Good morning Boys and Girls!  I hope that you are enjoying your time at home with your family.  It might be a good time to try something new like a new board game or card game.  My kids love Skipbo which includes numbers to 12.  Dig out your markers and crayons and make a calendar picture for the month of May.  Just tape it over the one on your calendar.  Yours will be much cuter because you made it.  Don't forget to have fun!

Math

This week I would like to focus on pictographs.  I have included a You Tube video to watch how pictographs are made.  You could ask your family members a question such as :  How many eggs do you eat in a week?  Then create a pictograph to show the data.  You should be able to answer questions about the data from your pictograph.

3D shapes

After watching the video take a look around your house to find objects which look like cubes, cylinders, cones, spheres or pyramids.  

Grade 3 extension of 3D Shapes

How many verticies (corners)does a cube have?

How many faces (flat surfaces) does a cylinder have?

How many edges (where two flat surfaces meet) does a shpere have?  Did I trick you?

Subtraction of two or three digit numbers using a number line

Watch the video to help you see the process.  ie.  87-54 =     

                             -4         -10         -10         -10         -10        -10

                       ___I_______I___________I___________I___________I__________I__________I            Begin at 87 and subtract fifty.

                         33     37           47         57          67         77        87             Then subtract 4.

 Therefore 87-54=33

Try some of these, they are fun to draw out.

Language Arts

This week I would like to talk about the "Past Tense."  The past tense is something that has already happened.  It could have happened a long time ago or just a minute ago.  The point is it has already happened.  When we tell a story about something in the past we have to change our action words(verbs).  For example:  Today I sing a song but yersterday I sang a song.  Today I march to a drum but yesterday I marched to a drum.  Today I sit in a chair but yesterday I sat in a chair.

There are some simple rules to changing action words to the past tense but I must warn you that in English almost every rule we have is broken from time to time, so don't get discouraged.  

Past Tense Rules:

Add "ed"

laugh - laughed

walk - walked

If the word already ends in an "e" then simply add "d"

joke- joked

rule- ruled

pile- piled

Some words change completely (these are the tricky ones)

steal - stole               send - ____________                 eat- ___________               keep- ____________

make - made             buy - bought                       get - got                       sing- sang

Action words that end in "y" change the "y" to an "i" and add "ed."

cry - cried       

try- tried

Sometimes action words do not change at all.

put-put

read-read (pronounced "red" in the past tense)

Create a sentence in the "present tense" (right now) and then change it to the "past tense" (earlier).

ie.Today I will pick flowers for my mom.  Yesterday I picked flowers for my mom.

Today I will break my toy.  Yesterday I broke my toy.

Try some.

Reading

Grade Two -Read 15 mins./day

Grade 3  -Read 20 mins. /day

Writing

Try writing a story in the "past tense."  Tell me about something that has already happened and underline all of the action words.  

Try making as many words as you can from the letters in the words    "Millerton School Rocks"

llook,mill,cool,etc.

Try writing a "procedural" story which tells how to do something in steps which should go in order.  Use the following words to help you put things in order:

First,

Next, 

Then,

After that,

Finally,

Make sure you add lots of details to each step.  This makes it clear to the reader what to do and also makes your story longer and more interesting.  Pick a topic of your choice or use one of these.  How to make a piece of toast.  How to clean your room.  How to ride a bike. 

I hope you have fun trying some of these activities this week.  Do a little bit each day and before you know it you will be finished for the week.  I am looking forward to talking to you on Wednesday.  

Mrs. Vickers