Coach BLeggett

Coach BLeggett

Monday, September 30, 2013

Curriculum Update September 30-October 4

It was wonderful seeing everyone at parent-teacher conferences. I really enjoyed learning more about each of your children.

Here is the curriculum for the week:

Writing: The students are publishing their narrative writing on Storybird. We will also be looking at different communities, focusing on using a lot of description.

Grammar: We will continue to focus on verbs and adverbs in writing.

Math: The students are applying what they are learning about adding 3-digit algorithms through their birthday party projects. The students are planning their own birthday party, using as close to $120 as possible.

Spelling/Vocabulary: The spelling and vocabulary tests will be on Friday, October 4.
Here is the link to all the games to practice. Spelling & Vocab Practice: http://www.spellingcity.com/bleggett/
Vocabulary Practice: http://www.classtools.net/mob/quiz_22/Weather99920VocabSpelling_MmMqT.htm

rural: a community with open land, few businesses and buildings, few people
urban: a city with a lot of tall buildings, it is larger or more crowded than a town
suburban: a community outside of the city where people live in neighborhoods with individual houses or small apartments
occupation: a person's work or place of business, how they make a living
population: all of the inhabitants in a particular area, town or country
school: an institution where instruction is given
hero: distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds
language: the method of communication, either written or spoken
nation: a large group of people who live in the same part of the world and share the same language, customs and government
diversity: variety
charity: the voluntary giving of help to those in need
vigilant: watchful and alert

ELA/Social Studies: We will continue learning about our community. The focus questions are: Why do people choose to live in our community? What are your rights and responsibilities as a citizen of your community? How do different customs and cultural traditions shape your community? How has your community changed over time? What drives shifts in population in your community?

We will be reading about what makes a community. We will use research to make inferences and analyze our own community seeing how it has changed over time. We will also be studying the similarities and differences between rural, suburban and urban communities.

Have a fantastic week!

Skyping with Wolfhaven

Thank you to Wolfhaven for taking the time to speak with the students about wolves. We definitely learned some intriguing information.





Skype with author Annie Fox

Thank you to author Annie Fox, for taking the time to Skype with us about real friends versus fake friends. You really gave the students some good advice regarding how to handle different situations in their friendship.

Skyping with Mrs. Woolridge's Class in Australia

Thank you to Mrs. Woolridge's class in Victoria, Australia for Skyping with us. We learned a lot about natural disasters and your community! The students loved coming back to school in evening and thought it was so cool to be talking to someone 15 hours ahead of them.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Monday, September 23, 2013

Rodolfo, Team Leggett MVP!!!

Rodolfo was our Team Leggett MVP for the week of September 16-20. Way to go, Rodolfo!



Douglas County Emergency Management Team

Thank you to the Douglas County Emergency Management Team for taking the time to come and speak with us about how to be prepared for a natural disaster and how to stay safe. We appreciate your expertise!

Curriculum Update September 23-25

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing each of you at your child's parent conference on Wednesday or Thursday.

Writing: The students have completed their natural disaster survival guides. They are now in the process of editing their writing.

Grammar: We are continuing our same grammar focus from last week. We are still focusing on using adjectives in our writing for it to come more alive and using adverbs and identifying nouns to help our sentences have a subject and using correct capitalization and ending punctuation.

Math: We completed topic 2. This week, we are focusing on adding with an expanded algorithm, creating models for adding 3-digit numbers and adding 3-digit numbers.

Spelling/Vocabulary: The spelling and vocabulary tests will be on Friday, October 4.
Here is the link to all the games to practice. Spelling & Vocab Practice: http://www.spellingcity.com/bleggett/
Vocabulary Practice: http://www.classtools.net/mob/quiz_22/Weather99920VocabSpelling_MmMqT.htm

rural: a community with open land, few businesses and buildings, few people
urban: a city with a lot of tall buildings, it is larger or more crowded than a town
suburban: a community outside of the city where people live in neighborhoods with individual houses or small apartments
occupation: a person's work or place of business, how they make a living
population: all of the inhabitants in a particular area, town or country
school: an institution where instruction is given
hero: distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds
language: the method of communication, either written or spoken
nation: a large group of people who live in the same part of the world and share the same language, customs and government
diversity: variety
charity: the voluntary giving of help to those in need
vigilant: watchful and alert

ELA/Social Studies: We will begin learning about our community. The focus questions are: Why do people choose to live in our community? What are your rights and responsibilities as a citizen of your community? How do different customs and cultural traditions shape your community? How has your community changed over time? What drives shifts in population in your community?

We will be reading about what makes a community. We will use research to make inferences and analyze our own community seeing how it has changed over time.

