Are You Ready For 3rd Grade?

Things that your child should know before entering 3rd grade:
1. Combinations of 10 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 3+7=10 7+3=10 10-7=3 10-3=7)

2. Combinations of 20 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 12+8=20 8+12=20 20-8=12 20-12=8)

3. Combinations of 100 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 40+60=100 60+40=100 100-40=60 100-60=40)

4. Skip counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, 25s (up to 100)

5. Time to the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, 5 minutes

6. Elapsed Time (ex: Emily started baking cookies at 2:30. She finished baking cookies at 4:15. How long did she bake cookies for?)

7. Knows the value of coins and knows how to add coins

8. Finding change for items purchased (Ex: If Bob bought a game for $3.20 and he gave the cashier $5.00 how much change would he get?)

Extra things that you could help your child work on before entering 3rd grade:
1. Skip counting by 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 15s (up to 100) (also known as “multiples”)

2. Strategies for adding 9 quickly (ex: 45+9 is like 45 +10=55(-1)=54 )

Finding Doubles

Miss. Sasso’s first grade class shared some of their strategies with us for finding doubles during our afternoon Math workshop. We played a game called Finding Doubles. The object of the game was to find doubles, doubles plus one and doubles minus one. Every first grader was paired with a second grader. I’m sad to report that Miss. Sasso’s first graders beat some of my second graders. I’m sure the rain all week affected their thinking skills.  It was a fun learning experience for all the students. Thank you Miss Sasso for sharing!

Guest Readers

Thank you to our BUDs Club Readers. Mr. Duncan, Mr. Swanson and Mr. Robinson who stopped by to read to our students. The children loved it!
Enjoy our artwork and our May bulletin board showcasing our “Work Over Time.”
Our field trip to MOCA was also a hit! Thanks again to all our chaperones. We appreciate all you do.

Happy Measuring

For the past couple of weeks our classes have been working in the Math Investigations unit How Long? How Far? In this unit we have been learning about measuring the lengths of different objects and finding the lengths of paths. The students used a variety of materials, such as chairs, cubes, pencils, their bodies and crayons, as measuring tools to measure and compare lengths. The students applied their knowledge of numbers to problems about combining and comparing as they solved activities about measurements.
In How Far Can You Jump? The students used several strategies to find the difference between their longest and shortest jumps. The students did three jumps. A frog jump, a rabbit jump and a kid jump. Most of the kid jumps was the longest and the frog jumps were the shortest.
In the activity Measuring our Classroom, some of their strategies were cleaver yet hilarious! We had lots of laughs while learning about measurements.
Please involve your child in measuring activities~ hobbies like sewing or carpentry are great ways. Have a scavenger hunt at home. Ask your child to find things that are about as long as different objects. Compare the heights of family members. Establish a place where heights can be marked off and compared. Make it fun!
In Science our caterpillars have arrived! With the help of Ms. Ossi we have secured all of them in containers to hopefully grow into beautiful butterflies.
We observed soil samples to find similarities and differences. We ended the week with a Mud pie Mystery. Our hypothesis: which soil sample will retain (hold) the most water?
Enjoy these pictures from our activities and our artwork in our hallway.

March Madness

March gave the students more to think about as they consider both old and new questions like what is symmetry and congruent.
In Calendar Math the students conducted two coin toss experiments simultaneously. A penny toss and a quarter toss. They also had to graph and analyze their data to make predictions from their coin toss. It was a great learning experience for all. We also explored capacity with cups, pints, and quarts.
Seeing fractional parts was a huge focus of our Math Investigations. We have been discussing halves, thirds, and fourths. This skill will help with telling time and reading a clock to the quarter hour.
Enjoy some snapshots of the students working on sorting shapes, solving rectangle riddles and creating rectangles in halves, thirds, and fourths.

February Fun

In Social Studies the students did a great job sharing their Birthday Timelines. Please stop by our hall and check them out!
We had a special visitor from the Humane Society on Friday. Ms. Megan and Noodles came by to teach us about the proper way to care for your pets and pet safety. Noodles shared all the things he travels with in his backpack: a bowl for his food, hair brush for grooming, a toy, and treats. If you ever feel threatened by a dog, Ms. Megan taught us to stand still like a tree, don’t talk, and never stare at the dog. It was a very good assembly for us all. Remember to be responsible pet owners.

