May 4 - Field Trip to the Oconee County Agriculture Day & Spelling Test
May 9 - Math Test on Fractions
May 11 - Spelling and Final Wordly Wise Test
May 14 - Decades Project Due (Decade Example.docx)
May 18 - Spelling Test
May 25 - Field Day
April 13 - Division Test and Spelling Test
April 14 - Festival Day
April 17 - ERB Practice
April 19 - Wordly Wise Test
April 20 - Field Trip to the Water Treatment Plant
April 23, 24, 25, 26, 30 - ERB Testing
Spring has sprung. Soccer and baseball seasons are here along with many other spring and end of year activities. Please remember homework is still a priority! We encourage you to let your children work ahead in Wordly Wise and reading logs during the weekend. Remember the pace of learning continues to increase so keeping up is important. We are working hard to be more independent as we prepare for 4th grade.
In Language Arts, we have begun The Penderwicks. While reading this novel, we will focus on explicit and implicit comprehension. Next, we will explore the genre of Mystery. Students will focus on drawing conclusions as a comprehension skill. During this nine weeks, we will study pronouns and review previously taught skills in grammar. We will work to apply our grammar skills to our writing process. The writing process for this 9 weeks will include studying voice, word choice and sentence fluency.
Math for this 9 weeks will include units on division, fractions, decimals, and measurement. We will work to apply these skills in one and two step word problems. Please keep practicing multiplication facts through the remainder of the school year and into the summer.
In science we will continue to work on the Land and Fresh Water unit. This will be followed by a unit on oceans. Social studies will begin with a study of Mexico. We will follow this with a project on the National Parks. Our last project in social studies will be a report on news topics across the decades.
Thank you again for having your children here on time in the morning. We begin our day immediately, so this is crucial for organization and getting the school day off to a successful start! Thank you for the job you do nightly behind the scenes.
Third Grade Teachers
Our third graders have been busy. We enjoyed fabulous Valentine's parties, a field trip to The Center for Puppetry Arts, and a long President's Day weekend - the perfect opportunity to get busy on our President and First Lady Projects! Remember that the projects are due on Monday, February 27th. Do not wait until the last minute to work on these. You will learn the most, if you break the project into smaller bits and work on it a little at a time.
This morning the third grade wrapped up our Science unit on the respiratory system with guest speaker, Dr. Cullen Morris. Students learned about the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of this system. The highlight of the visit was the opportunity to touch and inflate some real lungs.
We are well into our Geometry unit in Math. In class, the students will be designing "Geotowns" as a review of the concepts learned. The test will be on Wednesday, February 29th. After Spring Break, we will learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Practice online at math-play.com and mathandreadinghelp.org.
In Reading, the students have begun our new novel, The Trumpet of the Swan.
The classes have enjoyed learning about Canada which is the setting at the beginning of the story. Here is a link to a website for further exploration. Canada
Calendar...
February 24 - Wordly Wise
February 27 - President Project Due
February 29 - Geometry Part 1 Test
March 2 - Spelling
March 8 (Thursday!!) - Spelling and Wordly Wise
Feb 10 - Spelling and Wordly Wise Tests
Feb 14 - Valentine's Day - Students will celebrate Valentine's Day during our class parties at the end of the day. Please send in a Valentine's mailbox the size of a shoe box which has already been decorated. Students may also bring in cards for everyone in his / her homeroom or for everyone in third grade.
Feb 15 - Field Trip to The Center for Puppetry Arts
Feb 17 - Spelling and Grammar Tests
Feb 20 - School Holiday
Feb 24 - Wordly Wise Test
Feb 27 - President Project Due
As we begin the third nine-week grading period, we are pleased to see the maturity that has developed in our students. They have grown in so many areas. The pace of our learning will continue to increase, and we will expect the students to work more independently as they approach fourth grade. The students are ready for this challenge.
In Reading, we will soon begin our novel unit on Mr. Popper's Penguins. During this unit we will focus on rising / falling action and conflict / resolution in the plot. We will also review the following elements of literature: characters, setting, and purpose. Nonfiction resources will be used to complement the comprehension of our fiction novel. Following Mr. Popper's we will read The Trumpet of the Swan. This novel is beautifully written and gives us an opportunity to talk about figurative language. Our Social Studies units on Antarctica and Canada will be integrated with our reading selections. These novels will also tie in with our Science study of land and water. Students should continue to read independent novels at a third grade level or higher with the goal of finishing each book.