Have a fantastic week!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Partnering with China - Look Outside Your School Window

We recently completed a project with a group of students in China. The students resided in different areas, with many living in Shanghai. The students drew a picture of what they see out of their school window. Then, they wrote about it. This was a great way for the students to learn about each other's education. We look forward to Skyping with these students.
Here is a website of the project:
http://chinakansaswindowproject.weebly.com/

Voicethread Place Value Project

To apply what the students learned with place value, they performed research on a category of something that interested them. They had to write the number in standard form, expanded form and word form. In addition, students had to work on finding images that were free to use or share. The last part of their project was to record it on Voicethread and summarize what they learned. http://voicethread.com/share/4890102/ Jayda
http://voicethread.com/share/4882023/ Cassie
http://voicethread.com/share/4881903/ Jack W.
http://voicethread.com/share/4852449/ Libby
http://voicethread.com/share/4829268/ Jack G.
http://voicethread.com/share/4829216/ Oliver
http://voicethread.com/share/4829195/ Madeline
http://voicethread.com/share/4829078/ Lucas
http://voicethread.com/share/4828989/ Jane
http://voicethread.com/share/4825535/ Sam
http://voicethread.com/share/4825338/ Chloe
http://voicethread.com/share/4889938/ Ethan
http://voicethread.com/share/4882011/ Rodolfo
http://voicethread.com/share/4881866/ Natalie
http://voicethread.com/share/4844923/ Max
http://voicethread.com/share/4829222/ Ryan
http://voicethread.com/share/4829204/ Sofia
http://voicethread.com/share/4829150/ Dylan
http://voicethread.com/share/4829065/ Nick
http://voicethread.com/share/4825575/ Bryce
http://voicethread.com/share/4825391/ Alex

Lap-a-Thon

Thank you to everyone for supporting lap-a-thon. It was great seeing the kids exercise through both running and all their dance moves. They had a ball!

Fire Safety Skype with Dayna

On Friday, September 16, the students were able to Skype with  Dayna and her fire safety dog. The students were able to learn what things to do to stay safe in case of a fire. Thanks, Dayna!



Skype with the Digits

The students had a chance to Skype with the digits on Friday, September 6. It was an interactive math experience with a rock band. The students had a lot of fun! Thank you Digits! http://watchthedigits.com/

 




Solar Heater Collectors

The students learned how the sun absorbs darker colors versus a light color by building their own solar heater collectors.

Solar Cookout

We had out solar cookout. The students made their boxed solar cookers for their nachos. They compared them to the curved solar cookers we used for Smores and baked apples. Thanks for all the donations. The kids had a wonderful time!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Sunprints

While learning about the sun, the students created their own sun prints. They saw how the sun will fade things over time. Here are their prints.




Curriculum Update September 16-20

It was another beautiful weekend! I hope everyone had a chance to relax and spend quality time with family.

If your child is available, please remember to have them come back to school at 5:30 pm on Tuesday so we can Skype with the classroom in Australia. The students will be learning about natural disasters that occur there and about their community.

Writing: The students are typing their natural disaster survival guides in technology class. They have written their narrative natural disaster draft. This week, we are going to take it through writer's workshop, having discussions about their writing and taking it through each of the six-traits of writing.

Grammar: We are going to build on our grammar each week. Now, we are focusing on using adjectives in our writing for it to come more alive and using adverbs. We will continue to work on identifying nouns to help our sentences have a subject and using correct capitalization and ending punctuation.

Math: We are continuing our number sense focusing on addition and subtraction. We will be balancing equations, analyzing the reasonableness of an answer and taking the topic 2 performance assessment. We will also begin a math project to apply what we have learned in topic 2.

Spelling/Vocabulary: The spelling and vocabulary tests will be on Friday. We will continue practicing in class. Please remember for vocabulary, the students will need to choose at least 8 of their words to use in their writing. They aren't writing sentences, but instead writing a creative story with the words. For spelling, they will need to spell all 15 words correctly.

Here is the link to all the games to practice.
Spelling Practice: http://www.spellingcity.com/bleggett/
Vocabulary Practice: http://www.classtools.net/mob/quiz_22/Weather99920VocabSpelling_MmMqT.htm

tornado: Begins as a funnel cloud with spinning columns of air that drops down from a severe thunderstorm, forming a tornado when touching the ground.
earthquake : The shaking or movement of a portion of the Earth’s surface.
blizzard: An intense winter storm with winds of 35 m.p.h. or higher with falling and/or blowing snow
tsunami: An unusually large ocean wave caused by undersea earthquake, landslide or volcanic eruption.
flood: A great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
volcano: A vent in the earth’s crust through which lava, steam, ashes are expelled
avalanche: A large body of snow, ice or rock and debris sliding down a mountain
drought: A period when a region has a lack of rainfall
erosion: The wearing away of the Earth’s surface by the action of the sea, running water, moving ice, precipitation or wind.
thunder: The explosive sound of air expanding as it is heated by lightning
snow: Precipitation that is composed of white ice crystals that fall from clouds.
squall line: A line of thunderstorms sometimes several hundred miles long that can produce strong thunderstorms and sometimes severe weather.
humidity: The amount of water vapor in the air
lightning: An enormous and very hot spark of electricity produced by thunderstorms
climate: It describes the average weather conditions in a certain place or during a certain season.

