May 17 – May 21, 2010
Lifeskill or Life-long Guideline of the week: Resourcefulness
Math
2nd – Students are observing and classifying two-dimensional
shapes by their attributes this week. We will be doing many
interactive choices with pattern blocks and Geoblocks.
Students will be learning the names of both two-dimensional
and three-dimensional figures. We will discuss the appropriate
way to describe these using their attributes. We learned a fun
game called Guess My Rule that we will play over the next two
weeks.
Remember to have students study their Mad Minute
facts for 5 MINUTES each night. Quizzes are on Wednesday
and Friday.
3rd - This week we are continuing to learn how to multiply two-
digit numbers by one-digit numbers. We will also be learning
long division. Don’t forget, multiplication mad minutes are
continuing every Wednesday and Friday. Please help your
child study for at least 5 minutes each night. This becomes
even more and more important as we move into double
digit multiplication and your child moves into 4th grade.
Please help them be successful by encouraging them and
helping them study.
A long, long time ago
This week we are reading Native American Folktales.
We are distinguishing whether or not these tales are myths or
legends and supporting of choice with evidence from the text.
Ask your child what the difference between the two is. Each of
these tales focuses on telling a story using the stars. Students
will be working on visualizing the story this week by working on
an artistic response to each story using star stickers as it
relates to the story.
To Infinity…and Beyond!!
This week we are beginning to study our solar system
closely. We begin with a look at the sun, the star at the center
of our solar system. We will be reading about one planet each
day and recording defining
characteristics, facts about the weather
and atmosphere and dates of discovery
and exploration. Check out
www.kidsastronomy.com for some fun
interactive solar system activities and
information!
Please check the Calendar Weekly!
http://mahlstadtsvrcek2-3class.wikispaces.com/Calendar
Writer’s Workshop
Students are continuing to work hard by publishing
their ABC books. We have a wide range of topics from animals
to elements of the periodic table! We will have a gallery walk
when we are complete to read all of our published ABC books
at the end of this week.
Important Notes & Dates
*Thank you, thank you for all the appreciations and
compliments we received last week. We loved every
chocolate, sweet note and small treasure that you gave us so
generously. Thank you so much, it is wonderful to feel so
appreciated! 
A special thank you to parents who
took time out of their day to watch the
class while we had our lunch out! We
ate at Sago in the Triangle with other
teachers who had the same lunch day
as us! We completed our lunch out
with a delicious coffee.
*Track and Field Day: This Friday!
Don’t forget class shirt, tennis shoes with socks, and a
water bottle! Students will be outside for almost a whole
hour, please wear shorts so that you can stay cool.
*We had a wonderful final field trip yesterday to The University
of Texas. We visited RLM and discussed the characteristics of
the sun. We also viewed a live picture of the sun through the
heliostat and visited the roof of the RLM,
17 floors up, and saw the view of campus.
We looked at the telescope that hosts star
parties on Wednesdays during the
summer. We then had a nice lunch on the
East Mall near the statue of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Our final stop was a visit
to Battle Hall hosted by Harrison’s parents,
Greg and Beth, who spoke to us about the
architecture of the UT Tower. We got to
see the reading room in the first library of UT as well as
enormous sketches used to construct the tower. A very special
thank you to our personal tour guides, Beth and Greg!
Check out http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ for live
pictures of the sun from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory) and other amazing information!
*Please see our End of Year Activity Sheet in this week’s
Wednesday folder. It is printed on yellow paper and outlines
the fun activities your child will participate in!