In Math, we are working on our multiplication unit. Please, please, please continue to practice the basic facts nightly! Quick recall of these facts is essential to success as the type of multiplication we are doing increases in difficulty. Following multiplication, we will study geometry. This is a fun hands-on unit that the students really enjoy.
In Writing, the classes are learning more about how to write a personal narrative. Our writers are beginning to compose strong leads that "hook" the reader's attention. We will also practice organizing the middle of the story and creating an "excellent ending." During Writer's Workshop, the students apply the grammar concepts that they have been learning in class. We are nearing the end of our unit on verbs, and a study guide will be sent home soon. Our next unit will be on adjectives and adverbs.
Thank you again for having your children here on time in the morning. We begin our day immediately, so this is crucial for organization and for getting the school day off to a successful start! Thank you for the job you do nightly behind the scenes.
Thank you to our parents who threw fantastic holiday parties for us in December. The students had a great time. We hope that you all had a wonderful time celebrating at home over the break. Here is a look ahead at our January test calendar.
January 6 - No spelling test this week.
January 13 - Spelling and Wordly Wise tests.
January 20 - Grammar test on Verbs. No spelling test this week.
January 25 - Math test on Multiplication.
January 27 - Spelling and Wordly Wise tests.
Our third graders had a blast performing "The Adventures of Lewis and Clark." We are so proud of all their hard work. Thank you for your support in preparing for the play, and a special thank you to the parents who threw our wonderful cast party.
It's hard to believe that we only have three weeks of school before the Christmas holidays. Over the past two weeks of school we slowed down in order to prepare for the play. Now it is time to pick up the pace again. In Math, we are continuing our study of subtraction. The students have learned to subtract without regrouping, to subtract while regrouping one time, to subtract while regrouping several times, and to subtract from a number with zeros. Now we must tackle our most difficult task - slowing down to think through each step of each problem. As these different types of problems are mixed together, it seems that the developing analytical skills of our third graders check out for an early vacation! We will continue to practice and discuss these different problems. Here is a link to some virtual manipulatives that help students visualize the regrouping process. Look for a study guide to come home next week for an upcoming test.
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_1.html
Click on "Base Blocks Subtraction"
In Reading, the class recently finished The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. This biography brought life to our Science unit on flight. The paper airplane labs and flight competitions during indoor recess also helped the class understand the challenges of those attempting to fly. We are now reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. As we read this novel, we will focus on the setting. What details does the author provide in order to paint a rich picture for us as readers, and how does the setting contribute to the unfolding of the story? As we read, we will continue to study westward expansion during the 1800's and prairie life of the pioneers. In addition, teachers will be conferencing with the students to help them apply the skills we have learned during our classroom novel studies to their independent reading.
In Writing, we have focused on ideas for narrative stories - selecting an idea, focusing in on one event or moment, and then adding details which serve to elaborate that specific moment. After each mini-lesson, the students did a "quick write" to practice the skill. During the month of December each student will select his / her favorite "quick write" and take the piece through the writing process. These stories will be graded using a rubric focused on the idea trait in narrative writing.
December calendar...
12/2 Spelling Test
12/9 Spelling and Wordly Wise Tests
12/13 Math Test on Subtraction
12/16 Christmas sing-along & party
Each week in third grade, unless posted in the agenda, we:
have a spelling test on Friday
practice Wordly Wise vocabulary and have a bi-weekly test on Friday
math homework, nightly
multiplication fact practice, nightly (start now!)
have a math box review on Friday (graded)
have a grammar review on Friday (graded)
read 20 minutes (signed by parent) and complete reader's response journal (nightly)
take home student work and have parents sign on Thursday (please take work out)
take agenda home and have parents sign on Thursday
New and exciting in third grade is Wordly Wise!!!!!!
Who? Third Graders
What? Vocabulary Practice and Test
When? Bi-weekly on Friday (unless posted in the agenda)
Where? Wordly Wise workbook, practice in class, making flashcards at home, homework assignments, and computer practice on www.wordlywise.com
HOW??????? Daily practice is very important. Students could take workbooks home for review, make flashcards to review nightly, practice in the word work literacy center, or use the website.