Have a wonderful week!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Curriculum Update September 9-13

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! MAP testing begins this week in third grade. It will be 9:00-10:30 Tuesday (reading), Wednesday (math), Thursday (grammar).

Friday is lap-a-thon! Please consider sending in a donation. The PTO does so much for both the students and teachers. We would not be successful without them. This is a HUGE fundraiser for them.

Reading: We will continue focusing on weather. While doing this, we are really analyzing the text, using evidence to support our thinking. We have been using highlighters to identify key words in text or concepts from focus questions.'

Writing: We finished our pen pal letters to the third grade class in California. This week, the students will be typing their natural disaster survival guides in technology class. In class, we are working on a narrative about experiencing our natural disaster.

Grammar: We still continue working on capitalization (beginning words, titles and proper nouns). We will also use correct ending punctuation and focus on nouns. The students learned symbols and chants to go with these. Also, the students are identifying these within their writing using photos of weather.

Math: The students did an excellent job on their topic 1 performance assessment. This week, we will continue working on mental math strategies, rounding and estimating.

Spelling/Vocabulary: The spelling and vocabulary tests will be on Friday, September 20. We will continue practicing in class. Please remember for vocabulary, the students will need to choose at least 8 of their words to use in their writing.

Here is the link to all the games to practice.
http://www.classtools.net/mob/quiz_22/Weather99920VocabSpelling_MmMqT.htm

tornado: Begins as a funnel cloud with spinning columns of air that drops down from a severe thunderstorm, forming a tornado when touching the ground.
earthquake : The shaking or movement of a portion of the Earth’s surface.
blizzard: An intense winter storm with winds of 35 m.p.h. or higher with falling and/or blowing snow
tsunami: An unusually large ocean wave caused by undersea earthquake, landslide or volcanic eruption.
flood: A great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
volcano: A vent in the earth’s crust through which lava, steam, ashes are expelled
avalanche: A large body of snow, ice or rock and debris sliding down a mountain
drought: A period when a region has a lack of rainfall
 erosion: The wearing away of the Earth’s surface by the action of the sea, running water, moving ice, precipitation or wind.
thunder: The explosive sound of air expanding as it is heated by lightning
snow: Precipitation that is composed of white ice crystals that fall from clouds.
squall line: A line of thunderstorms sometimes several hundred miles long that can produce strong thunderstorms and sometimes severe weather.
humidity: The amount of water vapor in the air
lightning: An enormous and very hot spark of electricity produced by thunderstorms
climate: It describes the average weather conditions in a certain place or during a certain season.

Have a wonderful week!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Curriculum Update September 3-6

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! It was really nice to finally get some rain, but have the sunshine come back out.

Thank you for sending in all the supplies for our solar cookout. It is greatly appreciated and will truly make the day a success. The cookout will take place on Thursday.

Reading: We will  continue reading about types weather, weather instruments, and narrative weather stories for the next four weeks.
Last week, we worked on explaining how the author uses illustrations to help the meaning in a story and understanding the meaning of words and phrases in science texts. This week, we will focus on finding the main idea of information being read and finding key details.
For the natural disaster groups, the students are asking and answering questions to show understanding of what they are researching and reading.

Writing: We are going to begin working on our narrative piece. Students are finishing up their "Look outside your window" writing. They are using it compare/contrast with a class in Shanghai, China we are partnering with to complete this project. We will also write letters to one of our pen pal classes in California this week.

Grammar: We continue working on capitalization (beginning words, titles and proper nouns). We will also use correct ending punctuation and focus on nouns. The students learned symbols and chants to go with these.

Math: We will take the topic 1 performance assessment on Tuesday. Wednesday, we will begin topic 2. We are going to learn about addition meanings and properties, subtraction meanings and using mental math to add and subtract.

Spelling/Vocabulary: The spelling and vocabulary tests will be on Friday. We will continue practicing in class. Please remember for vocabulary, the students will need to choose at least 8 of their words to use in their writing.

wind vane: an instrument that determines what direction the wind is blowing
barometer: an instrument that measures how much the air is pressing down, or air pressure
rain gauge: an instrument that collects rain and measures how much rain has fallen
anemometer: an instrument that measures the wind speed
thermometer: an instrument that measures how hot or cold the air is
forecast: a prediction or estimate of future events
prediction: to guess what will happen in the future based on facts or knowledge
meteorology: the study of the atmosphere and all its phenomena, including weather and how to forecast it
cold front: a boundary between two air masses, one cold and the other warm, moving so that the cold air replaces the warm air
warm front: a boundary between two air masses, one cold and the other warm, moving so that the warm air replaces the cold air
debris: pieces of something that have been destroyed or broken
gust: a sudden, powerful rush of wind
radar: a system that uses radio waves to find the location and the speed of objects
Fujita Scale: the scale that measures the strength of tornadoes based upon wind speed
damage: harm

Have a fantastic week!