful for.  As a third grade team this is what we completed!

What 3rd grade is thankful for...

This will help up to better communicate with one another!

Us Hard at Work!

As a parent you get to hear all about your child’s day when they get home. They will tell you what they learned and how their day was. Rarely do you get to see what it looks like when they are learning. I wanted to make sure that you get a glimpse of what we look at when we are hard at work!

Here you see us reading long and strong from our book boxes during our independent reading time!

Here we are doing our 20 minute quick write to wake up our brains and practice our writing skills.

November Reading Logs

November reading logs went home last Friday. The goal of our reading log is to have your child read at least 20 minutes a night and have a total of 600 minutes read at the end of the month! After your child has read their 20 minutes please have them color in that days calendar square. If you could have a designated spot for the reading log to stay, so your child knows right where it’s at, that would be wonderful.

Don’t forget, November reading logs are due on December 1^st. If your child completes their reading log and it is signed by both you and your child, they earn all that awesome knowledge (and a pizza from Pizza Hut, just for good measure)! Pretty awesome!

Here is a link to the Book It reading log page just in case yours got misplaced.

Happy Reading!

Dear students and families,

Hello! I miss all of you! I hope you are all doing great. I thought I would update you by posting some recent pictures of Paxton. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Time sure does fly by. He still has his nights and days mixed up. He keeps his mom and dad up at night and sleeps during the day. We are working on this! He still loves to sleep, eat, and go to the bathroom. He also loves his swing and laying on the floor for tummy time. I hope you are all doing great and making wonderful choices at school. I miss you all!

Adjectives!

A great way to get your child excited about learning is to make it fun! Showing them educational videos is a good way to make their learning fun. Here is a video on adjectives we saw in school that helped us learn.

Reading/Writing/Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be continuing Unit 2 of Reader’s Workshop, Navigating Non-fiction. We will start the week by choosing Just Right Texts and reading with stamina. We will do this by learning that the strategies we used while reading fiction text can be used in non-fiction text as well. We will also become experts and teach others from non fiction text by learning that we can teach using voice, gestures, and illustrations. Lastly, we will grasp main ideas from text by using boxes and bullets to organize information into larger categories.

WRITING NEWS:

While writing our personal narratives we will continue our discovery drafts and focus on replacing words with more descriptive words. As always, we will do our 20 minute quick write on a number of different topics to wake up our brain!

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home today. (Words spelled with a vowel-consonant-e : The Magic E Rule)

state

close

slide

face

globe

pave

size

smoke

flame

broke

prize

skate

smile

plane

stone

The spelling test will be on Friday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their November reading log that was placed in their homework tool kit. Those reading logs will be due December 1^st.

Math/Science/Social Studies

Math:

We are continuing our work on multiplication and division this week.  We are working with arrays and fact families to show how multiplication and division are related (2X3=6 and 6/3=2).  

Science:  

We will be previewing activities that go along with our next unit on Water!

Social Studies:

This week we are going to learn about American Indians in Michigan.  Students will apply what they have learned about the study of history to American Indian cultures in Michigan. They explore early American Indian groups in Michigan. Students then identify similarities and differences among the groups know as the "Three Fires."

There Are No Lazy Students!

Is your student academically underachieving or unmotivated?  Do they struggle with completing their homework?  Is your student anxious about school and feels that everything needs to be perfect?  Does your student struggle with ADHD?  Do you feel your student is “lazy”?

If you replied “yes” to any of these questions, you’ll want to attend our parenting workshop entitled, “There Are No Lazy Students.”

Ferndale Youth Assistance will host this workshop on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

 in the Ferndale High School Media Center.  The presenter is Judith Lipson, who is a Licensed Professional Counselor and an Educational Strategist with 30 years of experience in education. She specializes in anxiety, ADHD, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. There is no charge for admission.

