Recycling Project - Collect your plastic lids and caps!

Hello All!

The kids have been noticing a lot of trash and litter out on our recess playground, and other places, and have become excited about trying to spread the word about proper disposal of trash and recycling. To learn more about this, the third grade team invited Mr. Tony Hayes from Loudoun County Waste Management to talk to our classes about recycling, landfills, and how to correctly sort items for trash or reuse. He came today to present his information!

Some cities and countries are trying to create less waste by recycling more materials. San Francisco is one city that has started this "Zero Waste" initiative. You can watch a short video about it here. Other countries like Japan also recycle up to 34 different categories! You can see more information and a video clip about the town of Kamikatsu here.

We further discussed this in our classrooms, and the kids wanted me to share recycling information with you. Much of this can be found on the Loudoun County website, here.

Firstly, what to recycle at home! Here are some guidelines about what can be recycled:

Secondly, did you know that plastic grocery bags and ziplock bags CAN be recycled? They just can NOT be placed in your home/school recycling bin. Ask your student why! You can take your bags to your local grocery store or locations listed here to be recycled:

This is why you should put the extra effort into recycling your plastic bags!

We also learned that plastic bottle caps can be recycled, BUT ONLY if they are ATTACHED to the bottle! If they are not attached, the machines that sort the plastics have a hard time picking out the lids, and they often end up being sent to waste because of this! The kids have decided to collect bottle caps to donate to a company that recycles them to be made into new products, such as Trex, benches, tables, etc. We have started a collection in our room, and already today we have 14 caps! 

The kids had the idea to create posters to spread the word about what can be recycled, and about our collection of plastic caps/lids, so the entire school could help us collect more! We'll be creating posters this week to hang in our school hallways and near trash receptacles.

Please collect at home as well! All caps/lids must be clean. We will take any of the following kinds of lids:

Thank you in advance for helping us with our collection! The kiddos are VERY excited about this!
Feel free to contact me with any questions you have about our project! 

Thanksgiving Break & Field Trip Chaperones

Hello All!

Thanksgiving Break

Over the break, please have your student utilize the study tools posted in my last blog to review Geography! We will be continuing the unit when we come back, and their test is on Dec. 5th. Also, please be sure to have your student READ as much as possible over the break, and log any time they do. Encourage them to read both fiction and nonfiction! 

Check out my twitter feed for some "Who Was..." Biography poster pictures! They look awesome!

Book Fair Family Night:

Coming up next WEDNESDAY, Nov. 29th, is Book Fair Family Night. Come browse the book fair with your student and find some good reads for the holiday breaks or gifts for friends and family! Books make good gifts for teachers, too! 😉

Chaperones:

Our chaperones have been picked! The kids helped me pick the names from a bucket. I sent out an email to all parents who were chosen, so please check your messages! 

The trip is on December 8th. Before coming, I will need you to view the attached PowerPoint, and sign the chaperone form with your emergency contact information. Please return this form and your $9.00 as soon as possible. I can provide a printed copy if needed.

If you are no longer available or something comes up in the near future, please let me know as soon as possible so I can ask another parent! Thanks for volunteering! 

I hope everyone enjoys the days off, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Nearpod & Quizlet - Geography Study Tools

Hello All!

Here are some tools that your student can use to review and study some Geography information. We did the Oceans one at school, but they can log in again to view it or show you.

We will be having a short quiz on just the continents and oceans on Tuesday, but the test will be on December 5th!

Nearpod:
Just log on to Nearpod at www.nearpod.com, then enter the code to view it:
Continents: RALDX
Oceans: KPLTA
*If they want to watch the Brain Pop video in the Oceans presentation, they will need to log on to their LCPS GO and go to Brain Pop - NOT Junior! - to search for the ocean video.

Quizlet Vocabulary practice created by Mrs. Hite: Click here

Padlet of various activities and study links created by Mrs. McKinley: Click here


Happy Studying!

Upcoming Dates, Tests, Pictures, Info!

Hello All!

Yet again, I dropped the ball on passing out Thursday Folders today! I do apologize... they will come home tomorrow.

