Wayside School Diorama Project

Using materials from home, students designed their own version of Wayside School from a unit novel we read in class.

Wayside School was supposed to be 30 classrooms, one story high; but by mistake it was built straight up 30 stories.

This is our class version of the school built sideways!

3rd Grade Peek at the Week News November 28, 2011

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

Please take a look at this week's highlights:

Vocabulary/Spelling: Unit 14 due tomorrow in the textbook. Vocabulary Quiz on Thursday and Spelling Test on Friday.

Reading: We wrapped up a wonderful novel unit with some creative projects and dioramas of Wayside School! Visit the hallway and check out some of our creations. This week, we will begin using Essential Skills for Reading Success: Strategies for Reading Comprehension and Test Taking, a supplementary reading material provided by the Downes family. This book provides practical reading skill strategies such as recalling facts, main ideas, identifying sequences, analyzing narrative elements, recognizing cause and effect, drawing conclusions, and making inferences. Combining our prior knowledge with the Thinking Maps strategies, we discovered that we already know at least 8 out of the 14 skills introduced in the textbook. Today, the class took an active part in their own learning by identifying which Thinking Map to use to analyze the Table of Contents in the textbook.

English: We did very well in our last English/Grammar test. We will continue with lessons on nouns with a focus on singular and plural possessive nouns.

Math: We are almost finished with our Math Multiplication and Division drill and will continue in our learning mode in ALEKS. This week's focus is the ALEKS QuickTables practice (using the 10 key)Stay tuned for more instructions regarding our "MyPie" learning mode.

Notes/Reminder:
1. Tomorrow Mrs. Grimm and Mrs. Hays will conduct an all-school liturgy practice to go over some of the changes in the responses for Friday's Mass.

Have a wonderful week!
~Mrs. Pia Villanueva-Pulido

3rd Grade Peek at the Week News November 21, 2011

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

I am thankful for the opportunity to bring you wonderful news this week: NO HOMEWORK! NO SCHEDULED TESTS!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Notes/Reminder:

We welcomed our most recent guest speaker, Deputy Constable Charles Woertendyke who came to speak to our class about respecting authority, helping the community, and working hard in school.
His bio is below:

I have lived in Dallas County my entire life. I graduated Skyline High School Dallas, TX in 1989. I worked in the family owned business before graduating high school   I attended the police academy at Cedar Valley College between 1992 and 1993 where I completed basic, intermediate and advanced officer training. I began my career as a Deputy Constable in August 1993. I worked with the Dallas County Constable Office Pct. 1 from August 1993 to April 1994.

I was given the opportunity to work in Ellis County’s Constable Office Pct. 1 in April 1994 and remained there until December 1994. I was transferred over to Ellis County Constable Office Pct. 4 in February 1995 where I stayed until December 2006. I moved to Tarrant County Constable Office Pct. 7 December 2006 to help the new Constable set up his office and now I have returned to Ellis County since the job in Tarrant County is concluded.   I now have an advanced TCLEOSE rating which few Deputy Constables hold.  I guess you could say my entire law enforcement career has been devoted to a Constable’s Office.

I married Cynthia Kaylor of Irving in March 2002. We have two boys, John and Charlie. We have lived in Grand Prairie since we were married or seven years. 

Throughout my life I have been active in the Democratic Party and block walked,  distributed yard signs, and obtained ballot petition signatures for Democratic candidates.  This is the first time I am running for the office of Constable or any office. 

I am available to discuss issues with you and any group which has coffees or meetings to attend. For more information, visit http://www.charles4constable.com/

Thank you.

Deputy Constable Charles Woertendyke

Our Most Recent Guest Speaker: Deputy Constable Charles Woertendyke

Such Cuteness!

These pics were taken a few weeks ago after Mrs. Garcia came to visit us!

These kiddos are definitely not camera-shy!

A Quick Pose with our guest speaker Mrs. Garcia

3rd Grade Peek at the Week News November 14, 2011

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

Please take a look at this week's highlights:

Vocabulary/Spelling: Unit 13 workbook pages due tomorrow. Today we are reviewing using word maps to identify synonyms, antonyms, definitions, and usage. Vocabulary Quiz on Thursday. Spelling Test on Friday.

Reading: We have finished our unit novel Sideways Stories from Wayside School. The reader response packet is due in class today. Please allow students to bring materials from home (no need to buy) to create a diorama of the novel's setting and scene as our classroom project.

English: We are reviewing Nouns: Common vs Proper and Abbreviations and Titles. We will have a test tomorrow over Chapter 7. Study page 458 in the textbook.

