Opinion Writing

Hello! I hope you all have enjoyed some relaxing family time over this little break. I hope you had some tasty goodies and made some wonderful memories. By Monday, I hope your children will be ready for us again :)

I am writing to ask for some help though. We are finishing up our narrative writing unit. The students have really embraced using dialogue in their stories and have come quite far in their character descriptions. We need continued work on our transition skills and our conclusions- but we also have lots of time still left in the year.

Our next unit is our hardest- in my opinion :) We are beginning to find our opinions and figure out how to support them with details, examples or facts. We are going to learn about advertising and how they use slogans, sales, promotions, colors and actors to get us to buy things. We are going to argue our opinion by using the pros and cons of the situation. Finally, we are going to learn how to research our opinion to find relevant facts to help support it.

This is where you get to have some fun. How many of you have had your child ask you "Why?" when you give an answer? Now you can turn the tables on them.

Usually, by this age, the students are able to tell their opinion on something- but they don't always know why they believe it. The next time they ask you to buy that cereal, toy, book, game- ask them "why?" The next time they tell you something is true, ask "why?" The next time they want a sleepover, ask "why?" They will get frustrated at first and you may have to help them think through why- but they will get the hang of it. (and then you may wish you hadn't taught them)

Here are some questions that may help...

• What reasons to you have to want THAT cereal?
• Why shouldn't I get this one instead?
• What makes you think that?
• Did you read/see that somewhere?
• Does someone you know use that?
• Tell me three things that support that idea.
• Why will that help you?
• How do you know that is a healthier choice?
• What makes that one better than this one?

Thank you so much and have fun!!!

Ms. Whalen and Ms. Wetzel

light and the eye assessment

If your child did not pass the light and the eye assessment with an 80% or higher, they will be offered a re-take on Monday, Dec 1st. Please study with them over the long weekend. You can still find the study guide on this blog- just scroll down the page some.
Thanks!

Ancient Rome Study Guide

Test Tuesday December16th

Ancient Romans worshipped many gods and goddesses

 

Pompeii was buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted

 

Patricians- were members of powerful and wealthy families

 

Plebeians- ordinary working Romans

 

The city center was called the forum.

 

A dictator for life during the last days of the Roman Republic was Julius Caesar

 

Roman Senators killed Julius Caesar

 

Octavian’s name was changed to Augustus after he took power

 

Well-built roads connect the provinces to Rome

 

Roman Empire surrounded the Mediterranean Sea

 

At the Coliseum Romans watched fights between gladiators and wild beasts

 

At Circus Maximus Romans watched chariot races.

 

Legendary twin brothers who founded Rome- Romulus and Remus

 

Romans persecuted Christians because Christians refused to worship Roman gods

 

First Christian Roman Emperor-Constantine

 

Rome defeated Carthage in all 3 Punic Wars

 

What were at least 3 reasons for the fall of Rome?

 

1. Greedy, selfish emperors;
2. provinces unprotected from attack;
3. corrupt generals;
4. murder of senators and powerful Romans;
5.  civil wars that destroyed towns and farms and disrupted trade;
6. lack of food and people without jobs and homes;
7. army made up of foreigners and soldiers were poorly treated;
8.  Barbarians attacked and drove Romans out.

 

 

Planning session

Dear Parents and Guardians,

      We would love for you to join us for a short planning session for our Roman Holiday on Thursday December 12th directly after school.  We need parents to lead crafts, games and contribute food. The Holiday celebration will be after the Winter Break and at a date to be determined. Planning, attending and contributing counts toward your volunteer hours.  If you can not attend the planning meeting, please let us know how you would like to help. This is a very special day for our students and parent help is essential.  It’s guaranteed to be a memorable event!

Light and the Eye study guide

Science test on

Monday, November 24th

 

Students will need to identify the parts of the eye- this is a separate study guide.

Protective Eye Parts

 

Iris: - the colored part of our eye-protects the eye by either making the pupil appear smaller or bigger. When there is not enough light- the iris becomes smaller which makes the pupil look very large. This allows the pupil to let in more light. If there is too much light- the iris becomes larger which makes the pupil appear small. This keeps too much light from entering the eye.