Dates to note:
- Nov. 17th - PTA Basket Bingo
- Nov. 20th - Picture Retake day - see below for more info
- Nov. 21st - Multiplication test (My math class)
- Nov. 22-24 - No School, Thanksgiving
- Nov. 29th - Family Book Fair Night
- Dec. 5th - Geography Test
- Dec. 8th - Field Trip (Our class & Mrs. Martinson's class)
- Dec. 9th - Holiday Bazaar & Pancake Breakfast
- Dec. 13th - Division Test (My math class)
- Dec. 14th - Water Cycle quiz


Geography Unit:
This unit is NOT in the kids' Social Studies notebook, again due to the standards changing. Please keep their notes in their Pinebrook folder and return them to school each day so they can complete notes/work in class!

Mrs. Hite also created a quizlet for reviewing vocabulary. If you have not already joined the class link, here it is: https://quizlet.com/join/DHF44c2DM

I am also linking this on the sidebar to the right for easy access in the future!

Here are two websites with different practice activities on them for Geography as well:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/World_Continents.htm
http://mrnussbaum.com/continents/

Picture Retakes:
If you would like to have a school picture retake, you MUST send back the original picture packet to return to the photographer. If you already sent them in, I have them. Please let me know if you would like retake pictures so I can send a form home for you to fill out with pose, background, and payment info.

Report Cards:
If you didn't already, please log on to ParentVue to see your student's report card! They were only sent out online this year, not paper copy. Most parents have logged in to view the report card, but we can see from our end that there are still many who did not. If you still have not set up your ParentVue or need to request access, please follow the link sent out by Mr. Thiessen explaining where to find this and what to do. If for some reason you are not able to access your student's report card, please contact me or the office! 

Homework & Field Trip

Happy Short Week of School!

Field Trip:
Today in your student's folder they should have a Field Trip permission slip. Please fill out the stapled sheet for your child for them to be able to attend the trip. If you would like to chaperone, fill out the bottom of the letter and return it to me asap. I'll wait until next Wednesday, Nov. 15th, then pull all names from a basket.

Due to size/number, the 3rd grade classes have be separated over three different days. Mrs. Martinson's class and Mrs. Malley's class will have their field trip on Friday, Dec. 8th. The Field Trip is to Ballentine Farms. You can see more information on their website here.


Homework and Upcoming dates:
Due to holidays and frequent travel, I want to give you some test dates through December. Please let me know if you have a planned absence so your student can make up their tests.
- Nov. 15th - Simple Machines Test
- Nov. 21st - Multiplication Test (My math class)
- Dec. 5th - Geography Test
- Dec. 13th - Division Test (My math class)

Nearpod & Homework

Hello All!

I hope everyone enjoys some extra time with their kids over this long weekend!

Simple Machines:
In class, we have been supplementing my lessons with Nearpod (a website). When I'm running a lesson in class, this allows me to show what's on my screen on each of the student's computers, and they can respond to questions, watch videos, etc.

Today I had the kids pick which Nearpod they wanted to view, so they likely only got through one. If they would like to look at any of them over the weekend, here are the codes. They just have to go to www.nearpod.com and enter the class code to participate.

Codes
Levers: PLYSJ
Inclined Planes: LPACG
Wedges: ZMDLW

Don't forget about biography reading homework over the weekend! Every student should have the biography they picked in class with them tonight.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Malley :) 

Pink Forms & Homework

Hello All!

Pink Form in Thursday Folders
Today in your student's Thursday Folder there is a PINK form that needs to be completed and returned to school TOMORROW! Please fill out the form and return it. Every student needs to have a paper submitted, no matter if your answer is yes or no. Thank you!

If you're interested in volunteering for Thursday Folders, you can sign up here.


Homework over the weekend & days off
Over the weekend please make sure your student completes their homework, as they have Monday and Tuesday off! They have:

Reading Worksheet
Read a nonfiction biography and respond to the questions on the worksheet. Every student picked a biography from my library today so they should have one with them tomorrow when they come home.

Math Worksheet & Reflex Math:
I am handing out my math homework THIS Friday, to be due NEXT Friday, so the students can begin working on it rather than having to complete it in just two days next week. They can work on the Review side and Reflex math, but they may not be able to do the new content part of the homework until next week when we have our first multiplication lesson.


Enjoy the sunshine today!
Mrs. Malley

Coding Course - For Student

Students: Click the link to go to the coding course.

https://studio.code.org/s/coursed?viewAs=Student