Pre-registration is appreciated but not required.  To register, or if you have any questions, please call the FYA office at 248-586-8700 or via email atmelinda.hicks@ferndaleschools.org.

October 31st

Although we are not formally celebrating Halloween on Friday, students will be permitted to wear costumes that do not contain a mask, weapons, blood or gore.  We will allow students to pass out special treats for their classmates.  If you are going to donate an item please make sure that you supply enough for 26 students.  

Recycle!!!!

In follow up to the assembly we had on recycling I thought it would be great to post a video we saw and a new one.  Please have conversations at home as to how you and your family could use the Three R's!
Here are the videos: 3 Is A Magic Number, 

Reading Rainbow: How Trash Is Recycled with LeVar Burton

Math/Science/Social Studies News

Math:

Last week we wrapped up our first unit in math on addition and subtraction. This week we will be starting our second unit in math.  The unit focuses on multiplication and division.  We will explore ways to represent multiplication as repeated addition, skip counting, and equal groups.  

Science:  

We are finishing up our unit on Rocks and Minerals.  This week we will have fun exploring fossils (from sedimentary rocks) and have a couple of fun activities planned.  Watch this fun video for review.  The students really enjoyed hearing a song about everything we have been learning about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkGVE6wNAzo The song contains a couple of terms that extends the learning we experienced in class!

Social Studies:

This week we are switching from learning about the geography of Michigan to the history of Michigan.  The students will be exploring ways to be a historian and what tools historians use.  Our focus will be on how to use primary and secondary sources to answer questions from the past.   Key concepts this week include: cause and effect, timelines, history, primary (documents, pictures, diaries) and secondary (text books) sources.   

Reading/Writing/Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be starting Unit 2 of Reader’s Workshop, Navigating Non-fiction. We will start readying our minds to read nonfiction text by doing things like paying attention to details we see in nonfiction texts as well as finding out what differences we see while reading fiction compared to nonfiction texts. We will also start looking for structure in nonfiction text by learning that readers take in and remember what we read when we pause and also that ideas, not plot hold the text together.

WRITING NEWS:

While writing our personal narratives we will focus on sequence: what happened first, then, next, then finally. We will also practice choosing a seed idea to develop into a published piece.

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home today. (Words spelled with ew and oo)

crew

loose

news

school

drew

knew

smooth

pool

shoot

threw

roof

fool

chew

balloon

choose

The spelling test will be on Friday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their October reading log that was placed in their homework tool kit. Those reading logs will be due October 31^th.

Paxton Eli Darling

Good Afternoon friends and family! It's Mrs. Darling! I really miss all of you! I thought I would post a few pictures of baby Darling. We are both doing really well. Paxton is getting bigger and bigger every day. We went to the doctor today and he weighs 6lbs 14oz. He weighed 6lbs 1oz when he was born. I'm beyond ecstatic to be a mom! It is the best feeling in the world. I will keep you all updated with pictures as well as writing to you on the blog. I hope you are all doing your very best job for Mr. G! I can't wait to hear all about what you are learning in class. Keep reading! I read to Paxton every single day. He loves the books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?,  The Little Blue Truck, and On The Day You Were Born. Miss you all! Mrs. Darling!

 

Reading/Writing/Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week we will be starting Unit 2 of Reader’s Workshop, Navigating Non-fiction. Before we fully jump into the non-fiction unit we will be reviewing text features commonly found in non-fiction text. We will become familiar with book summaries, the table of contents, captions and photographs, fun facts and finally, the glossary.

We will review a number of ‘Mentor Texts’ as a class while finding examples of these non-fiction text features while we are reading independently and with our reading partner.

WRITING NEWS:

While writing our personal narratives we will focus on the qualities of good writing: focus, detail, and structure. We will also learn what the writer’s job is in a conference with the teacher.

SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home today. (Words spelled with oi and ou)

proud

boil

loud

house

join

cloud

sound

voice

oil

round

point

south

found

soil

ground

The spelling test will be on Friday.

