1st Interim Assessment

The results are in for the 1st round of interim assessments and our students did extremely well!! All three class teachers are so proud of how our students worked. It was so obvious to us how much effort the students put into their writing. Thank you, parents, for your support during this process. It means the world to us!

Fun Skeleton labeling game!!!

My daughter, Bailey, found this fun skeleton game online. You can either build a skeleton or label the bones. This is great to study with for those in Ms. Miles' class who are learning it now, or just for fun with Ms. Wetzel's class and mine.
Enjoy!

Skeleton game

Class snack

Ms. Whalen's class is out of school snack. Please provide your student with a home snack or if you are willing, we would love to get some healthy donations! :)

Donations are appreciated but not required at this time. Thanks!

Language Arts Interim

Hello Parents!

Our first interim assessment for language arts is just around the corner. On October 24, your child will be taking an exam which will cover several topics.

Parts of Speech ~ Students will need to identify and explain the purpose of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns. 

Spelling ~ Students will be tested on grade level words from the Sitton units that we have covered.

Expository/Informational Writing ~ Students will plan, edit and write a 3-paragraph essay over the course of 2 days.  Students will be tested on their ability to organize their writing, use a strong topic sentence, utilize transitions and an effective conclusion.

Websites:

            Parts of Speech –

http://www.missmaggie.org/scholastic/cleanup_eng_launcher.html

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html

Spelling –

http://www.funbrain.com/spell/index.html

http://www.spellingcity.com/ Sign up on this site, find Highline Academy in the list of schools, and you will see the 3^rd grade words for the entire year.  Students can play games and study spelling online.

Writing –

http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/grade/3-4/

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or find more websites to share.

Thank you

Recorders

Dear Parents,

We are playing Recorder Karate in music class, which means whenever we pass an assigned song we get another belt towards earning the black belt. The students are allowed to take the recorders home to practice and must bring them back for each music class.

In the bag is a rod and a piece of cloth to use for cleaning the recorders, please do not throw them away. Recorders may also be washed in the dishwasher on the top shelf.

The first belt is white and is awarded for successfully playing "Hot Cross Buns" with the left hand on top and also producing a pure tone. Students are encouraged to initiate sounds with their tongues as if they were spitting out a watermelon seed versus a whooing sound like an owl.

If you have any questions, please contact me, Ms. Tobias, at stobias@highlineacademy.org.

Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to share music with your children.

Ms. Tobias
Music Teacher

Science study guide for Muscles, Bones and the Nervous System

Ms. Whalen's class will take the assessment on Thursday, September 13th.

Muscles, Bones and Nervous System

Study Guide

Students should be able to:

• Label 15-20 bones of the human body. (word bank will be provided)
• Identify the number of bones in an adult human body. (206).
• Name the three functions of the skeleton as form, protection and movement.
• Name the largest, longest bone in the body as the femur, or upper leg bone.
• Describe how bones are made up of four layers: “bone skin”, compact bone, spongy bone and bone marrow.
• Explain the reasons how we know that bone is a living thing. They heal themselves. They grow. They make blood.
• Name the four types of joints and be able to label them on the skeleton.
• Hinge joint- fingers, toes, knees and elbows
• Pivot joint- wrists, elbows and neck
• Ball and socket- shoulders and hips
• Gliding joint- spine
• Name the three types of muscles as voluntary, involuntary and cardiac. They will also need to give examples of how each is used. Voluntary muscles are muscles that we can control such as kicking a ball or writing a letter. Involuntary muscles are muscles that we do not control such as our brain functioning, our lungs breathing, our digestive system working. Our cardiac muscle is our heart.
• Define
• ligaments as tissue that connects bone to bone
• Tendons as tissue that connects muscle to bone
• Cartilage as the tissue that is known as soft bone like that in our nose and ears. Also, as the jelly like substance found in between bones which reduces friction.
• Joints are where two bones meet.

There are 3 parts of the Nervous system- the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves.

There are 3 parts of the Brain that they need to identify- the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem.

 Extra Credit: If you can name some of the things that each part of the brain does, you can earn some extra credit. Examples that you can use are below…

Cerebrum-

Actions that take place in the cerebrum:

• Voluntary muscles. (voluntary muscles are those that we can control- for skiing, walking, jumping, writing, etc)
• Thinking
• Learning
• Personality
• 5 senses
• Memory- long term and short term
• Left side of the cerebrum controls the right side of the body. Right side controls the left side of the body.
• There is a thick bundle of nerves that connects the hemispheres so that they can “talk” to each other.
• Left hemisphere of the cerebrum:      
• Math
• Science
• Logical reasoning
• Right hemisphere of the cerebrum:
• Art
• Music
• Creativity

Cerebellum-

• Balance and Coordination

Brain stem (also called the Medulla)-

• “central computer”
• “Post office”- sorts messages received from the body and sends them to the brain. Receives messages from the brain and sends them to the body.
• Involuntary muscles (involuntary muscles work on their own such as breathing, heart beating and digestion)
• Reflexes

Spinal cord-

• Carries messages from the body to the brain
• Carries messages from the brain to the body

 

 

 

Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year!!

Wow! How has a week of school already gone by? We are off and running and really looking forward to a great year with your children.

This year we will really focus hard on writing skills. The first language arts unit has a focus of expository writing. Most students in our school come out of 2nd grade already strong writers in expository writing therefore we can build 3rd grade skills within a style that they are already comfortable.

Ms. Whalen's class will be starting the year with Science- Muscles, Bones and the Nervous System.
Ms. Wetzel's class will begin the year with map skills and then will travel on to Canada and World Rivers.
Ms. Miles' class is beginning with her readers and writers workshop.

Thank you for supporting us and your student as we travel through this year together!