Ms. Beck's Blog

Check out the five students who dunked Dr. Koontz in the tank today!  More pictures and videos to come by tomorrow!

 

Thank goodness SOLs are OVER!  These are some hard working children who deserve to have a great weekend!  Thanks to all of our families who helped us study before the big days, to our SOL buddies who encouraged us every day, to the families who sent in healthy snacks, and to the Pike family who brought in some great bags of fun for us to celebrate with!   Check back tomorrow for some upcoming important events next week!

We’ve completed our reading and math SOLs, which leaves science and social studies for this week!  Make sure your child is completing their homework and studying any old tests and the notes in their science and social studies notebooks each night!  An early bedtime is a MUST!  We’re almost done!

SOLS start next week!  Get to studying…after you watch our video!

Happy SOL from Ryan Stein on Vimeo.

Have you heard we are headed to Monticello on Wednesday?  Have you seen the weather reports?

Rain or shine, we are headed to Charlottesville.  Make sure your child has a raincoat or a poncho with them.  Umbrellas are not allowed through the house, so we can’t have them!  Check out the graphic below for some reminders!

Your child will be back at Donahoe, ready to be picked up at 5:00 pm on Wednesday.  Make sure you are there to pick them up – otherwise, they’ll be coming home with Ms. Beck!  (Just kidding – I’ll be ready for a nap!)

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

 
I was a day late on getting the Saturday Challenge up!  Sorry pals!  Here goes!

Remember that I’m not going to approve any comments until the end of today to give everyone a chance to answer!  Once I’ve posted the correct answer, I am not accepting anymore comments!

 

I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

 

Parents,

Check out this great offer to spend a night “camping” out at the Science Museum of Virginia!  Let me know if you’d like any more information and I’ll see what I can find out!

Parents,

Many things have been moved around and changed to accommodate many other things as we enter review and testing season!  Please take note of some upcoming dates and changes!  I’ll be updating our calendar page also – so check it out there!

 

Thursday, April 23rd – Reading NWEA testing

Tuesday, April 29th – Math NWEA testing

Wednesday, April 30th – MONTICELLO (Be on the lookout for information coming home on Thursday!!)

Thursday, May 1st – Splashing teachers at 1:00 pm.  Come join us for some fun!

Monday, May 5th-Friday, May 16th – Spring PALS testing (two week window)

 

SOL Testing – still subject to change

Tuesday, May 20th-Wednesday, May 21st  – Reading SOL

Monday, May 26th – Memorial Day, No School

Wednesday, May 28th-Thursday, May 29th – Math SOL

Tuesday, June 3rd – Science SOL

Thursday, June 4th – History SOL

 

Monday, June 9th – Field Day! (This is a change!)

 

 

Today is Ms. Muller’s wedding day!   One way I helped her get ready was to make her bouquet out of antique brooches (like the one the Queen of England gave Sophie in The BFG.)  Get ready for your Saturday Challenge!

When I was making the brooches into flowers, I had to use four stems of wire for each brooch.  If I used 37 brooches to make the bouquet, how many wires did I have to use?

Post your answer below!  I’ll be approving posts tomorrow morning to give everyone a chance to solve the problem.

Happy spring break, friends!

IMG 3699 from Whitney Beck on Vimeo.

 

Ms.  Beck is going to be an auntie on Wednesday!  This is my first niece or nephew to come into the world and I am so ready to spoil this baby!  We don’t know what the baby is (boy or girl), so it’s even more exciting for me to get to the hospital after school on Wednesday to meet him or her!

Here’s the challenge for you, there are many family names that my brother Ryan and his wife Jessica have to choose from if it’s a boy.  There are four first names and three middle names.   You need to answer BOTH of the following questions in a complete sentence.

1.  How many different combinations of 1 first name and 1 middle name do Ryan and Jessica have to choose from?

2.  How do you know?

Remember your answer should be in the form of a sentence, have capital letters where appropriate, and punctuation!

I will not approve any answers submitted until this evening to give everyone a chance to work it out and post!

Ask your child how their “brownies” were today!

Who’s running in the 10k this morning?  Well, not Ms. Beck, but many, MANY Richmonders are!  Here is your Saturday challenge for today…and I hope you’re ready, because there are actually many questions!  You can choose the questions you want to solve (just make sure you tell us which one you chose), or you can answer them all!

 

1.  If Ms. Beck had walked the race, she would have walked at the pace of about 14 minutes for each mile.  If the race is about 6 miles, how many minutes would it have taken her to complete the race?

 

2.  The very last person to start the race crossed the start line at 9:17am.  If it took them 2 hours to complete the race, what time did they cross the finish line?

 

3.  In 2013, there were 32,251 participants in the race.  In 2012, there were 33,329 participants.  Which year had the fewest participants?  How many fewer participants were there in that year?

 

Good luck everyone!

I just thought I’d post an updated Photosynth of our classroom so you can all see our home away from home!  I hope everyone has a great weekend, full of studying for history right…right? 😉  Don’t forget to check the blog tomorrow afternoon for the Saturday Challenge!

Parents,

Your child will be taking the 3^rd Quarter Benchmark Assessments on the days listed below.  Please help them prepare by studying anything in their notebooks, which will be sent home almost every day.  Anything we have covered so far can show up on these tests.  These assessments let us know how well we are doing in getting the information to their little minds – so we want them to be rested, prepared, and focused on testing days.  Their tests will be conducted on the computers so they can get used to the testing environment.  Please contact your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns.  Do your best to have them to school on time on these dates because testing will start right away.  Ready or not, here we go!

