May 8 No School
May 20 Library Visit (Final visit)
May 22 All day Out & About to Haystack Rock
Homework Due by Friday, May 10th
1. Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
2. Complete 20 minutes of typing practice.
3. Complete at least 30 minutes of math practice** (click here for DreamBox).
4. Optional - Compete Opinion Paragraph of the Week
Prompt: What is your favorite restaurant? Give 3 reasons.
**3rd grade Plovers have a fraction game to play this week for math homework! We have played the Fraction Cookie game several times in class and your student should be able to explain the rules. Green triangle = 1/6, blue rhombus = 1/3 and red trapezoid = 1/2. Please return instructions, game boards and materials (blocks and dice) on Friday so I can share the game with the Puffins next week!
Upcoming Out and Abouts
There is no school on Wednesday this week, so we will not have an Out & About. Next week, we will visit the Backyard Garden to continue our study of pollinators and plants!
Volunteer Opportunities
Community Breakfast - Cereal/bagels and fruit needed May 10th.
Out & About Chaperones - Needed 6/5 (Fernhill Wetlands).
State (SBAC) Testing Continues on May 20th
Most students completed the first part of their SBAC testing last week! We will continue with math testing during the week of May 20th and writing the following week.
Weekly Review
Over the last few weeks, our science focus has shifted from animals to plants. This unit develops the idea that plants are truly alive and face challenges every bit as dramatic as those of animals. Students will learn that plants have needs, and they will complete several science labs to understand how plants meet their needs. We will also study how plants reproduce and pass on their traits, and how people have figured out how to make food plants even more useful to us.
But we aren't completely done with animals yet! In writing, students are researching an Oregon animal. Some students chose to research both an Oregon animal and a far-away animal. They will use the information they gather from books and the internet to write a non-fiction piece about their animal's appearance, life cycle, habitat and behaviors. Plovers are also working on masks of their animals and will be creating labeled diagrams that highlight some of their animal's unique features and adaptations!
Last week, we visited Jackson Bottom Wetlands to learn about ecosystems and biodiversity. Students rotated through three different learning stations, using scientific tools to get a glimpse of ecosystem health through the study of water quality, wildlife habitat, soils & plant diversity, and the food chain.