Boys vs Girls

Our class has been having a friendly competition to see whether the girls test average is better than the boys test average on their reading and math tests. So far the girls had the better average on both, but the boys were not far behind! They enjoyed an ALL GIRLS lunch bunch as their reward for their hard work!

Reading Challenge

We have challenged our third grade readers to read 200 minutes during the Holiday Break. The students can choose how they want to break the minutes up over the days of the break, as long as they reach a total of 200. This challenge is optional, but each student who meets this challenge will earn 10 monkey moolah dollars. Will you be up for this challenge?? Good Luck!!

Division

In Math workshop, students are looking at math story problems that involve division! Students quickly realized that division and multiplication story problems are related. In multiplication, you know the number of groups and how much is in each group, you are just trying to find the product.  In division problems, you know the total and you are either sharing or finding how many groups. 

The anchor charts below show a variety of different strategies for solving division problems.  The students are making incredible connections and their division work is progressing daily!

Students answer the following question: 

Mrs. Shaffer has 18 pencils. She wants to share them with herself and two friends. How many pencils will each person get? 

Leave us your answer in a comment below. Don't forget to include your first name only! :) 

iReady and Reflex Math

Third Grade Parents,

We would like to direct your attention to two invaluable online resources that your child can use to enhance their academic development in math.  These two resources are iReady and Reflex Math.  Both programs have been purchased for students to use at home by Duval County Public Schools. 

What is iReady?

The iReady Diagnostic and Instruction program is an online, interactive learning environment designed to assess students and then provide individualized instruction based on each student’s unique needs. The exciting format and engaging content, as well as the Study Buddies and other interesting, contemporary characters, draw in students right away.  The iReady experience builds students’ investment in their learning by giving them real-time feedback on their progress in each skill.  As students complete each assignment successfully, they earn credits that they can use to play games. 

What is Reflex Math?

Reflex Math is an adaptive online system that helps students to become fluent with their math facts.  Reflex Math adapts itself to each individual student. Over the course of a student’s first few sessions, Reflex learns which facts and fact families the student is not yet fluent with. It uses this information when making instructional decisions for the students.  This means that students won’t spend time learning facts that they already know.  Reflex Math is presented in an engaging, gaming fashion.  Students love making their avatar and buying items from the store when they earn tokens.  At this point in the year, Reflex Math has changed from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division. Fluency is an important component to a well-balanced approach to mathematics.

When should students use iReady and Reflex Math?

While we know that many students often have commitments outside of school, we highly encourage students to use these programs as often as they can.  Switching between the two programs several times a week would be fantastic! It takes around 20 minutes to finish a session in each program.  For Reflex Math, students will want work towards earning a “green light” to know they have completed the day’s session.  Weekends and days off school are also great times to log on to these programs.  Teachers also monitor the use of each child’s progress in each program. 

How can my child log on to Reflex Math and iReady?

All students have log on information to these programs in the back of their student planner.  Also, the link for each program is linked to our class blog www.chetslearningadventure.blogspot.com. At this point in the year, students have logged on several times to each program so they shouldn’t need much help logging on. 

Thank you in advance for encouraging the regular use of these amazing tools at home.  As always, if you have any questions about these programs, please feel free to contact us via email.  We appreciate your support!

Sincerely, Mrs. Shaffer, Ms. Symons & Mrs. Rossignol

Field Trip Time

Today we were able to take a grade level field trip to IMAX.  After a short bus ride to World Golf Village, we arrived and were given our 3D glasses.  We enjoyed seeing Great White Sharks and Into the Arctic.  Then we got to enjoy a picnic lunch and play some games outside in the field.  What a fun day!

Publishing Party

 Our students have been working hard writing fictional stories that explain an illustration in the book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Today we enjoyed sharing our creative pieces during our publishing party! Great job writers!! We are so proud of all your hard work!!