Week of Dec. 5 to Dec. 9

Hello!  Just a quick couple of reminders before I dive into our learning for the week:

1. If you would like to order books for December, I sent home the first book order forms last week. I will be entering the orders on Friday, so please send them in by then.  If you want to look at or order them online, look to the right column and click on the Scholastic link. It will take you into our classroom site.

2. I will send home more information as soon as I get it, but the students will have an opportunity to shop at the Penguin Gift Shop next week for gifts for friends and family. The prices range from $.25 and up, and we will be visiting it on Wednesday afternoon. You can send money with your children if you want them to purchase gifts. It is a fundraiser for the 5th grade field trip.

3. The Winter Music Program is next Thursday, Dec. 15 at 10:00 a.m.

So here are our learning goals for the week!

Reading: We are starting the chapter book The BFG. In Wonders, the students are reading and learning about the US government and the process of becoming the president. They are also working on making nouns plural (add -s, -es, or change the spelling), rereading difficult books, and identifying the genre "Expository Text".

Spelling: Words with silent letters

Vocabulary: announced, elect, candidates, estimate, convince, government, decision, independent

Math: The students are continuing to gain more experience with multiplication by looking at and comparing factors and products in our game last week.  We will also start a game of multiplication bingo to reinforce our learning. In independent practice, students are working on the online math portions of Moby Max and ST Math. Both of these programs are letting the students work at their own levels.

Art: Winter Craft

Thank you!
Mrs. Urbaniak

Week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 2

Hello! Have you seen that we have our Winter Concert will be on Thursday, Dec. 15? K-2 will perform at 8:45, and grades 3-5 will perform at 10:00 a.m.? We certainly hope that you can stay for the entire section of each performance. It can be distracting to the students if people are up and moving around.

Here's a look into our learning for the week:

Reading: We are continuing to read Because of Winn-Dixie. Extraordinary things are happening in our room, such as great discussions, pleas to read "just one more chapter", and the building of empathy. It's simply fantastic. In our Wonders series, we are in Unit 2 Week 2: Immigration. Each small reading group is reading a historical fiction book about characters that immigrate to America. As we read, the students are learning about making and revising predictions and using similes.

Vocabulary: whispered, immigrated, inspected, moment, photographs, valuable, immigrated, opportunity

Spelling words: Months of the Year

Math: We are starting multiplication this week! The kiddos are so excited!  We will be playing games and doing activities in order to build their understanding of groups and items within each group.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Urbaniak

Week of 11/28 - 12/2

Update coming soon!

Week of Nov. 21 - 22

Welcome to the short week!

Our goals for the week are:

Reading: Continue reading Winn-Dixie

Math: Make a graphing project showing three different types of graphs using individual survey data.

Writing: Finish the personal narrative.

We are out of school on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at noon.

Happy Fall Break!!!

Mrs. Urbaniak

Week of Nov. 7 to 11

We're back to normal this week with our schedule and spelling words!

Reading: Start Unit 2 "Figure It Out" and explore the question " Why is working together a good way to solve a problem?"  The stories that go along with this are Anansi Learns a Lesson and Roadrunner's Dance.

Comprehension Skills: Make and revise predictions, identify the theme

Vocabulary Words: attempt, awkward, created, furiously, interfere, involved, timid, cooperation

Spelling Words: Long /i/ and Long /u/

Math: Make picture graphs, use and make bar graphs, use data to solve problems

Writing: Brainstorm and write the first draft of a personal narrative

Have a great week!
Mrs. Urbaniak

Oct. 31 to Nov. 4

Wow! Time sure does fly. Welcome to the start of the 2nd quarter. Report cards go home on Tuesday, and we will have conferences on Wednesday and Thursday. Here's a glance at our week:

Reading: Finish our Unit 1 projects and share with the class.

Grammar: Types of Sentences

Spelling: No spelling this week

Math: Continue with addition and subtraction practice with Math Encore Games, start Ch. 2 Graphing, and practice our online math components (Extra Math, Moby Max Math, and ST Math)

Writing: Start our personal narratives.

Oct. 24 to Oct. 28

Welcome to the week! Please keep an eye out for your conference slip in your child's folder. I will be sending them home on Tuesday to tell you your appointment date and time. Thank you!

Reading: This week, the students will be choosing from three separate projects related to our Unit 1 Big Idea: How Can Learning Help Us Grow? They will either create a travel brochure, time line, or poster presentation.  They will also be practicing the Reader's Theatre "Take Me to Your Litter" to build their oral fluency. As a recap, the students will be rereading the stories from the previous weeks in the Wonders series.