Math: We finally finished reciting our Math multiplication facts from 2's through 12's! See daily grades for the recitation entered in your parent Renweb account. This week, we will practice written mixed multiplication with some division, so expect to find more drills for homework and class work. We will also return to the ALEKS lessons using QuickTables for more Math drills practice.

Religion: This week, we will use sources from the Faith and Life series to understand the following concepts: God is eternal, God is almighty, all holy, all wise, and all perfect. We aim to have the children understand that through God's perfections, He made each person unique (cross-curricular tie-in with the Bucket Fillers vs. Bucket Dippers character building lesson).

We are well into our 2nd quarter in our grades and class work. It is important to keep reminding our children that our classroom performance and our work habits are reflective of our report card grades. Let's keep the kids (and each other) motivated to work hard!

Have a blessed week!

~Mrs. Pia Villanueva-Pulido

"Healthy is Good For Me!"

3rd Graders listen to guest speaker and registered dietitian Mrs. Jeanne Gay

3rd Grade Peek at the Week News November 7, 2011

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

Please take a look at this week's highlights:

Vocabulary/Spelling: Unit 12 textbook pages due tomorrow. Vocabulary Quiz on Thursday. Spelling Test on Friday.

Reading: Students are still reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School and completing interactive notes together in small groups. They are enjoying analyzing different characters from the book using a cross-curricular character building lesson they recently learned. Have You Filled a Bucket Today by Carol McCloud (http://www.bucketfillers101.com/).

English: We are learning two different types of nouns: common vs. proper nouns. We are also learning the grammar mechanics of abbreviations and titles. We continue to apply our grammar mechanics into writing.

Math: Recitation of multiplication facts continued. Study for tomorrow's quiz 11's and 12's. Ask your child if he/she still needs to make up other math facts quiz. Today we will do a mixed multiplication drill called Mad Minute. They are given a mix of 50 multiplication facts and they are timed to see if they can recall the facts quickly and accurately. Tonight, they will need to do a Mad Minute drill with a parent or guardian. The parent/guardian will time the child (2 minutes for 50 facts). After two minutes, students need to record how many facts they completed correctly. Then they may fill in the rest of the facts in a different color pencil or pen. Parent signature required for verification.

Science: This week, students are given reading passages from a weekly reader newspaper. We have read together in class on Matter. We will have discussions and writing prompts as well as comprehension questions together in class. Please encourage your class to be attentive during these discussions, especially when the teacher announces that they will need to listen to be able to successfully answer the comprehension questions.

Notes/Reminder:
We have had two lovely guest speakers come to us recently to discuss healthy eating habits and nutrition. Mrs. Garcia and Mrs. Jeanne Gay recently spoke to the 3rd graders. Some key points:
*Healthy habits and healthy choices to respect and protect our bodies
*Taking pride in our bodies as they are gifts from God
*Learned a song called "Healthy is Good for Me"

Mrs. Jeanne Gay is a  registered Dietitian with a Bachelor's Degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences and holds a Master's Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. She works mainly in Rehab and Long Term Care providing nutritional support for patients healing from surgery, strokes, and cancer treatments. She loves children and holding other people's children. She has one son at Holy Family, Everett in 6th grade. Her husband Tony is regularly seen playing bass guitar during Friday Mass or at TYM on Sunday Evening. Mrs. Jeanne Gay is a volunteer for the Parish Council at HFN, as wellas in PTO events, PSIA, Running club, and other events at the church and school.

Halloween Class Party

Yummy Treats!

                                                   

No leftover pizza afterwards

Adorable 

Silly

3rd Grade Peek at the Week News October 31st, 2011

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

Please take a look at this week's highlights:

Vocabulary/Spelling: Due to the short week, we will have both the Spelling Test and Vocabulary Quiz on Thursday for Unit 11. Unit 11 pages are due tomorrow. We will review and play games in class.

Reading: The 3rd class is enjoying the novel we are reading in class Sideways Stories from Wayside School, especially since their teacher dressed up as one of the characters from the book for Halloween :) Sideways Stories from Wayside School, written by Louis Sachar includes humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom in each story. In class, we do several interactive activities to enrich the lessons.

English: We are still working on our final draft of our personal narrative essays. We take time in the computer lab to learn basic typing and computer skills as well as grammar and punctuation. It is a long, tedious process but worthwhile.

Math: We are still memorizing our multiplication math facts. Practice reciting the 7's tonight for tomorrow's recitation quiz. 8's and 9's to follow and other multiplication drills.

Religion: This week, we celebrate Mass on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. We will create short biographies on selected saints from our textbook.

Notes/Reminder:
Thanks to all parents who made our Halloween party a success! Kids had a great time!