Hi everyone! We had a great week in 3rd grade! On Wednesday we had Ag in the Class. We learned about how pizzas are made, and where the ingredients come from. We even got to play a pizza bingo game with pizza goldfish crackers as our markers! It was great! On Thursday we were able to do our much anticipated Oreo activity. The students learned about each phase of the moon, and then used the Oreos to represent each phase. Thank you to everyone for donating Oreos or frosting for us to use during this activity. The students loved this lesson! I enjoyed seeing some of you at the carnival on Friday! What an awesome fundraiser for PTA! They work so hard to organize that event for the students.

Space Project Reminder
I just want to remind everyone that the space projects are due on (or before) May 10th. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me.

The Week Ahead
English: We will continue our unit about pronouns.
Math: We will learn to multiply a single-digit number by a multi-digit number using the multiplication algorithm, identify a function rule, simplify expressions containing parentheses, multiply three or more factors, use the associative property of multiplication, write tenths using common and decimal fractions, and measure to the nearest tenth of a centimeter.
Reading: My reading class will be reading an expository nonfiction story called, Visitors from Space. We will also practice using text structure and format while reading nonfiction, and we will locate information in a nonfiction text.
Science: We will learn about the different types of rocks.
Social Studies: We will create our own product maps.

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend! Please feel free to e-mail me at bcalcott@orionschools.us with any questions or concerns. You can also leave me a voicemail by calling the school (ext. 1332).

It was great to see many of you at the Music Festival on Friday. The students did a wonderful job! I loved the post card theme that Mrs. Moen came up with! I hope everyone noticed the note in Friday Folders about the space project. To go along with our space unit, students are expected to do an at home project. The note listed several options for the students to choose from. If your child has an idea that is not on the list, please have them see me for approval before they begin working on it. These projects are going to be due by May 10th. If your child finishes early, please feel free to send it in to school. I also sent a note home earlier in the week asking for Oreos and frosting. We will be using these to do an activity about the phases of the moon. Some families have already sent Oreos or frosting in, so thank you! We still need two or three more containers of frosting, and about four more packages of Oreos.

Book Fair Help
The book fair is starting this week, and Mrs. Begley is still in need of volunteers. If you are available to help out, please contact her at dbegley@orionschools.us. I know she will really appreciate the help! :)

School Carnival
The school carnival is on Friday! Please send forms in for punch cards, pizza orders, pop/cake/cupcake donations, and volunteer times. I also want to remind everyone that Friday is a half day. I will be volunteering at the carnival, so I hope to see all of you there!

The Week Ahead
English: We will continue our poetry unit. The students have written some beautiful poetry in the last couple of weeks. I can't wait to send it home so you can read your child's work! We will also continue learning about pronouns.
Math: We will learn to identify a fractional part of a set, determine age, multiply a one-digit number by a two-digit number using mental computation, identify right, obtuse, or acute angles, name triangles by angle size, and measure line segments using millimeters.
Reading: My reading class will be reading a story called, The Armadillo from Amarillo. We will continue to look for cause and effect within the text, we will practice rereading for clarification, we will make inferences about the characters, we will work on identifying the rhyming words within the story, and we will also learn the meaning of the prefixes con- and com-.
Social Studies: We will learn that different countries have different cultures. We will also learn how to read and make a product map.
Science: We will continue our space unit.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. The weather is so wonderful today, and tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful, too! Please feel free to contact me at bcalcott@orionschools.us, or you can leave me a voicemail by calling the school (ext. 1332).

We had a very exciting week. On Tuesday the Orion Fire Department came to discuss fire safety with the students. I was impressed by the thoughtful questions that were asked during the presentation. It was also very exciting that Mrs. McConaghy gave us all of the artwork that was completed this year during art. I'm sure you enjoyed looking through the beautiful artwork that your child came home with! Friday Folders contained another set of School Carnival forms. This only went home with the oldest child in each family. This is a great way to support our PTA. If you are able to volunteer on the 26th, please do. I will be volunteering on this night as well.
I saw some of you at the OEF Gala on Friday night. This was my first time attending this event, and I was super impressed with the community's willingness to bid on items to benefit the district! Orion is an awesome community!

The Week Ahead
English: We have been working on a poetry unit. We will also start a unit on pronouns this week.
Math: We will learn to write number sentences for division story problems, multiply a multiple of 10, 100, or 1,000 by a single digit number, make a table to solve a problem, identify translations, rotations, and reflections, find  a fractional part of a set, and determine age.
Reading: We will be reading an informational article this week called, Rocking and Rolling. We will also work on location information within a text, we will learn how to adjust reading rate, we will find cause and effect within the text, and we will discuss homographs.
Science: We will continue our space unit. The students are loving this unit!
Social Studies: We will learn about Harlem and Jazz.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! Please feel free to contact me at bcalcott@orionschools.us with any questions or concerns. Please enjoy these pictures from the field trip we took before Spring Break.

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful spring break. I would have liked it to be a bit warmer, but the weather is finally starting to cooperate! We have less than two months of school, but we have a lot going on! The Spring Music Festival is coming up on April 19th. I am super excited to see it, I've heard it is going to be awesome this year. I sent a note home in Friday Folders from PTA about volunteers for this night. We really need some more volunteers for the reception that follows the music festival. If the PTA does not get at least 4 volunteers, they will have to cancel that post-show reception. The School Carnival is also coming up. That is going to be on April 26th. The students are super excited about this. A note went home with the oldest child in each family asking for volunteers for this event. Along that same line, the PTA has organized for each grade level to make donations for raffle baskets that will be raffled off at the carnival. The 3rd grade theme is sports and other outdoor activities. I have only had a few students bring in donations, so I am hoping for a few more. Every donation will help to raise money to support our amazing PTA.

The Week Ahead
English: A note went home in Friday Folders explaining that we will be having a test over capitalization and punctuation on Tuesday. We will review in school, but I am expecting students to study at home as well. On Wednesday we will begin a poetry unit.
Math: We will learn to identify the properties of parallel lines, identify properties of quadrilaterals, identify perpendicular lines and line segments, add money amounts to $99,999.99, act out, draw pictures, and write number sentences for division story problems, and write number sentences for division story problems.
Reading: We will be reading a story called, Alejandro's Gift. We will also practice finding evidence from the text, identifying beginning, middle, and end of a story, and working on using context clues to figure out the meaning of a new word.
Science: We will start a unit about space.

Please feel free to contact me at bcalcott@orionschools.us with any questions or concerns. You can also leave me a voicemail by calling the school (ext. 1332). Enjoy the beautiful weather!