 

Sclera- the white of our eye- when something is in our eye the sclera rushes blood to the veins in our eyes to help push things out of our eye.

 

Cornea- the clear covering that covers the pupil and iris- The covering keeps things out of the pupil hole.

 

Eyelash- the little hairs attached to the eye lids- help sweep away dust, dirt and snow so that they don’t get into our eyes.

 

Eyebrow- the hairs above our eyes- help keep sweat out of our eyes by guiding it to the outside of our face.

 

Eye lids- the skin that covers the eye when closed- the eye lids help to keep our eyes moist, closes automatically when something is coming quickly towards them, and works with the sclera to clear the eye.

 

Tear gland and tear duct- the gland “Mr. Peanut” is in the outer corner above each eye and it creates the tears that keep our eyes moist, helps show emotion and cleans out our eyes. Our tears are also the “sleep” caught in our eyes in the morning. The tear duct is the drain in the corner of each eye near the nose. The duct drains tears from our eyes and down into our noses.

 

 

Know these definitions:

- Spectrum: all the colors (ROYGBIV) that come together to make up white light

- Prism: a transparent object that is used to separate white light into the spectrum of colors.

- Refract: to bend

- Reflect: to bounce back

- Transparent: You can see clearly through it and light can pass through it. (A window, eye glass lens, glass, water.)

- Translucent: You can not see clearly through it, you can see shadows of objects. Light can pass through it. (Most colored glass or glass with a design, fluorescent light covers, some shades, gauzy curtains).

- Opaque: You can not see through it. No light can pass through it. (Person, car, tree, wall, desk, chair.)

- Convex: curved outward- Larger view, used in stores to see around corners. Used in microscopes.

- Concave: curved inward- smaller view, objects appear upside down. Used in telescopes.

 

Know this information:

- Light travels in a straight line.

- Light travels in waves.

- Light is energy.

-We can only see things when light hits an object and bounces off it. The light from the object then travels through our pupils which creates an upside-down image on our retina. The image then travels on the optic nerve to the brain, where it is turned right side up again.

- Dark objects absorb more light than light colored objects. This is why dark clothing is hotter in the summer. It is collecting more energy from the light.

-The best object to reflect something would be a flat mirror- plane mirror. It creates an exact reflection, only backwards.

-Light is bending and slowed down when it is refracted.

-A transparent object, such as water or a lens, is used to refract light.

-When light is blocked by an opaque object, a shadow of the object is formed.

-White light is made up of a spectrum of colors (all the colors of the rainbow).

- A prism or a drop of water can be used to break up white light into a spectrum.

- ROY G BIV- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet

Math lessons- help!

If you are having trouble helping your child with their math homework- Ms. Neuhart has found a website that may help. There is a short video for each lesson! Look for the Module number first and then the lesson number.


We are on Module 2 right now.


http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/common-core-math-worksheets-grade3.html


Hope this helps :)
Ms Whalen

This week's writing assignment

During conferences we received a request to see the writing prompt before the writing day. The reasoning behind this was so that if families wanted to talk through the prompt with their student, perhaps it might give the students some time to develop their writing orally before they have to plan and draft it on Wednesday. Please do not have your student begin writing to this prompt. This is an in class assignment for Wednesday and Thursday.



A flying saucer has been sighted over your town. You have never believed in flying saucers, but then you see it for yourself and... Write a narrative telling what happens next. Does the saucer land? Do you meet the crew? How do you communicate? What do they look like? Are they friendly? Puzzled? Shy? Suspicious? What about sounds? Sights? Smells? Make your story as interesting as you can for your reader. Create characters and describe the setting. Make your plot move along to a climax and a satisfying conclusion.

These are elements of Narrative writing that must be included in your story...
A topic sentence with a hook.
dialogue
details that "show, not tell"
time moving transitions and/or place movers
A conclusion in which the character states a lesson learned or the moral of the story.