1. Ms. Deming’s Weekly Newsletter February 1, 2016 Genius Hour Projects Last week the students all presented their genius hour projects. They turned out AWESOME! During genius hour students get to research topics of interest to them and then present on those topics. Examples of topics studied were planets, coding, Minecraft, human body, infrared sensors, other countries, raising money to help victims of Paris attacks, origami, and more! We will begin new Genius Hour projects this week! 6 Days!!! January Birthdays On Friday we celebrated our January birthdays. Those were Kalea and Kayi! Happy Birthday! Paideia Seminar Last week we finished our celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. by doing a paideia seminar on the MLK passage that we had read the week before. A paideia seminar is a student led discussion. Series Book Club Reading To practice the standard RL3.1 (asking and answering questions about a text by referring back to the text) students were given who, what, when, where, why, how cards. They had to draw a card from the bag and create a question about their series book. Someone else in their book club had to answer their question.

2. Happening This Week… Important Dates to know… -Wednesday 2/3 2 nd Quarter report cards go home -Friday 2/5 Father/Daughter Dance -Tuesday 2/9 Parent Personalized Learning Meeting (3 rd grade will be held in Mr. Hiroshige’s room, which is directly next to Ms. Deming’s room) -Thursday 2/11 @ 2:30 Awards Ceremony -Wednesday 3/2 Book Character Day (Come to school dressed as your favorite book character) -3/18 Mother/Son Event -3/31 End of third quarter -3/25-4/3 No School Spring Break Vocabulary Dates: -List 7 words introduced Monday 2/1 and Tuesday 2/2 -List 7 test Friday 2/12 Spelling Homework & Test Dates: Group 1 Words introduced 1/27 and test 2/3 Group 2 Words introduced 1/28 and test 2/4 Group 3 Words introduced 1/29 and test 2/5 Upcoming Assignment Due Dates: -Interactive Notebooks due for a grade 2/5 (All assignments we have done up until this date will need to be completed). -Thursday 2/4 Division Study Guide sent home and due Tuesday 2/9. -Tuesday 2/9 All 3 division pathways must be complete Upcoming Test & Quiz Dates: -Wednesday 2/3 Science Quiz (I sent home a yellow study guide invitation that students should study in last week’s Thursday folders). -Wednesday 2/10 Division Unit Test Important Information and Reminders Math This week we will continue with our division unit. Students are working on one of the following pathways or a PBL. 1.Solving division problems with picture and repeated subtraction 2.Solving division unknown equations and relating multiplication and division 3.Solving 1 and 2 step division problems Our next unit we will be doing is on fractions. This will be a large unit and is a huge part of third grade curriculum. We will be doing this unit slightly different. Reading This week students will continue reading their series books in their book clubs. After they do their assigned reading, they create 3 thick questions and write a summary of what they read. Students will also learn and practice identifying the meaning of words and phrases and distinguishing between literal and nonliteral. Students will complete an assessment on this skill along with last week’s skill of asking and answering questions about a text by referring back to the text for answers. This week the students will also identify the moral, lesson, or theme in a fictional passage. Writing Students will continue with their nonfiction magazine articles. Students are working on writing their paragraphs, creating subheadings for their paragraphs, including text features, a glossary, and a magazine cover for their illustration. This is similar to the project they did at home, just not as detailed. Science- This week we will continue with our Earth in the Universe unit. The students will learn the distance between the planets through a lesson from Ms. Gwen from Discovery place. They will create a 3 dimensional model of the solar system. They will learn what causes day and night as well as the seasons. Finally, they will have a mid unit quiz on the solar system on Wed. Social Studies- This week the students will be learning about the different types of maps. Notes from Ms. Deming -Now through Monday, February 8 our class will be collecting canned goods in support of a school-wide 100 days of school fundraiser. The fundraiser is to support a homeless house for teens called, “The Relative.” The goal is for each class to donate 100 canned goods! Students will earn 1 OWL feather for each canned good they bring in. -I am looking for a parent who would like to bring in the Panther football doughnuts from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts this Friday to celebrate the Panthers going to the super bowl. Let me know if you are interested. We would need 24 doughnuts. -An invitation to the second quarter awards ceremony for all students receiving an award will be going home this week. The ceremony is next week on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. -Please continue to have your children practice fluency with their math multiplication and division facts at home. I am noticing that many students since they are not practicing as much are not retaining their facts and are losing some of their fluency! Wish List Link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4baeaa22ab9-deminghttp://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4baeaa22ab9-deming. Grammar There will be no grammar this week as we are trying to finish up with our nonfiction writing articles. Wish List: In desperate need of items for the year: -White 8x11” copy paper (Total of 10-20 packs) -Disinfectant wipes (Total of 10 containers)