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!  

Math - Subtraction

Here is a video that students wanted me to post about subtracting with regrouping.  If you have time click on the link for review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JS397L9YfM

Science Fun!

Please check out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6v4J-CpKQE)what we learned about the history of magnets and stones today.  Here is a link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HqW5m9yzgM) that students can use to do an experiment at home.

DON'T FORGET!!!

Friday, October 10th is a HALF DAY OF SCHOOL.
Dismissal is at 11:13 a.m. 
Busses will be approximately 4 hours earlier than normal afternoon time.


*No regular SACC on Friday, October 10th. Any student in need of after school care must be pre-registered for Half Day Camp held at JFK.

Thank you

Reading/Writing/Spelling News

READING NEWS:

This week your child will learn that when they encounter a hard word, using the upcoming context clues will help them determine the definition.

Your child will also meet with me individually where I will be giving them their DRA level. They will then get to go off and shop for just-right books. Parents, you will see a pink sheet coming home this week with their new reading and math levels.

Your child will be introduced to their reading partner and will interview each other as readers. I will teach the children that reading friendships begin with readers coming to know each other as readers, and then using that information to support each others efforts to author reading lives.

Finally, I will teach your child that much of the fun in reading comes from sharing a book with another reader. When readers think and talk about our reading with others, we have more fun reading. 

WRITING NEWS:

We are still working on personal narratives during writing workshop time. They will be thinking of a meaningful place, listing small moments related to it, and then they will select on and write about it.


SPELLING NEWS:

Spelling words went home today. (short o and e words) 

crop
test
clock
spent
drop
left
sled
plot
spend
west
block
tent
desk
flock
nest

The spelling test will be on Friday.

*SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
Thank you so much to those of you who ordered from the book club. The books take between 7-10 days to deliver. I'm expecting them to be here by the end of the week.  Thank you!

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.

SUPERHERO SWAG

Are you practicing your writing skills at home? Does your writing follow the superhero swag rules? You can do it! Practice at home. Thanks!

Share Our Similarities, Celebrate Our Differences!!!

We have been discussing in class what it means to be a good friend and that everyone is unique in their own way. I read a book called Don't Laugh At Me by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin. I then found the book online. Please feel free to watch the video/song/book with your family!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Dej4Gfkmc

THANK YOU!!!!

We had a wonderful turnout for Curriculum Night on Tuesday. Thank you so much! For those that were not able to attend, your son/daughter brought home a packet of information yesterday including a homework tool kit. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!