Spelling: There are no spelling words for the week.

Vocabulary: We will be using the words from the whole unit to investigate our projects.

Math: We will be wrapping up subtraction this week.

Writing: The students will begin working on their personal narrative writings by creating webs and first drafts.

Week of 10/17 - 10/18

Thank you so much to everybody that joined Class Dojo. I hope that it is a great way to keep track of your child's days at school. If you haven't joined, please check your emails or phone texts. I invited you via one of these methods. I also sent home more invites so you can get connected.

Here is a peak at our learning for the week:

Math:  The third-graders will be focusing very heavily of subtracting this week. They will be learning three different strategies: open number line, compensation, and break apart strategy. They will also begin exploring the new web-based program called ST Math.

Writing: We will be finishing our project of writing friendly letters and sending them in the mail! Students will also be working on stating opinions on ST Math and the book vs. movie version of Charlotte's Web.

Reading: We will be reinforcing the various activities that students will do during reading rotations (groups).

Spelling: There is no new spelling for the week.

Thank you sending back the parent-teacher appointment slips. It helps us get scheduled. If you haven't done so, please send them in your child's folder as soon as possible.

Thank you,
Mrs. Urbaniak

Week of Oct. 10 - 14

Hello families,

I'll be sending home the preferred day/times to meet for the parent/teacher conference this week. Please send these back as quickly as you can so we can make the schedule. I really appreciate it!

Math: We are in the thick of adding and subtracting within 1000.  The students will wind up with specific lessons on adding this week, and they will begin subtracting.

Writing: The students will be finishing the process of the friendly letter this week, and we will mail them on Friday. If you haven't already done so, will you help your child find the address of the person that they are writing to? They need to have the address (name, street address/p.o. box/city, state, zip) by Friday.

Reading: The students will be reading about our nation's landmarks and examining the question "How do landmarks help us understand our country's story?" They will be working on the following skills:

Comprehension Strategy: Ask and Answer Questions Comprehension Skill: Main Idea and Key Details Word Study: compound words Spelling Strategy: Long /o/ Grammar: simple and compound sentences Vocabulary: massive, national, carved, traces, grand, clues We have finished all of our placement testing, so this week, the students will begin working in small reading groups. I'm excited to sit down and read with them! Please call or email me if you have any questions! Mrs. Urbaniak

Week of Sept. 26 to 30

Here's our plan for the week:

Reading: We are continuing to read Charlotte's Web and closely reading the story titled:  Room to Grow (read multiple times to pull out meaning and understand concepts).  During the reading, the students will be focusing on asking and answering questions.

Vocabulary Words: scared, contribute, pronounce, community, tumbled, classmate, admires, and practicing

Spelling: final -e pattern

Math: We will be estimating and using compatible numbers to add and subtract

Writing: Friendly letters - the students write a letter to one family member

Science: Frog Life Cycle

Friday, Sept. 23 Cross-Country UPDATE

Due to the damp weather, we will not be having running practice on Friday morning. Monday morning will be practice as usual. Thank you!

Read-A-Thon WOW! and 9/19 - 9/23

Our third-grade class had an epic weekend of reading!  As a total amount for the weekend, they read for 1,630 minutes!  We had some kiddos reading upwards of 200 minutes. Wonderful news!

Homework note: Many of you are FABULOUS at this already, but please remember to sign/initial the planners each day and include the number of minutes that your child has read.  Aside from our Read-A-Thon week, each kiddo is to read 15 minutes per day, and the planner must be signed to indicate that the student has done that.

Here's a peak into our week...

Reading: Continue Charlotte's Web, investigate the question "What can traditions teach you about cultures?" through reading The Dream Catcher and Yoon and the Jade Bracelet. The students will use visualizations and sequencing to understand the stories.

Vocabulary: celebrate, pride, courage, remind, disappointment, symbol, precious, tradition

Spelling: short vowel sounds (e, o, u)

Writing: friendly letter

Math: (from last week) rounding to tens and hundreds, estimating sums

The Skyview Homecoming parade is on Friday! Kiddos are welcome and encouraged to wear Sandstone gear, Skyview gear/colors.

Enjoy your week,
Mrs. Urbaniak

Sept 12 to 16

Welcome to the week! I hope that everyone had a fantastic weekend. My husband and I were in my first catfishing tournament on the Yellowstone on Saturday and Sunday. What a blast! My apologies when I turn all of the students into catfisherkids....