HOMEWORK: Your child should be studying their spelling words every night as well as reading 20 minutes and recording it on their October reading log that was placed in their homework tool kit.

NWEA Testing

We will begin NWEA testing next week.  Our classes will test on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday first thing in them morning. It is very important that your child is at school for the test each day.  The test are in reading, language and math and should only take about an hour.  It is also extremely important they they eat breakfast and are well rested.  We would like to thank you in advance for ensuring these things happen so that they can be the best they can be!

The test is designed to help teachers meet each and every individual student.  The results give us information about where they are performing.  It then tells us what concepts we need to be working on with them in order to advance their learning.  It's a great tool for teachers and we're very excited to utilize it as a resource to meet our students' needs wether they are below, at, or above grade level.  Here is a link with more information to answer any questions about the test.  As always, contact us with any other questions you may have. (https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2014/07/ParentToolkit_0.pdf)

This short video will also help explain a bit about the test.

Math/Social Studies/Science News...

Math - We are wrapping up our work with basic addition and subtraction methods. (up to 3 digits)  Mr. Boldiszar and I are noticing several students are still struggling with basic addition and subtraction.  As much as we love to play games and do assignments to practice these skills in class,  we are asking for families to practice these skills at home too.  Many games and activities can be found in the homework packet we sent home or on the blog.  We recommend 10 - 15 minutes a night to practice.  Please use the links on the right to play online games or this link to create worksheets to help your child. (http://themathworksheetsite.com) We are also have been working with place value this week and will continue to do so next week.

Social Studies - We are continuing to work on our Michigan studies.  We have begun working on a project folder where students are naming characteristics of Michigan.  Our focus has been on the following:  Neighborhoods (Ferndale, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Detroit) and some of the human characteristics that exist in our community such as stores, homes, library, restaurants, etc.  Natural characteristics such as bodies of water and landforms (waterfalls, lakes, rivers, bay, hills, mountains,  and peninsulas) Look for completed folders to come home sometime next week.

Science - We completed our mineral books today with the class and they should be sent home this Friday.  We have been doing a series of tests on our 12 minerals so that we understand the different properties that are in rocks.  We have learned that all rocks have at least one or more minerals in them.  Here are some links to the videos about rocks and minerals that we watched to help us understand more about the unit. The Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls and The Magic School Bus - Blow Its Top

Hello Everyone!

Dear Third Grade Families:

           

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and let you know how I will be involved in yours and your child’s life. My name is Mr. Ian Grzesik, long term substitute teacher for Mrs. Amanda Darling, your child’s third grade teacher here at Roosevelt Elementary. I was born in Fraser, MI and moved north to Tawas, MI where I graduated from high school. I realized, during my high school years, that I loved to work with children and considered teaching to be a viable option to become my career. I decided that I was going to pursue this career choice and Saginaw Valley State University was the college where I would start this journey at. I am a graduate of SVSU with a degree in elementary education. Upon acceptance into the College of Education at SVSU I decided that this was the absolute best career choice for me and loved spending my semesters working with students in the Saginaw area. These students ranged from kindergarten all the way up to 7^th grade and I worked with them in a number of areas including: mathematics, social studies, science, art/music, language arts and technology.

            I would also like to state that teacher/parent communication is a vital part of a successful school year and I would like to stress the fact that I am open to hearing from you with any questions, concerns, or ideas you may have. I will be contacting you just like any other teacher would and can’t wait to begin hearing back from you.

Once again, I look forward to this experience and can’t wait to begin teaching your children as well as learning from them and this opportunity as a whole. I look forward to meeting you and discussing any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ian Grzesik

E-mail: igrzesik@ferndaleschools.org
Phone: 248-548-1950 

It's A Boy!!!!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Darling would like to introduce you to the newest member of their family!  Paxton was born on Friday afternoon.  He and everyone in the family is doing great.  Stayed tuned for updated pictures!