Monday, March 31st – History Benchmark

Thursday, April 3rd – Math Benchmark – Day 1

Friday, April 4th – Math Benchmark – Day 2

Wednesday, April 9th – Reading Benchmark – Day 1

Thursday, April 10th – Reading Benchmark – Day 2

Friday, April 11th – Science Benchmark

As a motivator, third graders have the opportunity to “SPLASH” a faculty member at Donahoe if they earn a score of 75 or above on these tests.  For every A, they will earn another cup of water.  All students have the opportunity to earn 8 cups of water to splash various teachers and faculty from the building (including all third grade teachers, Mr. Mullins, Mrs. Larkin, and Mrs. Ladd…just to name a few!)  We’d LOVE for you to cheer on your student, help them study, and then join us for splashing at 1:00 pm on Thursday, May 1st!

 

When Jahneysha left us to go to her new school, I happened to buy a new plant for our classroom.  We decided the plant should be named Jahneysha in her honor.  Today we found a sequencing recording sheet that Jahneysha was working on in stations before she left.  With the addition of a little tape and a pencil, Jahneysha was back in action!

 

It certainly isn’t the same, but it helps us with how much we miss her!  We hope you are doing well Sha-Sha!

When the weather warms up, there’s nothing I like better than to spend time walking around outside.  Did you know that once upon a time, I was planning on teaching high school history!?!?!  I love Richmond because there are so many places where I can enjoy the rich history of the city while getting in a good workout!  This morning I walked around Hollywood Cemetery and took in a beautiful view of the James River!

Your Saturday Challenge is this…looking at the birth and death dates of President John Tyler, tell me how old he was when he died.

Good luck!

 

ps.  In case you can’t read the dates clearly, he was born on March 20, 1790 and died on January 18, 1862.

All week, we have learned about biographies.  We know what they look like, what sorts of nonfiction text features we would find in one, and learned how to make a timeline.  Check out our video biography of Sister Susan, Susan B. Anthony!

Friends,

This morning I spent some time walking outside in the city.  I came upon this vista, and I need some help!  Can you identify any natural or capital resources in this photograph I took?  Comment below to tell me!

 

 

We had all heard that Kammi’s art was going to be shown at Central Office for a year…but what we didn’t know was all the fun Kammi and I would have on our trip to see it!  Guess who Kammi got to meet?

As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, Henrico County Schools is no longer printing monthly lunch calendars in an attempt to “go green.”   Check out the following link to learn about the lunch app available on iOs and Android devices!

http://www.henrico.k12.va.us/HealthNutrition/NutritionServices/LunchMenus.html

 

The link below will lead you to the online lunch calendar for the remainder of March and April.

http://henrico.nutrislice.com/menu/donahoe/lunch/

 

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have!

The February project was to use simple machines to create something that would make work easier.  The products were AMAZING.  Check out the video of what you created!

Dear parents, 

Today we learned about sequencing in reading.  We read a paragraph and found the clue or signal words and then we wrote our own story and included signal words of our own.  Let us know what you think about our great story!  

 

      Once upon a time, there were 21 students and a great third grade teacher. Then, they all went outside. First, they play tag.  Second, they play football. After that, they go inside.

Next, they learn about science. First, they learn about astronomy, or the study of the universe. After astronomy, they learn about simple machines. Then, they watch Brain Pop and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

After the videos, the students start their reading lesson. Then, they read about dinosaurs and their extinction. Next, they learn about sequencing. At the end of reading time, they work in groups to complete their stations.

Finally, they eat lunch and pack up to go home. They have to find out “Who It Is” before they leave. When the bell rings, they line up in the pod and wait for the teachers to tell them to go home!

Check out our video about our field trip to the Spider Room at the Math Science Innovation Center today.  Go to their website to learn more!

Hey snowbabies!

Here are some math problems that need solving.  For every 3 word problems you solve using the 4 square and turn in on Monday, you earn yourself a lunch-bunch with Ms. Beck in the classroom!  Let’s see who’ll be chowin’ down with me!

 

One & Multi-Step Word Problems

Ms. Beck went shopping for new warm clothes this weekend. On Saturday, she bought 4 scarves and 8 sweaters. On Sunday, she bought double the amount of scarves as on Saturday and three more sweaters.  Did she have more scarves or sweaters?

 

Mykalia had 385 hair barrettes in her collection.  She lost 212 of her barrettes.  Then she received 98 barretts as a present.  What is the total number of barrettes she has in her collection?

 

Over the years, James has collected 4 groups of eight baseball cards and Korbin has collected 578 total.  How many more baseball cards has Korbin collected than James?

 

Chase and RJ went on a 3 day bike ride for a total of 47 miles.  The first day they rode 9 miles.  The second day they rode 15 miles.  How many miles did they ride on the last day?

 

Keesha  maintains her own library at  home. She equally distributes her books on 8 shelves. If there are 27 books on a shelf, how many books does she have?

 

A broken scale measures 6 inches. Briona uses the broken scale to measure the length of a rope. The rope is 35 times longer than the broken scale. Find the length of the rope.

 

Making Change

Ms. Beck bought cookies.  She paid with a five-dollar bill and received $3.89 in change.  How much did Ms. Beck spend on the cookies?

 

Samaria was hungry so she went to Chick-Fil-A. She ordered a chicken sandwich for $2.39 and some waffle fries for $0.97. She paid with a $5. How much change should she receive?

 

Madison spent $1.36 on jelly bracelets.  She paid with a five-dollar bill.  How much change did Madison receive?

What does Valentine’s Day mean to you? What do you like and dislike about Valentine’s Day? Does your family do anything special on February 14? How do you make your family feel on Valentine’s Day? Give me your thoughts and feelings about this special day.

Please write 3-5 complete sentences. You must post your answer before 8:00 AM, Friday, February 14. We will share our responses during Valentine’s Day!!!!

Kids React to Valentine’s Day from Ryan Stein on Vimeo.