7 Things About Me

I've been tagged by Mrs. Phillips to tell you 7 things you might not know about me
Here we go:
1) I absolutely LOVE to dance! Put on a good song, start a line dance and I will be the first on the dance floor. The electric slide is one of my favorites!
2) I love watching NFL football on Sundays after church. My family knows that after our Sunday routine, during football season it’s all about football for me. That is the only thing I want showing on ALL the TV’S in our house.
3) Since we are on the subject I should let you know that The Miami Dolphins are my favorite football team. I grew up in Miami and after church on Sundays my mother was crazy for football. Hmm could that be where my love came from? As a matter of fact I love everything Miami; Miami Heat, Miami Hurricanes and the Florida Marlins. Yeah, I know the FL Marlins — that’s not Miami but they are from Miami or something like that.
4) Some of you may already know that I am a former NFL cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins. I cheered for 2 years; seasons 1984 and 1985. Most NFL cheerleaders do not travel with the team unless they make it to the Super bowl. Well, we made it! On January 20, 1985 The Miami Dolphins and the San Francisco 49ers played in Super bowl XIX. I cheered at that game. It was an incredible experience even though we lost to San Francisco. The final score was 49ers 38, Miami 16. During my 2 seasons, we were sponsored by Burger King. We had to wear Rhinestone tiaras with a huge Burger King sticker in the front. Some people referred to us as the Burger Queens. Ha ha! It was a life changing experience!
5) Did you know that I am the 3rd oldest of 7 children that I actually grew up with in the same house? Yes it’s true I have an older sister, brother, 2 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters along with 5 stepbrothers and 2 stepsisters. We usually all get together every Thanksgiving; it’s an 8 year tradition and gets better each year! Referring back to #1 my family knows how much I love to dance. We usually get a dance going and I employ all my nieces and nephews to teach me the latest dance moves. Hanging out with my family is LOUD and nonstop laughter!
6) I have been married for 21 years. My husband played 10 years with the Miami Dolphins. Our first child was born during football season. All the players were required to stay at the team hotel the night before the game. Of course that would be the night that I would begin major labor pains. Paul rushed back home before day and we made it to the hospital in plenty of time before his am team meeting. Our son was born at 9:12 am and Paul had to be at his meeting by 11:00 am. The birth of our 1st child was National news. The Miami Dolphins were playing the Cincinnati Bengals. We also have a daughter. I’m so blessed!
7) I am a lover of LIFE! I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I am very active with our Children’s Ministry at the church I attend. I am in the ministry of empowering children through Christ to be productive citizens in our society. Well there you have it! 7 things you might not have know about me.

The Florida Ballet

On Thursday, Florida Telco sponsored the Florida Ballet to come to Chets Creek Elementary. We enjoyed a private showing in our classroom. The children were read the story The Blue Hill Meadows by Cynthia Rylant. After the story, the students were taught about warming up and the importance of stretching before dancing.
The Florida Ballet dancers then reenacted the text through dance moves. The dancers showed the children how to use their imagination and how to act out the story through the motions of dance. All the students were a part of the story-telling. In the end, the intent was to help the children feel creative through dance. It was a wonderful lesson. Please check out the Florida Ballet website for more information. www.floridaballet.org

Pencils, Pencils, Pencils! Where are they?

Oh my, check your child's teeth. Are they eating the pencils? I hope not!
I'm sure it's all the hard work going on in Language Arts and Math!
We need pencils! We really need pencils! sharpened if possible!:)

Happy 100th Day of School

Wow! time flies when you are having fun. For the past 2 weeks we have been busy working in Math on rectangular arrays and becoming experts at solving story problems. Please continue to ask your child about their Math skills.In Language Arts we have been focusing on Non-fiction. The children have been studying Non-fiction Conventions and reading non-fiction with comprehension. In Writers' Workshop the children have chosen a topic and are currently drafting their reports. Keep your eyes open for the Standard Snapshot coming out in a few weeks. You will get to peek at one page of your child's reports. The journey continues!