Here's a peek into our week-

Reading: start Chapter 1 of our Wonders Reading Program, review story structure as we read Charlotte's Web, use text evidence to support answers, visualize the events of a story (Bruno's New Home)

Vocabulary: ached, concentrate, discovery, educated, effort, improved, inspired, satisfied

Spelling: Short vowels (a, i)

Math: start Chapter 1 of our Math program- review of adding and subtracting, use an addition chart, and round to tens.

Writing: build ideas to write narratives and organize structure, use a web to brainstorm events from their weekend, and write a friendly letter.

Science: read about and examine life cycles

Art: finish our foreground, midground, and background paintings, add a tree for the subject

Testing: SRI test (will give us a Lexile reading level)

Enjoy the cooler weather!
Mrs. Urbaniak

Sept 6 to 9

Hello families!

Tonight is our annual Open House. The format will be different than years past.  Each teacher and Mr. Venner will be creating two sessions from 6:00-6:20 and 6:30-6:50.  Both of the sessions will be the same, so please come to the one that suits you best!  There will be your child's work from the last two weeks for you to see, as well as a presentation from me about what to expect in third grade. It will be quick and brief, but important information. I hope to see you there!

This week, we are still in the process of learning classroom procedures and building teamwork. The students are noticeably becoming quicker and more focused.  To help you know what we are doing each day, your kiddos are now in charge of planners. I will talk more about the planners at the Open House, but the important thing to know about the planners is that they need to come to school and go home each day, along with the folders.  There is a place for you to sign the planner each day at the base of the day's column. It is your child's responsibility to show you the planner and have you sign it.

This is some of the work that we are doing this week:

Reading: We are reading Charlotte's Web and practicing remembering and sharing events, stating opinions and giving reasons to support them, and story elements.

Writing: We are working on activities from last week. Yesterday, we made a collage of pictures from home and magazines on the writing journal covers.

Math: The students are working on writing numbers in standard and expanded form (54 = 50 + 4 or 438 = 400 + 30 + 8), as well as building numbers with base ten blocks.

Classroom: (Carryover from last week) We will be sorting the various learning goals for the year into their respective subjects. We'll use these to create our Hopes and Dreams for the year.

I hope that you will be able to attend our Open House tonight. Please note, my classroom phone is still not working. If you need to contact me, email is the best option (urbainakw@billingsschools.org).

Thank you!
Mrs. Urbaniak

Aug 26 to Sept 2

hank you for checking into what we are doing the first 7 days of school. We are currently in the process of developing an understanding and appreciation of each other, as well establishing the way that we do things in our classroom. Academically, our focus is on reviewing key concepts from second grade in order to be prepared for the third grade material. The following is a quick overview:

Team Building: Morning Meetings (greet each other with eye contact and friendly voices, games such as "Zoom"), personal scavenger hunt

Social Studies: Know Thyself (list of favorite things, Overall Me poster)

Math: games to review and solidify value of numbers and problem solving (Three Strikes: number version of hangman, 99 Card Game: each card has a value, the goal is to have the center pile total 99, Pyramid I Spy Game: cards that combine together to make 10), paperwork to evaluate each student's knowledge of math

Writing: review why people write, Mine My Heart (words/pictures of people and things that are close to our hearts), free write and write for specific purpose in journals

Reading: set up routines for our new reading series named "Wonders", begin Charlotte's Web

Art: Coencentric Pattern Circles

Science: Clay Float

Homework for the week: Bring pictures from home of things that you love (this will be used, read 15 minutes daily)

The Start of School

Welcome to our blog and the beginning of school! This will be a place to find all sorts of information that you need, and to start with, here are some things that you will need to know:

1. We will have a Sandstone Meet and Greet on Wednesday, Aug. 24 from 3:30-4:30. This time is set aside for families to meet the teachers, see the classroom, and bring school supplies. During this time, third-graders and their families will be organizing supplies and preparing for the first day of school. I will also have some forms for you to fill out regarding a few house-keeping things. If you are unable to make it to school during this time, please call me (281-6934) or email me (urbaniakw@billingsschools.org). I would love to schedule a time to meet that works best. It makes our first day so much easier, and I am excited to see everybody's smiling faces.

2. School starts on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 8:20. We, the teachers, will be outside at 8:00 a.m. Please look for the "3" on the fence, and you will see the third-grade teachers with our signs with our names.

3. Schools dismisses at 2:25. We will meet families on the east side of the building.

Thank you!
Mrs. Urbaniak