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May 23, 2014

Important Dates:
May 21, 2014: All library materials are due. Please contact Mrs. Hastings at
khastings@uaschools.org if you cannot find a lost library item so she can tell you
the replacement cost.
May 26, 2014: No school: Memorial Day
June 2, 2014: Field Day
June 4, 2014: Last day for students
Highlights from our week....
Thompson Park
What a great day it was to go to Thompson Park! We observed our trees one final time and
noted the changes. It has been fun to observe a particular tree throughout the year.
Sometime next week, students will upload photos of the trees. A special thank you to the
parents who were able to chaperone today. We all appreciate your time in making the tree
observations especially meaningful for the students.
BOOKS!
Students will not be checking out books from the WIndermere Library from now until the end
of the school year. PLEASE BRING BACK ANY WINDERMERE LIBRARY BOOKS AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE! We still have a variety of books in our classroom library for students to enjoy, but I
would encourage you to visit the public library and make sure your child has some great
books to read. In the ending weeks of school, students will be making plans for summer
reading. Please make sure that your summer plans include visits to the public library and
time for reading!
Invention Convention
The Display Boards that were due today look great! I can tell that the students are excited
about their invention. Thanks for your help and time in supporting your students work.
Students will now build a representative (does not have to be a fully operational) prototype.
These will be due on June 3rd. Prototypes must be no larger than a paper box
(approximately 20" x 12" x 12") and may not use electricity (except for batteries).
Our Third Grade Invention Convention will be on Tuesday, June 3rd from 10:15-11:00 in the
WIndermere Multi-Purpose room. Please plan to stop by during that time to look at all of the
great inventions that our students have come up with.
Adapted Fairy Tale Writing
The students continued to write their adapted fairy tales. We all have thoroughly enjoyed
hearing each others stories as we have been planning and writing them. One of our writing
mini lessons this week was how to vary the sentences we have written. By varying our
sentences, the flow of the story slows down or speeds up based on how we choose the
words in our story.
Literary Nonfiction
Now that we have finished our animal research, we are planning literary nonfiction stories.
These fiction stories will have nonfiction facts incorporated in them. We have read some
great mentor texts and are excited to create our own stories. I will be looking for volunteers
to type these as we finish writing them. Let me know if you are interested in typing. Thanks!
Math
In math, we continued learning about fractions. To understand how a fraction is represented
on a number line, we divided a line into various sections. Students then labeled each
section. For example, a line divided into 3 equal sections was labeled 1/3, 2/3, 3/3. Dividing
a number line in this way helps us visualize how 3/3 is the same as one whole.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend,
Noelle